15,346 research outputs found
Harmonisation of Higher Education in Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering
No full textThe international harmonisation of the Higher Education Area (HEA) in Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering (ABE), was started by Prof. Giuseppe Pellizzi during the CIGR 1989 Conference.
This action was carried out in the EU by EurAgEng SIG RD12 - Education and Communication (Chairman Prof. Pierluigi Febo from 1994) and also elsewhere by CIGR WG1 - Agricultural Engineering University Curricula Harmonization (Chairman Prof. Pierluigi Febo from 1994 and Secretary Dr. Antonio Comparetti from 2007).
The book and CD-ROM: “The University Structure and Curricula on Agricultural Engineering. An overview of 36 countries”, were presented by Prof. Pierluigi Febo during the AgEng 2000 Conference.
Three thematic networks followed:
1) USAEE-TN (University Studies of Agricultural Engineering in Europe - A Thematic Network), comprising 31 institutions from 27 Countries, from 2002 to 2006;
2) Consortium POMSEBES (Policy Oriented Measures in Support of the Evolving Biosystems Engineering Studies in USA - EU), comprising eight EU and four USA institutions, from 2006 to 2008;
3) ERABEE-TN (Education and Research in Biosystems Engineering in Europe - A Thematic Network), comprising 35 institutions from 27 Countries, from 2007 to 2010;
4) Consortium TABE.NET (Trans-Atlantic Biosystems Engineering Curriculum and Mobility), comprising four EU and two USA institutions, from 2009 to 2013.
The major outcomes were:
- Agricultural Engineering degree study programs, satisfying FEANI (European Federation of National Associations of Engineers) and EurAgEng criteria;
- studies on Accreditation Procedures of the above degree programs in the EU;
- studies on the transition of Curricula from traditional Agricultural Engineering to the broader Biosystems Engineering;
- development of an ABE core curriculum and 11 European degree programs in the EU.
What will the future of Higher Education in Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering be
Fundamentals of Precision Agriculture
No full textPrecision agriculture or precision farming is the targeted application of crop input according to the locally determined crop needs. Therefore, it is the geo-referenced application of crop inputs, whose rates should be those required by the crop.
The most essential points of information about the topic being described are: overview; brief history of precision agriculture; theoretical basics of precision agriculture; precision agriculture cycle; geo-referenced measurement of within-field parameters; analysis and interpretation of geo-referenced data for mapping within-field parameters; spatially variable rate application of crop inputs; instruments for precision agriculture; current scenario of precision agriculture; current scenario of precision viticulture; Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and differential correction technique; proximal sensors of within-field soil and crop parameters; remote sensing from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and satellites; devices for setting up and controlling spatially variable rate crop input application; assisted guidance systems of agricultural machines; perspectives of precision agriculture
Plants for Environmental Protection
No full textPlants for environmental protection are Anaerobic Digestion plants for converting biomass as Renewable Energy Source (RES), i.e. biowaste, agricultural feedstock, livestock effluents (manure and slurry) and food industry by-products, into biogas, i.e. bioenergy, as well as digestate, i.e. biofertiliser. In turn, biogas can be converted into electrical and thermal energy or can be used for extracting biomethane, i.e. biofuel, or can be injected in the natural gas grid. Moreover, digestate can be divided into solid and liquid fractions, that can be used for fertilisation or fertirrigation, respectively, sometimes after aerobic composting
Precision Agriculture: Past, Present and Future
No full textFrom 1978 the Global Positioning System, needed for sensing the position of military targets (e.g. buildings, machinery), was developed as a pure military system, while in 1983 it was made available also for public use. Therefore, at the beginning of 80s precision agriculture, requiring GPS for sensing the position to which any measured field parameter must be geo-referenced, was implemented for the first time in US. In fact, soil and crop parameters are spatially variable in a field, so that spatially uniform rate crop input applications cause increased environmental impact and crop input waste. In order to reduce the environmental impact and optimise the use of crop inputs, precision agriculture was born: it is the geo-referenced application of crop inputs, whose rates must be those required by the crop.
At present a profitable implementation of precision agriculture, depending on the crop Gross Saleable Product, can be achieved only in medium-large farms. As a consequence, precision agriculture is widespread only in large areas of US, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands and United Kingdom.
In the future precision agriculture could be implemented on a larger scale if the following requirements will be satisfied: to quantify its environmental and economic benefits; to develop common vehicle bus standards (e.g. CAN-bus) on agricultural machines, sensors for mapping soil and crop parameters and user-friendly software for processing and interpreting the measured data; to use devices compatible among each other and an integrated user-friendly software for all the spatially variable field operations; to develop soil-crop simulation models, in order to identify the causes of within-field spatial variability and, therefore, adjust the crop input rates from the next growing season
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