The CRA-ING lab, located in Treviglio (BG), is a part of the Agricultural Mechanical Institute (ISMA) that was born in Milan in 1920s, in order to join Engineering and Agriculture Universities. Following the reorganization of experimental activities, began in 1956, the ISMA moved to Treviglio, where the Institute was equipped with several labs and fields for testing.  Ten years later the Institute became one of the Research Institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture; thus, when, in  1999, according to the law 454, the Agricultural Research Council (CRA) was founded, the Treviglio’s office turned into the experimental laboratory of ISMA that, in the last years, took the name of Agricultural Engineering Research Unit (CRA-ING).  Over the years, the lab of Treviglio  was increasingly provided with new equipments and labs, especially for the safety and agriculture machineries performance.

At the lab of Treviglio, a lot of researches and facilities are implemented for the mechanization of livestock and agricultural farms, whose activities focus on: I) driving machines, especially farm and forestry tractors and their parts like tires; II) large self-propelled machines, including mixer cars, harvester, forage harvester; III) agricultural machines, in particular those for livestock farms. Researches center on performance measurement methods, legal framework in accordance to comfort and safety requirements as well as innovative products especially for the automation implementation and renewable energy use. The lab is included in the National Plan for mechanical experimentation of the innovative agricultural machines as well as the implementation of mechanization innovations. This program is funded by Mipaaf and coordinated by Enama

Among all the technical scientific activities, the CRA-ING lab of Treviglio,  since 1984,  has activated a working group for the international organization of methods to detect the performances and ergonomic and safety features of forestry and agricultural tractors in the standardization of agriculture activities of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  The facilities, authenticated by OECD, comprise a laboratory for engine and fuels measurements, hydrodynamic laboratory, a testing lab for protection cabs, two lunging rings having different sliding surfaces for dynamic and dynamometric tests of agricultural machines  as well as a lab for both ergonomic and structural vibration analysis.