The innovations concern vertical farms - the forms of cultivation that save soil and energy - the enhancement of green roofs and the development of urban forestry interventions: the Lombardy Regional Council recently unanimously approved the law on agriculture urban, peri-urban and underground and on the vertical farm.
Incentives are aimed at vertical farming activities which, as the Lombard councilor for agriculture, food and green systems Fabio Rolfi recalled, represent a market that today is worth more than 2 million euros in the world but which is expected to reach 5 million. , 8 billion next year. "It is also an economic opportunity for Lombardy - underlined Rolfi - with an activity that saves soil, water and energy, reducing the use of chemicals and attracting new professional skills to agriculture, capable of also favor the generational turnover ".
Lombardy is the first Italian region to adopt a law on these issues.
New opportunities also in the field of green roofs, that is, the plant coverings of roofs or walls of buildings with herbaceous, tree or shrub species, which are recognized in urban planning. Lombardy intends with this action to highlight the contribution of plants to thermal insulation, energy saving and the enhancement of environmental sustainability.
With the new law comes the recognition of multifunctional green infrastructures, that is, urban forestry interventions aimed at creating a sustainable ecosystem through the connection between greenery and buildings and the strengthening of local ecological connections,