DISPAA - UNIFI

The School of Agriculture in Florence
From 28 February 2013, the Faculty of Agriculture of Florence has ceased to function and some of its functions have been assumed (others were instead assigned to departments), as of 1 March 2013, a new structure, the School of Agriculture, established pursuant to paragraph 2, letter c, art. 2 of the law of 30 December 2010, n. 240, and the Statute of the University.
The school is a structure of connection established between several departments, grouped according to criteria of affinity disciplinary, with functions of coordination and rationalization of teaching activities, and management of common services.
In compliance with the provisions of Law 240, the University of Florence has reorganized and created 24 new departments and 10 schools (roughly one for each former Faculty). Two of these new departments belong to the area of ​​Agricultural Sciences. Are the Department of Production Sciences and Agri-Environment (DISPAA) and the Department of Management Systems Agrarians, Food and Forestry (GESAAF). At the School of Agriculture is also joining the Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff".
The two departments (DISPAA and GESAAF) of the former Faculty of Agriculture, in order thus to coordinate joint activities and in order to carry out certain essential services for the normal teaching activities, formed the School of Agriculture, which replaces, without changing the tasks of training, research and innovation transfer in Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture.

DISPAA
The Department of Science of the agricultural food production and the environment (DISPAA) was born from the merger of the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology (BOM) and the Department of crop production, soil and agro-forestry (DiPSA) and began his activities on 1 January 2013. It's  referent of the following Bachelor programs: Agricultural Sciences, Wildlife Sciences; and the following degree courses Agricultural Science and Technology, Rural Development, Science and Resource Management Wildlife and Tropical Rural Development.
Teachers are also involved in the DISPAA and other faculty Bachelor programs such as City and landscape Planning, and Biotechnology (curriculum agricultural and environmental) and in degree courses which inter masterful Landscape Architecture and Food Science.
The Department is the administrative headquarters of the School of Agriculture and the PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

In particular scientific concerns:

• biology, physiology, propagation and characterization of tree and shrub species of agricultural interest, not only for the sustainable management of cropping systems aimed at the production of fruit and biomass, but also for ornamental, landscape and environmental protection;
• the productive and reproductive performance and genetic improvement of farm animals;
• preservation, dissemination and use of indigenous animal germplasm;
• biotechnology applied to animal production;
• animal nutrition and evaluation of animal feed;
• the breeding and management of farm animals and wildlife and their interactions with the territory;
• aquaculture and management ichthyofauna; animal welfare; characterization, evaluation and traceability of fresh and processed animal products;
• beekeeping;
• the development of diagnostic methods also with molecular approaches; epidemiological aspects of plant pests and the spread of alien species, in relation to climate change;
• interactions biochemical and molecular plant-pathogen-agent of harm;
• the development of tools and strategies to comabate invasive alien species respecting the environment, the biodiversity, the health of humans and animals;
• design, management and evaluation of sustainable cropping systems for production food and non-food, ornamental, recreational, ecological also in terms of environmental recovery and also with systems without soil;
• ecological factors and human acting on the soil-plant-atmosphere, and their relationships with the quantitative and qualitative aspects of agricultural production and the preservation and development of natural resources;
• agronomy and agro-meteorology, biology and management of weeds;
• seed production and propagation;
• statistical and mathematical tools for experimentation and agronomic modeling agroecosystem;
• biology and biotechnology of photosynthetic microorganisms;
• microbial biotechnology for the protection of the environment and for the production of energy and of primary and secondary metabolites; ecology and microbial biodiversity;
• soil microbiology; monitoring and typing of microorganisms of agricultural interest and environmental;
• the evolutionary dynamics, the ability to use and productive activity of the soil;
• the soil's ability to store carbon;
• the study of biodiversity and its conservation, the functioning of forest ecosystems, especially in response to climate change (including the spread of invasive alien plants) and the traditional uses of plants in both the regional and sub-equatorial in Africa;
• the study of the structure, functions, inheritance and expression of genes in plant species of interest in agriculture and forestry, including in relation to the distribution and dynamics of polymorphisms in populations constituents genetic resources and related environmental interactions.
• Particular interest is given also to the biometric methods, statistical and numeric for the analysis of complex characters and molecular polymorphisms, with particular regard to the improvement of the species of economic interest.