Of course, the topic of fragmentation is one of the main
ones for the Italian agrifood sector.
We need to make farmers stronger
by helping them to aggregate in cooperatives, organisations and OPs.
We contributed to that,
as you may know, through the Omnibus regulation.
We supported a stronger cooperation,
especially giving the OPs the possibility to
strongly organise themselves
on the market without fearing the rules for competition,
which until recently,
could get the biggest and the most important
agricultural holdings in troubles.
CAP, in general,
very much helps the farmers for bringing them together.
We have to do more.
We did it through the Omnibus revision and,
surely, we did some steps further.
Anyways,
I wish the next CAP’s plan will be
the result of common rules,
so no renationalisation,
by supporting farmers who are
bringing together at least
the commercial activity
in order to be stronger and more competitive on the market.
Today, thanks to the Omnibus,
we have a remarkable simplification of greening.
Then, all the crops,
such as those rich in proteins, lucerne and forages,
will not need greening obligations anymore,
because they are crops increasing the quality of the soil.
The same thing works for the submerged fermentations,
meaning for the rice producers. We simplified
life for farmers,
maybe not as we wanted,
but something further has been done.
We still need to do more. I want to stress that simplification
and flexibility given to the Member States
do not mean renationalisation.
We estimate that the fragmentation
is not the only problem in the Italian supply chain,
as many other issues should be solved in a diversified way.
In particular, I want to stress the lack of transparency
within the supply chain
and the imbalance of power among the actors.
For this reason, Coldiretti
tried to fix the situation since 2009,
by shortening the supply chain.
To shorten the distance between producer and consumer,
in order to make the price formation process more transparent
and to make the price’s value more profitable for the producer.
We all know that the farmer is the weak link in the supply chain.
Some years ago we created “Filiera Italia” (“Italy chain”),
an instrument that we consider fundamental
to ensure the high quality of the Italian supply chain.
It involves many actors of the Italian high quality food industry
and it creates supply chain contracts
that can ensure a minimum price
to the farmer,
which is higher than the production’s costs.
On the other hand, it guarantees transparency all long the supply chain.
Italian farmers are trying to face
changes of price
coming from the market, by aggregating themselves,
and especially, by innovating their work by using their holdings.
Today, only the most competitive holdings
having different products
can remain in the market.
Thus, regarding the research,
we are trying to lead important initiatives which
could differentiate Italian products,
and, on the supply side,
we are trying to aggregate more quantities of products,
always by ensuring a good quality
and by supporting our productions.
Agriculture, the more and more open at international level,
must face climate change and market changes,
as nowadays markets are very unpredictable.
We need to well invest resources coming from the second pillar of the CAP,
financing those holdings
that could be competitive in the market.
Today the topic of simplification of the CAP
is considered important by the European Commission as well.
Many of our proposals have been taken into consideration.
The future CAP should start from the theme of simplification with less bureaucracy.
Today, more than ever, we need a competitive agriculture,
that can face challenges on digital sector.
This digital innovation
can allow the Italian agriculture, but only this one,
to be really sustainable,
not only environmentally speaking, but also and especially economically speaking.
For this reason we need economic resources to make investments.
Thus, we believe that a lot of funds coming
from the second pillar of the CAP
should be addressed to the digital innovation.
It will be the innovation that,
as the mechanisation of 50 years ago did,
will shake up the way to work in the agricultural sector worldwide.
We need digital agriculture.