Soil health and management on fruit and vegetable sector

Country

Italy

Thematic Areas

Description

Soil management and health, both at national and regional level, is a highly topical issue after years of neglect. As reported at European level, soil degradation – partly due to climate change – is quite severe, not only because of ongoing urbanisation but also within the fruit and vegetable sector.

In particular, Emilia-Romagna plays a key role in the Italian fruit and vegetable sector, accounting for 8% of Italy’s fruit-growing area and being the leading region for vegetable production in Italy, with 22% of national output (ISTAT and RER 2022 data).

Therefore, improving soil health is a matter of the utmost importance to ensure the productivity and fertility of an area so well-suited to agriculture, yet one that has been so heavily exploited over the last fifty years.

Objectives

The main objective we will develope are:

Assessment of soil management methods in fruit and vegetable production: which methodologies are most effective and efficient, with possible further exploration of the best equipment;
Carbon farming: the set of recognised regenerative farming practices;
Carbon credits: how proper soil management can be directly linked to economic returns from carbon credits;
Carbon credits: how proper soil management can be directly linked to economic returns from carbon credits;