UDRUZENJE POLJOPRIVREDNIKA OPSTINE RUMA

Their core work

UPOR is a grassroots farmers' association representing smallholder agricultural producers in Ruma municipality, in the Vojvodina region of Serbia. In EU research projects, they serve as an end-user community: providing real farms as test sites, mobilizing farmers to trial new technologies, and feeding back practical ground-truth observations that laboratory teams cannot generate on their own. Their two H2020 projects both relied on them to bridge the gap between satellite-derived earth observation data and what actually happens at field level on small farms. Most recently, they have been engaged in testing regenerative farming practices that generate verifiable soil carbon credits — placing them at the intersection of agricultural practice, climate action, and emerging carbon markets.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

UPOR's first H2020 project (APOLLO, 2016–2019) was squarely about practical farm management: using satellite imagery to give small farms better advisory information, with no recorded thematic keywords beyond the project title. Their second project (AgriCapture, 2021–2023) marked a clear pivot toward climate and carbon: all captured keywords — soil carbon sequestration, regenerative agriculture, carbon offsets, Copernicus — point to a sustainability and carbon-market framing rather than just productivity. The trajectory is short but coherent: from "how do satellites help farmers farm better" to "how do farmers generate carbon value from their land."

UPOR is moving from passive EO tool testing toward active involvement in soil carbon measurement and offset mechanisms — making them a credible end-user partner for any future project at the intersection of climate-smart agriculture and carbon markets in the Western Balkans.

How they like to work

UPOR has never led an H2020 project — both participations are as a consortium member, which reflects their role as a practitioner end-user rather than a technology developer or research institution. Despite their small footprint, they connected with 20 distinct partners across 9 countries through just two projects, suggesting they were placed in active, multi-stakeholder consortia rather than token appearances. Working with them means gaining access to a real farming community in Serbia: field sites, farmer willingness to trial new tools, and authentic feedback from non-technical users.

UPOR has built a surprisingly broad network for a two-project participant: 20 unique consortium partners spanning 9 countries, reflecting the international character of the EO-agriculture consortia they joined. Their geographic ties extend well beyond Serbia into Western and Northern Europe.

What sets them apart

UPOR fills a role that most EU consortia struggle to find: a credible, organized farmer community in the Western Balkans with direct experience in both earth observation tool trials and carbon farming practices. Serbia is not an EU member state, which makes UPOR useful for projects that need to demonstrate applicability beyond EU borders — a common requirement in Horizon Innovation Actions. For any consortium building around precision agriculture, carbon markets, or EO services for smallholders, they offer something no university or tech company can replicate: real farmers, real fields, and the trust of a local agricultural network.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AgriCapture
  The more thematically rich of the two projects, explicitly linking Copernicus earth observation, regenerative agriculture, and tradeable carbon offsets — placing UPOR at the frontier of climate-smart farming and carbon markets.
• APOLLO
  UPOR's first EU project and the higher-funded one (EUR 76,875), establishing their credentials as a field-validation partner for satellite-based farm advisory systems.