Organised by Terre Regionali Toscana this event took place in Alberese, Tuscany on the 9-10 November 2017. Tuscany Region is extremely rich in plant and animal agro-biodiversity. Policies for local genetic resources have been in place since 1997, facilitating the creation of a protection system which is constituted by “keeper-farmers” – in-situ conservation of genetic resources – and Germplasm banks sections – ex-situ conservation. Currently, 866 genetic resources are registered in the Tuscany Region inventory.

Terre Regionali Toscana (the mandated organism which manages the conservation and valorisation of these local genetic resources) organized a two day workshop on 9 and 10 November 2017. The initiative aimed at presenting practical cases of agro-biodiversity valorisation from all around Europe. The main target group was farmers and the overall approach was based on a peer-to-peer process where practitioners can present and learn about new methods to valorize and market local products.

Tuscany Region and Terre Regionali di Toscana received a broad participation of farmers and stakeholders from different European Countries, who presented practical experiences with agro-biodiversity valorisation through abstracts and presentations.

From Horizon 2020 CAPSELLA, Wico Dieleman (ZLTO – farmers Union in the Netherlands) has prepared and executed a workshop: ‘Bringing biodiversity to value, from Functional Agricultural Biodiversity (FAB) to data platforms’.

This workshop was combined with a workshop on Soil Health Assessment, e.g. with the ‘Spade Test’, presented by Diego Guidotti and  ZLTO is the farmers Union in the South of the Netherlands, with 15.000 members / who own 7.500 agricultural business. ZLTO supports its members in the transition to an environmental safe and market-oriented business approach.

 CAPSELLA presented Functional Agricultural Biodiversity (FAB) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in the Toscane meeting. FAB enhances management of elements of biodiversity on agricultural fields or in landscapes. FAB provides ecosystem services that support sustainable agricultural production and can also deliver benefits to the regional and global environment and the public at large. Make use of the nature!

CAPSELLA showed practical tools to foster Biodiversity

  • Compost Calculator: Optimum use of compost by introducing the ‘compost calculator’. Start with a Soil Scan/ Field zone, than Upload to CAPSELLA cloud and Proposed compost gift. After that you have a compost advice, check on total application, send a Taskmap for High Tech compost spreader. Conclusion: So the most compost where needed most
  • Soil Health Assessment Tool: with best available Open Data soil maps, quality of parcels is shown, so that treatment of the parcels can be applied to that context
  • Spade Test: specific soil quality can be assessed by spitting 2 spades deep and analysing the spot with what is seen.

All these tools get their information from, and the results are stored in Open Data Sources, and can be used by other (future) tools. The CAPSELLA platform ensures this connectivity.

Is was a very interesting meeting with innovative information in the workshops and exchange between attendees.