Boldrini promotes 'cutting-edge' agriculture at Milan Expo

(ANSA) - Rome, October 27 - Milan Expo 2015 will be an opportunity for countries to develop a common European strategy to promote agriculture as the kind of "cutting-edge" economic sector, Laura Boldrini, speaker of the Lower House, said Monday.
    Boldrini was speaking to a Senate session with the heads of European Union interparliamentary committees on agriculture, industrial development and small- and medium-sized businesses.
    The theme of Milan Expo 2015, which begins in May and continues for six months, is 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life,' which could be a theme for a common European strategy, said Boldrini.
    Agriculture is an economic sector that shouldn't be "relegated to a marginal role" in Europe, she added.
    Nor should this sector be left to organized crime to exploit, added Senate Speaker Piero Grasso, a former anti-mafia magistrate. "We must defend agricultural production from penetration by organized crime," which in Italy has turned profits of about 14 billion euros per year, half of that from market production, he said.
    As well, countries must cooperate to protect consumer health and safety from fraud and counterfeit agriculture products, added Grasso.