What do Italian farms produce?

Italy is an important agricultural producer within Europe, and Italian agricultural production is very diversified. The country is the world’s largest producer of wine and the second major one in terms of olives, olive-oil and citrus fruit. Italy also has a significant role in the production of milk, meat and grains, both at national and European level.

Italian agriculture is very much shaped by the country’s geography: from the Alps in the north to the Mediterranean coasts in the south, the Italian countryside is characterized by a variety of climates and landscapes, which offer optimal conditions for such diverse crops as rice in the Po Valley and olives in the central-southern regions.

A large part of Italy’s agricultural system is based on small-scale family farms. According to the latest Eurostat data, Italy has over 1.8 million farms, employing around 1.2 million people, with nearly half of these farms producing for self-consumption. While small in terms of size, these farms are significant producers in terms of value and employment, and they play an important role in maintaining the rural landscape.

Main crops

The cultivation of grains, for both feed and human consumption, is widespread. The leading grain and cereals produced in the country are wheat, barley, rice and maize. Rice cultivation, for instance, is a tradition that dates back to the XII century, and rice areas today cover roughly 232,000 hectares, almost entirely located in the Po River Valley in northern Italy. The largest rice-producing region is Lombardy, the centre for Europe’s largest production area of risotto rice, which is the type preferred for traditional Italian dishes.

In the central and southern regions, large extensions of land are dedicated to the cultivation of olives, with Italy hosting over half of the world’s olive area and producing almost half of its output of olive oil. The majority of Italian olives are grown for oil, and the main type of olive tree cultivated is the “Olea europaea sativa”.

A further key economic sector in Italy is wine production. According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, Italy is the world's largest producer of wine and the leading exporter. The areas best known for Italian wines are Piedmont in the North-West (home of the prestigious wines Barolo and Barbaresco); the north-eastern region of Veneto, with the celebrated Prosecco; Tuscany in central Italy; and the southern peninsula, most famous for its Aglianico and Nero di Troia from Campania and Puglia.

Livestock

Over the last several decades, Italy has shifted from being a primarily agricultural economy to one increasingly driven by services and manufacturing, however, animal breeding still plays a strategically significant role in certain regions.

The leading livestock sector is the dairy industry. Italy is the first European producer and the third in the world in milk production, and some 1,050,000 cows are farmed for this purpose. Over the years, the sector has modernized, and large dairy farms are increasingly specialized and equipped with modern, energy-efficient technologies to meet market demand.

In terms of meat production, Italy is the major European producer of buffalo mozzarella and the second pig producer in Europe. However, Italian meat production (pigs and cattle) cannot meet domestic demand, and the bulk of domestic needs is imported.

Livestock farming, both for meat and dairy, is a fundamental part of the rural landscape, and the agricultural sector as a whole faces new challenges that have become more prominent in recent years, not least those caused by climate change and the impact of extreme natural events on agricultural production and land and forests.