A report by WWF exposes how corporatism has destroyed Puglia’s olive trees

We receive and gladly re-launch this article edited by WWF that lays bare the two faces of Italian agriculture.

A portrait of a “Made in Italy” agriculture with two faces emerges from the report: on the one hand, farmers who are custodians of the landscape and agro-ecosystems, protagonists of good practices and resilience; on the other hand, a corporate system marked by instrumental alliances between some trade associations, agricultural entrepreneurs, policy makers and a part of the academic and research world.

According to WWF, such dynamics, combined with disproportionate regulatory measures and interventions, often without a solid scientific basis, have contributed to the devastation of the territory of monumental olive trees-a heritage of inestimable environmental and landscape value-at the very time when they were claiming to want to protect it.