Today we're in Calabria at a farm owned by the Statti family,
who have lived on these 500 hectares of land since 1600.
Agricola Lenti produces high quality wine and olive oil
from its vineyards and olive groves,
and milk from its dairy herd.
Due to its commitment to the environment
and the need to enhance the land that it occupies,
the farm has decided to install a biogas plant.
Let's go and find out more.
We're joined by Alberto Statti, one of the owners of Agricola Lenti.
Mr. Statti, what are your farm's main activities?
Well we're near Lamezia Terme,
we're in a historic farm lying in the Lamezia Terme plain
that has existed since about the 17th century.
It's a multi-sector farm,
with activities that range from olive growing, vineyards,
citrus fruits, animal husbandry,
dairy cattle and agro-energy.
It covers 500 hectares overall
and was historically based on two sectors:
firstly olives,
which include the most widely-grown cultivar in Calabria
from which we produce extra virgin olive oil
that we pack on the farm
and then distribute within Italy and abroad.
Secondly, wine-growing activities which cover about 100 hectares,
producing native wines using typically Calabrian varieties
- although alongside these we also grow some international varieties
that appear on some of our labels.
Dairy cattle are the main sector of the farm.
We have about 300 milk-producing cows.
The milk we produce is transported
to a dairy cooperative in Calabria, Assolac,
and we are in partnership with Granarolo
so that we use Granarolo's distribution channels.
Why did you feel the need to install a biogas plant?
The need to install a biogas plant
stemmed from the necessity of diversifying our investments
a little within the company.
Having the cattle sheds meant that we had livestock manure available,
so what better opportunity is there than to install a biogas plant?
There's also the fact that we had various by-products on the farm
such as from olive processing
- which gives us olive pulp,
an excellent product for producing energy -
and also citrus pulp,
which is a by-product of the industrial processing of citrus fruits
and is also used for energy production.
There are also the farm's arable products which,
as well as supplying feeds for the cattle sheds,
are also able to be used in the biogas plant.
We've transformed problems into resources.
What kind of plant are we talking about,
and how do you use the energy vectors?
We've installed a 999kW plant
that produces electricity,
which we totally supply to the grid,
and also thermal energy.
The thermal energy is used to supply the needs of homes
lying in the surroundings of the plant,
and also those of the winery through a trigeneration plant
that transforms the hot thermal energy into cold thermal energy.
What advantages are you getting out of this plant?
The advantages are undoubtedly derived,
in financial terms, from producing electricity.
We also have advantages
from using the trigeneration plant in the winery,
and yet another advantage
comes from cutting down on chemical fertilizers
by using the digestate from the plant.
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