ORGGIs are not few peasants with a degree in your pocket. A degree in agricultural sciences allows you to take The road of agriculture 4.0in the name of technology and digitization, which Today in Italy it boasts a turnover of 2.5 billion euros (2023 data of the Smart Agrifood Observatory). But with the same preparation there are those who fight against the eternal enemies of the farmers: harmful insects, mushrooms, bacteria and other pathogens that devastate the crops. The role of these scientists is strategic to protect the food that ends up in our dishes.
Agriculture 4.0 and plants scientists
«The percentage of students is growing. And even if we are not yet to equality, The girls are always the best and the most scholars»Comment Maria Lodovica Gullino, who taught plant pathology at the University of Turin. «They have all the potential to establish themselves in the sector. They only have to dare more, believe in themselves e have more support in moments of passage of life, such as the birth of a child or the care of elderly parents ».
The four stories we tell tell us that it is possible.
Giovanna Gilardi and the pitfall that is hidden in the salad in the envelope
“I work at the Agroinnova Center of the University of Turin” he explains Giovanna Gilardi53 years old, research technique with research doctorate in plant pathology and Angela’s mother. «Our research activity is connected to the needs of the national and international territory. I started dealing with Pathologies that affect fourth range salads, that is, those we buy washed and wanderedfor my doctoral thesis. And for 23 years my business has been focused on this issue. The cultivation system – whether in the soil or water, with the hydroponics – is intensive and with high technological content. There is a careful selection e Salads are a healthy, safe food, totally traceable.
Giovanna Gilardi, 53 years old, research technique with research doctorate in plant pathology and Angela’s mother
Despite this, the enemies are not lacking. An example? The Fusarium Oxisportum sp. Lactucae is a mushroom that affects lettuce. Identified in Japan in the 1960s, it arrived in America in the nineties and in 2001 we found it in Italy. It will seem incredible, but the vehicle is the seed, which often comes from abroad, where it costs less to produce it. From the ground the mushroom infected the roots and leaves, killing the plant and compromising the harvest. Treating soil is difficult, therefore We have selected tolerant and resistant culture cultivars at the Fusarium.
Agriculture 4.0: the new lettuce, ricy and more resistant to bad mushrooms
Worked well, but It was not easy at the beginning to convince the consumer. This new lettuce was more curly than the previous one and involved some problems also for the machinery. It is not over, however: the mushroom over time evolves and manages to hit the resistant plants too. It has already happened and to contrast it we will continue to focus on genetic improvement. However, the “bad” mushrooms do not only come from afar. The pathogens are in the environment, often kept at bay by “good” microorganisms. But they can affect the plant if the conditions are favorable, that is, if there is a high cultivation density, if the system is intensive, if you make the same crop on the same ground for multiple cycles. But climate change can also weaken the plant and expose it to infection. “
The Paladina dei Fiori Patrizia Martini
“I graduated in Turin with a thesis on carnation diseases,” says Patrizia Martini, 63 years old, head of the vegetable pathology laboratory in Sanremo and mother of two children. «Since 1991 I have been responsible for the area of the plant pathology laboratory which deals with Defense of plants from mushrooms, viruses, bacteria. We work on two fronts. With the farmers of the territory that bring us sick plants and with the Liguria Region, of which we are the official support laboratory regarding the investigations for the phytosanitary service. We offer targeted analyzes to find tailor -made solutions.
Patrizia Martini, 63, head of the plant pathology laboratory in Sanremo and mother of two children.
For the public body we take care of the XYLELLA for example (the beating that infects over 500 varieties of plants and that years ago attacked the olive trees in Puglia, ed.). It is already located on the French Riviera and Corsica. We analyze the samples taken in the border areas to verify that it does not come to us too. Liguria has an airport and three ports from which goods enter, which can bring pathogens. Furthermore, Climate change with higher temperatures facilitates the proliferation of species that in the past they would not have survived.
A female team for agriculture
An example is the HercinoThrips dimidiatus, A small South African insect that is killing the Aloe Arborescens in the gardens and in public spaces. To eradicate it, a treatment with a targeted phytoopharmacus would be enough, but in the city it is prohibited and for now there is no antagonist. Flowers also have many enemies and, as a research center, we carry out tests of fighting phytosanitary problems. The rancuncoli, widespread in the province of Imperia, are attacked by a beetle that eats its roots.
To fight it, you need recover the strategies that were used before the advent of chemistry, for example by acting on the ground. This changing scenario is a constant challenge: new diseases increase, others are reduced if winters are more sodious. We are a female prevalence team, And they do not lack attention, precision, ability to organize and adopt experiences also from other fields ».
Deborah Piovan and genetics that helps agriculture (and also entrepreneurs)
«Forget the agriculture of the past: The agrochemicals of the sixties are no longer there»Explains Deborah Piovan. 56 years old, he manages a farm that arrived at the third generation in the province of Rovigo with his sisters, he is a member of the Academy of Georgofili and the Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics and has two children. «Today we produce healthy and sustainable food, in compliance with European regulations that are the safest in the world. Science helps us. For example, we have Genetically improved screws that are more resistant peronospora and require less treatments. We count on rice that manages to defend itself on its own from fungal diseases.
Deborah Piovan. 56 years old, he manages a farm that arrived at the third generation in the province of Rovigo with his sisters, he is a member of the Academy of Georgofili and the Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics and has two children
Not GMOs but techniques of assisted evolution (tea) and ai
AND they are not genetically modified bodies, That is, they are not the result of the insertion of a foreign gene of another living being. They are the result of assisted evolution techniques (tea) that modify the DNA of the same plant to improve it. Nature could do it, but it would need a longer time. Agriculture 4.0 is already here to help us.
We use digital to make the distribution of production factors more efficient (fertilizer, water, seeds). And there is already artificial intelligence already. In our walnut the enemy is called Carpocapsa. The insect is captured with pheromone traps and displayed with cameras. There is also a weather control unit that transmits the data you need to understand if the trend of temperatures will be favorable for mating, the deposition of the eggs, the birth of the larvae.
Artificial intelligence crosses all data and tells us when to do a processing, speeding up my work – control all remotely – optimizing the forecasts and reducing the number of interventions. Some use drones to control a harmful insect from above and to distribute the antagonists. I also use the satellite surveys that allow me to see if there are suffering in an area – for example, plants that are photosyntify less – and proceed with the checks. Today as an agricultural entrepreneur I feel “Guardian of the land“: The food comes from the earth, and we must be able to deliver the ground – which is a unique and unrepeatable resource – to the younger generations».
Mariangela Ciampitti, head of the pool that hunting the parasites
Mother of two children, Mariangela Ciampitti is 59 years old and is responsible for the management of quarantine harmful bodies within the Lombardy region phytosanitary service. «After graduation, I was hired by the Lombardy Region to work as the inspector at the phytosanitary service. I started my career by experiencing innovative solutions for the defense of crops and releasing the nullabs to import for plants at Malpensa airport. The controls are fundamental. If a load of orchids from Thailand, for example, is infested with triple insects (species to which the insect of which you write on page 34, editor’s note belongs) comes destroyed or sent back.
Mariangela Ciampitti, 59, is responsible for the management of quarantine harmful bodies within the Lombardy Region Phytosanitary Service
Checks at the airport and the phytodetective app
For some years, Passengers who come from an extra -European destination can only bring five fruits: bananas, dates, pineapple, coconut and durian. For all other plants it is necessary to have a phytosanitary certificate to avoid damage to crops and the environment. When possible, for the control of new harmful species we implement biological struggle programs with natural antagonists, as for the Asian bedbug that affects pears, kiwis, peaches and makes fruit that is no longer marketable.
Currently a group of about fifty technicians engaged in the search for new harmful organisms still absent from our territory and in the management of the outbreaks of quarantine parasites.
An example? We control The diffusion of the popillia japonica choleotterinethrough the laying of thousands of traps. We apply containment measures in the rice fields infested by the Galligenum nematode of the rice. Fans of nature they can give us a hand by sending reports of possible new parasites with the app Phytodetective».