Podere Prati Breja · Novara
At the edge of Novara, Podere Prati Breja comes alive where woodland, irrigation channels, natural springs and rice fields meet. It is a landscape we observe before we cultivate it, because the quality of the rice begins with the balance that surrounds it.
Explore the landscapeThe way we grow
At Podere Prati Breja, rice grows within a wider landscape: flowing water, sheltering woodland, flower-rich margins and returning wildlife. We observe these signs and allow them to guide our work in the fields.
Every harvest also depends on what lives around it.
Native woodland · Terdoppio stream
Along the Terdoppio stream at Podere Prati Breja stretches a more-than-a-century-old native woodland, already recorded in eighteenth-century writings. Poplars, willows, oaks, elders and hornbeams are among its most characteristic trees, alongside black locusts that are now naturalised. Together, they form its architecture between water and rice fields.
Among its canopies, birds find quiet, shelter and places to build their nests; between the trunks and undergrowth, wildlife can rest, feed and reproduce. This is why we preserve the woodland as intact and undisturbed as possible.
The woodland is neither boundary nor backdrop. Now that Podere Prati Breja meets the city, it is an essential refuge: it connects the Terdoppio, irrigation channels and rice fields, and gives continuity to a biodiversity that has always belonged to this landscape but is made more fragile by urban growth.
Fontana Rovatella · Podere Prati Breja
Originally fed by spring water, Fontana Rovatella is the deepest historic irrigation watercourse in Sant’Agabio. Water reaches it by following the natural change in elevation: the area’s surface waters converged here — and still do — before flowing onwards through the irrigation network of Podere Prati Breja.
The 1953–1962 record preserves its precise allocation: 35 hours each week, divided into two turns, were assigned to the Casone and Roatella meadows. The remaining hours served other meadows and fields, all of which are now part of Podere Prati Breja. This historic rule tells us how water was shared, awaited and safeguarded.
Fontana Rovatella today · Water and the irrigation network
Ecosystem monitoring · Camera traps
Camera traps are one of the tools we use to monitor the ecosystem of Podere Prati Breja and follow its development over time. Placed in discreet locations, they record sightings, habits and returns without interfering with the rhythms of wildlife.
A single image records an encounter. Many sequences gathered over the years reveal change instead: which species return, where they pause and how they use the woodland, irrigation channels and rice fields. It is a patient form of listening that helps us care for Podere Prati Breja with greater awareness.
Archive of sightings
From the hours of darkness to a young raptor’s first flight, each sequence adds detail to the natural history of Podere Prati Breja and allows us to follow its evolution without altering it.
In our local landscape, encountering a crested porcupine is a rarity. In the quietest hours, it leaves the shelter of the woodland and crosses the edge of the rice fields; the camera trap records its passage without changing its behaviour.
Podere Prati Breja · Video 00:18This is not an occasional visit. Two European badgers live in the woodland, where they have their den. The quiet and continuity of this environment have allowed them to make it their home: a discreet presence that we monitor over time without interfering with their rhythms.
Podere Prati Breja · Video 00:30The red fox does more than pass through Podere Prati Breja: it has its den in the woodland. As light falls, it follows the paths between the trees and rice fields, alert and silent, before returning to its refuge. This is how a cared-for place becomes a habitat, and a habitat becomes home.
Podere Prati Breja · Video 00:09In the woodland along the Terdoppio, a young raptor leaves the nest and takes its first flight. It may be a young common buzzard, but the footage does not allow a definitive identification; we therefore preserve both our caution and the wonder of the moment.
Podere Prati Breja · Likely a young common buzzard · First flightNests and new life · Field observations
Before it becomes a harvest, a rice field is water, soil and shelter. Among the rice plants at Podere Prati Breja, a northern lapwing laid four eggs; in Fontana Rovatella, a female mallard leads her ducklings. Two moments in the same story: a cultivated environment in which life finds the space to reproduce.
Four northern lapwing eggs laid in the heart of the rice field, where cultivated land also becomes a refuge.
Beside the final egg are the newly hatched chicks. We observe and monitor the nest, eggs and chicks; during normal field operations, we protect the space around them so as not to interrupt the delicate period of hatching. The northern lapwing plays a valuable role in the balance of the rice field. Protecting it means recognising that cultivated land is also a place for life.
A female mallard leads her ducklings through Fontana Rovatella. Sheltered by its banks and immersed in the quiet of Podere Prati Breja, this historic watercourse becomes a discreet haven for them: a cared-for stretch of water where they can pause in safety and follow the current’s gentle rhythm.
Daytime sightings · Field observations
Between water and rice fields, a grey heron advances with a hunter’s patience; on open ground, two white storks find space to rest. A ringed stork is also visible in a separate observation. Different presences tell of the same living landscape: water, cultivated soil and quiet places where wildlife continues to find food and shelter.
Two birds among the fields and vegetation; alongside them, a separate observation records a ringed white stork at Podere Prati Breja.
Flower-rich field margins · Operation Pollinator
On the perimeter plots and in the uncultivated spaces of Podere Prati Breja, we sow flowering seed mixes for pollinators. When they bloom, these margins provide food for bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects, as well as discreet shelter for small mammals.
They yield no crop, but increase the biological diversity around the rice fields. Leaving them space is a practical choice: recognising that a farming environment becomes richer when what we do not harvest can continue to live alongside what we grow.
Research and measurement
Technology works alongside experience in the field. Recording, comparing and measuring allow us to make more precise decisions and assess their effects season after season.
Data from the field
Growing with care means understanding not only what weather is forecast, but what is happening in our fields at that very moment. This is why, at Podere Prati Breja, we do not rely on general forecasts alone: a professional weather station measures the microclimate of the rice fields directly.
Air temperature and humidity, solar radiation, rainfall, wind speed and direction are recorded in real time. These readings are joined by a leaf-wetness sensor: a sensitive surface similar to a leaf, which records how long the vegetation remains wet.
Read alongside the forecasts, these local data help us choose the timing of field operations with greater precision. They do not replace experience; they make it better informed. This means recognising sooner the conditions that may favour potential problems and caring, season after season, for the health of the plant and the quality of the rice.
Il Riso che Sostiene
We belong to the community of farms taking part in Riso Gallo’s “Il Riso che Sostiene” project, dedicated to promoting agronomic practices and agri-environmental solutions throughout the rice supply chain.
Explore the Riso Gallo project
Premio Mario Preve · 2023
In 2023, the Premio Mario Preve per un’Agricoltura Sostenibile awarded Aina Roberto e Federico Società Agricola S.S. the Premio Innovazione as part of the “Il Riso che Sostiene” project.
A supply-chain choice
In the past, Karbor was presented in an elegant, carefully finished cardboard box. It was beautiful to look at. Today, we have chosen to measure beauty also by what we can avoid, because sustainability cannot end at the edge of the rice field.
The compact vacuum pack protects the grain until it is opened and carries the logo, origin and product information directly, without cartons, sleeves or other secondary packaging. This is not a reduction in care, but an evolution in how we understand it: less unnecessary material and greater consistency throughout the supply chain, from the field to the person who chooses Karbor.
Discover Karbor rice
Podere Prati Breja
Woodland, water, wildlife, flower-rich margins and field data form a system in motion. We follow it, measure it and learn to read it more closely, year after year.