New ICAS Vision in Action (NIVA)
Project title
Development of a smartphone geotag photo app with and for use by farmers and advisors living in Ireland.
Objective
NIVA aims to modernise IACS by making efficient use of digital solutions and e-tools, by creating reliable methodologies and harmonised data sets for monitoring agricultural performance while reducing administrative burdens for farmers, paying agencies and other stakeholders. Use case 4a (the Irish use case within the NIVA project) aims to meet the following objectives:
- Development of a geotagged photo application system
- Adopt ‘a user-centered approach’ to technology development
- Understand user experience & appropriate design
- Support a digital environment in the context of agriculture
More detailed description of the issue the project hope to address & how it plans to tackle this
Use case 4a is focused on monitoring needs to make use of various technological advancements such as image analysis and processing of geotagged photos to inspect or report activities on agricultural land, with the aim of reducing the number of on the field inspections. UC4a will fully customize and demonstrate an application for mobile devices to facilitate a farmer and/or advisor to upload a geotagged photograph as supporting evidence to the support received, or to be received. This solution will be demonstrated as a primary input of information on “along the season” agricultural practices, as in addition crop diversification, crop rotation, grassland maintenance, treatments, crop variety, etc. linked to the various beneficiary commitments. The geotagged system, constituted by a mobile app and a backend server, shall include a secure and verifiable technique of picture-catching of single/unique parcels and their agronomic land use combined with a secure protected mode for near real time image sending to the central system. The secure set up is required to minimise the risk of manipulation. The pilot demonstrates the capabilities of farmers to download, install and register their credentials thereby activating their device for use with the system.
Novel features of Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) preventing location spoofing (e.g. authentication within Galileo signal) will be exploited. The App will demonstrate the ways to receive notifications from the backend system (as issued by the relevant authority in charge of inspections) and the ability to notify and guide farmers to successfully locate, line up, frame and capture images for the requested points of interest. The incentive for the farmer will be a reduced chance of an on the spot inspection, if they upload the photographic evidence of activity or clarify the query. The Administration will have an electronic record of the response and a comprehensive profile of agricultural activity in the parcel can be generated. The pilot will address precise, timely and accurate in-situ verifications, allowing a multi-actor approach to real agronomic land monitoring performed by both administrative surveyors (top down) and farmers, or their associations (bottom up). In this Use Case, social and behavioural scientists will identify the factors which are likely to influence farmers’ acceptance of and engagement with the technology (a smartphone application). Using the knowledge acquired from this work, appropriate interventions will be selected and designed to introduce the smartphone app to the farming community which will address any issues or concerns that farmers may have, and which could otherwise lead to low uptake of the technology.
Project Partners
Teagasc
Áine Regan, Rural Economy & Development Programme, Mellows Campus, Athenry
Ursula Kenny, Rural Economy & Development Programme, Mellows Campus, Athenry
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Eoin Dooley, Assistant Agricultural Inspector, Basic Payment Section
Deirdre Fay, Business Manager, LPIS Rebuild Project.
Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG), WIT
Dave Hearne, Senior UX designer/Developer
Christine O’Meara, Commercialisation Specialist
Funding
The NIVA project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 842009.
