Italian landscape architect-turned-hobby farmer Cristiano del Toro is dedicated to reviving old ways of farming. Del Toro grows everything on his 4 hectares of land organically and using traditional methods, which is why his olive and grapevines don't stretch out in the straight lines that have come to typify the vineyards of Italy and elsewhere.

He's also president of "Civilta Contadina," a 150-member organization founded in 1996 to monitor agricultural biodiversity and to promote food sovereignty — or the idea that communities should have more control over the way food is produced, traded and consumed.

Italians take their food seriously. And for Del Toro modern, mechanized farming has impoverished the country's rich agricultural heritage and, ultimately, its dinner plates. Traditional fruit and vegetable varieties not suitable for intensive agriculture have largely disappeared off the menu, for instance.

The abandonment of traditional farming in Italy -and elsewhere in Europe- can be traced back to the end of World War II. To help Italy and Europe get back on track after the war, good and cheap food was needed on a large scale. To meet that goal, the European Economic Community (now the EU) promoted rapid industrialization of agriculture and intensification of farming methods in the 1950s, leading to increased use of fertilizer, single crop varieties and homogenous landscapes.

Now it seems increasing numbers of Italian farmers and consumers are coming around to Civilta Contadina’s way of thinking. With a total turnover of €31.5 billion in 2017, agriculture is still a major economic sector in Italy and organic farming is expanding rapidly. Between 2010 and 2016, the number of organic farmers grew by 53 percent.

Still, they only represent about 4.5 percent of the total market. Valerio Tanzarella, a former lawyer who owns an organic farm in Puglia, is one of the 64,000 organic farmers who serve that small market. Del Toro, though, just produces for himself and his family.

Dw.com describes how Italy's farming association, Confagricoltura supports Civilta Contadina's mission, because, it says, conserving agricultural heritage is important.