The new crown epidemic has made the entire social and economic situation face a severe test, and more and more Italians have returned to the “farming era” of their grandfathers.

 

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Editor’s note: Affected by the new coronavirus epidemic, the social and economic situation in almost every country is facing severe tests. Italy is the first country in Europe to be eroded by the epidemic and one of the most severely affected by the epidemic. Due to the severe setbacks in many industries such as catering, tourism and retail, many people in this industry have chosen to return to the grandfather ’s “agricultural era “. This article was translated from The New York Times, the original title was For Some Italians, the Future of Work Looks Like the Past, author In the article, Jason Horowitz introduced the great changes in people ’s work industry under the influence of the epidemic in Italy.

Franco Baraldi ’s strawberry farm. Image source: Alessandro Grassani / The New York Times

In a small farm on the outskirts of the Italian capital Rome, workers crouched in the cornfield field walkway, pruning the roots of the plants, waiting for the upcoming harvest. Workers from Morocco, Romania, and Nigeria all know exactly what to do, but the real Italian workers are the ones who really need help.

The farmer pointed to the corn cob at the bottom of the vegetation and told Massimiliano Cassina, “You must eradicate these.”

Just a few weeks ago, 52-year-old Cassina also operated his own fabric company. His company specializes in providing raw materials for sports t-shirt manufacturers and has many international customers. However, due to the new coronavirus outbreak As a result, the number of deaths due to infection in the country has exceeded 30,000, and the overall economic situation has also been severely defeated. Under this background, Cassina ’s company has also been fatally hit.

In order to urgently seek a source of personal cash flow, Cassina also joined an increasingly large team to discover the future in the country ’s past agricultural-based industries .

“They gave me a chance.” said Cassina, who was wearing a blue mask and rubber gloves, and the shirt was already soaked in sweat.

Massimiliano Cassina working in the corn countryside. Image source: Nadia Shira Cohen / The New York Times

After World War II, Italy achieved industrialization, and there was no “turning back” anymore. However, the epidemic completely changed the economy and society. The former seasonal workers were forced to stay in their own country and could not go out to work. The Italians in Italy are engaged in retail, entertainment, fashion and other industries that were once very powerful. , Have also fallen into trouble.

Before that, the fields outside Italy were more like fields left for natural wine lovers. They used ancient seeds to sow in the field and carefully preserved their boutique gardens. Until recently, more and more people returned to this field, picked up the work of their grandfathers, and became workers on large farms. Under the influence of the current epidemic, these large-scale farms are of great significance to a country that is almost paralyzed.

Without them, hundreds of tons of broccoli, broad beans, fruits and vegetables will wither or rot in the ground.

Italian agricultureMinister Teresa Bellanova revealed in an interview that she used to be a farm worker. “This epidemic forced us to rethink the development model and the way the country works.”

Bellanova said that because Italy is currently one of the most severely affected countries in Europe, Italy urgently needs to “respond to all levels of society, including unemployed youth” “The population’s food shortage problem”, and agriculture can become “a new generation to discover and create the field of the future.”

For this reason, agriculture itself must rely on the backward branding before the era of European industrialization and technological innovation, and highlight its leading aspects of using advanced technology, machinery and chemical supplies.

Bellanova said that she had an in-depth conversation with the French Minister of Agriculture on this transition. In addition, for countries such as Spain and Germany that have been affected by the epidemic and have caused other industries to shut down, this transformation has also been actively promoted.

“Agriculture does not necessarily mean going back to the era of hoeing.” Belanova said.

Franco Baraldi ’s strawberry farm. Image source: Alessandro Grassani / The New York Times

If Italians need fields to survive, then the farm immediately needs Italian help. Although the agricultural sector lobbied vigorously and created the so-called “green promenade”, the reality is that those seasonal workers who were previously from Romania, Poland, India and other countries could not go out to work because of the epidemic, and the number of people in this employment gap is probably 150,000 people.

At the same time, 36% of the Italians who were formerly among the 1 million farm workers in Italy now have no jobs because of the closure of the catering industry, tourism industry, and shops. In this context, a safer outdoor working environment has become an attractive factor, and more attractively, it also has a salaryAvailable.

Major agricultural associations in Italy have established relevant websites to introduce job opportunities on various farms to make up for the shortage of labor. The move attracted more than 20,000 job applications, most of them local Italians.

Paolo Figna, 26, lost his job as a waiter. He described his work on a strawberry farm on the outskirts of Verona (Verona) in northern Italy, saying, “This is like a godsend.”

However, for many people, this transition is not easy. For decades, as seasonal workers from other countries have basically filled the gap in the local workforce, local Italians seem to have become strange to farming.

The Confagricoltura Association is one of Italy ’s largest agricultural associations. The president of the association, Massimiliano Giansanti, says many are interested in these jobs Of Italians do not have training and experience related to this industry.

“Farming doesn’t mean picking apples from trees.” Gian Santi said. This work is not what the Italians imagined. Agriculture is also a modern industry, which also requires professional knowledge, dedication and flexibility.

He said that for now, most Italians who come for the job opportunities posted on the association ’s website believe that these jobs are actually gardening jobs.

45-year-old Bruno Francescon is a melon farmer on the outskirts of Mantova, a small town in northern Italy. The farm worker he recently hired was a hotel waiter and bus driver. He said he missed his “professional level” workers from India and Morocco. “These new workers, because they lack the necessary skills, can’t make up for the existing labor gap.” Franciscan said, “some of them just ran away.”

Of course, there are some people who have seen professional development related to these fields, but this correlation is not great.

23-year-old Anna Flora was deeply attracted by the stories of her grandfather ’s horse farm while growing up. However, since none of his grandfather’s children were interested in taking over the horse farm, he eventually had to transfer the horse farm. Although the horse farm is gone, Anna still has a very high passion for the land. In February of this year, Anna also found an insurance sales job that could sell hail insurance to farms across Italy.

However, the epidemic caused her to lose her job. Later, she went to find a job selling sports and pet supplies, and it didn’t take long for the company to close. Then, someone suggested that she apply for the vacant labor force on the major farms, and Anna gladly submitted the application.

After a few weeks of picking strawberries, Anna found the job interesting and rewarding. In addition, she said, “My grandfather is also very happy for me.”

Anna Flora working on a strawberry farm. Image source: Alessandro Grassani / The New York Times

Anna is one of more than 50 applicants for 12 positions posted on the Agrijob website. These positions come from Franco Baraldi’s farm. The workers in these positions were all seasonal workers from Poland.

Baradi, now 59, said that most of his newly recruited workers are from the baking industry, catering and retail industry, so at the beginning, basically I don’t even know what to do, but fortunately I got started. He said that since March, many people have not had any income or received the help promised by the government. Several workers even asked him to allow them to stay on the farm after the strawberry season, to help cope with the work of the apricot season and the peach season.

Baradei said he also hopes they can do itHowever, the future of agriculture still depends on government funding. He said that since his grandfather had run a farm, the government gave up the industry. If the younger generation did not follow their parents into the farmland, it must be because “no one helped them.”

Baradei also stated that if government subsidies are not available, the farm will be difficult to make a profit. This will only allow unscrupulous farmers to further exploit foreign workers and pay them less wages.

In May this year, the Italian government reserved more than 1 billion euros in subsidies as part of a relief package totaling 55 billion euros. However, the move also triggered intense discussions among different parties within the government, as it also included proposals to legalize illegal labor in this area.

The Italian Minister of Agriculture was so excited when he announced these measures that he was almost speechless. She also mentioned in an interview that this will help the integrated development of Italian agriculture, and at the same time can also fill the labor shortage caused by the epidemic.

However, critics claim that measures including the legalization of illegal workers cannot really solve the problem of labor shortage, because these illegal workers are already working in the fields, It’s just that in an exploited working condition, the workload exceeds the standard, but the salary is extremely low.

Populists inside and outside the Italian government believe that the Minister of Agriculture is using the epidemic to further advance a radical agenda.

Austin Okoro, 25, is a Nigerian with a legal work permit. He worked with Cassie on the corn farm outside Rome Na picked the corn together. He said that his friends without legal status wanted to have such a job. But he also mentioned that he was not dissatisfied with the fact that more and more Italians also came into the field.

“They also did quite well.” Ocoro said with a smile.

However, the main problem is still the lack of seasonal workers with professional training and experience. In the face of the upcoming harvest season, there may be insufficient workers.

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