The ecological transition in agriculture goes through Agritech, the newborn National Research Center for Agricultural Technologies which includes the University of Pisa among the founding members. The activities began a few days ago, exactly on June 23,but the University of Pisa is already working on two of the nine research nodes in which the Center is divided: the projects concern farms and smart agri-food supply chains and the goal of making production sustainable and certifying its quality. 

"Thanks to a multidisciplinary approach, we will develop sensors and other remote sensing systems to improve animal welfare and lessen the impact of climate change on livestock", states Marcello Mele, professor of Special Livestock at the University of Pisa and coordinator of the activities. 

"Also with regard to the agri-food supply chains - adds Mele - the application of digital technologies and advanced calculation methodologies will make it possible to trace the qualitative characteristics of products and their impact on the environment, for the benefit of companies, production systems and consumers" .

The Pisa University is involved in Agritech with the Enrico Avanzi agro-environmental research center and with eight departments: Agricultural, Food and Agro-environmental Sciences, Information Engineering, Computer Science, Veterinary Sciences, Physics, Pharmacy, Political Sciences, Law .

 The Agritech center was financed with a record amount of 350 million Euros, 320 of which are funds provided by the NRP, the project is led by the University of Naples Federico II and involves twenty-eight universities, five research centers and overall eighteen throughout Italy.