Muzzana, a municipality in the province of Udine (Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region), announces the conversion to organic of all the land of common ownerhip, that is belonging to the municipality itself. The 96 hectares area loooks like being the first ‘experiment’ of organic management and certification of a collective use asset in Friuli. On such a large area the Municipality foresees to plant sunflower, chickpeas, beans, wheat, alfalfa, green manure crops, soybeans, corn. Tenders for the direct assignment of the land will be launched by February. The land has just been certified by ICEA: this will allow to label all the products with the European organic farming logo in three years, at the end of the conversion period. The local branch of the Italian Association of Organic Farmers (AIAB-Fvg) was assigned the task of training and informing the new local farmers on their progressive conversion to organic farming. The agronomist Cristina Micheloni (AIAB) explains: “The ambition is to share, starting from the forthcoming spring, the results of the techniques applied and the state of the crops development with the farmers involved in the land management. The 96 hectares are under a crop rotation including the cultivation of alfalfa on an important part of the surface, in order to enhance land fertility. Three types of green manure now cultivated will replace the use of synthetic fertilizers. In springtime, after sowing of wheat, the green manure will be followed by different crops including corn, soybean, sunflower, chickpeas and beans “.
“Messaggero Veneto Udine”, page 39, 5 February 2015
