Invernizzi Foundation – Study and Merit Support
Students enrolling in the first year of of a graduate degree programme at the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Piacenza/Cremona Campus may be eligible for tuition fee exemptions awarded based on merit.
The Master’s Degree Programme in Sustainable and Precision Agriculture belongs to Class LM‑69 (Agricultural Science and Technology) and is structured into three specialised profiles:
- Sustainable and Precision Agriculture
- Sustainable and Precision Animal Production
- Sustainable Viticulture and Enology
The programme aims to provide students with a solid cultural foundation and the scientific and technical tools required to promote and advance technological and managerial innovation within agricultural and agro‑zootechnical systems, in a perspective of environmental and economic sustainability of production.
Profile: Sustainable and Precision Agriculture
The Sustainable and Precision Agriculture profile offers a training pathway centred on sustainability in agriculture through a strongly interdisciplinary approach. It addresses contemporary challenges related to precision agriculture and climate‑change mitigation.
The curriculum explores topics including agro‑ecology, plant physiology and genomics; modelling, sensing technologies and automation applied to arable and tree crops, as well as to plant protection; the sustainable use of agro‑chemicals; and the economic sustainability of agricultural enterprises. The programme also includes modules focusing on organic farming and non‑food supply chains.
Profile: Sustainable and Precision Animal Production
The Sustainable and Precision Animal Production profile offers an interdisciplinary pathway that develops zootechnical expertise integrated with state‑of‑the‑art precision technologies and approaches to the environmental and economic sustainability of livestock systems.
Course units address animal physiology and advanced genomics, adaptation to climate change, animal welfare, precision nutrition, and the sustainable and circular management of livestock farms. Additional modules cover agro‑zootechnical buildings and facilities, farm business management, quality of products of animal origin, and forage production.
Profile: Sustainable Viticulture and Enology
The Sustainable Viticulture and Enology profile, delivered in English and available as a Double Degree (DD) with France, addresses current issues related to vine physiology applied to vineyard management and responsive to the new challenges posed by climate change; to enology that integrates winemaking techniques with grape composition and changing consumer preferences; to epidemiological models and decision‑support systems for vineyard protection; to “precision” approaches for sustainably improving vineyard practices; and to marketing techniques, essential for competing in global markets.
Assessment and Final Examination
Each successfully completed examination awards a specific number of credits and a grade (expressed on a 30‑point scale). To obtain the Master’s Degree, students must acquire 120 ECTS credits, distributed over the two‑year programme.
The final examination consists of the presentation of an experimental thesis, developed independently by the student under the supervision of an academic advisor. The thesis represents a crucial phase of the Master’s curriculum, both for the application of scientific methodology to a research topic and for its technical‑professional relevance, which may guide students in their subsequent career choices.