Author: Ilaria Zappitelli

Water is the invisible backbone of cereal productivity worldwide. Without it, wheat cannot germinate, grow, or fill its grain.In the Mediterranean — which accounts for nearly one quarter of the EU’s durum wheat output — water has become agriculture’s most limiting factor.The new EU Directive on Sustainable Water Use (2024) and the revision of the …

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The European Green Deal, adopted in 2019, is not just an environmental policy — it is an economic and cultural project reshaping how Europe grows, consumes, and trades food.For cereals, which occupy about 45% of the EU’s farmland, the Green Deal marks a profound transformation: from productivity-based agriculture to climate neutrality, soil protection, and ecosystem …

Read more “The European Green Deal and Cereals: What Changes for Farmers”

The new National Strategic Plan (PSN) 2023–2027, which implements the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Italy, marks a turning point for cereal crops — especially wheat.For the first time, sustainability is not an option but a requirement for accessing European funds. At the heart of this new approach are eco-schemes, instruments that reward farmers who …

Read more “Eco-schemes and Cereal Sustainability: Opportunities and Challenges in Italy’s PSN 2023–2027”

In recent years, the word “regeneration” has started to replace “sustainability.” Reducing impact is no longer enough: we must restore the health of agricultural ecosystems. Regenerative agriculture was born from this idea — to bring back fertility, biodiversity, and climate stability to the land.Wheat, because of its global importance and vast cultivation area, is the …

Read more “Regenerative Agriculture: Wheat as an Engine for Living Soils”

For decades, agriculture was financed according to a single principle: productivity. Today, the logic has changed. Banks, investors, and public institutions are shifting their focus toward a new criterion — environmental and climate sustainability. This is the rise of green finance, a system that connects economics and ecology by rewarding those who produce in ways …

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In the new era of sustainable agriculture, trust has become the most valuable crop.Consumers, institutions, and investors increasingly demand to know where wheat comes from, how it was grown, how much water it used, and how much CO₂ it saved.But how can we ensure that this information is true, transparent, and verifiable? The answer lies …

Read more “Environmental Credits and Agricultural Blockchain: Transparency for Sustainable Wheat”

A wheat field produces much more than grains.It also provides cleaner air, fertile soils, vibrant landscapes, and cleaner water.These benefits — often invisible in traditional markets — are what ecologists call ecosystem services: the natural functions that sustain life and the economy. Today, governments and institutions are increasingly looking for ways to recognize and reward …

Read more “Payments for Ecosystem Services: Wheat as a Provider of Nature”

In recent years, sustainability has evolved from an ethical aspiration into an economic and regulatory criterion.In the European Union, this transformation has a precise name: the EU Green Taxonomy.It is the common language used to define, measure, and regulate what can truly be considered sustainable — including agriculture. For cereal producers, this means that sustainability …

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For decades, agricultural biodiversity has been treated as a public good — precious, but economically invisible.Now, this is changing. With growing international attention to the ecological crisis and species loss, biodiversity conservation is finally entering the language of both policy and markets. After carbon credits, a new mechanism is emerging: biodiversity credits, which could transform …

Read more “Biodiversity Credits and Cereal Supply Chains: The New Frontier of Environmental Value”

Soil is not just the foundation of agriculture — it’s one of the planet’s largest carbon reservoirs.For decades, however, this role has been largely invisible in economic terms.Today, with the rise of global and European climate policies, carbon is becoming a measurable asset — and even a wheat field can turn into a “CO₂ bank.” …

Read more “Carbon Policies: How Much Is Carbon Worth in Wheat Fields?”