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© Francesco Gallarotti

Since 1980, around 64% of farms in the Alps have gone out of business. The structural change in agriculture is clearly noticeable everywhere, but especially in the Alpine region. Conflicts with the tourism and energy sectors as well as changing production conditions due to the climate crisis and emigration trends are exacerbating the situation.

However, agriculture makes an indispensable contribution to the development of the Alps and provides important ecosystem services. With this in mind, CIPRA maintains contacts with other organisations such as the Rete Semi Rurali (RSR).

The aim of the RSR association is to adapt organic farming, pasture farming and livestock breeding to the ecological, social and economic conditions of mountain regions. In cooperation with other associations and groups, this goal is to be achieved step by step.

On 16 and 17 November 2023, the network organised a two-day event in the province of Brescia/I on the topic of agro-biodiversity in the mountains. The following considerations relevant to CIPRA were noted:

• Biodiversity in the mountains must always be considered in the context in which it is embedded. Aspects of the agricultural system as well as social and economic conditions must be considered. In order to make life and agriculture in the mountains possible and desirable in the future, efforts must be made to facilitate working conditions based on the underlying needs. For example, through technical aids and knowledge exchange in relation to an agroecological transformation, which have already been established in other European countries through so-called "helpdesks".
• A key characteristic of mountain farms is polyculture, as they are by nature a diversified, multifunctional system (coexistence of several plant and animal species). However, Italian legislation does not reflect this diversity adequately, if at all. A reform of the regulatory system at all levels of the supply chain - from seed propagation and field management to product processing and distribution - would therefore be necessary. Due to these legal shortcomings and the associated bureaucratic hurdles, consortia and interest groups are currently managed by informal networks that have no access to funding. A first step towards optimisation would be the transfer of favourable legal framework conditions already established in some places.

• Mountain farms play a crucial role in safeguarding biodiversity for two reasons: on the one hand, due to their spatial isolation, they are guardians of pure forms of new species that have emerged from fertilisation between two different species. On the other hand, they promote exchange between the people managing them, thereby reducing the rate of species inbreeding.

CIPRA recognises these considerations and will incorporate them where possible.