Sicily is mobilized against the Multinationals and plants the ancient wheat
The Sicilian peasant revolution: 3,000 hectares of ancient grains against multinationals. The return of biodiversity in agriculture starts from the ears of local wheat. To improve the environment, nutrition and health.
Bread and pasta made with these grains have a completely different flavor and a scent that no longer allow you to go back to the pasta of the supermarket made with GMO wheat. Which is also the reason why Celiac disease now has so many and even gluten intolerance.
The ancient grains in Sicily return to fill the fields, reconstitute landscapes, enrich the biodiversity of an agriculture that for decades has reduced to a few super-selected species the wheat of the island, which was one of the granaries of the Roman Empire. Officially it is only 500 hectares, but there are those speaking of 3,000. The farmers who are moving to organic farming and the recovery of local seeds grow from year to year, they join together, set up food chains and make culture, as well as culture.
Giuseppe Li Rosi "I converted 100 hectares of the family business to local wheat" confesses Giuseppe Li Rosi, one of the most staunch supporters of the return to the ancient in agriculture, "and I am the keeper of three local varieties, Timilia, Maiorca and Strazzavisazz" . The custodians sow these botanical rarities, dedicating at least 10 hectares to each crop, engaging in historical research and maintaining the purity of the seed. Li Rosi, a farmer for generations, is also the president of the association 'Simenza, Sicilian cumpagnia peasant seed', which brings together seventy producers, "... but another hundred are ready to enter," assures Giuseppe. Experimentation, in addition to conservation, is also on the agenda in the Cumpagnia: fields are cultivated also with mixtures of seeds, a process diametrically opposed to modern technology, which seeks uniformity, the standard in the name of quantity.
In the Simenza fields, however, variability and mixing trigger a natural selection that strengthens the ears and that does not need chemistry, adapts to the environmental conditions, the composition and exposure of the soil. It takes only a little patience: the second and fourth year production undergoes significant increases. The biological result is surprising: just wait for a few sowing-harvesting-sowing cycles and at the end each company will have a different mix of grains that collaborate with each other, naturally. This biodiversity is a harbinger of at least two advantages: better competitiveness against weeds and a natural adaptation to changing climatic conditions. It is the principle of participatory selection, promoted at national level by AIAI, the Italian association for organic agriculture.
To have a healthy food you have to go back to natural seeding with ancient seeds
Improve food back to the past ancient seeds
In Sicily, the return of ancient grains is also transforming the landscape. On the Nebrodi, for example, wheat had long since disappeared. This year 50 hectares of wheat have brought agriculture back to the mountains. A similar return is taking place on the Madonie and on the Peloritans. It is not an easy process. The laws on seeds favor the multinationals of the sector: a handful of companies control almost 60% of the seed industry and do not seem to worry about a few nostalgics of traditional crops.
Moreover the Tips, the international trade agreement, prohibits the exchange of seeds among farmers, making it difficult to preserve and pass on the autochthonous ones. "We are only allowed the small amount", admits Li Rosi. However, the Sicilian movement to free food production from the laws of intensive and polluting crops is vast. The Faculties of Agriculture are very popular and the research is progressing: in Caltagirone there is an experimental consortium of graniculture station that depends on the regional councilorship of agriculture and that has compiled a catalog of over 250 varieties of wheat and 50 Sicilian legumes.
Even medicine is not watching. Antonio Milici, neurologist and neuropsychiatrist, back from the recent conference "Ancient sicilian grains: environment and health", organized by Adas, the association for the defense of the environment and health, focuses on the link between diseases and nutrition: " It is very tight ", he says. "From celiac disease to intolerances, from diabetes to hypertension, to cardiovascular problems, the immune system is severely tested by the substances that our bodies take on a daily basis". As is well known to most people, everything is linked: lifestyle, nutrition, physical activity, management of emotions. It is not just the physical, because we are studying correlations that at first glance may seem risky: "Some diseases of the psyche may have as a cause of food based on unhealthy or other foods
