Copyright 2016 Accademia dei Georgofili
Winter wheat is grown on 600 000 ha in Italy, mainly in the North (69%) and the national production is insufficient to meet the internal demand both in quantitative and qualitative terms, so that about 50% of the bread wheat is imported. Whereas the quantitative deficit is linked to the profitability of the crop, difficult without high yields, the qualitative aspects are linked to the optimisation of agronomic techniques, introducing knowledge and innovations, in part already established since decades, into current farming. The objective of the present work is to highlight some innovations in winter wheat farming, related to its environmental sustainability. These concern the key aspects of the technical cultivation pathway, i.e. the reasoned choices the farmer faces concerning crop husbandry: crop succession, tillage, fertilisation, weed and disease management.
