The 12th European Conference on Precision Agriculture, ECPA 2019, took place in Montpellier (France) between 8-11 of July.
Montpellier SupAgro hosted this edition of ECPA, bringing together 380 attendees from 37 different countries, including companies, universities and research centres, in order to share the last developments on precision farming technology and applications. In this sense, a wide range of state-of-the-art topics, such as satellite-based applications, unmanned aerial systems (UAVs), robotics and guidance and automation, were discussed at the different conference’s sessions. The attendees could also enjoy a visit in a traditional but technological Mediterranean farm, with live demonstrations showcasing the benefits of GNSS for innovative solutions such as crop monitoring with UAVs, agrochemical deposition, electrical weeding and vine characterization.
EGNOS was present at ECPA 2019 with its own stand in order to disseminate the features and benefits of EGNOS for farming. In this way, all attendees could not only get general information on EGNOS but also tailored support for their specific activities. They could also try GEAR, the new EGNOS demonstrator for agriculture, and “drive” a virtual tractor equipped with EGNOS by means of the available steering wheel and pedals. The importance of EGNOS in the farming sector was recognised by its presence as one of the plenary presentations, entitled “GNSS and EGNOS (SBAS) for farming: all you need to know from this European free service”. This talk, provided by Sofía Cilla (ESSP), raised a great interest among all the attendees, who could get at first hand a better idea on the capabilities of EGNOS for precision agriculture.