The Battle of Italian Durum Wheat
Italian farmers fight a new phase of Battle of the wheat. La lotta per la difesa del grano duro italiano si è acuita a luglio 2016, periodo di trebbiatura, quando le quotazioni sono crollate del 42% in confronto allo stesso periodo del 2015.
Italy is the main European producer of durum wheat, with a cultivated area of 1.3 million hectares (ha) and a production of almost 5 million tons (3 million t from 0.6 million ha is instead the production of Italian soft wheat). But the sector is suffering.
Massive imports from abroad (+315% from Ukraine for soft wheat, intended for bread, +4% from Canada for durum wheat for pasta) and a contraction in the prices of Italian products to levels insufficient to compensate companies put the survival of 30,000 farms at risk, according to the Coldiretti dossier, which leads the Battle of the wheat on the front line.
The farmers' organization denounces: “Today durum wheat for making pasta is paid 18 cents per kg, soft wheat for bread 16 per kg, well below the production costs borne by companies. From wheat to pasta, prices increase by 500%, and from wheat to bread by an astonishing 1,400%.” Numbers that fuel the protests of a Battle of the wheat that calls on the institutions.
