AGRIDIGIT
Scientific director: Marcello Donatelli
Typology: National
Status: In progress
Duration: 2018-2023
Funding bodies: Mipaaf
The AgriDigit project provides for coordination and six sub-projects involving several Operating Units, with a very different scientific characterisation:
AGROFILIERE, the sub-project “Agro-Food Chain”, is aimed at:
- advanced systems for agronomic and agri-environmental management and for the evaluation of the vegetative and phytosanitary state, ripeness and quality of the products in the field,
- systems and applications for smart farming, monitoring and control of agricultural activities,
- mechatronic systems and applications and digital interface on tractors and self-propelled and for robotics in the field,
- systems and applications on operating machines for the main cultivation operations,
- advanced digital and mechatronic applications for quality horticultural and horticultural supply chains, for the cereal chain and other grain crops,
- Sensors and digital data networking for quality in food processing processes,
- applications for product quality control in precision logistics
AGROMODELLI, the “Agro-Models” sub-project, includes infrastructural activities and applications both in real time and for scenario analysis, based on biophysical forecasting models. The information produced provides support for management decisions regarding irrigation, fertilisation, soil operations, pathogens and pest control, grassland cut, product quality. These services will be made accessible as they are through tablets and smartphones implementation, but also as data and information that can be used in different applications.
SELVICOLTURA, the sub-project “Forestry”, targets the development and testing of innovative methods and technologies for the enhancement of the national forest heritage and the development of its production chains:
- innovative tools for inventorying and managing wood resources
- ICT systems to support the collection of woody biomass from forest and woody plantations, based on standardised decision support systems (DSS),
- technological systems for the logistics of operations in forestry and wood plantations,
- electroniccomputer based technologies (RFiD sensors) to ensure high-quality and traceability of woody products
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE COVEN AND BUFALINE MILK WIRE, is aimed at optimizing the efficiency of the livestock farms involved in the supply chain of cattle and buffalo milk production. The main objective is the development of an integrated business management system, implementing the approach and related techniques of precision livestock farming.
VITICOLTURA, the sub-project “Viticulture”, involves the detection through satellite images and acquisitions from ultralight (airborne), the use of hyperspectral sensors capable of acquiring profiles of specific absorption due to chemical bonds in solids, liquids and gases. The water status of the vineyard and soil and the vigour of the plots, linked to their nutritional status, will also be monitored. The spectral imprint of some ampelopathies (diseases, bacteria and viruses, including those transmitted by vector insects) will be studied to act early and in a circumscribed manner on the first outbreaks. In order to guarantee the varietal origin and its traceability right from the vineyard, the spectral varietal signatures will be studied in order to arrive at a rapid varietal identification.
The sub-project AGRIINFO aims to report in cartography, on a geo-referenced basis and available from the relevant institutes, all relevant phenomena in agriculture. These will include surveys carried out using different tools for type, use and evaluation criteria subsequently homogenised to facilitate the extension to all sensors and all research projects that can be activated. The aim is to create one of the first HUBs of the scientific survey in Italy to make available, at all levels of research, the first national BigData in Agriculture.
The project
Objectives
The project develops a system of knowledge on a sample scale at company level, identifying the most advanced areas of Precision Agriculture, modeling, sensors and information technology, on which to graft prototypes able to achieve, during the three years of activity, at least one of the following objectives:
- Increase profitability via either or both the reduction of production costs or/and the increase of quality;
- Increase environmental sustainability via the reduction of chemical inputs, detected water or soil consumption, observed harmful emissions;
- Increase of the awareness and interest of the consumer by way of access to information about the origin of products, their production and transformation, nutritional content and qualitative parameters.
Methodologies
The above objectives are achieved through an integrated approach to the application of precision digital technologies (electronics, mechatronics, information technology, telecommunications), in a highly interconnected conceptual, logical and operational framework of global innovation in the sector.