Premio Innovatori Responsabili RGB

THE AWARD

With Regional Council Resolution no. 816 of 6 July 2020, the Emilia-Romagna Region launched the Responsible Innovators 2020 Award, an initiative that rewards the actions carried out in the region by businesses, professionals, associations, schools and universities that contribute to the implementation of the 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Responsible Innovators 2020 award aims to promote and enhance the social reach of the innovations generated that, through flexibility, adaptation and transformation, have been able to create new solutions, including in response to the social and economic needs brought about by the health emergency and moving towards a solidarity-based economy, adopting sustainability as an essential principle and the basis of their business actions.

Romagnoli F.lli Spa received the award in 2020 for its commitment to promoting sustainability in potato farming with the "Residue Free Potatoes" project, the result of collaboration in research and experimentation with the Department for Innovation in Biological, Food and Forestry Systems of the University of Tuscia and Legambiente:

targa innovatori

“From field research, a new line of "resilient" potatoes that adapts to climate change and resists disease without chemical residues. For an increasingly soil- and environment-friendly agriculture”.

The project contributes to the achievement of two of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda approved by the United Nations,

Goal 2 "Zero Hunger"
End hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Goal 12 "Responsible Consumption and Production"

Ensuring sustainable patterns of production and consumption.

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THE PATH TO SUSTAINABILITY

The "Residue Free Potatoes" project, launched in 2019, began by analysing critical points in potato cultivation and then testing a series of improvement measures within the framework of environmental and economic sustainability and innovation, with the aim of pursuing a "Residue Free*" cultivation method as an index of sustainability.

A pivotal point of the research has been the introduction of varieties tolerant to downy mildew - a highly destructive oomycete that can develop on potatoes and tomatoes in warm weather conditions - which has made it possible to considerably reduce the need to use chemicals on the crops.

In this regard, a field and laboratory trial was carried out with the aim of assessing the blight resistance and production performance of a range of "new generation" potato varieties due to the tolerance shown toward the pathogen.

The varieties assayed, Alouette, Levante and Twister, demonstrated excellent performance both in terms of quality, i.e., calibre, colour, and skin quality, and production yield, combined with a high level of blight resistance/tolerance.

The combination of tolerant varieties and a highly restrictive defence specification made it possible to obtain a product with a residue of legally permitted chemicals below the analytical determination limits (0.01 ppm).

This is an effective tool for strengthening the Italian potato supply chain, providing the market with a high quality product, obtained with codified farming practices that can be replicated across all production areas, which is environmentally and economically sustainable so as to protect farm income.

A key stage of the project is the dissemination phase. Faced with the challenges arising under the "New Green Deal" and the next CAP measures, agricultural producers must have access to effective tools to update the production process with innovative techniques that will enable them to play an active, central role in addressing the new challenges related to preserving the land and farm incomes.