AGRICULTURE AND LOCAL PRODUCTS IN THE EASTERN VENETO Survey Abstract Conducted by Giulio Volpi Starter srl The present document contains a part of the results of the survey and research conducted in the ambit of the Tipi-Net project Network initiatives for the promotion of local products from the Alps to the Adriatic Coast. The document concerns a project realized in the Veneto region, Friuli Venezia Giulia region, and Slovakia, which aims at developing shared strategies for promoting quality farming produce characteristic of the areas involved. In the case of the Veneto these strategies were applied to the Venice Province, and in particular, to an area composed of 22 municipalities situated in the eastern most portion of the territory. In particular, the project has been articulated around the idea of constituting an Eastern Veneto Food Park, a physical space to present to visitors, where a food and wine heritage as well as local traditions of considerable value can be appreciated. The choice of a Park as a tool for optimising the products of the territory originates from two orders of consideration. In the first place, the necessity to link up and systemize these products, with their specific characteristics and economic potentialities: over the past years many initiatives have been dedicated to these products but they have often been presented in an uncoordinated manner, and consequently with a scarce efficacy. In the second place it presented an opportunity to consider the environmental and naturalistic characteristics, which the Eastern Veneto region is particularly endowed with, in an optimisation process (thus developing into the concept of a park ), stimulating in the consumer the perception of quality and authenticity of the farming products as an expression of a particularly integral territory from an environmental point of view. The idea of the Park is closely connected to the district concept and it links the image of a group of farms of excellence that operate to maintain alive the quality products of a local tradition. Owing to a series of optimisation initiatives in connection with the project and linked to the Park, it will be possible to obtain the recognition necessary for their revival and development (including financial support and other kinds of support). In order to duly support the creation of the Park, the Tipi-Net project considered the necessity of creating a foundation of knowledge of the more immediate aspects necessary for defining the operational lines. The results of the survey are presented in the following pages.
The first aspect analysed concerns the agricultural characteristics of the Eastern Veneto, particularly of production directly connected to the concepts of tradition, local characteristics and healthiness that the Park concept is to be developed upon. In this context, based on the data of the Agricultural ISTAT Census of the year 2000, detailed at a municipal level, the single areas of the territory in question were characterized, with the purpose of identifying the specific productive vocations corresponding to quality products to be used for promoting the Park. Following this, a bibliographic and documentary survey was carried out to identify, and where possible, to characterize the food and wine products that can aspire to become the heritage of the Park. Research was focalised on the products already recognized at a European or regional level (DOC wines, DOP, IGP, and traditional products, organic grown products) without leaving out other possible foods of local tradition, identified during the survey and considered worthy of interest and attention. Where it was necessary to make a choice (in the case of traditional, and foods of local tradition ) the precedence was given to products with a major connection to the primary production, with the aim of favouring initiatives that, in the middle and long term periods, will have a positive return for the farms. Lastly the survey aims at creating a direct link between the product and the relative location of production through the organization of a catasto di aziende, a list of firms that are directly involved in the production linked to the investigation. This study, which resulted in the direct identification of around 250 firms and 25 cooperatives or associations, was performed through the convergence of different research strategies: the searching of existing databanks; the involvement of associations; interviews with technicians, council referents and other authoritative persons. Furthermore, the provisional lists were verified with those of the principal professional associations of the agricultural sector to make sure they were a correct representation with regards to the changing and heterogeneous sphere of the farming world. It needs to be specified that the catasto delle aziende, like any other database referring to socioeconomic aspects, will inevitably be subject to ageing in the course of time and consequently its efficacy also needs to be linked to the possibility of continual verification and revision. This is considered to be one of the primary operational elements of the Park. The area covered by the project presents numerous opportunities of interest both for the agricultural and environmental characteristics, with several areas that have a strong tendency towards quality production and naturalistic contexts of merit, as well as that concerning the production of local products including an ample and diversified range. An interesting aspect concerns the border position of the areas, including both inter-provincial and inter-regional borders, according to which the territory lends itself to the development of co-operation
and exchange policies, which have been strongly incentivated in recent times by European agricultural policy. The territory of the Eastern Veneto Food Park hosts almost 12.000 agricultural farms, with a SAU of just over 70.000 hectares. A recent provincial survey used for Chart 1 shows that from 1990-2000, there was a differentiated dynamics in relation to the size of the farms, with a reduction of 10-15% in farms of modest dimensional classes (under 5 hectares) in comparison to a slight expansion in terms of number and surface area in farms with greater dimensions, with the exception of those included in the class from 50-100 ha. 10% 5% aziende con SAU SAU variazioni percentuali 0% -5% -10% -15% -20% meno di 1 ha da 1 ha a 1,99 ha da 2 ha a 4,99 ha da 5 a 9,99 ha da 10 a 19,99 ha da 20 a 49,99 ha da 50 a 99,99 ha 100 ha e oltre Chart 1. Variation of the number of farms and of the SAU from 1990-2000 (Source: Venice Province, 2004 New scenarios of agriculture in the province of Venice.) The area covered by the survey, made up of 22 municipalities of the Eastern Veneto region, has very different characteristics regarding the distribution of the population and the characteristics of the agricultural sector.
Alongside zones of low density population where there is prevalently an extensive typology of agriculture and an abundance of sown crops, there are areas with a greater population where the rural presence is becoming marginal or tending towards a specialization in favour of cultivations that provide a high return. Extensive agriculture is mostly present in the reclaimed lands, situated along the coastline, close to the littoral strip, and in particular it concerns the towns of Eraclea, Caorle, San Michele al Tagliamento and Torre di Mosto, all with population densities inferior to 150 inhabitants/km 2. While the population density is quite low, the average farm dimension on the other hand is quite high, with a SAU always above 7 ha/firm (the average of the entire area is 6,8 and of the province 4,8) with the top figure of almost 38,8 ha in the municipality of Caorle, where one of the largest farms in Italy is situated. Information on the productive orientation of the farms confirm that the area is a strong grain growing area. For all of the sown crops (cereals as well as other sown crops) the percentage of cultivated surface area is equal or superior to 90% in each one of the above municipalities. This is obviously an area where agriculture has an important social and economic role. In these areas there are also numerous elements of environmental value (see the survey on the environmental characteristics of the area). In the municipalities of Eraclea, Caorle, San Michele al Tagliamento and Jesolo, an important local product of the coastal strip, which flanks the sown crops, is represented by the Venetian Pear. This product involves over 100 farms for a surface area of approximately 720 ha. The product is inserted among the traditional products of the Veneto region. It is interesting to observe that in Caorle and Jesolo the percentage of farms that sell cultivated products directly to the public, is respectively equal to 8,9% and 6,4%, significantly higher than the provincial average, which is equal to 4,5%, showing that this is a relatively diffused practice and certainly coherent with the strategies of territorial promotion of the Park. From the point of view of the food heritage it is also appropriate to note how these areas lie in the coastline strip, particularly the municipality of Caorle, which have the possibility of combining land products to those of the sea. Products include the baby octopus of Caorle, which is registered among traditional products of the Veneto region.
While the eastern central area has a relatively low population, the north western zone of the Eastern Veneto, including the municipalities of San Donà di Piave, Fossalta di Piave and Noventa di Piave, has a population density above 400 inhabitants/km2 in the first two cases, and in the third case above 300 inhabitants/ km 2. In this zone, where small and medium sized companies have often superseded farms from an economical point of view (and sometimes also territorial), the estates have consequently been split and subdivided, with an average SAU always inferior to the provincial average, between 3,1 and 4,0 hectares/farm. In this zone the cultivation of grapevines particularly stands out, occupying at least 10% of the SAU, with a minimum of 9,7% at San Donà di Piave and a maximum at Noventa di Piave with 19,4%. In fact the area is particularly dedicated to the Piave DOC wines, also extending to the neighboring municipalities (in particular to Meolo, where the surface area cultivated with grapevines is equal to 15,1% of the SAU), making up one of the two winegrowing poles of the zone. The other winegrowing pole is developed around the Lison-Pramaggiore DOC wines, with an epicentre in the municipalities of Pramaggiore (37,8% of the SAU represented by grapevines) and Annone Veneto (41,7% of the SAU represented by grapevines), as well as involving the other municipalities foreseen in the DOC specifications. This last area has the greatest overall potentiality. In 2005 there was an overall productive volume of approximately 97.500 hl produced in the Lison-Pramaggiore zone and 15.900 hl in the Venetian zone of Piave DOC wines with surface areas respectively equal to 1.457 ha and 233 ha. With regards to the structural characteristics, wine-growing in the Lison-Pramaggiore area develops over a territory less densely populated in comparison to the Piave area, with values between136 and 165 inhabitants/km 2 in the quoted municipalities, including firms of important dimensions with an average SAU from 4,7 to 5,3 hectare/firm. In the specific case of winegrowing firms, the average company SAU in the municipalities concerning the Piave DOC wines range from 0,8 to 1,3 ha whereas in the municipalities concerning the Lison- Pramaggiore DOC wines, this value oscillates between 2,6 e 3,6 ha. The elevated farm dimension, equal to 5,7 ha/farm and 1,6 ha/farm for winegrowing companies, is also revealed at Portogruaro, another important municipality for the production of Lison-Pramaggiore DOC wines, which has a slightly higher density population, equal to 240 inhabitants/km 2. Data concerning forms of product commercialisation contributes to strengthening the productive and commercial model, and in this regards the Lison-Pramaggiore area is more advanced than the San Donà area. While the percentage of firms performing direct sales of transformed products (wine) is superior to 20% in Annone Veneto and Pramaggiore, in the municipalities of San Donà di Piave, Fossalta di Piave, Noventa di Piave and Meolo this value ranges between 1,1% and 2,6%. The cultivation of vegetables is an exceptional element in the municipality of Cavallino-Treporti where over 60% of the cultivation is dedicated to this sector, including a strong emphasis on the salad tomato and salad greens (particularly represented by corn salad in recent years), cultivated in
protected environments. The adjacent municipality of Jesolo also inherits a part of this productive tradition, with garden surfaces composing 1,5% of the SAU. As well as the two places cited, the only other municipality with a surface area dedicated to vegetable products exceeding 1%, if only by a little, is San Michele al Tagliamento, characterized by the production of the asparagus of Bibione. With regards to the commercialisation of these products, it can be pointed out that the percentage of farms performing direct sales of the product, through co-operatives, is very limited. In the municipality of Cavallino-Treporti this percentage is respectively equal to 17,1% and 6,1%, testimony of a system strongly centered around commercial intermediaries, with obvious repercussions on the profitability of the production. As to organically grown products, these products are produced in farms scattered around the territory, with an interesting concentration corresponding to the municipalities of Annone Veneto (10 firms) and Portogruaro (5 firms). Around a dozen of these firms are orientated towards a winegrowing production and, overall, they constitute quite a significant pole for the production of bio wines. Concerning livestock, beef farming is present in two main poles of the Park area. A basin of larger dimensions is composed by the municipalities of San Stino di Livenza, San Michle al Tagliamento, Portogruaro and Concordia Sagittaria, with approximately 150 farms that breed over 10.000 heads. The other pole is constituted by the municipality of Eraclea where over 5.000 heads were censured in approximately 50 farms, with an average dimension in terms of heads/farm almost double in comparison to the first pole (100 heads/farm in comparison to 67). A portion of the beef production is commercialised as tender Padano beef. Pig farming has significant numbers in the municipalities of Jesolo, Quarto d Altino, Torre di Mosto, Caorle and Pramaggiore, without, however, any distinguished characteristic products. And lastly, there are avicultural products, with a population of over 200.000 birds bred in Eraclea and San Stino di Livenza, specialized in the production of poultry chickens, and Musile di Piave where there are almost half a million birds, mostly laying birds. The analysis of the seasonal character of local products shows that the range is sufficient to guarantee the availability of a vast selection of products in all periods of the year. This situation determines the possibility of developing territorial marketing policies and the optimisation of products in the most favourable moments, also taking into consideration the vicinity of areas with strong seaside tourism, particularly frequented throughout the summer period.