Bridging the gap between cities and countryside through technology, revitalizing the Mediterranean diet, and putting farmers and consumers at the centre — this is the ambitious goal of INCO, a project presented by the VIRGOLETTERE agency within the PoliRuralPlus -MOBILISE open call programme.

The initiative aims to reshape the relationship between rural and urban areas through the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), product traceability, and environmental sustainability.

At the heart of the initiative lies the idea of drastically reducing the distance between producers and consumers by shortening the agri-food supply chain. This will be achieved through the development of a feasibility concept for an innovative e-commerce platform based on a predictive algorithm.

The objective is twofold: on one hand, to ensure that urban consumers have access to fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced products; on the other, to enhance the value of local farmers’ work by giving them visibility and greater control over their markets.

An intelligent model to prevent waste

The technological core of the project will be an AI system that, after being trained on a pilot group of consumers and producers, will be able to predict purchasing habits and production trends. The system will generate personalized recommendations aligned with seasonal availability, enabling efficient supply planning and directly contributing to the reduction of food waste.

Designed for the Apulian region but easily adaptable to other contexts, the model leverages the potential of social media and instant messaging to build an aware and engaged community around food.

Regional challenges: digitalisation and collaboration

The project addresses key regional challenges such as uneven purchasing patterns for fresh products and the low level of digital and entrepreneurial literacy among farms. Yet these challenges also represent opportunities: the AI system will enable better consumer profiling, improving supply, while the creation of a digital network will help farmers acquire new skills and collaborate within a more competitive and modern ecosystem.

Local stakeholders and project manifesto

The initiative involves strong participation from local actors: farmers’ associations, community-supported purchasing groups, IT experts, food and organic clusters, consumers, and sociologists. A “project manifesto” will also be developed to clearly communicate the goals and benefits of the initiative, turning citizens into active participants in this transformation.

A sustainable and conscious future

With this initiative, agriculture reclaims its role as a driver of innovation — promoting a model in which consumers are informed actors, the environment is protected, and local communities are strengthened. It marks a concrete step towards a short, ethical, and intelligent food chain where tradition and technology go hand in hand.