“From land to bread”: the evolution of wheat from the 1960s to today

SASSARI. The University of Sassari and the cultural association Accademia Sarda del Lievito Madre are organizing a meeting entitled "From earth to bread" together with the prestigious Accademia dei Georgofili (Central-West section) for Friday 15 March in the Aula Magna. It begins at 4.00 pm with greetings from the Magnificent Rector, Gavino Mariotti, from the director of the Department of Agriculture, Ignazio Floris, and from the President of the Academy of the Three Ages, Antonio Pazzona. The afternoon will be dedicated to a reflection on the evolution of the bread supply chain from the 1960s to today. The importance of sourdough and durum wheat in the production process of traditional breads and the role of collections in safeguarding microbial biodiversity will be discussed; there will be no shortage of anthropological stories linked to this food and the examination of local and global markets.

The microbial collection of the University of Sassari MicroBioDiverSar (MBDS)

The event will be an opportunity to talk about the Microbial collection of the University of Sassari (MBDS-UNISSCC), established following the MBDS project (MIPAAF-Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies) and carried out in collaboration with AGRIS Sardegna and the University of Cagliari. The collection is registered with the World Federation Culture Collections, the European Culture Collections Organization and is a section of the Regional Germplasm Bank for Agriculture and Food (RAS). Since 18 December 2023 it has been UNI EN ISO 9001:2015 certified. The scientific director of the collection is Professor Marilena Budroni. The main activities concern isolation, characterization, maintenance and conservation of pure microorganisms and microbiomes of agri-food and environmental interest. As part of the SUS_MIRRI (PNRR) project, the collection is optimizing the methods of conservation and characterization of the microbial communities of sourdough. All information on the website www.mbds.it

Speakers at the conference include Marco Dettori (Agris Sardegna), Francesco Giunta and Marilena Budroni (Uniss Department of Agriculture), Alessandra Guigoni (anthropologist), Gianluca Brunori (University of Pisa), Marco Gobbetti (University of Bolzano). The proceedings will be moderated by Massimo Vincenzini, President of the Georgofili Academy, and Antonio Farris, President of the Sardinian Mother Yeast Academy. The recording of the event will be broadcast by TTS Gallura Channel, on channel 19, for the entire following week in the time slots 9.00-12.00-19.00.