Food is the first wealth of Italy, worth 575 billion euros, or almost a quarter of the national GDP: this is the figure for 2021, a year in which the Made in Italy food chain has recorded an increase of 7% over the previous year. This is revealed by an analysis of Coldiretti presented at Cibus, the International Food Exhibition in Parma.

Other numbers: 4 million workers in 740 thousand farms, 70 thousand food industries, more than 330 thousand realities of catering and 230 thousand retail outlets. In 2022 there was also a double-digit increase in exports: more 21.6%, an all-time record, according to Coldiretti's analysis of Istat data on foreign trade for the first two months of 2022, which see food exports rising on the annual record of 52 billion made in 2021. In the US, which ranks second in the Italian food and beverage export market, growth is 21.9%.

At the base of the success of Made in Italy there is an agriculture that has become the greenest in Europe with - Coldiretti points out - the EU leadership in organic farming with 80 thousand operators, the highest number of PDO / PGI / TSG recognized (316), 526 PDO / PGI wines and 5,333 traditional food products. We are the first EU producer of rice, durum wheat and wine and of many vegetables typical of the Mediterranean diet such as tomatoes, eggplants, artichokes, fresh chicory, endives, celery and fennel. And also with regard to the fruit is the leader in many important productions: from fresh apples and pears, cherries, table grapes, kiwis, hazelnuts and chestnuts.