Roberto Pinton, secretary of AssoBio, the Italian Association of organic food processing and distribution companies with about 90 members and a turnover of over 2 billion euros, was elected on the board of IFOAM-EU, the European organic sector federation that has 190 member organizations from 34 countries. Pinton has also been appointed coordinator of the group of European interest in the transformation/market sector.
For the next three years, the newly elected board will be called to discuss with the Commission to define the technical aspects of the new regulation approved by the European Parliament last April, with the aim of making the internal market of organic products even more effective,to consolidate consumer confidence and to create the conditions for the eco-sustainable evolution of European agricultural policy.
“We should not only oversee the implementation of the new regulation, but also the new common agricultural policy”, comments Pinton. “The environmental situation is clearly compromised. In two thirds of Italian surface waters and one third of underground waters, pesticides are found, and in more than a fifth of the former and in almost 10% of the latter the limits set by European standards are exceeded. It is necessary to direct farmers to the adoption of finally sustainable business practices such as organic farming, also through prizes for the protection of public goods essential for all European citizens”.
