Agripat is a new organisation gathering 1,023 producers, 266 of which are direct members while 757 are members through 8 partner cooperatives. This in turn means over 10% of the potatoes grown in Italy for the fresh produce market are part of Agripat.
Michele Filippini and Maurizio Cesari
"Emilia Romagna is the region producing the leading quantities in Italy and the purpose is to promote our produce as best as we can," explains President Michele Filippini.
Maurizio Cesari is the vice-president. The hectares cultivated by Agripat partners in 2017 were 2,555, 1,718 of which located in the Bologna province. The rest is mainly in the Ferrara and Ravenna provinces. Crops dropped from the 3,263 of 2012, but quantities actually remained constant or even increased as only non-specialised producers and small crops were lost.
Recent data report Italy has 43,390 hectares producing almost 1.2 million tons. The leading regions are Campania, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Abruzzo.
Agripat is a potato producer organisation set up in accordance with community, national and regional regulations with no private speculation purposes. Its purpose is to safeguard and promote the production and trade of potatoes in line with community agricultural policy and national and regional agricultural plans.
The PO also aims at helping with structural weaknesses regarding the supply and commercialisation of potatoes and produce in general, favouring the participation in agricultural planning of producers themselves, promoting its members' productions and improving the conditions and activities of its members. To achieve all this, the cooperative carries out the following: harvesting, handling, processing, commercialisation and promotion.
The number of members increased considerably in 2016/17 as the PO welcomed what used to be Appe members, therefore the revenue has more than doubled with a proportional increase in purchasing costs.
Contacts:
Agripat
Via Tosarelli 155
40055 Villanova di Castenaso (BO)
Tel.: +39 051 782170
Fax: +39 051 782356