AIFE Associates tell their stories

L’Erba Del Persico

IInterview with president, Cavalier Paolo Bruni: ‘Forty years of history, passion and pride’

Monday 12 June 2023

Just over a year has passed since the inauguration of the new plants for dehydrating and drying alfalfa installed at the L'Erba del Persico company, located in one of the areas most suited to this crop: Ripapersico di Portomaggiore in the province of Ferrara. Plants with a production capacity of 800 thousand quintals/year.
The history of this production company has its roots above all in the initiative of two brothers who at that time, in the 1980s, were little more than twenty years old. Two young men, Paolo and Piergiorgio Bruni, who together decided to expand the boundaries of their father's company by purchasing at auction a structure that until a few years earlier had been the site of a social stable.

Is that so Cavalier Bruni?
‘Exactly,' confirms Paolo Bruni, president of Erba del Persico. ’I really like to remember the beginning of what for my brother and me was a real adventure that immediately put us in front of a very significant economic sacrifice: when I was 25 years old , my brother was 20, in order to buy the sheds of that stable we took out a mortgage, facing a great sacrifice. Perhaps it was recklessness, perhaps the desire to prove our abilities, but certainly passion was the main driving force behind that adventure. Immediately after the purchase, we allocated the sheds to the storage of alfalfa, which was grown on the rented land and traditionally dried in the sun. About ten years later,' continues Cavalier Bruni, ’around 1996, we set up a company with the Saltarelli-Migiani Group of Pesaro, which boasted a long experience in the sector in the Marche region; together we built the first industrial plant with a facility capable of drying no more than 8,000 litres, which remained in operation until last year when, with the entry of the Società di Bonifiche Ferraresi Spa into the shareholding structure, it was decided to build a new plant.

A decision, that to build a new plant, fell at perhaps one of the most delicate historical moments....
‘Yes, without a doubt,’ replies Cavalier Bruni. ’The construction of the new plant began at the most complicated time we could have encountered: the aftermath of the pandemic years with the considerable difficulties related to the delivery of industrial raw materials and then, in February 2022, the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the consequent explosion of the costs of some production factors, energy in primis. In spite of all this, thanks to the involvement of Dutch and Spanish manufacturers to whom we had to turn because no one in Italy seemed willing to commit, we managed to build a plant with a drying capacity of 25,000 litres and inaugurate it at the beginning of the 2022 season. At the same time, new and larger warehouses were built for storing the finished product, as well as the complete renovation of the yards in front of the plants. Not only that. The new ownership today composed of Bonifiche Ferraresi and Dal Buono heirs, then decided at the beginning of 2023 to build a photovoltaic plant on the roof of the warehouses for 1 MW of power, which will be operational shortly, to be followed by a further one at the beginning of 2024’.

Cavalier Bruni, for L'Erba del Persico, the company you head, how do you outline the contours of the market, especially with regard to exports?
‘For a sector like ours, export is fundamental and necessary because the domestic market, although more profitable, cannot suffice. Foreign demand for dried and dehydrated alfalfa is increasing, especially from China, Japan and South Korea, but we have to deal with competition from the United States, which is particularly competitive for us. After a 2022 characterised by never-before-seen quotations, I fear that for 2023 things will be a bit more complicated, even if destinations such as the Arab Emirates and, I hope soon, also Saudi Arabia, represent important and interesting destinations. However, I am confident that good opportunities will open up, also considering that a country like Spain, the leading producer of dried and dehydrated alfalfa in Europe and our biggest competitor, has to deal with the consequences of the drought today, just as we did last year.

L'Erba del Persico is a member of AIFE/Italian Fodder Industry. What support and role does the association play for the company you chair?
‘AIFE/Filiera Italiana Foraggi is fundamental for the protection of the specific interests of our sector, which in Italy, counting a limited number of operators, through the association can well orientate its strategy.
In recent times, with the problems that have arisen as a result of the pandemic and the war, the work that AIFE has carried out in collaboration with Nomisma has been very useful. To this I must add that in its role as coordinator of supply chain contracts, it has done some very important work aimed at strengthening the economic power of dehydrators and alfalfa farmers at a time when we are facing fierce competition from other European countries close to us. I therefore think that joining an association like AIFE/Filiera Italiana Foraggi in which entrepreneurs can also discuss common problems and identify the best ways to solve them, is fundamental.

What opportunities may come for the sector from the New CAP?
‘First of all, it has to be said that the support for animal husbandry under the new EU programming inevitably brings indirect aid to the alfalfa sector as well. On direct aid I know that there are criticisms and objections. I personally believe that aid could be envisaged for those who are more inclined to the issue of sustainability and are willing to use a system of integrated agriculture in order to be able to access the premium and at the same time safeguard clean alfalfa production’.

The flooding in Romagna will have consequences for the entire agricultural world not only in the immediate future but also in the months to come. Do you think that your business will be affected also in the light of a demand that even before the floods exceeded supply?
‘First of all, let me say that L'Erba del Persico wanted to show its closeness and solidarity with the farmers affected by the landslides in the Casola Valsenio area by donating a truckload of dehydrated fodder as soon as it was possible to meet the food needs of their livestock. Then, to come to your question, certainly the consequences of the flooding will cause further damage and consequences not only in the affected and flooded areas. Emilia Romagna and Marche are areas with a large alfalfa production. Here, in a fortnight, the same amount of water fell as should normally fall in an entire year. And this happened at the same time as the first mowing, notoriously the most important of the year. It is therefore easy to see that the damage on the alfalfa as a whole will be considerable. Now we must hope that the season will recover, that the sun will shine again and that we can proceed with the next mowing in a more orderly manner. Experts tell us
Experts tell us that we will have to get used to experiencing long dry periods interspersed with flooding: for agriculture and specifically for alfalfa growers, this will be no small problem.

Cavalier Bruni, one last question. What should be done in your opinion to incentivise vegetable protein production at European level by reducing dependence on imports of soya or other crops from third countries?
‘At the European level, I think we need to approach the subject with a supply chain concept by incentivising all the components that go from the land to the table, including meat, in order to guarantee a finished product closely linked to production. In this way we could adequately and worthily counterbalance a wild import of crops from third countries where the same production and quality specifications do not apply as to us. Finally, I believe that all stages of the entire supply chain must be committed to the final objective'.