Published
14.09.2022
3 Minutes

BROTWEG brings grain cultivation (back) to the Alps

Sometimes, it's not that we can't go somewhere; it's just that we haven't tried yet. Who said you can’t grow grain on Alpine slopes, for instance? 

The BROTWEG project, a collaboration between the Free University of Bolzano, Fraunhofer Italia, and two companies, has paved the way for the reintroduction of grain cultivation on the steep slopes of the South Tyrol mountains. This was a team effort. A farmer from Taserhof near Scena dreamed of growing grain like his grandparents did, so he provided the fields. The NOI Techpark's unibz Agroforestry Innovation Laboratory provided design guidance and conducted field and laboratory tests to evaluate the performance of the machinery. A company called Gaier supplied the machines, and Fraunhofer Italia oversaw the entire mountain bread supply chain, providing farmers with valuable recommendations on project sustainability. The project aimed to create new opportunities that would benefit the agricultural, social and environmental ecosystems of mountain economies. 

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