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Technology solution to preserve birdlife during mechanised night-time harvesting in hedgerow olive groves

Country of Origin: Spain
Reference Number: TRES20211125001
Publication Date: 13 December 2021

Summary

A Spanish Digital Innovation Hub has launched a digitisation challenge related to birdlife preservation in mechanised night-time harvesting in hedgerow olive groves. They are looking for technological solutions from companies, Universities or research institutes in order to promote the implementation of a solution in the real environment through any of the following agreements: commercial agreement with technical assistance, research cooperation, services agreement or technical cooperation.

Description

A Spanish Digital Innovation Hub focused to the agri-food sector has launched an open innovation initiative in order to solve digitisation challenges coming from agri-food entities. In this context, they are currently seeking to solve the following challenge: integration of technological solutions in order to preserve birdlife in mechanised night-time harvesting in hedgerow olive groves.

Andalusia is the main European region in cultivated area of the olive grove and the world leader in olive oil and table olives production, being committed to applying environmentally friendly techniques, which are key to support biodiversity and sustainability. In recent decades, olive growing has evolved considerably, experiencing important changes on a variety of aspects, such as the planting, management and cultivation systems, making the Andalusian olive grove very heterogeneous. In particular, hedgerow olive groves are defined by a specific planting model, where the olive trees form a continuous mass of vegetation (hedgerow) with dimensions in height and width determined by the harvesting machine. 

Farmers and agricultural businesses are increasingly demanding hedgerow olive groves, which are characterised by being a highly technified and productive olive grove. One of its main features is that it is harvested by over-the-row machines, which are able to work almost without interruption for 24 hours. Considering this, night-time harvesting has become essential in hedgerow olive groves, not only in terms of economic impact, but also for the optimisation of resources and even for the quality of the olive oil. This practice, however, needs to be carried out without affecting biodiversity, especially birdlife, with this becoming a priority objective to be able to maintain this type of production system. In this regard, technological solutions are sought through this request to solve the challenge of performing night-time mechanised harvesting in hedgerow olive groves in a sustainable way, preserving the birdlife present through any of the following agreements: commercial agreement with technical assistance, research cooperation, services agreement or technical cooperation agreement.

Expertise sought

A technological solution primarily based on a physical system, to be implemented either as an independent system or a sub-system coupled to the harvesting machinery, is sought under the challenge launched. The solution should serve as a method to dissuade potential birdlife present before the harvesting.

Requested partner

Start-ups, companies and Research Centres/Institutions working on IT solutions for the agrofood sector, with expertise in machinery applications to the olive sector.

The objective is to develop, adapt and implement a technological solution to preserve birdlife to be used as an independent system or a sub-system coupled to the harvesting machinery for night-time harvesting of hedgerow olive groves.

Depending on the maturity level of the solution offered, it would be implemented through research or technical cooperation in order to develop and adapt the technology to the application sought, or through a commercial or services agreement in case of a technology close to the market.