Smart Green Water – Dissemination of innovative solutions and capacity building for smart irrigation

The main objective of SMART GREEN WATER is to promote common responses to the challenges of agriculture in the SUDOE area by implementing smart specialisation strategies for a more sustainable and intelligent agricultural sector that strengthens the socio-economic fabric of rural areas. To this end, the partners work together to implement solutions aimed at accelerating the digital transition of agriculture towards a more resilient agricultural sector, adapted to climate hazards, optimised and more sober in the consumption of water resources. The project develops a transnational strategy that promotes the development, availability and dissemination of digital solutions to build the necessary capacities among key actors in the agricultural value chain and innovation.

SUDOE projects promote social cohesion and territorial and demographic balance in Southwest Europe (SUDOE) through innovation and transformation of productive sectors.

More information: Smart Green Water – Eurorregión

Specific objectives

• Develop capacities for smart specialisation, industrial transition and entrepreneurship.
• Elaborate a transnational strategy that drives the development of integrated solutions (products, innovative services) to respond to the needs of sustainable, smart and digital agriculture in implementation of the priorities of the 3 regions.
• Build the necessary capacities of key actors in the value chain for sustainable, smart and digital agriculture.

The major challenge for agriculture in the SUDOE is to cope with the consequences of climate change, in particular the increasingly frequent episodes of drought. Freshwater availability continues to decrease, making the agricultural sector, which is highly dependent on water resources, particularly vulnerable. It is necessary to create the conditions to promote resilience in agriculture by improving the use of an increasingly scarce resource.

To meet this challenge, the digital transformation of agriculture is essential. To support this transition, SMART GREEN WATER project partners will promote responses by implementing smart specialisation strategies (S3) for a more sustainable agricultural sector and by increasing the sector’s digital competences, thus strengthening the social fabric. Thanks to transnational cooperation, the project partners will benefit from a wealth of situations: crop and irrigation typologies, water availability, collective water management organisations, etc. The solutions, tested through pilot actions and transportable to different contexts, will make it possible to identify the best tools to meet farmers’ needs. Innovative irrigation optimisation technologies will be consolidated and disseminated through experimentation in partner regions.

Finally, digital tools will be made more accessible through a transnational training programme and a link between innovative companies and the agricultural sector. The transnational strategy developed and validated through tested solutions will connect innovation ecosystems, public administrations and the agricultural sector, the end user. The resulting digitalisation support will ensure a more water-efficient agricultural sector and rural territories that are more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Actions

• A transnational strategy for the digitisation of irrigation is developed, based on the territorial diagnosis of the regions concerned.
• A characterisation method is developed that takes into account the functionalities of digital irrigation solutions according to farmers’ needs.
• The digital solutions evaluated will be made available to farmers on a transnational platform allowing them to filter the search for solutions according to their needs.
• Joint transnational pilot deployment of ‘digital twins’ applied to irrigation and fertigation management.
• Joint promotion of training (technical and online days) for farmers, to meet the specific needs of each region: water reuse by French farmers, for example, and collective water management in Spain and Portugal, for the development of drought contingency plans’.
• Linking technology companies with farmers during innovation forums and demonstration days to stimulate supply, demand and matching of needs and solutions.

Beneficiaries

• Euroregion Pyrénées-Méditerranée (Leader)
• Agri Sud-Ouest Innovation
• Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (DARPA)
• Centre Operational and Technological Centre for Irrigation (COTR)
• Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of Badajoz (COTR)
• Chambre régionale de agriculture de Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Regional Chamber of Agriculture of Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
• Institute of Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA)
• University of Cordoba (UCO), School of Agronomy and Forestry Engineering, Department of Agronomy
• Union of Small Farmers and Stockbreeders (UPA)