The Agricultural Cooperative of Pella (ACP, Greece) (ex. Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Giannitsa) was established in 1928, in Giannitsa, Greece. It comprises of 87 Cooperatives and 10,000 active members and keeps one of the first places in the Greek Second grade Agricultural Cooperative Organizations. Important operations of ACP are the gathering, transformation and advancement into the domestic and foreign markets of all agricultural products of the Pella region. Another role of the A.C. of Pella is to support the productive procedure equipped with the appropriate stuff and the adequate materialised and technological foundation (agriculturists, pharmaceutical etc.). The facilities of the A.C. of Pella include an 8,193 m2 Modern Canning Industry, a Cotton – gin, a seed oil mill, Sorting Bands & Fruit Freezers and 2 Corn – seeds Dryers.
ACP is the leading cooperative of Greece in G.I.S. technologies usage. In 2003, it was one of the 3 Greek cooperatives that participated in the research project of the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food for using for the first time in Greece G.I.S. tools for the needs of Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS). In 2004, ACP developed its own G.I.S. tools and made the first Earth Observation system for crop identification and area estimation in Greece with the cooperation of the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food. In 2007, ACP was awarded from the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food for the usage and promotion of G.I.S. tools in the Greek agri-food sector.
ACP has participated in the APOLLO project as the end user of the APOLLO platform and services. ACP’s role in the project was to engage end users to APOLLO project and platform as well as to conduct the field experiments in the fields of the farmers-members of the cooperative.
Role in the project:
ACP will be responsible for the implementation and coordination of the AgriBIT pilot case in Greece. The pilot case will be developed with regard of peach orchards. ACP is committed to motivate its members to test the AgriBIT solutions, and to disseminate the objectives and the results of the project to all interested stakeholders in the Greek region.