I don’t usually post press releases on MyWinePal.com; most get posted to my Facebook page. This press release is an exception as it covers Demeter, the biodynamic certification body for the world. While we may think of it specifically in the management of vineyards and wine production, it also covers agriculture with a broader brush. Here is the press release to update us on what Demeter has been doing lately in Italy. Cin cin.
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Rome, July 16, 2025 – Tourism, capable of revealing the beauty and culture of an area, can be the perfect opportunity to learn about the value of Italian Demeter biodynamic productions and their history, made up of the work of producers, and passion for the environment and for good and healthy food.
With a Press Conference held yesterday, Tuesday, July 15, 2025 at the headquarters of the Foreign Press Association in Rome, Italy, Demeter Italia – an international leader in the export of biodynamic products – presented the project that combines agriculture, rural hospitality and culture: a new web page dedicated to farm tourism at certified farms and a concrete commitment to promoting experiential tourism as a key to knowledge of biodynamics.
The event, titled “L’agricoltura biodinamica Demeter Italia diventa esperienza con l’agriturismo, la buona tavola e le produzioni dei territori (Demeter Italia Biodynamic Agriculture Becomes Experience with Farm Tourism, Good Food and the Productions of the Territories),” was opened by Demeter Italia Director Giovanni Buccheri, who recalled how biodynamic agriculture is a holistic and regenerative method, based on the balance between man, nature and territory.
“Abroad, the Demeter brand is much better known than in Italy, and we are here today also to give an international scope to our country’s network and especially to the great work and commitment that is carried forward by certified biodynamic companies in the production of good and healthy products. More and more foreign tourists are visiting our country and, through the experience that can be had at the Demeter Holiday Farms, we hope to be able to relate what it means to produce biodynamically even more in depth and to as many Italians and others as possible“.
Each biodynamic farm is a living agricultural organism, providing nourishment, biodiversity and a complex and complete landscape. Thus, experiential tourism is now a strategic bridge to raise awareness in Italy, too, of what is already widely recognized abroad: the value of the Demeter brand.
The website agriturismi.demeter.it – currently being launched – collects and enhances the Italian certified holiday farms with an interactive map, descriptive sheets, experiences and direct testimonials which to date participate in the project. Spread out from the Alps to southern Italy, these facilities offer nature-filled stays, guided tastings, educational activities, sensory trails and artistic residences. They are often a destination for foreign tourists and serve as valuable tools for relating the deep connection between the environment, agricultural culture and food.
“Every Demeter farm is also certified organic“, Buccheri recalled, “but our agricultural model goes beyond that. The ultimate goal, in fact, is to ensure that human activity is not predatory but has the goal of creating farms that can integrate agricultural activity with the presence of animals, self-produce natural fertilizers such as compost, and regenerate soils, improving them and leaving them for the next generation. Biodynamic quality is the result of farming that is alive, aware and connected to the territory“.
Chairman Enrico Amico – owner of the Amico Bio company – began his speech by briefly retracing the stages of the birth of the Demeter brand, created in 1927 by farmers themselves at the urging of Rudolf Steiner, and pointing out that it is an international collective brand, today present in 44 countries.
“Demeter is not just a quality label: it is a global agricultural movement that promotes farms that are able to regenerate soils, improve the nutritional qualities of food, thanks in part to livestock breeding“.
A central aspect of the speech was devoted to export, which has always been a strategic asset for Italian Demeter farms: “Exports account for a very high percentage of certified production: we are talking about an average of 77% for EVO oil, 87% for vegetables, apples, table grapes and processed products, and up to 98% for some fruit-based processing. Biodynamic wine reaches 68%, with a significant 30% going to the domestic market. This shows how much Demeter-certified Italian products are loved around the world“.
But now is the time to strengthen brand awareness in Italy as well, by building a “grassroots” movement that starts from the farms and reaches the consumer: “Farm tourism is the ideal tool to reverse the flow: from the product traveling to foreign countries, to the tourist coming to our farms to discover their beating heart“.
Anna Federici of Azienda Agricola Boccea, located a few kilometers from Rome, then took the floor, recounting the journey that transformed an abandoned estate into a multifunctional biodynamic farm with olive trees, grains, livestock and a farm store. For several years now, precisely through a series of initiatives – particularly guided tastings of EVO oil – the company has been trying to tell the story of the territory, the production method, the “social” soul and the human labor that makes each territory magnificent.
“Our farm tourism activities allow us to explain the difference between a ‘common’ product and a biodynamic one“, she said, “through guided oil tastings, sensory experiences, for example paired with bread, chocolate and popcorn, and sharing the daily routines of those who work the land”.
Marco Marrocco, founder of Palazzo Tronconi in Arce (FR), emphasized the importance of wine tourism as a driver for raising awareness of forgotten places and practices. “We were established in 2007, starting with the production of native variety vines such as Pampanaro, Capolongo and white Maturano. Early in our journey – influenced no doubt also by my undergraduate studies in agriculture – we embraced the biodynamic philosophy. One of the first goals was to make our brand, our farm, known, as it was set up in an area not usually devoted to this production. From here, the experience of grape production became storytelling, culture, brand”.
The bottle in fact turns into something like a “postcard” of a territory that, thanks to the experience had when tasting it, invites you to visit the farm and the territory in general.
“The Osteria di Palazzo Tronconi”, Morocco concluded, “has therefore become a key wine tourism experience not only to raise awareness of our wines, but also to enhance the local products we offer and to tell the story of the biodiversity of our territory. A particularly innovative and, above all, fundamental aspect in this process of popularizing the brand and the territory is the cooperation with other local people, such as shepherds, horticulturists and producers: a circular economy that can strengthen the rural community and also economically support biodynamic farms“.
At the end of the conference, Giovanni Buccheri presented the current status of the project, which to date includes about 28 holiday farms, spread throughout the country, with the goal of soon reaching 40-50 host farms through a participatory process with member farms. The project is not limited to hosting: it aims to create a network of integrated biodynamic culture that combines agriculture, tourism, training, art, education and social relations. “We are convinced“, Director Buccheri concluded, “that farm tourism can therefore be a key lever to make people know, experience and love biodynamics. Tourists are looking for authentic experiences, and our farms have a lot to tell. From grains to wine, from animals to cooking – each element is part of a harmonious whole that generates well-being for the land, animals and humans“.
