The Italian organic bill is expected to be voted on in the Senate on 5/20/21 and then return to the House for final approval. However, the 8 years since its initial proposal have not been enough to solve the problems caused by the imperious Coldiretti lobby.
This is followed by the details and concerns of civil society toward a policy that is completely subservient to the orders of a power center that threatens democracy in Italy. And in this case-as in others (1)-the ecological transition itself is at risk. #CleanSpades.
Italian organic, scope
‘Provisions for the protection, development and competitiveness of organic agricultural, agribusiness and aquaculture production‘. The bill (ddl) AS 988 aspires to regulate various aspects of organic supply chains. In particular:
– system of controls and competent authorities,
– Biodistricts, or biological districts,
– Technical tables and policy directions,
– ‘Italian organic‘ brand,
– organic seeds,
– interprofession and producer organizations,
– contributions and resources.
Organic and biodynamic, products from agriculture in conversion to organic
The bill was passed in the House of Representatives on 11.12.18. Following the unification of four previous proposals as well as the approval of Regulation (EU) 848/2018 on organic production and labeling of organic products, effective 1.1.21 (2,3). Therefore, the notion of organic production takes up recital 1 of reg. EU 848/2018, complemented by the recognition of the organic system as one of the best practices to combat climate change. (4)
The biodynamic system is fully equated, in the bill as in practices in use, with the organic system. MiPAAF may also recognize other systems (e.g., permaculture) as ‘equivalent’ to organic, provided that the relevant protocols prescribe compliance with the provisions established for the organic system at the national and European levels.
On the other hand, the attempt by the cunning ones to bring products obtained during the conversion period under the definition of organic was crushed. (5)
TECHNICAL TABLE.
The Technical Table for Organic Production provided for in the bill should replace:
– The Advisory Committee on Organic and Environmentally Friendly Agriculture, which was established in 2008 to assess problems and policies in the sector; and
– the Joint Technical Table in Organic Agriculture, established in 2013 to examine, from a technical perspective, aspects of particular complexity on the application measures of national and European standards.
Regions and autonomous provinces, ANCI, public research institutes and organizations representing the organic and biodynamic production chain, producers of technical means used in the organic sector, (6) consumers, and organic districts should participate in the new Table . But also ‘the most representative organizations of the agricultural sectors in general‘ (AS 988, Art. 5).
Technical table, the intruders
The new ‘Technical Table for Organic Production‘ should also relate to the ‘Supply Chain Table‘. With the idea of enhancing and promoting organic production, the development of processing and optimization of production costs, land conservation, traceability, and the establishment of organic districts.
It is not given to understand, however, the participation of generalist agricultural organizations. Which still often row against the positions expressed by organic organizations, particularly when it comes to directing public funding. (7) It therefore appears necessary to rule out this blatant conflict of interest.
National action plan
The ‘Technical Table‘ itself is revealed to have a policy role in guiding the ‘National Action Plan for Organic Production and Organic Products‘. And so it is called upon to comment on national and European measures on organic production, as well as to propose measures to promote organic products and strategies to encourage the conversion of conventional farms to the organic system.
The National Action Plan should provide the interventions for the development of organic production with several objectives, including:
– Promote the entry and conversion to organic farming of farms, especially the smallest ones,
– Promote group certification systems,
– monitor the progress of the sector through an ad hoc platform, in synergy with Sinab and the National Rural Network,
– Supporting and promoting organic districts (LD, Article 7).
Representation at risk of oligarchy
AltragricolturaBio-representing organic farmers registered with the Italian Confederation of Free Farmers-highlighted serious critical issues in the criteria for forming the Technical Table for Organic Production. In fact, the current text of the bill provides allocates the following posts:
– agricultural cooperation, 1 representative
– Agricultural professional organizations with a general vocation, 4 conveners (e.g., CIA, Coldiretti, Confagricoltura, Copagri)
– 1 representative from each of the most representative associations in organic production,
– 1 representative of the most representative associations in the field of agricultural, agribusiness and aquaculture production using biodynamic methods,
– 2 representatives of associations of producers of technical means used in organic farming,.
Adding to the conflict of interest is the risk of unbalancing representation at the table, to the extent that it is not defined which and how many associations most representative of organic production will be entitled to participate. And on what basis? The number of farms, total UAA, or turnover? Will unrecognized associations also be able to participate? In the absence of legal guarantees, the ‘Coldiretta’ oligarchy can easily exclude the myriad of otherwise organized small business owners.
BIODISTRICTS
Biodistricts-or ‘organicdistricts,’ already identified among the food districts (Legislative Decree 228/01, Art. 13 letters g,h)-can also come into being in rural districts, agri-food districts and environmental or solidarity-oriented districts. The bill devolves to MiPAAF the detailed regulations about the requirements for the establishment of organic districts, defining the purpose of the districts.
‘Biological districts‘ are characterized by:
– integration with other economic activities in the district area itself,
– The presence of landscape-relevant areas, such as protected natural areas,
-the ‘limited use of plant protection products‘ within them. Limited?
Biodistricts and agrotoxics
Italy is plagued by agrotoxics consumption well above the European average, up to 16 times as much in regions such as Veneto that seem doomed to monoculture vines (>27 percent of UAA, Utilized Agricultural Area) for selling off prosecco at prices sometimes close to those of carbonated soft drinks. With dramatic impact on water quality, as ISPRA’s annual reports show.
The EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 acknowledged the critical condition of ecosystems in the EU, including as a result of notes from the European Court of Auditors. In Italy, by the way, the ‘National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides‘ has been awaited for years, after a shameful draft presented on 18.7.19. (8) How can one admit a ”
limited use
‘ of agrotoxics in biodistricts, including by public agencies in the cleaning of roads and public areas (Bill, Art. 13)?
Private contributions
The Fund for the Development of Organic Production–established ‘atno additional cost‘ to state finance–should in turn promote the development of organic and ‘environmentally friendly‘ production and pursue the priority objective of reducing risks to human health, animals and the environment.
The annual food safety fee (formerly established by Article 59 Law 488/1999) is therefore reconfirmed, to the extent of 2 percent of the turnover achieved in the previous year on sales of ‘plant protection‘ products, their adjuvants and synthetic fertilizers. With administrative fines for omitted, partial or late payments. (2)
‘ITALIAN ORGANIC’
The ‘Italian Organic‘ label is a new feature introduced in LD 988 to distinguish organic products made only from Italian organic raw materials. Reg. EU 848/2018 (Art. 33.5), as already reg. EC 834/2007 (Art. 25), actually contemplates the possibility of using national and private trademarks for consumer information in characteristic situations, albeit in accordance with EU rules. The publicly owned logo, to be used on a voluntary basis, should be developed through a competition to be announced within 180 days of the law’s enactment.
Already now, moreover , organic products are the only ones that always indicate theorigin of the agriculturalraw material on the label (‘agriculture Italy‘ or ‘EUagriculture,’ ‘EU/non-EU agriculture,’ ‘non-EU agriculture‘). With the power to emphasize, on organic and non-organic products, the national origin ‘100% Italian’. And so it is that as early as 2010, 71 percent of organic operators surveyed by INEA (now CREA, see below) expressed opposition to a national label.
National brand, the previous feasibility study
In 2010, the MiPAAF had entrusted INEA-the National Institute of Agricultural Economics, in 2015 later merged with the Council for Research and Experimentation in Agriculture into the new CREA (Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics)-with a feasibility study for the introduction of a ‘National trademark for use in the labeling, presentation and advertising of organic products‘.
The feasibility study – in addition to noting operators’ disinterest in yet another trademark and the administrative burden it would entail – referred to the difficulty of harmonizing it with European competition rules complicated harmonization with European legislation and case law on quality schemes and national trademarks (9). To which are now added the limits imposed by the Food Information Regulation. (10) And EU competition rules, already noted by INEA as preventing any public support measures for a possible national collective brand (11,12).
ORGANIC SEEDS, SALE AND EXCHANGE
A ‘national organic seed plan‘ should be approved within six months of the enactment of this law. With the scientific support of CREA and the objectives of selecting plants that best meet the needs of farmers by adapting to various climatic contexts, improving their quantitative and ameliorative aspects, and increasing the availability of seeds for farms (ddl, art. 8).
It is, however, restricted to just ‘local area‘, in the celebrated era of theagriculture 4.0, the right to direct sale by farmers of organic seeds and propagation materials related to varieties listed in the National Register of Conservation Varieties (in places where these varieties have evolved their characteristic properties). And ‘in modest quantities,’ as if they were drugs, organic seeds registered in the National Register of Biodiversity of Agricultural and Food Interest produced on the farm. The right to free exchange of seeds is similarly restricted, only within the National Network of Biodiversity of Agricultural and Food Interest. (13)
EU rules, farmers’ rights and conflicting interests
EU rules and the rights of peasants proclaimed by the UN in 2018 and never recognized by an obscenely ‘Coldiretta’ Italian policy – in the case of self-produced seed sales and exchanges – evidently give way to the opposing private interests of S.I.S. (Società Italiana Sementi) SpA, controlled by BF (Bonifiche Ferraresi) SpA, in the galaxy of Coldiretti’s magic circle (14,15).
ORGANIZATIONS
Interprofessional organizations in the organic supply chain and organic producer organizations, subject to recognition by MiPAAF, consist of representatives of economic activities related to the production and at least one stage of processing or trade of organic products (Articles 14-17).
The interprofession may establish funds to pursue institutional purposes and impose mandatory rules and contributions for all member firms, provided that such rules do not result in restrictions on competition. With the exception of programmatic agreements on production (‘depending on market outlets‘) and quality improvement programs, which could result in limitations on supply volumes. Agreements will have to be deliberated unanimously by the members-that is, the top-level associations, not also the operators-interested in the product (ddl, Art. 14.7).
Rules, contributions and dictatorship
Provision is also made for organizations to apply to the Ministry, subject to a resolution of 85 percent of the membership, to extend the rules and compulsory contributions–to all active organic farms, even if they are not members of the organizations–for a limited period of time.
Private contributions subject to penalties of ICQRF – from € 1,000 to 50,000 – in case of failure to pay. Dictatorship at the expense of the inattentive and dissenting, harshly opposed by Free Farmers who claim it conflicts with the UN Declaration for the Rights of Peasants and Workers in the Rural Context (Art. 10, Right to Participation, and Art. 13, Right to Work).
Interprofession and monopoly
The legislative scheme then requires that interprofessional organizations, which have legal personality, represent at least 30 percent of national production. Yet another ploy to distort competition in favor of Coldiretti’s monopolistic ambitions.
The Free Farmers of Altragricolturabio are calling for the representation fee to be lowered to 10-15% by value of production. A request taken up by the only senator independent of Coldiretti’s magic circle, Saverio De Bonis, who presented a special amendment ahead of the vote in Palazzo Madama.
‘Apparatus requirements’
Organic producer organizations and associations are organizations recognized by MiPAAF provided that their statutes stipulate:
– The marketing, in associated form, of the production of member companies,
– the activation of an operational system aimed at planning production, or managing a market crisis, or reducing production costs, promoting cultivation techniques, or ensuring greater transparency and regularity in trade relations (ddl, Art. 17).
Limited freedom
Recognition of producer organizations is conditional on the existence of rules providing:
– the guarantee, on paper, of ‘democratic control‘. To avoid ‘abuse of power or influence of one or more producers‘,
– the obligation of members to comply with industry rules and contribute to the organization’s programs financially and operationally,
– The obligation to confer or surrender a minimum quota of product,
– The duty to join only one producer organization per product or product group.
Associations wishing to obtain recognition of legal personality (under Presidential Decree 361/2000) will in turn have to formulate special applications, after having fulfilled the ‘apparatus requirements‘ which – it is emphasized – have nothing to do with biodiversity or broader goals. As is the case with social agriculture, in its various educational and care applications, whose value is in fact disavowed by Italian agricultural policy, which has always been ‘Coldiretta’ after the Federconsorzi crack. And associations that are not recognized, ça va sans dir, may be excluded from public funding.
#CleanSpades
The European Commission – in the Farm to Fork Strategy, part of the
EU Green Deal
– has hinted that some of the public subsidies so far dispersed in the greenwashing renamed greening could be reserved for organic farming. The Coldiretti magic circle then ordered the Italian politicians to build the legislative preconditions to extend their monopoly to the organic sector as well.
However, it is recommended that the Senators of the Italian Republic, before obeying Coldiretti’s orders as is customary, carefully consider a series of events that threaten to sink the Titanic. Ongoing public skulduggery over multimillion-dollar funding in animal husbandry (16) and dangerous relationships-already censured by the European Commission (17)-with a business partner who in his capacity as director of AGEA (Agency for Disbursements in Agriculture):
– burned for good € 4 billion in funding allocated by the EU to Italian farmers and ranchers, as ascertained by the Court of Auditors on 28.1.21, (19)
– excluded 3 million freelancers from services in agriculture in a resolution annulled by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court. (19)
#CleanSpades
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Dario Dongo. Organic imports, partial reversal at MiPAAF. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 5/15/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/importazioni-bio-parziale-retromarcia-al-mipaaf-vanghepulite
(2) Dario Dongo. Organic, reg. EU 2018/848. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6/22/18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/biologico-reg-ue-2018-848
(3) Reg. EU 2018/848, on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 834/2007. Consolidated text as of 11/14/20 at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32018R0848&qid=1621366277808
(4) Paolo Caruso, Dario Dongo. Ancient grains and the fight against climate change, a scientific study. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 4/24/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/grani-antichi-e-lotta-al-cambiamento-climatico-studio-scientifico
(5) See note 27.10.20 from the Senate Committee on EU Policy, on Fascicolo Iter DDL S. 988. http://www.senato.it/leg/18/BGT/Schede/FascicoloSchedeDDL/ebook/51061.pdf
(6) Marta Strinati. Italian Input List, database of substances allowed in organic food, is born. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 11/14/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/nasce-italian-input-list-database-delle-sostanze-ammesse-nel-biologico
(7) Dario Dongo, Marta Strinati. Post-2020 CAP, environment and health at risk. Appeal to the EU Parliament. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10/16/20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/pac-post-2020-ambiente-e-salute-a-rischio-appello-al-parlamento-ue
(8) Dario Dongo. The danger of Peter Pan. Égalité. 5.10.19, https://www.egalite.org/pesticidi-il-pericolo-di-peter-pan/
(9) Established case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is against the granting of national quality marks that do not relate exclusively to intrinsic characteristics of agricultural and food products. In line with, among other things, the limits imposed by reg. EU 1169/11 to nationally established mandatory indications of origin
(10) Dario Dongo. Origin, EU puts Italy on notice. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 6/27/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/origine-l-ue-mette-in-mora-l-italia
(11) The European Commission had specified that ”advertising campaigns with a state contribution and aimed at strengthening domestic consumer preferences for products from the same member states are incompatible with Article 28 [now 30, ed.] of the Treaty of the European Communities because they are likely to hinder products from other member states from accessing their own market‘ (see footnote 12)
(12) Carla Avitabile, Andrea Pomellato (2010). Strategies for the development of the organic supply chain. INEA. http://dspace.crea.gov.it/bitstream/inea/385/1/1359.pdf
(13) The National Network of Biodiversity of Agricultural and Food Interest consists of:
– Ex situ conservation centers and/or germplasm banks (CCES/BG),
– Janitor Breeders and Farmers (AAC),
– Organized networks of farmers and/or ranchers who protect, safeguard and manage agricultural biodiversity, with proven experience in the field,
– Public or private nonprofit entities carrying out activities to protect and disseminate agricultural biodiversity.
(14) V. reg. EU 2018/848, Article 13(heterogeneous reproductive material) and Articles 6-12 (non-heterogeneous material). On competition, see TFEU 101, 102.
(15) Dario Dongo. Federconsorzi 2 aka CAI SpA, some clarity. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 3/15/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/federconsorzi-2-alias-cai-spa-un-po-di-chiarezza
(16) Dario Dongo. Livestock system and biodiversity, public disbandment. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 3/31/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/sistema-allevamento-e-biodiversità-sbando-pubblico-vanghepulite
(17) Dario Dongo. AGEA – Coldiretti, European Commission rejects conflict of interest. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 3/24/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/agea-coldiretti-la-commissione-europea-boccia-il-conflitto-d-interessi
(18) Dario Dongo, Giulia Orsi. Report of the Court of Auditors on AGEA directed by Gabriele Papa Pagliardini. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.3.21. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/relazione-della-corte-dei-conti-sull-agea-diretta-da-gabriele-papa-pagliardini-vanghepulite
(19) Dario Dongo. TAR Lazio annuls AGEA-CAA agreement. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.5.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/tar-lazio-annulla-la-convenzione-agea-caa-vanghepulite
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
