In the emerging Copernicus Earth monitoring era, Europe provides Earth Observation (EO) data from Sentinel-1 (S1) and Sentinel-2 (S2) on a free and open data policy basis. In response of the EO Work programme ‘EO-3-2016: Evaluation of Copernicus Services’, Sentinels Synergy for Agriculture (SENSAGRI) aims to exploit the unprecedented capacity of S1 and S2 to develop an innovative portfolio of prototypes agricultural monitoring services. When used alone either optical or radar sensors allow the mapping of crop types. However more robust, accurate, frequently updated and comprehensive crop maps are expected from the seldom exploited synergy of both types of measurements. The same holds when dealing with crop status, health and stresses. Experimental studies have demonstrated that fusion of optical and radar data opens up prospects for enhanced monitoring capabilities. SENSAGRI will exploit the synergy of optical and radar measurements to develop three prototype services capable of near real time operations: (1) surface soil moisture (SSM), (2) green and brown leaf area index (LAI) and (3) crop type mapping. These prototypes shall provide a baseline for advanced services that can boost the competitiveness of the European agro-industrial sector. SENSAGRI proposes four advanced proof-of-concept services: (i) yield/biomass, (ii) tillage change, (iii) irrigation and (iv) advanced crop maps. The algorithms will be developed and validated in four European agricultural test areas in Spain, France, Italy and Poland, which are representative of the European crop diversity, and their usefulness demonstrated in at least two non-European countries. In order to refine the specifications of the products and to iteratively assess the services, actors of the agricultural sector will be involved using a Living Lab approach. The combination of user-centered approach and of state-of-the-art algorithms will establish a sound foundation for deciding of a new Copernicus land service.

Agricultural policies are widening the scope to contribute to environmental objectives, the Paris climate agreement and the SDG’s. Furthermore, Member States develop their national strategic plans with more attention to the regional implementation of the CAP. Broadening of scope will increase the amount of indicators for monitoring and evaluation. In the current situation, agricultural statistics (among others FSS and FADN) and administrative data (i.e. IACS) are used for monitoring and evaluation. To address the broadening set of needs, it becomes essential to make use of the possibilities of satellite data and sensor data and the increased amount of information flows within the agricultural sector. Despite these new opportunities, it will not be possible to provide all data needs with these new technologies, so there will still be a role for agricultural statistics and farmers’ willingness to give access to data owned by the farmer. MEF4CAP will make an inventory of future data needs, describe the current developments in ICT and data capturing techniques and assess the technological readiness of these solutions. MEF4CAP will make intensive use of workshops and stakeholder interaction to identify best practices, ensure the inclusion of all relevant developments and to discuss the potential of widening their application. MEF4CAP will deliver a roadmap for future monitoring, where the needs of different stakeholders are met and the potential of different approaches is fully exploited, while minimizing the costs and administrative burden and optimizing the value of the collected data. MEF4CAP will strongly benefit from the broad composition of the project team. MEF4CAP will bring together experts on the current agricultural statistics, current administrative systems, evaluations for policy making and on farm advisory as well as experts on remote sensing, sensor data, ICT developments and developments of information flows in the agricultural sector.

Sustainability in coatings covers aspects related to energy and resource conservation, waste minimization or efficiency and the use of renewable and non-toxic products. The coatings industry has been driven by regulatory issues to diminish the content of volatile organic compounds to improve indoor and outdoor air quality, shifting from solvent borne systems (still the preferred choice globally) to waterborne ones. However, even in the case of products labelled as “environmentally friendly” their bio-based content is usually small (up to 30-40%). The challenge is to substitute fossil-based resins maintaining at least the same performance. New bio-based value chains are necessary. Lignin is an underutilized product with a high potential to provide not only economic returns, but also environmental benefits if value-added applications are found. Although lignin is a topic of great interest, the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into real products is not trivial and still no commercial options are available. LIGNICOAT proposal provides new synthetic routes to obtain bioresins “à la carte” (PUD, ALKYD and EPOXY) based on lignin intermediates (Polyols, Epoxies, phosphorylated, polyacids and carbonates) for application in coatings and validated in an industrial relevant environment (TRL5). The target is not only to increase the biobased content and ensure performance, but also take advantage of lignin specific characteristics, to develop bioadditives (enzymes, chitosan, sugars, …), increasing the biocontent and providing anticorrosive, fireproof and antimicrobial/antiviral features in high-volume market case studies. Depending on the intermediates and the resins used, the estimated biocontent of the coatings will vary between 60-90%. A multidisciplinary and complementary consortium consists in 9 industrial partners BARPIMO, VENCOREX, AEP, WESTLAKE, FORESA, BRS, IRIS, ECOAT and AXIA and 4 RTOs, TECNALIA, VITO, VTT, NORCE and ARDITEC.