Consortium
The project team has a strong history of successful collaborations that demonstrate collective expertise and dedication to advancing research. The consortium is composed of several research institutes, universities and companies, namely: Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH (RSS) , Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) and Earth Observation Lab of Humboldt-University (HU).
ZALF: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research
Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e. V. in Müncheberg is a research institution of the Leibniz Association. ZALF conducts research on economically, ecologically and socially sustainable agriculture of the future together with stakeholders from science, politics and practice. As a contribution to addressing global societal challenges such as climate change, food security, biodiversity conservation and resource scarcity, we develop and design cropping systems in a landscape context that combine the need for crop production with sustainability. To do this, we combine complex landscape data with a unique set of experimental methods, process-based and data driven models and socio-economic approaches. ZALF research is systems research: from processes in soils, plants and water, to field and landscape level interrelationships, to global impacts and consideration of complex interactions between landscape, society and economy. We developed a coherent approach to integrate data, models and simulation methods for landscape research.
Project Manager: Dr. Gohar Ghazaryan
Science Lead: Prof. Dr. Claas Nendel
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU)/ Earth Observation Lab (EOL)
The Earth Observation Lab (EOL) at Geography Department of Humboldt-Universität of Berlin (HU) has been researching and developing approaches for satellite-based remote sensing of land use and changes in agriculture and forestry for more than 20 years. The Lab is internationally renowned for research on terrestrial remote sensing at local to national scale, including an outstanding track record regarding agricultural applications in the European context, such as crop type, characterization of grassland use intensity and drought impacts, forestry-related applications such as tree species mapping or continental-scale land cover mapping. The lab has developed a large experience in implementing workflows for big data processing of EO image archives (e.g., FORCE). The EOL encapsules a rich portfolio of remote sensing methods, oftentimes based on time series of high spatial resolution i.e. Landsat and Sentinel-2 (10-30m) satellite imagery, combined with state-of-the-art machine learning approaches. The head of the lab – Prof. Dr. Patrick Hostert – is a member of the Sentinel-2 Next Generation Mission Advisory Group since 2023.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Patrick Hostert and Dr. Philippe Rufin
Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH
With more than 20 years of experience, Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH (RSS) has become one of the leading value adding companies for earth observation in Germany. RSS actively contributes to state-of-the-art EO research, advancing a variety of fields from data science to automatic processing chains and incorporates the newest technologies to achieve the best standards possible in the domain of operational environmental monitoring. RSS provides one-stop services for EO data processing and analytics and offers customized solutions. RSS is involved in various R&D projects addressing highly complex issues such as fire management, land cover change and deforestation, natural (drought) hazard management and nature conservation. Clients are private companies and enterprises, national authorities (such as Federal or Regional Ministries, the German Space Agency (DLR), the National Development Agency (GIZ), and international agencies such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the World Bank, UN organisations (e.g. UNOPS, IOM) or the European Commission.
Contact: Dr. Maximilian Schwarz
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC)
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) is the largest Italian free academic Institution, counting 5 locations, 12 faculties and more than 40 thousand students. The Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences is located in Piacenza, northern Italy. It is organised in 2 Departments, 5 Institutes, 11 interdepartmental research centres, and has 80 permanent researchers. UCSC has 30 years of experience in the development of mathematical models for simulation and prediction in crop protection, and has been a pioneer in the development of models for crop protection in Italy to ensure food security and safety. UCSC modelling approach is mechanistic, dynamic, and weather-driven. The mechanistic approach embeds the knowledge of plant-weather-pathogen relationships, which are synthesised into a mathematical framework that allows accurate and dynamic predictions under different environmental conditions and epidemiological scenarios.
Contact: Prof Stefano Amaducci And Dr. Michele Croci
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology
The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology is an international scientific research institute headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. ICIPE was founded in 1970 by Prof. Thomas Odhiambo with support from Carl Djerassi, a world-renowned American scientist. The mission of the organization is to help alleviate poverty, ensure food security and improve the overall health status of peoples of the tropics by developing and extending management tools and strategies for harmful and useful arthropods while preserving the natural resource base through research and capacity building Since inception, the centre has grown and currently has over 400 staff, and it has established collaborations with over 200 national systems, research institutes and universities around the world.
Contact: Dr. Tobias Landmann