Organic week launched at Milan Expo

(ANSA) - Rome, September 4 - Organic farming is starring at the food-themed Milan Expo 2015.
    The three-day event got underway at the world's fair on Thursday to address issues including sustainable agriculture and farming innovation.
    "Organic Week" kicked off with the "Soil is Life" initiative looking at ways to maintain fertile soils. "The protection of biodiversity and the promotion of sustainable, innovative farming models that are able to respond to future challenges are the two focus points", said Duccio Campagnoli, president of BolognaFiere.
    The organization has helped organize the event held at Expo's Biodiversity Park, which focuses on organic food and farming.
    Meanwhile another initiative held at the world's fair this week highlighted the role played by cooperative companies in promoting Italian food products of excellence.
    Cooperation "plays a key role in promoting and preserving the main Italian DOPs", or Protected Denomination of Origin, a certification of the authentic origins and production methods specific to a region, said Fabio Perini, president of Lombardy's confederation of farming cooperatives Fedagri confcooperative.
    "This added value is redistributed to benefit partners and the community", noted Perini.
    He added that Expo was the perfect platform to promote the productive and economic benefits of the cooperative system that enables producers to join forces and contribute to the sector's growth.
    Expo this week released ticket sales figures showing that 13,784,308 tickets were sold as of August 31.
    Over 3.3 million people visited in the month of August alone.
    Since the world's fair opened on May 1, 12.2 million people have visited and Expo organizers said they estimate ticket sales to reach 20 million by the October 31 closing date.
    And key events to come before the Universal Exposition wraps up include an initiative on Sunday focusing on world hunger to be attended by Bono Vox, activist and lead singer for Dublin-based rock group U2, and Italian Premier Matteo Renzi.
    The event will also involve the agriculture ministers of Italy and Ireland, which is co-hosting it, as well as World Food Program Director Ertharin Cousin.
    The initiative called "It Begins With Me. How the World Can End Hunger in Our Lifetime," will take place in the Open Plaza at Expo starting at 7 p.m.
    Supported by the World Food Program (WFP), the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger and supplying emergency food aid, it focuses on a key objective Italy has set with Expo organizers to try to combat world food poverty.
    It also strives to promote the Milan Charter on the right to food, which is to be the legacy of the world's fair.
    The Charter commits the individuals, associations and companies that sign it to take responsibility with respect to their activities, and requests governments and international institutions to adopt rules and policies that ensure a fairer and more sustainable future for the planet.
    It has gathered more than 500,000 signatures so far.