What FIGARO was
Aims and context of the project.
EU FP7 research project · 2012–2016 · precision irrigation
FIGARO precision irrigation: an independent record of the EU project (2012–2016)
FIGARO (Flexible and Precise Irrigation Platform to Improve Farm Scale Water Productivity) was a European research project that ran from October 2012 to September 2016. Its goal: help farmers irrigate with less fresh water by combining field sensors, weather forecasts and crop models in one decision-support platform.
Photo: rawpixel (CC0, credits)
This site is an independent record of that work: what the platform did, where it was tested, what was published and how precision irrigation has been discussed since. It is not the project's official website.
48 monthsOct 2012 – Sep 2016
17 partnerscompanies, universities, FAO, a regional authority
≈ €6 millionEU contribution (FP7)
6 countriesdemonstration sites in 2016
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Project timeline →
The platform
Sensors, models, optimisation: how the system worked.
Results
Field tests and public deliverables.
Closing conference
Brussels, 19 September 2016.
Latest analysis
All analysis →
Energy for irrigation pumping: what a cubic metre costs in kilowatt-hours, and where to save
The physics of lifting and pressurising irrigation water, a worked example per bar of pressure, what a study of ten Spanish irrigation districts measured, and the practical ways to cut the pumping bill without cutting water.
Satellite images for irrigation: what NDVI and thermal data can and cannot tell a farmer
How vegetation indices and thermal imagery from Sentinel-2 and Landsat feed irrigation scheduling, from crop coefficients to field-scale evapotranspiration maps, and where clouds, pixel size and timing limit what a satellite can see.
Soil moisture sensors for irrigation: tension or water content, and where to put the probe
Tensiometers, granular matrix blocks, capacitance and TDR probes: what each type of soil moisture sensor actually measures, how its readings turn into an irrigation decision, and the installation mistakes that make a good sensor give bad advice.
From the news archive
All news →- Copa-Cogeca hosts FIGARO's closing conference in Brussels
- Three days on precision irrigation in Israel
- Final FIGARO platform presented in Kavala
- First live demonstration of the platform in Xanthi, Greece
- Bologna meeting prepares FIGARO's demonstration year
All analysis · All news · Blog · Events
Everything on this site
The project
Analysis
- Analysis: precision irrigation today
- Does irrigation really use 70% of the world's fresh water?
- Regulated deficit irrigation: when giving trees less water works
- US irrigation 2018–2023: fewer farms, fewer acres, slightly less water
- Crop coefficients and FAO-56: scheduling irrigation from evapotranspiration
- Drip irrigation uniformity: checking that every plant gets the same water
- Soil moisture sensors for irrigation: tension or water content, and where to put the probe
- Satellite images for irrigation: what NDVI and thermal data can and cannot tell a farmer
- Energy for irrigation pumping: what a cubic metre costs in kilowatt-hours, and where to save
News archive
- FIGARO news archive (2013–2016)
- FIGARO in the media
- EU grants FIGARO consortium €6 million for precision irrigation research
- Field tests of the FIGARO prototype start in nine countries
- First full season of field results reviewed in Valencia
- Version 1 of the FIGARO decision-support platform presented in Rome
- Bologna meeting prepares FIGARO's demonstration year
- First live demonstration of the platform in Xanthi, Greece
- Final FIGARO platform presented in Kavala
- Three days on precision irrigation in Israel
- Copa-Cogeca hosts FIGARO's closing conference in Brussels
Blog
- Blog: precision irrigation and water in agriculture
- Smart irrigation and California's drought
- FIGARO at the EIP Water Conference 2014
- Sensors and satellite images in precision irrigation
- Keeping crop models in step with the field
- Two web apps: field data retrieval and WiseUp
- Agriculture and Europe's water
- UK grants for precision irrigation equipment
- Harvard Business Review on feeding a growing world
- Spain's recurring water stress