AgTech Supporting Tomato Cultivation

The cultivation of tomatoes in Italy is being heavily impacted by extreme weather conditions: excessive rainfall in the North and along the Tyrrhenian coast is delaying transplants, while drought and intense heat in the South and on the Adriatic side are stunting growth. Low market prices further complicate farmers' choices. In this challenging scenario, adopting digital tools like Decision Support Systems (DSS) is emerging as a crucial, sustainable solution to optimize interventions and protect yields.

The tomato is one of the pillars of Italian agri-food, essential both for the Mediterranean diet and for its significant economic impact.

In 2023, the sector generated a turnover of about 5 billion euros, involving over 7,000 agricultural enterprises, 100 processing companies, and employing approximately 10,000 workers across 70,000 cultivated hectares. Regions like Puglia and Emilia-Romagna contribute significantly to national production, together providing about two-thirds of the total harvest.

Unprecedented Challenges in Tomato Cultivation

In recent years, tomato cultivation in Italy has faced increasingly complex climatic challenges. Extreme weather conditions—prolonged droughts, record-breaking heat, and intense rainfall—have severely tested seedlings and harvesting processes.

These climatic variations not only affect crop yields but also increase the risk of diseases and infestations, such as the red spider mite attack in the Piacenza area.

The Situation in Different Italian Regions

The 2024 harvest campaign proved to be one of the most challenging ever for the tomato supply chain, both in the North and the South.

In Emilia-Romagna, persistent rains in May delayed transplanting until June, extending the harvest into late September and, in some cases, until the end of October. This unusual event strained resources and organizational capacity.

June's meteorological instability exposed seedlings to pathogen risks, while intense heat between July and August hindered their growth. These conditions led to an average yield of only 60 tons per hectare, significantly lower than the 74-ton average of the past five years. Consequently, a product deficit is expected compared to contracted quantities, putting both agricultural producers and processing industries in a difficult position.

In the South, particularly in Puglia, despite a more than 5% increase in areas cultivated with tomatoes, the region faced problems related to drought and record heat. These conditions affected the development of plants and fruits, increasing the risk of sunburn and causing a slight decrease in productivity.

Despite these challenges, a positive national trend emerged: the high quality of the harvested tomatoes. In Northern Italy, the Brix degree reached a record value of 5.12, indicating high sugar content and superior product quality.

However, the overall picture remains concerning when considering the costs borne by farmers to protect plants from diseases and the low production yields, resulting in lost income. The reduced quantities of harvest reaching the industries prevent companies from operating at full capacity or optimizing processing procedures, leading to increased costs.

Digital Support for Tomato Cultivation

In such a complex context, adopting precise and reliable digital solutions is essential. Farmers need to constantly monitor their fields' conditions to determine the optimal time to act, thereby preventing significant production losses.

The Decision Support Systems (DSS) developed by Horta S.r.l. help agri-food chains achieve these objectives. Thanks to robust predictive models—more information can be found in the article below—the DSS precisely indicate when to perform phytosanitary treatments, optimizing interventions and improving production efficiency.

How DSS support farmers in complex years

To better understand the value of these tools, let's examine a concrete example: one of the outputs generated by our DSS that shows the risk trend of infection by Phytophthora infestans in tomatoes during the 2024 season.

These graphs illustrate how the risk of tomato late blight infection varies during the cultivation season for the considered production unit:

1. First Graph (Infective Potential Index, IPI): Indicates the level of risk, from low (green) to high (red), based on factors like temperature, humidity, and precipitation. This index allows for timely identification of when environmental conditions are favorable for disease onset and when to start protecting the crop.
2. Second Graph: Combines various indices—IPI7, MISP, and Fry—to describe the epidemic development of the disease throughout the season. This tool highlights the phases when it's most appropriate to intervene with phytosanitary treatments, facilitating more effective planning.
3. Third Graph: Illustrates infection events and their severity, incubation phases, and symptom appearance. It highlights critical moments when action is crucial to contain the disease before it visibly manifests.

Detailed Analysis of the IPI7 Index

Focusing on the second graph, let's concentrate on the IPI7 index, represented by colored dots that track the infective potential of Phytophthora infestans over the season. This index uses a color scale to indicate different risk levels:

• Low infective potential: Green
• Medium-low infective potential: Yellow
• Medium-high infective potential: Orange
• High infective potential: Red

This visual representation allows for easy monitoring of how the infective potential changes over time.

By simulating environmental conditions, the IPI7, MISP, and Fry indices can predict late blight infections up to seven days in advance, enabling preventive intervention with targeted treatments.

This approach optimizes the effectiveness of phytosanitary treatments, allowing for control of the pathogen before it causes significant production damage.

The blue bands in the graph represent the days when the crop is protected by a phytosanitary treatment, confirming the intervention's effectiveness.

Moreover, once the phytosanitary treatment is registered in the system, the DSS can simulate its protection dynamics based on the product type (chemical-physical characteristics of the active ingredient) and environmental conditions, such as rainfall.

In the challenging agricultural landscape of 2024, adopting digital tools like Horta S.r.l. 's Decision Support Systems (DSS) is not just beneficial but essential for sustaining tomato cultivation. These systems empower farmers to proactively address climatic and phytosanitary challenges by providing precise, timely insights for informed decision-making.

By optimizing interventions such as targeted phytosanitary treatments, DSS enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of cultivation practices.

If you’d like to learn more about agrivoltaics, we invite you to watch our video on YouTube!