FAO News; 5 August 2021, Rome - The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, highlighted the need for innovation and digital technologies for agri-food systems transformation during a visit today to the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in north-eastern Italy. The visit included two family-run food industries, focusing on coffee and ham production respectively, and a presentation by a company specializing in vertical farming.

The visit followed the Director-General's participation in the G20 Digital Economy Ministers' meeting in Trieste on Thursday where he called for the closing of the digital divide and made a strong case for expanding the use of digital technologies, especially in rural areas. Such technologies, Qu argued, could be leveraged to address multiple market failures and help smallholder farmers’ access to markets.

Accompanied during the visit by officials from the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region, of which Trieste is the capital, the Director-General encouraged representatives from the agro-food sector in the region to share their successful experiences on how to improve the production, supply and value chains during the upcoming World Food Forum, which will be organized by FAO’s Youth Committee in October 2021.

The Director-General’s first stopover was at a facility owned by the Illy caffe’ company which was founded in Trieste in 1933 and is now led by the third generation of the family. During the visit, the Director-General was briefed on the company’s commitment to high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability aimed at optimizing their positive impact on employees, communities and the environment.

The Director-General also paid a short visit to San Daniele del Friuli an area in the region renowned for its prosciutto ham where he met with representatives of the Prosciutto di San Daniele Consortium which consists of 31 local companies with the aim to safeguard the typical characteristics of the product and to protect and promote it globally.

Before his return to Rome, the Director-General attended a presentation by a representative of Zero Srl, a company specializing in vertical farming. Based in the town of Pordenone, the company has developed Zero Modular Architecture, a hardware-software technology which aims to facilitate the development of vertical farms on an industrial scale, while ensuring high levels of environmental sustainability. The Director-General commended Zero Srl’s commitment to promote innovation and emphasized the importance of making the technology more affordable and accessible, including in developing countries.

The Director-General who is the first FAO principal to officially visit the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region, expressed his willingness to further strengthen ties with FAO’s host country, Italy, and to continue sharing experiences on innovation and digitalization to transform the agri-food systems to make them more resilient and sustainable.

See: http://www.fao.org/director-general/news/news-article/en/c/1419162/