Today, July 25, in the “Me and WE-Women for Expo” space in Padiglione Italia, an encounter event took place with the title “Women in the field, protagonists of the future”, promoted by the Associazione Donne in Campo, or Women in the Field Association, of the Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori, the Italian Farmers Confederation. The morning session began with a greeting from Mara Longhin, National President of Donne in Campo (Women in the Field). “Today we will be taking a look at women farmers in Italy, presenting the stories and faces and experiences of businesswomen who contribute to the Italian Agricultural System. As women, we have a sensibility that is different, which makes our way of running a company different.”

 

The prizewinning entrepreneurs

The most moving part of the day’s events was the award ceremony of selected successful female agricultural entrepreneurs, carried out by the honorable Susanna Cenni, member of the Chamber of Deputies parliamentary commission on Agriculture. “Donne in Campo, or Women in the Field, is an association that I have observed as it has grown in recent years, and which I consider important for its ability to help businesswomen in agriculture not to feel on their own… especially when they are young. I think that WE - Women for Expo is a wonderful initiative and I hope it will continue after Expo Milano 2015 has finished. It also provides extremely interesting and stimulating input for politicians to work with. Today it represents one of the most attractive aspects of Italian Agriculture: its women.”

The prizewinners were:
- from Liguria, Barbara Fidanza of the organic farm ‘Il Germoglio’;
- from Lazio, Pina Terenzi of the farm company Terenzi;
- from The Marches, Lea Luzi of the Monterosso farming enterprise;
- from Abruzzo, Valeria Gallese of Lanaquilana farm, and Rossella Di Nisio of ‘Le nostre radici’;
- from Veneto, Sara Longhi of ‘La Vaccheria’;
- from Piedmont, Sandra Arneodo of ‘Fattoria dell’Aglio’;
- from Lombardy, Sofia Montorfano of the ‘San Damiano’ farm company, Beatrice Arrigoni of the 
       Beatrice Arrigoni farm, and Cristina Binda of the farm & accommodation enterprise Cassina
      Enco;
- from Trentino, Claudia Casagrande of G. A. Manci;
- from Tuscany, Elisa Bigiarini, director of ‘Tenuta La Casuccia’, and Paola Corridori of the organic farm ‘Podere Santa Francesca’;
- from Umbria, Letizia Tiezzi of the Tiezzi farm, and Antonella Giovannini of Colle Rocchetta farm;
- from Puglia, Rosaria Ponziano of ‘Ponziano Rosaria Società agricola bio2P Srl’;
- from Sicily, Fiorella Mortillaro of the ‘Lucca Sicula’ enterprise, and Daniela Di Garbo of ‘Bergi 
      Agritourism’.

 

Different kinds of agriculture, different faces

The encounter concluded with the preview screening of a documentary film by Guido Turus called “Bioresistenze - Cittadini per il territorio: l’Agricoltura responsabile” (Bio-resistance – Citizens for their territories: responsible agriculture) and with a series of reflections from Cinzia Pagni, acting national Vice-President of the Italian Agricultural Confederation. “Our Confederation has chosen to be present at Expo Milano 2015 in order to express its values. I am proud of what the ‘Women in the Field’ Association is doing, and today’s awards ceremony  reminded us that our agriculture is made up of faces, real stories, of multifunctional companies and rural enterprises which are anything but standardized. Women know how to take care of things and this, combined with their passion and their curiosity, makes them shining examples for society and messengers of values for future generations.”