Mid-March saw the start of this year's FARMING BY SATELLITE competition which is once again being supported by CLAAS as a sponsor. An initiative of the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Environment Agency (EEA), FARMING BY SATELLITE is aimed at young farmers as well as trainees and students, principally in the fields of IT, mechanical engineering and agricultural sciences. The competition promotes the continuous development of the use of GNSS and Earth observation systems in European and African agriculture. Its objective is to support sustainable farming practices, improve efficiency and resource usage and so reduce the impact on the environment.
The use of satellite data is essential in order to prepare the agricultural sector to adjust to global challenges, such as the growing world population and the consequences of climate change. The FARMING BY SATELLITE competition encourages young professionals, farmers and students in Europe to create new, sustainable and environmentally compatible solutions using the Copernicus Earth observation system as well as the EGNOS and Galileo satellite-based positioning systems.
The 2020 edition of the competition includes a Special Africa Prize for solutions that cater to the specific needs and resources of the continent's communities and states with a view to improving their degree of self-sufficiency and bringing sustainable modernisation to African agriculture.
"Who would have thought that Galileo and Copernicus would be able to convince young farmers to become tech-savvy entrepreneurs applying innovations derived from space data to improve the quality of life? We need young farmers who are innovative in order to develop competitive and yet sustainable agriculture. It is only natural that they should make use of the opportunities presented by space technologies and our objective with this competition is to support them in achieving the best possible solution," declared Pascal Claudel, Acting Executive Director of the GSA.
Applicants can take part as individuals or as a team and register online from 16 March until 15 June 2020, with the top teams selected as finalists for the last round. A total prize purse of 10,000 euros will be distributed between the top four participants. The 2020 edition of FARMING BY SATELLITE is sponsored by agricultural engineering equipment manufacturer CLAAS. Full details of the competition are available at www.farmingbysatellite.eu
