TELECOM LAUNCHES SYSTEM TO MONITOR GRAPE CULTIVATION

Telecom Italia recently announced in a press release that it will now be working at the forefront alongside Italian wine producers, by offering an innovative system to improve the quality of wine and simultaneously reduce production costs.
The system, developed by Telecom Italia together with Deca and Pirelli Labs, consists of monitoring environmental data for the entire wine production process with switchboards connected to high tech sensors distributed throughout enological zones. The sensors collect a series of data relative to environmental circumstances (climactic conditions of the air and of the soil, etc.) All of this information is transmitted to and elaborated by a system that then calculates the need for phytopharmaceuticals (the best typology, the quantity and manner of administration) that must be applied by agronomists and enologists. Several institutes already operating in the agricultural sector, like Cra (Council for Research and Experimentation in Agriculture), are also collaborating in processing this data.
These activities should be able to predict eventual infestations, thus rationalizing and reducing the necessary amounts of pesticides and phytopharmaceuticals, with important results in terms of environmental impact, and improvement of the organoleptic qualities of the wines, as well as a reduction in time and costs. Until now, these forecasts were made based on mathematical statistical models that did not always give precise results, and which usually resulted in excessive expenditures and excessive use of pesticides.
This new system will have its first run at the Conti Bossi Fedrigotti winery, where it will be installed in the surrounding vineyards.