Description

This AgroEcology project is an initiative aimed at empowering Italian farmers to adopt regenerative agricultural practices, including tree planting and agroforestry, across more than 350,000 hectares. Developed by Alberami SRL with support from the Agroimpulso Foundation, the project spans a 20-year timeline, focusing on reducing GHG emissions and increasing carbon sequestration. Alberami provides vital financial incentives and expert guidance to help overcome adoption barriers. More than 300 farmers across Italy are implementing the following sustainable agronomic practices to generate carbon credits: - Application of organic farming principles: Widespread adoption of organic agricultural management practices. - Minimal soil tillage: Using zero tillage (direct seeding) or minimum tillage (tillage up to 10–15 cm without soil inversion). - Green cover: Maintaining spontaneous or sowed vegetation and using cover crops throughout the year, where and when possible. - Intercropping: Promoting biodiversity by integrating two or more species of crops, plants, or trees in the same plot simultaneously. - Farm management with edges, rows, and forests integrated into field crops: Creating buffer zones, windbreaks, and hedges. - Management of woody plantation pruning residue: Using residues as soil amendments or mulch. - Application of inorganic natural strengtheners: Utilizing rock powders (e.g., zeolite, kaolin) and leaf fertilizers to enhance plants' natural defenses. - Significant reduction in the use of synthetic fertilizers: Achieving at least a 15% reduction. - Significant reduction in the use of synthetic pesticides: Reducing usage by at least 50% in the first year compared to the baseline, in compliance with regulations. - Recycling farm organic matter: Reusing agro-industrial waste, biochar, anaerobic digestate, compost, and farmyard manure. - Planting new vineyards, orchards, olive trees, and other woody perennial species: Or thickening existing plantings. - Cropland conversion: Shifting from annual crops to grassland, pastureland, or permanent crops. - Improved crop rotations: Promoting crop rotations to ensure that the same species return to the same land only after suitably long intervals, including rotations with industrial hemp. Italian agriculture has faced numerous challenges over recent decades, from extreme weather conditions and global competition to an aging workforce. The AgroEcology Italy project addresses these challenges, offering new financial incentives to the agricultural sector while boosting productivity. It generates long-term ecological and social benefits, including biodiversity restoration and sustainable economic development. The AgroEcology Italy project is verified and registered by The International Carbon Registry (ICR). Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Iceland, the ICR is a global organization dedicated to addressing the challenges of climate change. The ICR operates a quality management system aligned with ISO 9001:2015.