The president of Alce Nero calls for greater trust in organic produce to break the climate of disillusionment of recent days, which is penalising honest producers. His comment comes directly from the Apulian fields where the olive trees that give rise to organic extra virgin olive oil grow.
The quantity of fake organic produce put on the market by a handful of unscrupulous traders multiplies to infinite numbers. The scandals covered by the investigative programme Report are dramatic, and we are well aware of them. I have learned that the quantity of durum wheat that the trader from the Foggia area who is the subject of the investigation put on the market is equal to three and a half times what we produce with three cooperatives and 65 farmers, over 38 years. Three and a half times. A single operator selling three and a half times as much. This is a terrible thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LXavK5g_Rs
The programme, then, has also generated disappointment and distrust. The organic sector employs around 80,000 people in Italy: almost all of them are small farmers. Many of them are enthusiastic, committed farmers. They are engaged farmers who produce organic food with affection. Affection is the main ingredient driving their work. And they are not only farmers — they are also processors of this food. They are people who make a product for the good of the end recipient. That is why it is made with affection and enthusiasm.
Today more than 10,000 young people would like to become farmers. In my region (Emilia-Romagna) there are more than 1,500, but across Italy more than 10,000 people are estimated to want to start this activity through organic farming. Because they do not want to consume the planet through fossil sources. The other kind of agriculture — the one based on fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides — is an agriculture that comes from oil: a fossil agriculture.
Fraud exists and must be reported for its scale and gravity, but it is wrong to spread a feeling of disappointment and distrust towards the entire sector. These exceptions have nothing to do with the extraordinary work these people do. Today 12 per cent of arable land is devoted to organic farming, but it could soon reach 15 per cent of Italy's agricultural land. The young people interested in this work are sending a wonderful message, because they want to practise a clean, healthy form of agriculture — an agriculture built on love, affection and closeness. An agriculture that does good.
In the beginning organic farming was called "alternative"; then some people started calling it "bio" because it did without chemicals and pesticides. The first regulation on organic farming was introduced in 1991, while certification systems emerged in the mid-1980s in an attempt to give shape and structure to an entirely voluntary activity. Those who made an "organic" product did so voluntarily, inspired by their own creativity. Even today the regulatory frameworks at a global level are private and overseen by Ifoam (the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements), an international organisation that we helped to establish and that is based in Germany. We are members of it; we helped to found these standards and this system.
When the system leaves room for situations such as the one exposed by Report, the state must intervene. And not to delegate a task, but because in these cases fraud and falsification must be struck down. Because the greatest harm caused by fraud in the organic sector is borne by the honest worker. The first person to be hit is them, because unfair competition reduces their earning potential. Punishing fraud means, even before protecting the consumer, protecting the farmer who works well. The young people returning to the fields must be able to count on trust in institutions, on those who are supposed to protect them. The issue, therefore, is far broader. Fraud harms those who should be rewarded for what they do, yet who are instead effectively penalised — destroyed — by those who engage in a form of unfair competition.
The organic farmer is someone who, through their work, asserts their desire for change. They are almost never a "tidy", rational farmer, but the direction they have in mind is clear — they know how to interact with plants and with the land, respecting both. That is why organic is merely a tool, not the end goal. The result is the food they produce: good, in every sense. But food is also a messenger of this approach. Of a way of being friendly and compatible with the environment.
Organic products are also sustainable because they are part of a circular system and, at the same time, of a direct relationship with those who buy them. All of this represents an enormous value because, in this way, genuine organic farming also helps territories to grow. This world needs trust, not disillusionment. That is why we need a strong administrative intervention to crack down on fraud, even though I know it is complex and difficult. Too little has been done in recent years, but it is now essential if we want to safeguard the organic farming that does good.
There are 60,000 organic farmers in Italy. The estimate is that this will reach 70,000 in the coming years. Many of them struggle because they are starting from scratch and going into debt. But they live by living — they populate the land, they do good things, they make good food for people, they build relationships and affection. This is the true wealth of our country. They are not doing a sad, alienating job. They have an extraordinary outlook. That is why we must all, together, give them our trust.