Italian Organizations

Centro Internazionale Crocevia (CIC)
(International Centre “Crossroads”)

The International Centre Crocevia is one of the first NGOs that emerged in Italy. Founded in 1958, the centre’s activities have since then specialised into three main areas: education, communication and agriculture, from which the two characteristic sectors of the organisation are derived: education for development and international cooperation. Thus, for fifty years, the CIC has been siding with peasants from the global South in the battle for food sovereignty and the defence of biodiversity and cultural identity.

Contact: crocevia@croceviaterra.it

G.A.S. – Gruppo di Acquisto Solidale
(Group of Solidary Purchase)

What is a “G.A.S.”
A GAS (purchase group) is made up of a range of people who decide to collectively buy food that is then distributed among the group members.

Why is it called “solidary”
A GAS becomes “solidary” the moment it decides to use the concept of solidarity as the guiding criterion in the product choice. The solidarity therefore sets off from the group members and extends to the small farmers that provide the products – respecting the environment and supporting the peoples of the global south as well as all those who suffer the consequences of the current unfair model of development.

What’s the motivation to create a GAS
Each GAS has its own raison d’être, but often, at its base, there is a profound criticism towards the current global economic model and of consumption. This is often coupled to the search for an alternative that be practicable right away. The group helps people not to feel alone in their criticism towards consumerism, to exchange experiences, to offer support and to critically consider one’s own choices.

How does a GAS come into being
Someone starts talking about the idea of collective purchases within their circle of friends. Once a certain amount of interested people is found, the group can be formed. Together, the group members start looking for local small farmers who produce according to social and environmental standards. At this point, the group orders can be gathered, the products purchased and distributed … and there you go!

Criteria of solidarity for the product choice
The groups look for products coming from small local farmers so as to have the possibility of knowing them in person and in order to reduce pollution and the energetic waste deriving from transportation. Moreover, groups look for organic or ecological products that respect labour standards.

A network
The groups are interconnected within a network that supports them and helps spread the “GAS experience” through information exchange. At the moment, there are about a hundred registered GAS in Italy.

Contact

Coldiretti – Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti
(National Confederation of “Direct Sale” Famers)

Coldiretti is a social force in Italy that represents farmers and valorises agriculture as an economic, human and environmental resource.

• Its objective: guarantee farmers growth opportunities in the framework of a full integration of agriculture in the country’s economic and social interests.
• Its strategy: choose the system of consensus-seeking, which represents the fulcrum of every modern economic democracy, at all levels of economical-political confrontation: at the government, at the local and at the EU level.
• Its agenda is articulated in two projects: “Impresa Verde” (“Green Enterprise”) focused on the growth in competitiveness for farms, and “Campagna Amica” (“Countryside, Our Friend”), to build up a dialogue between producers and consumers in the age of globalisation.
• Its strength: hundreds of thousands of farmers who believe in all this.

With the “Green Enterprise” project, Coldiretti proposes a modern vision of agriculture within the food chain. This project aims at creating a system of farms that be able to fulfil multiple roles: to be competitive on the market, to be able to valorise the quality, the specificity and the authenticity of a produce, and to both support and protect the environment. The “Green Enterprise” project is based on:

• Its own affirmation as a social force representing the interests of the agricultural world in a prospective of stability for the entire country.
• A new kind of relationship, of unison and of compatibility, between agricultural policy and economic policy.
• The implementation of far-reaching structural reforms in agriculture, which include the fiscal system and the system of loans, the economic organisation of produce, the labour market and infrastructures.

“Countryside, Our Friend” is Coldiretti’s project for a kind of agriculture that be engaged in an open and intense dialogue with the citizen-consumer. The project’s goals are:

• Promote local development by valorising the territorial resources available in order to safeguard the environment, cultivate the landscape and improve the quality of life in the countryside.
• Open up farms for consumers and bring the city closer to the countryside through initiatives that involve schools, other educational institutions and the world of culture.
• Safeguard the quality of products by promoting all those initiatives that protect consumers and allow them to make free, informed food choices (label transparency, guarantee of food origin, monitoring of ads on agro-food products).
• Promote local, traditional products and food “made in Italy”, as economic resource, but also as fundamental expression of identity.

With “Countryside, Our Friend”, Coldiretti has also launched a new initiative in the field of communication, using multimedia-based instruments, from books to videos, in order to promote a more wide-spread and in-depth awareness about the world of agriculture: about its produce, about its tastes, about its colours.

Contact: coldiretti@coldiretti.it or relazioniesterne@coldiretti.it

OFF!CINE
(Italian pun made up of the words “officina/workshop” and “cinema”) is a place of creativity, vision and degustation of creative tastes (both cinematographic and gastronomic). Located in the historical Pigneto area in Rome, OFF!CINE is a permanent meeting point for cinema lovers who may exchange ideas, watch movies and find practical support for realising their projects. Alongside its creative and formative activity, OFF!CINE offers the possibility to degustate food and wines, both organic and not, but always local and/or traditional, with one common denominator: taste and genuinity. OFF!CINE’s pub/bistrò is the ideal surrounding for your visions and conversations, because culture also means cultivating sensual pleasure and well-being.

Contact: info@officinepigneto.it

Terranostra – Associazione per l’Agriturismo, l’Ambiente e il Territorio
(Association for Agro-Tourism, Environment and the Land)

Terranostra was established in 1973 by Coldiretti. The Terranostra association promotes and supports the spread of agri-tourism and the valorisation of the rural world, all within the framework of a new and balanced relationship between environment, agriculture, tourism and culture. This happens through initiatives and activities that have their inspirational roots in the defence of nature, the agrarian territory as well as the landscape heritage. The aim is to create better relations between man and the environment, agriculture and tourism, farmers and consumers, rural and urban world.

Terranostra promotes and carries out studies and projects that favour the protection and the correct use of the landscape heritage. The association supports the development of agriculture by promoting and assisting the following activities:

• Agri-touristic hospitality in rural, traditional buildings.
• Catering of local food and beverages typical of the area and produced on local farms.
• Organisation of recreational, cultural, and sportive activities on farms.
• Processing and direct sale of farm products.

Terranostra promotes eco-compatible agricultural methods, technologies and production systems that guarantee a low impact on the environment. The association supports the cultural exchange between rural world and urban world, organising cultural events as well as initiatives and systems of direct sale for typical, local agro-food products.

Contact: terranostra@coldiretti.it

Associazione Italiana per l’Agricoltura Biologica (AIAB)
(Italian Association for Organic Agriculture)

For over 20 years, the AIAB non-profit association has been working towards achieving an ecological conversion of the rural landscape. AIAB operates on the Italian territory in tight contact with the local realities thanks to its 16 regional associations. The association’s federal office is located in Rome and coordinates the national initiatives, the nation-wide organic production and the association’s editorial activities.

AIAB is moreover involved in research, formation and outreach, and promotes organic agriculture and its products through publicity and national campaigns. The association monitors legislations at the European, national and regional level, and transmits the information to its members, thereby enhancing knowledge, competence and professionalism, which are necessary in order to be socially and politically active.

AIAB organises commercial services for associated farms (fair participation, workshop organisation, publicity campaigns) and lists a directory of direct-sale farms on its website. These direct sale farms represent the most traditional and ancient form of that which is nowadays commonly called “short supply chain”:  a form of commercialisation that aims at reducing to as few as possible the number of intermediaries between producer and consumer. In this directory, you can look for farms that offer this kind of service in your area:
http://www.aiab.it/home/percorsi/compra_vendita/aziende/introduzione

Contact: aiab@aiab.it

Legambiente
(Environment League)

Legambiente is the environment association most widely spread in Italy: From the Alps to the island of Lampedusa, Legambiente counts over 1.000 local circles and 20 regional committees that take care of the territory and promote initiatives to inform and raise the public’s awareness about environmental issues. Legambiente is a non-profit association supported by free citizens: it counts 115.000 members and sympathisers. Legambiente is recognised by Italy’s Ministry of Environment and is part of both the European Environmental Bureau and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In its various activities, Legambiente sets value on promoting food quality and security, in total respect of the environment and animals, as well as supporting sustainable development and tourism.

Contact: legambiente@mail.legambiente.com