Food valley – something to be proud of
'It is clear that quality products are the best part of European agriculture to promote in the world', according to EU Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development Dacian Cioloş. Speaking at the end of a 2-day visit to Parma (May 7-9), he concluded that “we should be proud of this 'food valley', where the best of our quality production traditions are being combined with modern marketing. It has been a very useful visit ahead of the Commission proposals on quality policy, which will be published before the end of the year.”
In the course of the trip, the Commissioner visited the Parmiggiano Reggiana production site in Baganzolino, two Balsamico vinegar plants in Modena (Spilamberto and Vignola), and the Parma Ham production site in Langhirano. He also met representatives of the respective consortia, holding interesting discussions about how this form of inter-branch organisation adjusted to last year’s crisis on agriculture markets and how the different consortia sometimes work together on joint promotion schemes.
In fact the original reason for visiting Parma at this time was to deliver a speech to the European College of Parma Foundation (Fondazione Collegio Europeo di Parma), in a series of talks given by leading EU figures – coming after a speech by Commission President José Barroso two weeks ago.
