2nd Training course for local authorities and farmers in Italy
The 2nd training course for local authorities and farmers took place on March 1st 2017, at the Federbio offices in Rome. Certification and controls in the organic sector, was the theme of this training seminar in order to highlight and to familiarize participants with the procedures and controls necessary to certify the production, processing and trade of organic products in Italy (and Europe). The topic has been addressed considering the different points of view of the supply chain actors. The Workshop was organized in collaboration with Federbio and Suolo e Salute.
FEDERBIO (http://www.feder.bio/english.php) is the (non profit) Federation of Italian national Associations of farmers and other operators involved in all stages of organic and biodynamic agriculture and is membership based, with a group-structure according to the various categories. FederBio operates exclusively in organics and is recognized as Institutional representative within the Tavolo Agroalimentare (Agri-food Table) instituted by the Prime Minister. FederBio is a member of European Organic Certifiers Council (EOCC), and of ACCREDIA, the Italian accreditation Authority. It operates both nationwide and internationally.
Suolo e Salute – “Soil and health” (www.suoloesalute.it, only italian), is a control and certification body for the food and the environment. It was founded by the Suolo e Salute Association, founded in 1969, which in Italy has created the first experience of promotion of organic-mineral method, on which organic farming has taken the fundamentals. In addition to organic – Suolo e Salute has long extended its field of activity to other certification schemes in food and environmental sectors. Organic farming, however, is the great passion of Suolo e Salute.
Roberto Calabresi, coordinator of Kyoto Club Agriculture and forests working group introduced and illustrated the Life Organiko project taking stock of the activities undertaken to date and
future activities.
Fabiana Crescenzi, SINAB – MIPAAF, (http://www.sinab.it/) – From the National Information System on Organic Farming, It presented statistical data on the organic sector in Italy showing a growth that reached in 2016 an organic cultivated area of 12% of the total utilized agricultural area (UAA)corresponding to approximately 1,492,000 hectares.
Vincenzo Vizioli, also presented some data as president of AIAB(www.aiab.it). AIAB is an association of producers, technicians and citizens-consumers and represents primarily the interests of organic producers, through the promotion of organic agriculture as a sustainable development model, based on the principles of conservation and exploitation of resources, the environment, animal welfare and consumer’s health. Organic farming is, in fact, a development model for the Italian countryside alternative to ‘”industrial agriculture”, capable of addressing the ecological sense in the behaviour of workers and citizens and, in particular, their approach to the production method and consumer. The interests of organic producers are the same as the citizen-consumer ones and enhance the role and function of technical specialists in organic farming;
Alessandro D’Elia – Head of Marketing, Promotion and Development of SUOLO E SALUTE(www.suoloesalute.it), explained the organic certification and control procedures of the organic supply chain control in Italy, in response to several questions from the participants;
Roberto Pinton – Chief Executive FEDERBIO (http://www.feder.bio/english.php), illustrated the theme of controls on organic supply chain focusing on the description of the new experimental digital network platform FIP, for automatic digital control of the supply chain of organic products in support of certification bodies, producers and retailers of organic products and
control of the organic supply chain in Italy.
