Case Study 7a Continental

1

Case Study Site (CSS)

 7a – Piacenza (Italy)

1.1

Responsible partner

6 – UCSC – UNIVERSITA’ CATTOLICA DEL SACRO CUORE

1.2

Short description of the CSS

CCS 7 is located in Piacenza (NW Italy) within the Po valley. Several farms growing industrial tomato have been chosen as representative CCS for unintentional MP/NP load from drip irrigation tubes and tapes. UCSC is monitoring by remote sensing and on-ground measurement hundreds arable fields of the province to develop a platform able to predict and quantify real time yield, water consumption and produce biomass logistic advices to industrial processing plants. There is also an organic farm managed by a social cooperative growing using plastic mulch from 4 years officinal herbs (sage, lemon balm, rosemary, thyme) for essential oil extraction.

2

Location

2.1

Postal address

Via Emilia Parmense 84, Piacenza, 29121, Italy

2.2

Name of region, province or canton

Piacenza

2.3

Coordinates

 (google earth)

Latitude: 45°02'08.1"N

Longitude: 9°43'34.8"E

2.4

Altitude in meters

(below sea level)

60 m a.s.l.

3

Characteristics

3.1

Climate

Climate is humid subtropical with no dry season, constantly moist with an average annual rainfall of 980 mm and rainfall peaks in autumn and spring. The aver- age temperatures during the experiment were 5.5, 15.5, 15, 24.4 °C, respectively, for winter, autumn, spring and summer.

3.2

Land use

Intensive Agricultural land (tomato, winter and summer cereals)

3.3

Main crop

Tomato and biogas maize

3.4

Water supply

(e.g. irrigation system)

Sprinkler and drip irrigation from wells and irrigation channels

3.5

Type of drinking water supply

Groundwater

4

Farming systems

Conventional

Organic

Integrated

4.1

Assessment of feasibility to find farming systems in (reasonable) geographical isolation

> 10 isolated farms growing industrial tomato

1 organic farm  (15 ha) growing officinal herbs

  

4.2

Potential for

increasing yield

Yes

Yes

  

4.3

Potential for

reducing costs

Yes

Yes

  

4.4

Application periods

Spring-summer

-

  

4.5

Alternative farming methods

Crop rotation, subsurface drip irrigation, cover crop, biofertilizer

Organic mulching with miscanthus

  

5

Plastic use / other stressors

Conventional

Organic

Integrated

5.1

Sources of MPs

Drip irrigation tubes and tapes

Plastic mulch

-

5.2

Plastic types

LDPE

LDPE

  

5.3

Pesticides used: -

Tomato:

Herbicides (g/ha):

Glyphosate (105)

Pendimentalin (730)

S-metaolaclor (960)

Rimsulfuron (50)

Fungicides (g/ha):

Pyraclostrobin (100)

Dimetomorf (180)

Metiram (800)

Ametoctradine (216)

Iprodione (1000)

Pyrimentalin (720)

Metrafenone (120)

 

Insecticides (g/ha):

Metaflumizone (220)

Alfacipermetrine (150)

Metossifenozoide (110)

Cloropirifos (260)

Dimetoate (180)

Spinosad (110)

-

-

5.4

Veterinary drugs enter via dung

no data yet

6

Ongoing sharing of experiences

6.1

Ongoing training provision

We provide prescription and yield maps and satellite data to manage inputs. Relatively to officinal herbs training on harvesting time to improve essential oil extraction.

6.2

Ongoing studies on agricultural production in the region

We are participating to different operation groups with farmers and farmer’s associations (RDP project funded by EU EIP-AGRI for Emilia Romagna region) to develop DSS for precision agriculture

7

Human population

7.1

Demographics: age distribution

>65 years: 24.7%; 45-65 years: 29%; 25-45 years: 24.2%; 15-45 years: 9.2%; 0-5 years:12.9%.

7.2

Density

400 inhabitans/km2

7.3

Main villages

Piacenza, Podenzano, Caorso

7.4

Regional & local organisation of health system, access to health information

3 public hospitals

7.5

Socio-economic characteristics

31,000 Euros

7.6

Main sources of income by sector

Logistic and agriculture

7.7

Social security system, subsidies (farmers)

RDP and CAP subsidies for farmers

8

Relevant stakeholder organizations

8.1

Local authorities

Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro Soc. Agr. Coop.

8.2

Farmers union

Coldiretti, Cia, Confagricoltura

8.3

Other

-

9

Diagnosis

 

9.1

Problems/threats/challenges

Plastic use

9.2

Potential for increasing soil quality

Agroecological management

9.3

Ongoing research and innovation actions on agricultural production

Yes, trough UCSC

9.4

Data availability–MPs in soil  

No data on MPs available, only plastic use

10

Links to relevant information
 

https://agricoltura.regione.emilia-romagna.it

https://www.ccdp.it/en/

https://www.arpae.it

11

References
 

Il sistema agroalimentare dell’Emilia Romagna. Rapporto 2018, ISBN ISBN 978-88-940973-4-4  

https://agricoltura.regione.emilia-romagna.it/agricoltura-in-cifre/rapporto-agro-alimentare/rapporto-2018-1

Dati ambientali 2018. La qualità dell´ambiente in Emilia-Romagna"

https://www.arpae.it/cms3/documenti/_cerca_doc/stato_ambiente/annuario2018/La_qualita_dellambiente_in_Emilia-Romagna_-_ARPAE_2018_WEB_01.pdf

Sustainability report 2019. Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro.

https://www.ccdp.it/media/filer_public/ec/0c/ec0cc7d4-7bdf-4e68-8a9d-92183074d6ef/bilancio_sostenibilita_-_ccdp_2019_eng_digitale.pdf