15 de January de 2025

Agronomy Days 2024: Citizen science as a key ally in sustainable agriculture

Science For Change encourages public participation in the CERBERUS project, an innovative European project that aims to predict agricultural pests and reduce the use of pesticides on Mediterranean crops with new efficient and sustainable tools.

The first Agronomy Days, organised in the framework of the European project CERBERUS, brought together partners, experts, farmers and citizen scientists from 17-20 December in Valencia and Castellón with a common goal: to advance in the early detection of agricultural pests in order to reduce the use of pesticides on Mediterranean crops.

The Agronomy Days integrated advanced technology and citizen science to address one of the biggest challenges of Mediterranean agriculture: sustainable pest management. Science For Change, as a leader in the coordination and implementation of citizen science activities, played a leading role in facilitating the active participation of farmers, students and sustainability experts.

The event brought together the 13 project partners, experts from the Advisory Board, stakeholders from the agricultural sector and future citizen scientists in a combination of technical meetings, practical workshops and field demonstrations.
The final day of the event, dedicated to citizen science, was attended by local farmers and students from the Jérica-Viver Institute, who will be the project’s first citizen scientists. During the session, they received training in pest identification, monitoring protocols and use of the CERBERUS platform. In addition, they carried out field practices at the Finca El Campillo, where they experienced first-hand the technologies developed, such as monitoring robots and automated traps.

This project is very innovative, among other things, because the involvement of citizens in the monitoring of agricultural pests and the triangulation of data with cutting-edge technologies is a field that has not yet been widely explored and has a lot of potential. This opens up the possibility of involving society in sustainable pest management and at the same time collaborating in the democratisation of new technologies, so that society as a whole can benefit from them.

Diana Reinoso

CERBERUS Project Manager and Sustainability Specialist at Science For Change

During the Agronomy Days, the technologies that will enable the transformation of the agricultural sector were presented. These include robots designed by the Universitat Politècnica de València to monitor crops through proximal sensing, biotic stress detection systems using satellite images (Università di Bologna and ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence) and smart traps created by EFOS that automatically identify and quantify individuals. These tools work together with inputs from citizen scientists, creating an integrated system to anticipate and mitigate pest impacts.

We are very excited about the first stage of engaging citizen scientists because people have responded with a lot of interest and commitment, especially farmers. They are aware of the need for modernisation of agriculture and how new technologies can help in pest control and the sustainable and responsible use of pesticides. However, the project does not only involve farmers, but is also open to schools and people from other sectors who are interested in sustainability, environment and health.

Òscar Larraga

Community Engagement Specialist at Science For Change

In 2025, CERBERUS will conduct pilots in Spain, Italy and Cyprus, focusing on key crops such as olives, vineyards and citrus. In Spain, citizen scientists will monitor the olive fruit fly in the Campillo de Júlia region, contributing to the creation of more accurate risk maps and participating in the continuous improvement of the CERBERUS platform.

The project, funded by the European Union, not only aims to move towards a more sustainable agriculture, but also to democratise access to technology, fostering collaboration between experts, farmers and citizens.