For this reason, agriculture is also starting to change its face: the model is that of a healthy environment where as many links as possible of the food chain are present, so as to obtain a strong system that requires very few external inputs.
A model that is put into practice and is promoted, among others, by the young agronomist Davide Damiani , who after several years of experience in Luxembourg, decided to return home, to Puglia , to carry forward a very specific philosophy:
"It is possible to combine quality production and environmental sustainability. Thanks to the help of numerous sciences (from chemistry to mechanics, from biology to technology, from genetics to plant neurobiology), some of the most fascinating mechanisms in the world of agriculture have been discovered. For example, cultivation techniques have emerged that increase production and facilitate processing. It is more necessary than ever to convey this knowledge and these techniques towards the regeneration of the agricultural ecosystem , in some cases impoverished, almost desertified ."
What would be, then, the useful solutions to reverse the trend?
«One of these is represented by agroforestry – explains Damiani – a practice that accelerates the rhythms of nature and integrates them into agricultural activity».
A technique that, at least in Italy, is taking its first steps, and that companies like Apulian Store have decided to adopt thanks to the advice of the same agronomist.
"Agroforestry is a technique that reproduces in agriculture the mechanisms that lead a natural ecosystem to increase its fertility, maximizing its effectiveness. In this way, productive plants such as olive trees, almond trees, pistachios and walnuts coexist with arboreal, shrubby and herbaceous forest species, chosen with criteria aimed, for example, at the production of biomass. This biomass is pruned, chopped and accumulated on the soil, protecting it and favoring the proliferation of useful fungi and bacteria, which reduce the populations of pathogens".
This triggers a process that not only makes the system more autonomous, but reduces the need for chemical, irrigation and defense interventions, thus reducing the economic costs due to these production factors.
"The key to success in agroforestry is careful planning. Productive focus, sales market, workforce, economic capital, available means. Nothing is left to chance and there are specific solutions for each company."
And precisely on the subject of business, Apulian Store wants to focus on a very specific characterization: biodiversified production.
"Having each species different but similar needs, a more resilient and multi-productive system is obtained, thus reducing the risk of losses due to pathogens, which can then perform their true ecosystem function: that of being "scavengers" of weak plants. In a biodiversified environment, plants are healthier and more resistant and the outbreak of epidemics is significantly reduced. Originally, in the 15-hectare plot that we decided to convert to agroforestry, there was a succession of a line of olive trees alternating with a line of almond trees. Now we enrich the system with other plants with a productive focus on dried fruit such as walnuts, pecans, pistachios and much more".
In this world rich in resources, Apulian Store decides to produce in harmony with nature, with the aim of naturally feeding its agro-system.
The challenge today is precisely this: to cultivate excellence, promoting actions such as agroforestry, which are a gift to the land, even before farmers and companies.
« Agroforestry – concludes Damiani – often starts from poor soils, but thanks to the accumulation of organic matter and careful management, these spaces can become prosperous ecosystems».
Prosperi of rare flavors, aromas and tastes that Apulian Store is transforming into a genuine habit.
