Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro, with the Diverfarming project, accelerates its efforts in environmental and economic sustainability
The results of the project's Italian experimentation highlighted how business profitability and environmental sustainability can coexist
The European Commission's Horizon 2020 program funded the five-year project Diverfarming, whose main objective is to identify innovative solutions to improve the resilience of European agricultural and agri-food systems, focusing on long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Specifically, the project promotes the adoption of crop diversification practices, which involve more efficient resource use, ensuring economic competitiveness while simultaneously preserving and improving soil functions. In Italy, Diverfarming involves four entities, one of which is the Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro.
Starting in 2017, three case studies were set up in the Po Valley (between Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna) and one in Capitanata (Puglia), areas characterized by traditional cropping systems.
In the Po Valley, specifically in the provinces of Mantua, Piacenza, and Cremona at three farms belonging to the Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro, a legume (fresh industrial peas, for which Casalasco has the supply chain) was introduced into the crop rotation, and tomatoes were planted as a second crop after the industrial peas. In Casalasco's three case studies, therefore, the diversified rotation included wheat-tomato-industrial peas/second crop tomatoes.
In general, the Italian results for the 2017-2020 three-year period highlighted how business profitability and environmental sustainability can coexist especially within an organized supply chain. Consorzio Casalasco always ensures product collection at above-market prices and also manages climate risk for its member farmers. The data indicates that the adoption of crop diversification brings productive benefits compared to traditional management, for all crops in rotation.
The crop rotation adopted by the farms of Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro, in most cases, increases income opportunities for member farmers, because it reduces their market risks.
