A single great voice emerges from the wave of protest of farmers in every region of Italy, including the large islands. The pioneers of the mobilization of Orte (Viterbo) met today in Rome with some representatives of the spontaneous movements of Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Lazio and Campania, to converge on the priorities already shared with the farmers of these and other Regions. Priorities then confirmed by the voices on stage, at the demonstration organized in Piazza della Repubblica.
1) Protesting farmers, the absolute priorities
The protest continues with thousands of tractors on the roads of every part of Italy. And it will continue until the government and the party led by Giorgia Meloni free themselves from the influence of Coldiretti, (1) to listen to real farmers and follow up on their absolute priorities:
A) guaranteed minimum price (#fairprice) and strict prohibition on sales below cost – extended to cooperatives, POs and POAs (2) – to be guaranteed immediately with
-> legislative decree reforming Legislative Decree 198/21 on unfair commercial practices. Attribute to ISMEA the monthly estimate of production costs at a regional level (to be displayed on the electronic invoice, in addition to the prices applied), and to the financial police, systematic controls and sanctions
B) freedom of association and contractual autonomy in agricultural assistance services and other services, through
-> cancellation of the ministerial decree reforming the CAAs (centers for assistance in agriculture) (3,4)
-> cancellation of the AGEA circular 9.8.22 n. 41, which excluded freelancers (5)
C) no to new GMOs that threaten our biodiversity and direct support for the ecological transition as to free farmers from slavery by the global giants of seeds and agrochemicals, and offer consumers food free of pesticide residues, with
-> the Italian government’s vote against to the EU proposal for deregulation of new GMOs (6)
-> recovery of the objectives of reducing agrochemicals with direct aid to farmers, to improve the health and productivity of the soil. (7)
2) One great voice, #FarmersUnited
The #FarmersUnited arrived in Rome – on 15 February at the Quirinale and the Circus Maximus, (8) on 20 February at Piazza della Repubblica – to affirm the priorities set out above. Guaranteed minimum price, no to the CAA monopoly, no to new GMOs. So today the organic breeder Giorgio Bonacini from Bologna, the contractor Giorgio Bissoli from Verona, the farmer Tonino Monfeli from Viterbo thunder.
‘Coldiretti does surveys on the costs of sunbeds (9) but doesn’t understand that farmers are in deep shit. Our wheat is bought for 20 cents while bread is sold for 6 euros. The minister and the government must decide whether to stand with us who work the land or those who eat behind our backs.
The yellow flags organize meetings of loyalists without letting in members with different opinions, with pre-packaged questions in the room and the police outside. We need to tear up the union cards, enough with the CAA monopoly, this system is a pain in the ass!‘ (Giorgio Bissoli).
3) Farmers and consumers betrayed
Radicchio paid €0,30/kg to farmers in Veneto is sold €3,50/kg on supermarket shelves, carrots delivered to cooperatives in Emilia at €0,10/kg are resold at €1,60/kg. Farmers and consumers are both victims of a system built specifically to favor those upstream (those who produce and sell the technical inputs) and those downstream, i.e. large retailers.
Customers should protest alongside farmers, since the continuation of this speculation is that those who produce our food will be forced to compromise in order to survive. Safety at work, illegal work, but also savings that can affect the quality of products.
This system was built to measure the conflicts of interest of Coldiretti which aggregates the large speculators upstream (e.g. Bonifiche Ferraresi, Federconsorzi 2 alias CAI SpA) and downstream (e.g. Conad, Carrefour) and intermediates the sales of the agricultural consortia with its Filiera Agricola Italiana SpA. (10) How else to pay the millionaire salaries of Vincenzo Gesmundo and Ettore Prandini?
#UnitedFarmers, #CleanSpades!
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. Coldiretti, Lollobrigida and Fratelli d’Italia, deep ties and #falseflag. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(2) See paragraph 4 of the previous article by Dario Dongo. Farmers protesting in Rome and throughout Italy, 15 February 2024. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 15.2.24
(3) Dario Dongo. Italy, green light for the CAA monopoly on EU aid in agriculture. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(4) Dario Dongo. CAA reform, new costs and bureaucracy for farmers. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(5) Dario Dongo. AGEA and MASAF ‘Coldiretti’. The suppression of freelancers in agriculture. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(6) Dario Dongo, Alessandra Mei. New GMOs, NGTs. Green light from Strasbourg to deregulation. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(7) Dario Dongo. Protesting farmers, pesticides instead of #fairprice. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(8) Dario Dongo. Farmers protesting in Rome and throughout Italy, 15 February 2024. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(9) Holidays: 20 million Italians traveling in August. Coldiretti – Economy http://tinyurl.com/vyysxv6b
(10) See paragraph C (ITALIAN AGRICULTURE SUPPLY SpA The Palazzo triangle) in the previous article by Dario Dongo. Germina Campus, the Coldiretti holding company that speculates on farmers. #Clean shovels. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
