A landmark deal signed by Italy's oldest farming body Confagricoltura and Conad, one of the country's largest supermarket chains, is expected to facilitate closer ties between the retailer and suppliers of locally produced agricultural products, including fresh produce, across the domestic market.
Continuing the trend seen across Europe over the past few months – most recently in the expansion of German company Rewe's Best Alliance project – the Conad-Confagricoltura agreement is ostensibly aimed at providing producers with greater assistance and support while improving efficiency along the supply chain, although the move also appears to confirm an apparently growing desire among retailers to secure sufficient volumes for their outlets.
'A lot is said about short supply chains and localised food markets, but the future of the food retail sector and the needs of consumers is completely different,' Conad general director Francesco Pugliese told reporters at a meeting in Padova.
'We want to guaranteee long supply chains of quality, bringing the excellence of Puglia's production, for example, to Parma, and vice-versa. Consumers go to modern retailers: that is the reality rather than the nostalgia,' he said.
Mr Pugliese also underlined the two organisations' common goals in signing the deal: 'As Conad, we want to confront problems with Confagricoltura in order to find adequate solutions and to guarantee efficiency in the supply chain that brings profit and margins to all players.'
Confagricoltura's president Federico Vecchioni added: 'Our agreement is not just a formality, it is born of a substantial desire to achieve a firmly shared objective.'
According to a press statement, the partnership will look to ensure regular supply of high-quality fresh foods to the required standard, while also investigating how to improve methods by which those products are handled, such as sorting, grading and packaging.
Key to these improvements will be a focus on maintaining profitability, the companies said.
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