Exchange with experts from North-America, Chile and Germany on regenerative agriculture
by Andrea Aidala, Giacche Verdi Bronte
Sicily fascinates many visitors because of its landscape, nature, Mount Etna, hospitality, tradition and the many cultural relics of its eventful past. With our agricultural trial fields, which we started in the Humus Project, Sicily has gained yet another interesting aspect: New and old methods of soil regeneration, fertility, climate-relevant and water saving sustainable cultivation are clearly demonstrated and explained to visitors on our trial plots.
In October, a group of farmers from Cincinnati, Ohio visited our trial plots and were interested in Terra Preta, hillside planting and fruit cultivation.
Again in October, the visit of the Chilean biologist Prof. Elier Tabilo-Valdivieso from the Centro Neotropical de Entrenamiento e Humedales (an Chilean NGO for the protection of wetlands) was accompanied by Johannes Burmeister from the Manfred-Hermsen-Stiftung and gave rise to a discussion together with our staff and volunteers on agricultural water management and the potential conflicts between farmers and environmentalists.
In spring, Benedikt Haerlin from the German Zukunftsstiftung Landwirtschaft and his wife Katharina
visited also our farming partner’s organic olive growth, which met their main interest.