At the end of last summer, a local workshop was held at the pilot farm ZD Kvetna (Svitavy region, Czechia).
The workshop, dedicated to agricultural cooperatives and local authorities, was actively attended by twelve participants. Among the participants, we counted some representatives of agricultural cooperatives from around ZD Kvetna, representatives of two local municipalities and one representative of the local secondary agricultural school in Litomysl.
The workshop aimed to introduce new technologies and assess to what extent the participants of this specific local context could know and accept new pioneering technologies in their daily work.
In particular, this workshop consisted of three main parts:
- First introduction of the GUARDIANS project
- Presentation of GUARDIANS’ Tech#3 – GrassGuard, drones for grassland care. This technology is provided by The University of Prague (CZU) in cooperation with the ZD Květná pilot farm
- Practical demonstration of remote sensing and GIS (Geographic Information System) use in rural areas, including the use of a drone to monitor pastures.
Participants also had the chance to exchange ideas about the advantages and concerns of the technologies presented during the workshop.
As Ing. Nechvíle from ZD Kvetna drew their attention to the easy actions needed to use a drone, even only to photograph pastures, all participants were involved in an active and fruitful debate about the know-how in using technologies and the initial investment needed to own these smart solutions.
Finally, in general, the participants agreed that technologies usually are user-friendly and not too financially demanding.
The meeting took place in a friendly and collaborative spirit. All participants showed a real interest in modern technologies, especially aerial photography using UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).
