On October 25, 2024, an online assembly convened to initiate the constituent phase of the Trade Union Confederation for Agriculture and Fisheries for Food Sovereignty (Altragricoltura CSSA). This initiative originates from the Altragricoltura union, which, with nearly thirty years of activity behind it, has collaborated with many farmers who took to the streets this year against the Common Agricultural Policy, the ongoing decline in food prices and agricultural raw materials, and the systemic debt of agricultural and fishing enterprises. The proposal aims to create a representative body capable of addressing the needs for change, transparency, and creativity arising from Italy’s rural areas and fishing communities.

The founding assembly of the Producers Confederation for Food Sovereignty has set two major goals: “The first is to develop a proposal that offers hope for the future of Italian agricultural and fishing enterprises to emerge from the systemic crisis imposed by market globalization, anchoring it to the profound change of a new reform of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food based on Food Sovereignty and Agroecology,” explains Gianni Fabbris, national coordinator of Altragricoltura.

The second goal is “to establish a new entity for the trade union representation of Producers (farmers, breeders, fishermen), consistent with the reform project, autonomous, independent, and alternative in both form and proposals, an essential step given the responsibility of the old professional agricultural organizations that are subordinate to politics and a product of the crisis,” emphasizes Fabbris.

The founding assembly laid the groundwork for developing the work, specifically integrating the statutes of Altragricoltura to adapt to new needs, and adopting the programmatic and organizational documents to implement the work.