Remigio Berruto - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Remigio Berruto

Research paper thumbnail of A flow-shop problem formulation of biomass handling operations scheduling

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Feb 1, 2013

Currently, the planning of the biomass collection operations is performed relying on the contract... more Currently, the planning of the biomass collection operations is performed relying on the contractor's experience without the use of any dedicated planning tool. It is expected that more explicitly formulated planning tools would provide benefits on securing the supply chain of biomass feedstock. In this study, the problem of finding a permutation schedule for a number of geographically dispersed fields where biomass handling operations have to be carried out involving a number of sequential tasks, was formulated as a flow shop with sequence depended set up times scheduling problems as known in the industrial domain. By applying the approach to a case study involving experimental recording of the operations executions, the execution of an optimal schedule was found to give a reduction of 9.8% in the total time as compared to a schedule based on the tacit knowledge of the operations manager.

Research paper thumbnail of Manuale Per Manager DI Filiera

Research paper thumbnail of Skill Needs for Sustainable Agri-Food and Forestry Sectors (I): Assessment through European and National Focus Groups

Sustainability

The agri-food and forestry sectors are under increasing pressure to adapt to climate change, cons... more The agri-food and forestry sectors are under increasing pressure to adapt to climate change, consumer concern, technological and economic change, and complex global value chains. In turn, such challenges require that the necessary skills and competences are identified at various levels and within specific areas of the sectors. For that purpose, eleven focus groups in nine different EU-countries and two at EU-level were organized within the ERASMUS+ project “FIELDS” with the participation of farmers, cooperatives, agri-food companies, foresters, forest industries, advisors, and education providers to identify the skills needed in the agri-food and forestry sectors. The focus group participants identified business and strategic management skills, communication skills, and other skills related to sustainability, entrepreneurship, digital and soft skills to be most important for the agri-food and forestry sectors as a whole.

Research paper thumbnail of Biomass Supply chain Feasibility Study by Means of Web Application: Technical, Economic and Energetic Aspects

One of the main difficulties in the development of biomass supply chains is the lack of reliable ... more One of the main difficulties in the development of biomass supply chains is the lack of reliable and complete information, which is needed to carry out a correct analysis. In this context, it is very important to have a reference application in order to compare biomass production systems. With the aim to bridge this information gap has been implemented by DEIAFA a web application - www.EnergyFarm.unito.it - to investigate the biomass supply chains under the technical, economic and energetic aspects. Functionalities offered by this advanced application include the evaluation of field and logistic operations related to biomass cultivation, harvest and transport to the point of use. All procedures share a common database, ensuring their proper integration. Following the data insertion the user could compute its own crop cultivation costs and margins both on the economic and energetic point of view. The tool was used in combination with discrete event simulation model to assess in detai...

Research paper thumbnail of A Web-Based Information System for Agricultural Machinery Use Cost Analysis

Agricultural machinery has the highest resources cost contribution in farm businesses. Moreover, ... more Agricultural machinery has the highest resources cost contribution in farm businesses. Moreover, in the last years high in power and size machines, new technologies, higher prices for spare parts, and energy consumption contributed to the rising of the machinery direct and indirect cost. The potential of having an estimation of such cost beforehand is a critical factor for strategic and tactical decision making. However, available web-based applications for agricultural machinery cost estimation are lacking of a mobile application module. The aim of this work is to present the development of an easy-to-se mobile app, to determine the actual machinery cost in different field operations and makes them available via web mobile application using a cross-platform approach. The web mobile app was built using HTML language for the content, JavaScript for the logic part, and CSS as a presentation style. To accelerate the development, the jQuery Mobile (JQM), a touch-optimized JavaScript lib...

Research paper thumbnail of La logistica della supply-chain di prodotti ortofrutticoli ed il suo impatto sulla qualità e quantità al punto vendita: uno studio di simulazione

Research paper thumbnail of La tracciabilità aziendale nella produzione di carne bovina e latte vaccino

Research paper thumbnail of I sistemi colturali biologici nella piattaforma sperimentale piemontese di lungo periodo

Research paper thumbnail of AMACA: Agricultural MAchine Cost Analysis app

Machinery and equipment are major cost items in farm businesses since many years in different cou... more Machinery and equipment are major cost items in farm businesses since many years in different countries. In the last years, moreover, high power machines, new technologies, higher prices for spare parts and energy contributed to the rising of the machines costs.The possibility to know in advance such costs is strategic for the farmers, but the agricultural machine cost determination available by internet applications are lacking of a mobile app.Aim of this work is to fill this gap with an easy to use mobile app, to determine the real machineries costs in different field operations and makes them available via web mobile application using a cross-platform approach.This paper describes the features of the web mobile app AMACA (Agricultural Machine App Cost Analysis) created by the authors using HTML language for the content, JavaScript for the logic part and CSS as a presentation style. To accelerate the development, the jQuery Mobile (JQM), a touchoptimized JavaScript library, was used. AMACA allows the analysis of traction costs and operation costs. The tool is free, readily available and does not need any installation on the end users devices. The tool was presented at service companies in agriculture, and people liked its features (mobile availability, easy of use, email parameters and results, easy cost calculation).

Research paper thumbnail of FOODLAB Business Tool to Foster Entrepreneurship in the Agrifood Sector

International Journal on Food System Dynamics, 2017

The FOODLAB project develop a project-based learning approach and an entrepreneurial spirit in st... more The FOODLAB project develop a project-based learning approach and an entrepreneurial spirit in students, foster interactions between stakeholders in Food innovation and guide the development of innovative projects for Ecotrophelia, the European competition on food innovation that bring hundreds of students to compete at European level with their idea. The FOODLAB project enable the setting up of a European Foodbusiness Transfer Laboratory to create/help future entrepreneurs, with dedicated modules to promote interactions with food companies, technical centres, research centres or business companies. In FOODLAB project is we reach the aim to provide an innovative tools to help to build business models, business plans to serve students, high education institutions, and SMEs. The tool built for this purpose is a client server application, highly customizable to follow the target needs. It allows to setup a complete business model and business plan providing template, defaults sentences...

Research paper thumbnail of A Pocket Information System for Farm Contractors (APIS)

Farm contractors have the necessity to quickly know if an agricultural operation request is conve... more Farm contractors have the necessity to quickly know if an agricultural operation request is convenient or not, using their agricultural machineries. Field dimension, shape and slope are key factors to determine operations costs. In addition, high machinery power and characteristics, spare parts, and energy consumption are main components difficult to quickly evaluate to understand the operation benefit or loss. The possibility to estimate such costs beforehand is a critical factor for strategic and tactical decision making. Nowadays there are few web-based mobile applications for agricultural machinery cost estimation to help farm contractors in their decision. Aim of this work is to present a quick and easy-to-use mobile web app, that allow the users to insert their machineries, the shape and the area of the field to evaluate the economic feasibility of a specific field operation. The app was built using the open-source Drupal framework with a module that use a cross-platform appro...

Research paper thumbnail of Simulation of rice harvesting chain: logistic game for real farms

Research paper thumbnail of First assessment of the possibility of using burning equipment for weed control in horticulture

Research paper thumbnail of Agricoltura, energia ed ambiente

Research paper thumbnail of La produzione di agroenergia: studio di un sistema colturale per la produzione di "biogas

Nel contesto politico e di mercato attuale viene richiesto all’agricoltura di confrontarsi con le... more Nel contesto politico e di mercato attuale viene richiesto all’agricoltura di confrontarsi con le esigenze di tutela del consumatore e di salvaguardia dell’ambiente attraverso la riduzione dell’emissione degli inquinanti, il contenimento del consumo idrico e la ricerca di fonti di energia rinnovabile. Le energie rinnovabili ottenibili da agricoltura possono essere riunite in tre gruppi (Berton et al., 2006): da biogas per la produzione di metano attraverso il quale si ottiene energia elettrica e termica; da biocarburanti o biocombustibili liquidi con la produzione di biodiesel, bioetanolo e olio vegetale puro; da biocombustibili solidi quindi l’utilizzo della legna nelle sue diverse forme di utilizzazione (pellet, chips e tal quale) per l’alimentazione di centrali termiche ed elettriche. Il presente lavoro valuta da un punto di vista agronomico, ambientale ed energetico un sistema colturale erbaceo finalizzato alla produzione di biomasse per la co-digestione con liquami.

Research paper thumbnail of Erasmus+ EU FIELDS project: bioeconomy, digitalisation and sustainability skill needs designed with a multidisciplinary approach

There are new challenges and opportunities for agriculture today, driven by the climate change, t... more There are new challenges and opportunities for agriculture today, driven by the climate change, the greening of the products and processes, the reuse of side-stream products, the raised complexity of the chain and the increased availability of information. To successfully address and react to these drivers, agriculture and forestry needs new business models and skills. The identification of existing and emerging skills needs in bio-economy, sustainability and digital technology is of paramount importance in order to develop a strategic approach to keep the European agricultural sector competitive and sustainable in the long term. The FIELDS approach, starting from the current and future trends and skills needs, will lead to a sustainable European strategy to address these skill gaps. Since agriculture issues and opportunities differs a lot from country to country, the EU strategy will be customised to have a strategy for 7 countries. It will address country-specific actions, occupat...

Research paper thumbnail of Business plan tool for small biogas plants

Research paper thumbnail of Logistic study to compare slurry distribution: tanker vs. umbilical system

Research paper thumbnail of Supply Chains of Products of Animal Origin: A Complex Network Model for Strategic Management

International Journal on Food System Dynamics, 2014

Due to the dynamic evolution of food chains during the past years, currently available chain mode... more Due to the dynamic evolution of food chains during the past years, currently available chain models are no longer able to meet the needs of operators. This article introduces a model for chain analysis which is used in an analysis of the supply chains of the entire Italian production of Animal Origin which constitute a complex network in which the actors of the agro-food system operate. The new model is innovative for two reasons: it represents many supply chains of products of animal origin from different productive species in a single model and, in addition, allows to represent the complexity of the chain network.

Research paper thumbnail of Traceability performance of peaches supply network

The traceability allows, for each product, to sketch the manufacturing process through a system d... more The traceability allows, for each product, to sketch the manufacturing process through a system documentary, enabling to identify the operational structures involved, the products and the lots, to define the flows of production, packaging and distribution. Some researchers investigate the traceability within the firm, but little work has been carried out on the investigation of the traceability system over the whole supply chain. The supply-chain of fresh fruit produce has many links: producer/grower, warehouse, packing centre, distribution centre, retailers and finally the consumer. Each of these is a system itself that interacts with the other components of the supply-chain. The non-conformity could occur in each of these links, and could be monitored in any of the links. When a non-conformity occurs, the time to recall the product depends on many factors: lot size, the lead time for information spreading from link to link, product transit time among links, product storage procedu...

Research paper thumbnail of A flow-shop problem formulation of biomass handling operations scheduling

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Feb 1, 2013

Currently, the planning of the biomass collection operations is performed relying on the contract... more Currently, the planning of the biomass collection operations is performed relying on the contractor's experience without the use of any dedicated planning tool. It is expected that more explicitly formulated planning tools would provide benefits on securing the supply chain of biomass feedstock. In this study, the problem of finding a permutation schedule for a number of geographically dispersed fields where biomass handling operations have to be carried out involving a number of sequential tasks, was formulated as a flow shop with sequence depended set up times scheduling problems as known in the industrial domain. By applying the approach to a case study involving experimental recording of the operations executions, the execution of an optimal schedule was found to give a reduction of 9.8% in the total time as compared to a schedule based on the tacit knowledge of the operations manager.

Research paper thumbnail of Manuale Per Manager DI Filiera

Research paper thumbnail of Skill Needs for Sustainable Agri-Food and Forestry Sectors (I): Assessment through European and National Focus Groups

Sustainability

The agri-food and forestry sectors are under increasing pressure to adapt to climate change, cons... more The agri-food and forestry sectors are under increasing pressure to adapt to climate change, consumer concern, technological and economic change, and complex global value chains. In turn, such challenges require that the necessary skills and competences are identified at various levels and within specific areas of the sectors. For that purpose, eleven focus groups in nine different EU-countries and two at EU-level were organized within the ERASMUS+ project “FIELDS” with the participation of farmers, cooperatives, agri-food companies, foresters, forest industries, advisors, and education providers to identify the skills needed in the agri-food and forestry sectors. The focus group participants identified business and strategic management skills, communication skills, and other skills related to sustainability, entrepreneurship, digital and soft skills to be most important for the agri-food and forestry sectors as a whole.

Research paper thumbnail of Biomass Supply chain Feasibility Study by Means of Web Application: Technical, Economic and Energetic Aspects

One of the main difficulties in the development of biomass supply chains is the lack of reliable ... more One of the main difficulties in the development of biomass supply chains is the lack of reliable and complete information, which is needed to carry out a correct analysis. In this context, it is very important to have a reference application in order to compare biomass production systems. With the aim to bridge this information gap has been implemented by DEIAFA a web application - www.EnergyFarm.unito.it - to investigate the biomass supply chains under the technical, economic and energetic aspects. Functionalities offered by this advanced application include the evaluation of field and logistic operations related to biomass cultivation, harvest and transport to the point of use. All procedures share a common database, ensuring their proper integration. Following the data insertion the user could compute its own crop cultivation costs and margins both on the economic and energetic point of view. The tool was used in combination with discrete event simulation model to assess in detai...

Research paper thumbnail of A Web-Based Information System for Agricultural Machinery Use Cost Analysis

Agricultural machinery has the highest resources cost contribution in farm businesses. Moreover, ... more Agricultural machinery has the highest resources cost contribution in farm businesses. Moreover, in the last years high in power and size machines, new technologies, higher prices for spare parts, and energy consumption contributed to the rising of the machinery direct and indirect cost. The potential of having an estimation of such cost beforehand is a critical factor for strategic and tactical decision making. However, available web-based applications for agricultural machinery cost estimation are lacking of a mobile application module. The aim of this work is to present the development of an easy-to-se mobile app, to determine the actual machinery cost in different field operations and makes them available via web mobile application using a cross-platform approach. The web mobile app was built using HTML language for the content, JavaScript for the logic part, and CSS as a presentation style. To accelerate the development, the jQuery Mobile (JQM), a touch-optimized JavaScript lib...

Research paper thumbnail of La logistica della supply-chain di prodotti ortofrutticoli ed il suo impatto sulla qualità e quantità al punto vendita: uno studio di simulazione

Research paper thumbnail of La tracciabilità aziendale nella produzione di carne bovina e latte vaccino

Research paper thumbnail of I sistemi colturali biologici nella piattaforma sperimentale piemontese di lungo periodo

Research paper thumbnail of AMACA: Agricultural MAchine Cost Analysis app

Machinery and equipment are major cost items in farm businesses since many years in different cou... more Machinery and equipment are major cost items in farm businesses since many years in different countries. In the last years, moreover, high power machines, new technologies, higher prices for spare parts and energy contributed to the rising of the machines costs.The possibility to know in advance such costs is strategic for the farmers, but the agricultural machine cost determination available by internet applications are lacking of a mobile app.Aim of this work is to fill this gap with an easy to use mobile app, to determine the real machineries costs in different field operations and makes them available via web mobile application using a cross-platform approach.This paper describes the features of the web mobile app AMACA (Agricultural Machine App Cost Analysis) created by the authors using HTML language for the content, JavaScript for the logic part and CSS as a presentation style. To accelerate the development, the jQuery Mobile (JQM), a touchoptimized JavaScript library, was used. AMACA allows the analysis of traction costs and operation costs. The tool is free, readily available and does not need any installation on the end users devices. The tool was presented at service companies in agriculture, and people liked its features (mobile availability, easy of use, email parameters and results, easy cost calculation).

Research paper thumbnail of FOODLAB Business Tool to Foster Entrepreneurship in the Agrifood Sector

International Journal on Food System Dynamics, 2017

The FOODLAB project develop a project-based learning approach and an entrepreneurial spirit in st... more The FOODLAB project develop a project-based learning approach and an entrepreneurial spirit in students, foster interactions between stakeholders in Food innovation and guide the development of innovative projects for Ecotrophelia, the European competition on food innovation that bring hundreds of students to compete at European level with their idea. The FOODLAB project enable the setting up of a European Foodbusiness Transfer Laboratory to create/help future entrepreneurs, with dedicated modules to promote interactions with food companies, technical centres, research centres or business companies. In FOODLAB project is we reach the aim to provide an innovative tools to help to build business models, business plans to serve students, high education institutions, and SMEs. The tool built for this purpose is a client server application, highly customizable to follow the target needs. It allows to setup a complete business model and business plan providing template, defaults sentences...

Research paper thumbnail of A Pocket Information System for Farm Contractors (APIS)

Farm contractors have the necessity to quickly know if an agricultural operation request is conve... more Farm contractors have the necessity to quickly know if an agricultural operation request is convenient or not, using their agricultural machineries. Field dimension, shape and slope are key factors to determine operations costs. In addition, high machinery power and characteristics, spare parts, and energy consumption are main components difficult to quickly evaluate to understand the operation benefit or loss. The possibility to estimate such costs beforehand is a critical factor for strategic and tactical decision making. Nowadays there are few web-based mobile applications for agricultural machinery cost estimation to help farm contractors in their decision. Aim of this work is to present a quick and easy-to-use mobile web app, that allow the users to insert their machineries, the shape and the area of the field to evaluate the economic feasibility of a specific field operation. The app was built using the open-source Drupal framework with a module that use a cross-platform appro...

Research paper thumbnail of Simulation of rice harvesting chain: logistic game for real farms

Research paper thumbnail of First assessment of the possibility of using burning equipment for weed control in horticulture

Research paper thumbnail of Agricoltura, energia ed ambiente

Research paper thumbnail of La produzione di agroenergia: studio di un sistema colturale per la produzione di "biogas

Nel contesto politico e di mercato attuale viene richiesto all’agricoltura di confrontarsi con le... more Nel contesto politico e di mercato attuale viene richiesto all’agricoltura di confrontarsi con le esigenze di tutela del consumatore e di salvaguardia dell’ambiente attraverso la riduzione dell’emissione degli inquinanti, il contenimento del consumo idrico e la ricerca di fonti di energia rinnovabile. Le energie rinnovabili ottenibili da agricoltura possono essere riunite in tre gruppi (Berton et al., 2006): da biogas per la produzione di metano attraverso il quale si ottiene energia elettrica e termica; da biocarburanti o biocombustibili liquidi con la produzione di biodiesel, bioetanolo e olio vegetale puro; da biocombustibili solidi quindi l’utilizzo della legna nelle sue diverse forme di utilizzazione (pellet, chips e tal quale) per l’alimentazione di centrali termiche ed elettriche. Il presente lavoro valuta da un punto di vista agronomico, ambientale ed energetico un sistema colturale erbaceo finalizzato alla produzione di biomasse per la co-digestione con liquami.

Research paper thumbnail of Erasmus+ EU FIELDS project: bioeconomy, digitalisation and sustainability skill needs designed with a multidisciplinary approach

There are new challenges and opportunities for agriculture today, driven by the climate change, t... more There are new challenges and opportunities for agriculture today, driven by the climate change, the greening of the products and processes, the reuse of side-stream products, the raised complexity of the chain and the increased availability of information. To successfully address and react to these drivers, agriculture and forestry needs new business models and skills. The identification of existing and emerging skills needs in bio-economy, sustainability and digital technology is of paramount importance in order to develop a strategic approach to keep the European agricultural sector competitive and sustainable in the long term. The FIELDS approach, starting from the current and future trends and skills needs, will lead to a sustainable European strategy to address these skill gaps. Since agriculture issues and opportunities differs a lot from country to country, the EU strategy will be customised to have a strategy for 7 countries. It will address country-specific actions, occupat...

Research paper thumbnail of Business plan tool for small biogas plants

Research paper thumbnail of Logistic study to compare slurry distribution: tanker vs. umbilical system

Research paper thumbnail of Supply Chains of Products of Animal Origin: A Complex Network Model for Strategic Management

International Journal on Food System Dynamics, 2014

Due to the dynamic evolution of food chains during the past years, currently available chain mode... more Due to the dynamic evolution of food chains during the past years, currently available chain models are no longer able to meet the needs of operators. This article introduces a model for chain analysis which is used in an analysis of the supply chains of the entire Italian production of Animal Origin which constitute a complex network in which the actors of the agro-food system operate. The new model is innovative for two reasons: it represents many supply chains of products of animal origin from different productive species in a single model and, in addition, allows to represent the complexity of the chain network.

Research paper thumbnail of Traceability performance of peaches supply network

The traceability allows, for each product, to sketch the manufacturing process through a system d... more The traceability allows, for each product, to sketch the manufacturing process through a system documentary, enabling to identify the operational structures involved, the products and the lots, to define the flows of production, packaging and distribution. Some researchers investigate the traceability within the firm, but little work has been carried out on the investigation of the traceability system over the whole supply chain. The supply-chain of fresh fruit produce has many links: producer/grower, warehouse, packing centre, distribution centre, retailers and finally the consumer. Each of these is a system itself that interacts with the other components of the supply-chain. The non-conformity could occur in each of these links, and could be monitored in any of the links. When a non-conformity occurs, the time to recall the product depends on many factors: lot size, the lead time for information spreading from link to link, product transit time among links, product storage procedu...