96231 - Precision Farming for Vegetable Production

Learning outcomes

At course completion, the student possesses knowledge on the main solutions for precision vegetable crop production; acquires skills to manage crop monitoring in open field, greenhouse and indoor vegetable farming. In particular, the student possesses the ability to organize cultivation strategies of on-soil and soilless grown vegetable based on innovative technologies, including vertical farming and climate-controlled agriculture.

Course contents

Teaching programme (24 hours)

1) Overview on vegetable crop physiology and cropping systems

2) Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA): Greenhouse and Vertical Farming systems

3) Alternative forms of agriculture

4) Simplified technologies for small scale smart vegetable crop productio

5) Management of irrigation to improve water use efficiency of vegetable crops grown in open field and under greenhouse.

6) Monitoring nutrient status of vegetable crops to improve fertilization management

7) Greenhouse technologies

8) Climate control systmes

9) CO2 management

10) Artificial lighting

11) Artificial Intelligence (AI) in smart vegetable crop production

2) Workshops and technical visits (8 hr)
Workshops will be organized with with commercial operators (farmers/tech providers) and international experts

3) Practical work (8 hr)
The course includes the following practical activities:

- Critical reading of scientific literature on a related subject and group work preparation of a literature review on main drawbacks and potential for innovation.

- Practical activities in the experimental Vertical Farm AlmaVFarm.

Prerequisites

The student who accesses this course has a good preparation in the fundamentals of botany, agronomy and vegetable crop production. These prerequisites are provided by the three-year degrees of the class L-25 - AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES, where courses in the sector of general botany, agronomy and vegetable crops are taught for a total of 18 CFU, divided between theoretical courses and laboratory courses. Knowledge of the English language is required, since the course and all teaching material is in English.

Readings/Bibliography

Teaching material

Syllabus and slides available on virtuale.unibo.it

Other (suggested) readings

Bert Van't Ooster, Cecilia Stanghellini, and Ep Heuvelink. 2019. Greenhouse Horticulture: Technology for Optimal Crop Production. Wageningen Academic Publishers.

Kozai, T., Hayashi, E. eds. 2023. Advances in plant factories: new technologies in indoor vertical farming. Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing.

Kozai, T., Niu, G., & Takagaki, M. 2019. Plant factory. An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production. Academic Press. Elsevier.

Castilla, N. 2013. Greenhouse technology and Management. CABI

Quaryoti M., Baudoin W., Nono Womdin R., Leonardi C., Hanafi A., De Pascale S. 2013. Guidelines on GAP for greenhouse horticulture in the Mediterranean Region. FAO-UN, Rome, Italy. FAO paper, AGP series, 217.

Orsini, F., Dubbeling, M., de Zeeuw, H., Gianquinto, G., Eds. 2017. Rooftop Urban Agriculture. Springer, The Netherlands. ISBN 978-3-319-57720-3.

Teaching methods

The course consists of theoretical lectures, practical exercises and groupwork in classroom and in greenhouse, technical visits.

It will be delivered as blended course including face-to-face activities and integrative eLearning sources delivered at distance through Moodle.

Students are also encouraged to take part in International Student Competitions, including:

- UrbanFarm [https://site.unibo.it/urban-farm/en] (University of Bologna)

- Ultimate Urban Greenhouse Challenge [https://urbangreenhousechallenge.nl/] (Wageningen University)

Considering activities and adopted teaching methods, taking part to this course requires the attendance to safety modules 1 and 2 (online, at https://www.unibo.it/it/servizi-e-opportunita/salute-e-assistenza/salute-e-sicurezza/sicurezza-e-salute-nei-luoghi-di-studio-e-tirocinio) and 3 (in presence, further information in the website of the course degree).

Assessment methods

Multiple choice test. Additional points are also available for student taking part in groupwork or assignments whenever they achieve at least 18/30. To pass the exam, students need to complete the written part and discuss and substantiate the answers within an oral session.

The test consists of closed-ended questions chosen in the areas listed in the course program available in virtuale.unibo.it. For each correct answer a score equal to 1 is assigned, for each wrong answer a score equal to -0.5 is attributed, while in the absence of an answer there is no penalty. The overall score is obtained by the algebraic sum of the individual scores and their normalization on a 30/30 basis. To pass the exam (and eventually access additional points collected throughout the course), students need to score at least 18 in the quiz and undertake a short oral discussion on the answers provided during the quiz. Cum Laude is awarded when an overall score equal to or greater than 32 points has been obtained.

The maximum duration for the written test is 60 minutes.

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations, exercises on virtuale.unibo.it, theoretical and practical workshops and groupwork activities.

Links to further information

https://youtu.be/vLPumZz9z8M

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Orsini

See the website of