Such research, which is performed every two years, confirms the positive trend of the Italian horticultural sector. At the beginning of the '00s, productive surfaces occupied little more than 10,000 hectares. In Italy, crop seed multiplication represents 10% of the entire surfaces destined to the production of agriculture and horticulture seeds.
Among the first seed productions, there's onions with 2,400 hectares (+11% with respect to 2010), followed by radishes, peas and chicory, with more than a thousand hectares each. Among aromatic crops, coriander is first with more than 4,700 hectares. The increase of chicory surfaces has also been remarkable, as they have doubled since 2010, going from 670 to 1,200 hectares.
As regards distribution, Emilia-Romagna and Marche lead the way with 8,200 and 7,000 hectares respectively. In Marche in particular surfaces have increased 2.6 times. Puglia is in the third place with 2,500 hectares, the triple of the surfaces it had ten years ago. Umbria, Molise and Piedmont follow, the latter with a 28% increase since 2010.
According to Assosementi, the profit from crop seed multiplication, both hybrid and open pollinated, derives mainly by multiplications carried out for foreign companies. Japan and the Far East, as well as Northern and Eastern Europe are the main markets, though a considerable share is also destined to our national market.
To conclude, rocket and basil, plants symbol of the made in Italy, occupy 560 and 120 hectares respectively and are both concentrated in the Emilia-Romagna region.