Better food-chain contracts for improved durum wheat production. - Italy
Durum wheat is the most relevant small-grain cereal for human food cropped in Italy. However, there is an unbalanced demand and offer and the Italian production covers about 70% of domestic needs.
Challenge: The improvement of contract conditions, linked to the introduction of novel technologies helping farmers in the sustainable management of the crop, leading to benefits for all actors in the value chain.
Sustainable innovation pilots activities:
Barilla proposes to farmers multi-annual contracts for the supply of high quality durum wheat, foreseeing premium price for the use of a DSS provided by Horta. The DSS helps farmers to make the right decisions in order to obtain optimal productions (quantity and quality) with the least possible environmental impact and production costs. A further improvement to the contracts will be considered, with the introduction of parametric insurance on durum wheat, which will be linked to the use of the DSS. Activities include:
a) Introduction of a parametric insurance mechanism in the durum wheat value chain, and test with farmers;
b) Implementation of the traceability of data through the food value chain.
The contribution of the pilot to the three sustainability pillars of Ploutos will be the following:
Economic
Introducing contracts and parametric insurance will safeguard farmers revenues.
Social
Farmers will benefit from Barilla contracts and the use of the DSS.
Environmental
Using the DSS will lead to input optimisation.
The contributing partners are the following:
