Area Monitoring System (AMS)
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
Simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been a top priority for the EU in recent times. Modernising the CAP through the use of technology for management and administrative purposes is seen as a key component in achieving simplification. The Area Monitoring System (AMS) is an example of how the use of new innovative technologies can aid in modernising the agricultural sector.
The draft regulations for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) provide for the compulsory use of the Area Monitoring System (AMS) in Member States to monitor performance with and outputs of participation by beneficiaries in various land-based CAP interventions. This new approach represents a major change in the management and control of the CAP.
A transitional period until the end of 2024 for the introduction of the AMS has been proposed. To facilitate the implementation of the AMS, a phased introduction is being implemented by Ireland for various schemes over the interim period. The first phase will see the introduction of Checks by Monitoring (CbM) for the Protein Aid Scheme in 2021. Checks by Monitoring is an automated and continuous process which will use Satellite data along with other data sources to determine the agricultural activity on all land parcels declared by farmers under the Protein Aid Scheme in 2021.
Introducing the AMS approach in Ireland has many significant benefits for farmers. These include a reduction in the number of on-farm inspections and the introduction of warning alerts to farmers which will help to minimise the occurrence of non-compliances. Such alerts will facilitate farmers to implement appropriate changes at farm level to ensure continue compliance with scheme requirements and avoid penalties.
AMS is defined as the regular and systematic observation, tracking and assessment of agricultural activities and practices on agricultural areas by Copernicus Sentinel Satellite data or other data with at least equivalent value.
The AMS will interpret Sentinel satellite imagery to provide decisions on agricultural activity on all declared land parcels of which there are approximately 1.1 million in Ireland. This will be done automatically using computer algorithms and continuously throughout the year.
The main source of data for the AMS will be the EU’s freely available Sentinel 1 (Radar) and Sentinel 2 (Optical) satellite imagery. Imagery is available every 3-5 days from the Sentinel Satellites. The use of photographs (Ortho photos) and satellite images for checking compliance with area-based supports has been in places for many years.
The principle behind the AMS is that the information from the sentinel satellites will be used to determine agricultural activity in the parcel. The Sentinel 1 satellite provides radar imagery using the reflectance of microwave signals that are beamed to earth by the satellite. One of the advantages of Sentinel 1 imagery is that it is not affected by cloud cover as the microwave signals produced by the satellite can penetrate through the clouds. The Sentinel 1 imagery is influenced by different features such as canopy structure, volume and water content and soil surface roughness. For example, an abrupt change in signal reflectance could indicate rough ground and therefore indicate ploughing may have occurred. Sentinel 1 data is useful on arable land where activities like ploughing and harvesting are more pronounced and therefore easier to identify. Permanent pasture activities such as grazing and mowing are more difficult to identity with Sentinel 1 because, even with mowing, there is still vegetation, however short, left on the ground.
The Sentinel 2 satellite provides low resolution optical imagery which is in general more suitable for identifying bare and (partly) vegetated soil, vegetation characteristics, photosynthetic activity (an indication of vegetation/crop growth) and non-agricultural land cover (e.g. water, forest, built-up areas). Unlike Sentinel 1, Sentinel 2 imagery is affected by cloud cover. This is a considerable challenge as Ireland tends to have more than its fair share of cloudy days.
The AMS requires the development of an automated data processing system which will combine this data from Sentinel along with multiple other data sources to produce the required information on the crop types and agricultural activity on all the declared land parcels. The land parcels are assessed using a system of coloured flags assigned to each parcel/holding (traffic light system). A green flag indicates the parcel is compliant, a yellow flag indicates a potential noncompliance or that the results are inconclusive, and a red flag means the parcel is considered non-compliant and a financial reduction may be applied.