=Paper= {{Paper |id=Vol-2761/HAICTA_2020_editorial |storemode=property |title=None |pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2761/HAICTA_2020_editorial.pdf |volume=Vol-2761 }} ==None== https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2761/HAICTA_2020_editorial.pdf 
                                    Editorial
    In today’s world, innovation and technology are the tools for tackling the various
types of crises and challenges that humanity and the planet face. The primary sector
is suffering greatly from the effects of crises - economic, social and environmental -
while being called upon to meet the challenges of global population growth, climate
change and environmental protection. In this context, the Hellenic Association for
Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture, Food and
Environment (HAICTA) organizes every two years conferences/discussions around
ICT-related research applications, innovative methodologies and practices that can
contribute to sustainable development of rural areas, rational use of natural resources
by agriculture, and rural planning. This debate is more urgent today than ever before,
as humanity experiences a new type of crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic.
    HAICTA is the Greek Branch of European Federation for Information
Technology in Agriculture (EFITA). The series of HAICTA conferences are an
international venue for research and development in ICT in rural development and
constitute a leading international professional and scientific forum for IT experts,
agronomists, geotechnical and agri-food scientists, environmentalists, foresters,
water engineers, spatial engineers, and decision-makers. These conferences
constitute an interdisciplinary forum in which researchers, practitioners, and policy
makers have the opportunity to present and discuss the recent developments on IT
technologies and the various applications they are utilized in agricultural production.
    The present volume contains the peer reviewed proceedings of the Ninth
International Conference on ICTs in Agriculture, Food and Environment (HAICTA
2020), that took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, September 24-27, 2020.
    The Conference was organized by HAICTA, the University of Macedonia, and
the University of Western Macedonia. The conference was supported by the
Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Centre of
Research and Technology, Hellas, and the Hellenic Agricultural Organization
“Dimiter”.
    The conference received 109 paper submissions, out of which 94 were accepted.
The top ten technical areas covered by the accepted papers (as indicated by the
primary keyword assigned by paper authors) were Innovation in Farms and Rural
Areas, Decision Support Systems, Precision Technologies in Crop and Livestock
Production SystemsFarm and Animal Health Monitoring and Data Recording
Systems, Information Systems, Environmental Impact Assessment, Innovations in
Food Hygiene and the Production of High Quality Food, Environmental Design and
Policy, Environmental-friendly farm and livestock production and Agro-ecology,
Internet of Things, Sensor, RFID and Mobile/Wireless Network Applications,
Modelling and Simulation in Climate Change, Water Resources Management. Out of
those 94 papers, 18 where short papers, 31 submissions were abstracts and 33 papers
where presented as e-posters. Finally, 12 papers were presented in the Doctoral
Consortium. Adapting to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the
authors presented their work either in person or digitally.
    We are grateful to all authors who submitted papers to the conference. We also
had the honour to collaborate with an excellent group of 67 reviewers who delivered




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175 reviews of the submitted manuscripts, providing fruitful comments to the
presenting members of the Conference. HAICTA 2020 used a blind review process
and each submitted abstract or short paper was evaluated by two reviewers, who
provided their ratings and valuable comments. We are also grateful to the invited
keynote speaker Prof. Maurizio Canavari who presented his recent research activity
in the HAICTA community through his quite interesting presentation. We would also
like to thank the Organizing Committee Chairs and the Conference Chairs for their
support to our task.
    The HAICTA 2020 proceedings illustrate new research findings presented in a
very difficult timing, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope and believe that this
experience, of organizing and delivering a Conference under such uncertainty, will
not happen again. Finally, we would like to thank again all the contributors of this
Conference, because for both scientific and organizing committees it was a great
challenge to finally decide to organize this Conference.



                                   The Editors,

          George Vlontzos                                Stavriani Koutsou
         University of Thessaly                     International Hellenic University




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