From GPS to GPI

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:26:24 +0000
Num. 33

Rice production in the Po Delta, from sowing with missiles onwards

Giancarlo Cavazzini is the reputed father of modern rice production in our territory and has held many important positions in the Province and elsewhere, including President of the National Rice Board in the second half of the 1970's. Giancarlo Eros, with his 10.000 hectares of paddy fields on his own land and Cavalier Ladini, who has made rice growing in the Polesine complementary to that of the Ferrara area, are also figures of reference on both local and national levels. Eros and Ladini have always been exemplary for their activism and innovative spirit, demonstrating peaks of genius with regard to improving agricultural techniques, bringing vivacity and purpose to the world of agriculture. Almost as a matter of natural selection, rice cultivation constantly produces extremely advanced and enterprising entrepreneurs. "Growing rice is not everyone's cup of tea", as Giuliano Guidi, another illustrious rice farmer from Ferrara, once said to an embarrassed young pesticide salesman who couldn't tell the difference between weeds and rice plants. Eros and Ladini were also the first to use laser technology in our provinces, gradually reducing the amount of water used during the rice crop cycle and creating 10,000 hectares of paddy fields on the land between Ferrara and Rovigo. 10,000 hectares represents approximately 4% of Italian, and 2% of European, land used for rice production. There are almost three hundred cultivators in the Po Delta, an impressive number considering that Italy produces over 50% of the rice grown in the European Union. Those born as rice growers are often closely tied to the culture, but are also active members of small but dynamic "community", that culturally crosses continental boundaries. We could almost, without wanting to exaggerate, be talking about the pride of a caste! Even though summer had ended, it was a hot autumn afternoon in Iolanda di Savoia and threshing was in full process. Out of nowhere, a taxi carrying an impeccably dressed Japanese businessman appeared. The passenger said he was the owner of a rice farm in Japan and that he had come to this part of Italy because he wanted to see the Delta paddy fields for himself and to discuss local agricultural techniques with the farmers here. We drove around the countryside in that incongruous limousine with tinted windscreens, having an almost surreal conversation based on an exchange of views between two strangers eager to establish contact. Rice growers really do "try everything" and they constantly demonstrate that improving, studying, experimenting and then exchanging know-how is the way they approach this way of life. Giancarlo Cavazzini once said to me "If I was told that in California they had found a way to successfully sow using missiles, I would be the first to try it here". Unknowingly, he had already seen the future. Today "Precision farming" makes use of satellite-transmitted information in order to guide agricultural machinery, thereby enormously improving sowing operations. Barely credible dreams have become everyday reality! Nevertheless, we must constantly keep an open mind towards that which is not strictly technical. We must also make sure that aggregation between farmers is both orderly and cooperative. Thanks to the visionary work of Cavazzini and Landini, who have trained a generation of skilled technicians, rice cultivation in the Po Delta has launched a strong inter-provincial group that cultivates the same varieties of rice and can knowingly market their product under the title of Protected Geographical Indication (IPG). The highly appreciated production rules that our farmers are encouraged to follow, intended as a good technical manual and an assurance of quality for our rice consumers, do not 'make' an igp: it is the environment that enhances the Po Delta product and creates the conditions for the appreciation of our water cereal. The Association of Rice Growers, founded by Cavalier Ladini (of which the author is a member), having attained IPG recognition, is now working towards the establishment of a Consortium for brand protection and a producer's Association, that will combine forces to create an active dialogue with both small and large retailers. "IPG acceptance does not, in itself, guarantee commercial success": this may be true, but one of the topics on the agenda is not to be overwhelmed by a wave of enthusiastic commercial requests. Our Baldo, Arborio,Volano and Carnaroli rice varieties , were already popular long before the existence of the brand name. But today there is a new, not strictly speculative belief; a force that materializes in the good teamwork that is characteristic of an important design project.