'Green Oscars' reward innovation in agriculture at Expo

(ANSA) - Milan, October 2 - The Young Business division of farmers' association Coldiretti on Friday presented the winners of the 9th edition of its "Green Oscars" awards for innovation in agriculture at the Milan expo world fair.
    The contest awarded prizes in five categories, and winners were chosen from fifteen finalists at Coldiretti's No Farmers, No Party pavilion at Expo.
    In the "Friendly Countryside" category, Federica Pascoli of Puglia won the prize for combining cinema with her family's oil mill business by bringing repurposing an abandoned theatre for public use at the family business, creating an innovative "agricinema" concept.
    In the "Network" category, Gabriele Biscontini won for his Borgo Brufa Spa Resort, the first "agro-wellness" spa in Italy, in the heart of Umbria.
    A smartphone app called iOlive, created by Pietro Barachini and engineer Dario Gronchi, which allows users to trace and view certifications for extra-virgin olive oil took the prize in the "Business 2.Soil" category.
    In the "Friendly Country" category, the prize went to the only farmer left on the island of Torcello in the Venice Lagoon, Paolo Andrich, for his artichoke cultivation business.
    Enzo Marascio won the "WeGreen" category with his "meat of the future" project, which created "meats" like steaks and salami entirely from wheat flour and beans, and therefore free of triglycerides, fat, and cholesterol.
    Finalists for the prizes included a liquor made from snails; a pig stall in Abruzzo that can be managed from home via Internet; an "outer space seed saver" that recovered ancient beans and grains threatened by extinction selected by Agrotec, which works with supplying astronauts; and a project in Molise in which three women started a program for prisoner rehabilitation through agricultural work.