Sowing the seeds of tomorrow

What do a pharmacist, a nursery school teacher and an architect all have in common? They all became unlikely activists in the historic case of the first pesticide-free town.

In 2014, Mals, a German-speaking town of 5,300 inhabitants in the north of Italy, became the first community in the world to hold a referendum on pesticide use. The result was a landslide: 75% voted for a ban. But how did this small town triumph over the powerful pesticide industry?