Italian agriculture has undergone a series of changes during the last 40 years.

The reduction in cultivated areas - nearly 5 million hectares of land have been shifted from cultivation to industrial and urban exploitation - has been accompanied by a decrease in the variety of commodities provided.

Plant and animal productions have strengthened their links with input and output sectors such as mechanical, chemical, and seed companies, as well as food-processing and distribution industries, to form a more integrated agricultural system.

The phenomenon of multiple activities has gained importance in farmer's families, with significant implications in farm work organization, production systems, resource management, input use, etc.

EEC agricultural policy and international market trends have prevented significant production increases in deficit commodities and the expansion of export sectors. Traditional Italian exports suffer from market constraints, whereas those with trading prospects suffer heavily from technical and structural deficiencies. The country possesses no large processing industries nor has a long tradition in specialized education and training in food processing and marketing.

In this situation, farmers have tried to overcome difficulties by maximizing production and reducing costs. The strategy has involved massive utilization of inputs and the establishment of large livestock farms which have unavoidably created environmental problems.

Between the suggestion of a return to the past, which would entail a drastic and unsustainable decrease in farmers' income, and the proposal of an unlimited use of mechanical and chemical inputs, the correct alternative would be a range of options stemming from scientific and technological research. Since Italy is a diversified land with a population having strong local traditions, it would be very difficult to find only one or even a few productive solutions for the entire country; more likely, a correct solution will lie in production diversification.

These facts highlight the contribution that research, especially upstream research, could provide for a solution to these problems; it would enable the acquisition of the necessary knowledge and expertise to operate on a greater variety of topics, ranging from food to nonfood commodities.

The RAISA goal

The goal of RAISA is to co-operate, within the framework of EEC and national agricultural policies, to create the scientific background to foster the development of an integrated agricultural system with more equitable farmers' income, sustainable exploitation of natural, biological and social resources, and better fulfilment of consumers' preferences and nutritional demands.

In pursuit of this goal, RAISA programs are designed to achieve the necessary knowledge for:

• designing and setting up models for the optimization of agricultural systems, which could ensure correct land use and proper environmental management, with special reference to the conservation of natural resources;
• strengthening social and economic growth and international competitiveness;
• more appropriate utilization of those factors and mechanisms that control the productivity of animals
• and crops, and refining the methods for enhancing this ability; identifying new strategies for the development of more diverse and better-quality animal and crop produce which may satisfy the consumer's demand and increase returns;
• developing biologically and technologically advanced methods for alternative processing procedures aimed at obtaining better and more marketable foodstuffs.

RAISA mandate

RAISA was organized on the assumption that the acquisition of better knowledge in specific, well-defined fields is a prerequisite for designing and developing innovative processes and products, and in taking political and administrative decisions.

Innovation must rely on principles, relationships and techniques that are based on scientific research, and not on empirical studies, whose results may be due to particular situations.

Furthermore, the project aims at generating the development of new scientific and technological expertise, stimulating new entrepreneurial activities, and promoting a new policy for developing research capabilities.

RAISA objectives

Animal and plant production has been integrated with input suppliers, and it is being integrated with "post-harvest" industry. Agricultural activities also interact with the natural and social environment.

Activities and environment are so intermingled that formulation of a correct, forward-looking policy would require a thorough knowledge of those interactions. Consequently, the subproject envisages the acquisition of that knowledge relative to four different fields. Research is aimed at identifying the internal links in each agrifood subsystem, as well as between subsystems and the rest of the economy. It also aims at ascertaining the relationships between the Italian agrifood system and systems in other countries, especially in the EEC, so that better short- and medium-term strategies can be formulated and policy at both local and farm level can be simulated.

Particular attention is also given to the analysis of the output processing system, producers' organizations, international strategies, consumer and international market trends, and innovations that can improve competitiveness in export markets.

As far as environmental aspects are concerned, research is aimed at thoroughly investigating the impact that agrotechnologies, especially the intensive ones, can have on the environment and its resources, as well as devising and testing low-impact production systems, which still enhance farmers' income. Worthy of mention in this respect is the setting up and testing of impact analysis methodologies, which take into consideration the implications of such technologies, and enable more thorough and effective ex ante analyses, which also include land modification monitoring procedures.

Finally, research pays due attention to marginal areas, with the aim of elaborating models of socially and economically integrated development, avoiding the risk of irreversible environmental change.

Subproject 2: Biotechnologies in crop production.

In recent times the pressure for greater production has forced farmers to increase the use of exogenous inputs, to overcome physical, biological, and social obstacles that hinder production.

Changes in human needs, development of entrepreneurial activities and the onset of environmental concerns due to the improper use of some inputs and procedures have promoted the request for technologies that permit production at lower cost, including lower environmental cost, better quality, and an increase in marketable harvests.

This can be achieved in either of two ways. First, by modeling the plant according to specific criteria derived from a better knowledge of the processes that control its growth and development, of mechanisms that enable it to overcome stresses, or of factors that promote the quality of its edible parts. Second, by optimizing the environment - air, soil, radiation - in which it lives.

Therefore, research is aimed at ascertaining the physiological and genetic basis of the plant processes involved in

1. reaction to some of the most important stresses that hinder plant production;
2. the most important steps in differentiation, growth and senescence of harvested plant parts, with particular reference to the action of plant hormones, the identification and characterization of the genes involved and how they operate;
3. the determination of the main components of the quality of the harvested parts.

Particular attention is paid to the breeding systems and the factors involved, to the identification and characterization of cell and tissue processes controlling the cell cycle, and to devising methods of identification, isolation, characterization and transfer of plant genes.

With regard to the interaction between plants and other organisms, research aims

1. to acquire a thorough knowledge of the replicative processes in some viruses as a basis for using RNA in controlling viral diseases;
2. to define the role of mycoplasm and mycoplasm like organisms (MLO) in determining the complex etiology of certain diseases in order to provide information for setting up effective and advanced methods of prophylaxis and treatment;
3. to devise methods of manipulation and transgenosis in animals harmful to plants and those that can be used in their biological control.

In this context special emphasis is given to getting a better knowledge of mycorrhiza inoculation and nitrogen-fixation physiology both in Rhizobium-leguminous plants symbiosis and Azospirillum-graminaceous plants associations.

As far as the physical environment is concerned, research aims at setting up methods for analyzing agro-forestry productivity, a more sustainable utilization of soil, a rational exploitation of solar radiation, and the formulation of new crop systems that protect or enhance nonrenewable natural resources and reduce agronomic inputs.

Subproject 3: Biotechnologies in livestock production.

In spite of the remarkable progress made during the last few decades, animal production is still lower that domestic consumption in Italy, while competitiveness with other EEC countries is adversely affected by high production costs. The EEC agricultural policy is clearly oriented towards the enhancement of product quality by means of technologies congruent with environmental protection and human health; consequently, national policy aims at promoting some commodities, at diversifying them and at endowing them with specific properties.

Accordingly, the project objectives range from setting up biotechnologies that permit rapid genetic improvements in livestock production, particularly improvements capable of reducing, or even eliminating the irregularities of sexual reproduction; to envisaging reproduction techniques that may enhance the selection differential; to formulating methods for early assessment of breeding value; and finally, to getting a better knowledge of productive and reproductive processes. As far as the latter issue is concerned, research activities aim at ascertaining costraints of growth, milk secretion and oestrous cycles, as well as at verifying physiological and pathological processes that may affect reproductive performance under different environmental and nutritional conditions.

Particular attention is paid to understanding those processes by which feed quality and genetic and environmental factors, including stress and sanitary conditions, affect milk and meat properties.

The project also aims at anticipating possible scenarios of herd and range management, when expected changes in rearing technologies, particularly biotechnologies, will take place.

Finally, due care is given to alternative and/or diversified production, particularly to aquaculture and related problems of reproduction, animal nutrition and meat quality.

Subproject 4: Biotechnologies in agricultural produce and by-product processing.

Advanced, well-balanced, technological development, capable of providing competitive products for the international markets, depends on research that takes advantage of recent progress in biotechnology, chemistry, physics, biology, etc.; in addition, research must ensure the cost-effectiveness of processing and of product safety.

The subproject is therefore aimed at enhancing knowledge that allows the use of improved biological technologies in agricultural processing. In this framework, particular attention is devoted to the improvement of yeast stocks for wine industry and the genetic characteristics of dairy starters.

Another primary thrust is represented by a thorough examination of molecular, biochemical and technological aspects of the production of enzymes and other food ingredients, and of setting up bioreactors with immobilized enzymes or microjiggings as mild technologies for new processes and products. As far as the exploitation of resources and environmental protection is concerned, research aims to improve microbial stocks to be used in lignocellulose processing to obtain raw materials for chemical and food industries, and to improve understanding of the physiological processes in species of Spirulina.

Special attention is paid to basic aspects of food processing and preservation, with the purpose of avoiding or minimizing damage to food properties, such as gas exchange mechanism in fruits and vegetables during preservation and conditioning. Attention is also given to modeling, simulation and testing of processes on a pilot scale and to setting up monitoring systems and sensors for the identification of critical values in quality parameters.

Equal priority is given to the preparation of intermediate moisture foods and of innovative products from plant biomasses. Research on models for the evaluation of relationships between chemical structure and functional and technological properties represent the starting point for the preparation of engineered complete food products using surplus foodstuffs.

As a logical consequence of an ever-evolving processing technology, research aims at elaborating models for assessing biological food properties.

From a nutritional point of view, research attempts to ascertaining interactions between nutrients, antinutrients and processing-induced noxious products in food, as well as their impact on the intestinal membrane, by setting up ad hoc cellular systems. In the field of food characterization the primary objective is the identification and optimization of different analytical methods. As far as food safety is concerned, the basic problems addressed range from the biological and integrated arthropods management to the assessment of the effects of pesticide residues and metabolites, and of oxidation damage caused by natural ingredients.

Finally, the risk of potentially noxious substances, contained in food, is evaluated by utilizing consumption data banks.