Associate professor
of the ALMA MATER STUDIORUM University of Bologna, Dept. of AgriFood Science.
He his teaching Agronomy and Field crops
He's the responsible of the long term agronomic field experiments (that started in 1966) and of the "Filippo Re" agricultural garden of the Dept.
Formation
- He was born in Bari (Italy) on March 25th, 1957.
- In 1975 he got a diploma in Science at a "A. Righu" Lyceum in Bologna.
- In 1980 he graduated
with honor in Agricultural Science at the Faculty of Agriculture of Bologna University,
discussing a thesis on corn breeding.
- Then, he conducted studies over several aspects of agronomy: crop rotation, soil
tillage, organic and mineral fertilization, irrigation, on cereal,
vegetable, forage and industrial crops.
- In 1983 he spent a research internship at the Weed Research Organisation of Oxford
- In 1985
he became Ph.D in “Field crops” at Bologna
University, discussing a thesis on weed biology.
Academic career
-
In 1987, he had a contract as an assistant professor at the
Faculty of Agriculture of Basilicata University (Potenza). He hold the course "Weed Biology".
- In 1992 he became
Associate Professor in the AGR/02 sector (Agronomy and Field crops).
- Since then at the Faculty of
Agriculture of Bologna University he taught: “Agricultural plant
ecology”, “Crop Science and institutions of vegetable crops” and
“Vegetable and ornamental crops”.
- Now he is
holding the following lectures:
“Field crops” (8 UFC) and “General Agronomy” (6 UFC) at the Department of Food and Agriculture Science of Bologna University
Scientific activity
His recent activity is performed in long-term agronomic experiments, where he studies:
- The climate change mitigation through CO2 sequestration in the soil;
- The long term soil organic matter dynamic
- The mineral fertilization (also with modern techniques to detect scarcity
- The organic fertilizations (FYM and slurry)
- The long-term effects of crop rotations
He is also studying the long-term agronomic and environmental recycle to tilled soils of waste materials and by-products in agricultural soils
- Sludges that are derived from water purification plans
- Sludges and composts that are derived from biogas digestors.
Institutional activity and academic tasks
He is the responsible of:
- The agronomic
long term field experiments which started in 1966 and are among the first 10th longest agronomic experiments in the world
He has been coordinator/partecipant of the following research projects:
- ICFAR project (Agricultural system adaptation to climatic changes) financed by EU, aimed at creating an European network of long-term experiments to study climate change effects
- FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Method) project, financed by EU, in collaboration with agriculture economists.
- Three PRIN (Researches of national interest) financed by Italian Education Ministry
- Sustainable Vegetal crops project, financed by Italian Agriculture Ministry.
- PANDA (agriculture practices for the environmental safety), financed by Italian Agriculture Ministry.
- Convention with Emilia-Romagna Region on cereal N-fertilization
- Two conventions with private companies (Herambiente, Bernollo) on the use of by-products and wastes.
Prizes and memberships
In 1986 he was awarded the “Ettore Mancini” prize for research in Agronomy.
He is a member of the Italian Society of Agronomy (SIA), the Italian Society of Weed Research (SIRFI) and the European Society of Agronomy (ESA).
Other activities
For 35 years he managed a farm with 15 employees. It grew 200 ha of field crops (wheat, maize, peas, sugar beet for seed production, alfalfa, etc.), with 300 dairy cows, 100 fattening cattle and 1000 pig husbandry.
He wrote three books:
- Cauliflower cultivation, Edagricole, Bologna
- Agriculture and environment, Edagricole, Bologna
- Field Crops, Ed. Libreria Universitaria, Padova
He traveled a lot, visiting USA, Canada, Ecuador, Perù, Bolivia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania Thailand, Malesia, Indonesia, North Africa states (Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco) a large part of Western and Eastern Europe (England, Germany, France, Scandinavian countries, Bulgaria, Russia and Belarus) and Middle East (Turkey, Jordan, United Arab Emirates) to get in touch with different agricultural systems.
He speaks English fluently and a little French
He is married and have a son and a daughter, both of them are PhD.
