Feb. 12 – Italy’s organic beacons take the stage in Nuremberg, Germany, which hosts BioFach from today until Sunday. The largest exhibition in the world for organic foods welcomes about 2,400 exhibitors, including 400 Italian ones. One sixth of the total comes from Italy, confirming the importance of Nuremberg’s event for Italy’s food production. Italy is the first country in Europe for organic exports and continues to play a great role on the world stage: it employs a little less than 50.000 workers for the manufacturing process, 1.2 million hectares of land, and a total turnover of more than €3 billion, of which one third is generated in exports. AIAB, the Italian Association for Organic Agriculture, is participating in the event with a series of initiatives. Today, it hosts a conference on “Organic seeds, a step forward,” which consists in an international comparison on biodiversity, farmers’ rights, consumer expectations and how to better organize the sector and how new rules on seeds affect the European Union. The Nuremberg exhibition will also see AIAB organize a number of tasting and promotion sessions of typically Italian organic products, highlighting territorial peculiarities: Rome’s traditional “cacio e pepe”, salami from Lombardy paired with local wines, wines from Pavia such as Bonarda, Barbera, Chardonnay, products with organic production methods, Genoese pesto, cheeses and various types of honey from the Vara Valley, Pigato and Vermentino wines, and Liguria olives.
