The second meeting of the consortium partners of the H2020 NIVA project (New IACS Vision in Action) and the 1st Stakeholder Forum “Implementation of Checks-by-Monitoring“ took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 11-13 November 2019. A two-day NIVA project partner meeting was dedicated to NIVA progress, overview of implementation of project work packages (WP) and use case state of play (11-12 November). The subsequent event, the Stakeholder Forum, was aimed at the identified target groups, striving to involve in the project implementation and assessment process as many different stakeholders as possible (13 November). Both events were hosted by the Danish Agricultural Agency.   

NIVA Consortium Meeting, 11-12 November

The main idea of the project implementation process was highlighted – with quite a number of project WPs, partners and use cases, to be able to keep track of interactions, dependencies, and to ensure collaboration. Collaboration and dialogue were therefore identified as the driving force of NIVA implementation.

Project partner meeting started on 11 November with the Policy Board and Project Management Board sessions, that were dedicated to the overview of the consortium meeting agenda, NIVA state of affairs, feedback issues on risk management. Each project WP leader reported the results achieved over the past 6 months, the current state of play and plans for the future. The overall project implementation course was reviewed and potential problems / risks of delayed data provision were highlighted. The up-and-running working platform (Sharepoint) for sharing internal project materials was introduced.

It was stressed that the aim of the project is to create a single system with innovative solutions, not individual elements, and that every proposal of the respective WP should make significant progress in the new programming period. It was suggested in subsequent project meetings to involve also the Ministries of Agriculture from each project partner country as strategy makers.

NIVA project consortium partner meeting, dedicated to NIVA implementation progress, overview of implementation of WPs and use case state of play, continued on 12 November. Parallel sessions were held to be able to review the overall scope of the project. A necessity to ensure the synergy, harmonisation and interoperability of the 9 use cases was highlighted, including Earth Observation Monitoring and Traffic Lights, Prefilled application, Farm Registry, Geotagged photos, LPIS Update & Change detection, Seamless Claim, etc.

In the course of the meeting among other topics there were the Danish and Dutch paying agencies’ presentations delivered, focusing on the results of collecting field geometry data and supplementary information, using precision farming techniques and agricultural management solutions. The current situation and insights on the public procurement procedures related to developing Sentinel data-based algorithms were presented as regards further implementation of large-scale pilots. Knowledge information system, a platform for storing and sharing the project-related IT solutions, was introduced to the audience. The project partners were familiarised with yet another scientific novelty “Technology and innovation watchdog”, allowing to spot and thus avoid duplication of already existing innovations. Innovation ecosystem was presented, highlighting the methodology of the project communication and dissemination, not to mention sessions of other project working groups.

It was agreed, that the next NIVA meeting in conjunction with the second NIVA Stakeholder Forum will be organised in Ireland, 11 – 13 May 2020.

Stakeholder Forum “Implementation of Checks-by-Monitoring“, 13 November

A community-engaging event, the Stakeholder Forum “Checks by monitoring“, bringing together project partners, the officials from the European Commission (EC) and European Court of Auditors (ECA), representatives of different member states’ farmer unions, researchers, technical experts, took place on 13 November. The audience was familiarised with the NIVA activities and use cases, targeted at reduction of the administrative burden and administrative costs both for farmers and controlling institutions. The participants of the Forum had a possibility to hear the insights of the representatives of the ECA and EC, to take part in the panel discussion of three EU Paying Agencies, which focused on the experience of implementing checks-by-monitoring. Farmer representatives from Denmark and the Netherlands shared their good practices and concerns in dealing with the precision farming. Lessons learned from previous and ongoing innovation projects, funded by Horizon 2020 and European Space Agency, were presented.

The key message of the discussions was conveyed through the 1st Stakeholder Forum conclusions:

  • NIVA is here for the farmers.
  • NIVA seeks to deliver solutions that will benefit farmers.
  • Connecting systems and exchanging data is a key aspect, and cooperation between stakeholders and PAs is crucial.

The Stakeholder Exchange Forum Report and the presentations from the first NIVA Stakeholder forum can be found on the NIVA website under downloads.