The current economic, political and social landscape is defined by one dominant characteristic: uncertainty. An uncertainty fuelled by constant and rapid environmental transformation, which is shaking both local and global economies as well as the social fabric, already severely tested by the health crisis and major geopolitical imbalances.
This uncertainty requires integrated and systemic policies capable of responding to human and environmental needs and complexities, fostering stronger connections between stakeholders and territories, attracting funding to support production systems and creating a fair and secure space for action.
And it is precisely this intersectionality and complexity that we need to recover if we are to truly implement the ecological transition, supported by a more complex agricultural knowledge and innovation system.
In this context, the primary sector has enormous potential because food naturally connects people with the environment, strengthens the sense of community through food identity and sustains entire economies. This natural intersectionality could make it a resilient and multifunctional actor, capable of meeting not only the needs of farmers and consumers, but also those of society as a whole.
Starting from this ambition and from the plurality of national and European policies that are being, and must continue to be, implemented to create more resilient, ecological and digital agricultural and rural systems, the international Summer School “Policy Mix for the Ecological Transition in Rural Areas” was created.
This systemic agri-cultural education program was developed within the Advanced Master in Agricultural Economics and Policy through a collaboration between the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (MIPAAF) and the Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Naples Federico II, enriched by the contribution of the Campania Region (Department of Agriculture), the “Centro di Portici” Scientific Association and the Future Food Institute.
For five days, from July 11 to 15, PhD students, young researchers and Public Administration officials gathered — partly in person and partly online — in one of the rural areas most representative of our Mediterranean identity: Pollica, at our Paideia Campus.
The program addressed digitalization for ecological transition, the development of new skills to support innovation, the new competencies required in agriculture and, above all, the opportunity to study firsthand the challenges facing rural areas in the ecological transition, starting from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the European Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Common Agricultural Policy and Next Generation EU.
What emerged during these days?
1. Politics: a fundamental ingredient for ecological transition
image
In its ancient Greek meaning, politics referred to what belonged to the sphere of common life. This creates an inseparable connection with the city, the main place where community dynamics come to life, explaining the shared etymological root linking politics and the city, οἵ πολλοί, meaning “the many”.
Talking about the importance of politics in the ecological transition of rural areas is therefore crucial, especially when these words come from the Mayor of a rural village such as Pollica, Stefano Pisani, helping bring politics back to its original meaning: the direct management of the common good, no longer delegated, and therefore fully at the service of the community.
Yet this does not mean that the path is without challenges. As Gianluca Brunori, Professor at the University of Pisa and member of the Standing Committee for Agricultural Research (SCAR), recalled: “You can see things as problems or as opportunities. But in reality, even an opportunity is a problem, because often you do not know how to seize it and then implement it.”
New analytical tools for evaluating the effectiveness of integrated and systemic political interventions are just as essential as the implementation of multidimensional policy strategies capable of embracing the digital and cultural transitions that support the ecological transition.
2. Creating innovation ecosystems means starting from the community
“The integrated approach of the Farm to Fork Strategy needs participation” are the words used by Pasquale Di Rubbo, Policy Analyst, Unit on Policy Perspectives, DG AGRI at the European Commission.
It is not possible to lay the foundations for genuine innovation ecosystems without integrated and holistic co-participation and co-creation.
At European level, this means bringing together the key actors of the agrifood supply chain — farmers, fishermen, retailers, processors, food industries and service providers — with consumers, researchers, consultants and finance, ultimately creating direct connections with other cities and other countries.
These connections must be able to function at both macro-geographical and micro-geographical levels. The crucial role of Living Labs is now widely recognized as a means of generating integrated and context-specific solutions, thanks to the fundamental pillars that distinguish them: co-creation, a multi-method approach, active user involvement and multi-stakeholder participation.
In this regard, Summer School participants benefited from a strategic position: they were able to hear directly from Sara Roversi, President of the Future Food Institute and, together with the Municipality of Pollica, one of the key figures behind the creation of the Paideia Campus in Pollica, about how this Living Lab was formed and evolved by embracing the principles of integral ecology.
At the same time, they were able to directly experience and observe, from Pollica, concrete applications of innovation that only an open-air laboratory so deeply rooted in the strength of the local population can generate.
Through visits to La Petrosa Farm and Cooperativa Agricola Nuovo Cilento, participants witnessed firsthand the innovative potential of regenerative agriculture applied to the Mediterranean context, as well as the concrete enhancement of “dormant” resources — such as the potential of olive oil production waste used in composting and vermicomposting.
True innovation begins here, with mindset: the ability to recognize the potential of existing but invisible resources, as Professor Gianni Lorenzoni, Professor Emeritus at the University of Bologna, taught us, and to apply sustainability — understood in its broadest sense — by design, starting from the need for a systemic vision, as Professor Sonia Massari of the University of Pisa explained when discussing Prosperity Thinking.
These are the real cornerstones for generating innovation and shared, collective prosperity.
3. Bringing narrative and reality closer together to make the eco-digi-cultural transition tangible
It is now clear how deeply the ecological transition is intertwined with the potential of digital technologies: healthy digital innovation that can help, support and add value to tradition and traditional ecological knowledge, ensuring that it survives while adapting to current contexts.
And yet, this combination raises many questions, concerns and complexities, which were addressed thanks to the contribution of Don Andrea Ciucci, Secretary of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Holy See.
Together with him, participants discussed the ethics of artificial intelligence, the need for technology rather than technocracy, the responsibility that comes with the use of certain tools, and the need for politics capable of responding to development and progress.
The reflections of Adele Picone, Coordinator of the Second-Level Master’s Degree in Architecture and Design for Inland Areas and Small Towns at DIARC, University of Naples Federico II, also fit within this need for coherence.
Developing urban planning strategies for the regeneration of inland areas means reducing the distance between narrative and reality, between what was and what is.
Words play a central role in our world. They shape human sensitivity and can convey important and powerful messages. Words can educate people about biodiversity conservation, responsible resource use, food waste reduction, proper nutrition and healthy diets.
At the same time, words and narratives can alter our perception of reality, especially when they refer to paradigms and contexts from the past, because what was true in the past may no longer be true today.
These aspects resonate more strongly than ever today in the need for clarity, honesty and trust, in those healthy forms of collaboration and mutual support that have always driven communities to adopt policies aimed at collective wellbeing.
“Those who possess knowledge must put it into a system. Those who have a model have the responsibility to transmit it horizontally, at the geographical level, and vertically, to future generations.” — Don Ciucci
