Terra! is an environmental organisation, working since 2008 at national and local level for an ecological and just transition of food systems. Terra! works in collaboration with Civil Society Organizations, Trade Unions and social movements.
Terra! carries out investigations, advocacy activities and campaigns, to expose the unsustainability of the industrial food systems, focusing on the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture, on the market power of large retailers over the food supply chain and their contribution in determining labor exploitation in agriculture. Terra!'s work targets companies and policymakers with the aim of influencing rules and regulations, in order to achieve mandatory due diligence measures for big food companies and the national implementation of agri-food pillars of the European Green Deal (Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies). We believe this work can contribute to the adoption of regulatory frameworks fostering agroecology and the full respect of farmers’ and farm workers' rights. Terra! also participates in European and international campaigns, such as those against the TTIP, CETA and EU-Mercosur free trade agreements. We do it nationally, carrying out awareness raising, advocacy and lobbying activities. Locally we encourage and support the construction of CSOs, NGOs, social movements and small-scale farmers networks, in a push for enabling sustainable food environments, reinforcing sustainable local food production and consumption, opening political spaces to promote bottom-up action towards regulatory changes that can unlock the hidden potential of agroecology.
Over the years, Terra! achieved important results both in the context of the ecological transition of food systems, and of farmworkers' rights. In 2016, our campaign carried out in collaboration with Trade Unions led to the approval of n° 199 Law against labor exploitation in agriculture. Through the coordination of a network of labor and humanitarian organizations, in 2020 we achieved the regularization of migrant workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019 we advocated for the EU Directive 2019/633 on unfair trading practices (UTPs) in the agricultural and food supply chain.
Then Terra! nationally pushed for a quick implementation of the EU Directive in Italy. Our work achieved another important objective when, in November 2021, the UTPs Directive was implemented in Italy, including one unfair practice exposed by our investigations but not listed in the first place: the double-bid reverse auctions for buying food products, used by some large-scale retailers.
Over the past two years, Terra! also carried out advocacy work to influence the CAP National Strategic Plan, in order to maximise the economic and regulatory support for agroecology and family farming, and to counter the influence of industrial farming organisations.
This effort, together with a large network of environmental and organic farming organisations, did not bring the desired results, but it set the stage for more effective action on the next CAP reform. It also helped Italy to be one of three countries to voluntarily introduce the “social conditionality” mechanism from 2023 onwards, while most of EU member States will have to wait for it until 2025, when the mechanism will become mandatory.
Since 2019, Terra! has locally built and coordinated a CSOs, small-scale farmers, academics, and grassroots movement that in 2020 achieved a resolution from the Rome City Council to set up an Urban Food Policy, with the aim of fostering agroecology and sustainable food production at a local level.
In 2023, this bottom-up work will lead to the creation of Italy's first local Food Council. Building on the work done by Terra! in Rome, similar grassroot processes have blossomed in other cities, such as Trento and Genova.
Although important achievements and milestones have been reached in recent years, there is still much work to be done. The war and climate crisis as the cost of living one, are all part of the so-called “polycrisis” which have dumped our societies into a “perfect storm”.
Food systems have been heavily impacted by these interweaved crises, creating serious issues about affordability and access to sustainable food.
We see growing food poverty, a resurgence of labor exploitation in agriculture, and a strong opposition to reforms in favour of sustainability and climate by the agribusiness groups, openly trying to water down the F2F and Biodiversity Strategies, thus undermining the whole EU Green Deal implementation.
These regressive forces seem to find an ideal breeding ground in our country, thanks to a far-right government determined to counter all the reforms for sustainability and climate. That’s why Terra! is committed to relaunching its work regionally and nationally.
On the one hand, we would like to reinforce campaigning on environmental and climate issues also related to food deserts, in order to trigger policy action against food poverty and strengthen the links between consumers in urban areas and small-scale sustainable food farmers in rural areas.
On the other hand, we will continue our advocacy work towards a food system transformation: we are committed to saving the EU Green Deal food sustainability pillars, and relaunching pressure on policymakers, for a proper implementation of the social conditionality mechanism, that could help raising labor standards in one of the most precarious sectors of the economy, addressing poverty, inequality and gender gaps, and creating decent work opportunities for all, leaving no one behind.