The MedRESOURCE project co-financed by Interreg NEXT MED Programme aims to promote sustainable and circular solutions for wastewater sludge management in the Mediterranean region, strengthening integrated water resources management through research, communication, participatory processes and capacity building actions. In this interview, Marco Peterle, General Director of the Cooperativa Produttori Arborea, association that unites local farmers and breeders, reflects on the strengths of the Arborea model, the challenges affecting local agriculture, and the role that cooperation projects can play in supporting resilience, innovation and territorial development.
The Cooperativa Produttori di Arborea is often described as an integrated agricultural model. Could you tell us who you are and what you represent for the territory?
Arborea is a distinctive case within the Sardinian and national agricultural landscape. The Cooperativa Produttori di Arborea developed within a long-established and highly integrated cooperative system, which today brings together four major production chains: cow’s milk, beef, fruit and vegetables, and forage crops.
The strength of this model lies in its ability to go beyond primary production. Over time, the Cooperative has integrated processing, logistics and marketing, building a system capable of ensuring economic stability for its members and continuity for the territory as a whole. This has made it possible to protect local production chains and to respond with greater resilience during periods of difficulty.
At the same time, this model is now being called upon to adapt. Climate change, market volatility and the growing demand for sustainable production are all pushing agricultural systems to rethink their organisation and future strategies.
Why did you decide to join the MedRESOURCE project?
Our participation in the MedRESOURCE project stems from a clear awareness: the challenges we face today cannot be addressed only at the local level. This initiative offers a Mediterranean framework for exchange, allowing territories that share similar problems to compare experiences and work on common solutions.
For the Cooperativa Produttori di Arborea, cooperation is a concrete opportunity to address strategic issues such as climate risk management, the sustainability of agricultural supply chains and the development of circular economy approaches. It is not only about analysing problems, but about creating operational pathways to test real and applicable solutions.
Climate change is now an everyday reality for agriculture. How does it manifest itself in Arborea?
In Arborea, climate change is no longer an abstract issue. It is something that directly affects the daily organisation of agricultural work. In recent years, seasonal patterns have become far less predictable, making planning increasingly difficult.
Long and intense heat waves alternate with periods of persistent and heavy rainfall. This has consequences for sowing and harvesting calendars, for livestock management and, more generally, for the ability of farms to organise production with a reasonable degree of certainty.
What are the most concrete effects of these phenomena on production and on the organisation of agricultural work?
The effects are very tangible. Prolonged rainfall often makes it impossible to access fields for harvesting, leading to product losses and lower quality, particularly for horticultural crops. During the summer months, high temperatures and strong winds affect crops in the germination phase and also create problems for animal welfare.
Forage crops are also impacted, with delays in production cycles and reduced yields. Even in a territory such as Arborea, where efficient infrastructure exists, including the drainage system and the support of the land reclamation consortium, there are structural limits beyond which intervention becomes increasingly difficult.
These environmental difficulties are compounded by economic ones. How is the market context changing?
Agricultural enterprises are operating in increasingly unstable international markets, characterised by strong price fluctuations and growing competitive pressure. At the same time, demand is becoming more concentrated within large-scale retail distribution, which further reduces producers’ margins.
Even a structured system such as Arborea’s struggles to compete on price with producers operating in contexts where costs and regulatory conditions are very different. The problem is not the quality of production, but a structural imbalance that directly affects the economic sustainability of farms.
As climate-related events become more frequent, there is a growing risk that many agricultural businesses are effectively forced to operate in a condition of structural uncertainty.
How important are cooperation and research for the future of agriculture and rural territories?
They are essential. Experiences such as MEDISS, MedRESOURCE and TRATT’EAU projects show the importance of building integrated pathways that connect scientific research, productive actors and institutions.
In a context shaped by climate change, market instability and difficulties in generational renewal, cooperation, both at the local and Mediterranean scale, becomes a strategic tool for strengthening territorial resilience and supporting long-term sustainable development.
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