Recently, technological development has become increasingly pronounced, with great advances in all production areas, including agriculture. In the agricultural sector, improvements in machinery and the study of new techniques have resulted in the increased efficiency and productivity of different crops. In particular, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are increasingly used in agriculture. Among the latest utilities is the application of phytosanitary products. The use of small UAVs retrofitted with spraying systems make it possible to treat large surfaces in short periods of time, achieving a reduction in inputs and time compared to conventionally used methods (trailed sprayers). The aim of this work was to compare conventional sprayers and UAV sprayers on a farm in Spain, with olive and vineyard crops. The determining factors in the choice of one or another alternative were studied, such as the economic requirements and efficiency of different alternatives. The results show that a large investment is required to acquire a UAV sprayer, while operating costs are higher for conventional sprayers versus UAV sprayers. Efficiency (ha/h) is much higher for UAV sprayers. In addition to these advantages, UAV sprayers require a lower cost of water and products. However, different factors could make conventional sprayers a better choice.

The use of biodegradable (BD) plastic mulch materials as alternatives to the widely used low-density polyethylene (PE) is increasing nowadays, mainly for environmental reasons. However, the success of these materials depends, in addition to fulfilling their function, on completely degrading in the short term, which depends on both their composition and environmental conditions. This study focused on the degradation pattern of five BD plastic materials of different composition (i.e., corn and potato starch, and polylactic acid plastic (PLA) films, blended with different copolyesters during their manufacture), in two soils with different granulometry (Soil 1 has less clay content than Soil 2), taken from organic vegetable fields under controlled laboratory conditions. Conventional PE was used as a reference. The degree of degradation was evaluated through the number of fragments, weight loss, and surface area loss until their total disappearance. The degradation trend of the BD materials was similar in both soils, although much faster in Soil 2. Their total visible disappearance was in the following ranges: potato starch, 225–250 days in Soil 1, 150–200 days in Soil 2; corn starch, 550 days in Soil 1, 300 days in Soil 2; PLA, 1000–1050 days in Soil 1, 350–475 days in Soil 2. PE remained practically intact in both trials. The degradation model of potato starch materials fitted a decreasing exponential model in both soils, while the other bioplastics followed a decreasing Gompertz model, in all cases with steeper slopes in Soil 2. The curves of the degradation models indicated how the same material can degrade differently depending on the type of soil, information that could be useful for users and manufacturers in the framework of a sustainable agriculture.

Historically, the productivity–quality dualism has been fundamentally oriented toward productivity in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), and more specifically, in the Valdepeñas Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Today this trend is balanced and involves another factor: the environment. From this perspective, soil quality conservation and enhancement is one of the major sustainable viticulture goals today. This study explores soil characteristics and identifies the diversity in soils in the study area for vineyard production in the terroir context, synthesizing old and new trends in applying vineyard cultivation techniques in relation to their sustainability and identifying knowledge gaps in the management of novel practices to improve soil productivity and grape quality. The effects of integrated, organic, and traditional biodynamic management are discussed. The main conclusion is that a careful retrospective analysis of the grape-growing techniques that have dominated in the past century (soil cultivation, fertilization, etc.) is not unfavorable from a sustainability point of view. The study outlines and emphasizes that, despite the suitability of soils, it is necessary to evolve with new methodologies, but without forgetting ancestral techniques.

Inclined extended end-plate beam-to-beam connections are commonly used as kink joints in steel polygonal portal frames, yet their mechanical behaviour is not fully represented by the assumptions of the Eurocode 3 component method. This study investigates the influence of member inclination on stress redistribution within the end plate and the resulting bolt-row activation under bending. Predictions obtained using the Eurocode 3 component method are compared with nonlinear component-based finite-element analyses (CBFEM), and a parametric study is conducted to evaluate the effects of transverse bolt spacing and bolt-row arrangement on moment resistance and force distribution. The results show that member inclination induces a moment-dependent redistribution of tensile and compressive stresses within the end plate, enlarging the tensile region and activating additional bolt rows beyond those considered in the conventional component method. Consequently, tensile forces are redistributed among a greater number of bolt rows, leading to differences between analytical and numerical predictions of the resisting mechanism. The analyses also show that transverse bolt spacing influences not only local T-stub behaviour but also the global redistribution capacity of the end plate. Furthermore, conventional three-row layouts exhibit a distributed 2+2+1 resisting mechanism while maintaining bending resistance within approximately 4% of the reference configuration. These findings provide a mechanical interpretation of bolt-row activation in inclined joints and contribute to improving the understanding of the limitations of simplified analytical design approaches.