The Piedmont Region has obtained the authorization of the European Commission for an increase of 2.8 million euros for innovation and research at the service of local agricultural production. These resources are in addition to the 7.5 million already committed, raising the total available to 10.2 million euros, a record figure for the intervention.
The Department of Agriculture and Food has announced that the extra funds will make it possible to expand the number of projects that can be financed from the initially 19 projects covered to at least 27, with full coverage of 100% for each intervention, which varies between 100,000 and 400,000 euros.
Paolo Bongioanni, Piedmont Region’s Councillor for Agriculture, commented: “It is a result with which I am extremely satisfied because it significantly increases the commitment to research and innovation at the service of our agriculture. Research and innovation are, together with promotion, the keys for our agri-food sector to be able to make that leap forward in competitiveness, economic sustainability and recognition of the value it deserves, and which must make up for delays that are no longer acceptable on fronts such as the use of new technologies, the fight against plant diseases and pests and the experimentation of new varieties that are more resilient to climate change. In recent months we have been decisively pursuing the structuring and strengthening of the Agrion Foundation, which day after day is becoming not only the reference body for research and innovation in agriculture in Piedmont, but one of the most advanced and reference institutes at national level. With these resources we will be able to finance further projects to make our agriculture take the decisive step towards the future”.
Funding do not cover purchases of machinery, systems or applications for individual companies, for which there are specific calls for proposals from the Region, but focus on the experimental development of technological innovations absent from the market or on Organizational and social aspects of agricultural work. The proponents are the EIP-Agri (European Innovation Partnership) Operational Groups, made up of farms, public and private bodies, with the obligation of at least one farm to test the solutions in the field. This measure is part of the objectives of the Complement for Rural Development (CSR) and the Common Agricultural Policy, aiming to improve the competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of the Piedmontese agri-food sector.
