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BrIAS conference on Smart Agriculture (Agri2025)
The BrIAS Agri2025 aims to become a recurrent annual event for a multidisciplinary scientific community to present and discuss the most recent studies on smart agriculture.
Description
Smart agriculture is rapidly transforming the way farming is practiced, revolutionizing traditional agricultural systems through the integration of advanced technologies and data driven solutions. This shift is not only enhancing productivity but also helping address challenges like resource scarcity, climate change, and the need for sustainable farming practices. The role of smart agriculture is pivotal in both the current and future agricultural systems, as it promises to improve efficiency, sustainability, and resilience. The BrIAS AGRI2025 conference will be dedicated at highlighting the current and future trends in Smart Agriculture, and bridging this to the 5 FAO strategic objective or sustainability goals (reduce hunger, sustainable agriculture, reduce rural poverty, inclusive agricultural systems, increase resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses).
In today’s agricultural systems, smart agriculture encompasses a variety of technological innovations that are increasingly being adopted by farmers. Precision agriculture, one of the key components, uses GPS, IoT sensors, drones, and satellite imagery to monitor and manage crops more efficiently. For instance, soil moisture sensors can provide real-time data about soil conditions, enabling farmers to apply water, fertilizers, and pesticides only where they are needed. This results in optimal use of resources, which can lead to higher yields while reducing costs and minimizing environmental impact.
Climate change is another pressing issue, and smart agriculture holds promise for adapting to shifting environmental conditions. Through the use of climate modelling, farmers can receive real-time weather forecasts and adjust their practices to minimize losses due to extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and heatwaves. Moreover, the development of drought-resistant and climate-resilient crops through genetic engineering, combined with data-driven agricultural practices, will allow farmers to maintain productivity even
in adverse conditions.
PROGRAM DAY 1
8:30 – 9:00: Registration
09.00 – 09.30: Opening ceremony and welcome
- Prof. Emanuele Garone, Université Libre de Bruxelles
- Prof. David Cannella, Université Libre de Bruxelles
- Prof. Frank Deconinck, Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies
- Dr. Raschad Al-Khafaji, Director FAO Brussels Liaison Office with the European Union and Belgium
09.30 – 10.10: Plenary lecture 1 (Room 1)
Moderator: Emanuele Garone
PT1 Insects need smart promotion … or eradication.
Prof. Frédéric Francis, Gembloux-Agro Bio Tech.
Parallel Session 1 – Advances in pests and diseases research (Room 1)
Moderators: Luca Rossini and Silvia Turco
- 10:20 – 10:40: T1 Extracting insect information from entomological museum collections to identify potential insect
pests and beneficials using deep learning methods.
G. Noël - 10:40 – 11:00: T2 Development of Bruchus rufimanus Boheman 1833 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) at different temperatures with special emphasis on rearing and modelling approach. A. Segers
Parallel Session 2 – Advances in modelling in plant protection (Room 2)
Moderators: Irene Salotti and Yafit Cohen
- 10:20 – 10:40: T3 A win-win combination in plant disease prediction: field data to update model estimations,
estimations to drive field data collection.
O. Benhamouche - 10:40 – 11:00: T4 Adaptation of a physiologically based model for predicting the phenology of Philaenus
spumarius: first validation in Italian olive groves.
Z. Sweidan
11.00 – 11.30: Coffee break
Parallel Session 1 – Advances in pests and diseases research (Room 1)
Moderators: Luca Rossini and Silvia Turco
- 11:30 – 11:50: T5 Innovations and challenges in black soldier fly farming: Infrastructure, automation, and waste
valorization.
H. Luttenschlager - 11:50 – 12:10: T6 A novel strain of Akanthomyces muscarius as a promising biological control agent
against Toumeyella parvicornis.
N. Di Sora - 12:10 – 12:30: T7 Improving management of emerging and re-emerging pests and diseases of Prunus persica (L.)
Batsch.
S. Turco - 12:30 – 12:50: T8 Characterizing spatiotemporal dynamics of biotic stresses to optimize sampling strategies in
agricultural systems.
R. Gafni
Parallel Session 2 – Advances in modelling in plant protection (Room 2)
Moderators: Irene Salotti and Yafit Cohen
- 11:30 – 11:50: T9 A mechanistic, five-step approach for prediction modelling: Alternaria-tomato pathosystem as
case study.
I. Salotti - 11:50 – 12:10: T10 AI-Driven pest control: Sustainable agroecosystems through remote monitoring and predictive
modeling.
R. Ascolese - 12:10 – 12:30: T11 Urban-agricultural interface: Impact of urban habitats on Mediterranean fruit fly dynamics in
citrus orchards.
Y. Cohen - 12:30 – 12:50: T12 Pest control SDSS – From academy to industry.
A. Cohen
12.50 – 14.00 Lunch break and poster session
Session 3: Advances in plant health sensing (Room 1)
Moderators: Francesco Lamonaca and Valerio Cristofori
- 14:00 – 14:20: T13 GeoAI, metrology and remote sensing for smart agriculture: Mapping land transformation and
climatic impacts to optimize crop resilience and water management in a Mediterranean region.
A. Vitale - 14:20 – 14:40: T14 Integrating spatio-temporal vegetation indices with machine learning for dynamic maize field
performance monitoring: Development of a real-time crop monitoring framework.
G. Ravid - 14:40 – 15:00: T15 Spectral-based weed detection across diverse environmental conditions.
A. Prashar
15.00 – 15.30: Coffee break
Session 4: Advances in plant health sensing (Room 1)
Moderators: Francesco Lamonaca and Valerio Cristofori
- 15:30 – 15:50: T16 Moving towards regenerative agriculture: Advancements in remote sensing tools to measure
soils health regeneration.
M. Silvestri - 15:50 – 16:10: T17 How to capture within-field heterogeneity across multi-year crop rotation: High-resolution
insights from sentinel-2. T. Kenda - 16:10 – 16:30: T18 A low-cost and AI-integrated imaging device for plant-parasitic nematodes quantification and
classification.
G. Bi
16:30 – 16:50: T19 Early detection of nutrient deficiencies: The hazelnut case-study
V. Cristofori
16.50 – 17.40: Plenary lecture 2 (Room 1)
Moderator David Cannella
PT2 Plant defense priming.
Prof. Uwe Conrath, RWTH Aachen University.
19.00: Social dinner at Fondation Universitaire (11 Rue d’Edgemont, 1000 Brussels)
PROGRAM DAY 2
8:30 – 9:00: Registration
09.20 – 10.10: Plenary lecture 3 (Room 1)
Moderator David Cannella
PT3 Agroecological models explained.
Dr. Niels Holst, Aarhus University.
Parallel Session 5 – Robotics in precision farming (Room 1)
Moderators: Andrea Gasparri and Fabrizio Dabbene
- 10:20 – 10:40: T20 A control architecture for semi-autonomous robots in agriculture settings.
J. Marino - 10:40 – 11:00: T21 A robotic arm design for autonomous kiwi harvesting.
N. Omodei
Parallel Session 6 – Technologies for sensing and phenotyping (Room 2)
Moderators: Luca Bascetta and Christian Hermans
- 10:20 – 10:40: T22 Automated X-ray plant phenotyping from seedlings to the field.
G. Lehretz - 10:40 – 11:00: T23 Uncovering the role of Serendipita williamsii volatiles in establishing its own plant beneficial
endophytic colonization: A parallel study of the headspace composition and mode of action.
J. Van Vooren
11.00 – 11.30: Coffee break
Parallel Session 5 – Robotics in precision farming (Room 1)
Moderators: Andrea Gasparri and Fabrizio Dabbene
- 11:30 – 11:50: T24 A distributed framework for task allocation and safe coordination in networked multi-robot
systems for precision agriculture.
A. Gasparri - 11:50 – 12:10: T25 Motion planning for an autonomous agricultural robot in unstructured terrain.
F. Dabbene - 12:10 – 12:30: T26 Motion planning for agricultural tasks with robotic manipulators.
G. Liu - 12:30 – 12:50: T27 Self-supervised local NBV planning for 3D plant reconstruction by a robot.
J. Ci
Parallel Session 6 – Technologies for sensing and phenotyping (Room 2)
Moderators: Luca Bascetta and Christian Hermans
- 11:30 – 11:50: T28 Using a digital twin of a tracked mobile robot for the design and validation of estimation and
control algorithms.
L. Bascetta - 11:50 – 12:10: T29 RootForce 4.0: a review of the classical image processing pipeline for root system architecture
of cereals.
L. A. Torres-Cisneros - 12:10 – 12:30: T30 Constellr HiVE – A satellite constellation for monitoring diurnal temperature cycles and
enabling smart agriculture.
C. Lerot - 12:30 – 12:50: T31 Cellulose-derived oligosaccharides obtained by LPMO oxidation biostimulate tomato weight,
inflorescence, and immunity through ethylene and ROS-free signalling
D. Cannella
12.50 – 14.00: Lunch break and poster session
Session 7: Smart irrigation and soil biodiversity (Room 1)
Moderators: Luis Orihuela and José Maria Manzano
- 14:00 – 14:20: T32 Application and assessment of model-based leak localization methods in an irrigation network.
L. Orihuela - 14:20 – 14:40: T33 Harnessing predictive data analytics of soil microbiota for enhanced bio-sustainability in
agriculture.
R. Pace - 14:40 – 15:00: T34 Design and deployment of a cloud platform for data-driven leak detection in agricultural
irrigation systems.
J. M. Manzano
15.00 – 15.30: Coffee break
Session 8: Biostimulants and soil biodiversity (Room 1)
Moderators: David Cannella and Silvia Turco
- 15:30 – 15:50: T35 Leveraging rhizosphere microbial diversity and drought-tolerant bacterial isolates to enhance
soybean resilience in South Africa.
A. S. Ayangbenro - 15:50 – 16:10: T36 Tailoring plant roots for enhanced nitrogen capture in soil.
C. Hermans - 16:10 – 16:30: T37 Harnessing biostimulants for sustainable agriculture: A case study or Nurspray® in tomato
cultivation.
C. Leclef
16.30 – 17.20: Plenary lecture 4 (Room 1)
Moderator: Emanuele Garone
PT4 AgRobotics for smart agriculture.
Prof. Yael Edan, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.