Geopolitics, agriculture is a decisive variable

In the contemporary geopolitical landscape, competition between states does not only take place on the terrain of industry, raw materials or finance, but also on that of food production. The primary sector is therefore, like the others, used by states to exert their influence in the international arena and thus condition the policies of their competitors.

This is what geopolitical analyst Dario Fabbri spoke about in the meeting entitled "Agriculture, a decisive variable in geopolitical arrangements", held on the opening day of EIMA International. The war between Russia and Ukraine - Fabbri noted - is also an agricultural war and it is significant that the only common ground found so far between the two belligerents has been precisely on wheat exports from Odessa. The agreement made it possible to unblock a situation that could have undermined the political stability of the African and Middle Eastern countries most dependent on Ukrainian wheat.

If today agriculture is also a tool for exerting political influence, the question of food self-sufficiency and increasing production yields has become a strategic issue for many states. A very important game - he added - is the one that India and China are playing in the field of technological independence, in order to create increasingly advanced machines that allow them to increase productivity and, therefore, to strengthen their position in the global trade system.

Agriculture has emerged in recent years as a central sector - Dario Fabbri pointed out - and this can only change the commonly held perception of agriculture. There is a cultural transformation taking place that will lead not only the political world but also the new generations to conceive agriculture no longer as a marginal sector but as a pivotal element of every country's economy.