Lusetti (Confcommercio): ‘Let’s not harass farmers. Price rises cause energy and climate’ (and raw materials)

The fact of not dealing directly with farmers CANNOT be a boast because it means that those who buy, in the large-scale retail trade, are not doing it well because they accept intermediaries and opacity in the purchase prices and margins of all the actors in the chain. Most probably, by negotiating directly with farmers, they could obtain better prices that would benefit their customers

Our relationship with FOOD over the last 100 YEARS has changed a great deal: how?

How has our relationship with food changed over the last hundred years? In the first episode of the docuseries “What We Eat”, produced in collaboration with @foodunfolded with the support of EIT Food and co-funded by the European Union, we trace the evolution of our relationship with food, which has been turned on its head in just one century

Quick Take — The President of the Council has the same positions as Trump but shows more diplomacy: she admits climate change but does nothing concrete

rather demonise the ecological transition. Indeed, Trump has just suspended the operating permits for all major offshore projects under construction in the USwith immediate effecton 22 December (Le Monde). The announcement concerns in particular five projects located on the east coast that represent a total investment of $25 billion (around €21 billion). These fields, which had received federal credits under Joe Biden’s tenure, were supposed to provide electricity to more than 2.5 million households and businesses and create nearly 10,000 jobs (Le Monde).

The political risk is great as the cost of electricity in the US has risen by 5% this year, the power grid is obsolete, and the ‘inflation theme’ is hot (Le Monde). .

While in our country, industrial production is retreating, also under the blows of an Italian energy cost that is among the highest in Europe.

Below: the ecological transition does not stop (Lifegate December 2025), despite Trump and Meloni.

Quick Take — The effect of climate change on coffee: more and more complicated to grow Arabica. And quality suffers

Brazilian producers are choosing more drought-resistant species such as Robusta. But the taste is changing, getting worse: more bitter and with more caffeine. Behind a bean an entire supply chain is changing face: the Arabica variety, Brazilian farmers explain, requires more stable climatic conditions, average altitudes and moderate temperatures than the current climatic extremes. Then there is the problem of inflation and the cost of coffee at the bar: this year Arabica is priced 50 per cent higher than a year ago.One way to tackle the climate challenge is to increase production of the Robusta variety, which has shown itself to be more resilient than Arabica: it tolerates heat and water stress better, and can also be grown at lower altitudes. These characteristics make it safer to the point that in Brazil it has grown at an average annual rate of about 4.8 % compared to 2-2.5 % for Arabica. Green&Blue wonders whether consumers will be able to adapt. In Italy certainly, because very often the coffee that is drunk in public places is bad.

Quick Take — Chiquita, from Sicily the first Italian production

Chiquita’s iconic bananas will be grown, for the first time, in Italy. With the bananas an Italian product, the brand starts production in the heart of Sicily together with the local agricultural cooperative Alba Bio

The banana is the last of the tropical products whose production has landed in southern Italy as a result of climate change.

“There is no shortage of unknowns. The banana is a demanding plant: it requires large amounts of water and stable environmental conditions. In an island that already faces water and climate challenges, maintaining environmental sustainability will be crucial’…

Bananas are already cultivated in Italy in Apulia.

Compiled on 30 September updated on 6 October 2025

Unfair Practices : The failure of regulation

Penalties for unfair practices in 2023-2024 amount to only 665,000 euros against estimated damages of at least 350 million annually. in essence on prices and unfair practices the ‘dolce far niente’ of Italian politics continues. Remember this when you see the next tractors in the square or when you hear about the sad affairs of groups like Auchan, Casino, Carrefour Italia and others

Quick Take — Only 45.9% of the extra virgin olive oil (EVO) in Italy is domestically produced

.. the Italian product is down 36 per cent annually, while stocks from the EU are up 57.2 per cent, indicating a growing reliance on imports. Italy faces structural challenges: plant diseases such as Xylella [which has affected Italy’s most important olive-growing region and will not give up], prolonged drought, extreme weather events and afragmented agriculture

According to the most recent data, Italy produced around 240,000 tonnes of olive oil in the 2024/2025 campaign, down 90,000 tonnes from the previous year. However, domestic demand amounts to about 850-900,000 tonnes per year (domestic consumption of 550,000, plus 300-350,000 tonnes for export.

This results in a structural deficit of at least 610-660 thousand tonnes, covered through imports, mainly from Tunisia, Spain, Greece and other EU and non-EU countries…

In essence, Italian oil covers roughly 27% of requirements (domestic consumption and exports).

On this subject , olive oil is a good parameter for assessing the static nature of Italian agriculture, but also because the oil we put on the table is often very bad. Worth mentioning: a bill defining Italian extra virgin quality for the first time even though, unfortunately, Italian oil and supermarkets have once again become INCOMPATIBLE.

Below: Xylella and undercutting are two of the many problems of extra virgin oil

Compiled 21 June, updated 8 August 2025