"Organic agriculture is honored with the Green Deal and the strategic objective of reaching 25% of Europe's cultivated area within 7 years. Integrated production bears the burden of being considered the standard..."
Decisions that could decree the premature end of what for 30 years, i.e. since the launch of Reg. 2078/1992, has been the forerunner among sustainability schemes, the first bet on agricultural production compatible with the needs of environmental protection to be applied on a large scale.
vInstead, surprisingly, integrated production not only holds but is actually growing. First with the invention of the "premium" version of the "voluntary advanced integrated production" in measure 10.1 of the 2014-2022 Psr. Then with the turning point, from 2016, of the Integrated Production National Quality System (Sqnpi) and its bee logo which aims to solve the age-old problem of a weak identity and distinguishability on the sales shelves. So much so that in the new 2023-27 Rural Development programming the Sra01-Aca01 intervention, the one that provides support for those who undertake to adopt the technical provisions indicated in the Integrated Production Regulations (DPI), was activated by 17 regions out of 21
News
Emilia-Romagna has even already closed (on 14 April) the first call for tenders for which the rankings are being drawn up these days, allocating 50 million euros to the Sra01 Aca 01 project (the "stake" of Bologna on the Sra29 Aca 29 intervention, the one relating to the adoption and maintenance of organic farming practices). “Our Region – he recalls Giampaolo Sarno, responsible for this sector for Emilia-Romagna – boasts a long tradition of pacemaker in the context of the adoption of integrated production regulations and we can count on an articulated assistance and control network». "Strengths - he continues - that allowed us to promptly activate this intervention".
Mandatory membership
The most substantial novelty of the new programming concerns the obligation to join the Sqnpi System and therefore the subjection to one of the recognized certification bodies for the use of the logo (a choice shared by all 17 Regions that have activated the measure). Also new is the choice of paying a more substantial support for those joining for the first time. And even in the priority criteria, the highest score is assigned precisely to the "beginners" of the integrated system, an option that could guarantee a decisive expansion of the surface subjected to this intervention.
Portal Sian late
Lombardy, on the other hand, preferred to postpone the intervention to the beginning of 2024. The unknown factor to be resolved concerns precisely the timing of joining the Sqnpi system which, with the new Pac programming, is possible directly from the Sian portal (but the button from click has yet to be activated).
«La scadenza prevista – ammette Giuseppe Ciotti, della direzione generale dello Sviluppo rurale del Masaf – è il 15 maggio, ma l’implementazione della domanda basata su strumenti geospaziali, comunemente detta domanda grafica, sta provocando alcuni ritardi ed è possibile che ci sia un’ulteriore proroga». «Le aziende – puntualizza Ciotti – che hanno presentato richiesta di adesione agli interventi regionali di produzione integrata volontaria sono comunque tenute, in attesa di conoscere l’esito dei bandi, ad osservare i disciplinari regionali e le linee guida approvate dall’Organismo tecnico e scientifico del Sqnpi a partire già da gennaio di quest’anno».
L’avanzata del logo dell’apetta
«In a few years Sqnpi – continues Ciotti – has seen its numbers grow significantly (v. tab.1) and a further decisive leap is expected in 2023». In fact, in the previous programming there were only 8 regions that had foreseen the need to join this quality system (Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Calabria, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Marche, Basilicata, Sardinia) to obtain the support of the former measure 10.1. Now they have risen to 17 and even Regions such as Veneto, which have decided to manage integrated production within the operational programs of the fruit and vegetable CMO, have in any case opted for the mandatory membership of the Sqnpi. Choices that could lead the area certified with the bee brand to exceed one million hectares by the end of the year (bureaucratic delays permitting). A growth rate that could lead the Sqnpi to soon approach the dimensions of organic farming.
«The two production methods - Ciotti assures us - are not in competition. Both aim to promote sustainable production processes on a large scale without compromising the competitiveness of agricultural enterprises». «An objective that today is in the foreground in Europe».
«A quality regime such as the Sqnpi has as its aim the continuous improvement of processes by making use of the historical experience of regional regulations coordinated at a central level by the appropriate technical-scientific committee which annually draws up the national guidelines for integrated crop production».
«La scelta di affidarsi a questo standard dettagliato, aggiornato continuamente per recepire in tempo reale le novità tecnico-scientifiche, agevola gli operatori fornendo loro un pacchetto affidabile e collaudato».
The advantages for operators
The verification of conformity of the procedures applied in the company are entrusted to the control bodies accredited according to the ISO 17065 standard. Sqnpi, together with rigorous procedures, has in any case provided for simplification mechanisms that allow to reduce certification costs
Other specific advantages concern the derogation, provided for by art. 9 of the national guidelines, respecting the minimum dose indicated on the labels of crop protection products in the case of using precision instruments such as recovery sprayers and the expected equivalence with the Global Gap certification scheme. A simplification that would make it possible to respond more promptly to the requirements of the regulation on the sustainable use of crop protection products. «Starting this year - adds Ciotti - with the mandatory adoption in the post-harvest phase of the social, environmental and procedural requirements, optional until last year, the Sqnpi presents itself as a sustainability certification system suited to the specificities of agriculture and of the national agro-industry". In addition, for viticulture Sqnpi is today the integral reference of the national certification system for sustainable viticulture.
Also for this reason, wine operators are massively converging towards the bee logo (45% of the area is represented by vineyards, equal to about half of the national vineyard area). «This is how the foundations are created – concludes Ciotti – for a peculiar Italian model of sustainability that allows us to adequately face a highly competitive international market».
