Italy: Less food miles through direct marketing

Direct marketing by organic farmers via farm shops or at weekly markets has a long tradition in Germany. Many direct marketers began selling direct to customers as long ago as the seventies and eighties, when well-developed marketing channels for organic products were not available. This segment is now starting to grow in Italy. Organic consumers are also joining forces in small groups to buy from farmers in the surrounding area.

Picture: Weekly market in Italy

Over 200 new cooperatives under the name Gas (Gruppi d'acquisto solidali) organize their joint buying and distribution to members. www.retegas.org provides addresses of farmers and consumer groups involved in this direct marketing. The reason for joining groups like this is frequently the desire to reduce foodmiles, to encourage organic agriculture in the region and to support development projects by buying fair trade products from the third world. As turnover grows, these cooperative groups are becoming more and more important for some organic farmers. In the meantime, box schemes have started and usually deliver  a standard box of fruit and vegetables to a rising number of customers on a weekly basis. In contrast to Germany, there is no tradition of box schemes in Italy.

The potential turnover in the catering sector is estimated to be around 700 million euros. As early as 1999/2000 the government passed a law stipulating that state schools and hospitals should use organic ingredients in their canteens. Initially, however, few local governments were prepared to provide subsidies and infringements of the law were not pursued, with the result that several years passed before the regulations were implemented. A number of regions are, however, in the vanguard in respect of organic catering in schools, and they have put the national law into practice or have gone even further with their own regulations. The  Provinces of Friuli, Veneto, Tuscany and Marche started organic catering in schools between 2000 and 2002. The government of the region Emilia Romagna stipulated in 2002 that in nurseries and schools all children up to the ages of 10 were to be provided with organic food only. In 2005, 650 Italian school canteens cooked arond 1 million organic meals a day. Organic food is also increasing in restaurants. Bio-Bank, publisher of the annual trade directory Tutto Bio, has listed the addresses of 250 restaurants that use at least 70 % organic ingredients (www.biobank.it). There are about another 700 organic food outlets as part of the popular agro-tourism.

The organic industry in Italy sees itself on the up-and-up with the new government of Romano Prodi. The commitment to organic farming was part of the election programme of the centre-left green parties. The new Minister of Agriculture is Paolo De Castro, who is held in high esteem. “He regards organic agriculture as important and part of a campaign for Italian quality products,” says organic market expert Pinton (picture). De Castro met the chairman of the organic federation Federbio for an exchange of views in his first month in office and appointed an organic representative to the “Tavolo agro-alimentare” commission, in which the government discusses political matters with associations in the food industry and agriculture. The organic industry in Italy therefore looks to the future with much optimism and expects great things from the implementation of the National Organic Action Plan, which the previous government passed in December 2005 but did not implement.

Further information is available from: 

Federbio, organisation of organic associations

www.federbio.it

Prober is the biggest regional association of organic farmers; it has about 4000 members and is located in Emilia Romagna.
www.prober.it

Organic campaign
www.biobenessere.it

Environment and organic portal on the internet:
www.greenplanet.net

Online portal and organic address list Tutto Bio:
www.biobank.it