Innovation, sustainability and creativity: these are the foundations for the Italian economic restart, with young people driving. This is how things can change, with the newcomers bringing a breath of fresh air into the world, reinterpreting it according to the challenges and trends of the moment.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the need to start a new phase for the recovery, made concrete by the opportunity to use the resources provided by the Recovery funds. Our country boasts a unique food and wine and landscape heritage in the world, for this reason it must be protected and valued as much as possible. How to do it? More and more young people are deciding to invest their future in food and wine or agricultural entrepreneurship, two fundamental sectors for the Italian economic recovery.
Young Italian winegrowers
Recycling, renewable energies, electric mobility, targeted selections of suppliers and recognized certifications: making wine is increasingly greener for the new generations, who make sustainability a factor of competitiveness. This is what emerged from the survey by Agivi, the Association of young Italian wine entrepreneurs under 40 of the Italian wine union.
The survey involved, in 3 out of 4 cases, members belonging to family businesses. The age of the respondents ranged from 25 to 39 years, the average company turnover is 7,9 million euros with an average production of about 1,6 million bottles a year.
According to the survey, almost all of the young wine entrepreneurs interviewed (about 94%) believe that sustainability can be a decisive factor for competitiveness in national and foreign markets, and 64,7% are those who have opted for with a reduced environmental footprint. Seven out of ten companies declare that they have green certifications, around a third of those they offer certified organic wines. Less attractive is biodynamic, largely absent from the practices of the associates responding to the questionnaire. On the mobility front, 57% of those interviewed plan to equip themselves with charging stations or commercial vehicles with hybrid or electric power.
“For some time in the Association we have registered a widespread and growing awareness of these issues – he explained Violante Gardini Cinelli Colombini, President of Agivi – for this reason we have decided to try and measure how much respect for the environment influences company choices, also with a view to new commercial opportunities. An interesting picture emerged: almost 7 out of 10 interviewees declared that they select suppliers on the basis of the sustainability of their proposals, and 83% of companies declare that they have projects or plans on the theme of sustainability, already completed or in course of realization in 8 cases out of 10”.
Young Italian farmers
Despite the health and economic crisis, in 2020 there was a 14% increase in the number of young entrepreneurs in agriculture, compared to five years ago. This is what emerges from one Coldiretti analysis on the basis of entries in the Unioncamere Business Register which show a greater interest of the under 35s in the land and less in other productive activities, from industry to commerce.
The renewed interest of young people in the countryside is above all reflected in the common belief that agriculture has become a sector capable of offering employment and growth opportunities, destined to increase over time. But the real surprise concerns the young people who have decided to invest in this sector despite their origins. Among the new farmers there are not only young people who have continued and preserved the family business, but also those who come from other sectors or family experiences away from nature and the land. With their capacity for innovation, passion and propensity for sustainability, young people are the real engine of the restart for an economy that already had many critical issues: a Pro-capite GDP it's a employment rate among the lowest among OECD countries.
“With over 55 under 35s at the helm of farms and farms, Italy – he explained Coldiretti – is the European leader in the number of businesses run by young people, also thanks to the green shift in consumption and work favored by the pandemic. The result is that today in Italy 1 out of 10 businesses run by young people carry out an activity aimed at agriculture and breeding to guarantee the availability of healthy and quality food to Italian families in a dramatic moment for the economy and employment”.
“The presence of young people – continued Coldiretti – is revolutionizing work in the fields where seven companies during 35 out of ten they operate in multifunctional activities ranging from the corporate transformation of products to direct sales, from educational farms to agri-kindergartens, but also to recreational activities, social agriculture for the inclusion of the disabled, prisoners and drug addicts, the arrangement of parks, gardens , roads, agro-wellness and landscape care or the production of renewable energies”.
