Oral presentation

Promoting sustainable durum wheat production in Italy: the Barilla Sustainable Farming project

Luca Ruini

Barilla G.R. F.lli, Italy

Since the year 2010, the Barilla Company, a leading player in pasta market worldwide and one of the top Italian food companies, has implemented a project that is aimed to increase both the environmental and economic sustainability of durum wheat production. Wheat is used in over 95% of the company’s products. The project introduced an integrated approach to wheat production, which mainly included an accurate planning of crop rotations and the use of a decision support sys-tem. The Barilla Sustainable Farming model was applied on 13 farms in 2011/2012 and 22 farms in 2012/2013, in the areas where durum wheat cultivation is more signifi-cant in Italy. Results show that low input agronomic practices are environmentally friendly (- 36% GHG) and increase net income of farmers (up to 31%). A decision support system contributes in reducing carbon footprint (-10%), and costs for pesticides and fertilizers (- 10%).=






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