Italy's Hard Wheat Sector Confronts Price Collapse and Blockchain Traceability Rollout

Granoro, a pasta producer in Corato, Puglia, celebrated the annual Festa del Grano, marking the tenth anniversary of its “Dedicato” supply chain that links more than 340 farms, cooperatives and mills. The chain processes about 20,000 tonnes of durum wheat each year into 15,000 tonnes of semolina and 12,000 tonnes of pasta. At the event the company announced a limited‑edition “Le Spighe” pasta made exclusively from Puglian wheat and introduced blockchain‑based packaging to digitally trace the product from seed to table.

The executive board of Confagricoltura warned that key Italian agri‑food chains, especially hard wheat, rice, pork and olive oil, are under severe price pressure. Hard wheat prices have fallen nearly 50% over the last four harvests, rice varieties have slipped more than a third, pork prices are about 20% lower and extra‑virgin olive oil has dropped over 33%, with some segments down more than 50%. The board called for urgent public policy measures and sector agreements, including stronger origin labeling for wheat, increased health checks on rice imports, monitoring of pork market dynamics and a dedicated crisis fund for olive‑oil producers.