There is no bargaining that takes on the subject

The "food valley": so the Italians called the plain of the Po. Where that economies in this region, the agri-food industry is required to view. Plants move between the rice, durum wheat fields and farms. The confines of Friuli in Veneto, Lombardy to Piedmont, North Italy looks like a giant kitchen, redolent pasta, risotto, parmesan, balsamic vinegar, the ham of Parma and San Daniele.

That is, between Mantua and Verona, Montorsi, the first Italian meats producer, elected domicile. Strongly export-oriented, this subsidiary of the agri-food group Veronesi has set preferred target the French market, where it achieves half of its sales abroad. In the space of five years, exports of ham, sausage and other stamped salamis Montorsi jumped 30, to EUR 29.5 million, a hexagonal market became very difficult for the deli. The Group has the firm intention of capitalizing on the successes and displays the ambition to increase its turnover to export in France of 10 per year.

A challenge if to judge by the pessimism of some French industrialists. "The promotional battle will intensify," recently declared Robert Volut, President of the Federation of industrialists of the deli magazine "LSA", while Jean-Jacques Michat, Group Jean Caby, emphasized "the huge drop of prices since January. First prize and brands reign supreme masters in this market.

Original quality

Montorsi leaders remain less convinced that they can turn the eyes of consumers, "de-normalise" the slice of ham and make a food item, "as Barilla is forget noodles and learned to enjoy pasta." They will very have to be to be a comfortable niche to the Spaniards, already present on the niche of the deli gastro-

economic with ham "patanegra", but the Italian mechanics is very straightforward. Seven years ago, Montorsi negotiated a very important shift intended to be the cornerstone of its industrial strategy with the objective to sell all its products under protected designation of origin (PDO), which stars are Parma and San Daniele ham quality.

Pigs are fattened in three steps and change twice livestock, for the first time when they have reached a weight of 7 kg, the second to 30 kilos. They are fed a mixture of whey and grain in a pace very particular for meat where the relationship between the amount of fat and lean is critical for deli quality. After nine months in this plan, they weigh 160 kilograms. It is almost twice that pigs in France, where the animals are slaughtered at the age of 5 months and 100 kilos. These very specific ways to have been erected in standard by a consortium created in March under the name of "gran suino padano" to protect the Italian know-how and encourage farmers to perpetuate the.

Montorsi student 700,000 pigs a year, in suppressant 12,000 per week and develops 2.2 million tonnes of fresh meat and charcuterie at its five plants. A fully integrated system, where farmers are under contract, without guaranteed pay... The price paid to the producer is its ability to provide the quality required by Montorsi. There is no bargaining that takes on the subject. "Is given a second chance to the farmer when he was at the height, but if the problem persists, it is between", is Dr. Paolo Melotti, head of the veterinary services of the company.