The Andalusian Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Carmen Crespo, presented the 'Siembra' tool at Fruit Attraction, a dedicated trade fair for fruits and vegetables operators celebrated in Madrid (Spain) on 4-6th of October. 'Siembra' is defined as a marketing platform that was born from the sector together with the Andalusian Government, specifically through the Pole of Technological Innovation of Agriculture 'Cita 4.0'.  

This new instrument is a smart agriculture tool that uses big data to collect information from previous campaigns and, thanks to the application of algorithms, make predictions about the campaigns. Crespo remarked that this is a very useful tool and an example of innovation driven by the public-private collaboration that demonstrates the potential of this thriving sector.

'Siembra' starts collecting data related to three protected horticultural products (pepper, aubergine and watermelon), but the aim is to include information on all the products that Andalusia has, especially fruits and vegetables, but also from other sectors. Farmers will be able to better plan their harvests and sell products also better, since it will allow them to predict possible barriers to market.

In addition to the data directly related to production, the platform also collects information from the agro-climatic stations of the Junta and the State Meteorological Agency; as well as commercial data from the biggest Spanish food markets: MercaMadrid, MercaBarna, MercaBilbao, and different auctions that provide information through the web pages called Agropizarras and Agroprecios.

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