Pavia, Italy: During the closing ceremony of the Mario Preve Award, xFarm Technologies, a tech company specialising in digitalisation and sustainability projects for agri-food supply chains, and Riso Gallo, one of the largest rice mills in Europe and one of the oldest in Italy, presented the results of the 2023 pilot project and the start of the most intense phase of their collaboration.
The project aims to completely digitalise Riso Gallo’s supply chain, which currently consists of more than 180 farms participating in the ‘Rice that sustains’ project, to guarantee full traceability of the activities carried out in the field, production efficiency and thus greater environmental and economic sustainability of the supplying farms. In 2023, six pilot farms were involved in testing the technologies of xFarm, totalling more than 400 hectares digitally mapped. The goal for 2024 is to increase the number of users by developing a dedicated platform to manage the entire rice supply chain.
Focusing on the rice supply chain
The project was launched in the 2023 season, during which pilot farms used IoT (Internet of Things) sensors and the xFarm platform. The aim is that, within four years, all participating farms will be using the digital tools provided free of charge by Riso Gallo. The farmers involved so far have been given special sensors, including weather stations and soil moisture sensors, and have received customised training carried out by xFarm Technologies in collaboration with Riso Gallo’s team of agronomists, to learn the features of the platform and be supported every step of the way.
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Giacomo Luddeni, B2B Execution Manager at xFarm Technologies said, “With last season’s pilot project, we wanted to start collecting feedback from farmers. The farms involved showed great interest and understood the added value of the initiative. This enthusiasm is extremely positive and is key to encouraging the spontaneous adoption of the tools in all the farms participating in the ‘Rice that sustains’ project.”
The aim is to work with Riso Gallo to develop a dedicated platform for all companies in the Riso Gallo supply chain to help them adopt more virtuous agronomic practices. This will allow rice production to become more efficient and sustainable, thanks to technologies such as DSS, while certifying the product through precise field data and communicating the added value to the consumer.
Agronomic support against rice diseases to improve sustainability
xFarm Technologies and Riso Gallo will develop two main innovations specifically for Riso Gallo’s ‘Rice that sustains’ supply chain. The first is a sustainability indicator dedicated exclusively to rice cultivation, which will make it possible to identify the most virtuous agronomic practices and to have a complete sustainability report on the supply chain at the end of the season. It will make it possible to assess and compare the impact of the different rice varieties grown or the different agronomic techniques used, to make choices that have the least impact on the environment.
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The second is a specific DSS for rice blast fungus, a particularly aggressive fungal disease. This specific DSS will be calibrated for the main varieties of interest for Riso Gallo. The development and calibration work will start in 2024 and will be carried out by a team of agronomists, engineers and researchers in the form of experimental trials to calibrate the models as well as possible. This will provide accurate information on the best time to carry out treatments, protecting the crop while reducing the number of interventions required and, consequently, the environmental impact.
Matteo Vanotti, CEO of xFarm Technologies said, “xFarm is very attached to the rice crop, as it was one of the first crops on which we have developed our technologies. This is why we are particularly pleased to be working with a brand like Riso Gallo to digitalise one of the most important rice supply chains in Italy and internationally. This ambitious project will help rice farmers to improve agronomic management and sustainability, while at the same time making production more efficient through the use of specific DSS for rice diseases.”
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“Rice blast fungus is one of the most economically damaging diseases in agriculture worldwide. This is one of the reasons why we believe that this project can become a benchmark within the European agri-food sector and encourage more and more farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices,” Matteo Vanotti further said.
Riccardo Preve, Managing Director of Riso Gallo, said, “This important and innovative partnership is part of the path that Riso Gallo has undertaken to promote an increasingly holistic approach to sustainability, capable of generating tangible impact and guaranteeing ever higher product standards while preserving soil fertility and all environmental resources. We immediately recognised the value of xFarm and a commonality of values and objectives, so we decided to work with them to develop a tool that effectively supports farmers, and allows them to develop their business in a responsible, effective and efficient way.”
(The story is based on a press release issued by xFarm Technologies.)
