AFI-Lab

Agricultural Engineering Innovations for Agriculture and Forestry

The Agro-Forestry Innovations laboratory promotes the technological transfer of innovations in the production biosystems of agricultural and forestry contexts, as well as agro-industrial ones. All with particular regard to the specificities of mountain contexts.

Agricultural and forestry engineering is an interdisciplinary field that applies engineering principles and technologies to agricultural production and processing. It integrates typical aspects of engineering (mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical and ICT) with an in-depth knowledge of agricultural and forestry systems, linked to the natural, economic and social environment in which they are located. The main topics covered in AFILab are related to:

• Assessments of agricultural systems and agri-food supply chains: use of standardized methodologies and proposal of new methodologies and performance indicators to identify more economically and environmentally sustainable design and management solutions.​
• Agricultural machinery and equipment: design, testing and improvement of tools and systems used in planting, maintenance, harvesting and processing of crops, forestry and livestock, including electrification of stationary and field agricultural processes.
• Agricultural structures: design of rural structures, with related management plans, such as barns, silos, stables, greenhouses and warehouses.
• Environmental sustainability: creation of systems that reduce environmental impact, such as waste management and the use of renewable energy in agriculture.
• Precision agriculture: use of sensors, GPS, and data analytics to optimize agricultural practices.
• Smart agriculture: using ICT tools, such as data mining, machine learning and AI to create so-called “digital twins”.

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