CrackSense's first newsletter.

CrackSense Newsletter Issue #1

CrackSense is a 4-year Horizon Europe project aimed at addressing the problem of fruit cracking in citrus, pomegranate, table grapes and sweet cherries by developing and upscaling sensing tools that will provide real-time sensor data through experiments and piloting activities. The sensor data collected will be upscaled into EU-wide data sets which will encompass Earth Observation Data (provided by Copernicus, e.g. Sentinel) and other data sets reflecting on environmental conditions. Furthermore, CrackSense will deploy sensing technologies to enable high throughput assessment of cracking incidence risk at fruit, tree, field, and regional scale to mitigate the negative effects of the cracking phenomenon. By reducing the yield losses by half due to cracking, the use of the Integrated CrackSense Solution will result in financial gain for farmers and growers. The Integrated CrackSense Solution will enable farmers and growers to optimise their cost efficiency and generate pathways for more income.

CrackSense kick-off meeting, 16-18 January Tel Aviv Israel

The project kicked off with a meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel where representatives from all 15 partners involved in the project were present. The partners, hailing from a range of backgrounds such as farmers associations, technology and agritech SMEs, business and policy development experts, all came together to discuss their plans for the future of farming. During the meeting, the group focused on key goals such as improving financial stability for farmers and reducing fruit cracking. With such a diverse group of stakeholders present, there was a wealth of knowledge and expertise on display. The atmosphere was on of collaboration and innovation, with all partners eager to share their insights and develop new strategies. The meeting was a resounding success, setting the stage for a bright future in the world of agrifood research. As the project moves forward, we can expect to see exciting developments emerge that will benefit farmers, consumers, and the wider community. Stay tuned for more updates as the project progresses!

EXPERIMENTS AND PILOTS

To provide the best results, CrackSense will conduct experimental and piloting activities in 5 different regions (Israel, France, Greece, Lithuania, Germany). Each pilot case will identify all available data inputs from the sensing devices and their corresponding data formats. Information will include climate (i.e. temperature, radiation humidity, and precipitation), environmental, management and genetic factors. In addition, the overall yield and the cracking incidence will be evaluated for each pilot case cracking and it will be predicted by AI models. Furthermore, cracking incidence and yield loss will also be directly monitored withing each pilot. This will enable efficient management of the farmer’s resources and sustainability of the farmer’s actions. The CrackSense Solution will provide concrete insights and recommendations that support the realisation of benefits for farmers, growers, rural communities and the environment through smart farming applications.
Citrus Pilot
Table Grapes Pilot
Pomegranate Pilot
Sweet Cherry Pilot

Meet Our Partners Campaign

Introducing our new Meet Our Partners Campaign, where we will spotlight one of our valued partners and highlight their team members, expertise, and role within CrackSense. Keep an eye out for featured partners in our CrackSense Newsletters. In the 1st CrackSense Newsletter we present to you our coordinator – Volcani Institute/ The Agricultural Research Organization of Israel (ARO)

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

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On the 11th of February CrackSense celebrated International Day of Women and Girls in Science. We have introduced great women scientist involved in CrackSense. Manuela Zude-Sasse is a Research Group Leader at Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), and is a fervent advocate for women’s empowerment, inspiring them to have faith in their abilities and to strive towards successful careeres in the field of science.