Catalogue of Infrastructures and Facilities

Axencia Galega da Calidade Alimentaria (Agacal)

Spain

There are experimental buildings with an area of 5,430 square meters that can accommodate about two hundred cows. There is a milking parlour with a six-point tandem type. The cows stand one behind the other, are milked, and move forward. The operator's access to the udder is lateral. Milking is much slower, as it allows fewer animals per shift, but the inspection of each cow is more thorough.

Infrastructure

Farm

Spain

The “Mabegondo Agricultural Research Centre,” located 27 km from A Coruña, Spain, with just over 300 ha of surface, includes extensive and intensive crops, as well as different types of animals: approximately 175 heads of dairy cattle, 195 heads of beef cattle, and approximately 100 sheep on its main farm, with three other dependent experimental stations. It is attached to the Galician Agency for Food Quality, within the Ministry of Rural Environment of the Xunta de Galicia, and its responsibilities include research, innovation, and transfer, especially in all agricultural matters, including agriculture, livestock, and the use of the natural environment, from the perspectives of production, conservation and genetic improvement, health and well-being, and the agri-food industry, in a manner compatible with the environment and agricultural biodiversity and within the context of a low-carbon economy. Its lines of research include everything related to the production of cow's milk, from crops and pastures for animal feed to the obtaining and processing of milk, including all intermediate and related production steps.

Facility

Mobility tracks

The Off-road vehicle and robot mobility tracks in Allier (France) feature advanced testing infrastructure developed by INRAE-TSCF-AGROTECHNOPÔLE for mobile machines and vehicles. The facility offers numerous accessories, including obstacles like mannequins and natural or artificial hedges. The cross-shaped track allows testing from various cardinal points and orientations relative to the sun. Additionally, the inclined profiles enable testing of agricultural machinery on different slope gradients. The facility supports the comprehensive evaluation and advancement of mobile equipment in diverse conditions, ensuring thorough performance assessment and development.

Facility

Experimental plots - Montoldre AgroTechnoPôle

The experimental plots for alternative weed control consist of a 4-hectare field, with additional areas available. Depending on the experimental needs, the site is equipped with advanced technology for data capture of soil and plants, an electric power supply using an electric generator for the computer units and charging for electric weeding solutions, as well as remote monitoring of crops and the environment via wireless sensors and a field meteorological station. This supports research on crops like maize and beans and weeds such as ryegrass, mustard, lamb’s quarter, and Matricaria chamomile. The site includes manoeuvring zones and buffer spaces between plots to allow machines or robots to move freely. INRAE-TSCF-AgroTechnoPôle ensures experiments' maintenance, protection, and organisation, offering an ideal environment for field trials and technology testing.

Facility

Machine-Soil interaction - Montoldre AgroTechnoPôle

The experimental plots to study machine-soil interaction offer advanced tools to study machine-soil interactions. The MONROE system measures the efficiency of agricultural tires and machines, assessing traction and soil compaction under various conditions, including tire type, pressure, and soil characteristics. It uses constant torque and traction force methods alongside additional measurements of effort, torque, angular velocity, and actual speed. The SoilXplorer tool provides electromagnetic response maps of soil, based on texture and moisture levels. Additionally, the facility features a FARO Focus 3D X130 laser scanner for precise 3D mapping of tire tracks and soil impressions.

Facility

CEMIB bench - Montoldre AgroTechnoPôle

The CEMIB rotating test bench, patented by INRAE, is a high-performance device for measuring the distribution of granular products (fertilisers). It enables quick, reliable, and cost-effective evaluation of spreading patterns. CEMIB scans the spread pattern, angular sector by angular sector, using around 90 sensors recorded at 10 Hz by a synchronous system. It provides precise, disturbance-free measurements of fertiliser distribution in grams/m² and reliable data on projection range and angles. The setup includes a rotating carrier for the spreader and a "sensitive" part with 50x50 cm trays and highly accurate weight sensors (0.02 grams), ensuring continuous, accurate assessments.

Facility

CEMOB bench - Montoldre AgroTechnoPôle

The CEMOB Bench is dedicated to enhancing the efficiency of spreading processes by optimising both machines and products, such as granules and compost. The CEMOB research bench accurately measures and characterises spreader sheets using traditional transverse measurement methods. The 3D measurements enable detailed analysis of spreading performance, including mapping ground distribution and assessing homogeneity. CEMOB also allows the evaluation of a product’s suitability for wide-area spreading and the impact of optimised spreading devices.

Infrastructure

Montoldre AgroTechnoPôle

INRAE (National Institute for Agrarian, Food, and Environmental Research of France) is a leading research organisation dedicated to advancing sustainable agricultural and food systems. Through its work in research, innovation, and public policy support, INRAE seeks to provide solutions for life, humanity, and the Earth. INRAE's research, conducted across 18 research centres, 14 scientific departments, and nearly 300 research, service, and experimental units, is integrated into regional policies and actively engaged in international partnerships, making it a global effort in which you can participate. The Montoldre research and experimentation site is located in the scenic Allier Department within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. The site is dedicated to pioneering research into developing productive and environmentally friendly farming systems. The services offered under the AgrifoodTEF project on the Montoldre site are provided and implemented by the AgroTechnoPôle. This open innovation platform, supported by the INRAE-TSCF Unit, is not just dedicated to helping to develop technological solutions for tomorrow's agriculture but also to inspiring a new era of innovation in the industry. The AgroTechnoPôle brings together public and private expertise to accelerate the development of innovative agricultural tools, machinery, and services, inspiring all those involved to push the boundaries of what's possible in agriculture, making it more efficient, less energy-demanding, and environmentally friendly. Montoldre has various advanced machinery and infrastructure, making it a central hub for research and development in agricultural technology and robotics.

Facility

East Garden

Test and validation of autonomous navigation and mapping solutions for UGVs, by quantification of the system performance metrics through comparison with millimeter accuracy ground truth data for an agricultural field with rough terrains.

Infrastructure

AgriRobot

The project focuses on enhancing mobility and enabling robots to perform precision tasks such as crop and weed management, monitoring, and recognition. The core focus is to develop a robust and highly accurate localisation and navigation system for autonomous agricultural robots, capable of operating efficiently in large, unstructured outdoor settings. A key component of this effort is the use of 3D high-precision mapping, which provides detailed characterisation of agricultural land. This 3D point cloud data is critical for understanding the varying topographies and plant distributions across the farm, facilitating more accurate navigation and task execution by robots. It also enables more efficient resource allocation and targeted interventions, ensuring better yield management and reducing waste. The entire solution operates at the edge, providing real-time data processing to support seamless robot navigation and decision-making in real-world farming scenarios.

Facility

Apple Orchards in Tres

For this purpose, LoRaWAN tensiometers are devices for measuring the soil moisture. A tensiometer consists of a vacuum gauge connected by a tube to a porous ceramic tip. The tube is filled with water. The ceramic tip is permeable, and the water in the tube saturates it. The tip is placed in contact with the soil in the root zone. Because the soil is normally not saturated, water is drawn from the tip into the soil. As water moves from the tube into the soil, a partial vacuum is created and measured by the gauge. This measurement is not a direct measurement of soil water content. Rather, it is a measurement of soil water tension (also called soil moisture tension). The level of pressure (tension) in the vacuum is an indication of the amount of energy needed by a plant to counter the strength with which the soil holds moisture and extract water from the soil. We installed in different fields for every measure point two tensiometers with different depths (30 cm and 60 cm). In this way we are able to measure the effect of water/soil moisture at different depths in the soil. Through the LoRa network we receive the soil moisture data from the sensors distributed in the field. Moreover, with the LoRAWAN valve, we are able to control water irrigation based on soil moisture data from tensiometers processed by AI algorithms. With this data and their elaboration, we are able to save water and make the irrigation process more efficient.

Facility

Vineyard in Rovere della Luna