The 2^nd study visit in Italy took place in Bologna on 5-6 September 2016. Our first stop was the Azienda Agricola Masera farm with Mr. Guglielmo Costa, professor at the Department of Agricultural Science in the University of Bologna and Mr. Ugo Palara, the Agrintesa agricultural co-operative technical director. In the farm, among others, organic apples and kiwis are cultivated using new varieties that are scamp-resistant. Next, we visited the Agrintesa plant at Gambettola, in which organic fruit and vegetables are manufactured. The manufacturing of the organic and conventional products are totally separated in the plant. The labels used contain all the necessary information in order to promote traceability. As soon as the fruits and vegetables arrive in the plant, quality control is performed and the producer is paid accordingly to its results. Our last visit for the first day was at the FederBio headquarters in Bologna, where among other issues, interest was expressed for cooperation initiation between Cypriot organic farmers and Italian organic companies.

The second day began with a visit at the Bologna Urban Center, where a presentation of the LIFE+ BlueAP project was made by Mr. Giovanni Fini, head of the Environment Department at Bologna Municipality. The BlueAP project aimed the implementation of an Adaptation Plan to Climate Change for the Municipality of Bologna. The results of the project could be adopted by Cypriot towns, such as Limassol and Nicosia. Our next meeting was with the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government and the Regional Agriculture Directorate. The LIFE+ project Climate changE-R was presented by Dr Mario Montanari, head of EU and international activities and Dr. Guido Violini, sustainability production policies officer of the project. Other issues discussed with Dr Matilde Fossati, organic farming controls officer, were the organic farming priorities and problems in the Emilia-Romagna region. Furthermore, Dr Rossana Mari, consumption and food education orientation officer, explained to us the programs of organic food provision in schools of the region. It is of note that the percentage of organic food for the children’s meals is very high in the region, reaching 70% in public schools and 100% in kindergartens. Our last stop was at the National Research Council (CNR) – Biometeorology Institute, where Dr Rita Baraldi, showed to us the static and dynamic closed chambers that they use in order to measure CO₂ emissions in arable crops.

Climate changE-R Emilia Romagna