The theme of REAP 2021 is time, a key limiting factor in agricultural production. The conference will examine many dimensions of time and the technologies that are emerging to enable us to manipulate or overcome this major obstacle.
Changes in temperature and seasons as a result of climate change will have an increasing impact on the timing of germination and harvest and also on animal health with migration of pests and diseases, so it is with pleasure that Agri-TechE announces that the keynote speaker for REAP 2021 is Jan-Erik Petersen of the European Environment Agency (EEA), Copenhagen.
Natural capital and ecosystem accounting
Jan-Erik Petersen has worked at the EEA for about 20 years in a range of specialist and management roles. He currently focuses on helping to develop approaches to ecosystem accounting at EU and global level.
His previous role as an agricultural expert at the EEA involved developing indicator data sets that captured the entire interaction between agriculture and environment, from soil protection to water pollution, to GHG emissions, and also biodiversity.
He coordinates EEA work to develop better estimates of natural capital and ecosystem services. The EEA team collates data from multiple sources – from member states, statistical offices, research projects – but also from earth observation data from the Copernicus satellites.
80% of rural areas of the world will have connectivity by 2030
Earth observation data and ‘fibre in the sky’ will become a major facilitator for many types of precision agriculture and reducing the time delay – latency – is needed for autonomous vehicles.
Jan works closely with teams developing new products using the raw satellite data and one focus of his work is the interaction between farming and ecosystems.
He comments: “We’ve created a distribution map of high nature value farmland areas and I am actively exploring the kind of data that we can use to develop further this concept. One of the things we’ve been investigating is the role of the high-resolution data that are becoming available.”
EEA new products team
Of particular interest to Jan-Erik is extensive grazing where there is a close relationship between agriculture and biodiversity. He says that this is a real test for the technology as it is currently difficult to distinguish between different types of grassland using satellite data.
Dr Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE says: “We are delighted that Jan-Erik has agreed to present the keynote and also to join us for further discussions. He sees the conference as an opportunity to gain input from a range of different perspectives that will be of keen interest to the EEA new products team.”
REAP 2021: Changing Time(s) for Agriculture – 10th November 2021
Imagine a world where agriculture is not constrained by time. The ability to manage and manipulate time is increasing and REAP 2021 will explore the advances in technology and breakthroughs in science that is making this possible.
REAP brings together people from across the agri-tech ecosystem who believe that innovation is the engine for change. The conference bridges the gap between producer needs and technology solutions and showcases exciting agri-tech start-ups.