The origins of fruit growing in Romagna (Italy): symbiosis between research and business

Massa Lombarda (Emilia-Romagna) stands out among the areas where specialized fruit growing started in Italy, with the cultivation of peach trees at the end of the 19^th century.
This endeavor was very intensive, and through meticulous tree management and extreme care in post-harvest (grading, packaging, shipping), it allowed to sell peaches as far as the Northern European markets, transforming a farm into an agricultural company.
This step was made possible thanks to the fundamental support for research and education provided to growers by the extension service that existed in Italy at the time, which established a position in Ravenna in 1903. (The name of this position could be loosely translated as Itinerant Agricultural Chair, IAC). The roots of this revolution date back almost a century (1813), when Benjamin Crud, a Swiss agronomist, introduced new cropping systems and practices, which he applied firsthand to an unproductive farm he had bought in Massa Lombarda.
He summed up his experience in the book “Theoretical and practical economics of agriculture”, which could have been the first modern Italian agronomy work.
Crud took inspiration from European countries where agricultural teachings were already established since the mid-18^th century, contrary to “Italian” agriculture, which was still following medieval concepts and methods.
At the time of his writing, Italy had not yet been freed of foreign and church domination, and the turbulent times were not yet right to introduce similar agricultural innovation, so Crud’s endeavor was soon lost.
Fortunately, “the new methods and the new industry” applied and recorded by Crud were not forgotten, preserving them until agricultural research began to fever up again with the unification of the country.
The IAC was thus able to transfer this knowledge to the farmers.
The synergy between research and agricultural production was an unprecedented innovation, which enabled peach and, consequently, fruit growing to become what we know today in Emilia-Romagna and Italy.

EHC2024: International Symposium on the History of Horticulture in Europe

G.D. Perulli

peach tree, history, specialized orchard origin, innovation, knowledge, Emilia-Romagna

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1438.24