For two days in Perugia, more than 30 researchers from 10 countries around the world gathered to discuss strategies to reduce pollution and salinization in Mediterranean basin waters caused by agricultural activities. The Monumental Complex of San Pietro, home to DSA3 — the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences at the University of Perugia — hosted the joint event of three major international projects under the European PRIMA programme (supported by Horizon 2020, the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation in the Mediterranean area): Safe-H2O-Farm — coordinated by Professor Michela Farneselli of DSA3 — NPP-SOL, and Telenitro.
The joint initiative, promoted and hosted by the University of Perugia, offered a valuable opportunity for discussion among experts who, in different regions, are studying and addressing related issues concerning ecosystem health, water quality, and food security. These complex challenges require an integrated, collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach — the guiding principle of the two-day meeting, which alternated between classroom sessions and field visits. “This international event,” Farneselli noted, “gave us the privilege of hearing important contributions and sharing the results of our research. It was a concrete example of cooperation among research groups working across the Mediterranean region with the shared goal of advancing more sustainable agriculture and more responsible water use.”
The initiative was also part of the activities carried out within the SafeH2OFarm project, in which the University of Perugia — through DSA3 — is one of the promoting partners in a major network of research institutions from Cyprus, Croatia, Germany, Israel, Spain, and Turkey. Running through 2026, the project seeks suitable solutions to make crops — starting with open-field industrial tomatoes and olive cultivation — increasingly sustainable by reducing groundwater and soil pollution and mitigating the salinization of the Mediterranean basin.
