Graduate in Agricultural Science, PhD in Agricultural Mechanisation, currently is Associated Professor at the DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD SCIENCES (DISTAL), School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, University of Bologna.
Pertaining to matters covering rural construction and forestry land (07/C1 - AGR/10), I have held the following courses:
- Systems and Technologies for a Sustainable Livestock Production;
- Rural buildings and installations, in:
SAFETY AND QUALITY 'OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION (Second cycle degree);
- Rural Building and Landscape, in:
PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT OF AGRO.TERRITORIAL, FOREST AND LANDSCAPE (Second cycle degree);
-Zootechny Building Industry, and
-Applied Physics in:
ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND CONTROL OF WILDLIFE (Bachelor degree).
I have done intensive speaker and / or supervisor of the Thesis and PhD. The topics covered are:
- Animal monitoring (forecast of oestrus and mastitis and other pathologies, etc.);
- Environmental control: monitoring and optimal design. Fluid dynamics models of barn;
- Robot milking and discrete-stochastic simulation models;
- Plant for biogas production from manure;
- Development of a GIS to calculate the distance covered by tanker spreaders from the farm to the fields of distribution in vulnerable zone.
Scientific activity
I have dealt with issues relating to agricultural engineering and in particular to:
- automated and computerized management systems of buildings for animal husbandry;
- methods and techniques of environmental control of animal buildings;
- methods and techniques for animal stress reduction;
- predictive models of oestrus;
- dynamic process simulation models and physical systems.
I was component in the following project of national interest financed by MURST:
-The design of livestock development in relation to animal welfare, building solutions and systems for the reduction of heat stress, 2003.
-Innovative construction solutions to reduce stress in dairy cattle: more comfortable floors and design methods for optimizing microclimate in summer situation, 2007.
I was part of a Unit under the Targeted Project of the National Research Council: RAISA (Advanced Research for Innovations in the Agricultural System).
I participated in several research projects funded by the Emilia-Romagna on the following topics:
- Dairy cattle cooling systems.
- Study of computerized systems for monitoring of dairy cattle, in collaboration with the experimental farm Tadini of Piacenza and the Institut für Agrartechnik of Bornim - Potsdam (Germany);
- Effects of traditional and innovative farming techniques on the animal welfare, in collaboration with the CRPA (Animal Production Research Center in Reggio Emilia);
- Indicators of well-being of dairy cows, in collaboration with the experimental farm Tadini of Piacenza;
- Technical-economic comparison of flooring mats in dairy cattle housing, in collaboration with the CRPA;
- Feasibility study on automation of the full traditional milking parlour.
Collaborating with the CRPA to the ReSole project aimed at evaluating the use of solar energy in agriculture (still in progress).
I participated in working groups in various research projects funded by MURST ex 60%, including:
- Techniques to monitoring dairy cattle;
- Automatic detection of oestrus in dairy cows, developing experimental models based on neural networks and fuzzy logic systems;
- Automation in dairy barns;
- Automatic monitoring for assessing the welfare of dairy cattle.
From 1997 to 2001 I collaborate on a research project with the Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik Bornim Potsdam (Germany) on dairy cattle monitoring and milk quality.
Since 2007, always the Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik and in cooperation with the experimental farm Tadini, was launched a trialon different types of flooring materials.
Since 2010, I participate with an international group of researchers to draft a Review titled "Modelling of ammonia emissions from naturally ventilated livestock buildings", consists of three papers: Ammonia release modelling, Air change modelling, CFD modelling, pubblished at the Biosystems Engineering Journal.
I am the owner of an agreement with the CRA-ING (2012) entitled: "Sensors integration of a machine for mechanical weed control in SRF poplar crops", as part of the research MiPAAF project: “SUSCACE - Scientific Support to agricultural conversion to energy crops ".
Research outside funded projects:
- Process Control (yoghurt production), in collaboration with the of the Microbiology Institute, Faculty of Agriculture of Bologna (Artificial Neural Network application);
- Real time monitoring of losses during mechanical harvesting (development of an innovative losses sensor), for which a patent was filed mediated by the University of Bologna.
Since 2014 I am member of the "Cattle Housing", by the II section, , Working Group 14, of the Commission Internationale du Génie Rural (CIGR). The working group elaborate indications regarding dairy cows housing and plants, in considering the animal welfare.
I attended with personal contributions as a speaker at various national and international conferences.
Awards
The article "A computer model for optimization of the internal climate in swine housing design", published in the Transactions of the American society of agricultural and biological engineering (ASABE), was awarded with the "Superior Paper Award 2008" by the ASABE with the following citation: "In recognition of authorship of a contribution to agricultural engineering literature of exceptional merit as published by the Society".
Patents
In collaboration with the Department DEIAGRA (now partly merged in the DISTAL) I filed a patent, mediated by the University of Bologna, entitled: Electronic equipment to be applied to a grape harvesting machines for losses determination. In 2009, the patent was bought by a company working in the design and construction of agricultural machinery.
