Every fourth food product on the Italian table comes from a cooperative. One in two for fruit and vegetables, six in ten for wine. The cooperative model has shown great resilience in the face of current challenges: tariffs, geopolitical instability, climate change, demographic crisis, talent drain, sustainability, and the urgent need for more flexible European policies adapted to mountain contexts.
This was discussed at the panel "Titans of the impossible: Cooperatives hold their course amidst the waves of chaos. 130 years of Cooperazione Trentina", moderated by Manuela Perrone of the Sole 24 Ore newspaper, which opened the cooperative presence at the Trento Festival of Economics today, in collaboration with Confcooperative and Cooperazione Trentina. The event, hosted in the Cluod of Confcooperative in Piazza Duomo, is the first of 20 scheduled appointments and was well attended by the public and institutions. Roberto Simoni, president of the Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione (Trentino Federation of Cooperatives), brought the institutional greetings: '130 years of existence means that we have withstood everything, that the system has been able to demonstrate the validity of its model beyond all obstacles, with a socially aware approach to the economy that puts people at the centre'. Also present was the President of the Province of Trento, Maurizio Fugatti, who wanted to testify the proximity of the PAT to the cooperative world and celebrate the Federation's 130th anniversary.
Publication date: 22/05/2025
