RESULTADOS Y APORTACIONES

The first year of activity of ERMES came to an end with the first ERMES Annual meeting

Research activities conducted during the first year were focused on the following main aspects:

• The development of first prototypes of the processing chains required for the generationof the main  foreseen ERMES products for the Regional and Local ERMES services
• The development of first prototypes of the ERMES geoportal and Smart App, which will be used to provide information to end-users, and allow farmers to collect and store field-scale information regarding agricultural practices.
• Strengthening the relationships with already existing end-users, and involving new potential end-users.

Product prototyping activities were a success, and allowed ERMES partners to start generating some of the main foreseen products and services already in 2014. Brief descriptions of some of the developed prototypes can be found here.

Interaction with end-users proved to be a challanging task for ERMES partners, due to the need to bridge the gap between the scientific aspects of ERMES and their future operational use. Activities conducted in 2014 were focused therefore in better explaining the characteristics of ERMES services to both regional authoirities and local farmers, and in understanding which of the potential ERMES products are more useful for them. In this context, ERMES set-up a proficous collaboration with the phytosanitary service of Regione Lomabrdia and with Ente Nazionale Risi in Italy, with CRDO in Spain, and with DEMETER in Greece. Moreover, some local farmers particularly interested in ERMES services were identified and are being more and more involved in projects’activities.

This proficuous confrontation allowed to better tune and plan the ERMES activities for 2015, when the ERMES services will gradually become operational.