Seminar on regenerative agriculture and decarbonization for Casalasco farmers

The event took place on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 25, at the Casalasco Innovation Center in Fontanellato, the 1st Training Seminar on "Regenerative agriculture practices and decision-making models for decarbonization in agriculture" dedicated to the farmers of the Casalasco Group.

The event, organized in collaboration with the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, involved several Casalasco member and supplier farms that will commit to applying good agricultural practices for sustainability in agriculture and decarbonization.

The event opened with greetings from President of Gruppo Casalasco and Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro Marco Sartori: "We want to be an increasingly effective growth tool for our farmers – he explained –. That's why we strongly wanted this seminar and organized it in our new Innovation Center, a place created precisely to foster not only innovation, but also the exchange of experiences and training. Regenerative agriculture and decarbonization for us – Sartori concluded – are not slogans, but concrete actions to cultivate together with our agricultural community."

Following this, the Group Agronomic Director of Casalasco, Davide Rocca, presented the initiatives of the P.A.R.CO2 – Regenerative Agriculture and Decarbonization Program of Casalasco, outlining the projects already underway, those to be developed, and future objectives. “Casalasco was among the first companies in the sector to put the principles of regenerative agriculture into practice,” Rocca emphasized. In recent years, we have tested, measured, and selected the most effective agricultural practices capable of improving soil health, its fertility, and the resilience of cropping systems. Today, we work with our farmers to achieve concrete decarbonization goals, building an increasingly sustainable and competitive tomato supply chain”.

The seminar program featured a series of technical and scientific presentations: Paolo Serra - Head of Technology Transfer and Training Area at CitiMap - addressed the topic of Regenerative Agriculture Practices. Antonio Compagnoni of Sustainable Agriculture Network outlined Nestlé's Responsible Sourcing program for tomatoes and the main agronomic and biodiversity measures adopted, an initiative Casalasco has been collaborating on for years. After him, Cristina Piazza, also from Sustainable Agriculture Network, gave an in-depth presentation on “Cover Crops and Green Manure.”

Andrea Ferrarini and Marta Bertola, respectively a Researcher and Postdoc at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Piacenza, spoke on the topic: “Designing, Monitoring, and Verifying Decarbonization in Agriculture.” Andrea Ferrarini commented: “You can't manage what you don't measure: this is the core of our collaboration with Casalasco. Thanks to biogeochemical models and remote sensing, we have created a platform to measure the carbon footprint of farms, verify the climate benefits of regenerative practices, and report them in the Group's sustainability report. This journey outlines a transparent decarbonization roadmap that transforms supply chain commitment into certified value, making Casalasco tomatoes increasingly sustainable and competitive in global markets.”.

The seminar concluded with a networking session among participants, confirming the role of the Casalasco Innovation Center as a key hub for technical training and the development of new skills for the entire supply chain.