Special Session 13

SPECIAL SESSION #13

Francesco Marinello

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry - University of Padua, Italy

• francesco.marinello@unipd.it

Jacopo Bacenetti

Department of Environmental Science and Policy - University of Milan, Italy

• jacopo.bacenetti@unimi.it

Alessia Cogato

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry - University of Padua, Italy

• alessia.cogato@unipd.it

Michele Zoli

Department of Environmental Science and Policy - University of Milan, Italy

• michele.zoli@unimi.it

This special session will explore the latest innovations, cutting-edge technologies, and advanced practices in the agricultural sector that are crucial for promoting sustainable, efficient, and environmentally friendly food production. The special issue delves into a wide range of topics, including precision agriculture, the application of digital and data-driven technologies to optimize resource use, sustainable soil management, innovative water conservation techniques, and integrated crop management strategies. The session will also focus on how to reduce the environmental footprint of farming operations through sustainable practices and smart technology solutions.

Contributions focusing on advanced farming solutions applied to crop production and livestock systems and their assessment in terms of technical, economic and environmental performances are welcomed. The contribution can be related to designing and/or testing of advanced farming solutions, real-world case studies, literature review, and interactive discussions.

The topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Precision agriculture solutions for crop cultivation;
• Smart Sensing Technology for Process Monitoring;
• Other solutions for supporting crop monitoring, optimized fertilizer and pesticide distribution, evaluation of yields;
• Precision Livestock Farming;
• Sustainability assessment with Life cycle thinking (LCA, LCC and SLCA) of advanced farming solution;
• Multi Criteria Decision Analysis application.

Francesco Marinello, is a full professor in biosystems engineering at the University of Padova (Italy). After his PhD in precision engineering and metrology jointly supervised by the Technical University of Denmark (Lingby, Denmark), he spent two years at the InterUniversity Center for Nanotechnologies (Venice, Italy) and two years at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (Lugano, Switzerland). Since 2012 he is researcher and since 2024 full professor at the University of Padova (Padova, Italy) and since 2017 Adjunct professor at the University of Georgia (Athens, USA): he is responsible for the courses in Agricultural Mechanics, Precision Farming, Applied Statistics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Agriculture.

Jacopo Bacenetti, he is currently an Associate professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Policy - Universita Statale degli Studi of Milano, Italy. He obtained the Ph.D. in 2009 and further had a post-doc fellowship until 2016. From September 2016, he is researcher in Agricultural Mechanics. His research interests focus on the Biosystems engineering with particular attention to the environmental impact evaluation of agricultural and agro-food systems (in particular with the Life Cycle Assessment approach). He has authored or co-authored more than 100 manuscripts or chapters in international journals or books and has made numerous contributions to international conferences as presenter or chairman

Alessia Cogato, is a researcher at TESAF (Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry) at the University of Padua. She is an expert in digital technologies for agriculture and remote sensing. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Padua, conducting research in both Italy and Australia. Her main research focuses on water and heat stress in vegetation, as well as remote and proximal sensing techniques. Her experience includes irrigation techniques, precision agriculture, land use, and agricultural mechanization. She is the author of numerous scientific publications, has participated in national and international conferences, and serves on the editorial board of the journal Smart Agricultural Technology.

Michele Zoli, master degree in Plant production and Protection and Ph.d in Environmental Science at the University fo Milan. Currently he is a post doc researcher the Department of Environmental Science and Policy - Universita Statale degli Studi di Milano. His main research topic refers to the assessment of sustainability of agricultural systems considering economic, environmental and social aspects.