The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Checks by Monitoring (CbM) replaces the on-the-spot-checks presently used to verify that area-based direct aid is granted correctly to EU farmers. This alternative control method is implemented through Article 40a of the implementing regulation (EU) 809/2014, and may be used since 2018. The CbM primarily relies on automatic methods to conclude on the CAP eligibility criteria, commitments and obligations from regular and systematic Copernicus Sentinel imagery. For some agricultural parcels, the spatial resolution of the Sentinel imagery could be insufficient to conclude on the support (eligibility, compliance). For this reason, the use of High High Resolution (HHR) image data has been considered to verify and possibly complement the results obtained using Sentinel data. This document summarizes the experiences of four MS Regions use of HHR data for their CbM in the crop season 2019, and compares them with the assessments made by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) either in collaboration or in parallel.
A consortium formed by Planet Labs Germany GmbH and GAF AG was awarded a contract to deliver the required HHR data consisting of archive Time Stacks (TSs) and raster representations (image chips) of selected parcels. The four MS Regions covered by HHR TSs were Denmark (delivery of 800 TS), Malta (250), Italy (7,997), and finally Spain (7,190) giving a total of 16,237 TSs.
As outcomes of the tests, there is a common agreement that S2 and Planet Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) profiles are very comparable even for small parcels. However, the four MS Regions consider that the TSs, and especially the accompanying image chips, are useful in the CbM processing chain. The experiences reveal that certain parameters need to be further optimized to make the use more effective (i.e. producing the right result). First of all, it is essential to correctly determine the set of (small, narrow, etc.) parcels that should compose the HHR TS set i.e. to use the correct FOIs for input in the automatic CbM processing. A correctly extracted FOI may already solve many inconclusive parcels composing it. Then, other parameters to fine-tune are the optimization of ingest time, to ease the access to data, to increase the availability of image chips, and finally it is also suggested that MS Administrations should have a clear vision of where in their workflow the TS and image chips are needed.
In this context, it is also appropriate to mention the possible future need of HHR reference within the frame of the CbM process where the spatial, and heterogeneity components of the parcel (or correct FOI) may allow to extract more relevant information than the sole use of the temporal component. The document ends with some ideas on the way forwards.JRC.D.5-Food Securit
