On December 16, 2019 the 1st Workshop of INNOSETA was held in Greece, in the city of Giannitsa, under the topic of "Precision Spray Technologies in the Greek Orchards", which was organized by INNOSETA’s project partner AGENSO.
The event was held at the Agricultural Cooperative of Pella, with more than 50 people participating in the event, including producers, researchers, agronomists and entrepreneurs.
The workshop started with formal greetings by Traianos Terzis from Pella Agricultural Cooperative and Zisis Tsiropoulos from AGENSO. Participants learned about INNOSETA project and its online platform, from Chrysi Papadogianni, Agronomist at AGENSO. Invited speakers presented other European and National projects as well as methodologies and technologies related with crop spraying. In particular, Dr. Thanos Balafoutis from the National Centre for Research and Technological Development presented the European project OPTIMA, Nikos Petkos from the Greek company Agroma talked about Technologies of orchard crop sprayers, Savvas Rogotis, from Neuropublic, presented the Greek SymbIoT program and the methodologies for precision spraying in orchards. It was followed by the presentation of Aristodimos Zamidis and Panagotis Kalafatis from TractorGPS, about intelligent traps for the protection of orchards and the implementation of plant protection products. Dr. Angela Laiou from AGENSO presented EffiSpray, a tool for the accuracy and the reduction of spray drift.
Afterwards Evangelos Anastasiou from AGENSO presented the three thematic groups of the workshop and then the attendees were separated in three groups for starting the evaluation and discussion on the technologies of these groups.
The workshop included the latest innovations related to:
- Assurance of quality and accuracy during the application of plant protection products
- Spray drift avoidance
- Limitation of contamination during filling, mixing and washing of plant protection products in spray tanks
In each Thematic Group, 10 pioneer innovations were presented, covering a broad spectrum of technologies in crop spraying in orchards, such as variable dose systems with prescription maps, smartphone applications for better mixing of plant protection products, specialized canopy sensors for calculating the optimal application dose, flow control systems, container cleaners as well as personal protective equipment for mixing, application and cleaning of plant protection products. Attendees had the opportunity to learn and discuss on these technologies and to suggest ideas for improvement. They referred to the problems they face and whether they are solved through these technologies or not.
At the end of the workshop, all the participants emphasized the usefulness of such actions as they can be better informed about new technologies and learn their benefits. They also pointed out that discussion with professionals and specialists of the sector gives them the opportunity to optimize the spraying applications and use these innovative technologies properly.
The next workshop will take place in the forthcoming months and will be focused on the spraying technologies used in greenhouses.
Stay tuned on INNOSETA project to find out more!