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News

OI Pomodoro Nord Italia: first situation of the 2024 tomato season

09/09/2024 - Press release , François-Xavier Branthôme - 2024 Season

The OI update on the campaign in Northern Italy with Councilor Alessio Mammi: Tomato harvest season 2024: low yields, record quality, but high agricultural and processing costs.

On Wednesday 4 September, the members of the OI Pomodoro da Industria Nord Italia met with the Councilor for Agriculture of the Emilia-Romagna Region Alessio Mammi. The meeting took place in Parma, at the OI headquarters, and was an opportunity to draw up an initial assessment of the progress of the 2024 season.

Data and prospects for the 2024 campaign
The tomato harvest campaign in Northern Italy is underway, but is experiencing some difficulties, which have already arisen starting with transplants, which began in spring. In May, farmers had to deal with persistent rains; many transplants were postponed to June and for this reason the harvest will continue into September. June, on the other hand, was characterized by strong meteorological instability, which exposed the seedlings to the risk of pathogens. The great heat, which characterized mid-July and the month of August, then hindered their growth.

As of September 4, just over 50% of the contracted tomatoes had been harvested, a percentage lower than the average trend of the last five years in the same week.

Both agricultural producers and processors are dealing with low yields, which according to declarations by the Producer Organizations are on average equal to 60 t/ha against the 74 t/ha average recorded by the OI Pomodoro da Industria Nord Italia in the last five years.

The quantities of tomatoes harvested are lower than expected and this suggests a shortage of product at the end of the campaign compared to the contracted quantities. But the quality of the tomatoes is high: the brix degree is equal to 5.12 (a record value never recorded in northern Italy).

In this context, farmers have had to bear high costs in the field to protect tomato plants from possible diseases, but production yields remain low, causing a loss of income for farmers. At the same time, the reduced quantities of tomatoes that reach the industries do not allow companies to operate the lines at full capacity, generating low processing yields with the consequent increase in costs.

Therefore, a good number of areas are expected to be harvested in September, a month in which the production outcome is more uncertain than ever. In fact, it will be possible to continue with the harvest if the weather continues to be stable, while a further shortage of product may occur if the weather does not allow the tomatoes to ripen and be harvested.

Considerations by President Tiberio Rabboni
“The 2024 campaign is affected by two critical issues: rainfall and the absence of an Area Framework Agreement. Rainfall has determined high costs and low yields in the field that are causing an imbalance between costs and revenues for agricultural producers; at the same time it has caused an increase in industrial costs for processing companies. This situation occurs at a time when the international market is saturated with tomato products with a predictable decrease in prices – says Tiberio Rabboni, President of the OI Pomodoro da Industria Nord Italia –. Despite the absence of the Area Framework Agreement, the shared rules of the OI have still allowed the supply chain to acquire all the information necessary to face the campaign in an organized manner. However, I believe it is essential that the dialogue between the parties begins immediately at the end of the harvest campaign in order to reach the 2025 Area Framework Agreement as soon as possible.
In this context, considering the adverse and unpredictable weather conditions that have been characterizing the last few years, a different approach to the insurance coverage mechanism would be desirable. It would be useful to declare a state of emergency related to weather events promptly documented by the POs. Furthermore, to support the competitiveness of our sector on international markets, there is a need for an adjustment of the coupled premium for producers of industrial tomatoes”.

Statements by Councilor Alessio Mammi
“The tomato supply chain is going through a difficult year, but as a Region we want to help the sector to establish itself and consolidate itself even more in the future – says Alessio Mammi, Councilor for Agriculture Emilia-Romagna –. For this reason, I confirm the desire to implement a strategy that gives a perspective to an irreplaceable supply chain for Emilia-Romagna through the establishment of calls for tenders and funding for both the agricultural and industrial parts. Furthermore, we will promote policies to support the supply chain, proposing an increase in the coupled premium for tomatoes. We also have several projects in the pipeline to increase the water storage reservoirs in the region. However, we must work to enhance the distinctiveness of our tomatoes and our products, which are good, safe and sustainable from a social and environmental point of view, working together at an international level. In this sense, the cohesion of the supply chain is fundamental for its credibility and it is important to start working on the 2025 Area Framework Agreement right from the end of the campaign”.

Sources: OI Pomodoro da Industria Nord Italia

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