A window to innovate and grow. In organic farming, mainly in the agro-sustainable supply chain, but also a breath of fresh air for companies that export and they see the post-Covid recovery as a goal to be achieved. A month ago the government, through Mediocredito Centrale, launched a Guarantee Fund for agriculture. A good provision, requested by farmers who then applied en masse to obtain funding. The worrying state of the first Italian economic sector - closely linked to the world of catering and food - has meant that the Ministry of Teresa Bellanova made loans available for 126,1 million euros.
Approximately 1.400 applications were received in one month: “261 positions, equal to 103,3 million euros with an average amount of 396.000 euros, requested guarantees for structured transactions. Positions other than those guaranteed 100% by the State and with a maximum amount of 30.000 euros”, he explained Undersecretary Giuseppe L'Abbate. Encouraging data and indicative of political attention (scarce in other contexts) to face an autumn full of uncertainties.
Credit is a structural necessity for the recovery of thousands of Italian farms, suffering from bureaucratic delays and lack of manpower aggravated by perverse regulations. Direct access to the Fund, provided for by the Cura Italia decree, seeks to revive the relationship between agricultural enterprises and credit institutions. I specify the criteria for obtaining trust: turnover, wages, management expenses and investments made in the 18 months following the request. The Ministry is also working on new rules, broader in terms of support. In fact, a regulatory change is being studied for the free public guarantee on long-term loans dedicated to investments.
Expectations are for legislative interventions not separated from environmental sustainability. A decisive game is played in the campaigns for the future of agriculture and certainly the multiplier effects on the entire agri-food chain are not overlooked. In Europe, Italy with an average of 32 billion euros, Italy is in second place behind France for agricultural added value. The green vocation of its farms is verified by the growing reduction of fertilizers and pesticides. Good performance certified by the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra).
In the last decade – says one of his Reports – it has been done in the countryside less and less use of pesticides and often "consumption has halved: this is the case of insecticides which have gone from 1,2 kg of active ingredients per hectare to 0,6 kg, of fungicides of herbicides". Subsidized credit, therefore, guaranteed by the State to stop even that 1% drop in business income over the last five years, compared with an EU average of +6%, with Spain and France at +11%. Just decide quickly.
