Good morning everyone. 
I wish to greet the President of Confagricoltura [General Confederation of Italian Agriculture], Massimiliano Giansanti, and I thank him for this invitation. I am of course sorry that I am unable to attend the Confagricoltura General Meeting in person, but I nevertheless wanted to contribute to your conference. My greetings go to the Ministers, representatives of economic categories and institutional representatives who will be attending this two-day event and, of course, I wish to especially greet all the delegates present. 

The agri-food sector is at the heart of this Government’s work and we want to see this industry as a system of protection and growth for all the skills, high-quality products and values that can be found in our nation’s traditions, working methods and rural areas. All these qualities make the ‘Made in Italy’ agri-food industry a strategic asset for our economy and a distinguishing feature of our skills and expertise at international level. Much has been said about this Government’s choice to change the name of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forest Policies to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry. Ours was not a symbolic decision; it was a substantive decision, as this Government has set itself a dual mission: on the one hand, we want to defend a nation’s right to choose its own food and production model as an alternative to the global standardisation of products and synthetic food; and, on the other, we have the duty to protect consumers, ensuring quality food is available to everyone. This is precisely the direction we took when writing the budget law. As you know, the Government has established a EUR 100 million fund dedicated to food sovereignty, i.e., to enhancing the nation’s supply of agricultural raw materials and strengthening the supply chain. Producers in the agriculture and food industry have proven their ability to deal with the effects of the economic crisis, the burden of high energy bills and inflation, but nevertheless they must not be abandoned; they must be supported. This is why, among our latest measures, in the budget law, we have confirmed the 20% tax credit for the purchase of fuel used to operate vehicles and to heat greenhouses and animal breeding facilities. We believe that companies in this sector must also be helped to address the great challenge of modernisation, because there has always been the need for tradition to go hand in hand with modernity. In this regard, we have focused our efforts and created a EUR 225 million fund to support technological innovation in processes, thereby boosting productivity, competitiveness and environmental sustainability. We also support generational change in agriculture, providing under-40s with the possibility to start their own agricultural business without having to pay any social security contributions for the first 24 months.

Furthermore, the Government is also committed to stabilising farmers’ incomes, to guaranteeing a fairer distribution of aid among businesses and local areas, to the benefit of intermediate rural areas, rural areas with greater development problems, mountainous areas and inland hilly areas – in short, areas that have suffered the most in recent years. We also intend to work to ensure continuous improvements in working conditions, which must respect workers’ dignity, as well as strengthening health and safety regulations for agricultural enterprises and countering the exploitation of labour. 

The Italian agri-food sector stands for excellence and sustainability. It is our job to continue opposing, in all fora, any attempts at food standardisation, odious imitation of our top-quality products and misleading labelling systems that damage ‘Made in Italy’, first and foremost the Nutri-Score: this project has been shelved for now at EU level, and was one of the matters I discussed during my first meeting with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the Government will nevertheless continue to monitor this to avoid any surprises. At the same time, we want to work on creating other tools that are truly able to provide consumers with clear and transparent information about what they are buying and consuming. Italy will be at the forefront of defending natural food, one of the strengths of ‘Made in Italy’, and plans to instead counter, in all fora, ‘artificial’ food, which risks breaking the age-old link between the agri-food chain and products intended for consumption.

The new Common Agricultural Policy which, as you know, has just been approved and is worth over EUR 37 billion, is central to the Government’s actions. We intend to maintain constant dialogue with the European Union in order to seize the best opportunities, from streamlining procedures to cutting red tape, from supporting supply chains, especially in the most disadvantaged areas, to investing in research and innovation. We will also take action with regard to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (‘NRRP’), as we intend to bring it more in line with the sector’s current needs. I am thinking, for example, of the mechanisation and upgrade of agricultural machinery, in relation to which we want to combine modernising the existing fleet with protecting national industry. Likewise, we believe it is important to work at EU level to revise the reduction of crop protection products, in order to prevent the possibility of paradoxically having to resort to supplies from nations that do not respect the same rules we do. 

This Government also intends to deal with structural problems affecting this sector. I am thinking above all of drought, a problem that, due to climate change, has become increasingly frequent and, at times, an emergency. We want to approach resources and measures assigned to the various Ministries in a systematic way, creating a single, multi-year strategy at national level. The first objective is to increase rainwater storage capacity, which is still at the unacceptable level of 11%. Programmes already launched thanks to both the NRRP and other European and national planning instruments must continue, and procedures must be sped up to implement these measures, which is the most delicate and important part. New small, medium and large-scale works projects are needed, alongside incentives to support the creation of a network of small district and company reservoirs. This is the only way to be prepared, and to also achieve another result. We must not forget that proper water regulation, combined with sustainable management of forests and rural areas, allows us to prevent and efficiently respond to hydrogeological instability. 

We must focus on planning medium and long-term measures, which also provide for the maintenance of what we already have, in order to ensure that water resources are used efficiently, withdrawals are monitored and losses are reduced.

I shall conclude by saying that the work that lies ahead is particularly challenging but, at the same time, exciting. The Government will only be able to work well if it can count on the contribution of those who roll up their sleeves every day and make Italy’s agri-food industry so outstanding on a global scale. You are certainly among them.

Thank you and I wish you all the best with your work.

[Courtesy translation]