Food districts, the pear district arrives in Emilia Romagna

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The list of food districts is growing. The last born is the Pera district of Emilia-Romagna, recognized as such by a special act of the Region, which will have Ferrara as its registered office. «The food districts – explains the regional councilor for agriculture, Alessio Mammi-, are realities created to promote the development of the territory, guarantee food security, cohesion and social inclusion, reduce the environmental impact and waste food. Having created a pear district will certainly offer more opportunities to enhance this precious fruit».

For the PDO and PGI protection consortia, recognition as a food district represents a further tool for promoting their quality products along the entire production chain, including through participation in tenders issued by the Ministry of Agriculture. Based on the national law that established them in 2017, in fact, food districts are realities linked to the territory, with a homogeneous historical identity resulting from the integration between agricultural activities and local activities, as well as the production of particular goods or services specificity.

For Emilia Romagna, this is the fifth district established within the Region, after that of PDO Piacenza cured meats, the “Romagna Bio-Symbiotic District”, PDO Modena ham and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. But how many have been created, to date, in Italy? In the National Directory of Food Districts in the Ministry of Agriculture. today there are over 160. There are regions that have only a few, such as Emilia Romagna, and others that exceed twenty, such as Tuscany or Lombardy. There is a little bit of everything in the list. They range from districts dedicated to very specific products, such as Vernaccia di San Gimignano or rice from Piedmont, to others dedicated to very limited areas: the rural district of Barbagia in Sardinia, the bio-district of Lake Bolsena.

There are also ad hoc public funds available to these realities. The first tender, set up by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2020, distributed 18 million euros as a contribution to around ten projects presented. Today, thanks to the Pnrr, the funds available to the food districts are many more: a good 103 million euros are foreseen in the 5th ministerial tender. A good reason for seeing new registrations on the National Directory of Food Districts increase this year.