Agriculture with organic future, "Agricoltura con futuro bio"

Best Practice

Topics

• Regional value added
• Governance capacity, New forms of decision-making

Short description

The project is located within the Italian alpine perimeter, particularly in the north-western part of Friuli Venezia-Giulia Region (Eastern Italian Alps). Within the Municipality of Budoia an agreement between the local organic farmers and the school-meal service has been promoted under the supervision of Aiab. The parents of the 150 children of the local schools choose the products and, in collaboration with the farmers, prearrange the plans of production in order to supply the canteen of the school with the organic local products during the whole school year. This can guaratee a market in which the farmers can sell their products and the assurance that children can eat genuine and fresh food even at school. Endogenous resources: agriculture products, employees, traditional regional know how. Economic sectors involved: agriculture, trade.

---

Project executive

Aiab (Associazione Italiana per l’Agricoltura Biologica) is the Italian Association for the Organic Farming and the regional division of Friuli Venezia-Giulia is responsible for this project. The Association promotes organic farming, rural sustainable development and healthy eating, aware and concerned.

---

Participants

Aiab-Friuli Venezia-Giulia (the parents' group) is responsible for the selection and the purchase orders of food to the local producers, under the agreement of the Municipality of Budoia, which effects payments. Aiab FVG offers technical, scientific and educational support. Asl, Prevention Division, offers its scientific support to the School-Meal Commission (formed by parents, teachers, cooks and members of the local authority) for the choice of the menus. A catering society is responsible for the baking and cleaning service. Two persons have promoted the project, but now the goup has been enlarged. The two persons could be, in a future, easily replaced. The participants identify with the project.

Objectives

The main objective is to strengthen the local development through the promotion of a short chain of production, which lets the farmers continue their activity in the direction of environmental quality (organic farming) and direct contact with end-consumers. Another objective is to encourage other farms to turn their farming into organic farming and to find new local end-consumers. Other important objectives are the educational activities in the field of healthy-eating; fresh, seasonal and local food supply starting from childhood. Another objective is to make parents and families aware of the importance of a healthy-eating since childhood and, by this way, create a virtuous circle, which while promoting healthy-eating supports local sustainable development.

Activities

1. Proposal to the Municipality of Budoia to manage the service in partnership; 2. research and selection of local organic farmers; 3. regular control of the quality of products; 4. adaptation of menus to better the nutritional profile and to use in a better way the local products (even with traditional recipes); 5. organisation of formative and informative meetings with cooks, parents and teachers; 6. formative meetings with farmers; 7.informative meetings and workshops with the local and nearby communities; 8. formative and informative meetings with children; 9. school visits to the farms; 10. proposal to the families of visiting the farms; 11. contribution to the organisation of cocktails during public events; 12. constitution of a families purchase group.

Process

The process has been carried out following all the points described in the activities. The methodology used has been to open a dialogue with the public authority and then, once obtained the support of the local authority, to propose the project to the local farmers and to the parents.

Results

1.reinforcement of the local economy and of the direct relationship with the farmers; 2.conversion of the local farmers towards sustainable methods of production (organic farming); 3. impact on the food habits of children (seasonality, consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, decrease of the consumtion of meat etc.); 4. information campaigns about healthy-eating, about the importance of agriculture in the management of territory and food sovereignty; 5. involvement of the employees of the municipality: about 10 of them eat the organic meal; 6. involvement of local social services with the proposal to distribute the organic meal even to the lonely elderly; 7. development of a local economic network, which maintains the regional value added; 8. promotion of the experience in similar contexts in order to strengthen the participation and the link between parents and farmers. The specific relevance of the results for the Alps is that the project contributes to strengthen the relation between the farmer and the territory, with the positive effects of limiting the process of depopulation that is interesting the Alps on a regional scale, supporting the local economy with a production based on endogenous resources and preserving the alpine environment.

Evaluation

The families involved have evaluated the project at the end of the first school year. This evaluation has been positive and some improvements proposed have been put into practice.

Difficulties

Initially, some difficulties were related to the parents' involvement. Other difficulties dealt with burocracy and with the employees of the school catering service. All the difficulties have been resolved through long discussions and meetings.

Budget

114.820 euro per year, 22.000 euro per year financed by the regional law L.R.15/00. The cost of the catering service is 110.000 euro per year; the cost of the initiatives proposed by Aiab is around 2.000 euro per year. (Euro)

Financial backer

Public investement

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

http://www.aiab.it/informazione/dossier/mensebio/budoia

Project executive as above

Contact person as above

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

The project contributes to preserve and improve nature and environment through the adoption of the methodology of organic agriculture. This is very significant because the project is located in a region of depopulation where it is more difficult to protect and improve landscape, the fertility of soil and biodiversity. The co-operation and network between the local farmers and the end-consumers also contributes to reduce packaging and transport, which means decrease of fuel consumption, reduction of air pollution and of waste materials.

Economic value added

The economic value added provided by the project comes from a more constant income for the local farmers and from the reduction of the cost of the agriculture products. This creates a local economic network, which is not dependent on the global market fluctuations. At the present time, it is difficult to evaluate and to quantify this economic value added since it has not been possible to verify the effective number of families that are buying the products from the local farmers who are involved in the project. High potential to keep people in the region.

Socio-cultural value added

The project provides a favourable impact on the society because it contributes to: improve the food habits of children (seasonality, consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, decrease of the consumption of meat etc.); protect the territory and the local cultural heritage through the co-operation between farmers and consumers; create work-groups formed by different local stakeholders, such as parents, farmers, teachers, politicians and local administrators, of both genders in order to achieve shared decisions.

Innovative content

The main innovative content of the project is based on the proposal of a direct management of the food purchases, which tries to avoid the interference of intermediaries and to remain in the local dimension. This has led the local producers to the drafting of production plans in order to supply the school-canteen only with the goods needed, thus guaranteeing an effective income to the farmers.

Good governance

A charter of the public school catering service is being edited by the School-Meal Commission adn AIAB. A first draft of the charter has been presented in a meeting to all the parents and to the local administrators at the beginning of the 2005/2006 school year in order to match the principles of the charter with the needs of the community and of the territory. The document will be soon approved by the city council.

PR impact

The project is made known to the population through public meetings, communications on local newspapers and web site. The project has been also presented in a regional radio programme and in a national conference. This impact could be quantified with the numerous requests of informations that the local and other nearby communities have made in the last few months.

Multiplier effect / networking

The experience of the Municipality of Budoia has given rise to a great interest in the nearby villages of Polcenigo, Aviano and Montereale, which are intentioned to propose the project to their communities.

Transferability

The project can be easily transferred to other regions and the only basic condition is to keep in mind the necessity to establish a link between the local producers and the consumers starting from the schools. Of course the project is more easily applicable to small centres, but this does not mean that it is possible to tranfer it even in the bigger ones. Basic conditions to implement the project are the presence of a motivated group of parents and of a helpful local public authority.

Further information

I:\CIPRA\I genitori del gruppo AIAB sezione regionale FVG vi invitano a partecipare alla.doc

 

I:\CIPRA\informativa mensa.doc

 

I:\CIPRA\pieghevole mensabio 05.doc

 

I:\CIPRA\pieghevole mensabio 051.doc

 

Mensa Budoia