Daniele Sarri

• Researcher
• Researcher at University of Florence

The present research aimed to evaluate whether two sensors, optical and laser, could highlight the change in olive trees’ canopy structure due to pruning. Therefore, two proximal sensors were mounted on a ground vehicle (Kubota B2420 tractor): a multispectral sensor (OptRx ACS 430 AgLeader) and a 2D LiDAR sensor (Sick TIM 561). The multispectral se...

The European Commission (EC) promotes policies addressing the needs of a growing human population while adhering to ecological principles that ensure ecosystem sustainability. Viticulture, one of the most widespread cultivations in the world, is, at the same time, one of the most environmentally impactful cultivations. Many studies have been conduc...

The present research had two aims. The first was to evaluate the effect of height and exposure on the vegetative response of olive canopies’ vertical axis studied through a multispectral sensor and on the qualitative and quantitative product characteristics. The second was to examine the relationship between multispectral data and productive charac...

Fruit logistics during harvesting involves a large-scale deployment of material and human resources. In olive groves and, for small producers, the operation can be carried out in different ways, however, none of these allow a production monitoring or traceability of the harvested fruit. This study presents a compatible methodology with the usual ha...

Precision Agriculture (PA) is nowadays one of the most feasible solutions to reduce input and pollution in agriculture [1]. One of PA's most important techniques is identifying in-field spatial variability. Multiple techniques can be used to identify the variability: soil analysis and vegetation index identification are two of the most applied. In...

Remote and near surface sensing data are widely used in archaeology and heritage management for feature discovery, change detection and monitoring, as an input to predictive modelling, and in the planning process. While global and regional datasets are widely used for some purposes, data are regularly acquired specifically for archaeological projec...

The aims of agricultural land management change continuously, reflecting shifts in wider societal priorities. Currently, these include addressing the climate crisis, promoting environmental sustainability, and supporting the livelihoods of rural communities while ensuring food security. Working toward these aims requires information on the characte...

In precision viticulture, the intra-field spatial variability characterization is a crucial step to efficiently use natural resources by lowering the environmental impact. In recent years, technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Mobile Laser Scanners (MLS), multispectral sensors, Mobile Apps (MA) and Structure from Motion (SfM) techni...

The volume focuses on the educational use of 360° video at the university to bring teachers closer to the adoption of innovative teaching practices. The use of this technology is gaining momentum, attracting the interest of teachers from different subject areas for the potential of 360 ° video to anticipate experiences, especially in risky contexts...

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/Technologies_Techniques_Sustainable_Precision_Agriculture Dear Colleagues, The agricultural sector must urgently respond to a change aimed at optimizing the use of resources, maximizing yields to meet the growing demand for food and raising the quality of some high-value products. These s...

Mechanized operations on terrain slopes can still lead to considerable errors in the alignment and distribution of plants. Knowing slope interference in semi-mechanized planting quality can contribute to precision improvement in decision making, mainly in regions with high slope. This study evaluates the quality of semi-mechanized coffee planting i...

Viticulture is often characterized by high variability within vineyards for pedological features and vine vigour. Moreover, the climate change, which is altering the seasonal weather cyclicity, is an increasingly marked variability factor that affects vine responses. The knowledge of variability factors and its effects are indispensable prerequisit...

The aim of this study was to compare three different soil-sampling methods used in Precision Agriculture and their environmental impact in the agricultural production environment. The sampling methods used were: management zones by elevation (MZA), grid sampling (GS), and sampling oriented by apparent soil electrical conductivity (OS). It was teste...

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. T...

Based on the European Community framework directive 2009/128/EC that is devoted to the sustainable use of pesticides, farmers’ sensitivity and their administrative fulfillments are growing in recent years. Great attention is directed towards remote data acquisition by smartphone, satellites, drones. An available technological tool to accomplish thi...

Precision agriculture (PA) provides techniques that favour the localized application of inputs allowing their rational use. This makes the PA a potential indicator of reduced operational costs, input volume, and environmental impacts. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the environmental effects of three different sampling metho...

Considering the impact of fertilizers on coffee production costs, the search for greater efficiency in the use of these inputs has an important role. Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to evaluate the transverse distribution of fertilizer by a centrifugal spreader in a coffee plantation and to compare two operating modes: fertilizer appli...

The growing need for production processes oriented to environmental sustainability is leading to the quickly spreading of robotic solutions. In this scenario, the Smart Machine for Agricultural Solutions High-tech SMASH project is focusing on the development of a robotic collaborative ecosystem. It consists of four main modules: an unmanned ground...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

SPARKLE - Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Precision Agriculture (SPA) is a course aiming to increase 'agripreneurship' among students, entrepreneurs and academics, enhancing knowledge and skills on technologies, innovations, entrepreneurial thinking and problem-solving skills into the farming sector. It also aims to transform the agricultural sect...

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...

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 en...

Modern technology and telecommunication systems enable precision field data to be acquired which improves agricultural operations management. The aim of this work was to develop and operate a prototype telemetry system suitable for winemakers to monitor the performance of their spraying operations in real-time, and to acquire useful data. The proto...

The present work concerns the economic and fi nancial evaluation of a small biogas plant (power plant of 250 kWel), with reference to the case of a biogas plant fed with a bio-matrix classifi able as both a by-product and a product. The study was focused on the comparison of several incentive systems that have followed over time. According to the a...

The European directives 2009/128/EC, devoted to establish a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides and the 2009/127/EC, related to design, construction and maintenance of machinery for pesticide application, are being changing significantly the pest and weed control. In this context, manystudies were carried out...

The diffusion of precision viticulture approach in the last decade thanks to the new achievements and developed tools, have enabled new site-specific management possibilities. The aim of this study was the evaluation of proximal surveying for monitoring and to highlight the variability within vineyards. Specifically the study shows some results of...

The nursery sector in Europe involves 90,000 ha of potted cultivations and 120,000 ha of open land and greenhouse cultivations valued at 19.8 billion Euros in 2011. Every year, nurseries waste approximately 4 kg of residual biomass for each 1 m2 of potted plant cultivation; thus, a mechanical optimization of the operations for treating this biomass...

In recent years, the pest control treatments have become central stages of the agricultural production processes. The reasons are related to climate change, which are gradually varying the types of pathogens and parasites and their development trends, but also for the forthcoming rules imposed by Legislative Decree 150/2012 Italian transposition of...

Every year, nurseries waste about 40 t of residual biomass for each ha of potted plants cultivation. The European nursery sector deals with about 90,000 ha of cultivated land and 120,000 ha of nurseries, with a turnover of 19.8 billion Euros in 2011. In recent years, a number of Italian projects highlighted that GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions for t...

The care and protection of the mountain areas and their traditional crops were some of the reasons that led regional governments of Liguria and Tuscany to participate in the strategic project “Sea, Countryside and Land: potentiate the strategic unitarily” (MARS +). This project has also involved the participation of the four cross-border regions: T...

The green nursery sector in Europe involves 90,000 ha of cultivated land and 120,000 ha for the nurseries (MiPAAF, 2012), reaching 19.8 billions of Euros in 2011. Every year, nurseries produce waste about 4 kg of the residual biomass for each m2 of the potted plants cultivation. Nurseries waste make up a substantial quantity of organic materials e....

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 a...

The care and protection of the mountain areas and their traditional crops were some of the reasons that led regional governments of Liguria and Tuscany to participate in the strategic project “Sea, Countryside and Land: potentiate the strategic unitarily” (MARS +). This project has also involved the participation of the four cross-border regions: T...

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 a...

The green nursery sector in Europe involves 90,000 ha of cultivated land and 120,000 ha for the nurseries (MiPAAF, 2012), reaching 19.8 billions of Euros in 2011. Every year, nurseries produce waste about 4 kg of the residual biomass for each m2 of the potted plants cultivation. Nurseries waste make up a substantial quantity of organic materials e....

The aim of this study was the evaluation of proximal and remote surveying technologies for monitoring and highlighting the variability within vineyards. The devices used measure the electromagnetic energy (emitted, reflected or transmitted) of leaf surface subjected to different wavelengths (spectral signature).The proximal data were detected using...

This paper summarizes technological progress in Precision Viticulture Mechanization and possible problems related to its effective diffusion. Over the last decade precision farming and new achievements and developed tools have offered new possibilities to monitor, in detail, site-specific features such as soil, microclimate, and crop status through...

Tree stability assessments are an indispensable tool for preserving the safety of people and property. National legislation identifies the tree custodians as those responsible for monitoring the risk factors with regard to civil and criminal liability for damage to persons or property. Currently evaluations to assess tree stability are usually made...

The agro-industrial sector presents relevant environmental pressures in terms of both consumption of non-renewable resources, emissions of greenhouse gases, by-product reuse and waste disposal. Moreover, these environmental aspects must be evaluated assuring the technical feasibility and the economical sustainability of the alternative chains. Ther...

In this chapter, Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies are applied to investigate a number of aspects of the extra-virgin olive oil production chain. The analysis starts from the definition of a number of possible scenarios concerning all phases of the chain: olive grove characteristics, management and productiv...

This chapter presents an example of Multicriteria analysis (MCA) application and consequent life cycle assessment (LCA). The methodologies are applied to a case in which a number of possibilities must be evaluated for installing an oil palm plantation. The example is not based on a real case but on a hypothetical one in order to show a wider range...

Olive oil production is one of the most important activities of the agricultural sector in the Mediterranean region. Considering that olive-groves significantly characterise the landscape and that olive pruning requires large labour input and costs, farmers have to organize the pruning operation assuring economical sustainability. For this reason t...

Wood biomass for energy production, used by 50% of the world’s population, represents an important alternative to other non-renewable energy sources even in industrialized countries. The correctly planned management of wood biomass production could make it a valid alternative energy solution to traditional fossil fuels, since it is a local and wide...

In this chapter, the general framework in which this book has been developed is presented. The General characteristics of the numerical methodologies described and applied here are discussed, focusing the attention on agro-engineering applications. The Book purposes and organization are eventually illustrated.

The authors illustrate the general results of a five-year programme (M.A.T.E.O. Project "Technical and Economic Farming Models for reducing production costs for Tuscan Olive growers) co-funded by A.R.S.I.A. (Regional Agency for Development and Innovation in Agricultural and Forestry Activities). An analysis of the different types of olive growing c...

In this paper the design, the main characteristics and the automation systems of innovative autonomous ground mobile units (GMU) for physical weed control (PWC) in maize are described. The machine will be created within the activities of the European Project RHEA (Robot fleets for Highly Effective Agriculture and forestry management), that aims to...

The new Community rules on the reduction of risks to the environment and food safety require a breakthrough innovation in all sectors especially in agriculture where there is a strong pressure due to the remarkable use of pesticides and herbicides. In this context, it's a necessary reinterpretation of the classic management methods to a new modern...