Today, Lombardy is the primary agricultural region in Italy and ranks amongst the first in Europe. It produces 38% of the milk, 45% of the rice and 39% of pork-based products produced in Italy.
These are just some of the region’s outstanding achievements, which are also supported by European Agricultural Policies and, in particular, by the Rural Development Programme – a set of guidelines that are financially supported by dedicated funds that can be accessed by European farmers.
Under this scenario, thanks to the support of RDP funds, Lombardy has achieved excellent results: 1,279 young farmers have benefited from the special aid payment for their first installation as farmers in the 2007-2013 period, there are 31 PDO and PGI products (out of the total number of 260 in Italy), 248 traditional products, 42 registered designation of origin wines and 12 Food and Wine Roads. But not only this. Lombardy also boasts 1,415 agritourism establishments and 197 certified educational farms, 50% of which sell their produce directly to consumers. There are 811 regional mountain pastures, the network of canals stretches for approximately 40,000 km and farmers account for 2% of the population, taking care of 80% of the territory.
To make these features known and to tell citizens about the importance of Lombardy’s agriculture as well as the support provided by the RDP for the promotion and development of the same, the Lombardy Directorate General for Agriculture has realized a communication campaign addressed to Lombard citizens “L’agricoltura cambia faccia alla tua vita” (“Agriculture changes your life”) and has set up the first network of events (in Italy) dedicated to agriculture on the Lombard territory in the autumn period – Stagione dell’agricoltura lombarda (The Season of Lombard Agriculture).
Federation of the Food and Wine Roads of Lombardy
strade_del_vino@ersaf.lombardia.it
Direzione Generale Asgricoltura
Struttura Attrattività e promozione delle produzioni
www.agricoltura.regione.lombardia.it
www.buonalombardia.it
promozione_prodotti@regione.lombardia.it
ERSAF – Ente Regionale per i Servizi all’Agricoltura e alle Foreste
Dipartimento dei Servizi all’Agricoltura
www.ersaf.lombardia.it
chiediloaersaf@ersaf.lombardia.it