The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies announces that the identification mark for the 'mountain product' quality regime was presented today in Sondrio by Minister Maurizio Martina. The logo, created by Mipaaf, is green with a stylized mountain and can be used on products provided for by the quality regime. The optional quality indication "mountain product", in fact, is used for raw materials that come essentially from mountain areas and in the case of processed foods, when transformation, maturing and maturation take place in the mountains.
“Our goal - declared Minister Martina - is to better enhance the work of producers in mountain areas. We are talking about 17% of the total of Italian agricultural enterprises and one third of farms. The agricultural economy of the mountain is a fundamental pillar for the stability of our territories, even against hydrogeological instability. With the quality regime and this new brand, consumers will be able to more easily recognize the productions from the labels and support these activities and their not only economic, but social and environmental value. In recent years we have implemented a series of useful interventions to support mountain farms. I am thinking of the choice of increasing funds for European direct aid, which went from 2 to almost 3 billion euros in total up to 2020. I am thinking of the coupled aid that has allocated around 30 million euros per year to farmers in mountain areas and overtime of 14 million euros paid as a measure to combat the crisis in the price of milk. I am also thinking of the Consolidated Law on Forests which, after years, sets a strategy for the management and enhancement of our forests. Now it is crucial to give continuity to this work, because the future of our mountains is the future of an important part of our identity ”.
DATA 2017 MOUNTAIN REPORT
Value of mountain agriculture in Italy: 9,1 billions of euros of which 6,7 billion Appennini and 2,4 billion Alpi
Occupied 2011-2016 in the alpine provinces: + 10%
(data from the Montagne Italia Foundation)