Lprecision agriculture is a crop management method that is based on the use of advanced technologies to monitor plant and soil conditions and to apply the agricultural inputs in a targeted and optimal way. The goal is to increase productivity and the quality of productions, while reducing the costs and theenvironmental impact.
There Tuscany it is one of the Italian regions that has decided to invest in these technologies, within the CAP Strategic Plan (PSP) 2023-2027. This summarizes all of them in a single programming document the tools made available by the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. The PSP predicts overall 173 interventions, between the First and Second Pillars, and financial resources for almost 37 billion euros for Italy in the period 2023-2027. The PSP aims to respond to the needs of the territory, aiming to enhance the competitiveness of the agri-food and forestry system from a sustainable perspective, to strengthen the resilience and vitality of rural territories, to promote the agricultural and forestry work of quality and safety in the workplace, to support the ability to activate knowledge exchanges, research and innovations ea optimize the governance system.
Among the interventions envisaged by the PSP, those relating to precision farming practices are especially relevant for those who want exploit the potential of new technologies to produce in a more efficient and ecological way. These are the lines of intervention:
• Action 1 – Precision fertilizations: involves the use of variable fertilizer distribution systems based on the nutritional needs of the crops, based on prescription maps and specific management software. This action allows us to optimize the supply of nutrients, reducing waste and the risk of water and soil pollution.
• Action 2 – Precision irrigation: involves the use of variable rate irrigation systems based on the water needs of the crops, which are calculated starting from ground sensors, satellite images, weather stations and soil pedology data. This action allows you to save water, improving the efficiency in the use of the resource and the quality of production.
• Action 3 – Precision phytosanitary treatments: involves the use of forecast models that calculate the probability of parasitic and/or fungal attacks based on weather conditions, to reduce the number of treatments carried out. Precision weeding interventions based on prescription maps are also envisaged. This action allows us to reduce the use of chemical substances, limiting negative impacts on human health and the environment.
These interventions are aimed at supporting the transition towards more sustainable agriculture, which respects agroecosystems and natural cycles, reducing the risk of pollution and degradation of the environment associated with the use of plant protection products and fertilizers and promotingrational use of water for irrigation. Furthermore, these interventions contribute to improving the competitiveness and the profitability of agricultural companies, favoring theinnovation and the digitalisation of the sector.
The call for access to interventions relating to precision agriculture practices is open from 15 November 2023 to 31 December 2023 and is aimed at individual or associated farmers who operate in Tuscany and who voluntarily undertake to adopt at least one precision agriculture practice among those illustrated above. The annual payment per hectare varies from around 150 to over 400 euros, based on the practice adopted and the type of crop.
TETHYS technology fully meets the access requirements of the call and therefore the Aqua service can be used to adhere toAction 3 “Precision irrigation”.
It is then about to be launched inside the PLUS and PRO packages a new service for precision fertilization, useful for joining Action 1 "Precision fertilizations".
Farmers who finally wanted to join theAction 2 “Phytosanitary treatments” finally, they are invited to turn to our Primo Principio partners, who offer a very precise and effective defense service, WiForAgri.
This means that farmers using TETHYS and WiForAgri can benefit from the annual payment per hectare foreseen by the tender, as well as making their production efficient and sustainable.
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