| MEETING |
decenni sta progressivamente trasformando lemacchine dapuri stru-
menti per aumentare la capacità di lavoro dell’uomo, a dispositivi “in-
telligenti” in gradodi conoscere le caratteristichedel luogo in cui ope-
rano e a esse adattarsi. I sistemi GPS di geolocalizzazione consento-
no di crearemappe digitali delle condizioni dei suoli e dello stato del-
le culture (stadio vegetativo, contenuto di clorofilla, produzione, pre-
senza d’infestanti, ecc.) sulla base dei quali sofisticati sistemi di re-
golazione provvedono a ottimizzare la distribuzione dei diversi input
colturali.
La capacità dellemodernemacchine di ottimizzare i propri parametri
funzionali rispettando con grande accuratezza le esigenze delle coltu-
re e dei terreni e limitando, così, ai valori minimi necessari l’impiego
dei fattori produttivi, costituisce un passo fondamentale verso la so-
stenibilità ambientale dell’agricoltura.
Nonmeno importante è il contributo che lo sviluppo di unameccaniz-
zazioneappropriatapuò fornireper aiutare lo sviluppodelleareedove
persistono gravi problemi di povertà e di sottonutrizione. L’esperienza
dei paesi industrializzati mostra che la crescita economica che origi-
na dall’aumento dei rendimenti dal settore primario è oltre due volte
piùefficaceai fini delmiglioramentodelle condizioni generali di vita ri-
spetto a quella che deriva da tutti gli altri settori.
Pertanto, nell’articolato quadro delle iniziative e delle strategie volte
ad affrontare la sfida del futuro alimentare del pianeta, lo sviluppo ar-
monico di tecniche di meccanizzazione avanzate e appropriate ai di-
versi contesti economici e sociali deve essere considerato un fattore
di assoluta priorità.
Luigi Bodria
productivity, allowing a single farmer to produce the food needed for the suste-
nance of 145 people.
Having overcome the challenge of maximizing the production capacity of Man,
nowmechanization is preparing to face the challenge of the newmillennium:
producing food in a sustainable and environmentally-friendlymanner.
The impetuous development of computers and sensors in recent decades is grad-
ually transformingmachines from pure tools to increase thework capacity of hu-
mans into“smart”devicesable toknow thecharacteristicsof theplacewhere they
operate and to adapt to them.GPS geolocation systems are used to create digital
mapsof soil conditionsand the stateof cultures (vegetative stage, chlorophyll con-
tent, production, presence of weeds, etc.), andbased on these, sophisticated con-
trol systems optimize thedistributionof the various cultivation inputs.
The capacity ofmodernmachines tooptimize their functional parameterswhile
respectingwith great accuracy theneeds of crops and soils, thus limiting to the
bareminimum the use of production factors, is a key step towards the environ-
mental sustainability of agriculture.
No less important is the contribution that the development of an appropriate
mechanization can provide to help the development of the areas where there
are still serious problems of poverty and undernourishment. The experience of
developed countries shows that economic growth originating fromhigher yields
of theprimary sector ismore than twice aseffective for the improvement of gen-
eral living conditions thanwhat comes from all other sectors.
Therefore, in the articulated framework of initiatives and strategies aimed at
meeting the challenge of the world’s food future, the harmonious development
of advancedandappropriatemechanization techniques for the variouseconomic
and social contextsmust be considered a factor of absolute priority.
Luigi Bodria
23
MW
n. 7_9/2015
The “Club of Bologna” was created in 1989 by the initiative of Unacoma (today FederUnacoma) in collaboration with FAO and UNIDO and with
the patronage of the International Commission of Rural Engineering (CIGR), in order to establish a highly qualified think tank to define and discuss
the issues of development of the industry.
The highly innovative features that make the Club of Bologna a unique association are the representativeness on aworldwide basis, and the diver-
sity and very high qualifications of itsmembers, selected from amongst themost prestigiousmechanical engineering and agricultural mechaniza-
tion experts in the world.
Currently there are 97 Full Members from 37 Countries of all geographical regions. Besides themost well known universities and themost presti-
gious research centres in theworld, they represent manufacturers of agricultural machinery, their national and supranational associations, agricul-
ture experts and consultants from the sector as well as publishers of specialist scientific journals.
Another peculiarity of this international associationof experts, which is not for profit andwhose sole sponsor is FederUnacoma, is givenby themeth-
ods for meetingand discussion.
Meetings are held, as a rule, in Bologna during EIMA International and in Hannover (Germany) at Agritechnica, givingmembers the opportunity
to visit the two largest European exhibitions for the industry, thus having away tomeet directly with themanufacturers.
The Club’smeetings are held in the form of a panel discussion, with the presentation of Keynote Reports, prepared and presented by experts in the
specific sector regarding topics identifiedby the SteeringCommittee, followedby an intenseand interesting exchangeof ideas basedon specific per-
sonal experience. Very varied and innovative emerging issues are addressed, such as training and technology transfer, energy aspects, mechaniza-
tion for developing countries, ethical and economic aspects of the designof agriculturalmachinery. Particular attention in recent years has beende-
voted to the innovations resulting from the application of electronics and IT technologies for sustainability and food security.
These discussion are then summarized in a flexible document, the “Conclusions and Recommendations”, prepared for awidespread distribution
by the full members to their governments, local representatives of agricultural research and entrepreneurship, and the various international or-
ganizations.
The proceedings of all annual conferences, as well as information on the activities and composition of the Club, are reported in the dedicatedweb-
site
).
Inmemory of its founder, to further promote the exchange and dialogue between the world of research andmanufacturers, in 2012 the Club of
Bologna launched the “Giuseppe Pellizzi Prize”, a Biennial international competition that rewards the best recent PhD Thesis on development and
innovation in agricultural mechanization and engineering.
The presence of the Club in this international scenario has highlighted the strong commitment of the Italian agricultural machinery industry in pro-
moting the development of research and innovation, laying the foundations to build safe products of a high technological level, for intensive farm-
ing and high productivity systems, and for those still related to food security and rural development.
