Farmers and technicians from the Marche Bio Consortium participated in a theoretical-practical agroecological training in Pisa on 30 April.
On Tuesday 30 April, 20 farmers and technicians from the Marche Bio Consortium took part in an agroecological training day organised by the University of Pisa in collaboration with the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. The event was held at the Ciraa – Agro-Environmental Research Centre ‘Enrico Avanzi’ of the University of Pisa, located in San Piero a Grado (Pisa).
This meeting, which was part of the Info ConMarcheBio project and financed by the Marche Region’s Rural Development Programme, was an interesting opportunity for dialogue and discussion between farmers, technicians and researchers involved in organic and agroecological agriculture.
Classroom activities
The agroecological training day began with a theoretical session, during which lectures were given by professors and researchers from the two Pisa universities involved in numerous agroecological research projects.
In particular, Professor Daniele Antichi from the University of Pisa, Lorenzo Tramacere from Ciraa, together with Professor Paolo Barberi, Professor Anna Camilla Moonen, and Stefano Carlesi, Federico Leoni and Giovanni Pecchioni from the Agroecology Group of the Sant’Anna School of Pisa participated.
This theoretical session was dedicated to illustrating the cardinal principles of agroecology, understood as a transformative approach aimed at making agricultural systems more sustainable. The speakers presented some results obtained from their research at Ciraa, offering interesting insights into the prospects for the development of organic and agroecological local agriculture.
…and in the fiels
In the afternoon, participants visited some of the experimental trials underway at Ciraa as part of the IpmWorks, Fortuna, LegIta, OrganicYieldsUp and Oper8 projects. Agronomic practices aimed at increasing biodiversity in agricultural systems were the protagonists of the field visits.
These included crop associations, cultivation of cereal variety mixtures and the implementation of agroforestry systems. The field trials were visited by those who manage them personally: Lorenzo Tramacere (Ciraa researcher), Alessandro Triacca, Gabriele Nerucci and Anna Rizzolo (PhD students of the Sant’Anna Agroecology Group).
Useful and necessary dialogue between universities and farmers
‘We are very satisfied with the event,’ said Giovanni Pecchioni, agronomist and Hub coach of the IpmWorks project for the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. ‘We managed to create an informal and positive atmosphere, which facilitated the exchange of information between all the actors involved. We came away with many new ideas to take home. We would like to thank the guests of the InfoConMarcheBio project for their active and attentive participation, which stimulates us to improve in future research activities and demonstration events.’
‘The event was a success,’ added Lorenzo Tramacere, Ciraa researcher. ‘The participants were very active. There were many moments of discussion arising from their interest in the field trials and the presentations of all the speakers involved. This shows how the worlds of research and production can meet and work together to achieve common goals’.
