Romagnoli F.lli Spa continues the path of research and innovation with a view to sustainability for the entire potato supply chain, in which the company operates from sowing to marketing and announces its commitment to a new experimentation that aims at the cultivation of potatoes in total harmony with the environment, that is, obtained without the use of synthetic chemical plant protection products and copper.
The new experiment is carried out through the cultivation of tolerant varieties already tested: Levante, Twister and Alouette to which constanceis added, a variety also with agronomic characteristics that give it a considerable tolerance to Peronospora.
Also on this occasion, partners of Romagnoli F.lli Spa are The University of Tuscia, DIBAF and Legambiente, with which the Bolognese company has carried out projects that have allowed to test a new varietal generation of potatoes naturally tolerant to the main pathogens – Peronospora in the first place – and to draw up a crop defense specification ” ResiduoZero“, anticipating the future objectives of the European Green Deal and which allowed the company to obtain first in Italy the Residual Zero Check Fruit certification on potato cultivation.
“The search for and obtaining increasingly sustainable defense models – explains Giulio Romagnoli, CEO romagnoli F.lli Spa – was born to make a concrete contribution to the protection of the environment and respond to the needs of a consumer attentive to the value of sustainability also for the products he buys. A commitment that is the result of the desire to accompany our farms in the adoption of sustainable production models, reducing the use of synthetic pesticides and copper and supporting them in the transposition of European regulations, increasingly stringent in the field of plant protection devices, through the constant support offered by our agronomic technical service”.
The interest in the choice of environmentally friendly products is a long-rising trend in the Italian consumption scenario. Two out of three Italians prefer purchases made in stores that present initiatives in favor of environmental sustainability, 7 out of 10 are willing to change the store where they do food shopping in favor of stores that offer products with sustainable packaging. Choices that seem to find a further acceleration in the current context: compared to the pre-Covid phase, 27% of Italians declare that they have increased purchases of sustainable and eco-friendly products. For 23% the purchase of references with safe pack has grown and 1 in 5 of them preferred to buy at points of sale promoting sustainable products (source: Packaging Observatory of Largo Consumo, made by Nomisma in collaboration with SpinLife).”
Today companies are called to promote development models responsible for the environment and consumer food safety – continues Romagnoli. However, this cannot be separated from the recognition of value to all the actors in the supply chain to guarantee a truly sustainable product at 360 °, that is, from an environmental, social and economic point of view. We consider it a priority to protect the economic sustainability of every link in the supply chain: if the consumer is willing to pay more for sustainable products, this marginality must be distributed fairly among the players in the supply chain, starting from the world of production. Our hope – concludes Romagnoli – is that the pioneering research projects in which we are engaged with our partners can become codified production models that can be extended to all national potato areas”.
Romagnoli F.lli Spa’s research and development activities involve all phases of the potato supply chain, including packaging. The company, in fact, has long been engaged in the choice of eco-friendly packaging for its products and, after the adoption of the Sormapeel vertbag (which allows to reduce the use of plastic by -25% compared to the traditional packaging in use), has implemented the brand new PaperVertbag. A solution developed by Sorma Group made of 100% recyclable paper certified FSC™ (Forest Stewardship Council™) and equipped with a “window” equipped with cellulose mesh, which allows the product to breathe, increasing its shelf-life and the consumer to see the product it is buying. The innovative packaging will soon be adopted for potatoes isVita Residuo Zero* certificate Check Fruit.*Residue of chemicals permitted by law below analytical determination limits (0.01 ppm) and residues of plant protection substances authorised for use in organic farming (in accordance with Annex II to Reg. EC 889/2008) up to a maximum of 50% of the Maximum Permissible Residue.
