“Agricultural students are unlikely to be unemployed, Made in Italy high school is good”

Patrizia Marini is head teacher of the Emilio Sereni Agricultural Technical Institute in Rome and president of the National Network of Agricultural Institutes (Renisa). AgriFood Today interviewed him to understand the contribution of higher education to the challenges of agrifood at both national and European Union level.

How do you see the attempt to create a “Made in Italy high school” initiated by Giorgia Meloni at Vinitaly?

I was with more than 250 students and school principals at the event that President Meloni awarded for the wine competition. We participated in the event by actively visiting the stands of producers who are excellent in the region. When the Prime Minister announced this idea, I immediately welcomed it. We do not yet have the exact details of how the government will formulate this, but as a network of agricultural institutes we support all initiatives aimed at helping the country improve agri-food biodiversity.

Just like Agriculturists, isn’t there a risk of creating competition with already existing technical and professional institutes?

Whether it’s going to be a brand new high school or the idea will be “bachelor”, let the term, we’ll need to talk to the people in charge of the ministry for technical courses that already exist. I don’t think there will be any overlap because we already have an agreement with the Ministry of Education as a network of more than 250 agricultural institutes. A reform is on the way to reintroduce important subjects that were eliminated in the last reform, such as botany, phytopathology and agricultural mechanics, which are fundamental to the education of children. In any case, what must be understood in Italy is that there are endless jobs for people who have completed their technical-professional training. 60% of the students in our institute continue by enrolling in the university, the remaining 40% find a job immediately because the need for technicians is important in this sector. At the same time, many of our students became entrepreneurs, managers or consultants. Those coming from these training courses are unlikely to be unemployed, in fact we often receive job offers that are not fulfilled because there are not enough qualified personnel to satisfy them.

What are the expectations in the field of education in the face of the need for more sustainable agriculture?

We need to move towards Agriculture 4.0, otherwise everything presented in the studies would be outdated. For this reason, it is necessary to both motivate teachers and update the tools in schools. For example, we need modern tractors, crushers, cellar equipment and biotechnology laboratories equipped with satellite systems. The scope we cover is very broad and you need to stay up to date. A few days ago, the Ministry of National Education allocated 350,000 euros to each institution to improve the equipment in our schools (A total of around 166 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund for hotel, agricultural, maritime and aviation institutes in Italy is geared towards purchasing sustainable, innovative and “green” equipment according to the type of institution. ed).

The European Union calls for a 50% reduction in pesticide use by 2030. What lessons do you teach to prepare students for this breakthrough?

We are very sensitive about this as our institute is connected to a 45-hectare organic farm. It should be noted that currently organic regulations cannot be applied everywhere, but there are new DSS detectors (decision support systems, ed) which enables continuous analysis of the situation in the field. Thanks to these tools, pesticide use can be reduced by up to 40%. For example, we have activated a sulfide-free DOC wine at our institute. Students know that it is essential to meet the expectations of the society, which is very sensitive about these issues.

After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the last government pressed to increase agricultural productivity in Italy. Yet while the EU has repeatedly assured that there is no food crisis in Europe in terms of quantity, food waste is still huge. Do we really need to produce more?

These are two paths that must be followed in parallel. We teach students to reduce waste from the very first years, but we also teach about buying as little products as possible from abroad. To do this, it is necessary to guarantee a large and diverse production in the region that can satisfy the domestic market and export. However, the main challenge for us is to help young people become entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector. That is why we have agreements with Ismea (Institute of Services for the Agri-Food Market, ed.) to facilitate the purchase of land so that students of agricultural institutes can become independent. It is necessary to create multifunctional companies that combine quality and diversity, otherwise it will not be possible to survive. Minister Lollobrigida proposed a law banning the production and marketing of so-called “synthetic meat”.

Doesn’t Italy risk falling behind in biotechnology research?

Veronesi has already said that in order to feed ourselves more on a Mediterranean diet style, we need to limit meat consumption, integrating it with other plant-based proteins. Research must continue, but as long as we have genuine products for me, these should be given priority. As teachers, we encourage our students to dedicate themselves to environmentally sustainable natural farms with wild or semi-wild animals, as we saw during our school visit to New Zealand. There are no homes for miles. There, our students saw that shocking colors are only possible by immersing themselves in the nature of that level.

Source: Today IT

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