Assessing the Crop-Water Status in Almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) Trees via Thermal Imaging Camera Connected to Smartphone.

Different tools are being implemented in order to improve the water management in agricultural irrigated areas of semiarid environments. Thermography has been progressively introduced as a promising technique for irrigation scheduling and the assessing of crop-water status, especially when deficit irrigation is being implemented. However, an important limitation is related to the cost of the actual cameras, this being a severe limitation to its practical usage by farmers and technicians. This work evaluates the potential and the robustness of a thermal imaging camera that is connected to smartphone (Flir One) recently developed by Flir Systems Inc. as a first step to assess the crop water status. The trial was developed in mature almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) trees that are subjected to different irrigation treatments. Thermal information obtained by the Flir One camera was deal with the thermal information obtained with a conventional Thermal Camera (Flir SC660) with a high resolution, and subsequently, confronted with other related plant physiological parameters (leaf water potential, Ψleaf, and stomatal conductance, gs). Thermal imaging camera connected to smartphone provided useful information in estimating the crop-water status in almond trees, being a potential promising tool to accelerate the monitoring process and thereby enhance water-stress management of almond orchards.

Olive production systems on sloping land: prospects and scenarios.

The ultimate objective of the EU Olivero project was to improve the quality of life of the rural population and to assure the sustainable use of the natural resources of land and water in the sloping and mountainous olive production systems (SMOPS) areas in Southern Europe. One specific objective was to develop, with end-users, alternative future scenarios for olive orchards in the five Olivero target areas. This paper discusses the development of these scenarios, and their socio-economic and environmental effects. After presenting the different production systems (SMOPS) and their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, a general overview is given of the medium- and long-term prospects. These have been validated by experts from the olive sector and foresee changes towards abandonment, intensification and organic production. On balance, the changes could lead to lower production of some target areas in future. An analysis of major external factors affecting the future development of SMOPS indicates there will be labour shortages and increased wage rates, reduced subsidies and constant or rising olive oil prices. On the basis of these assumptions, four future scenarios are developed for the five target areas, with the help of a Linear Programming simulation model. The results are presented for two target areas. For the Trás-os-Montes target area in Portugal, three of the four tested scenarios point to a high level of abandonment, while in the most positive scenario the areas under semi-intensive low input and organic SMOPS increase. In the Granada and Jaen target area in Spain, all scenarios hint at intensification, and only the orchards on the steepest slopes are likely to be abandoned. The direction and extent of environmental effects (erosion, fire risk, pollution, water use and biodiversity) differ per scenario, as do the extent of cross-compliance and agri-environmental measures.