ORGANIC FARMING IN ITALY: NOW AVAILABLE THE 2009 DATA

<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white" align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: " lang=EN-US EN-US? mso-ansi-language: 9.5pt; FONT-SIZE: #242816; COLOR: Arial?,?sans-serif?;><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica">SINAB has presented and published the data related to the analysis of the organic farming sector in Italy. By 31 January 2009, the organic farming operators were 48,509, a 2% decrease on 2008. On the contrary, the total surface for the sector has increased by 10 %, reaching 1,106,684 ha organically grown. These and more data are available in the annexed document, in Italian.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white" align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: " lang=EN-US EN-US? mso-ansi-language: 9.5pt; FONT-SIZE: #242816; COLOR: Arial?,?sans-serif?;></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: " lang=EN-US EN-US? mso-ansi-language: 9.5pt; FONT-SIZE: #242816; COLOR: Arial?,?sans-serif?;><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #242816; FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang=EN-US><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica">Commenting SINAB data, the Italian Minister of Agriculture <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</SPAN>Giancarlo Galan said that “the appreciation of the Italian productions, by Italians and foreigners, is steadily increasing, and we have to <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</SPAN>do more to improve the sector and support the Italian <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</SPAN>organic producers. In agreement with the Regional Authorities, the implementation of Rural Development Plans to convert new farms into organic <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</SPAN>has to be strongly promoted. MiPAAF, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, -stated <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</SPAN>Galan- is working to encourage the organic sector through the National Action Plan, trying at the same time to reduce the bureaucratic burden on organic farms, with the objective to facilitate as far as possible the access of the Italian producers to the important and growing organic market, thus answering the consumers’ requests”.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></SPAN>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white" align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: " lang=EN-US EN-US? mso-ansi-language: 9.5pt; FONT-SIZE: #242816; COLOR: Arial?,?sans-serif?;><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica">Source: SINAB/MiPAAF</FONT></SPAN></P>