Italy: satisfaction over the PAC 2023-27 strategic plan

Tiberio Rabboni, President of the Interprofessional Organisation of the Tomato Industry of Northern Italy, when he heard the news, commented, “I would like, on behalf of the entire supply chain, to thank the Ministry offices, the Emilia-Romagna Region and the other Italian regions involved for their willingness, attention and listening. We were, perhaps, particularly insistent towards them. The fact is that our demands, as well as being fully justified and justified, represented the possibility of a very partial compensation for the heavy economic losses envisaged for historical tomato producers by the new CAP for 23-27. The acceptance of our proposals never seemed to be a foregone conclusion.  The European Commission in its first examination of the Italian plan objected that the profitability of the tomato crop did not justify a coupled premium. An assertion that we punctually refuted by producing time series of official data and third-party analyses of actual profitability.  The same with regard to the initial exclusion of the industrial tomato crop from supplementary agri-environmental aid.  Here too, with the invaluable support of our scientific advisor, Prof. Gabriele Canali, we have documented to the Ministry the permanent commitment to improving environmental sustainability that characterises the entire sector and supply chain, i.e. new and additional goals for organic farming, integrated production, minimisation of irrigation consumption, enrichment of soil organic matter, reduction of CO2 emissions, etc. From all this comes more than legitimate satisfaction.”