{"id":118619,"date":"2023-05-02T12:36:57","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T10:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cesie.org\/?p=118619"},"modified":"2023-05-02T12:56:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T10:56:50","slug":"innovagrowomed-agromini-regenerative-sustainable-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cesie.org\/en\/experiences\/innovagrowomed-agromini-regenerative-sustainable-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Regenerative and sustainable agriculture: discover AgroMini!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Commitment, expertise and attention to environmental and social sustainability can lead to virtuous models of success.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past few months, we followed three female entrepreneurs who launched their business in the agri-food sector financed by Innovagrowomed start-up hub<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus were born AgroMini, A'Naca - Vita in Natura and Nivura, new start-ups<\/strong> supported by the project, experiences of sustainable economic and social development<\/strong> in the Sicilian rural world where women are protagonists<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, Eleonora Chiri shares how AgroMini's dream was born to support agricultural regeneration and ethically exploit the full potential of soils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is April 26th<\/sup> 2021, the day before my thirty-fifth birthday, when I set foot again in Europe with the awareness that this time I will stay, together with my life partner and fellow startup associate, my husband. We want to contribute to its regeneration.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a soil microbiologist, Sicilian, who expatriated twelve years ago to develop a career as a university researcher.<\/strong> During my research activity I learned to recognize healthy soil, to understand its fundamental importance for life, and the inexorable awareness that our soils are utterly ill. The pandemic has speeded up my inner journey that began a long time ago, motivated by the desire to contribute in a practical way to safeguarding the well-being of living beings<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world is at a turning point, and the current times are calling for action. Local and global crises manifest themselves in a systemic way <\/strong>and have direct repercussions at the personal, environmental and social levels. Conventional and industrial agriculture practices<\/strong> represent a major problem because they destroy the natural fertility of the soil and devastate biodiversity and the climate<\/strong>. Furthermore, the industrialization of agriculture has disrupted rural communities<\/strong> and left impoverished, aged and isolated farmers to feed the world. Fortunately, agriculture itself offers us a solution: the application of regenerative agriculture practices in soil management<\/strong>. In fact, we can recreate healthy and fertile conditions by managing the land by following regenerative practices that improve the health of the soil, which will consequently produce food and natural products of excellence.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of June 2021, we move to Sicily. The warm, heavy air smells of uncertainty and possibility, and the desire to put ourselves out there is real. Fast forward a little over a year and a half, and today AgroMini<\/a><\/strong>, our innovative startup dedicated to farms, land managers and stakeholders in the agri-food sector, is a reality. AgroMini is a catalyst for the transition to regenerative agriculture, a profitable agriculture that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable, and therefore a happy agriculture<\/strong>. By promoting the realization by the stakeholders of the agri-food sector that profit and care are not oxymorons, they themselves will be the amplifiers of the change that guarantees food security.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AgroMini is not exclusively the result of an individual vision and a lot of good will, and there are numerous people, events and organizations that have supported, nourished and shaped its conception and formation. Circumstances present me with the opportunity to participate as an aspiring entrepreneur in InnovAgroWoMed<\/a>, <\/strong>a project funded by the ENI CBC Mediterranean 2014-2020 program (and what a perfect timing this has been!) aimed at training and accompanying women who make their way into entrepreneurship in the agri-food sector in the Sicilian landscape.<\/strong> And soon the unknown women met in a virtual classroom will become travel companions, allies and determined supporters of the AgroMini project.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CESIE<\/a><\/strong>, the Sicilian body coordinating the project, provides a well-equipped gym to train, strengthen and consolidate the business idea of AgroMini<\/strong>. The interactions with the trainees, tutors and project coordinators are genuine and motivating. Thanks to them, AgroMini starts networking and comes into contact with land and farm managers, and interested associations. AgroMini is growing well<\/strong>, to the point that its business plan is rewarded by the program with a grant<\/strong> which, from October 2022 to May 2023, accompanies it in its first steps.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The AgroMini offer consists of:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n