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On Thursday the 5th of November, SIMBA project partner Annamaria Bevivino from ENEA (Italy) presented at Ecomondo – The Green Technology Expo 2020. The Expo, was due to take place from the 3rd-6th of November however in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic the conference was moved online and extended by a further ten days to provide more time for networking.
The quick response of event organisers transformed Ecomondo into two weeks of B2B meetings, networking and seminars. The aim of the conference is to provide the green economy community with a digital platform on which to forge relationships and advance the green agenda on renewable energies, circular economy, green technologies and energy efficiency.
As part of the session on Productive and Healthy Soils, Bevivino delivered a presentation entitled ‘The soil microbiome at the center of fertility and productivity of agricultural soils: the experience of the SIMBA project’. The presentation examined the work going on, as part of the SIMBA project, to improve productivity, quality and sustainability of food chains using the soil “microbiome”. The research taking place as part of the SIMBA project to promote sustainable food chains is of particular relevance to the themes of the conference. An abstract for the presentation can be seen below.
The webinars and workshops which ran from 3rd-6th of November equated to over 500 hours of streaming and were attended by 31,200 participants. In addition, 400 companies were present at the conference and will have another week to present at their virtual stands and organize chats, calls and business meetings in the slots available.
Abstract: The soil microbiome at the center of fertility and productivity of agricultural soils: the experience of the SIMBA project – Annamaria Bevivino ENEA
“Soil is an extremely complex matrix that contains the largest amount of living biomass on the entire planet. Soil is where food begins: nutritious and good quality food can only be produced if our soils are healthy living soils. With a global population that is projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, producing more and at the same time improving agricultural practices to reduce environmental impact, using natural resources efficiently, are the main challenges that the world agricultural sector will face in the coming decades. A possible alternative is offered by soil microbiomes, that is the complex of microbial communities living in the soil and their genomic content. Improving productivity, quality and sustainability of food chains using the “microbiome” is the main objective of the SIMBA (Sustainable Innovation of MicroBiome Applications in Food System) project (https://simbaproject.eu). The project aims to promote the use of microbiome-based solutions to provide for the sustenance and food security of an ever-growing world population, ensure greater food production, increase food quality and also produce food products and fermented foods with beneficial effects on human health and improved food production systems. In this view, soil microbial applications appear a promising tool capable to lead to a reduction in chemical inputs, an increase in the quality and safety of crops and food products, while increasing the provision of beneficial ecosystem functions for the environment and human A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture and linear food value chains to diversified agroecological systems and to circular food value chains is more urgent than ever.”