The 2024 harvest was ruined by downy mildew, Mangiarotti (FDI): "The Region did its part."

Compensation for the downy mildew epidemic that destroyed the 2024 harvest in Oltrepò is expected to arrive this summer, according to regional councilor Claudio Mangiarotti, who also spoke out following the Democratic Party's attacks on the Lombardy Region during last Thursday's meeting in Broni. Urged by farmers, the Democratic Party, led by MP Antonella Forattini, had taken it upon itself to pressure the Region and the Ministry to compensate winemakers from approximately 600 farms who had declared damages of approximately €16 million two years ago. In short, according to the Democratic Party, the Region had "slept," failing to adequately follow the process and rushing the compensation process, especially at a very difficult time for agricultural businesses due to the crisis at the Terre d'Oltrepò cooperative. According to Mangiarotti, however, things turned out differently. The first motion, on which the Democrats in the Council abstained, calling for a state of emergency and the activation of a control room, he explains, dates back to June 2024, even before the grape harvest, when the impending disaster was already clear. Then, in February 2025, he adds, "the regional agriculture department wrote to the Minister of Agriculture, Lollobrigida, and to the representative of the State-Regions Conference. It is unfair," Mangiarotti concludes, "to now say that the Region has not done its part."