Flavescence dorée is worrying “Italian vineyard”. Confagricoltura: “we need resources and research”

Massimiliano Giansanti, president of the Italian confederation of farmers, Confagricoltura, has asked the Government and the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida for more support to farmers to fight flavescence dorée, coordinated interventions on the National level, investments in scientific research, and economic resources to support wineries. These requests are aimed to support the fight against the spread of flavescence dorée, one of the most serious epidemic diseases affecting the wine sector. Faced with the spread of this phyto plasmosis, which has accelerated at a very rapid rate over the last two years, the organization has requested that a strategy to develop a series of identical interventions covering the entire National territory is needed, and that the organizations in charge participate by coordinating and sharing their initiatives.
“This strategy”, Confagricoltura explained in a note, “must be operative as soon as possible. Furthermore, the fund the Ministry of Agriculture set up in the 2023 Budget Law, which provides for a budget of 1.5 million euros for 2023 and other 2 million euros for the following year, is not enough. We must find the necessary economic resources to finance the selection of symptomatic plants as well as to compensate the winemakers, who are facing high costs to uproot the vineyards that have been damaged by the disease. Currently, the companies affected by Flavescence Dorée are not protected by any type of support nor can they take advantage of compensation for lost revenues”. The wine farms are in a very high state of alarm because the spread of the disease today threatens the main productions of Piedmont, Tuscany, Veneto, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. As a matter of fact, these Regions have just recently recorded and reported new outbreaks. Confagricoltura has stated that it is urgent to intervene to stop the spread of Flavescence Dorée in order to protect and support the wine sector, which in 2022 reached 8 billion euros in exports, and +12% growth compared to the previous year.