Counting the Cost of the Organic Revolution

by M. Bird, P. Riva, R. Zamfira, V. Odobescu | 02.02.2022

Organic food sales are booming in Europe, and agriculture in the continent is changing to satisfy this demand

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Organic producers in 2019

No. of organic produceres:

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Value of EU Organic Food Market in 2019

Value of local organic food markets:

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Per capita spending average în 2018

Per capita spending averages (2018):

What does organic farming mean?

Natural fertilizers for the soil such as compost and seaweed

Natural pesticides made from plants, animals, microorganisms, or minerals

No products made from genetically modified crops used in the process of growing food and livestock

Using antibiotics as a last resort in raising animals

Better animal welfare, such as ensuring animals have access to outdoor space.

Which countries grow the most organic food, and what is their potential for the future?

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Total organic farmland (ha) in 2019

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Current Status of Agricultural Land in EU

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EU’s Target for Agriculture Across the 27 Member Bloc by 2030

Agriculture-rich Italy in Prime Position to See Organic Upswing

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CAP support for organic agriculture

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cultivated organic land

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Organic operators

Source: Sistema d'Informazione Nazionale sull'Agricoltura Biologica

Agriculture’s Total Dependence on Mobile Workers

The number of migrants working in agriculture in Italy has increased by 90% in the past decade

Source: CREA - Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria - Il contributo dei lavoratori stranieri all'agricoltura italiana

Mistreatment of Farmworkers has Shameful Record

Agriculture is one of top economic sectors in Italy where workers are at risk of labor exploitation

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Increase in migrant workers in agriculture in the past decade (2009-2019)

agriculture workers are exposed to the risk of expoitation in Italy (2019)

agriculture workers died in Italy because of exploitative working conditions (2013-2019)

Workers are subject to:

Harsh Living Conditions

Seziure of ID by bosses

Unpaid overtime

Pesticide poisoning

Sexual Exploitation

Harsh Living Conditions

“I have a case of a shepherd who died at work. We are suing the employer for exploitation. He was forced to sleep in a shack in December, without a bed, without a mattress, without extra clothes, without anything. He was from a village in Vrancea, near Focșani, in Romania. You wouldn’t treat a stray dog like that. They didn't even do an autopsy on him, but an external examination, put him in the coffin and sent him home. And now we are trying to dig up the corpse in Romania to determine the cause of death.”

Camelia Cutolo, Lawyer, Italy

Seizure of ID by bosses

“Alas, there are people with an illiteracy of rights. They’re not informed, they don’t sign contracts and find themselves in a delicate situation. There are workers who told me: ‘I work on the black market. [the bosses] took my ID, I wasn’t paid, I work 12 hours in the field, without water. I am afraid to denounce the boss, because I accepted to work like this and I’ll be put in jail.’”

Emilia Bartoli Spurcaciu, Italian Union FLAI-CGIL Romania Branch

Unpaid overtime

“We worked 25 Euro a day in conditions when we worked ten hours, because we were told we would receive 2.5 Euro per hour. The problem was that we worked 12-13 hours It all depended on the demands that were made of us - rains came, but it didn’t matter, as we had to finish the job. There were things that were not respected. The program was not respected.”

Maria N, ex-farm worker Iasi, Romania

Sexual Exploitation

“One dramatic story was about a single woman with two children, living on the farms, with no transport, in the middle of nowhere. The children wanted to go to school, so the employer offered to drive them, but, in a way, bringing them to school became a way to blackmail the woman into sexual abuse. At first, she accepted, because she didn’t have alternatives, but when she understood this was too much, she tried to escape. But the reaction was very violent by the employers who would not give water and food to the family. She escaped and reached a local NGO.”

Letizia Palumbo, Research Fellow, the Migration Policy Centre

Pesticide Poisoning

“In greenhouses, many workers die due to intoxication, because of inhaling pesticides,” according to lawyer Camelia Curtolo. An European Parliamentary report from 2018 on vulnerability of women, also stated that there are “100s” of migrant children in Ragusa, Sicily, without schooling, who live around the greenhouses, where their parents work all year round. Many of these children have not been vaccinated and have a high frequency of illnesses, such as bronchitis, skin diseases and alimentary poisoning, which is due to the presence of pesticides.

The vulnerability to exploitation of women migrant workers in agriculture in the EU: the need for a Human Rights and Gender based approach

Because organic farms don’t use pesticides and herbicides, the work to maintain the fields can require more manpower and longer hours than conventional farming

But many of the these farms treat workers badly

Here is how migrant workers are exploited at organic farms in Italy:

Migrants Accept Exploitation as Price of Right to Work

“I have always accepted to be exploited for the simple reason that otherwise I would not have been able to renew my residency permit. My employers demand that we always remain at their disposal and that we are always ready to go to the fields when they call us. ... All my compatriots are in this situation but no one rebels for fear of losing their residency.”

Ouedraogo, worker on organic farm in Saluzzo (CN), Piedmont, Italy

Migrants Must Pay for their own Gear, Water and Rent to Employers

“I worked in the field and in the factory. I bought gloves with my own money. I bought socks with my own money. I bought water with my own money. I worked from six am to sometimes eight pm, sometimes nine, sometimes 11 o’clock. I had to pay the company six Euro every day for accommodation.”

West African worker, ex-worker for organic agricultural farm (2017-2018), Foggia

Payslips Claim Workers are Paid More than in Reality

“I receive about 750 euro per month. My pay is calculated according to the hours I work: for each hour of work I get 4.5 euros. However, I noticed that my payslip says that I get 6.5 euros per hour.”

Aboubabcar, worker on organic farm in Zapponeta (FG), Apulia, Italy

Cash Workers Receive is Less than Employers Promise

“In May, for the days I worked, according to the attendance records, were 19 days for a total of 178 hours, minus two test days on which I worked 18 hours, a total of 160 hours multiplied by 4.5, I should have received 720 euros. Instead, I received 661 euro.”

Abdulai Mohamed, worker on organic farm in Cassina de’ pecchi (MI), Lombardy, Italy

Migrants Must Pay Back Cash to Employers to Work Legally

“[If I wanted to pay tax legally, the boss said:] I would have to give him 100 Euro every month. And from that 100 Euro he would pay for me the tax. If I want to work, it’s OK. If I don’t want to work, he let me leave. This is the way they work”

West African worker, ex-worker for organic agricultural farm (2017-2018), Foggia

Some farms recognise that organic agriculture should not only benefit the food chain, but also those working in the fields. We visited Italian farms with a policy to respect ethics not only in what they grow, but also in how they treat their employees. Even in a competitive industry of low margins and labor intensity, this shows that profits and fairness at work can coexist.

An Opportunity for Social Integration

Olive and grape farm Acquamela bio in Cerignola, in the Foggia province, switched to organic twenty years ago.

“It was a way of rebelling against the system,” says Vito Merra, one of the sons of the original owner, who obtained the land after World War II.

During the grape harvest, Acquamela bio employs a dozen workers, who are both Italian and foreign, mainly from Africa.

“Having a mix of workers helps with social integration,” adds Merra.

Because the farm chose to go organic, it can attract subsidies and ask for higher prices for its goods, making the business sustainable.

Merra is now looking to invest and expand.

A Symbol of Breaking Free from a Legacy of Crime

Organic fruit grower Cooperativa Sociale AlterEco has become a symbol of breaking free of both the influence of gangmasters on agriculture, and of organised crime.

Based in Cerignola, Foggia, the farm is centred on a rural building, which the state confiscated from the local mafia.

Here the cooperative organises cultural initiatives, legal training, especially in anti-mafia law, while also growing tomatoes, cherries, grapes, lemons, olives and pomegranates.

“In a land where farming seems impossible without gangmasters (caporalato), this is a symbol [of the exception],” explains Vincenzo Pugliese, one of its members.

The farm chose to go organic “as a matter of conscience” he adds.

AlterEco has also hired African workers as part of an NGO Terra! project to counteract exploitation, and one of them has since become a member of the cooperative.

“We have a small level of production, but it is sustainable,” says Vincenzo Pugliese.

When growers become food processors, working ethically is easier

Vegetable producer PrimaBio in Rignano Garganico, Foggia, has been growing organic tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, broccoli and asparagus for over 20 years. The mid-sized company sells mostly to non-Italian markets, especially in central and northern Europe and mainly to big retail.

The increase in the number of producers has made the industry more competitive.

“In the past, there were fewer organic companies and it was easier,” says Maria Luisa Terrenzio, daughter of the founder Giovanni Terrenzio.

Since 2019, PrimaBio has also hired African workers recruited by the NGO No Cap, which seeks to combat gangmaster (caporalato) and exploitation through an ethical supply chain.

“If you process the products you grow, as we do, it is possible to work ethically,” says Terrenzio.

Illustrations by Andrei Cotrut, Photography by Diego Ravier