Report n. 05/2015 – Demonstrative activities (14th December 2015)

On the 14^th and 15^th December 2015, a final meeting, involving demonstrative activities and a final workshop, was organized by the project leader Partner 1 (ALSIA-Research Centre Metapontum Agrobios), and representatives of the Partners 2 and 3 (PTP and BIOIB) were invited to the ALSIA-CRMA in Metaponto, Italy.

On the 14^th December, the delegation, composed of the steering committee and the Spanish partners, visited the CREA (Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics), where Francesco Montemurro (Director of the CREA-SCA) showed them an experimental field of organic cultures, as well as a roller crimper, invented by himself. Furthermore, the following roles of this experimental field were described: innovative cultivation techniques in order to conserve the soil and resources, and for the adaptation to climate changes; new soil and fertility management in organic farming system, providing hydraulic system, organic fertilization, rotations, different cover crops and alternative strategies for the soil.

Thereafter, the ENEA Trisaia (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) was visited in Rotondella, where Donatella Barisano and Egidio Viola spoke about activities related to biomasses, focused on two transformation processes (steam explosion and gasification). The Trisaia Research Centre has the following activities:

• Development and qualification of technologies for the valorisation of residual biomasses coming from agricultural production, pruning remaining, forests, wood industry parts;
• Definition and certification of chemical-physical characteristics of biomasses as far as their application in the energy sector is concerned;
• Implementation of eco-compatible technologies for the production of electric energy coming from hydrogenous processed in cells with fuels;
• Consultancy services, technical-economic studies, feasibility projects for SMC, associations, etc.

Later, Dr. Paolo Facella described the new results obtained by the research group of green biotechnology; this research group carries out projects in different topics: genomics, molecular genetics and flow cytogenetics, environmental microbiology and biotechnology, protein and metabolic engineering in plants and microalgae, cell biotechnology, plant genetic resources and breeding.

At last, the delegation visited the Assofruit Italy in Scanzano, where Salvatore Pecchia and prof. Bartolo Dichio presented the company to the partners. The company was founded in 2010 in Scanzano Jonico as a cooperation of four important organizations of fruit and vegetable producers and mentioned immediately as one of the most important associations of fruit and vegetable production in South Italy. Today Assofruit is a remarkable organization involving 102 associates, 300 producers of which 46 utilize biological control, distributing between Basilicata, Apulia, Calabria, Campania, and Lazio. The most common crops are the table grapes, strawberries, citrus and stone fruits, produced on 3,000 hectares. Furthermore, the company manages and coordinates various programs of development and initiatives.

In the afternoon, the representatives of the partnership moved to the ALSIA-Research Centre Metapontum Agrobios where Angelo Salfi and Salvatore Pepe presented the Greenswitch company, a new enterprise which was established to produce oils through transformation of biomass as base materials of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In addition, the company ensures to produce biodegradable waste.