Country Report About Organic Agriculture in Italy
This article was compiled by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in 2010 for the SIPPO-FiBL handbook "The European Market for Organic Food". Most of the data are from 2009.
Much of the information on the market was provided by Roberto Pinton of Pinton Organic Consulting.
Contents
History
For a long time, Italy was the country in Europe with the largest area of organic agricultural land; currently Spain holds this distinction. However it is still the European country with the largest area of organic cropland, and is a major, if not the biggest exporter of organic products in Europe. However, with the growing domestic market, organic imports are increasing in importance.
In Italy the earliest pioneering experiences in organic agriculture date back to the 1960s, but it only began taking off in the 1970s, due to more and more farmers and consumers seeking an improved quality of life and consumption. During the mid 1980s, the first local coordination agencies established the National Commission for Organic Agriculture, made up of representatives of organisations and consumer associations from many Italian regions. This commission established the first nation-wide private standards for organic farming.
Once the EU organic regulation was implemented, numerous small associations of organic farmers and producer and consumer committees operating in each region reorganised themselves.
Currently over 90 percent of the organic operators are members of one of the organizations associated with the federative network FederBio, founded in 1992 (Pinton 2010).
In the 1990s, the organic sector in Italy showed one of the largest average annual growth rates in Europe in terms of land under organic management. Since that time, the organic area has been around 1 million hectares with some fluctuations, mainly due to the fact the payments for organic farming under the European Union’s Rural Development Programmes were not made available on a continuous basis in Italy.
Production base
Currently 1.1 million hectares are under organic agricultural management in Italy (2009). Compared with 2008 this is an increase of 10 percent, however, compared with 2000, this is only an increase of six percent. About 66 percent of organic agricultural land was fully converted.
Large parts of organic agricultural land are in the south of the country, for instance Sicily (206,546 hectares), Basilicata (112,289 hectares) or Puglia (140,176 hectares). Almost half of the processors are, however, located in the North of the country: Emilia-Romagna (721), Lombardia (507), Veneto (484), Tuscany (427) and Piemonte (353) (SINAB 2010).
Seventy percent of agricultural land is cropland (permanent and arable crops) – a very high share in comparison to other European countries. Key crop categories are cereals (250,000 hectares), green fodder from arable land (180,000 hectares), olives (140,000 hectares) and grapes (43,000 hectares). Between 2008 and 2009, strong growth was noted for high value crops like nuts (+52 percent), citrus fruits (+31 percent), vegetables (+30 percent), olives (+22 percent) and cereals (+21 percent) (Eurostat 2010).
There are 43,230 producers, 2,564 of which process their own products, 5,223 processors and 260 importers. Compared with 2008, the number of organic operators decreased by 2.3 percent at national level. But a closer look shows stability or even slight growth in most parts of the country. The decrease is concentrated in two regions Basilicata and Sardinia. In both cases, this is due
to a delay in payments under the rural development programmes.
Government support
Like in all European Union countries, organic farming in Italy is supported under the European Union’s rural development programmes. The Italian National Action Plan for organic agriculture and organic products (Piano d’Azione nazionale per l’Agricoltura Biologica e i Prodotti Biologici) was launched in April 2005. The key targets of the plan are to position Italian organic products on the global market, to support and develop organic production and related supply chains, enhance consumer information, and to improve services to the organic sector. The plan does not have a quantitative target, which many other countries have.
Market size, share of total market, per capita consumption
In 2009, the per capita consumption of organic food was 25 euros and the organic market in Italy amounted to 1.5 billion euros. Growth has been at one-digit rates in supermarkets (which differentiate from other European countries, since supermarkets are not the main sales channel in Italy), but steady in the past five past years. The specialised shops saw a higher growth rate. The first figures for 2010 indicate that growth will continue, for instance market growth was between 5 and 10 percent in the first half of 2010 in specialised shops and sales of a sample of relevant wholesalers also show growth increasing by at least ten percent. The financial crisis has had no major effect on the Italian organic market.
Specialised organic shops hold 40 percent of the organic market (600 million euros turnover in 2009, an increase of 16 percent compared to 2008), followed by supermarkets (400 million euros turnover, an increase of 7.4 percent compared with 2008), direct sales, box schemes, etc.), which had a turnover of 250 million euros, organic catering was also at 250 million euros.
Exports play a major role for organic farming in Italy: They amounted to 850 million euros in 2009 (all data by Pinton Organic Consulting based on AC Nielsen/ISMEA and AssoBio).
All major supermarket chains sell organic products. According to the AcNielsen/Ismea panel, in the first six months of 2009, compared to the first six months of 2008, supermarket sales grew by 8.5 percent (in volume) and 7.4 percent (in value). Coop is the most important mainstream retailer and a big organic reseller, with a turnover of 76.4 million euros in 2008 (+7.3 percent compared with the previous year). In 2009 Coop started a rebranding of its former «Bio-logico» range and launched the new «Vivi-verde» (live green) private label, including organic food and eco-labelled items (detergents, low energy light bulbs, etc.). Its organic range consists of 339 items, 23 of which are baby foods and 5 from fair trade. Next in importance comes Esselunga with its private label range «Esselunga Bio.» Carrefour also runs an organic private label. Further players are Conad and Despar.
There are about 1,150 organic shops, mostly in northern and central Italy, with a turnover of 600 million euros (2009). The only organic supermarket chain at national level is NaturaSì (about 70 shops, eleven of which are in Rome and eight in Milan), with a range of about 4,000 products. It has a quarterly magazine and a fidelity card programme with about 70,000 cardholders. In 2009, NaturaSì merged with Ecor, the main organic wholesaler, starting the company Ecor NaturaSì (Pinton 2010); a few months later the company bought the 20 year old Bologna based wholesaler Baule Volante.
About 2000 organic farmers are engaged in direct marketing, with about 800 box schemes. Organic foods are served in 360 restaurants. About 900 municipalities serve organic products to more than one million school children daily (140,000 in Rome alone). There are more than 1,200 organic farms with agritourism facilities and organic products are sold on about 120 websites (e-commerce).
Exports account for about a third of the overall turnover of organic products in Italy (850 million euros in 2009). Key products are fruits and vegetables (mostly for the European market), olive oil, wine, balsamic vinegar and pasta. The most important export market is Europe, and the most important countries are Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland. The amount of export
to Japan is interesting and (slowly) growing and the export to the United States is still very small (Pinton 2010). In 2009 an interesting export activity, «Organic Made in Italy,» started with Brazil and South America (supermarkets, Italian food specialists). The project is coordinated by FederBio and co-founded by the Ministry for Economic Development and the Italian Trade Commission.
In 2008, 22 percent of Italian consumers bought some organic products, and in 2009, despite the financial crisis, this share grew to 26 percent. Organic consumers are similar to the typical European organic consumer: between 25 and 50 years of age with a medium or high income, a high school or university degree, and they live in large cities, mostly in northern and central Italy (Pinton
2010).
The most popular product groups in supermarkets are fruits and vegetables, which account for 25 percent of all organic sales, followed by dairy products (18 percent), breakfast products (12 percent) and beverages (10 percent) (Pinton 2010).
Imports and market requirements
It is estimated that 80 percent of the organic products consumed in Italy are produced domestically (Pinton 2008). It is difficult to estimate the total value and volume of imports as many companies do not buy directly from third countries, but from other European importers (mostly Dutch). Data on imports from EU countries are not available.
The 2008 statistics from SINAB regarding imports from third countries (both countries on the third country list as well as other non EU countries) showed that In terms of volume most of the imports came from Asia, followed by European non-EU countries and Africa. The key product groups were cereals, processed foods (cocoa, coffee, olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, cane sugar)
and vegetables (see table 15). The most important products in terms of volumes imported were soft wheat, followed by durum wheat, cocoa, potatoes and bananas (for details see table 16). Since 2006, the import volume has more than doubled.
According to Pinton (2008), the best sold organic imported product groups are sugar, coffee and tea, followed by fruit and rice. The most important import countries are Costa Rica, Egypt and Germany. These figures refer to the value of all imports, not only to those from third countries.
About 250 open air organic markets are held in Italy (mainly in the summer, some all year long), often linked together with shows, stage plays, concerts, conferences, etc. Some of them are more than 20 years old.
The trade exhibition Sana (established 1989) is held in September in Bologna. In 2009, 1,060 exhibitors and 67,220 visitors participated; Sana, FederBio and the Italian Trade Commission welcomed approximately 100 foreign buyers.
To encourage communication about organics, Sana runs a national journalistic prize called «Communicating Organic.» The first prize is 3,500 euros, the second prize is a weekend in a resort with an organic restaurant honoured with 3 stars by the Michelin Guide, and the third prize is a week-long stay on an organic agritourism farm.
Market access provisions
Market access for organic products is regulated by EU regulation 834/2007 on organic farming (see Part C, Chapter 1). The following additional provisions apply in Italy: The inspections laid down by the EU Regulation on Organic Production are conducted by 15 private inspection bodies, three of which are authorized to work in the province of Bozen only. The competent authority for the application of EU regulation 834/2007 is the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Ministero per le Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali – MiPAAF).
There are two organisations that have private standards of national significance, more restrictive than the EU regulation:
- AIAB: Garanzia AIAB, certified by ICEA, CCPB, IMC, Bios,
QCertificazioni Codex - AMAB: Garanzia AMAB, certified by IMC.
Labelling products with one of the private labels can be done by having the product certified directly from the corresponding inspection body Regarding Garanzia AIAB, one of the specific requirements is that the raw materials are mainly grown in Italy (except coffee, cocoa, tropical fruits and spices).
The import of organic products from third countries is regulated by the EU Regulation on Organic Production 834/2007. Applications for import permits for organic products have to be issued by the importing company to MiPAAF. Based on additional requirements laid down in art.11 of the Ministry decree n. 18354 of the 27/11/2009, MiPAAF will evaluate equivalence with the EU regulation
834/2007.
Web information corner, references and sources
Links
- www.assobio.it
: Homepage of the AssoBio association which unites the organic processors and traders in Italy - www.biobank.it : Homepage of Biobank, with information on organic farming, including address lists (farms, processors, farm holidays, restaurants etc.).
- www.federbio.it : Homepage of FederBio, the Federation of the Italian Organic Associations
- www.ismea.it , Istituto di Servizi per il Mercato Agricolo Alimentare, Institute of services for the agro-food markets, linked to the Italian Ministry for agricultural and food policy (MiPAAF)
- www.organic-world.net/italy.html: Information on organic farming in Italy
- www.politicheagricole.it/ProdottiQualita/ProdottiBiologici/ , organic section in Ministry for agricultural and food policy’s web site.
- www.SINAB.it : Information system for organic farming of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture
References
- Eurostat (2010): Eurostat: Organic farming statistics. Land area, operators. Various Years. The Eurostat homepage, Eurostat, Luxemburg. Available at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/agriculture/data/database
- MIPAF (2009) Piano d’Azione nazionale per l’Agricoltura Biologica e i Prodotti Biologici. 15 Aprile 2005. MIPAF, Rome. Available at www.inea.it/statigeneralibio/normativa/Piano_Azione_nazionale.pdf
- Pinton, Roberto (2008): Italy. In: Osch, Susann van, Burkhard Schaer, Claudia Strauch, Caroline Bauer (2008): Specialised Organic Retail Report Europe 2008. Practical Compendium of the Organic Market in 27 European Countries. ORA, Vienna, EKOZEPT, Montpellier/Freising, Biovista, Ettlingen
- Pinton, Roberto, Pinton Organic Consulting (2010): Personal communication of July 20, 2010
- SINAB (2009): Le importazioni in Italia di prodotti da agricoltura biologica provenienti da Paesi Terzi. The SINAB homepage, SINAB, Rome. Available at www.sinab.it/index.php?mod=bio_statistiche&m2id=191&navId=1620
- SINAB (2010): L’agricoltura biologica in cifre al 31/12/2009. The SINAB homepage, SINAB, Rome. Available at www.sinab.it/share/img_lib_files/1020_bio_in_cifre_2009.pdf
