-LEGNARO Natural agriculture and solidarity as a recipe for defeating the crisis. Elia Bozzolan, barely thirty years at the registry office and a degree in Forestry and Environmental Sciences already in her pocket, after a few other professional experiences, finally, a couple of years ago, decided to follow in the footsteps of her father Severino and become a farmer. What he is now running is a decidedly special company, because in it he has chosen to enhance the territory and biodiversity with shelters for birds, small plots open to citizens and a network of solidarity with neighbors. European funding for young farmers, but also the exchange of machinery with neighboring farmers, have allowed investments to reduce processing times and introduce new agronomic techniques. “Mine,” says Elia, “is an organic farm of seven hectares, of which just over half are cultivated with vegetables (tomatoes, beans, carrots, leeks, cabbage, turnips and some varieties of radicchi and cabbage) and fruits (kiwis, strawberries, blackberries). There is also space for a mixed deciduous grove and long hedges, where the local flora and fauna have found their natural environment.” The “Podere Clara” company, which is part of the Wigwam Circuit, is not new to taking unusual paths, but more supportive and sustainable in managing agricultural production and experimenting with forms of activity that combine utility with people's social growth. In fact, at the end of the eighties, Elia's father, together with his first experiences in organic and biodynamic agriculture, began to create an open farm, equipped for example with pitches for agricamping. He anticipated the idea of educational farms and hosted the project “The Farm in the Hospital”, created in collaboration with the Padua Department of Pediatric Oncology. “The majority of crops,” continues Bozzolan, “takes place in the open field and only a small part under the greenhouses. The annual rotations make it possible to obtain good harvests. Now we are experimenting with peanut cultivation.” The commercialization of farm products takes place thanks to the agricultural cooperative “El Tamiso”, which has been present on the Italian organic market for almost thirty years. Within the company, projects were then activated for the protection of wild animals, such as the installation of artificial nests, as well as the experimentation of new vegetable species not currently cultivated in our areas or totally new for the Venetian market. “Looking at the social role of agriculture,” concludes the young farmer, “we are among the forerunners in the preparation of social gardens. These are small plots, where enthusiasts, more or less experienced, can naturally cultivate products for their consumption. The demand for this self-cultivation activity is increasing. Furthermore, in the social garden, different people find themselves doing the same jobs, in close contact with each other and with the earth.”
by Alessandro Cesarato (TAKEN FROM THE MORNING OF PADUA ON MONDAY 13.01.2014)