UNTALEGATOS FINALES DEL MINISTERIO PÚBLICO
DEL MINISTERIO PÚBLICO:
6.9.2
6.9.2
6.9.2
InstitInstitInstitInstitutional environment: Italyutional environment: Italyutional environment: Italyutional environment: Italy
The overall Italian development of organic farming is characterised by many minor initiatives within each domain. Only two – and not very far- reaching – changes include simultaneous changes in more than one domain.
The farming community was, up to 1988, characterised by a lack of organic farming organisations. Then AIAB and CCPB were founded. The CCPB may be seen as a response to the lack of certification services in the Italian organic sector, whereas, AIAB attempted to develop the organic farming ideology and to further the interests of organic farmers. The first major change of this situation occurred in 1992 in response to the implementation of EC Reg. 2092/91, which led to the establishment of a series of new – competing – certification bodies. The change occurred in two steps because of legal difficulties regarding the implementation of EC Reg. 2092/91. Several certification bodies were founded which soon gave birth to organisational splits, but organic farmers’ interests remained without representation. One organisation (FIAO) was supposed to co- ordinate the certification bodies and take care of farmers’ interests but appeared unable to do so, and even excluded one of the certification bodies.
Within the agriculture policy domain, organic farming first reached the national agenda in 1987. The Green Party took the initiative to propose an organic farming policy. Neither this proposal nor a proposal made by the Communist Party was passed. In the regions, the first organic law was passed in 1989, and by 1996 most regions had organic farming legislation. From 1993 onwards, the regional laws were implemented to provide support according to EC Reg. 2078/92, which was implemented during a period of three years. Even the implementation period for EC Reg. 2092/91 on certification was stretched over three years because of legal problems.
Figure 6-4:
The development of the institutional environment for organic farming in Italy a
nd Sicily 1982-199
Italian organic food production was, prior to the early 1990s, mainly based on exports and minor sales directly to consumers or through specialised shops. Since then, the Italian domestic organic food market has been characterised by two features. On the one hand, more general stores have gone into the market together with some general processing and trading companies. On the other hand – and as a reaction to the former
development – a move away from the “massification” of the organic sector has also occurred. The latter is illustrated by a significant increase in the number of local organic fairs.
An institutional setting to co-ordinate across the domains – whether among organic farming institutions for themselves or between them and general agriculture institutions – is lacking for the whole of Italy as well as in the regions. FIAO was expected to stand surety for a well co-ordinated and integrated organic sector on a national scale but has failed. Only two national agencies regarding certification have developed and gained some importance within the narrow field of inspection. One was established in 1992 and the other replaced it in 1995 as part of the final implementation of EC Reg. 2092/91. Both bodies include certification bodies and regional agriculture policy administration bodies.
An Italian organic farming identity began to develop in northern/central regions during the mid-1980s taking the form of minor local initiatives. However, it seems that the identity was related to other social movements and hence that organic farming never achieved a strong identity of its own. Certification bodies were established in this period but appeared vulnerable to major organisational change and increasing competition as soon as the EU regulation was introduced and they have remained so ever since. Competition between certifying bodies has developed further and this indicates the relative weakness of the organic farming identity in Italy. This may also contribute to explaining the general lack of
organisational structures for organic farming in Italy. The lack of organic farming identity and of easily identifiable organisations may in turn contribute to explaining the unclear picture regarding the interrelationship between organic farming and general agriculture institutions. It is difficult for mainstream agriculture to relate to a type of farming with a relatively vague identity. Therefore, in regions such as Marche, organic farming seems to be part of distinct socio-cultural movements rather than a movement in its own right, while in regions such as Sicily, organic farming seems part of a general agriculture strategy for farmers’ survival.
6.9.3
6.9.3
6.9.3
6.9.3
Institutional chanInstitutional chanInstitutional chanInstitutional changegegege
The changes within domains add only up to two institutional changes, which includes more than one domain. The first change occurred between 1992 and 1995 when the system of certification bodies was set up during the legal process of implementing EC Reg. 2092/91. It originated in the agriculture policy domain and resulted in direct changes in the organic part of the farming community and in the institutional setting. At the same
time, EC Reg. 2078/92 was implemented at the regional level with no other immediate institutional consequences – although it seems to have had some indirect influence on market development as supply of organic products in some regions began to grow. At the same time, a few supermarkets began to sell organic food. This change formalised the establishment of organic farming all over Italy.
A second institutional change seems to have been taking place since 1999 and involves changes in the domains of the farming community and the food market. The main feature of the farming community was a
restructuring of certification bodies towards greater co-operation, although one new certification body was also established. This seems more or less related to the fact that still more ordinary supermarkets and hypermarkets in the domestic food market appeared interested in selling organic food and hence the organic farming organisations had to adapt to the demands of the large retailers. Hence, there seems to be some sign of a growing professionalisation of the Italian organic farming sector in order to be able to meet the demands of the general food market.
At the regional level, different interrelationships were detected – some competition in Marche and some co-operation in Sicily. At national level, it is impossible to identify this kind of interrelationship, as there is no information on the views of general farmers’ unions regarding organic farming on a national scale and while politics and markets differ strongly between regions. Furthermore, the institutional setting at the national level seems rather weak.
Hence, to spell it out in very simple terms, the impressive growth of Italian organic farming seems based on a sequence of different patterns of regional growth. Organic farming started out in northern and central Italy on the basis of specific socio-cultural circumstances. Sicily also started early, but here growth was caused by demand for specific (citrus) products by foreign firms. The second step followed the introduction of EU
regulations and farming support, which generated a strong growth in organic farming in southern regions and the islands as it was seen as a means to remedy the decrease in EU support for agriculture in general. For reasons of farm structure, uptake of EU organic farming support was less in northern and central regions. A third step seems to be the evolution of a domestic market for organic food – mainly in northern regions – as part of the general food market within ordinary supermarkets and hypermarkets. The evolution of a domestic market may trigger a development of a more professionalised organic farming sector in Italy in the future.
13
7.1
7.1
7.1
7.1
BackgroundBackgroundBackgroundBackground
Despite a long tradition, the UK (including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) was for a long time one of the laggards with regard to the development of organic farming in Europe as shown in Figure 7-1. In 1985, the organic farming sector was small with approximately 300 farms. An initial period of steady growth was followed by reduced growth rates. Between 1991 and 1993 the number of organic farms in the UK actually declined. Growth picked up again in 1994, at the same time when all EU- countries introduced support programmes for organic farming under the agri-environment programme (EC Reg. 2078/92). Since 1997, growth rates have been relatively high, a substantial part of the newly converted land being upland pastures in Scotland.
Figure 7-1:
Development of the land area and number of organicproducers in the United Kingdom from 1985 to 1998
Source: Foster and Lampkin (2000)
The British development of organic farming has been of long duration and diversified. Sir George Stapledon (Conford 1988), Sir Albert Howard (Howard 1943) and Lady Eve Balfour (Balfour 1949) initiated the development of organic farming in the UK and provided a powerful
13 Prepared by Susanne Padel, Carolyn Foster and Johannes Michelsen on the basis of interviews carried
out and summarised by Susanne Padel and Carolyn Foster.
- 50 100 150 200 250 300 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98
Land area ('000 ha)
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 No. of farms
Land area ('000 ha) No. of farms
United Kingdom
stimulus to the founding of the Soil Association in 1946. The SA is now the largest organic farming organisation in the UK. It was first established as a research organisation, but later developed the first production
standards for organic farming and a formal certification procedure. The SA now has a separate department concerned with certification, whereas the main charitable trust aims to promote the development of the sector in more general terms.
A further variety of organisations are active within the field of organic farming – including five additional certification bodies, two independent charities, the Elm Farm Research Centre (EFRC), which is involved in organic farming research, and the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA), mainly concerned with organic gardening.
Interviewees have pointed to a series of events that may have had an impact on the development path of the organic farming sector in the UK. This includes the Conservative government’s establishment of the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards (UKROFS) in 1987, with the aim of unifying organic production standards. The Ministry of Agri- culture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) also supported the development of the organic farming sector by the introduction of a research programme and public grants to the certification bodies. Area-based support was not introduced until 1994, and then the rates paid in the UK were considerably lower than in most other EU countries. In 1996, the government
introduced a free organic conversion information service (OCIS) to boost the low uptake of the Organic Aid Scheme.
In 1997, the new Labour government took a more positive attitude
towards organic production than its predecessor, manifested in the form of increased rates of support in 1999. In addition, food scandals, including BSE, and the recent debate about the use of Genetically Modified
Organisms has increased the interest in organic food in the late 1990s both among consumers and among actors in the market place, such as multiple retailers, specialist processors and wholesalers. These issues – in
combination with a general economic crisis in agriculture by the end of the 1990s – seem decisive in the recent growth in the organic farming sector in the UK.