A return to tradition
Sustainable agriculture was established in response to environmental problems caused by the “green revolution” and other production methods having high environmental impacts (intense use of water, pesticides and chemical fertilizers). The world movement in support of sustainable agriculture has been defined “the true green revolution” precisely to highlight the contrast between these two production methods. Farming sustainably means promoting biodiversity, preserving the environment, preferring local productions, ensuring the respect of human rights of workers, safeguarding communities and guaranteeing economical sustainability of the agricultural system without leaving small farmers behind. One of the solutions adopted to control environmental impacts of modern agricultural production and thus to make agriculture more sustainable is the return to traditional methods of crop growing used in the past as, for example, biological agriculture or conservation agriculture. At the same time, the merge between traditional knowledge and new philosophies, from a sustainable perspective, has given birth to new techniques as integrated agriculture and biodynamic agriculture.
Special reports
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30 July 2020
Holidays, yes! but they must be sustainable!
We have been speaking of sustainable behaviours to apply to our daily life, but what happens when we unplug and…
2 July 2014
A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
In Italian, bufala: a hoax, also means a female buffalo...
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1 September 2019
What language does science speak?
Do you remember the game called “Chinese whispers”? All the participants had to stand in line and the game started…
10 March 2021
International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021
This year has been designated by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) as the International Year of…
8 March 2021
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
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27 February 2021
In search of the riders of icebergs
International Polar Bear Day, set up by Polar Bears International, a non-profit organisation, was held on 27 February. The aim…
8 January 2021
Smart as a crow
Some people call them "monkeys with feathers" because they can do clever things comparable to many of our monkey cousins.…
18 December 2020
The Christmas Star Tradition
Let's discover together stories and legends about the Christmas Star...
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30 July 2020
Holidays, yes! but they must be sustainable!
We have been speaking of sustainable behaviours to apply to our daily life, but what happens when we unplug and…
-
2 July 2014
A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
In Italian, bufala: a hoax, also means a female buffalo...
1 September 2019
What language does science speak?
Do you remember the game called “Chinese whispers”? All the participants had to stand in line and the game started…
-
10 March 2021
International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021
This year has been designated by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) as the International Year of…
8 March 2021
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
-
30 July 2020
Holidays, yes! but they must be sustainable!
We have been speaking of sustainable behaviours to apply to our daily life, but what happens when we unplug and…
-
2 July 2014
A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
In Italian, bufala: a hoax, also means a female buffalo...
From the Multimedia section
Facts
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CO2 “eating” trees
If a tree “eats” CO2 and produces oxygen it is easy to understand the importance it has in reducing the…
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Energy from palm trees
Oils that are obtained from palm trees can be used as alternatives to fossil fuels and their use is about…
The Christmas tree tradition
People tell that in Germany, at Christmas Eve, Saint Boniface cut an oak and in that place...
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The tree and the truffle
Truffles are hypogean (underground) fungi which grow in the presence of particular trees such as oaks, holm oaks and willows,…
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23 February 2012
CO2 “eating” trees
If a tree “eats” CO2 and produces oxygen it is easy to understand the importance it has in reducing the…
-
16 May 2011
Energy from palm trees
Oils that are obtained from palm trees can be used as alternatives to fossil fuels and their use is about…
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13 May 2011
The Christmas tree tradition
People tell that in Germany, at Christmas Eve, Saint Boniface cut an oak and in that place...
16 May 2011
The myth of olive trees
The ancients used to say: the Mediterranean begins and ends with...
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23 February 2012
CO2 “eating” trees
If a tree “eats” CO2 and produces oxygen it is easy to understand the importance it has in reducing the…