«Adopt a harvest», the project starts in the name of traceability and to support the Corriere.it supply chain

An original initiative, in Sicily, with an evocative title: Adopt a Harvest for Evolutionary Petra. The choice of Ennese for the presentation of the project is not accidental, given that these are places that produce high quality wheat, among the best in Europe and the Mediterranean. And it is no coincidence that when the Region was Rome’s granary, from Enna to the Simeto Valley (in the Catania area) there were the heart and body of this vast production. The adoption of a crop has among its main objectives that of give more value to the agri-food chain.

It is an initiative philosophically linked to nature that combines nutritional and ethical-social values ​​with an ecological dimension, promoted for stimulate the organic cultivation of cereals based on sowing a mixture of thousands of different varieties of the same species to submit them to the natural selection of the most resilient ears.

How does the project work? The organizers explain that the initiative makes it possible to adopt the harvest from the moment of sowing, revolutionizing the classic relationship that binds the producer to the consumer. Going back to the exact cultivation area of ​​the wheat finds, in fact, a limit in the fact that, in modern mills, the crops are mixed in the conservation silos, in the means of transport and during the production of the flour. Conversely, for this project, the cereals travel in containers registered by name and the flours are packaged in bags with a personalized label indicating the vintage and the traceability data of the harvest of each single lot adopted.

By adopting a crop one has the possibility of knowing the origin and history of one’s own flour. It is a vision of circular and sustainable economy, at the base of which there is a circular supply chain structure which foresees that all the actors involved – farmer, mill, craftsman up to the final consumer – work together with the sole aim of achieving high quality productions. value in terms of nutritional, environmental, social and emotional quality. The promoters underline that Adotta un Raccolto is aimed primarily at all owners of food production businesses and also at home-made dough enthusiasts, ensuring a share of sowing. Once the adoption has been made, you will be constantly updated on all stages of growth and processing of the grain, with the advantage of receiving a flour whose entire history you can truly say you know, being able to trace and describe your grain from sowing. at the milling.

The crops of Petra Evolutiva — promoter of the initiative — are derived from the evolutionary mixture of soft wheat, brought to Italy by the geneticist Salvatore Ceccarelli. A particular seed which was then delivered to the farmer Giuseppe Li Rosi. At the level of the social economy the farmer is guaranteed the payment of a highly remunerative and independent price for the grain from fluctuations in the protein quality of crops resulting from natural phenomena. In terms of sustainability, it should be added that those who adhere to the adoption of a crop undertake to purchase the flour only in the amount dependent on its milling yield. During the presentation of the project with experts from many parts of Italy, alongside in-depth debates on the main issues, there were guided tours of the cultivation fields of the soft wheat populations and the evening Wheat Festival. Among the topics touched upon, a reflection on relationship between price and value of bread, linked to the fair remuneration of the farmers – curated by Chiara Quaglia and Piero Gabrieli, creators of the project – . A panel was then focused on the theme of evolutionary crops, important for the fight against climate change and for laying the foundations for a new economy that can channel food and health, with the contributions of geneticists Salvatore Ceccarelli and Stefania Grando, the agronomist Cristiano Cocci and the farmer Giuseppe Li Rosi. From the heart of Sicily, characterized by a long and important millennial history, an innovative project of the present which also has the aim of building a new future.