ILVO, the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, focusses on performing and coordinating policy-supporting scientific research and the associated public service in view of a sustainable agriculture and fishery in an economic, ecological and social perspective.
Specifically, the Agricultural Engineering Section of the Technology and Food Science Unit of ILVO is involved in the OPTIMA project. This group develops and assesses novel and existing techniques and their integration into innovative production systems in the framework of a sustainable agriculture and horticulture. The research focusses on (i) Environmental Technology, (ii) Precision Livestock Farming and (iii) Precision Crop Farming. The latter works on using innovative sensors for crop and field sensing, the optimization of (site specific) application techniques for fertilizers and plant protection products and development of agricultural machinery prototypes. They actively participate in different national and international research projects and working groups (ISO, OECD, CEN). This expertise resulted in about 50 peer reviewed publications the last 5 years.
ILVO has a very broad network in precision farming and spray application technology with all relevant stakeholders (universities, research institutes and extension research stations) and a wide experience in EU and international projects (Drive4EU, ICT-Agri, 4D4F, Sempatico, IoF2020, INNOSETA, ICARES).