Smart and precision agricultural strategies in the aromatic vase plant supply chain
FINANCING BODY: Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 Measure 16.01 - "Aid for the establishment and operation of the operational groups of the IEP" 1st phase
DURATION: 1st September 2017 - 30th November 2017
IRF ROLE: Partner
DESCRIPTION
Scope and objectives
The innovation envisages the development of a precise agricultural strategy that advances the main success factors in potted aromatic and medicinal plant production: productivity, quality, sustainability and traceability.
Such factors are key for a precise agricultural strategy aimed at the development of solutions to distinct issues in the production chain of aromatic pot plants.
Methodological approach
The objectives the project aims to focus attention on include:
Productivity: the intention is to develop a dedicated project to identify effective actions to manage production costs and yields (i.e. gross saleable production).
Sustainability: a key issue at European and national levels, as well as locally, due to production implications relating to the presence, in the Albenga area, of a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ), which must be considered and analysed, together with social implications.
Traceability: this has a direct impact on the saleability of agricultural products on Northern European markets and through large-scale distribution, and is an objective of smart, precision production strategies.
Training and dissemination of information: the objectives of the project also include the ambitious goal of developing, in this first phase, a business incubator, and, during the second phase, making it functionally efficient and capable of producing the agricultural specialists of tomorrow.
Results and impacts
The operational project, the result of this first phase, if approved, would have multiple impacts on the production chain, including, in particular:
The optimization of the use of resources: fertilizers, agrochemicals, substrates, nurseries, etc.
A more conscious use of available resources, such as water, fertilizers, substrates, and crop defence and soil protection measures, as well as a reduction in environmental emissions of nitrates, and a stricter reintegration of the exact nutrients removed by crops. The development of soil re-naturalization strategies, aimed at preventing and mitigating alterations in the groundwater agro-ecosystem following production type changes in pot plant cultivation areas, such as surface water eutrophication, soil salinisation and crop protection product residues.
The collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of environmental, physiological and phytopathological data through the use of ICT technologies, in order to encourage the adoption of high-performance production strategies and their integration with existing regional services relating to phytopathological and pathophysiological monitoring.
The guaranteeing of product compliance to customer specifications, through the innovative use of existing production protocols and the development of new ones.
The control, measurement and prediction of crop production phases and parameters affecting environmental and social sustainability.
The development of the most suitable commercial strategy to fully satisfy customer needs while minimizing the use of resources.
Training and the dissemination of information. The creation of a business incubator capable of producing the necessary specialists in precision agriculture according to the needs of the Ligurian marketplace.
PARTNERS
CeRSAA - Regional Agricultural Experimentation and Support Centre, Albenga, Italy
IRF - Regional Institute for Floriculture, Sanremo, Italy
Azienda Floricola Enrico Giorgio, Albenga, Italy
STAFF INVOLVED
Margherita Beruto (IRF Coordinator and Manager, beruto@regflor.it)
Patrizia Martini (Phytopathological Technician, martini@regflor.it)
Elena Delfini (Technical-administrative Staff, delfini@regflor.it)