Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data
Greening is a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidy that ensures that all EU farmers receiving income support produce climate and environmental benefits as part of their farming activities. To receive greening support, it is mandatory for the farmer to carry out three agricultural practices that...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-02-01
|
| Series: | Agronomy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/2/406 |
| _version_ | 1797483704564580352 |
|---|---|
| author | Filippo Sarvia Samuele De Petris Enrico Borgogno-Mondino |
| author_facet | Filippo Sarvia Samuele De Petris Enrico Borgogno-Mondino |
| author_sort | Filippo Sarvia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Greening is a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidy that ensures that all EU farmers receiving income support produce climate and environmental benefits as part of their farming activities. To receive greening support, it is mandatory for the farmer to carry out three agricultural practices that are considered environmentally and climate friendly: (a) crop diversification; (b) maintenance of permanent meadows and pastures; and (c) presence of an Ecological Focus Area (EFA). Contributions are delivered and monitored by paying agencies (PP) that ordinarily perform administrative checks and spot checks. The latter are provided through photo-interpretation of high-resolution satellite or aerial images and, in specific cases, through local ground checks (GC) as well. In this work, stimulated by the Piemonte Regional Agency for Payments in Agriculture (ARPEA), a prototype service to support PPs’ controls within the greening CAP framework was proposed with special concern for EFA detection. The proposed approach is expected to represent a valid alternative or supporting tool for GC. It relies on the analysis of NDVI time series derived from Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. The study was conducted in the provinces of Turin, Asti and Vercelli within the Piedmont Region (NW Italy), and over 12,500 EFA fields were assessed. Since the recent National Report No. 5465 stipulates that mowing and any other soil management operation is prohibited on set-aside land designated as an EFA during the reference period (RP) between 1st March and 30th June, a time series (TS) of NDVI in the same period was generated. Once averaged at plot level, NDVI trends were modelled by a first-order polynomial, and the correspondent statistics (namely, <i>R</i><sup>2</sup>, <i>MAE</i> and maximum residual) was computed. These were assumed to play the role of discriminants in EFA detection based on a thresholding approach (Otsu’s method), calibrated with reference to the training dataset. The threshold satisfaction was therefore tested, and, depending on the number of satisfied thresholds out of the possible three, EFA and non-EFA plots were detected with a different degree of reliability. The correspondent EFA map was generated for the area of interest and validated according to GCs as provided by the ARPEA. The results showed an overall accuracy of 84%, indicating that the approach is promising. The authors retain that this procedure represents a valid alternative (or integrating) tool for ground controls by PPs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:50:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f49e44c7c73844f5ad921b1a0845ee52 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:50:52Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agronomy |
| spelling | doaj.art-f49e44c7c73844f5ad921b1a0845ee522023-11-23T18:21:30ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952022-02-0112240610.3390/agronomy12020406Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 DataFilippo Sarvia0Samuele De Petris1Enrico Borgogno-Mondino2Department of Agriculture, Forest and Food Sciences of Torino University, Largo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Forest and Food Sciences of Torino University, Largo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Forest and Food Sciences of Torino University, Largo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, ItalyGreening is a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidy that ensures that all EU farmers receiving income support produce climate and environmental benefits as part of their farming activities. To receive greening support, it is mandatory for the farmer to carry out three agricultural practices that are considered environmentally and climate friendly: (a) crop diversification; (b) maintenance of permanent meadows and pastures; and (c) presence of an Ecological Focus Area (EFA). Contributions are delivered and monitored by paying agencies (PP) that ordinarily perform administrative checks and spot checks. The latter are provided through photo-interpretation of high-resolution satellite or aerial images and, in specific cases, through local ground checks (GC) as well. In this work, stimulated by the Piemonte Regional Agency for Payments in Agriculture (ARPEA), a prototype service to support PPs’ controls within the greening CAP framework was proposed with special concern for EFA detection. The proposed approach is expected to represent a valid alternative or supporting tool for GC. It relies on the analysis of NDVI time series derived from Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. The study was conducted in the provinces of Turin, Asti and Vercelli within the Piedmont Region (NW Italy), and over 12,500 EFA fields were assessed. Since the recent National Report No. 5465 stipulates that mowing and any other soil management operation is prohibited on set-aside land designated as an EFA during the reference period (RP) between 1st March and 30th June, a time series (TS) of NDVI in the same period was generated. Once averaged at plot level, NDVI trends were modelled by a first-order polynomial, and the correspondent statistics (namely, <i>R</i><sup>2</sup>, <i>MAE</i> and maximum residual) was computed. These were assumed to play the role of discriminants in EFA detection based on a thresholding approach (Otsu’s method), calibrated with reference to the training dataset. The threshold satisfaction was therefore tested, and, depending on the number of satisfied thresholds out of the possible three, EFA and non-EFA plots were detected with a different degree of reliability. The correspondent EFA map was generated for the area of interest and validated according to GCs as provided by the ARPEA. The results showed an overall accuracy of 84%, indicating that the approach is promising. The authors retain that this procedure represents a valid alternative (or integrating) tool for ground controls by PPs.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/2/406CAP controlsEcological Focus Area detectioncontrols in agricultureSentinel-2 prototype serviceNDVI time series assessment |
| spellingShingle | Filippo Sarvia Samuele De Petris Enrico Borgogno-Mondino Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data Agronomy CAP controls Ecological Focus Area detection controls in agriculture Sentinel-2 prototype service NDVI time series assessment |
| title | Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data |
| title_full | Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data |
| title_fullStr | Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data |
| title_short | Mapping Ecological Focus Areas within the EU CAP Controls Framework by Copernicus Sentinel-2 Data |
| title_sort | mapping ecological focus areas within the eu cap controls framework by copernicus sentinel 2 data |
| topic | CAP controls Ecological Focus Area detection controls in agriculture Sentinel-2 prototype service NDVI time series assessment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/2/406 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT filipposarvia mappingecologicalfocusareaswithintheeucapcontrolsframeworkbycopernicussentinel2data AT samueledepetris mappingecologicalfocusareaswithintheeucapcontrolsframeworkbycopernicussentinel2data AT enricoborgognomondino mappingecologicalfocusareaswithintheeucapcontrolsframeworkbycopernicussentinel2data |