Who we are?
Prof. Massimo Coltorti and his team (Barbara Faccini, Giacomo Ferretti, Giulio Galamini and Valeria Medoro) (University of Ferrara - UNIFE) have years of experience in the research and development of sustainable practices for the agri-food sector. They apply advanced technologies for contrasting the climate-altering gaseous emissions due to agricultural activities, the decrease in the use of fertilizers, the reduction of nitrate pollution and wastewater treatment.
Annalisa Rotondi and Lucia Morrone (CNR-IBE - Institute for BioEconomy) have been involved in olive growing research for over 30 years, applying environmentally friendly methods of defence and operating directly in industrial research and sustainable development, promoting conscious agriculture for the resources and the physiological features of plants and fruits, besides the production aspects.
What we do
The Project
The Italian olive growing has achieved prestigious awards as PDO and PGI, but problems related to chemical pesticides and fertilization practices are still present in the country.
Through ZEOLIVA project, the University of Ferrara (UNIFE) and the Institute for BioEconomy (CNR-IBE) work together for reducing the application of fertilizers, contrasting the nutrient pollution of soil, water and air and improving at the same time the production yield.
Within ZEOLIVA we also research effective, sustainable and safer strategies for the defense of the olive trees against the olive fruit fly, which are seriously damaging crops along the Mediterranean regions.
All of this is possible by the application of a wonderful natural mineral: the ZEOLITE.
The Zeolite
"Zeolitites are volcanic tuffs naturally rich in zeolites, minerals capable of absorbing, stocking and then releasing large amounts of water along with other important elements. They are capable of efficiently transporting nutrients in the soil, they contrast drought related problems for the cultures and if applied to leaves, they create a barrier against parasites. These are just some of the positive aspects of these materials that are also increasingly applied in other fields, besides agriculture, such as thermo-acoustic insulation and wastewater treatment.
In ZEOLIVA it is applied one of the best zeolites in the world, quarried in central Italy: the potassium chabazite.
