Sprayers adjustment at the workshop thanks to the use of a dedicate software

In Piemonte Region, the instrumental adjustment of sprayers is compulsory when the farm comply with sustainable production standards and for this reason draws European subsidies. To ease the task of technicians involved in this assignment, the regional administration - in collaboration with the Information System Consortium (CSI) and the DiSAFA (Torino University) - developed a dedicated on line software as an integration of the current one that is suitable for functional inspection only. The software is accessible to qualified technicians only and is split into two parts according to the type of sprayer (either boom sprayer or sprayer for bush/tree crops). Data concerning type of crops, treatment, crop canopy (for orchards only), nozzles, operative parameters (pressure, forward speed, applied volume etc.) are initially collected on a paper form and then typed into the software. The last section of the software is dedicated to the sprayer instrumental adjustment and it provides the results achieved with the use of the test benches (optimal boom working height for field crop sprayers and vertical distribution pattern for air assisted sprayers). The result of the adjustment can be print as a report and delivered to the farmer.In Piemonte Region, the instrumental adjustment of sprayers is compulsory when the farm comply with sustainable production standards and for this reason draws European subsidies. To ease the task of technicians involved in this assignment, the regional administration - in collaboration with the Information System Consortium (CSI) and the DiSAFA (Torino University) - developed a dedicated on line software as an integration of the current one that is suitable for functional inspection only. The software is accessible to qualified technicians only and is split into two parts according to the type of sprayer (either boom sprayer or sprayer for bush/tree crops). Data concerning type of crops, treatment, crop canopy (for orchards only), nozzles, operative parameters (pressure, forward speed, applied volume etc.) are initially collected on a paper form and then typed into the software. The last section of the software is dedicated to the sprayer instrumental adjustment and it provides the results achieved with the use of the test benches (optimal boom working height for field crop sprayers and vertical distribution pattern for air assisted sprayers). The result of the adjustment can be print as a report and delivered to the farmer

MACSUR Project – The case study of vineyards. Eco-physiological and biophysical modeling applied to the growth and productivity of vineyards in northwestern Italy.

Viticulture in Italy is one of the economically most important agricultural sectors. Recent research allows eco-physiological and biophysical models to develop tools able to provide support to the crop management, in terms of optimizing production performance and limiting environmental impacts. The ability to check on a daily basis the activities of vegetative and productive phases of vines is certainly a fundamental tool for the vineyard organization and management, and for linking the trends of growth and productivity with the quality of the final product: the wine. Since some years, some researches are taking place in the vineyards of northwestern Italy, with the aim of modeling the eco-physiological behavior of the vines, using and valorizing all available historical field data related to the vegetative and productive behavior of the vines, as well as laboratory qualitative data. At the same time, our team is evaluating two different modeling approaches: one biophysical, using the land surface scheme UTOPIA (University of TOrino land Process Interaction in Atmosphere), and another one eco-physiological. The case-study vineyards, referred to the northwestern Italian territory, is part of a wider working program involving several integrated teams from Italy, Spain and Germany. The objectives are: to improve the use of the models used by different groups; to compare the results obtained by different modeling tools; to create a common database of field measurements; to study the relationships between vegetative-productive behaviors and quality of productions