SPECIAL SESSION #14

Alessia Cogato

University of Padova, Italy

• alessia.cogato@unipd.it

Diego S. Intrigliolo Molina

Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

• diego.intrigliolo@csic.es

Lorenzo Villani

University of Florence, Italy

• lorenzo.villani@unifi.it

Niccolò Renzi

University of Florence, Italy

• niccolo.renzi@unifi.it

Water scarcity, climate variability, and increasing demands for sustainable agricultural production are driving the development of advanced technologies for irrigation and water management. This special session aims to showcase recent innovations in sensing systems, digital technologies, automation, and decision-support tools that improve water use efficiency and support resilient crop production systems.

Contributions are invited on both emerging and established technologies for monitoring soil-plant-atmosphere interactions, optimising irrigation scheduling, and managing water resources at field, farm, and landscape scales. The session will highlight advances in sensor networks, remote and proximal sensing, smart irrigation systems, digital twins, AI-based decision support, and autonomous solutions for water management.

Particular attention will be given to field validation studies and practical applications demonstrating the impact of innovative irrigation and water management technologies on crop productivity, environmental sustainability, and climate adaptation.

This session welcomes contributions in the following areas:

• Soil, plant, and atmosphere sensing technologies for irrigation management;
• Precision irrigation systems and site-specific water application strategies;
• Remote sensing, UAVs, and satellite-based approaches for water status assessment;
• AI, machine learning, and digital decision-support systems for irrigation scheduling;
• Smart irrigation automation, robotics, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications;
• Water use efficiency assessment and optimisation in agricultural systems;
• Monitoring and management of water resources under climate change conditions;
• Digital twins for irrigation and water management;
• Pilot projects, living labs, and demonstration farms showcasing innovative water management solutions;
• Technologies and strategies for sustainable water use, deficit irrigation, and resource conservation.

Alessia Cogato is a Researcher in Agricultural Engineering at the Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Italy. Her research focuses on the development and application of digital technologies for agriculture, including remote and proximal sensing, geospatial analysis, precision agriculture, and environmental monitoring systems. Her work integrates satellite, UAV, and field-based sensing technologies with GIS and spatial modelling approaches to support the assessment of crop conditions, water-related processes, and agricultural system variability.
Her research activities address the acquisition, integration, and analysis of multi-source datasets for agricultural monitoring, with particular attention to precision viticulture, irrigation management, soil variability assessment, and climate adaptation. She has contributed to several national and international research projects involving Earth Observation technologies, environmental sensing, digital agriculture, and decision-support approaches for sustainable agricultural systems. Her current interests include remote sensing applications for agricultural monitoring, smart irrigation, Crop water dynamics, and the integration of sensing technologies to support data-driven agricultural management.

Diego S. Intrigliolo Molina is a Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Director of the Centre for Desertification Research (CIDE, CSIC - University of Valencia - Regional Government of Valencia). He holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and conducts research on sustainable irrigation management, water-use efficiency in woody crops, and viticultural practices aimed at improving grape and wine quality under Mediterranean and semi-arid conditions. He is part of the Scientific Advisory Board for the EuroMediterranean PRIMA research and innovation program. His work combines agronomic research, innovation, and technology transfer to support climate-resilient agriculture.

Lorenzo Villani is affiliated with the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), University of Florence, Italy. His research focuses on the assessment of climate change impacts on agricultural systems and the development of water-related adaptation strategies. His work integrates agro-hydrological modeling (e.g., SWAT+), climate risk assessment, and spatial analysis to evaluate crop water requirements, drought dynamics, and the resilience of agricultural watersheds.
His research activities address the management of water resources for agricultural use, with particular attention to water harvesting techniques, small agricultural reservoirs, sustainable agriculture and the valorization of non-conventional waters for sustainable irrigation. He has contributed to international research projects involving participatory modeling, surface-groundwater interactions, and the co-creation of decision-support approaches to face agricultural water scarcity in the Mediterranean area.
His current interests include watershed-scale agro-hydrological modeling, remote sensing applications for environmental monitoring, and the optimization of water storage strategies to secure irrigation. Recently, he has also become interested in leveraging Artificial Intelligence to democratize environmental data, aiming to make climate adaptation strategies and agricultural management more accessible to end-users.

Niccolò Renzi is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment, and Forestry (DAGRI) at the University of Florence, Italy. His research focuses on the development and application of models for agricultural sustainability and water resources management at the field and farm scales. His work integrates field data collection, GIS and modeling to assess crop water productivity, environmental sustainability, and ecosystem services.
His research focuses on improving models for assessing the environmental impact of water use, modelling strategies for climate adaptation, and studying sustainable water management practices. He has contributed to the PNRR AGRITECH project, where he focused on environmental assessment methodologies and decision-support systems compliant with international sustainability standards.
His current research interests include life cycle assessment (LCA) for agricultural production, prospective water footprint analysis, refining crop water productivity models, and modelling the implementation of water harvesting.