DAILY PRECIPITATION VARIABILITY IN SEMIARID AGRICULTURAL REGIONS IN MACEDONIA, GREECE

The spatio-temporal variability of daily precipitation series was investigated in a semiarid region of central Macedonia in northern Greece. Ten years of daily rainfall records for seven stations in the region constituted the data base. The spatial characteristics were examined by drawing composite correlation diagrams for the cool (October-March) season and the warm (April-September) season, and the results confirmed the regional homogeneity of the data sets. Furthermore, the temporal analysis indicated that the non-rainy days constituted the major portion of days throughout the year at all the stations. Similarly, light rainfall represented the majority of rainy days. Moreover, the annual rainfall variation showed high values in March, April and November with low values occurring in the summer and autumn. A sharp increase of rainfall between the 185th and the 195th day of the year must be taken into account when the harvest is scheduled. Harmonic and Power Spectrum analyses applied to the annual variation of rain depths using 5-day intervals revealed significant periodicities of 26, 122, 365 and 55 days. Finally the analysis of the annual variation of rain occurrences,revealed periodicities of 365 and 122 days

Agenda for transnational co-operation on energy efficiency in agriculture.

This report describes the stakeholder process set up by the AGREE project, to produce an Agenda for Transnational Cooperation in R&D on the topic of energy efficiency in agriculture. In six of the partner countries, represting a wide variety of agro-climatic conditions, stakeholders from across the value chain and representing the enabling environment, came together to discuss and identify opportunities and bottlenecks for an energy efficient agriculture for the future. The resulting lists were analysed and clustered to produce nine potential topics for energy efficiency R&D in EU agriculture. In a transnational meeting with representatives from each of the participating countries, as well as from the External Advisory Board, R&D themes were identified and prioritised to produce a list of eleven R&D areas: 1. Sensor technology 2. Agro-residue valorisation 3. Operational groups (energy efficiency networks) 4. Integrative solutions 5. Socio-economic scenarios research 6. Definitions and data exchange 7. Decision Support System (DSS) tools for farmers 8. Design tools 9. Local food strategies 10.Soil and water management 11.Farm machinery In this report the above mentioned areas are explained and described and finally suggestions for the potential embedding of each of the items is discussed