Farms operating under the GLOBALG.A.P. standard that also want to certify their commitment to sustainable water management can do so by joining the SPRING programme.
All participating growers must carry out a water risk assessment covering the impacts of water sources, abstraction, distribution and use. The assessment must take into account current legislation, the origin of the water sources, the irrigation and distribution system, the soil type (permeability, water holding capacity, erodibility and so on) and any sources of pollution or contamination.
These risks must guide the correct management of natural resources, including water. Growers should be supported by technical advisers to understand the risks and develop strategies together, based on soil maps, rainfall data, climate maps and hydrogeological maps.
Aims and objectives
On the basis of the water risk assessment, farm management must set objectives and procedures to make its production activities compatible with the sustainable and appropriate use of water, and with the protection of the surrounding natural environment.
Safeguarding the common good becomes a high priority, using methods and processes that fully respect public goods and actively contribute to protecting biodiversity, the landscape, healthy environments and wellbeing in the widest sense.
Unrestrained growing and production methods would bring risks of many kinds, with effects that are sometimes irreversible for the community and for future generations. For this reason it is advisable to pay closer attention to the way we work and not to act without considering the consequences, even unintended ones: hydrogeological instability, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, neglect of native flora and fauna and deterioration of the landscape.
Technical advisers and growers have an ethical and moral duty to identify every activity that could have an environmental impact, and to define their own ecological footprint on the basis of internal checks.
I am firmly convinced that higher farm profitability can go hand in hand with a commitment to reducing impacts, and that this can only happen with greater awareness of how we work and with the right technical support.
In 2020 the Technical Office of Soc. Coop. Agr. La Strada dei installed 12 weather stations that can be connected to resistive soil moisture sensors. The cooperative also signed a framework collaboration agreement with the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies (DAGRI) of the University of Florence and with the AgricoLab laboratory of PIN, Educational and Scientific Services for the University of Florence. The agreement commits the parties to work together on initiatives and projects in vegetable production, with particular attention to the environment and to assessing agronomic management aimed at reducing the impact of production and raising its sustainability. Specifically, the weather and soil moisture data from the farm sensors were to be analysed to improve the efficiency of irrigation methods and sustainability by 2023.
Plant protection treatments
Particular care is needed when applying plant protection products, which must not be used beyond the boundaries of one’s own fields or in the immediate vicinity of watercourses.
Correct handling and management of plant protection products is essential to avoid drift and run-off, which would contaminate ecosystems. Operators must always be aware of the surrounding landscape, identifying watercourses and any hedgerows, trees and shrubs along the banks. These features create an essential buffer effect that “shields” against contamination through underground flow and run-off.
