An endless crisis
Over two thousand farmers in Rome to say, with Cia, “Don't take away our future”. Today the national demonstration of the Confederation filled Piazza Santi Apostoli and the streets of the center with many producers and breeders who arrived from all over Italy, with placards and green flags, to protest against a crisis which, from the field to the table, is bringing prices to stars and making farmers poorer. For Cia, the numbers don't add up and we immediately need that national agricultural plan that has always been announced but never implemented, which puts the company and its income back at the centre. “We are not the problem, but the solution!”, the national president, Cristiano Fini, repeated several times from the stage, strongly claiming the key role of the sector, also in the green transition. “Despite all the fake news - said Fini - farmers do not pollute, they have respected their environmental commitments for years even putting their profits at risk; they produce alternative energy and do not waste water, but use it to produce quality food.
The sectors on their knees
Without agriculture, Made in Italy cannot exist and food safety has no guarantees; there is no protection of the territory and protection of the landscape, even against hydrogeological instability; the internal areas are depopulated and the economy and society do not survive. We therefore have good reasons to demand more attention for our agricultural companies. Italy must be put back at the center as well as Europe, which should be on our side, instead of continuing to impose rules and regulations from above." Yet no agricultural sector is free from the now widespread and generalized crisis, including geopolitical, climatic and phytosanitary emergencies. Fruit and vegetables are on their knees, with a 40% cut in production after the record drought in 2022, the frosts and above all the effects of the May floods. Made in Italy wine has lost an average of 12% this year, due to destructive attacks of downy mildew, losing its world lead to France. Livestock farming is also suffering, with 2023 inaugurated by a 30% drop in beef production and continued with the proliferation of swine fever, which risks destroying an 11 billion sector.
Absurd prices
And while cereal prices are in free fall (-40%), the shopping cart is becoming heavier with inflation, exploding the gap between the prices paid to farmers and those on supermarket shelves. Today a producer takes 35 cents for a kilo of durum wheat, while a pack of pasta costs 2,08 euros, with an increase of 494% from field to table. Same dynamic with milk: the farmer gets 52 cents per litre, but the consumer spends 1,80 euros to buy it (+246%). It also applies to fruit and vegetables: tomatoes go from 1,13 euros per kilo at origin to 3,73 euros at consumption (+230%); apples from 50 cents to 2,43 euros per kilo (+386%); pears from 1,64 to 3,55 euros per kilo (+116%); even the Halloween pumpkin, from 65 cents to 2,76 euros (+325%). The result is a 60% drop in the net income of agricultural businesses, which are finding it increasingly difficult to cover ever-rising production costs (+16 thousand euros in the last year per company). It is time, therefore, to solve the problems and meet the sector's expectations. Starting from guaranteeing the right income to farmers along the supply chain, redistributing a portion of the increases on the table upstream to create a more balanced system; updating the legislation on unfair practices by certifying agricultural production costs to ensure decent prices; reducing the forms of financialization linked to the production of raw materials.
Food sovereignty
On the other hand, without income and food, food sovereignty remains a slogan. But that is not all. We need to encourage business aggregation and encourage the growth of SMEs, also with a review of the tools for accessing land and a law on generational turnover, which on the other hand means facilitating exits from the sector with a structural reform to raise minimum agricultural pensions. On the labor front, procurement difficulties require simpler and more flexible procedures, while on energy prices, Cia says no to excise duties and VAT on fuel. Natural disasters and phytosanitary crises, however, call for the reform of the national and EU insurance system, especially since today the tools available cover on average less than 3% of real damages and compensation arrives extremely late. Protests are also mounting regarding wildlife: management and restoration of balance are the watchwords, which must be immediately translated into action. Finally, the objective is rural areas, where to curb abandonment it is necessary to bring business and personal services back to the territories, secure infrastructures and encourage digitalisation (source: CIA).