We need to put quality, health and the environment back at the centre.Federbio's words on the farmers' protests

For the president of Federbio Mammuccini, some farmers' discomforts are objective and understandable, but the protests against the Green deal are unacceptable.

• Farmers' protests continue across Europe.
• The first concessions are arriving from the European Commission which are steps backwards on the Green deal.
• According to the president of Federbio Maria Grazia Mammuccini, a change of pace towards quality and human and environmental health is necessary.

They don't stop farmers' protests:on the contrary, in recent weeks demonstrations have intensified across Europe, Including Italy;protests are expected in our country in the next few days Rome and others Sanremo, under the spotlight of the Italian Song Festival.Meanwhile, from the European Union come the first concessions to farmers' demands on ecological objectives.

The interview with the president of Federbio Mammuccini on the farmers' protests

To understand more, we analyzed the situation with the president of Federbio Maria Grazia Mammuccini.

What exactly are the reasons for the farmers' unrest?
It is difficult to unequivocally frame the protests and the reasons that triggered them also because the situations are different from country to country.What is certain is that from the pandemic onwards, and even more so with the war in Ukraine, farmers' difficulties have worsened.Energy costs have increased, as have those of synthetic chemical products created from fossil sources, labor is increasingly difficult to find, bureaucracy is complex and also involves additional costs, the supply chain does not guarantee a fair compensation to farmers.

Added to this is a strong acceleration of the climate crisis which impacts productivity to the point, with increasingly frequent extreme events, of entire crops of a year being lost.At the moment there is no one to take care of the farmers' difficulties:first of all we need to do a serious analysis of the problems and then look for solutions.

What do you think of the protests against the Green deal?
The objectives of the Green Deal strategies include reducing pesticides and antibiotics and promoting production that protects biodiversity.Contesting it is unacceptable, especially since many of the implementation measures are still on paper.This crisis is the result of past policies that supported intensive agriculture and agrochemical multinationals without managing to guarantee an adequate income to farmers who are now the weak link in the chain.Today, what could have been the advantages of intensive agriculture (increased productivity and decrease in manpower) are overcome by the negative impact of this type of production on the environment, especially in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and soil desertification, factors which further impact the climate and production capacity of a company.

The European Commission seems to give in to farmers' protests:announced the exemption from the obligation to leave 4 percent of land uncultivated and the withdrawal of the regulation on the reduction of pesticides...
The exemption from the constraint of not cultivating 4 percent of the land is not the solution because it is a fair measure, aimed at promoting biodiversity which in a company is fundamental in achieving a balance between productivity and the environment.As for pesticides, let's realize that with the extension of glyphosate we are entrusting the future of agriculture to a molecule discovered in the 1950s.Today research is moving in a completely different direction:for the control of weeds, the functions of soil microorganisms are being studied with important results.There are alternatives, if desired.

Where can we start again?
We need to overcome the model of the past that led us to the current crisis and not exploit the distress of farmers to prevent change and leave food production in the hands of agrochemical multinationals.For example, for the organic farming sector we are thinking about establishing organic districts that encourage meetings between producers and communities and we are launching pilot projects for Made in Italy organic supply chains at the right price.A reduced tax rate on organic products, with VAT at a minimum, would be useful in encouraging purchases without burdening businesses.

The future of agriculture lies in the union of quality and sustainability and in ecosystem services that support all citizens.We need a system that puts farmers at the center in a pact with the consumer:only if farmers guarantee a quality product that protects human and environmental health will the consumer be willing to pay the right price.Change is necessary, but it is also necessary to govern it.