Italy: 15 million allocated for research on beef quality and environment

The Ministry of Agriculture has funded research into the best Italian beef cattle breeds with 15 million euros. The funds are co-financed by the EU. The resources will be used by the three national breeders' associations: Anaborapi (Piedmontese breed), Anabic (Chianina, Romagnola, Marchigiana, Maremmana and Podolica breeds) and Anacli (Charolaise, Limousine and limited-diffusion beef breeds). “Unlike what happens with other species,” explains Andrea Rabino, president of Anaborapi, “the selection of cattle cannot be carried out by multinationals, but is implemented, all over the world, in an associative form. Alongside the traditional selected characteristics such as growth and meat conformation, others have been added, no less important, such as ease of calving, resistance to disease and now also the impact on the environment; in short, we are working for an increasingly green Piemontese.” There are 4,000 companies that breed Piemontese, with 300,000 heads and a turnover of 350 ...