"Water savings of 40 percent compared to last season"

Optimizing production resources and improving the performance of tomato plants, while respecting the environment and the people who work in it, is the goal of the Agricoltura 4.0 sustainability project carried out by the La Doria Group, one of Europe's main producers of peeled and processed tomato pulp, in collaboration with Evja, a precision agriculture company that has been supplying the market for years with patented technology for the control and improvement of plant performance.

Environmental and social sustainability, along with biodiversity, are the three pillars of the project that, with concrete measures, will make true sustainability a reality, as shown in the video below produced by the two companies.

"Our business strategies have always focused on environmental and social sustainability," says Diodato Ferraioli, export sales director at La Doria Group. "We have been publishing sustainability reports since 2016. Now, with Evja, we are launching the project we started in 2022 and further strengthening it by implementing agronomic and management practices that bring sustainability to all of our conferring companies."

"We work with growers in the regions of Puglia, Campania, Basilicata, Lazio and Molise, so the impact of our project is particularly important," says Francesco Miracolo, agronomy manager at the La Doria Group. "With Evja, we are able to monitor the microclimate of the crop in real time, predict phytopathologies, and accurately analyze historical data for planning field operations. This allows us to optimize production factors and treatments for downy mildew, botrytis and alternaria. We can achieve high yields in both quality and quantity." In terms of water management, for example, irrigation savings of up to 40% compared to the previous season have been achieved, as have efforts to prevent rot and plant stress.

Irrigation interventions

Environmental sustainability and the strong link to biodiversity
Indeed, several corridors were planted alongside the tomatoes with varieties that attract pollinators. This has not only enriched the ecosystem of the cultivated areas but has also brought multiple benefits to the crops. "Evja allows us to monitor the microclimate of biodiversity corridors to verify that conditions are optimal for beneficial insect activity," concludes Miracolo.

Ethical and Social Sustainability
To ensure that the people working in the field are taken care of, Evja and the La Doria Group have implemented procedures. This includes the introduction of a digital system that monitors working hours and verifies that activities are carried out in accordance with company rules. The digital timekeeper, for example, creates an archive managed directly by Evja and searchable by La Doria Group and its customers, tracking the start and end times of each operator's shift in the field.

"The results achieved in terms of saving water, optimizing treatment and meeting the needs of those involved in the field have led us to further extend the project, which is now entering its third year," concludes Ferraioli. We are going to focus even more on organic farming and field monitoring and will involve more and more participating farmers."

Photos provided by Evja