Delegations from France and Italy to study Tuscan excellence in the agricultural sector

Arezzo, 19 June 2025 – Delegations from France and Italy to study Tuscan excellence in the agricultural sector: on 17 and 18 June, two intense days of study visits will be held between Arezzo and Montalcino, where sector experts, entrepreneurs, farmers and scholars will meet to bring together experiences and good practices, and learn the “Tuscan model” based on cooperation and data management for increasingly smart agriculture.

The days, organized by the Tuscany Region (Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development) and the Italian Confederation of Tuscan Farmers as part of the Interreg Italy France -Marittimo 21-27 project “INN-Pratica - Cross-border Community of Practice for Innovation in Agriculture and the Ecological and Digital Transition” represent the third appointment of a broader program of cross-border visits that from April to October will lead the delegations to visit and “connect” Corsica, Liguria, Tuscany, Sardinia and Southern France.

In Tuscany, in particular, expert agronomists, scholars, institutional representatives, trade associations and companies will travel between Arezzo, Marciano della Chiana (AR) and Montalcino (SI) to carry out targeted visits to delve into innovative techniques, with particular attention to quinoa cultivation, precision viticulture, and digital processes applied to agriculture. There will also be moments dedicated to safety at work and driving agricultural vehicles.

The study visit program, in particular, will take visitors on June 17 to the innovative Demo Farm Cesa, an experimental farm of Ente Terre Regionali Toscane in Marciano della Chiana (AR): here they will see, among other things, the experimental fields for the collection of grape germplasm, the vineyard 4.0 and the test field for the safe driving of agricultural and forestry tractors. This will be followed by the Cantina Sociale di Arezzo, in the Chiani area, where the grape harvest regulations and evaluation of the quality of the grapes will be discussed.

The day of June 18 will bring the experts to the province of Siena, to Montalcino, to the Azienda Agricola Siro Pacenti and to the Azienda Agricola La Martoccia, where attention will be focused on digital applications and systems for smart agriculture. The study visit will close with the Società Agricola Argiano, a land zoning project aimed at creating balance in the vineyard and many different expressions of wines in the cellar.

Bringing together innovations, good practices and sharing local experiences on a common and cross-border level is the strong point of the INN-PRATICA project: great attention is in fact placed by the network of international partners on the creation of a Cross-border Community of Practice, a physical and virtual place in which to exchange experiences, promote innovations and adopt shared strategies to enhance rural areas from an economic and environmental point of view, accompanying the territories towards the ecological and digital transition.

The Tuscany Region specifically coordinates this project activity also by virtue of the experience of the Community of Practice on precision agriculture and the digitalization of the agricultural sector that it has started since 2019 as part of the Smart Specialization Strategy.

An ambitious project, made possible by the valuable work of the numerous project partners: Tuscany Region, Laore Sardinia, Italian Confederation of Farmers Tuscany, Liguria Region, DAFNE Soc. Coop Social Enterprise, University of Sassari - Department of Agricultural Sciences (project leader), Italian Chamber of Commerce for France in Marseille, Office du Développement Agricole et Rural de Corse. .

“INN-Pratica is producing results that go beyond our expectations, a Cross-border Community of Practice is truly emerging that intends to take stock of the real needs of agricultural businesses in terms of innovation and that we hope can become a permanent table for discussion and sharing - explains Susanna Viviani, Project Manager for the Tuscany Region - I would like to thank, in addition to all the project partners (in particular CIA Tuscany), also the Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate of the Tuscany Region and our management who, believing in the value of cooperation, confidently support the work of our working group, allowing the achievement of positive results and the construction of solid international relations”