Italian farmers working together for a better deal

Unequal bargaining power and lack of transparency in the agri-food chain are the main causes for poor treatment of Italian farmers. Now they are creating producer organisations to increase their bargaining powers.

Paolo di Stefano is the Head of the Brussels Office of Coldiretti, a leading organisation of farmers representing half a million members. In an interview with Euractiv di Stefano said he wants to increase selling local food directly from farmers to consumers which would “create a direct relationship between producers and consumers by eliminating the intermediate steps of the supply chain that most contributed and still contribute to reducing margins for farmers.”

Following a consultation, later this year the European Commission will table legislation on food supply chains and unfair trading practices.

Sustain campaigns for a food and farming policy which benefits the environment, health, animals and farmers - which includes monitoring the work of the UK’s Groceries Code Adjudicator.