Regulating Rural Regeneration: The Xylella Case

Abstract

This paper analyses the legal instruments adopted to tackle the spread of Xylella fastidiosa in the Italian region of Apulia, with particular reference to the Special Plan for the Regeneration of Olive Groves in “infected area”. It has been contended that the regulatory and administrative measures introduced at European, national and regional levels are not confined to the phytosanitary management of the emergency, but rather constitute a more extensive process of restructuring the olive sector along agro-industrial lines. A review of the extant theoretical framework regarding the influence of neoliberalism and ordoliberalism on the evolution of the Common Agricultural Policy is presented in this paper. The review highlights how the paradigm of competitiveness and efficiency has progressively steered European agricultural policies towards market-based models. In this particular context, the Xylella emergency has served as a catalyst for latent transformations, thereby facilitating the introduction of regulatory exemptions, procedural simplifications, and extraordinary powers that operate in derogation from landscape and environmental constraints. It is imperative to note that particular attention is paid to a range of measures, including grubbing-up, replanting with cultivars defined as 'resistant' or 'tolerant', crop conversion, supply chain contracts and land consolidation. These measures have the capacity to affect land ownership structures and production organisation. The critical analysis highlights the risk of negative environmental, ecosystemic and social impacts, as well as the gradual marginalisation of small-scale producers in favour of professional operators and intensive and super-intensive farming models. Consequently, the traditional olive-growing landscape is undergoing a structural transformation, legitimised by the plant health emergency but serving a new olive-growing policy geared towards standardisation and integration into global markets. The case of Apulia is presented as a paradigmatic example of how emergency legislation can become a tool for economic and territorial reconfiguration, raising questions about the balance between environmental protection, social sustainability and competitive development.