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sequences that an uncontrolled fight against them can cause
to final products’ quality and healthiness. The second one is
scheduled on April 1
st
and presents the cooperation projects
carried out by Umbria within the RDP concerning precision
agriculture and weather forecast. On the same day is also
scheduled an in-depth meeting organized by the Umbria As-
sociation of Outsourcers, a member association of Uncai. Dur-
ing the exhibition will be presented the 2017 edition of EIMA
Show, the demonstration days on agricultural mechanization
that FederUnacoma has been promoting since 1992 in sev-
eral parts of Italy, and that this year will be held in Umbria.
Organized by the Federation jointly with Coldiretti Umbria, Um-
briaFiere, University of Perugia and with two other institutes
linked to the Federation itself – Fondazione per l’Istruzione
Agraria (Agricultural Education Foundation) and Centro per
lo sviluppo agricolo e rurale (Centre for agricultural and rur-
al development), field tests are scheduled on July 28 and 29
and are dedicated to machinery and equipment for precision
agriculture. The official conference for the launch of EIMA
Show Umbria (hosted in the Casalina farm of Deruta) is sched-
uled on Friday, March 31 at 3 pm, in the Convention Center
(Hall A) Agriumbria, with the participation of the presidents
of various promoters and the Agricultural Councillor of the
Umbria Region, Fernanda Cecchini. As already announced in
the previous months, during the inauguration of the Trade
Fair will be awarded the winners of the Prize promoted by the
Umbrian trade fair body in collaboration with the University
of Perugia and Edagricole publisher in commemoration of the
journalist Antonio Ricci, who passed away last year.
13
n. 3-4/2017
by Alessio Bolognesi
E
IMA Show exhibition of machinery and technologies, that
will be held in Umbria at the end of July is a particularly
interesting opportunity to see the most advanced infor-
mation and electronic systems applied not to extensive cro-
ps, but rather to specialized crops that are typical of Umbria's
hilly landscape. In fact, precision farming is now a common
definition, even though often referred to extensive crops, su-
ch as the large fields of Northern Europe or America. The rea-
sons for this are purely historical and economic: at the be-
ginning, the costs of these devices, typical of precision agri-
culture, were so high that they could be only justified when
applied to high-power tractors and expensive tools. But it is a
fact that technology (as also confirmed by the spreading of
smartphones) can be developed and spread only through the
reduction of costs and size of equipment. Therefore, the de-
vices that once seemed impossible to apply on agricultural
machinery intended to be used for intensive and specialized
crops, are now becoming reality. Today in fact, it is possible to
install GPS systems on self-driving machines, NIR sensors and
other technological devices on machinery at affordable costs
for businesses. The work in the vineyard is a typical situation
where it is possible to use GPS technology: machines can work
semi-independently on the basis of field mapping that takes
into account radiation, humidity, ventilation and soil compo-
sition in that specific area.
Having on fields and machines these types of sensors for real-
time monitoring of factors such as soil moisture or plants' co-
lor according to their phases of growth, allows machines to
optimize treatments and operations in compliance with de-
tected parameters.
And still, with regard to software and computer services, by
using predictive algorithms and artificial intelligence, all ope-
rations can be programmed taking into account the data col-
lected in previous operations by machines or sensors, as well
as the huge amount of information provided by other system
networks (such as weather stations, neighboring farms and
so on). As a result, increasingly precise work operations (cali-
brated on each area of the field or even on each plant) allow
to save raw materials and have better products in terms of
quality and quantity.
To achieve these results, it is necessary to disseminate such
information and knowledge, to let people understand how the-
se devices, if properly used, result not only in economic ad-
vantages for farms, but also in healthier products from vir-
tuous and more eco-friendly crops.
Precision
technologies for
specialized
crops
EVENTI
| EVENTS