Elections ’24 proposed Cia Umbria, candidates, sustainable agriculture

Elections ’24 proposed Cia Umbria, candidates, sustainable agriculture

Elections ’24 – In view of the administrative elections which will involve 60 Umbrian municipalities on 8 and 9 June 2024, Cia Agricoltori Italiani dell’Umbria has introduced a manifesto of proposals addressed to mayoral candidates. With almost 150 candidates vying for the position of mayor, the association calls for a concrete commitment to enhance and protect agriculture and the rural world, fundamental elements for the development of the territory.

In the lasts decades, agriculture has undergone profound transformations, becoming increasingly central to local development. The growing demands for healthy eating and ecological campaigns for the protection of the environment and small production have led to a movement to recover and enhance local culture. This has made it necessary to reorganize agricultural policies, not only for food production but also for landscape care. Citizens are calling for effective public interventions to protect common goods and offer new services environmentallandscape and quality of life.

Cia Umbria proposes an eco-social and territorial approach, in which the farmer is not only a producer of food, but also a custodian of the rural landscape. Farmers must be protagonists in an economic model that includes tourism, well beingleisure, craftsmanship and contact with nature, promoting a new economy of relationships.

Among Cia Umbria’s proposals to mayoral candidates, there are:

• Use of local products in school canteens: promote the inclusion of short-chain agricultural products with low environmental impact in municipal canteens, to educate students on a healthy and sustainable diet.
• Free concession of public land for agricultural markets: offer free public spaces for local farm markets and provide tax exemptions in the first years for markets hosted in covered structures.
• New regulations for stopping land consumption: adopt measures for the regeneration of the territory, limiting unnecessary land consumption.
• Promotion of local production: through the Municipal Designation of Origin (De.Co.), certify the typical products of the municipality to enhance them during local events and village festivals.
• Establishment of energy communities: promote the creation of energy communities for shared and sustainable management of energy resources.
• Creating food communities: encourage active citizenship networks and promote local products and agricultural knowledge.
• Overcoming the white zones for internet connection: improve connectivity in the countryside and rural villages to support modern agriculture.
• Improvement of road infrastructure: upgrade roads in agricultural areas, especially in critical periods and in production areas.
• Watercourse monitoring: monitor the state of rivers and ditches to prevent environmental problems.
• Bureaucratic streamlining for agriphotovoltaic systems: simplify the procedures for the construction of agricultural photovoltaic systems.
• Role of agricultural companies in land maintenance: guarantee the involvement of agricultural companies in the care and management of the territory.
• Census of state agricultural land: make state land available to facilitate generational change in agriculture.
• Involvement of agricultural associations: increase the role of agricultural associations in the drafting and revision of municipal regulations.

Cia Umbria hopes that these proposals will be accepted by future mayors, to promote sustainable agriculture and a general improvement in the quality of life in Umbrian municipalities.