
Agnese Rostagno
Innovator
Biula
Italy
Environmental
Farming
Remote rural areas
The innovation journey
Agnese Rostagno is the founder of Biula – Linfa di Betulla, an agricultural project to collect and sell birch sap. Agnese, who has worked in mountain refuge management in the past, during the lockdown of Covid-19, began to think about how to rearrange her life so that she could remain living in the small village of Melle in Val Varaita, in the Italian Western Alps. She recalled when she was little that her friend’s mother had a birch tree in her garden from which she extracted sap. In Melle, there is a birch forest owned by the municipality.
Hence the idea of turning what was a childhood joyful memory into a job that would allow her to work in contact with nature. In 2020 Agnese leased 15 hectares of municipal birch forest. Sap is extracted in small amounts from each tree making sure that the buds can grow regularly. At the same time, Agnese takes care of the communal forest, keeping it clean.
The birch sap is packaged and sold through local sustainable food networks and local herbalist shops. In 2022, Agnese obtained the organic certification. Initially, the product was sold only frozen, but now part of the production is pasteurized at low temperatures with the addition of organic lemon juice, before being bottled.
The innovation impact
Agnese’s practice is characterized by a strong focus on environmental sustainability. In Italy, the production of birch sap is limited, and it comes mainly from Northern Europe. Agnese’s activity, which has enhanced an existing environmental resource, has resulted in a certified organic product that has easily found a market, avoiding the importation of products from long distances. Her experience also shows how making public land and forests available for entrepreneurial activities can foster the development of sustainable enterprises led by women.