Reducing aquatic footprint of cotton cultivation, by developing a decision support system using satellites and sensors

Abstract

Agriculture in relation to climate, is one of the key issues nowadays as climate change influences greatly agriculture and agriculture has an extended environmental impact. This paper presents the structure and key features of a decision support information system that will cover the major time and money-consuming problem related to cotton cultivation, which is the issue of irrigation. Water consumed by agriculture has a great environmental footprint. Dealing with this specific issue requires integrated management, both in terms of environmental protection and economic sustainability. The creation and usage of a decision support system for cotton cultivation, based on remote sensing and in-situ data is an urgent need for cotton cultivation, but also for modern agriculture in general, as it will save natural resources and at the same time will reduce costs. The proposed system is estimated to significantly reduce the use of irrigation water, thus reducing cotton cultivations aquatic footprint. The main objective of this information system is to provide a valuable consulting tool for the agronomist and the farmer, to support their daily activities, keeping in mind the minimization of the environmental footprint of cultivating cotton. The presented information system will combine innovative means of data recovery from IoT sensors, remote sensing data, and agricultural models predicting phenological stages and other parameters related to the quality and risks of cotton cultivations. Farmers will have access through a user-friendly web application from their personal computers and mobile devices.