Biosphere Reserve (BR) livestock farming against climate change
The Appennino tosco-emiliano Biosphere Reserve organises a webinar to present to the MAB UNESCO international network, the results of Life agriCOlture project , co-financed by the European Union as part of the 2018 LIFE Climate Change Mitigation programme. The project aims to introduce, in mountain areas affected by hydrogeological instability and abandonment, governance actions and agronomic best practices of sustainable soil management in order to demonstrate their effectiveness in the accumulation and conservation of organic carbon and in the recovery of marginal and unstable agricultural soils
The webinar will be held on Wednesday 3rd of May 2023 from 10.30 to 11.30 CET time.
Registrations
Who is the webinar addressed to?
The webinar is open to all interested people, but in particular to Biosphere Reserves coordinators and mangers, especially those in which there is a significant presence of rural mountain areas. Furthermore, the webinar is addressed to farmers and breeders, agronomists, agricultural trade associations, technicians and administrators of municipalities or local authorities, representatives of Local Action Groups operating in Biosphere Reserves or more generally in rural mountain areas.
What will the webinar discuss?
The webinar will discuss the loss of fertile soil and its content of organic matter – caused by agricultural practices not sensitive to the hydrogeological fragility of this territory -, compromising the economic and environmental efficiency of farms.
Speakers will present best practices to increase the efficiency of mountain livestock farms and their forage production and, at the same time, to pursue the fundamental environmental challenges of soil protection and Climite Change mitigation. Best practices presented will be related to:
- The organization and management of the forage and cropping system
- The management of animal waste
- Feeding and herd management
- The management of the infrastructure embedded in agricultural land (drainage, farm mobility, etc.)
The best practices presented has been tested in a paradigmatic context of mountain livestock: the Parmigiano Reggiano supply chain, the most intensive livestock production that can be found in Italian mountains, composed by a dense network of cooperative dairies, a social and economic structure of small peasant enterprises and an impressive environmental transformation aimed at compensating climatic conditions that are not optimal for forage production.
What possible collaboration developments?
During the webinar, will be announced a call of interest to identify 20 stakeholders from other Bioshere Reserves interested in participating to an educational tour (whose costs, excepet for the travel to Italy, will be covered by the LIFE Agriculture project).
The educational tour will be organised from 7th to 9 th June 2023 in the Appennino tosco-emiliano BR. During the educational tour, participants will be able to visit the farms where the good practices of sustainable agriculture have been tested, see the results, and meet farmers, agronomists and local administrators.