Italy’s rich culinary traditions may have just gained UNESCO heritage status, but the Nutri3D project by the country’s public research agency ENEA shows scientists are out to push boundaries in the quest for sustainable, nutrient-rich snacks.

Prototypes include snack bars and glossy “honey pearls” designed to preserve flavour and nutritional value.

“In a world where arable land is shrinking and climate change forces us to rethink food production, the goal is to keep making what we are used to eating,” said Silvia Massa, head of ENEA’s Agriculture 4.0 lab.

The aim “is not to grow the plant itself, but its cells,” she added.

‘Italians add creativity’

Northern Europe has led early efforts, with Finnish labs producing fruit compotes from cell cultures and researchers in Zurich developing cocoa-like flavourings.

“We Italians add creativity, combining cellular food with recovered by-products,” Massa said, referring to the fruit residues from jam production for example.

The project is run with EltHub — an Italian private technology R&D firm that is part of ELT Group — and Rigoni di Asiago, a family-owned company specializing in organic food products.

At EltHub in the central region of Abruzzo, ENEA’s plant-based “inks” are shaped using a 3D printer.

An ENEA survey found 59 per cent of respondents willing to try such foods.

The technology could also be useful in resource-scarce settings, such as space or in conflict zones, said EltHub director Ermanno Petricca, dubbing the snacks “fruit for astronauts”.

ENEA is also testing microgreens and nano-tomatoes for space cultivation.

On Earth, 3D food printing could enable tailored nutrition for people with dietary restrictions. A plant-based steakhouse in Rome, Impact Food, is already offering 3D-printed sliced meat on its menu.

— Reporting by Matteo Negri

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Increases in canola exports, especially to China, accounted for much of the growth so far this year. The CGC reported total canola exports were about 3.03 million tonnes, improving on the 1.58 million a year ago. China has taken in about 2.29 million tonnes at this point in 2024/25, versus the 1.01 million by last October.

With threats of Chinese tariffs on Canadian canola, the trade suspects the country’s buyers have been frontloading. In early September, Chinese authorities announced an investigation into alleged canola dumping by Canada. The move was seen as retaliatory for the Canadian government slapping a 100 per cent tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, as well as sharp hikes on levies for steel and aluminum imports.

Canada’s number two canola customer, Japan, upped its imports of the oilseed as well. So far in 2024/25, Japan as taken in 310,400 tonnes compared to 277,300 the same time last year.

Other sharp hikes include the European Union, with its members acquiring 126,700 tonnes so far this marketing year compared to 42,500 a year ago, and those to the United Arab Emirates have shot up to 122,000 tonnes versus 37,400.

The EU has also boosted its durum imports from Canada, at 295,500 tonnes through October, with Italy accounting for more than 89 per cent of those purchases. By October last year, Italy had acquired all of the EU’s imports at 149,700 tonnes. Total durum exports of 916,800 tonnes through were 35 per cent on the year.

Exports of non-durum wheat as of October, at 4.78 million tonnes, were down from 5.26 million in 2023/24.

China deeply cut its wheat imports from Canada, at 211,900 tonnes this year versus 536,400 a year ago.

Canadian corn exports witnessed a strong upswing, reaching 293,800 tonnes versus 86,800 a year ago. The EU accounted for the increase, particularly Ireland. Of the 268,400 tonnes imported by the EU, 237,900 have gone through Ireland. At this point last year the EU took in 71,400 tonnes.

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The draft trade agreement, which dates from 2019, aims to establish import quotas into the EU for certain agricultural products from Mercosur countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with no duties or reduced import duties.

But EU farmers, especially French farmers, have protested against the deal, which they say will add to problems they already face from cheap imports, burdensome regulations and squeezed incomes.

“We are in favour of the deal with Mercosur, but we need to correct some points on agricultural issues,” Tajani was quoted as saying by Italian news agency ANSA on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels.

“We are working to try to achieve this objective because as far as industrial policy is concerned, we are going in the right direction.”

Italy’s Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said last month that the draft was “not acceptable” and called for the Mercosur countries to comply with the same EU regulations in terms of respect for workers’ rights and the environment.

The Mercosur trade deal is supported by most of the South American countries and is being pushed by Germany and Spain.

South America’s Mercosur bloc will meet in Uruguay on Thursday raising the prospect that it could use the event to clinch the long-delayed EU trade deal, after last-minute negotiations to get it over the line.

— Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni

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Day one of the EIMA international machinery show in Bologna, Italy, saw five tractor manufacturers take home awards for Tractor of the Year. There were six different categories in play – Fendt won in two categories – that ranged from horsepower to sustainability and a newly created category called ‘TotyBot’ for fully automated tractors without a cab. A precision weeder from Ferrari Growtech that uses AI technology to remove weeds in vegetable fields was also a highlight of the day. Oh, and a John Deere tractor was carved up for all visitors to see. Take a look!

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Glacier FarmMedia digital editor Greg Berg takes in the 2024 EIMA International Agricultural and Gardening Machinery Exhibition in Bologna, Italy.

During a press conference the evening of Nov. 5, 2024, before the opening day of the show, officials with FederUnacoma spoke to several challenges in the global agricultural sector such as weak farm equipment sales, labour shortages, how climate change is hurting productivity and how new technologies are one piece of the puzzle to help overcome these challenges.

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Roadshow attendees arrived by motor coach on the morning of Sept. 10 and were encouraged to tour the farm show site in Woodstock. They met later in the day for a networking event that heard introductions from several business leaders, including Marco Saladini, Trade Commissioner with the Italian Trade Agency.

In an interview earlier in the day, Saladini offered, “I am very impressed by this show, by the organization, by the attendance, and I am eager to take a walk and figure out what could be the next steps for our programs supporting Italian companies and their interactions with [the] Canadian agricultural world.”

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Roadshow attendees arrived by motor coach on the morning of Sept. 10 and were encouraged to tour the farm show site in Woodstock. They met later in the day for a networking event that heard introductions from several business leaders, including Marco Saladini, Trade Commissioner with the Italian Trade Agency.

In an interview earlier in the day, Saladini offered, “I am very impressed by this show, by the organization, by the attendance, and I am eager to take a walk and figure out what could be the next steps for our programs supporting Italian companies and their interactions with [the] Canadian agricultural world.”

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Farmers from agricultural regions such as Tuscany headed south towards the capital, flying the Italian flag and carrying hand-written signs with slogans including “No farmer, No food”.

They were expected to congregate on the outskirts of Rome pending further protests later in the week.

“We are going to Rome to seek a confrontation with our politicians to resolve our problems,” said Tuscan farmer Davide Rosati.

The Italian farmers share many of the grievances expressed by their counterparts in other parts of Europe during a wave of protests over the past few weeks.

They complain that their products are being undercut by cheaper imports from areas outside the European Union such as north Africa, rising fuel costs and the impact of EU measures designed to protect the environment and counter climate change.

The protests have eased in France and Germany for now but appear to be growing in intensity in other parts of the EU. Angry farmers on Monday again blocked the Dutch-Belgian motorway border crossing between Maastricht and Liege.

Cow in the city

In Milan, Italy’s financial capital, a small group of farmers took a cow to a protest outside the offices of the Lombardy regional government, an incongruous sight in a part of the city dominated by modern high-rise buildings.

The Italian farmers are also pressing for the reinstatement of an income tax break introduced in 2017, which the government dropped in the budget law for 2024.

Speaking during a visit to Japan on Monday, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy had done more than some of its EU neighbours to support its farmers.

“Of course, there is always room for improvement, and I am always willing to listen to the demands coming from workers who are essential to us,” she said.

She noted that her government had maintained fuel subsidies for farmers and increased the funds earmarked for agriculture in the post-Covid recovery plan to 8 billion euros from 5 billion.

The farmers’ protests in Italy are being led by a number of individual groups and not organized by Italy’s main farming lobby, Coldiretti, which has a close relationship with the government.

–Additional reporting for Reuters by Geert de Clercq, Crispian Balmer and Alvise Armelli.

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The proposal, already approved by the upper house Senate, passed by 159 votes in favour to 53 against, prohibiting the use, sale, import and export of food and feed “from cell cultures or tissue derived from vertebrate animals”.

Factories breaching such rules can be subject to fines of up to 150,000 euros ($162,700) and risk being shut down, while owners may lose their right to obtain public funding for up to three years.

The proposal of Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, a close aide of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is seen as part of a broader bid by the rightist coalition to safeguard tradition.

As the debate in parliament was under way, tensions erupted between demonstrators from agricultural lobby group Coldiretti and two opposition lawmakers, one of whom claimed the president of the lobby group, Ettore Prandini, had assaulted him.

“I believe it is subversive that the president of Coldiretti believes he can assault a lawmaker,” lawmaker Benedetto Della Vedova said, adding he would report Prandini to police. Della Vedova appeared to have been pushed in the chest in the incident but was not hurt.

Prandini told Reuters the lawmakers had provoked the farmers with offensive banners, and played down the confrontation.

The +Europa party and other opposition groups depicted the right-wing’s administration move as an attempt to please farmers and breeders’ lobbies, as lab-grown food is not yet available in the European Union.

Critics of the bill say producing meat without breeding animals would limit greenhouse gas emissions and provide an option for consumers who would appreciate eating a product that does not involve slaughter.

The opposition warned the government risked breaching EU single market rules by unilaterally banning the product in case the bloc ever decided to make lab food available.

Minister Lollobrigida reiterated the ban was needed to protect the food industry.

–Reporting for Reuters by Angelo Amante.

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If the proposal is passed by parliament, Italian industry will not be allowed to produce food or feed “from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals,” the bill seen by Reuters said.

A breach of the rules could result in fines of up to 60,000 euros (C$88,509).

“Laboratory products in our opinion do not guarantee quality, well-being and the protection of our culture, our tradition,” said minister Francesco Lollobrigida, a senior member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party.

Meloni’s nationalist administration has pledged to shield Italy’s food from technological innovations seen as harmful, and renamed the agriculture ministry the “ministry for agriculture and food sovereignty.”

Agriculture lobby Coldiretti praised the move against “synthetic food,” saying a ban is needed to safeguard home production “from the attacks of multinational companies.”

The bill stipulates that factories where violations occur can be shut down and producers may lose their right to obtain public funding for up to three years.

Angry reactions

The initiative angered organizations supporting the development of “cell-based” agricultural products across Europe, as well as animal rights groups.

“The passing of such a law would shut down the economic potential of this nascent field in Italy, holding back scientific progress and climate mitigation efforts,” said Alice Ravenscroft, head of policy at the Good Food Institute Europe.

Food companies’ network Cellular Agriculture Europe said Italy was limiting options for consumers who are concerned about animal welfare and the environmental impact of their food choices.

Anti-vivisection group LAV called the bill “an ideological, anti-scientific crusade against progress.” It said lab-meat, which is produced from the cells of living animals, represented a good alternative to intensive breeding and slaughtering.

The ban on cell-based meat is not the only initiative from Meloni to block non-conventional food from being served on Italian tables.

Last week, she said the government was preparing a rush of decrees to introduce information labels on products containing or derived from insects, amid a debate on the use of cricket flour.

“People must be able to make an informed choice,” she wrote on Twitter.

— Angelo Amante is a Reuters correspondent in Rome.

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