Soil Regeneration and Promotion of Agrobiodiversity for a Sustainable Wheat Supply Chain – WHE@SUSTAIN

WHE@SUSTAIN is a Barilla project, co-funded by the Emilia-Romagna Region, involving collaboration with the following partners: Open Fields Srl,CNR – Institute for Bioeconomy (IBE),DISAFA (Department of Agricultural, Forestry, and Food Sciences at the University of Turin),andxFarm Technologies Italia srl.

Against a backdrop of growing attention to environmental and socio-economic issues, the agricultural sector is also called upon to play an active role by adopting innovative processes and technologies that reduce emissions, promote carbon sequestration in the soil, increase biodiversity, and optimize and regenerate resources, all while ensuring productivity.

‍

The WHE@SUSTAIN project aims to develop digital tools to support the transition toward a more diversified agricultural model that is resilient to the effects of climate change, with more efficient management of natural resources. The project activities are divided into three specific actions:i) Implementation of a system to monitor soil organic carbon using satellite data and creation of a ‘SOC Analytics within AgroSat and Barilla Farming; ii) Development of a platform to collect data on the biodiversity of habitats, species, and the local area in order to calculate a representative index for the entire farm, which will serve as a basis for implementing improvement measures; iii) Implementation of sustainable practices and evaluation of regenerative practices on a pilot farm.

‍

In addition to these, there are cross-cutting activities such as ( iv) cooperation among partnersand (v) dissemination. The main expected outcomes are the development and validation of a user-friendly, integrated digital platform for decision support, capable of processing business, climate, soil, agronomic, and contextual data to provide real-time operational recommendations using a scalable and extensible approach.

‍

With its long agricultural tradition, a well-established grain supply chain such as that of Carta delMulino, and a strong focus on innovations in the agro-environmental sector, Emilia-Romagna provides an ideal setting fortesting and consolidating approaches that integrate productivity, sustainability, and resilience.

DURATION: 30 months (from August 25, 2025, to February 25, 2028)

PROGRAM: Measure SRG08 Support for pilot projects and innovation testing – Co-funded by the Emilia-Romagna Region Rural Development Program (PSR) 2023–2027

European Commission Website

EAFRD: IT