The Italian organic has reached 19% of the cultivated areas, exceeding 2.3 million hectares and thus getting closer and closer to the Community target of 25%, with a growth in 2022 of 7.5%, equal to almost double the rate of increase recorded in 2021. But consumption is not keeping pace: in this sense, more encouraging signs in the choices come instead from the first sample survey conducted at public establishments, with over 50% of Italian bars and almost 70% of restaurants that declared that they had proposed or used organic foods, drinks and raw materials in their culinary preparations during 2022.
This is what emerged from the work in L'Aquila of the national conference 'Appointment with the bio', promoted by Ismea.
During the event, the 'Bio in figures' Report, edited by Ismea and Ciheam of Bari, was presented in the presence of the authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, the Abruzzo Region, the Municipality of L'Aquila and the Associations and Professional Organizations of the sector.
As evidenced by the latest data from the 'Bio in figures' Report, Italian organic farming is now launched towards the target of 25% of areas invested in organic waste, envisaged by the Farm to Fork Strategy by 2030, with six regions already exceeding this goal, Tuscany, Marche, Lazio, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily. At the same time, the number of operators (producers, processors and importers) continues its growth at a rather rapid pace, confirming Italy in first place in Europe for the number of certified organic farms and on the steps of the podium also for the extension of organic UAA.
2022 returns the image of a sector in turmoil, at the center of national and EU policies and investments by operators, but with consumption struggling to recover momentum. "Domestic spending, although recovering on a disappointing 2021 - explain Ismea - does not fully meet expectations, growing at a lower rate than the overall agri-food and wealth rate". The long-awaited National Plan for organic production that will guide the sector towards the development objectives required by the European Farm to Fork strategy and reiterated in the national law of 9 March 2022, is now at the starting blocks, it has in fact concluded the process of listening to the parties involved. "The sector - explain Ismea - will be able to count on a programmatic tool that aims to further enhance the offer and improve positioning, leveraging innovation, digitization, aggregation, administrative simplification and promotion".
Many interventions and technical contributions followed during the morning of work, which saw the introductory greetings of Emanuele Imprudente, vice president with delegation of Agriculture of the Abruzzo Region, Fabrizio Taranta, councilor for the environment, agriculture and territory of the municipality of L'Aquila and the conclusions entrusted to Livio Proietti, new extraordinary commissioner of Ismea, to the undersecretary of state at Masaf Luigi D'Eramo. The Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Francesco Lollobrigida intervened by video link.
The illustration of the main data of the Bio Report in figures was edited by Fabio Del Bravo, head of the Rural Development Services Department of Ismea, while Antonio Zinni, of the Agriculture Department of the Abruzzo Region presented the opportunities of the 'Abruzzo Rural Development Complement' for the development of the organic sector and Pietro Gasparri - Director of the PQAI1 Office of Masaf, he presented the interventions of the National Action Plan for organic. Following the round table, moderated by Ermanno Comegna, which was attended by Maria Grazia Mammuccini president of FederBio, Nicoletta Maffini president of Assobio, Giuseppe Romano president AIAB, Francesco Torriani coordinator of the organic sector Alliance of Italian Agri-Food Cooperatives, Giuseppe De Noia president Cia -Anabio, Maria Letizia Gardoni president Coldiretti-Bio and Erminio Pensa president of Giovani Confagricoltura Aquila.
BIO IN FIGURES REPORT - In 2022 the Italian organic surface exceeded 2.3 million hectares, showing a growth of 7.5%, almost double the rate of increase recorded in 2021. Since 2010, the extension of organic crops has more than doubled (+111% equal to over 1.2 million ha), reaching today almost 19% of the total usable agricultural area surveyed by Istat, a few points away from the threshold of 25% indicated by the Farm to Fork Strategy as a goal by 2030.
To date, six regions have already exceeded this target: Tuscany, Marche, Lazio, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily.
56% of the organic UAA is concentrated in 5 regions: in order Sicily and Puglia, which return to double-digit growth on 2021 (respectively + 22.5% and + 11.9%), Tuscany, which slows down after the exploit of 2021 settling on a + 1.7% increase, finally Calabria in slight decrease (-1.8%) followed by Emilia-Romagna (+ 5.3% compared to 2021). Looking at the dynamics of the other Italian regions, organic UAA increases: in the Autonomous Province of Trento (+43.4%), Liguria (+19.9%), Sardinia (14.0%), the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (+10.1%), Lombardy (+7.1%), Piedmont (6.0%), Lazio (5.6%), Marche (+4.3%), Valle d'Aosta (+4.0%) and Campania (+1.5%). The surfaces remain almost stable in Veneto while there are decreases, between 2% and 5%, in Basilicata, Umbria, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Molise. Abruzzo sees its certified organic area increase to 61,332 ha in 2022, with an incidence more than doubled in the last 12 years and now close to 15%.
SECTORS - Among arable crops, which represent the main destination of organic UAA, with an incidence of more than 40%, industrial crops (+18.1%), fodder (+2%) and the cereal sector (+5.1%) advance, driven by greater investments in durum wheat, soft wheat, barley and oats. On the contrary, vegetables decreased, albeit slightly, (-0.4%), while the growth trend for permanent crops continues (+9.0%), thanks in particular to the increases in almond groves, citrus groves, oil olive groves, hazelnut groves and vineyards. The year also ended positively for meadows and pastures (+14.3% surfaces) and for the organic livestock sector, which saw an increase in the number of animals in each type of farm. Significant increases in stocks in cattle (10.5%), pigs (+121%), poultry (16.9%) and goats (7.3%), with sheep, the only voice out of the chorus, losing 1.4% of the heads.
Among the main production guidelines of Abruzzo worthy of note are the organic cultivation of wine vines and olive oil, which represent respectively 21% of the regional vineyard area and 12% of the regional olive grove. Certified organic operators With regard to certified organic operators, the data indicate an increase of over 7% compared to 2021, thanks to the 6,655 new entries in the certification system that ferry 2 the total number of organic producers, preparers and importers over 92 thousand units. Looking more specifically at the data of Abruzzo, since 2010 the number of organic operators has practically doubled, reaching 2022,2 units in 374. It is interesting to highlight how 54.8% of organic operators are dedicated to organic winemaking, a strategic and valuable sector of the regional economy.
On a more general level, the increase in the number of companies involved in the various phases of the organic supply chain is a confirmation of the great vitality of the sector, despite the many uncertainties that have studded the last few years, including pandemic emergency and record increases in production costs. To grow are above all the exclusive national producers, which include companies with activities dedicated to the cultivation of the agricultural fund, which have reached 68,605 units (+10.1% on 2021). In 2022, organic farms represent 7.3% of total farms but have an average size of almost three times that of the conventional farm (28.4 hectares vs 11 hectares. The increase in producers/preparers (+3.6%) to 13,998 units was also significant, while importers increased by half a percentage point and exclusive preparers fell by 0.5%%, interrupting the long-term positive trend. Consumption of organic products With regard to the dynamics of household food spending, after the excellent performance in 2020 (+9.5%), supported by the domestic confinement caused by the lockdown, and the setback recorded for the first time in 2021 (-4.6%), 2022 signals a moderate recovery in organic consumption, which does not meet the expectations of the players in the sector. With 3.66 billion euros, the domestic market for organic food grew by only 0.5%, a rate far from that of the total agri-food (+6.4%), and from that of agri-food price inflation equal to 2022.9% in 1. As a result of these dynamics, the incidence of organic sales on total food expenditure decreased, falling to 3.6% from 3.9% in 2021. In a context of substantial stagnation, however, it should be noted the positive trend of some product categories such as, for example, that of fresh eggs (+6.8%), fish products (+3.1%) and fresh and processed meat (+3.7%), while spending continues to slow, as in 2021, in sectors where organic is more represented, for example in fruit and vegetables (-2.8%) and cereal derivatives (-3.4%). Finally, there was a significant drop in purchases of organic wine and sparkling wines compared to 2021 (-3.7%), a decline linked to the strong recovery in consumption outside the home. Last year, the extra-domestic consumption of organic food was the subject of the first qualitative survey conducted at a sample of 1,126 Italian bars and 864 restaurants, which provided very encouraging results regarding the presence of organic food in the menus of public establishments and the degree of awareness of operators. More than half of bars (54.4%) and more than two-thirds of restaurants (68.4%) said they had proposed or used organic food, beverages and raw materials in their culinary preparations during 2022.