We are pleased to announce that the “AlpFeed” project, funded by the Veneto Rural Development Program (PSR Veneto 2014-2020) and proudly supported by us, is published online.
This initiative, which among the various objectives has had the implementation of various interventions to promote and encourage the development of the territory, following the aims of EU policies, has placed its principles and objectives in measures 16.1 and 16.2. of the “Constitution and management of the operational groups of the EIP (European Partnership for Innovation) on agricultural productivity and sustainability” and the “Implementation of pilot projects and development of new products, practices, processes and technologies”.
The project saw the collaboration of various stakeholders:
- the University of Padua and the MAPS Department, responsible for the research of the project
- ITPhotonics S.r.l., as manufacturers of NIR analysis instrumentation
- Faresin Industries Spa, manufacturer of mixing wagons
- the companies Azienda Agricola De Bona Gianfranco and Società Bellumat Germano and Gilberto, final recipients of what AlpFeed does
AlpFeed has aimed at the sustainability of the farms and at giving various benefits to the companies that have decided to join. Participation in the project involved the use of a particular mixer wagon, equipped with NIR technology. Through the use of this instrument, in alternate seasons, and with the research experience of the MAPS Department, at the end of the project the company was able to notice changes in its farms and in its animals following the use of spectroscopy directly on the field.
An innovative model of this type aims at economic and financial sustainability, the effectiveness of the food management of dairy cows, a better quality of food of animal origin, thus guaranteeing the welfare of the animals on the one hand, the reduction of possible factors of disease and the reduction of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions on the other.