Tractors and protests? Farmers would be better off setting up a lobby

Farmers against the EU

In Italy there are 1,133,023 agricultural companies (2020 data), while workers engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing are around 919,000 and they are vigorously protesting the shameful situation in which they find themselves.

The question is: why are farmers protesting? The Tg La7 website writes: “The choices of the European Green Deal are driving the farmers' protest throughout Europe, while at a national level there are also various internal demands. In other words, farmers believe that green policies will end up damaging their work, imposing excessively high costs, or requiring innovative agricultural techniques that require significant economic investments. Therefore, the increase in the cost of raw materials and the price of agricultural diesel, low wages, unfair competition from international products”.

Naturally the world of agriculture has no other means than to bring the tractors into the square and onto the streets complete with banners to make their voices heard. They are right? Knowing a little about the world of farmers initially, when they encounter difficulties in their work, they turn to their Associations, then to the parties that represent them in some way and, finally, if they don't find adequate solutions they turn on the tractors and mobilize. How loud is their voice?

For the moment, some believe it's a bit like that of a tenor with a cold and in order not to make him sing, some institutions, including European ones, are willing to “listen” and “promise” after a while everything falls into oblivion and we'll talk about it again in a few years. Just by way of example, do you remember the first milk protest? Here's what La Repubblica wrote on 30 March 2015: “The milk quota regime is going away in the attic after 32 years, 22 changes to the Ministry of Agricultural Policies and, above all, 4.4 billion in fines imposed on Italy, partly paid , partly not. In its place comes the free market on whose field, from now on, Italian breeders will have to compete against foreign breeders, in a scenario that is perhaps even more frightening than that of fines and sanctions”.

Just to remember the political side at the time the Minister was Maurizio Martina (Democratic Party) and he is currently Deputy Director General of FAO. But what can farmers do? Maybe two things: either they form a party (which is extremely complicated) or they get together at a European level by “founding” a powerful lobby to support their sector.

There are currently 2,629 lobbies and generally are very successful, it even seems that they write laws and directives themselves. We citizens should give support to this sector first and foremost because if we don't want to eat bread, pasta, biscuits and various sweets by grinding larvae and cricket flour then it would be a good idea to give support to this very important category and not just with words. If we are interested…