Transfer of validated technologies irrigation management and protocols to optimize irrigation
The overall objectives the GO named AcquaBasilicata are the establishment and maintenance of the GO itself, the implementation of an innovative management of water resources, the dissemination of sustainable irrigation practices, the management and implementation of techniques for monitoring and defending the Hydrogeological risk, implementation of environmental certification schemes (Water Footprint, European Water Stewardship, etc.).
The main activities of the AcquaBasilicata Operational Group are: the establishment and maintenance of the GO itself; Coordination and transfer of project activities; Interface with the regional authorities and with the EIP-AGRI European Partnership. The project activities involve the transfer and dissemination of good practices and innovative and validated technologies, and the saving of the water resource (including the reuse of purified waste water), the diffusion of techniques for mitigating the risk of soil erosion. In addition, the GO envisages the diffusion of valid certification schemes for the purpose of calculating and mitigating environmental impacts.
This phase of activity of the Operational Group named AcquaBasilicata consists of the analysis of the state of the art and the scouting of innovations and technologies related to irrigation systems. During this action synergies will be developed with the other GO present in the territory of Basilicata. The main result of the activity will be a report that reports the validated techniques and technologies for the design and implementation of high efficiency water-saving irrigation systems. This activity will make it possible to spread the latest technological advances on irrigation methods at farms and water resource managers (at the territorial level). This will also enable accurate irrigatione volume and accurate irrigation management from the very beginning of the design of the irrigation system. Innovative technologies that will be widespread will focus on plant engineering aspects of irrigation (solenoid valves, regulators, filters, control units). Farmers and water managers can use the results of this business to design corporate irrigation systems that provide good quality water, while at the same time enabling environmental and economic savings at the company level. In addition, a further objective of the action is to spread an automated and easy-to-operate irrigation facility model that will reduce the use of water resources, optimize fertilizer use, improve production quality, and yield Unit costs, reduce costs. An important task will also be to systematize the results of all the activities of this GO with the results of the activities of the other GOs.
This phase of activity of the AcquaBasilicata Operative Group consists in the dissemination of management protocols, and guidelines for farmers, which include soil management methodologies and increased carbon content in the soil. These protocols will be aimed at continuous monitoring of soil moisture and to set up proper fertigation plans. In addition, these protocols will be useful for the dissemination and dissemination of practical aspects and innovative systems for fertigation management and the use of portable instruments for fast determination of nitrate content in soil. The added value for farmers who will use the results of this action is to increase the knowledge and the agronomic criteria of proper nutrition management in order to avoid problems such as: leaching, imbalance in the vegeto-reproductive activity , A drop in product quality. Other skills that farmers and agronomists will take will address the application of the water balance, which is necessarily linked to irrigation shifts and soil characteristics (eg: organic matter, skeleton, weaving). It goes without saying that the monitoring of soil moisture in the volume of irrigated land together with the definition of volumes and irrigation shifts by compiling a simplified water budget can be a valid tool to support decision-making in the field irrigation.
This phase of activity that will be implemented by the GO named AcquaBasilicata will be aimed at the diffusion of instrumentation, sensors and innovative systems for controlling and monitoring the soil-plant-atmosphere system. Among the most promising sensors are those based on FDR technology that provide readings of volumetric water content in the soil, or there are integrated probes that allow moisture and salinity measurements simultaneously at different depths of the soil. At company level, this kind of monitoring will allow for a consistent water saving in terms of volumes and irrigation shifts. In addition, this monitoring will enable the preparation of the water balance for individual crops. The aims and objectives of the project are: to improve knowledge on continuous measurement of soil moisture, to increase the skills on crop water balance technologies, to reduce water drainage and to reduce the water footprint of farm produce. All the knowledge gained during this action will be set up in order to achieve greater competitiveness on local and international markets. Another important aspect is the monitoring of the atmospheric parameters at the company level, which in synergy with the soil moisture are useful for the calculation of the crop water balance. This practice is useful at farm level in order to implement sustainable irrigation techniques that take into account the real needs of crops.
This activity that will be implemented by the Operational Group named AcquaBasilicata will aim at spreading good practices and agronomic and land management techniques: improving soil management, mitigating hydrogeological risk and protecting soil resource. These management practices will be prepared and disseminated by putting them in relation to the different levels of hydrogeological risk. Such widespread practices consist of: sowing of resilient crops; Implementation of hydraulic accommodation techniques and valorisation in the field of agro-ecosystem services. These practices will be widespread in order to respond to the priorities identified by the PEI and in particular the Flood and Drought Risk Management priority. In particular, the agronomic techniques and the hydraulic arrangement of the territory will be widespread in order to increase the farmers' awareness of the mitigation of hydrogeological risk. Moreover, through the increase in the importance of the concept of agro-ecosystem services, there will be an improvement in agronomic techniques and soil conservation. Moreover, through the spread of such techniques, the mitigation of erosive phenomena will be carried out.
The practices and concepts disseminate during this action of the GO named AcquaBasilicata are inherent in the importance of companies gaining added value through the environmental certification of their products and their production chains. In particular, these practices have the purpose of increasing the environmental sustainability of agricultural branches and in particular of the use of water resources at company level. The proposed certification schemes are many (water footprint according to ISO 14046 and preliminary European water stewardship studies (EWS), etc.). This action will increase farmers 'awareness of the use of certain certification schemes, bearing in mind that more sustainable products can have more favorable positions on domestic and foreign markets, and more generally in markets with a high number of consumers more aware of' Product ethics. A study will be prepared to support the choice of companies towards environmental certification and related promotion strategies; The points of the production process will be identified for the improvement of the environmental performance also in reference to the water resource will be disseminated good practices and guidelines for the increase of company competences with respect to environmental certifications; Increasing the visibility of the product on certain markets; To reduce water footprint; To the reduction of environmental impact.
