Sustainable low-input farming system: the case of Marianis-Volpares farm.

A public farm (630 ha) located in Palazzolo dello Stella (UD) (L at. 45°48”N,Long.13°5’0”E) in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy, is managed by ERSA (Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo Rurale) in order to promote environmentally friendly agriculture. The farm is a complex in which agricultural activities will be in harmony with the environment and landscape. Hedgerows, ditches, woods, ponds of fresh water, wet meadows and brackish wetlands will be introduced into the farm. Present high input farming systems (HIFS) is in transition to low input farming systems (LIFS) using good farming practices (GFP) to qualify the agrienvironment. Seeds suitable for LIFS will be tested; techniques of soil management such as minimum tillage and direct drilling will be used. Traditional rotation maize-soybean and maize-lucerne will be integrated with more environmentally friendly crop rotation systems introducing minor cereals, legumes and multi-species meadows for ley-arable rotation. Crop rotation will be managed to improve soil fertility and carbon sequestration, to reduce fertilizing intensity, to protect soil from erosion, to maintain soil organic matter (SOM) and soil structure and to reduce the use of pesticides. Cover crops will be introduced for manuring and catch crops for reducing water pollution by nitrates. Crop rotation, soil cover, fertilizing intensity, fertiliser uptake, nitrate leaching, mode of manuring, landscape elements will be used as main indicators. The present herd of 650 heads of cattle will be reduced to about 540. Buildings, barns for dairy cows, calving pens, and milking boxes will be restored to improve animal welfare. Energy will be supplied by anaerobic digestion of organic matter mixed with slurry (codigestion) by cogeneration and tri-generation processes. Meat, milk and dairy products of high quality will be certificated by labelling systems.