An integrated system for the agrometeorological monitoring at farm scale: preliminary results

Agrometeorological variables are among the principal factors affecting crop growth and development, as well as the dynamics of other important biological elements, such as plant diseases and pests. For instance, grapevine (Vitis vinifera) downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola), that represents one of the main adversities in most of viticultural growing areas, is directly related to air temperature, relative humidity, leaf wetness and rainfall. Since the eighties, the relations between the fungus and the meteorological variables have been made explicit by numerous empirical and mechanistic epidemiological models in order to simulate the development of the disease through the season. The application of those models enables to upgrade the classic knowledge of growers and technicians representing an added information on which to base the decision making activity. Thus, the monitoring of agrometeorological variables on the territory together with the application of simulation models, represents the basis for a correct management of cultivation methods and sanitary treatments. For the realization of such a monitoring, the development of a climatological study of the area is required, in order to assess the climatic conditions and to identify the most representative sites where the meteorological stations for the measurements of the interested variables have to be placed. Once the strategic sites are monitored by stations, data can be collected for further processes, such as spatial interpolations and application of agrometeorological simulation models.