Going Conservative or Conventional? Investigating Farm Management Strategies in between Economic and Environmental Sustainability in Southern Italy

The European “Green Deal” strategy is aimed at making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 through integrated actions relying on healthier agricultural systems grounded in (environmental and economic) sustainable practices, including soil carbon management and biodiversity enhancement. In this vein, the present study contrasts the economic-environmental performances of conventional (deep tillage) and conservative (no-tillage and soil ripping) practices for two varieties of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum spp. durum), namely a modern (Anco Marzio) and an ancient landrace (Saragolla Lucana) variety in the Basilicata region (Southern Italy). Field and laboratory analysis (granulometry, mineralogy, and geochemistry) as well as satellite data (RapidEye) were used to characterize the soil and vegetation patterns. The empirical results indicate a higher biomass production and vegetative potential together with higher grain yields in soils managed with conventional deep tillage compared with soil managed with conservative practices. Similarly, the modern wheat variety exhibited better performance with respect to the old landrace. The soils managed with conventional practices had a distribution of exchangeable macro-nutrients characterized by a reduction in Ca+ and an increase in Mg2+ and K+ between pre-sowing and post-harvesting. Such a distribution was also genotype-dependent, with a higher variability for Saragolla Lucana than Anco Marzio, showing a diverging adsorption of macro-elements between the modern and ancient landrace varieties.