At the Enpaia Forum 2023 the challenges of agriculture between climate, economy and society

Peg:"Using technologies to make the system more sustainable and resilient"

ROME - The role of agriculture in the economy and society. This is the theme at the center of the Enpaia Forum 2023 which was held today in Rome with a program full of interventions and opportunities for discussion between representatives of the sector, the institutional and academic world, pension funds and investment funds. And during which the Enpaia-Censis Agricultural World Observatory was presented.

“Italian agriculture changing in the challenge of sustainability”, from which emerged comand according to 68.9% of Italian citizens, Italian agriculture is adapting more quickly to the fight against changes climate and how, in the face of fears arising from climate change, is playing a primary role in addressing the effects of global warming which for 82% of Italians is perceived as a much more serious problem than in the past.

For Giorgio Piazza, President of the Enpaia Foundation, “the Enpaia-Censis Observatory, presented today, highlights how For Italians, agriculture represents a sector at the forefront of the fight against climate change.From the Observatory emerged the resilience of the sector both from a social and economic point of view, and showed how the sector is fully taking up the challenge towards the green transition by representing a bulwark against global warming.A barrier due to the great ability of agricultural companies, livestock farms and the sector to quickly adapt to environmental challenges by knowing how to grasp their objectives in advance.The social security funds, thanks to their ability to combine progress, work, economy and environmental protection, are at the forefront in achieving this objective, knowing closely the social value that this challenge represents".

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE FORUM

The Enpaia Forum was created to share reflections and challenges that the country will have to face in the near future and on the policies to support the real economy that institutional investors and social security funds will be able to activate.Second Roberto Diacetti, General Director of the Enpaia Foundation, “Italian agriculture represents 2% of national added value and 16% of European agricultural added value:figures that summarize the importance of the sector in the Italian and European economy.Agriculture is particularly exposed to climate change and environmental risks and is at the forefront in combating them.Moreover, according to the latest report from the Enpaia-Censis Observatory, 68% of Italians think so.In this context, Enpaia is increasingly favoring ESG investments oriented towards the sustainable development of agricultural businesses."

Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, explained:“Agriculture is an important productive sector of our country with a very significant contribution to the GDP and with highly qualified employment. Therefore it can be, and already is, a vehicle that characterizes Italy.The strategy to make the agri-food system more sustainable and resilient in the face of climate change is that of modernization, making use of the most modern technologies in instrumentation, cultivation and creating the conditions to have lower emissions or in any case be able to treat those that are residues from processing in the appropriate way, from livestock in particular".

Federico Freni, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, declared: “The agriculture sector generates very important numbers for the country system.Enpaia shows us how healthy supply chain management can give incredible results. Unfortunately, agri-food prices are those that fall later and mainly affect the medium-low ranges.The Government's strategy is to continue to guarantee the subsidies provided and incentivize supply chain structures which then allow the sales price to be lowered downstream."

Second Giulio Tremonti, President of the Chamber Foreign Affairs Committee:“It is essential to support Italian welfare to guarantee democratic stability.Never in the history of humanity has an economic change occurred in such a short time.What has happened to the structure of the world in terms of industrial settlements and exports in the last thirty years has never happened before.To understand the phenomenon of climate change, inevitably, complex factors such as globalization must be taken into account."

For exampler Ettore Prandini, President of Coldiretti:“The agricultural sector is becoming increasingly central from an internal production perspective with regards to the security given to citizens, but also in an international geopolitical role in giving the populations close to us the opportunity to have a development similar to what we have had, especially in creating economic value.From this point of view Italian agriculture is the point of reference on a global level also in terms of sustainability, but we must work further on the economic value that remains within our agricultural businesses."

Second Sandro Gambuzza, Vice President of Confagricoltura:“Climate change impacts the real economy in the short and long term, both at a micro and macroeconomic level.Another relevant theme is the lack of prevention. Around a third of Made in Italy agri-food products are at risk due to this phenomenon and this also has effects on citizens' spending."

Massimo Gargano, Director General of Anbi and National Secretary of Snebi:“A country with an agri-food sector like ours cannot afford to put this heritage at risk.
In this sense, we need to change the paradigm, we cannot limit ourselves to dealing with the emergency but put in place adequate policies and strategies to deal with climate change responsibly".

Giovanni Mininni, General Secretary Flai CGIL, highlighted:“Climate events have strong repercussions on employment and the production of wealth in the country.We have not become aware that the situation could get worse.If we want to govern it, we need to equip ourselves now."