ECONOMIA E MECCANIZZAZIONE PER L'AGRICOLTURA DI PRECISIONE

Academic Year 2021/2022 - 3° Year - Curriculum TECNOLOGIE PER L'AGRICOLTURA DI PRECISIONE

Learning Objectives

• MECHANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES BY PRECISION FARMING TECHNIQUES

  The course aims to provide disciplinary and professionalizing skills to applicate techniques, machines and procedures of the precision farming at farm and territorial scale, in order to limit the environmental impact, working times, resources used and production costs. To provide the knowledge of the instruments and techniques necessary for the field monitoring, including the use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), and to translate the field information in agronomic management mode through properly equipped machines, models and decision support systems. To provide the choice criteria of the machines for the management with reduced environmental impact of the agro-ecosystems in the respect of the natural resources and the territory.

• Economics and management of innovations.

  The course aims to make the student acquire the basic economic principles for the adoption of precision farming techniques and to highlight the main implications on the management of production units, in relation to social, economic and environmental aspects. Economic valuation techniques are illustrated to determine the benefits that can be achieved through the analysis of the effects on costs and revenues. The course also aims to provide the useful basis for understanding the macroeconomic aspects of innovations, their generation, acquisition and dissemination processes in economic systems at different levels of development, with reference to national and international scenarios and to the various regulations present.

Course Structure

• MECHANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES BY PRECISION FARMING TECHNIQUES

  Lectures (28 ore) with the aid of slides and exercises (28 hours) consisting of analyses of practical applications, seminars and visits to local farms.

  If the teaching will be carried out in mixed or on line mode, the necessary changes may be introduced with respect to the previous statements in order to comply with the program planned and reported in the syllabus.

  Learning assessment could also be carried out online, if conditions require it.

  As a guarantee of equal opportunities and in compliance with current laws, interested students can ask for a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures, based on their specific needs and on teaching objectives of the discipline.

  It is also possible to ask the departmental contacts of CInAP (Center for Active and Participatory Integration - Services for Disabilities and/or DSAs), in the persons of professors Giovanna Tropea Garzia and Anna De Angelis.

• Economics and management of innovations.

  Frontal lessons and classroom exercises, participations in any seminars and/or conferences, technical visits to institutions and companies.

  Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

  Learning assessment may also be carried out on line, should the conditions require it.

   

  Information for students with Learning Disorders

  As a guarantee of equal opportunities and in compliance with current laws, interested students can ask for a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures, based on their specific needs and on teaching objectives of the discipline. It is also possible to ask the departmental contacts of CInAP (Center for Active and Participatory Integration - Learning Disorders), in the persons of professors Giovanna Tropea Garzia and Anna De Angelis.

Detailed Course Content

• MECHANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES BY PRECISION FARMING TECHNIQUES

  The meaning of precision agriculture will be explained by referring to its evolution. During the lectures, they will be analysed: farm information systems, remote sensing systems and remote control platforms, including UAS, for crop monitoring, soil and crop survey sensors, agricultural machinery positioning and guiding systems and production mapping systems, variable rate machines for soil tillage, sowing, fertilisation, crop protection. Furthermore, precision farming applications herbaceous in open field and arboreal crops will be analysed.

• Economics and management of innovations.

  Innovation, development and economic growth

  Review of economic theory. Role of innovations in the competitiveness of economic systems. Schools of thought, interpretative models and policies. Technical progress and innovation in economic thinking. Evolutionary theory of innovation: basic notions. Types and sources of innovation. The innovative enterprise. Diffusion and adoption of innovation. Innovation systems. Public policies for innovation. Innovation and intellectual property rights.

  Innovations in agriculture

  Evolution and current scenario Product

  Evolutionary features of innovations in modern agriculture: from the green revolution to digital innovations. The dissemination of knowledge and innovation in agriculture and the difficulties of modernizing farms. The development of mechanization and subcontracting. The spread of Precision Agriculture in the world and in Italy.

  Support for businesses to access innovations.

  Public incentives. The role of agricultural credit.

  Research, development and innovation in agriculture

  Biotechnological innovations: economic and regulatory aspects. The social perception of biotechnological innovations. The European Partnership for Innovation in Agriculture. The role of the Operational Groups in the generation of agricultural innovations in the Italian context. The Agricultural Research Database. The socio-economic profile of the innovative entrepreneur and the tools to encourage the adoption of Precision farming innovations.

  Analysis of the economic evaluation of the introduction of Precision Agriculture in the farm

  Precision farmingand the effects on company capital, on work, on revenues. The income statement and valuations for individual technologies and crops. The technical-economic dimension for the introduction of Precision Farming. The determination of the economic convenience for the introduction of Precision Farming. Environmental impacts and benefits: notes on evaluation using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology.

  Analysis of case studies and simulations by applying some Decision Support Tools to evaluate the economic convenience of company investments in Precision Farming.

Textbook Information

• MECHANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES BY PRECISION FARMING TECHNIQUES

  The lecturer provides all the slides used to explain the arguments of the course, in order to provide a guide for the individual study. The following reference books are also suggested , although students are free to consult any other book about the same topics:

  1. Casa R. – Agricoltura di precisione. Metodi e tecnologie per migliorare l'efficienza e la sostenibilità dei sistemi colturali – Edagricole - Edizioni Agricole di New Business Media srl. Milano. (ISBN 978-88-506-5510-6).

  2. Misturini R. – Precision farming. Strumenti e tecnologie per un'agricoltura evoluta – Edagricole - Edizioni Agricole di New Business Media srl. Milano. (ISBN: 978-88-506-5587-8).

  3. Basso B., Sartori L., Bertocco M. – Agricoltura di precisione. Concetti teorici e applicazioni pratiche – Edizioni L'Informatore Agrario SpA. Verona. (ISBN 978-88-7220-229-9).

  4. Lecture notes.

  5. Zhang Q. – Precision farming technology for crop farming – CRC Press - Taylor & Francis Group. Boca Ratom, FL. (ISBN 978-1-4822-5107-4).

• Economics and management of innovations.

  Fariselli P., Economia dell’innovazione, Giappichelli editore, Torino, 2014.

  Casa R. (a cura di), Agricoltura di precisione. Metodi e tecnologie per migliorare l’efficienza e la sostenibilità dei sistemi colturali, Edagricole, Bologna, 2018.

  Fontana E., Il credito alle filiere agroalimentari: mercato, valutazione di merito, concessione, Edagricole, Bologna, 2019.

  Galbiati M., Gentile A., La Malfa S. Tonelli C. (a cura di), Biotecnologie sostenibili, Edagricole, Bologna, 2017.

  Teacher slides on the topics covered.