La Scoscesa, a company located among the hills of the municipality of Gaiole in Chianti, is characterized by soils with very limiting properties. Among these are the reduced depth of the organic and mineral horizons, caused by high rockiness and very pronounced surface stoniness: in some areas of the company, it is even possible to see the calcareous bedrock emerging at the
surface. The company’s soils have low organic matter content (around 1.2%), an alkaline pH of 8.3, and very limiting values of active lime, around 7800 g/kg.
It is a farm that covers nine hectares of fully terraced land, with about half of the surface covered by woodland and the other half by agricultural crops. The young farm operator has worked to reclaim marginal and abandoned lands, optimizing the spaces and techniques used, and developing the rotation of mixed and complementary polycultures as an excellent solution to protect and increase animal and plant biodiversity. In fact, Lorenzo Costa cultivates more than 150 different edible plant species.
Through the agroecological approach and regenerative farming techniques, plant species are cultivated without the use of synthetic chemical inputs. To protect biodiversity and the health of the ecosystem, organic fertilizers are added to the soil, such as various types of fermented mixtures prepared using different plant species, salt, water, and forest litter, with the main goal of rebalancing the availability of nutrients, fungi, and soil bacteria.
The organic matter in the soil is increased not only through the agronomic techniques used and the variety selection but also through the production of biochar within the farm, which is then inoculated with fermented mixtures and incorporated into the soil.
The utmost respect for nature and the ecosystem is also evident in the way Lorenzo Costa manages water resources, following the principles of “slow it, spread it, sink it” (as he mentioned in the podcast “Permaculture With You – Protecting Water”). Water management is essential to limit erosion on the farm’s soils, which span 130 meters of elevation difference, to avoid wasting water, and to channel it into the subsoil. On the farm’s nine hectares, there are 19 basins capable of holding a total of 190,000 litres of water. These basins are connected by a dense system of surface channels that, with their slight slope of about 1%, guide and channel the water along preferred paths that prevent soil erosion and allow for water
infiltration.
Homepage: https://www.facebook.com/lascoscesa/?locale=it_IT
e-mail: lorenzocosta3@gmail.com
