Sustainable vineyards and cost reduction to ensure quality: data intelligence is driving the revolution.
- Diagram Group charts a course through regulatory uncertainties and the technological opportunities of data integration.
- Roberto Mancini (CEO of Diagram Group): “The real challenge is knowing how to interpret the data collected by a machine to optimise water resources and treatments”
Jolanda di Savoia (Fe), 15 April 2026 – Italian agriculture stands at a technological and scale-related crossroads. Whilst the global Smart Farming market is accelerating with annual growth rates (CAGR) exceeding 12%, the domestic sector is grappling with the complexity of regulations and the need to transform technological investment into real economic value.
In this transitional landscape, Diagram Group, a leading European hub for Agritech solutions, reaffirms its role as a driving force for innovation with a vision that goes beyond the concept of individual tools to focus on integrated digitalisation and the ‘Data Economy’ applied to the field.
Drones: between expectations and economic reality The use of agricultural drones is one of the dominant trends of 2026, with an estimated 25% increase in the active fleet in Italy compared to the previous year. However, uncertainties remain regarding operating costs and regulatory fragmentation for plant protection treatments.
According to market analyses, the adoption of aerial monitoring systems can reduce the costs of production inputs (fertilisers and plant protection products) by up to 15–20%, but only if the data is processed correct.
“The drone must be seen as a dynamic sensor that feeds into a wider ecosystem. The real challenge is not flying a machine, but knowing how to interpret the data it collects to optimise water resources and treatments,” explains Roberto Mancini, CEO of Diagram Group.
Drones and vineyards: sustainability and cost reduction. The integration of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) technology into vineyard management is now the cornerstone of Diagram Group’s Agriculture 4.0 vision. The use of drones is no longer an experiment, but a strategic asset for precision viticulture. Thanks to state-of-the-art multispectral sensors, the systems are able to identify water stress or nutritional deficiencies at an early stage, thereby assessing the plants’ health. Through vigour maps, it is possible to analyse the NDVI index for targeted and differentiated interventions (variable-rate fertilisation). This leads to a reduction in plant protection treatments, intervening only where and when necessary, thereby reducing environmental impact and operational costs.
Data collected in flight is transformed into immediate agronomic decisions, ensuring that every bunch of grapes expresses the terroir’s full potential and offering winegrowers a comprehensive and predictive overview to protect the vineyard’s value whilst delivering quality in the glass.
The role of Diagram Group: AI enters the fields. In a market demanding concrete responses to the climate crisis – which in the last three years alone has caused harvest fluctuations of between 10% and 30% in various areas of the Mediterranean – Diagram Group responds with integration.
Diagram’s platforms enable data from drones to be cross-referenced with that from ground-based weather stations and satellites, providing a ‘tailored’ map of every single hectare. This approach enables water savings which, in the most advanced pilot projects, have reached 35%, a vital metric in an era of resource scarcity.
Towards certified sustainability integrated with the banking system Digitalisation is no longer merely a choice for efficiency, but a transparency requirement dictated by the new EU directives on sustainability reporting (CSRD).
“Agritech is the key to resilience,” continues Mancini. “Our technologies enable not only producing more with less, but also certifying the entire production process. This guarantees farms better access to credit and meets consumers’ demands for traceability.”