The fourth workshop of the Italian RAIN was held on 24th January 2025. It took stock of the progress of AF4EU and, comparing scientific evidence, territorial policies and local networks, focused on opportunities and resources for agroforestry in the territory.
On 24th January 2025, the fourth Italian RAIN workshop was held at Villa Caviciana near Gradoli (VT) on Lake Bolsena. We are on the north-west hills of Lake Bolsena, which slope gently down towards the lake, but represent the hemmed ridge of the volcanic caldera from which it originated. Villa Caviciana is the first agricultural estate of the Fondo Ambiente Italiano: desired and realised since 1989 by Friedrich Wilhelm and Monica Metzeler, he a lawyer and she an art collector, it presents itself as an original and exemplary combination of landscape protection and agricultural entrepreneurship. The ideal venue for thinking about agroforestry.
The round table was somewhat the heart of the day: the various speeches offered an overview of the topicality of agroforestry practices in providing answers to the environmental and social challenges at both local and global levels (Scarascia Mugnozza, EFI); a representation of the quality of the ‘human capital’ present at territorial level, its expectations, its needs but also the threats to the commons that are looming ( Gabriele Antoniella, BdLB); an illustration of European policies and national strategies concerning innovation in agriculture, with particular reference to agroforestry (Filippo Biasi, Lazio Region); a presentation of exemplary cases (Francesca Camilli e Francesco Mariottini, Operational group) and of the forms of technical assistance that are appropriate and necessary in the innovation start-up phase (AKIS) (Claudia Papalini, Luca Scarnati, ARSIAL).
Concerning the tools that AF4EU will make available to the users interested in agroforestry, during the morning the functioning of the Knowledge Platform was shown, the database provided with a search engine that organically collects what has been collected from the field activity of the various partners; the opportunities for training and self-training, both in Soft and Technical Skills, that will be present in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) were pointed out; the general criteria for structuring the Agroforestry Innovation Business Decision Support System (AFi-Bus DSS) in its intertwining with the CANVAS approach were explained. Those present, organised into groups, were then able to give their thoughts on the areas of interest that emerged during the project as peculiar to agroforestry. Each of these areas was represented on a poster in front of which, using the Networking Coffee method, opinions and suggestions were collected.
The day ended with a buffet of local products prepared by ‘Al Vecchio Pozzo’, an agritourism member of the Biodistrict and member of RAIN, and the excellent wines of the Villa Caviciana winery, which allowed the more than thirty stakeholders to have a timely and fruitful discussion and the identification of concrete growth strategies for the agroforestry movement in the entire region.
