Research activities
The Centre advises the MASAF on contaminated or polluted soils (e.g. land of fires); it participates in technical task forces for the transfer of innovation in biology by participatory approach (researchers, MASAF, Federbio, Firab, AIAB,...); it supports the PQAI and DISR V - MASAF offices for drafting technical-scientific position papers to be presented at national and European level in response to the research actions activated.
Agricultural systems
Space-time analysis of crop system dynamics is essential for a planning aimed at optimizing productivity and resource use. Several research methods (field trials, agro-ecological indicators, simulation models) are integrated to provide stakeholders with information on climate risk, environmental impact, ecosystem services. Important outputs are the development of agrotechnical routes, oriented to climate mitigation and resilience, and the definition of strategies to enhance the biodegradable fraction of byproducts of agricultural, industrial and urban activities in a perspective of circular economy.
Sustainability of soils
Many Italian agricultural soils are at risk of desertification and the variation of the rainfall regime exposes them to hydrological risk. The loss of biodiversity and biomass of soils leads to the productive decline of crops with serious impacts on high-income agricultural products. The objectives of the research are: to improve the hydraulic function of soils, to increase their organic substance content and to increase their carbon sequestration. The effectiveness of several strategies for increasing soil fertility in specialized systems is assessed: biofertilisation, growth promoters, radical pathogen antagonists, soil biological mechanisms for optimal plant growth.
Climate change
Climate change affects agro-ecosystems to the point of making it impossible to maintain and recover their functionality. The vulnerability of agricultural systems to the increased frequency of extreme events (resulting in parasite attacks) will depend on their resilience and adaptability. Specific studies of possible impact, adaptation and mitigation are needed for productive areas, in order to provide elements in support of national policies. Agrometeorology and modelling play a key role in establishing robust analysis methodologies for the development of decision support systems at both national and regional levels.
Agri-environmental indicators
The research aims to develop an innovative portfolio of analysis and monitoring services in agriculture, including the use of the new opportunities, provided by the Copernicus programme, that allow to capture the dynamics of the processes of interest through a better spatial coverage and temporal resolution. Among the main objectives: to improve national estimates of ammonia emissions (95% in Italy comes from agriculture) and greenhouse gases in agriculture, which are needed to meet EU demands, and to assess the risk of harmful biological phenomena through a multivariate study based on chemical, biological, microbial and agro-climatic indicators.
Services, analytics, data, and models
The aim is to make available to the various stakeholders the CREA databases (soil, climate, microorganisms) and models (static and simulation), useful for agricultural management, which are generally not accessible to end users. The metadata standards and the open data access paradigm will be met in the process and interoperability between CREA databases and those available on the national territory will be fostered, promoting standardization and homogenization. The use of open data from remote sensing provides time and spatial continuity, and the accessibility to cloud-computing free platforms enables users to work on a global scale.