The RuralCat digital platform was created by the Departament d’Acció Climàtica, Alimentació i Agenda Rural de la Generalitat de Catalunya. It is a website open to professionals of agri-food sector where, among other applications, it generates decision support systems for the management of pests and diseases affecting several crops in Catalonia. These systems correspond to pest and disease risk forecasting models based on environmental and phenological parameters.

This demonstration project is focused on plant disease models. Disease models currently implemented on the platform need to be updated and improved for their use. Additionally, new models of other relevant diseases and crops are needed to be included. For these reasons, the project deals to update and improve the five disease models of tree fruit and grapevine currently implemented, as well as their evaluation and validation. Nine disease prediction models of pome fruit (apple scab, brown spot of pear, bacterial blight), stone fruit and almond (bacterial spot of stone fruit), walnut (walnut blight), olive (olive leaf spot) and grapevine (downy mildew) will be included. The models resulting in a favorable evaluation and validation for their use in Catalonia will be implemented on the RuralCat website. Guides for the use of these models will also be elaborated, indicating how they work and the criteria to establish the decision thresholds.

This project has a duration of 2 years, until June 2024.