Finding and using data for small scale applications of agrometeorological models such as yield forecasting at a European scale

Abstract

Since 1993, the European Union is operating a system for yield forecasting at the level of the membership countries and of large sub-national regions. Crops of interest are major cereals, oil and protein crops and olive and grapevine. Forecasts are valid at the level of the EU as a whole and of the EU memberstates. The system is operated by the Joint Research Center as part of the Project for the Application of Remote Sensing to Agricultural Statistics created in 1988 by the EU Council of Ministers. The main clients of the Project are the EU’s Directorate General for Agriculture and the European Statistical Office (EUROSTAT). Since 1996, a similar system is being developed for the central and eastern European countries and for the Maghreb area.