On 4 March 2022, the conference entitled: “From the 2030 agenda to the Sicilian Law 21/2021 on Agrogeology” was held at the Marconi Congress Center in Alcamo (TP).
It was an interesting discussion and day of study where the law 21/2021 of the Sicilian Region on Agroecology was debated.
Speakers included MP Valentina Palmeri, proponent of the law voted unanimously in ARS, the provincial President of the Order of Agronomists and Forestry Doctors of Trapani, Pietro Clemente, the President of the regional Federation Pietro Lo Nigro, regional scientific representatives of CREA, Guido Bissanti, agronomist, and Antonino Lo Bello, of the ‘Do the Right Thing!’ Committee, representing the numerous subjects who participated in the drafting of the law and the Sicilian Agroecology Coordination, present in the room and numerous agronomists online.
During the meeting it was highlighted that Agroecology is a new method of management of the agricultural business system which allows a company to significantly reduce the need for external input of energy and synthetic chemical substances, with consequent reduction in costs, through a series of agricultural actions and practices that maintain the integrity of the soil, its productivity over time, the protection of biodiversity, the healthiness of food, the valorisation of Sicilian products.
The Sicilian law is the first ever in this field in Italy, and this is no coincidence, since Sicily is the region at greatest risk of desertification in Europe, with more than 70% of the soil at risk or already compromised , these are mostly agricultural soils that require urgent action to recover their production capacity.
For months now we have been working on the drafting of the implementing decrees to define the operational implementation of the law, which also provides for additional rewards through the PSR for those who convert to this agricultural model. The decrees also contain the details to follow up on the provision of the law on the placement of energy production plants from renewable sources for the company’s self-production of energy, respecting land consumption and agricultural production.