Supporting local production is the message announced by the Oleggio Agricultural Fair. Tomorrow from 9am to 7pm, more than 200 companies are expected in the center of Western Ticino for the 23rd edition of the event inspired by the livestock market, a historic tradition that has attracted hundreds of buyers every Monday since the 15th century. The agricultural and livestock exhibition followed in 1906, repeated and transformed until it closed in the 1970s. Since ’99 the Municipality has decided to relaunch the event in a modern version by promoting an inter-regional showcase for the sector capable of welcoming up to 30 thousand visitors every 1st May. Farmers and breeders, present with hundreds of animals, are the protagonists of the initiative which has been missing since 2019 on its symbolic date. The following two editions did not take place due to Covid, while the 2022 event was postponed to September and last year’s event was canceled due to rain.
Appeal to Europe
The return of the symbolic date is part of a spring of protests and demands that see farmers and trade associations at the forefront in Brussels.
«In Oleggio we will collect signatures to propose a European law of popular initiative that goes beyond the customs code and extends the obligation of the origin label on all food products on the market in the Union – anticipates Luciano Salvadori, director of Coldiretti Novara and Vco -. The system that authorizes the wording “Made in Italy” on products imported and subjected to minimal processing must be abolished. We saw it first-hand on 8 and 9 April at the Brenner border in the demonstration organized to expose this practice by checking trucks in transit. On that occasion, a load of 20 tons of white grapes with foreign labels destined for Biandrate for large-scale distribution was discovered. The purchase of underpaid milk from abroad is also an unfortunately real phenomenon. After having opposed the green light to synthetic meat, we will fight on this issue.”
For Giovanni Chiò, president of Confagricoltura Novara and Vco, the watchword is “reciprocity”: “The production standards of the countries from which Europe imports are certainly not as stringent as ours both in terms of environmental protection and of workers in terms of safety, reliability and economy. Under current conditions it is impossible to compete on the market on equal terms, yet our agriculture is demonized and accused of being one of the main causes of pollution. We need to redefine the role of farmers and breeders, but we need to do it first and foremost at a European level.”
Damage to wildlife
Other questions are raised by Daniele Botti, director of Cia Novara, Vercelli and Vco. According to the head of the section, we always have to turn to Brussels to deal «once and for all with the great issue of wildlife. We are in the sowing period – he explains – and on the Novara hills the wild boars have already started attacking again, devastating corn fields and meadows. The redistribution of added value within the supply chain is also fundamental. Oleggio is the “City of milk” and yet this product continues to be paid too little compared to the costs incurred by the primary sector. Even the low prices of wheat and rice confirm the trend assumed on the markets in relation to the base. In October we organized a mobilization in Rome to call for the definition of a national plan for agriculture and food that can rebalance relations, a project announced several times by the institutions but so far never implemented.”
