The first Italian nature based solutions valley is located between Milan and Pavia. A place where regenerative agriculture and technology, circular economy and development models capable of protecting and enhancing nature, territory, industry, economy, research and development are combined
It is possible to combine regenerative agriculture, territory and technology experimenting, patenting, developing solutions that are based on an ancient and at the same time modern and future-oriented philosophy. The concrete proof is the reality that, between Milan and Pavia, is realizing what is needed to build a future focused on concepts of regeneration and enhancement of the environment (soil, water, air), circular economy, resource saving and energy and water efficiency , technological innovation. The objective is to create the conditions for a better quality of life and to protect biodiversity, enhancing the activities present in the area and generating a shared and sustainable ecosystem on an environmental, social and economic level.
This reality is called Simbiosi and was born in the footsteps of agri-environmental projects started by Giuseppe Natta (son of the scientist and Nobel Prize winner Giulio Natta), about 30 years ago, and on the intuition of Piero Manzoni who created the business model in 2018. From the initial idea we have now reached a space of around 1000 hectares whose lands have returned – it is estimated – to the conditions of a thousand years ago, when the monks of the Carthusian Order worked here, putting into practice their vision of agriculture and of breeding that combined excellent yields with sustainability. Symbiosis does the same. This company originates from Neoruralehub which laid the foundations for what is now defined as the first Italian and European nature based solution valley.
Regenerative agriculture – Innovation Center Giulio Natta
In this space, in Giussago (Pavia), there is also the Giulio Natta Innovation Center, a place of research and development for companies, where ideas are being developed on new technologies, land regeneration solutions and precision agriculture, development of sources renewable. Not only that: the replicable model of smart land is being developed here.
Takeaway
Faced with progressive desertification and the constant impoverishment of the soil, there is a need for new growth models that apply land protection, the adoption of regenerative agriculture and the use of technology to better manage the processes. An Italian company has put into practice a project, started thirty years ago, which started from the renaturalization of a territory, bringing it back to its original conditions and has developed and continues to develop sustainable methods and solutions in the agricultural and energy fields. Thus, in the province of Pavia, a perfectly replicable smart land model was born, based on the principles of circular economy, managed by an AI platform, which pays attention to the environment to guarantee resilience, efficiency and sustainability.
An idea born thirty years ago in the name of renaturalization
Giuseppe Natta and Piero Manzoni laid the foundations of Neorurale, the method on which Simbiosi’s activity is based, starting in 1995 with the aim of creating a truly sustainable model based on the principles of the green economy, when this concept was still embryonic. In the surroundings of Giussago (Pavia) and Lacchiarella (Milan), a regeneration work in the name of biodiversity has begun. Well over a million trees have been planted and the conditions present, it is estimated, in the year 1000 have been restored.
It is not a slogan, but the result of data: in 1996 there were 80 species of birds; in 2021 they went to 217; the birds that nest here went from 25 to 65 in the same period. Among them there is the Black-winged Stilt, a species at risk until the 1980s and an iconic symbol of Symbiosis.
The territory has seen the formation of over 107 hectares of wetlands, 78 of woods, 65 of timber reforestation, 50 of meadows as well as 110 kilometers of hedges and field rows. Here there are over 255 species of plants and flowers, as well as a large number of insects and animals.
The intervention was then transported to the cultivated fields, creating the concept of Environment Field Margin, which is based on the desire to recreate the original environmental conditions of the geographical area of reference, at the edge of the cultivated fields, dedicating 10% of the arable part to nature . As Simbiosis itself explains:
“These are complex and integrated elements made up of wooded strips, grassy clearings with flowers and wetlands which have the objective of concentrating different ecosystems rich in ecotones in a very small space, capable of rapidly developing high levels of plant biodiversity and animal. In this way the agri-environmental activity is limited to occupying 10/15% of the company surface, bringing with it the naturalistic and landscape advantages already detected in the district experiment and the non-negligible possibility of being replicated in many other cases”.
Regenerative agriculture, territory and technology to regenerate the soil
Over the years, the themes of regenerative agriculture, territory and technology have progressively combined. In the center is the soil valorization, a vital, limited and non-renewable resource that is often depleted by intensive agricultural practices (if not the victim of progressive overbuilding). Gianmarco Sola, commercial director of the company, says:
«Here we are carrying out a process aimed at cultivation, but also at the possibility of returning nutrients to the soil that are no longer oil-derived substances but derive them from the waste of other agri-food production (about 45 thousand quintals of rice are grown here) or from the matrices from organic waste sorters suitable for civil purification and which come from a thermophilic biodigester”.
Patented thermophilic anaerobic biodigestion (NRC – Nutrient Recovery Center) has the advantage of taking place with much smaller spaces than non-thermophilic anaerobic digestion.
«It allows functional nutrients to be extracted from the mix of organic matrices inserted in the biodigester. Biodigestion is not carried out for pure energy purposes, but also to produce fertilizer.”
The temperature for biodigestion is raised using the heat of cogenerators that use biogas without any consumption of energy or water resources because the water used comes from the same organic waste matrices: the resulting product is a natural fertilizer in the form of a gel which is injected into the soil, without having to plough, a practice which has an impact on the microflora existing in the soil. Not only that: thanks to this hygroscopic gel it is possible to reduce the use of water to the necessary minimum. Just one gram of organic substance can retain water, avoiding the use of up to 20 litres. Thus, thanks to the combination of the use of ecological fertilizer and optimal water saving, we have achieved a yield, in terms of productivity per hectare, of up to +36%. Thus regenerative agriculture, with technology and attention to sustainable and circular practices, can be more advantageous than traditional agriculture.
From here we intend to work to develop other lines as well: one of these intends to produce biomethane to be injected into public networks for district heating. The future step will be to use this biomethane to generate green hydrogen.
Technology, digitalisation and AI take to the field
The attention to the soil and its value as a natural resource draws strength from the union of regenerative agriculture, territory and technology in multiple ways.
Speaking of technology, various solutions have been patented and used in this space of approximately 1000 hectares. Research and development is an area of strong interest and importance: «Simbiosi is an aggregator of various startups», says Vincenzo della Monica, marketing manager of Simbiosi. It is he who illustrates that various projects have been developed in the innovation center (a 3000 m2 center created inside a regenerated farmhouse, one of the seven farmhouses included in the area), also in collaboration with Italian universities, research centers and SMEs innovative.
The technology is found in the development of solutions for the production of renewable energy from anaerobic digestion, from photovoltaic systems, from models for energy and water saving and efficiency, for the recovery of heat and nutritional elements.
Digitalization plays an important part in the project. A large number of sensors scattered across part of the grounds. They serve to collect data useful for controlling various environmental, soil and air parameters, in order to make the use of water and nutritional resources more efficient.
At the center of the management that combines technology and digitalization there is also the exploitation of artificial intelligence techniques that converge in a platform (Adam & Eva), for the control and management of energy and natural resources, of the agricultural and industrial production process. This platform, they explain:
“It works with a system of self-adaptive algorithms (machine learning) and is made up of two functions that work in pairs. The EVA module acquires consumption data and process quantities from the field and, through a cloud platform, makes them available to the user in real time to control, moment by moment, the flow of resources and their trend, through graphs and tables. The information acquired is then transmitted to the ADAM module which processes the data received from Eva and develops the actions necessary to maximize returns and reduce consumption of natural resources.”
To certify the process steps, we are working on the development of a blockchain-based system, in order to verify various steps, from the traceability of the agricultural product to the transparency of the sustainability of the production process.
From regenerative agriculture to smart land: the future passes through here
In addition to virtuously combining territory, regenerative agriculture and technology, we are working on the concept of smart land. At the base there is a holistic vision that intends to aggregate agriculture, industry, cities, utilities and territory, to create the conditions for the valorization of each actor and for the definition of a model that is able to grasp the merits of each of its parts. The objective is to create a replicable model, based on circularity, on technology, attentive to the environment, capable of creating a model characterized by resilience, efficiency, sustainability and intelligence, both human and artificial. «The future is trying to find a balance between territories (also understood as nature), human activities and communities. We must work on the implementation of the principles inherent in the European taxonomy”, recall the two managers, taking up the very concept of taxonomy. It is the common European classification of environmentally sustainable economic activities. It is conceived as a tool to guide the choices of investors and businesses in view of the transition towards economic growth without negative impacts on the environment and, in particular, on the climate. Activities are selected based on their ability to mitigate climate change, create the conditions for adequate adaptation, make sustainable use and protect environmental resources. Not only that: the actions intend to aim at the transition towards the circular economy, the prevention and reduction of pollution and emissions, as well as the protection of biodiversity and the health of ecosystems.
The common future depends on the ability to achieve challenging objectives that we all know: from not exceeding 1.5 °C which passes through the reduction of climate-altering emissions, from “clean” energy production, from a sustainable agricultural model, from more sustainable common living conditions . The smart land model can help achieve them.
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