Piacenza is the fourth producer in the Grana Padano Consortium and an important player in the entire milk and dairy products supply chain, thanks to its numerous stables and dairies, both private and cooperative. With Dairy Expo Tech, an exhibition-conference for the milk and dairy products supply chain, which will be held next 5 and 6 December in Piacenza Expo, it increasingly places itself at the center of a sector that is known throughout the world for its quality and safety of its products.
As was highlighted by Alberto Lancellotti, Senior Analyst – Dairy and Supply Chain inputs Clal and by Mirco De Vincenzi, Senior Analyst – Dairy Clal, the figures speak for themselves. According to Clal data, exports of cheese and dairy products in 2023 reached a total turnover of 4.9 billion euros, up 11.6% compared to 2022. The export of cheese and dairy products also recorded significant growth in the first three months of 2024, reaching an increase of 12.9% compared to the same period of 2023, with exports of Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano reaching a peak of +15.1%. With the price of milk, both that intended for Grana Padano and Spot milk, which today stands at quite profitable prices, recovering the drop of a few years ago.
Particularly important data for Emilia-Romagna as highlighted by Vincenzo Colla, councilor for economic development and green economy of the Region and Giancarlo Pedretti, president of Colat (Confcooperative Piacenza), as well as councilor of the Grana Padano Consortium. «The Emilia-Romagna region ranks second (after Lombardy) in terms of milk productivity and dedicates most of its production to the transformation into Parmigiano Reggiano and, for Piacenza, into Grana Padano», they explained.
«Ours – reiterated Pedretti – is a virtuous supply chain, towards which ungenerous criticism is sometimes made, because animal welfare is what is closest to producers’ hearts. Furthermore, we have equipped ourselves with increasingly complex technology, but cooperation is essential to grow and bring wealth to the territory.” After the greeting from the mayor of Piacenza Katia Tarasconi («excellent event to attract more and more players in the supply chain to our territory»), with the coordination of the journalist Robert Gionelli, Giuseppe Cavalli, president of Piacenza Expo, took the floor to reiterate the role of body for the territory and economy of Piacenza: «Dairy Expo Tech, the exhibition conference dedicated to machines and equipment for the production of milk and all dairy products organized by Senaf which will be held on 5 and 6 December at the trade fair body , was born (as also confirmed by Ivo Nardella, President of Senaf and the Tecniche Nuove Group and the general director of Senaf Emilio Bianchi), to encourage the development of the sector by showing the many entrepreneurs and managers the innovative solutions to overcome the challenges that the sector is facing, such as sustainability, digitalisation, training and staff shortages, production efficiency, profitability, etc. Challenges that can only be overcome with an overall vision oriented towards growth and with knowledge of the technological innovations that the market offers.”
The Dairy Expo Tech exhibition and conference will dedicate ample space to the agricultural and economic policies of the milk supply chain, with the aim of creating dialogue platforms to strengthen the system and encourage actions to safeguard social, environmental and economic sustainability. Today, in fact, the dairy supply chain must deal with the urgency of greater environmental sustainability, setting itself the objective of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the transition towards an increasingly ecological production model and the reduction of water and energy. A necessary change that cannot be achieved without a strong component of technological innovation. The introduction of cutting-edge machinery and new technologies can bring not only benefits in environmental terms, but also economic ones, allowing us to reduce costs and waste of raw materials, accelerate and automate production processes, exploit the opportunities that come from digital channels, etc.
Among the main events of the event there will be two conferences, the Dairy Summit and the Dairy Tech Summit, to encourage discussion on the key themes of the conference exhibition between production, transformation and distribution, and many initiatives such as the Dairy Overview Observatory, to intercept new trends, and the Dairy Awards, to recognize particularly innovative solutions in the technological field. Finally, there will be a space dedicated to new talents called Piazza Formazione, an area dedicated to discussion and cooperation between schools and businesses in collaboration with the main universities.
