Implementation of a digital tree to optimise technical and environmental performances of crop protection equipment

Agrochemical application constitutes one of the most important agricultural practices. Indeed, it is almost impossible to reach high yields from both quantitative and qualitative points of view, unless this practice is executed correctly. Modalities and machinery used to perform this task considerably influence treatment efficiency, farm production costs, workplace safety and ecosystem durability. This concept is strongly endorsed by the Directive 2009/128/EC, which establishes “a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides”. In this context, this proposal aims at investigating quality and sustainability of mechanical application of agrochemicals in olive orchards, considering spray distribution evenness, environmental impact and workers’ and bystanders’ safety. Particularly, the project will focus on the development of an innovative and smart tool, a “Digital Tree” (DT), which allows predicting spray behavior under different operations and field conditions and, consequently, improving the application of Plant Protection Products (PPPs), considering both technical and environmental aspects. This implies an accurate knowledge of equipment mechanical features, functioning and regulations, field and crop features as well as climatic conditions. Hence, to pursue the aforementioned objective, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the spray, including foliar deposition, losses on the ground and drift, will be evaluated by implementing international standards and methodologies. In addition, sensing technologies and machine learning techniques will be implemented to collect data and build the predictive spray models under different conditions. This will enable to set up the most suitable operation parameters according to the implemented equipment and improve its technical performances. On the other hand, the study will deal with environmental evaluation considering life cycle methodologies according to the standards ISO 14040:2006 Environmental management - Life Cycle Assessment - Principles and framework, and ISO 14044:2006 Environmental management - Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements and guidelines. Once the “Digital Tree” is built, it would be possible optimize the crop protection for a more accurate, targeted and sustainable agrochemical application through the improvement of a series of operational and managerial parameters.