The EcoWheatItaly project took part in the Social Simulation Conference 2025 (SSC 2025), hosted by the Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) from August 25 to 29, 2025 — one of the leading international events in the field of social simulation and agent-based modeling.
Gianfranco Giulioni (University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara) presented the work, in collaboration with Edmondo Di Giuseppe and Arianna Di Paola (CNR – Institute of BioEconomy). Their contribution, entitled: “Accounting for environmental awareness in wheat production through Life Cycle Assessment”, was included in the session Integration of circularity and life cycle assessment tools into social simulation, attracting strong interest from the international modeling community.
The research tackles a key challenge: how to embed environmental awareness into the decision-making processes of Italian wheat farms. The proposed framework combines:
- Agent-Based Model (ABM): representing farm heterogeneity using RICA/FADN data and the Italian agricultural census;
- Global Economic Model (GEM): simulating international wheat trade and Italy’s role in global markets;
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): implemented with the ReCiPe 2016 methodology, to assess greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and human health impacts (measured with DALYs – Disability-Adjusted Life Years).
Thanks to this integration, artificial farms (agents) are not limited to maximizing profit but can “become aware” of the environmental consequences of their choices, balancing yields, costs, and sustainability.
The work is part of the EcoWheatItaly project (PRIN 202288L9YN), which aims to provide science-based tools to evaluate the effectiveness of agricultural policies in the context of the EU Green Deal and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Participation in SSC 2025 offered a valuable opportunity both to engage with international experts in social simulation and environmental modeling, and to consolidate EcoWheatItaly’s role as a pioneering project at the intersection of agriculture, economics, and sustainability.
Conference programme: SSC 2025 Delft
