Campagna Amica: Italian Network of Food Direct Sales
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CAMPAGNA AMICA: ITALIAN NETWORK OF FOOD DIRECT SALES 2012 AN EATING CITY CASE HISTORY AUTHORS: ELISA MEREATUR, ISABELLE LACOURT Campagna Amica is a marketing project designed by Coldiretti, one of the main Italian Farmer Trade Union, in order to promote direct selling of local and seasonal food products by farmers. A brand has been created to allow consumers to find and identify food products associated with the values of authenticity, freshness, traceability. To succeed in its endeavour, Coldiretti employs its capillary network of members throughout the territory and its relations with local authorities to either revitalize or establish a growing point of sales network farms, outdoor and indoor farmers markets, shops etc…). Moreover, it has reinforced these activities with synergic collateral projects related to rural tourism, the promotion of environmental friendly agriculture and urban-rural interactions. Index Summary ........................................................................3 Increasing interest for farmers’ markets ...........................3 The Italian agro-food context .........................................5 The actors involved in Campagna Amica ........................7 Campagna Amica’s initiatives............................................8 The results: strength and weaknesses ..........................12 Reflections upon the Campagna Amica project .........15 Reading framework........................................................16 Notes..............................................................................16 Mediagraphy....................................................................17 2/18 Summary The worldwide economic crisis, the campaign associated with the creation scale farms, while agricultural policy is diseconomies created by an intensive or the revitalization of market shops, in managed at a regional level. This last fact industrialized agro-food system, as well collaboration with local partners, where allows regions to exert profound as the increase of food related farmers sell their products directly - or influence, as regional politicians tend to pathologies highlight the need to with a maximum of one intermediary - be rather sensitive to the question of regulate globalized food systems and to to consumers. Coldiretti uses its own local food. integrate them with local based food structure and network to promote the Coldiretti has the opportunity to deploy systems in which farmers can obtain project to the largest number of its own capillary structure, with offices value for high quality food products, producers throughout the territory. In and staff present throughout the thus achieving sufficient autonomy to 2008, Campagna Amica has taken on the territory, in order to further the sell their products at a fair price. status of a foundation; and its core promotion of this campaign. Moreover, One key challenge, according to many functions are to rediscover the Coldiretti has launched several synergic scholars and governments, seems to be relationship between farmers and projects on related issues that include food productions and food selling re- consumers, to promote higher food territorial marketing with diversification localization with the goal of reinforcing quality production and to establish of agricultural business, fostering of closer relationships between rural and local economies, and raising the quality rural tourism, innovation related to of life for the population at large. urban populations throughout the Italian environmental sustainability and territory and on all levels of its society. The Italian based CAMPAGNA AMICA revaluation of urban-rural interactions project shows the degree of success Italy constitutes a fertile terrain for the through direct connection between that alternative short food supply chain Coldiretti project insofar as the consumers (mainly urban) and systems are achieving with both network of outdoor markets remains producers (mainly rural). These producers and consumers alike. rather lively, despite fervent communication oriented projects are development of super and able to convey messages that share a This project is run by Coldiretti, one of hypermarkets. Moreover people still common denominator and synergy to the main agricultural Trade Unions in prefer traditional Italian food; and Italian the consumer. Italy. The project is mainly a marketing agriculture is mainly composed of small Increasing interest for farmers’ markets Nowadays, a simple task such as both the losing sides of this food supply consumption gets lost or wasted globally, preparing and eating a meal at home system. which is about 1.3 billion ton per year. depends on an extremely complex and Worldwide rural-urban migration Food is wasted throughout the FSC, from global food system, which relies on induces increasing food flows from initial agricultural production down to final fossil fuel energy (pesticides, packaging fields to cities, whereas farms are household consumption. In medium- and and logistics) and globalized market moving further from urban areas. Farms high-income countries food is to a great rules. These same rules exhibit a are becoming more concentrated and extent wasted, meaning that it is thrown growing trend to establish prices more are increasing in both size and away even if it is still suitable for human in function of the financial speculation industrialization, to specialize in specific consumption. Significant food loss and mechanism and less in relation to real productions. waste do, however, also occur early in the costs of food production. As a food supply chain. In low-income countries consequence, food has become a A recent FAO report also highlighted food is mainly lost during the early and commodity; and food supply chains are the inefficiency of food supply chain by middle stages of the food supply chain; currently dominated by retailers rather indicating the amount of food wasted much less food is wasted at the consumer than producers who are - in tandem – worldwide. “Roughly one-third of the level.” edible parts of food produced for human 3/18 Aside from this phenomenon, in Italy for giving them the flexibility to sell what • Promotion of sustainable styles of instance, only 17 cents on average goes they produce in line with seasonality. life; to the producer for every Euro spent on Packaging and logistics costs are thus • Diffusion and financing of local a food product due to an overwhelming reduced as are those related to project designs to emphasize number of intermediations between conservation and storage. In addition, territorial biodiversity, the ethical producers and consumers. On the other producers get direct feedback from value of different traditions and hand, the complexity of the food supply consumers that serve as a reference for food production; chain and the multiplicity of geographical continual improvement. This benefits origins of the products have increased food quality. • Funding of projects that from an the distance between producers and eco-social standpoint pursue: i) In parallel, an increasing portion of the environment protection, ii) the consumers, both segregated by an Italian market is interested in purchasing invisible barrier. promotion of the agro-food food directly from producers. This product origin and In the meantime, the slice of family positive trend has led Coldiretti to characteristics, iii) the promotion budget dedicated to food has declined in launch an extensive project during the of a virtuous relationship all Western countries; and the main initial years of 2000 to promote direct between farmers and consumers, retailing system (supermarkets) has food selling of Italian products. The name iv) the support of national and turned to the promotion of low prices of this project is “Campagna Amica”, international products that rather than quality to increase sales. In which has a dual and rather clever defend typical agro-food parallel, and perhaps a consequence, the English translation as “Friendly production, particularly those increase of food related pathologies such Countryside or Friendly Campaign”. that adopt renewable energy as obesity, diabetes, vascular diseases, Campagna Amica aims to highlight the resources, v) the development of and cancer clearly underline the negative core function of agriculture, to lead sustainable activities with inherit side effects of industrial based nutrition. farmers and consumers to knot tighter sociocultural and economic The European Union is funding relationships and to promote higher aspects. educational campaigns in several food quality. Campagna Amica became a countries to induce children to consume foundation in 2008, structured as a fresh products, in particular fruit and capillary organization traced on the The core activity of the Campagna vegetables. organization chart of its founder Amica Foundation lies in the promotion In absence of coherent globalized food Coldiretti. of the local food supply chain through policies defined by governments to which producers can sell their products directly, or through a single regulate and improve this situation, the Since the beginning, the project has civil society has recently started to intermediary, to consumers. In order to acted as a catalyser of aggregation reach this objective, the Foundation has examine the possibility of simplifying and between institutions and associations shortening food supply chains from a created a brand that allows consumers such as Slow Food, Legambiente, AIAB, to find and identify