Organic farming crop of wild plants: a new production line

1. BioInnovErbe Organic farming crop of wild plants: a new production line Project promoted by Friuli Venezia Giulia Region L.R. n. 26/05 art. 17

2. Partners Centro Internazionale di Ricerca per la Montagna Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo Rurale Università di Udine – Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti Ispettorato Ripartimentale delle Foreste di Udine – Vivaio Forestale di Pradandons

3. Challenges

4. CirMont Ersa University CirMont Ersa University Irf CirMont Ersa University Irf CirMont Ersa BioInnovErbe is: Environment preservation Set up of organic farming techniques Integration of farm income Enhancing of farms holidays Establishing yield and gastronomy relationship Wild plants cultivation (increasing supply) Experimental plots Spread of results New processing techniques

5. Interesting areas • Test innovative techniques for organic farming • Diversification of yields • Recovery of marginalareas • Profit increase Agriculture • Improvement of utilities • Increase of promotional activities • Implementation of hiking trail and gastronomic routes Tourism • Conservation of biodiversity • Monitor of wild plants habitats Environment • Enhancement of local gastronomy • Quality certification of production line Gastronomy

6. Research and experimental activities The stakeholders (farmers, producers, commercial partners, etc.) were supported by the technical cooperation of the institutional partners. The project was concluded in 3 years (2008-2010). The experimental activities were concentrated on the investigation on the best cultural agriculture biological techniques for different species. The plants were chosen considering their productive potentiality and their commercial value.

7. The steps were: • seed pick up; • comparison between different varieties and ecotypes; • acknowledgment on the spontaneous plants, historical information about their harvest and utilisation (interviews, questionnaires, etc.) • cultivation trials in 8 fields, to individuate the best results in terms of productivity, phytosanitary condition and final product quality; • experimentation of seed reproduction, agamic propagation and in vitrum, culture; • chemical analysis of the field and nutritional analysis on the products; • creation of a data bank on the nutritional characteristics of the plants; • studies on the best modalities of harvest, of conservation and transformation of the plants; • cooking tests; • knowledge transfer to the farms; • economical analysis of this productive chain; • organisation of conferences, eno-gastronomic events, guided visits to the experimental fields, publication of a book and practical schedules of cultivation.

8. Autochtonus Species of the project

9. Experimental fields

10. The wild plants that we tested: Cicerbita alpina Blow Sow Thistle

11. Valerianella olitoria Corn Salad

12. Ruscus aculeatus Butcher’s Broom

13. Chenopodium bonus-henricus Godo King Henry

14. Asparagus acutifolius Sharp-leaved Asparagus

15. Levisticum officinale Lovage

16. Silene vulgaris Bladder Campion

17. Aruncus dioicus Goat’s Beard

18. Results

19. The main results were: • development of new biological agriculture techniques for spontaneous plants; • harvest of wild plants (nutritional analysis); • nursery of wild plants; • creation of micro-productive chains, able to help in environmental protection and biodiversity tutelage; • seeds collection (plants for experimental plots); • achievement of propagation material freely available for farms in the “Vivaio Forestale Regionale of IRF”; • typical and local products valorisation throughout their nutritional pattern characterisation; • consolidation of quality and quantity for market offer (fresh plants or transformed products); • creation of an integration among traditional agriculture and gastronomic compartment, in order to enhance tourism.

20. The numbers of BioInnoverbe: • 3 institutional partners; • 1 nursery garden; • 30 harvest points; • 25000 plants employed in the experimentation trial; • 8 experimental fields; • 6 participation to radio and TV programs; • 18 presentations of the project in Italy and in Europe; • 4 participation to national and European conferences; • 46.000 plants freely given to farmers; • 13 scientific papers on local or specialised magazines; • 4 Ph Doctors and 3 students employed; • 3 relationships with National Agriculture Institutions; • 1 book and a guidebook.

21. TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY BioInnovErbe is certainly an innovative project that achieves important results, for all the stakeholders, from The products have now to follow a traceable and certified pathway, in order to guarantee their genuineness and safety. This short chain is related to a “niche market”, deeply integrated with the typicality of the territory. For this reason, it will be possible to enlarge the offer with the introduction of new cultivars and new vegetable goods available only in FVG. The quality is a fundamental prerogative and it is the turning point for the expansion of the local economy and tourism. the ecological (biodiversity tutelage) and economical point of view The vegetables were obtain with biological-low impact techniques, in marginal and not polluted areas.

22. Since the very encouraging achievements obtained, the spread of the results, for the knowledge transfer to other similar realities, was organised as follow: • to enhance the employment of the cultural techniques in other areas, similar tot eh experimental one; • to keep on with research activities; • to sensitize all the stakeholders but also the citizens to the patrimony of spontaneous plants of our territory; • since further investigations should be carried out on other spontaneous plants, in order to enlarge the availability of new products, a new project “FutureBioErbe” has just started its experimental trials.