Agritech driving 2025 harvest: quality, sustainability and resilience through digital solutions

• Software, IoT, digital platforms: technological solutions are smart tools for managing vineyards, translating into a strong commitment to sustainability
• Roberto Mancini, CEO of Diagram Group: “In the current context, where climate change poses increasing challenges, agritech is proving to be a strategic response for the wine sector, both for vineyard management and for guaranteeing quality wine.”

Jolanda di Savoia, September 10 2025 – The grape harvest forecasts presented by Assoenologi, Ismea and Uiv suggest that 2025 is shaping up to be an excellent year in terms of quality. Production is also on the rise, with 47.4 million hectolitres expected — an 8% increase over 2024, in line with the five-year average.

Innovation is playing a crucial role in vineyard and harvest management. “In today’s context — where climate change brings increasing challenges such as drought, heatwaves, and plant diseases — agritech is proving to be a strategic response for the wine sector, both in managing vineyards and ensuring wine quality,” states Roberto Mancini, CEO of Diagram Group, Italy’s leading agritech hub, with €100 million in revenue and 50 million hectares of land monitored worldwide.

“Key solutions for wine production include agronomic and supply chain management software, which ensure full traceability, efficiency and quality from vineyard to table,” Mancini adds. “These are integrated with satellite systems, environmental sensors and artificial intelligence to enable vegetative monitoring, smart irrigation, and predictive analytics in precision agriculture.”

Agritech and grape harvesting: vineyards go smart. Around 35% of the available technological solutions focus on the harvesting phase, with 17% dedicated specifically to viticulture — a sector showing significant adoption of agritech tools. These include water and temperature monitoring sensors, predictive disease management systems, and full traceability platforms for the supply chain. Digitalization enables more precise, sustainable and profitable harvests, particularly for young and innovative farms. Approximately 31% of young agricultural enterprises in Italy already apply precision farming techniques.

Wine quality begins in the vineyard. “Today, winegrowers can monitor hydration levels, sugar content and diseases in real time using cloud platforms and AI-based predictive systems, allowing for targeted intervention and reduced waste,” explains Mancini.

Water savings of up to 60% and reduced use of chemical inputs. Agritech tools can assess plant vigour, while digital platforms enable real-time monitoring of soil water stress and allow for prescriptive irrigation. Grape quality can also be assessed using technologies and software that calculate sustainability metrics based on nitrogen and carbon balances. With intelligent irrigation management, IoT sensors and predictive algorithms, water consumption per hectare can be reduced by up to 50–60%, while predictive fertigation can cut chemical fertilizer use by up to 40%.

“Agritech is no longer optional — it is essential to ensure grape quality, business sustainability and vineyard resilience. The goal is twofold: to enhance production efficiency while preserving grape quality, supporting the value of native varieties and geographical indications that make Italian wine so unique,” Mancini concludes.

Diagram and the wine sector. Diagram’s commitment to the wine sector has extended beyond national borders. Earlier this year, it won a public tender to develop an Agriculture Value Chain Information System (AVCIS) — a centralized digital platform to collect data on winegrowers and their vineyards, including annual updates and production forecasts. The Group also took part in the Winetech Summit in Armenia, contributing to discussions on the digital transformation of the wine supply chain to promote transparency and efficiency.

The agritech business in Italy. According to data from the Smart Agrifood Observatory, 64% of Italian farms have adopted at least one Agriculture 4.0 solution, such as sensors, GPS, satellite platforms or IoT systems. The most common technologies are farm management software (40%), machinery monitoring and control systems (23%), digital mapping of crops and fields (19%), and decision support systems (12%). Yet only 8% of farms are considered “digitally mature”, showing that the transition is still in progress and not without challenges — especially for smaller operations.

The Italian agritech market has experienced exponential growth: from €100 million in 2017 to €2.5 billion in 2024 — a staggering 1500% increase. This growth has been driven by rising investments in software and predictive analytics, a 24% increase in startups (particularly in AI and machine learning), and growing awareness of the value of agricultural data. While half the market is still tied to connected machinery and monitoring systems, the trend is clearly shifting towards software and data-driven solutions.