What is the role of institutions in supporting the transition to a sustainable local economy?

The present research shows the experience of four municipalities located in the north-east of Italy, namely in the region Friuli-Venezia Giulia. These municipalities established in 2014 a close cooperation for the development of a new and different agricultural model. The project was named "Pan e farine dal Friûl di mieć", and it aimed to give birth to a local sustainable supply chain, inclusive of wheat flour and products derived from it.

Farmers, storage centres, millers, bakers, individual citizens as consumers, retailers and local municipalities are asked to sign a "Pact of flour" in accordance with agreed rules. The rules identify production quantity and methods for farmers, the purchased amounts for buyers, and the specific conditions of flour storage. In particular, a fair product price is already established through an analysis of costs.

The four municipalities themselves are the guarantees of the contract between the parties of the supply chain.

In addition to wheat sowing, other crops have been chosen to allow rotation of the soil and to build other local chains.

The core of the project is to provide good, healthy and affordable products to everybody. It is in fact a project with multiple outcomes: first of all it enhances social solidarity, for those who produce and those who have purchased and consumed; moreover it effects the development of the area, managed in a participatory way; and last, it safeguards the dignity of work, the social life of the community and the environment itself.

This media entry was a contribution to the special session „The role of institutions in fostering a new economic model“ at the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest in 2016.