Monitoring Agricultural ResourceS (MARS)
For the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Commission needs timely information on the agricultural production to be expected in the current season. This is a main concern of the MARS-project (Monitoring Agricultural ResourceS) of the AGRI4CAST and FOODSEC units of the Directorate General Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy).
The MARS project, started in 1988, was initially designed to apply emerging space technologies for providing independent and timely information on crop areas and yields. Since 1993, driven by user requirements, the team has contributed towards a more effective and efficient management of the Common Agricultural Policy through the provision of a broader range of technical support services to DG Agriculture and Member-State Administrations. Since 2000, the expertise in crop yields has been applied outside the EU. Services have been developed to support EU aid and assistance policies and provide building blocks for a European capability for global agricultural monitoring and food security assessment.
The Monitoring Agricultural ResourceS (MARS) Unit has been created on July 15th 2007 as a split of the MARS actions (PAC, STAT and FOOD) and the FISHREG action. Today, the Monitoring Agricultural ResourceS Unit is made up of four Actions: GeoCAP (ex-MARS PAC), AGRI4CAST (ex-MARS STAT), FOODSEC and CID.
The MARS Unit provides scientific and technical support on EU Agriculture and Food Security policies.
- In Europe, the Unit addresses key issues related to the management and control of the Common Agriculture Policy: Independent crop yield forecasts, agricultural insurances, standard control methods of area based subsidies, compliance with environment, and effect of climate change. It supports EU projects related to Land Administration, the enlargement process, and the GMES Space Component.
- In developing countries, assistance is given to the EU Food Security Thematic Program with special emphasis on Africa, and to providing building blocks for an European capacity for Global Agriculture Monitoring.
The activities of the Unit are based on expertise in agro- meteorological crop modelling, sampling methods, econometrics, geomatics (GIS, GPS and ICT), and satellite & airborne remote-sensing (the Unit manages the EC Framework Contracts for the provision of Satellite Remote Sensing data and manages the access/dissemination of EU image data archives).
The expertise developed within MARS integrates research and techniques in:
- Statistics (e.g. area frame sampling)
- Image processing and interpretation (satellite or air-borne)
- GIS management & web-based information technology
- Geomatics and GPS (orthophotos, large scale mapping, parcel measurement)
- Agrometeorological models (crop growth / yield)
- Standardisation and Quality Control
The MARS web viewer offers wide variety of information about the current agricultural season in Europe and other important agricultural areas in the world.
Available products include:
- Graphs and maps of weather indicators based on observations and numerical weather models
- Graphs and maps of crop indicators based on agro-meteorological models
- Graphs and maps of vegetation indices and cumulated dry matter based on remote sensing images
Website: