The bill now returns to the Chamber for final approval. The text includes the possibility of establishing an Italian organic label and organic districts. The bill now returns to the Chamber for final approval. The text includes the possibility of establishing an Italian organic label and organic districts.
On Thursday 20 May, the Senate approved the law on organic farming by an almost unanimous vote: 195 in favour, one against and one abstention. The bill now returns to the Chamber for a vote on the amendments made to the text by Palazzo Madama and for possible final approval.
Bill no. 988, "Provisions for the protection, development and competitiveness of agricultural, agri-food and aquaculture production using organic methods", stems from a legislative proposal submitted in March 2018. The text provides for, among other measures, the establishment of an Italian organic label which may be used by "organic products obtained from Italian raw materials", the creation of organic districts to enable the development of agriculture and the economies of rural areas, and the adoption of a National Plan to support the development of Italian organic farming as an advanced method of the agroecological approach. The law would bring Italy closer to the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies, which aim to triple the area under organic cultivation and to reduce the use of pesticides and antibiotics by 50 per cent and that of fertilisers by 20 per cent by 2030.
The only point that divided the Senate on the approval of the bill was the equating of biodynamic farming with organic farming — an article on which life senator Elena Cattaneo (hers was the sole vote against the bill) submitted two amendments that were rejected by the chamber.
Among the first to express satisfaction with the law was Maria Grazia Mammuccini, president of FederBio, who stated: "The Chamber must now give final approval to the measure as quickly as possible, so that we can seize all the opportunities of this phase of strategic change for agricultural and food systems in our country and across Europe. Indeed, although this law has been stalled for 15 years, it arrives at precisely the right moment: shortly after the adoption of the European Action Plan for Organic Farming, drawn up in implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy, and at the start of the process of drafting the National Strategic Plan of the CAP. For our country, organic farming represents a strategic opportunity to contribute to the ecological transition, to the enhancement of rural areas, and to creating innovative spaces for young people and women who wish to work in agriculture."
Organic farming in Italy boasts a utilised agricultural area of 15.8 per cent, against a European average of 7.8 per cent. Over the past ten years, the sector's trend has shown continuous growth: organic areas in Italy, at around 2 million hectares, have increased by 79 per cent, while organic farms, currently numbering over 80,000, have grown by 69 per cent. Furthermore, in 2020 the organic market reached 6.9 billion euros, of which 4.3 billion related to the domestic market, an increase of +142 per cent since 2010. These figures confirm a transformation in the way food is produced and consumed, which the pandemic has further accentuated, highlighting even more clearly the close connection between human health and the health of the planet.