The current organisational structure was established on 26 March 2021, and its legal predecessor was the DE AKIT DTTI Agrometeorological and Agroecological Monitoring Centre. The transformation primarily served as the basis for an independent appearance, while the name change marked the establishment of the actual R&D&I area.
The R&D&I program of the organizational unit is diverse in arable and horticultural projects, but the common priority is to optimize the quality and quantity of food/feed production to compensate for the negative effects of the constantly changing climate and agricultural environment. The organizational unit develops and provides innovative precision crop production technologies, products, and services related to precision, site-specific cultivation adapted to the unique characteristics of the Carpathian Basin. Based on the achieved results and practical experience, the organizational unit's R&D&I services have developed a high degree of complexity, where the investigation and analysis of the soil-plant-climate system occur simultaneously.
The common origin of the research areas is the determination of anomalies resulting from the spatial heterogeneity of climatic and edaphic factors and the modelling of plant development and growth in this constantly changing environment. One of the key areas of the first decade was the comparative study of geophysical and spectrum-based data collection methods, methodological developments, and the development of the infrastructure and related services necessary for precision surveys.
The foundation for the organisational unit's climate research was laid by Gábor Szász in close collaboration with the pioneering professors Dénes Berényi, Ernő Bocz and Jakab Loch. A measurement program, more comprehensive than the previous observation stations operating at the university, began in June 1963 at the Kismacs Agrometeorological Observatory, serving both scientific and practical needs at a high level. The backbone of the observatory's activities consists of climate observations, measurements of energy and material transport processes in the surface boundary layer, soil energy and material transport, and solar energy fluxes and balances. In addition to traditional ground-based observations, remote sensing research for agrometeorological purposes, which is unique in Hungary, has also been conducted at the measuring station.
As guardians of intellectual and infrastructural heritage, our organisational unit, thanks to continuous developments and expansions, already provides the university community with basic and modelled agrometeorological data from three measuring stations, which is an indispensable part of the annual obligations of an average of 25-30 university lecturers, researchers, PhD students, and university students in fulfilling their obligations (thesis, professional articles, PhD dissertations, research reports). In addition to maintaining and developing the measurement network, we also provide professional assistance in planning measurement programs for new measuring stations and in producing high-quality databases (calibration, measurement program development).
These developments and the research conducted on an average of 1,500-2,500 hectares of land each year form the basis of our R&D services, promoting the effective use of precision farming technologies. The organizational unit is fully open to bilateral, multidisciplinary cooperation, with a focus on student initiatives.
Best regards, The PNK team