Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being increasingly used for the spraying of pesticides for crop protection in complex geographic terrains that are not easily accessible by operators. This experiment was conducted to investigate the sprayer performance of a commercial UAV, equipped with different types of nozzles, and compare this new technology with the sprayers usually used on small size mountain vineyards (i.e. a knapsack sprayer and a sprayer gun). Field tests were conducted in a small high slope terraced vineyard. The operative parameters of the sprayers were calculated. Data on droplet coverage, density and size were collected by using water sensitive papers attached with clips to the leaves and analysed. The results showed that the working capacity of the UAV was 2-fold that of the sprayer gun 1.6-fold that of the knapsack sprayer. Droplet coverage, density and size were variable and affected by the position of the targets (water sensitive papers) and the type of sprayer used.

In precision viticulture, the intra-field spatial variability characterization is a crucial step to efficiently use natural resources by lowering the environmental impact. In recent years, technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Mobile Laser Scanners (MLS), multispectral sensors, Mobile Apps (MA) and Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques enabled the possibility to characterize this variability with low efforts. The study aims to evaluate, compare and cross-validate the potentiality and the limits of several tools (UAV, MA, MLS) to assess the vine canopy size parameters (thickness, height, volume) by processing 3D point clouds. Three trials were carried out to test the different tools in a vineyard located in the Chianti Classico area (Tuscany, Italy). Each test was made of a UAV flight, an MLS scanning over the vineyard and a MA acquisition over 48 geo-referenced vines. The Leaf Area Index (LAI) were also assessed and taken as reference value. The results showed that the analyzed tools were able to correctly discriminate between zones with different canopy size characteristics. In particular, the R² between the canopy volumes acquired with the different tools was higher than 0.7, being the highest value of R² = 0.78 with a RMSE = 0.057 m³ for the UAV vs. MLS comparison. The highest correlations were found between the height data, being the highest value of R² = 0.86 with a RMSE = 0.105 m for the MA vs. MLS comparison. For the thickness data, the correlations were weaker, being the lowest value of R² = 0.48 with a RMSE = 0.052 m for the UAV vs. MLS comparison. The correlation between the LAI and the canopy volumes was moderately strong for all the tools with the highest value of R² = 0.74 for the LAI vs. V_MLS data and the lowest value of R² = 0.69 for the LAI vs. V_UAV data.

This study shows a new methodological proposal for wine farm management, as a result of the progressive development of the technological innovations and their adoption. The study was carried out in Italy involving farmers, workers, or owners of wine farms who are progressively introducing or using precision agriculture technologies on their farm. The methodology proposed was divided in four stages (1. understanding the changes in action; 2. identifying the added value of Smart Farming processes; 3. verifying the reliability of new technologies; 4. adjusting production processes) that can be applied at different levels in vine farms to make the adoption of precision agriculture techniques and technologies harmonious and profitable. Data collection was carried out using a participant-observer method in brainstorming sessions, where the authors reflected on the significance of technology adoption means and how to put them in practice, and interviews, questionnaire surveys, diaries, and observations. Moreover, project activities and reports provided auxiliary data. The findings highlighted the issues of a sector which, although with broad investment and finance options, lacks a structure of human, territorial, and organizational resources for the successful adoption of technological innovations. The work represents a basis for the future development of models for strategic scenario planning and risk assessments for farmers, policymakers, and scientists.

During the last decades in Italy the wine sector focused on the environmental sustainability of the production processes, including the agricultural, the agro-industrial and the packaging phases. Recent surveys highlighted that the wine consumers are interested in the environmental certifications, even if they are not familiar with them. Several environmental pressures can be evaluated in the viticulture phase, but an elevated number of the analysed impacts require the collection of a large set of input data and significant efforts during the elaboration phase. Therefore, the aim of the present work was the identification of the inventory data and impacts, which mainly describe the environmental pressures associated with the viticulture phase. Particularly, the results of the life cycle assessment (LCA) were integrated with those of a model and a simplified approach for evaluating the risks due to the pesticides use. The LCA identified three phases, which are responsible of 70-80% of the CO2eq (CO2 equivalent), the cumulated energy utilisation, the acidification potential (expressed in SO2 equivalent) and the eutrophication (expressed in PO4 equivalent), i.e. the harvesting, the crop protection and the ligature. The phase of the pesticides use was analysed also through the pesticides risk indicator (PERI) model and a simplified approach elaborated by the Regional Agency for the Environment Protection in Tuscany, Italy. Results concerning the environmental risk showed that the PERI model, the Arpat approach and the LCA were coherent for the pesticide mix highlighting that the associated environmental risk is more than doubled from 2004 to 2010. Finally, some operative indications were elaborated in order to reduce the impacts and improve the local and global environmental sustainability of the viticulture phase.