INSPIRE Knowledge Base
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CRA W

Description
Organisation: 
Walloon Agricultural Research Centre
Acronym: 
CRA W
Details
Mission and Objectives: 
The Walloon Agricultural Research Centre is a public multidisciplinary research institution covering the main fields of interest in agriculture, horticulture and forestry as well as the food processing industries and environmental sciences.
Formal Mandate: 
Regional Government
Mandate: 
The Walloon Agricultural Research Centre is the only public agricultural research (public interest organisations) under the Regional Government of Wallonia in Belgium (decree dated 3 July 2003 Moniteur Belge 18.07.2003)
Activities: 
Employing 450 staff over three sites (Gembloux, Libramont and Mussy la Ville), the institution is caring out fundamental and applied research and service activities to maintain sustainable agricultural production systems policy integrating environmental protection and conservation of natural resources, to place regional agriculture firmly in the context of society's expectations, specifically in terms of product safety, quality and functionality, to make Walloon regional products more competitive by introducing differentiated quality products, developing non food applications (biomass, biofuels, etc.) and encouraging the emergence of new plant and animal sectors , to adapt production systems to changing political (, economic, environmental (extreme climatic events , etc.) and social contexts and, to provide (spatial) decision support tools for public and private sector players (e.g. crop monitoring, risks management systems, soil monitoring...)
Membership: 
Federal and Regional ministries of Agriculture and Environment; Belgian Science policy (belspo); Research Institutes of various European Countries; Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain..
URL: 
http://cra.wallonie.be
Typology: 
Regional
Sectorial
Thematic
PROPOSED ROLE IN INSPIRE DEVELOPMENT

Which role(s) do you foresee for the SDIC in INSPIRE development

  • participate in the review process
    • yes
  • implement pilot projects to test/revise/develop the draft Implementing Rules
    • yes
  • collect and describe user requirements related to Environmental policies
    • yes
  • be kept informed
    • yes
    Geographic Domain
    Regional
    Walloon region
    Societal Sector
    Research
    Specific Expertise
    Specific Expertise: 
    Metadata
    Monitoring and Reporting
    Data Specifications
    Data and Service Sharing
    Previous Experience relevant for INSPIRE development
    Projects on distributed Spatial Decision Support Systems for the monitoring and the prediction of agricultural productions (Belgian Crop Growth Monitoring System), the monitoring and the management of natural risks (ADASCIS system) within the framework of the calamities Funds and the crop insurances schemes using Earth observation and agrometorological information, or the monitoring and the mapping of environment (Water & Soils pollutions due to agricultural practices at local and regional levels, processing and dissemination of soil information for agricultural soil fertility (REQUAUSD)...
    Environmental application domains
    Agricultural an environmental monitoring, Agricultural meteorology
    Primary Business
    Territorial monitoring; Mapping, Spatial Decision Support Systems, Remote Sensing, spatail data management and data exchange
    INSPIRE Data Themes
    Coordinator
    Soil, Land use, Utility and governmental services, Environmental monitoring Facilities, Agricultural and aquaculture facilities, Area management / restriction / regulation zones & reporting units, Meteorological geographical features, Bio-geographical regions, Species distribution
    Producer
    Land cover, Soil, Land use, Utility and governmental services, Environmental monitoring Facilities, Agricultural and aquaculture facilities, Area management / restriction / regulation zones & reporting units, Meteorological geographical features, Bio-geographical regions, Species distribution
    User
    Coordinate reference systems, Administrative units, Addresses, Cadastral parcels, Transport networks, Hydrography, Protected sites, Elevation, Land cover, Orthoimagery, Geology, Buildings, Soil, Land use, Human health and safety, Utility and governmental services, Environmental monitoring Facilities, Production and industrial facilities, Agricultural and aquaculture facilities, Area management / restriction / regulation zones & reporting units, Natural risk zones, Meteorological geographical features, Bio-geographical regions, Habitats and biotopes, Species distribution, Energy Resources