The spring of agroecology in Italy was announced in Rome on March 6, 2025, at the press conference that NaturaSì organized to present a revolutionary project: ‘We Support Agriculture’ – with a fair and transparent price.
The solidarity towards the people who produce our food in respect nature, ecosystems and health is realized in a social pact that everyone can participate in, based on the values invoked by the author for years:
- The #fairpricecapable of guaranteeing cost coverage and a decent income to farmers and agricultural workers;
- The #transparency in the value chain, so that buyers can understand the meaning and impacts of their choices.
Introduction
From the roots of organic to the NaturaSì network: the journey of Fabio Brescacin
Fabio Brescacin is a key figure in the organic farming movement in Italy. Co-founder of the Ecor cooperative In the 1987, contributed significantly to the spread of a distribution model based on ethical values, environmental sustainability and transparency in the agri-food chain. His vision has facilitated the meeting between organic producers and conscious consumers, promoting respect for the land, biodiversity and the social justice as central elements of the agricultural economy. Brescacin also supported ongoing training for farmers and sector operators, enhancing peasant knowledge and sustainable innovation.
NaturaSì: an ethical network for sustainable food
The NaturaSì project, born from the union of Ecor with other players in the Italian organic sector, today represents the first distribution network of organic and biodynamic products in Italy. With over 300 points of sale nationwide, NaturaSì positions itself not only as a supermarket but as a reference community for critical and responsible consumption. The project integrates retail sales with direct support to producers and the recovery of authentically regenerative agricultural practices, focusing on transparency, traceability, and respect for human labor. NaturaSì has thus become a concrete example of civil economy, in which agriculture returns to the center of choices for a fairer and more sustainable future.
Beyond organic: SaluteSì, CulturaSì and the anthroposophic vision
The evolution of the NaturaSì project led to the creation of related initiatives such as SaluteSì and CulturaSì, with the goal of integrating health, well-being, and cultural awareness into daily life:
- SaluteSì promotes a holistic approach to personal care, based on natural nutrition, integrated medicine, and psychophysical well-being;
- CulturaSì in turn enhances critical thinking and education on sustainability through events, publications, and collaborations with schools and associations.
These initiatives fit into the broader vision inspired byanthroposophy By Rudolf Steiner, also at the base of biodynamic agriculture supported by the group. NaturaSì, through the Foundation for Biodynamic Agriculture and active participation in educational projects, positions itself as a promoter of a new food culture, where ethics, spirit, and matter coexist harmoniously.
The numbers of a growing ecosystem
NaturaSì is today the leading specialized organic operator in Italy, with consolidated revenues exceeding 400 million euros in 2023 and a network of over 300 points of sale, including affiliated and direct stores (NaturaSì, 2024). The company has about 1,600 employees and collaborates with over 1,000 organic farms, some of which are grouped in the cooperative Le Terre di Ecor.
According to Nomisma data (2023), NaturaSì holds a significant share of the organic market in Italy, estimated around 20% in the specialized channel.
Unlike conventional large-scale retail, the group's approach stands out for centrality of the producer and the reinvestment in the territory. The organic market continues to show signs of stable growth, with particular interest from new generations, increasingly oriented towards ethical and sustainable consumption.
We Support Agriculture, NaturaSì’s campaign
‘This campaign is only the beginning of an awareness process that, according to NaturaSì, must involve everyone: companies, institutions and citizens in a relationship of mutual trust and participation’, explains the president of NaturaSì ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤFabio Brescacin. ‘We need everyone’s contribution and support to build a future in which agriculture can once again be a work of healing and care for the Earth, not exploitation. For us, it is a value-based choice’, he adds. ‘Shopping consciously is an act of responsibility towards a fairer and more sustainable food model for all’.
Why a campaign, and not just a simple corporate project, or better, of the supply chain? Precisely because the two values that are promoted – fair price and agroecology, as well as transparency of the value chain, have a universal character and must be carried forward in every supply chain everywhere, regardless of its promoters and the false promises of legislative reforms in this regard. In the name of a shared benefit for communities and ecosystems that now more than ever need to converge, under the banner of agroecology and the ecology of the mind (quoting Norman Bates). Since each of us has ‘the responsibility to choose a sustainable future for new generations, building a community based on respect for nature, economic justice, and a culture of peace’.
Fair and transparent price
NaturaSì is committed to purchasing products from the companies of Le Terre di Ecor at a fair price to adequately remunerate the work of farmers and the quality of their products, and to offer them transparently to consumers, so that they can make informed choices.
Born more than 15 years ago, Le Terre di Ecor is a network of organic and biodynamic farms, united by a special relationship with the land and a deep commitment to nature, people and product quality. Maintaining the identity and history of each individual producer, Le Terre di Ecor also pursues the goal of bringing together those who believe in a new social and economic relationship between producers, traders and consumers.
It is in fact a virtuous model, based on a transparent relationship between those who produce, those who distribute and those who consume, also including aspects ranging from logistics to agronomic consulting, from product quality control to point of sale management costs, to promote ethical, sustainable and people-centered agriculture.
The fair price as the foundation of an ethical and sustainable agricultural economy
In a dialogue with Carlo Savegnago, tenacious editor of Pandora TV, Fabio Brescacin strongly reiterates what was once vigorously stated by the late fraternal friend Vito Gulli: ‘the race to the lowest possible prices is a losing game, without a future’. A statement repeated insistently to underline the destruction that this logic entails both for producers and for the entire agri-food system.
The NaturaSì project on the fair price arises from a vision that Brescacin, like Vito Gulli before him, defines as ‘economic altruism’, or the recognition that ‘my physical life on earth depends on the work of others’. Hence the need to fairly remunerate those who produce, without paternalism, but with a concrete economic awareness: ‘I must give the right value to the work of others’. The right price, according to Brescacin, is neither fixed nor generic, but must be calibrated based on real factors such as environmental, geographical and seasonal conditions. For this reason, he invites ‘everyone to sit at the table: producers, consumers and distributors’, to find a balance that overcomes the selfishness of individual parties.
Brescacin recognizes the cultural and communicative difficulties that hinder this approach, including for NaturaSì: ‘sometimes we too have fallen into proposing only the final price’. However, it emphasizes the importance of engaging a conscious audience, who recognizes the value of health and the environment related to aorganic and biodynamic agriculture. The proposed model is also inspired by the values of fair trade, with which it shares roots: ‘today the issue is all agriculture, including European and national’. NaturaSì, it affirms, is not alone in this vision: ‘we are not the only ones, but we want to be a yeast’. Finally, it claims the collective nature of the project, rejecting the idea that NaturaSì is only its own: ‘it is the creation of many people, and the fair price is the blood of this creature’. It concludes by inviting to ‘bring out the reality of things’ and to deeply review the foundations on which our economic and food system is based.
Dario Dongo
On the cover, Fabio Brescacin, president of NaturaSì
References
- Foundation for Biodynamic Agriculture. (n.d.). About us. https://www.fondazioneagricolturabiodinamica.it/chi-siamo/
- The Pandora's Vase. (2025, April 13). Organic opens the way to transparent pricing – Fabio Brescacin [Video]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIKE7f2qH6I
- NaturaSì. (2024). Who we are and what we do. https://www.naturasi.it/chi-siamo
- Nomisma. (2023). SANA Observatory 2023: Organic in Italy. https://www.nomisma.it/osservatori/osservatorio-sana/
- Steiner, R. (1924). Agriculture course: The birth of the biodynamic method (G. Adams, Trans.). Rudolf Steiner Press. (Original work published 1924). https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA327/English/RSPC1938/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
- Dongo, D. (2024). Agriculture is food. The necessary revolution. 2024 GIFT – Great Italian Food Trade – WIISE SRL SB (Rome, Italy) ISBN 979-12-985506-0-5
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT – Food Times) and Égalité.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/notizie/naturasi-sosteniamo-agricoltura-prezzo-giusto-trasparente/&media=https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NaturaSi-sosteniamo-lagricoltura.jpg&description=NaturaSì lancia "Sosteniamo l'Agricoltura", un progetto rivoluzionario basato su prezzo giusto e trasparenza nella catena del valore. Scopri come l'azienda leader nel biologico italiano promuove un modello di distribuzione etico, sostenendo produttori biologici e biodinamici con un patto sociale che coinvolge aziende, istituzioni e cittadini.){kind=link}