{"id":26574,"date":"2023-09-06T12:10:27","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T10:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/2023\/09\/06\/the-thousand-surprises-of-the-facelia\/"},"modified":"2024-07-05T11:40:18","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T09:40:18","slug":"the-thousand-surprises-of-the-facelia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/2023\/09\/06\/the-thousand-surprises-of-the-facelia\/","title":{"rendered":"The thousand surprises of the Facelia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

You may not have heard of it before, but you have certainly spotted it at least once: <\/span>its flowering expanses are a stunning sight. <\/b>Five petals between violet and bluish, from which sprout many stamens and styles; pinnate leaves covered with hairs. <\/span>We present the Facelia<\/b>, botanical name <\/span>
\n Phacelia tanacetifolia<\/span>
\n<\/i>, <\/span>an annual herbaceous plant that graces Italian fields and meadows with its many merits. <\/b>Let’s discover them together.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Photo: Andrea Marziali<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

First of all, phacelia is <\/span>a “melliferous” crop par excellence: its prolonged flowering dispenses copious amounts of pollen and nectar<\/b> to many pollinating insects, including bees, which use it to produce, indeed, <\/span>honey of the highest quality. <\/b>Crops such as Facelia are therefore credited with <\/span>increasing the population of pollinating insects<\/b>, as well as providing an alternative food source for other types of insects and a refuge for small mammals. <\/span> <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

But the qualities of the Facelia do not end there:<\/span> it is easy to grow and reproduces by self-dissemination<\/b>, so it does not need to be reseeded. In addition, <\/span>is used as fodder<\/b> for cattle farms, <\/span>or to produce the so-called “wrapped”<\/b>, a technique for storing hay-the round bales, to be precise. It gradually gives up large amounts of nitrogen to the soil, and is thus <\/span>used for “green manure,” that is, buried to naturally fertilize the soil.<\/b><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Photo: Coldiretti Emilia Romagna<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

In addition, the Facelia <\/span>It naturally counteracts weed growth. And it attracts insects such as hoverflies<\/b>, which in addition to pollinating feed on aphids, <\/span>thus contributing to the so-called “biological control”<\/b>, the agronomic technique that exploits the natural antagonistic relationships between insects to contain the populations of the most harmful ones. In short, Facelia is a beautiful, versatile plant that is a harbinger of numerous benefits in different areas. <\/span>It is no coincidence, therefore, that it is used to enhance the environment at many levels<\/b>: administrations use it to create <\/span>covers of degraded areas, borders, rural areas<\/b> otherwise abandoned; farms cultivate it <\/span>to make their crops more sustainable.<\/b><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Photo: TGR Basilicata<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The positive peculiarities of Facelia, especially those for the environment, have been supported and promoted by the supermarket chain<\/span> LIDL <\/b>Which,<\/span> in collaboration with <\/b>Italian Agricultural Chain<\/b><\/a>, resulted in an assortment of durum wheat pasta under the Combino brand.<\/b>, <\/span>presenting the seal of guarantee <\/b>Signed By Italian Farmers<\/b><\/a> And it is “Bee Friendly.” <\/b>A paste <\/span>made only from wheat grown in Italy, on fields that are in close proximity to Facelia crops<\/b>, whose nectar-rich flowers attract bees, actively contributing to enhancing the environment and creating <\/span>an ecosystem that promotes the preservation and proliferation of the area’s bee population.<\/b> A project designed for the environment, which supports the farmer who ethically manages the fields, and which aims to respond to the consumer who makes sustainable choices.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We discover the plant that makes pasta “Bee Friendly”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-products-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26910,"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26574\/revisions\/26910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firmatodagliagricoltoriitaliani.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}