Abstract
Great attention has been given in recent years to the relationships between metrology, agriculture, and food. This study aims at providing an analysis of the literature regarding the relationships between metrology, agriculture, and food. The Scopus online database has been used to extract bibliometric data throughout the search string: TITLE-ABS-KEY (Metrology* AND Agriculture* OR Food*), and the VOSviewer bibliometric software was used to visualize results as bubble maps. The novelty character of this perspective paper is to indicate and point out the main research themes/lines addressing the relationships between metrology, agriculture, and food by analyzing: (i) the authors of the published papers; (ii) the type of paper; (iii) the countries and institutions where the research is developed. Bibliometrics allows one to holistically examine entire scientific areas or sub-fields to get new qualitative and quantitative insights. These results represent a useful tool for identifying emerging research directions, collaboration networks, and suggestions for more in-depth literature searches.
Highlights
Nowadays, an integrated, multidisciplinary, and interoperable approach can be seen as a modern way to research food and an innovative challenge to analyze and model agro-food systems following a holistic approach [1]
The recent work of Brown [3], remarks how metrology remains a unique important effort, and outlines the importance of updating the concept of metrology: it proposes a new feature— ‘measuring measurement’, emphasizing the characteristic meta-thought associated with the discipline, which distinguishes it from any routine measurement
Metrology is the science of measurements, that is the discipline that deals with defining the procedures for performing correct measurements
Summary
An integrated, multidisciplinary, and interoperable approach can be seen as a modern way to research food and an innovative challenge to analyze and model agro-food systems following a holistic approach [1]. Metrology is a tool, throughout the use of advanced data analysis methods, at the service of the so-called “precision agriculture”, which combines satellite and drone images with those of sensors and actuators in order to identify, for example, the most efficient interventions in relation to the real cultivation needs and the biochemical and physical characteristics of the soil. Metrology may allow, thanks to the experience in the field of meteorological forecasts, the knowledge of historical and actual agronomic data, the coordination of the activities related to the reduction of emissions and the development of information technologies for precision agriculture, such as networks of sensors, geolocation systems and agrometeorological models. The novelty character of the proposed perspective work is to give a current snapshot on the relationships existing between metrology, agriculture, and food, and to indicate related current directions and collaboration networks by analyzing research themes and major contributors with reference to country/regions, institutions and types of published papers. The bibliometric analysis reveals the applications of metrology principles in the agricultural and food fields
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
