The “Green Deal Europeo, innovazione e tutela della proprietà intellettuale in agricoltura” event organized by CUT (Commissione Italiana Uva da Tavola) was held on June 23rd 2021 at the Lama-San Giorno di Rutigliano agritourism. Over 80 people took part, with another 20 streaming the event. The speakers included Paolo De Castro, Massimiliano Del Core, Claudio Cocozza, Matteo Spagnulo and Vincenzo Acquafredda.
The first part of the event addressed fundamental aspects such as the agreement and signing of the protocol between the CUT and the Scientific Committee (a Commission organ made up of over 30 agronomists and technicians from Apulia and Sicily) establishing four objectives to be achieved within the next 5 years:
- implementation of soil management with enrichment of the organic substance and increase of biodiversity by reaching 30% of grass-covered areas;
- implementation of innovative irrigation systems and/or decision supporting systems to reduce water consumption by 20%;
- implementation of the sexual confusion technique for the integrated management of key insects in 50% of the area used to grow table grapes by CUT;
- increased biodiversity and rural decorum by planting different vine species, where possible, along the company border and/or margins, using preferably local species in 20% of partner companies.
The second part of the event saw lawyer Vincenzo Acquafredda from Trevisan & Cuonzo discuss Intellectual Property in agriculture, especially when it comes to table grapes. He also addressed the case of Associazione dei produttori pugliesi against leading international breeders and some of the most representative Italian companies of the fresh produce sector (Sun World International LLC, Grapa Varieties Ltd, AVI S.r.l, International Fruit Genetics LLC, Special New Fruit Licensing Ltd, Apofruit Italia, O.P. Giuliano e Didonna Trade S.r.l). Click here for the sentence of the Italian Antitrust authority.
Vincenzo Acquafredda
The CUT has publicly distanced itself from this group of growers and advised all international breeding companies to work with Commissione Italiana dell’Uva da Tavola to start a healthy and fruitful collaboration.