Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being increasingly used for the spraying of pesticides for crop protection in complex geographic terrains that are not easily accessible by operators. This experiment was conducted to investigate the sprayer performance of a commercial UAV, equipped with different types of nozzles, and compare this new technology with the sprayers usually used on small size mountain vineyards (i.e. a knapsack sprayer and a sprayer gun). Field tests were conducted in a small high slope terraced vineyard. The operative parameters of the sprayers were calculated. Data on droplet coverage, density and size were collected by using water sensitive papers attached with clips to the leaves and analysed. The results showed that the working capacity of the UAV was 2-fold that of the sprayer gun 1.6-fold that of the knapsack sprayer. Droplet coverage, density and size were variable and affected by the position of the targets (water sensitive papers) and the type of sprayer used.
This study shows a new methodological proposal for wine farm management, as a result of the progressive development of the technological innovations and their adoption. The study was carried out in Italy involving farmers, workers, or owners of wine farms who are progressively introducing or using precision agriculture technologies on their farm. The methodology proposed was divided in four stages (1. understanding the changes in action; 2. identifying the added value of Smart Farming processes; 3. verifying the reliability of new technologies; 4. adjusting production processes) that can be applied at different levels in vine farms to make the adoption of precision agriculture techniques and technologies harmonious and profitable. Data collection was carried out using a participant-observer method in brainstorming sessions, where the authors reflected on the significance of technology adoption means and how to put them in practice, and interviews, questionnaire surveys, diaries, and observations. Moreover, project activities and reports provided auxiliary data. The findings highlighted the issues of a sector which, although with broad investment and finance options, lacks a structure of human, territorial, and organizational resources for the successful adoption of technological innovations. The work represents a basis for the future development of models for strategic scenario planning and risk assessments for farmers, policymakers, and scientists.
During the last decades in Italy the wine sector focused on the environmental sustainability of the production processes, including the agricultural, the agro-industrial and the packaging phases. Recent surveys highlighted that the wine consumers are interested in the environmental certifications, even if they are not familiar with them. Several environmental pressures can be evaluated in the viticulture phase, but an elevated number of the analysed impacts require the collection of a large set of input data and significant efforts during the elaboration phase. Therefore, the aim of the present work was the identification of the inventory data and impacts, which mainly describe the environmental pressures associated with the viticulture phase. Particularly, the results of the life cycle assessment (LCA) were integrated with those of a model and a simplified approach for evaluating the risks due to the pesticides use. The LCA identified three phases, which are responsible of 70-80% of the CO2eq (CO2 equivalent), the cumulated energy utilisation, the acidification potential (expressed in SO2 equivalent) and the eutrophication (expressed in PO4 equivalent), i.e. the harvesting, the crop protection and the ligature. The phase of the pesticides use was analysed also through the pesticides risk indicator (PERI) model and a simplified approach elaborated by the Regional Agency for the Environment Protection in Tuscany, Italy. Results concerning the environmental risk showed that the PERI model, the Arpat approach and the LCA were coherent for the pesticide mix highlighting that the associated environmental risk is more than doubled from 2004 to 2010. Finally, some operative indications were elaborated in order to reduce the impacts and improve the local and global environmental sustainability of the viticulture phase.
The sustainable use of pesticide and the need of a renewed integrated system of agricultural knowledge and management, focus the designing of the EU FP7 RHEA Project. The objectives are the design, development, and testing of a new automatic generation of robotic systems to perform field operations for the sustainable crop management. The project affects three case study: chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal effective weed management in maize and wheat cultivations and chemical pesticide management in woody crops. To achieve the goals, a fleet of small and heterogeneous robots, ground and aerial, equipped with advanced sensors, innovative end actuators and decision control algorithms were realized. Present work is related to the third case study considered i.e. the spraying in woody crops specifically in olive trees. The final decision on woody perennial crops treatment device system, was oriented toward a complete double side air blast sprayer with eight separate spraying modules on four vertical bands of the canopy. Rhea air blast sprayer introduces some important innovations in the studies concerning the pesticide variable rate treatment, i.e. the management possibility of air flow in site specific way and in real time in function of the target. IntroductionOur society is evermore demanding lower impacts on environment and higher standards in food safety. The new Community rules on the risks reduction to the environment and food safety require a breakthrough innovation in all sectors especially in agriculture at which there is a strong pressure due to the remarkable use of chemicals. The sustainable use of PPP (Plant Protection Products) (Vieri & Spugnoli, 1996), the need of a renewed integrated system of agricultural knowledge and management, focus the designing of the EU FP7 RHEA Project (Robot fleets Highly for Effective Agriculture and forestry management).The objectives of the RHEA project are the design, development, and testing of a new automatic generation of robotic systems to perform field operations for the sustainable crop management. To achieve this goal, a fleet of small and heterogeneous robots -ground and aerialequipped with advanced sensors, innovative end actuators and decision control algorithms was realized. RHEA can be considered a cooperative robotic system, falling within an emerging area of research and technology.Six integrated modules make up the RHEA system: Mission Manager (MM), Perception System (PS), Communication and location System (CS), Actuation System (AC) divided into High Level and Low Level Decision, Mobile Units (MUs) and the Base Station and Graphic User Interfaces (GUI) (Gonzales et al., 2011). The project affects three case study: chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal effective weed management in maize and wheat cultivations and chemical pesticide management in woody crops. Present work is related to the third case study considered i.e. the mobile unit development for spraying in woody crops specifically in olive trees. The design involved the anal...
The sustainable use of pesticide and the need of a renewed integrated system of agricultural knowledge and management, focus the designing of the EU FP7 RHEA Project. The objectives are the design, development, and testing of a new automatic generation of robotic systems to perform field operations for the sustainable crop management. The project affects three case study: chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal effective weed management in maize and wheat cultivations and chemical pesticide management in woody crops. To achieve the goals, a fleet of small and heterogeneous robots, ground and aerial, equipped with advanced sensors, innovative end actuators and decision control algorithms were realized. Present work is related to the third case study considered i.e. the spraying in woody crops specifically in olive trees. The final decision on woody perennial crops treatment device system, was oriented toward a complete double side air blast sprayer with eight separate spraying modules on four vertical bands of the canopy. Rhea air blast sprayer introduces some important innovations in the studies concerning the pesticide variable rate treatment, i.e. the management possibility of air flow in site specific way and in real time in function of the target. IntroductionOur society is evermore demanding lower impacts on environment and higher standards in food safety. The new Community rules on the risks reduction to the environment and food safety require a breakthrough innovation in all sectors especially in agriculture at which there is a strong pressure due to the remarkable use of chemicals. The sustainable use of PPP (Plant Protection Products) (Vieri & Spugnoli, 1996), the need of a renewed integrated system of agricultural knowledge and management, focus the designing of the EU FP7 RHEA Project (Robot fleets Highly for Effective Agriculture and forestry management).The objectives of the RHEA project are the design, development, and testing of a new automatic generation of robotic systems to perform field operations for the sustainable crop management. To achieve this goal, a fleet of small and heterogeneous robots -ground and aerialequipped with advanced sensors, innovative end actuators and decision control algorithms was realized. RHEA can be considered a cooperative robotic system, falling within an emerging area of research and technology.Six integrated modules make up the RHEA system: Mission Manager (MM), Perception System (PS), Communication and location System (CS), Actuation System (AC) divided into High Level and Low Level Decision, Mobile Units (MUs) and the Base Station and Graphic User Interfaces (GUI) (Gonzales et al., 2011). The project affects three case study: chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal effective weed management in maize and wheat cultivations and chemical pesticide management in woody crops. Present work is related to the third case study considered i.e. the mobile unit development for spraying in woody crops specifically in olive trees. The design involved the anal...
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