1st World Congress on Wine Tourism and the Law 2. What a farmer is An entrepreneur is anyone who professionally carries out an organised economic activity for the purpose of producing or exchanging goods or services: this is the definition provided by Article 2082 of the Civil Code. The figure of the agricultural entrepreneur, or farmer, i.e., anyone who carries out land cultivation, forestry, animal husbandry and related activities, is instead regulated by the Civil Code in the new wording of Article 2135, amended by Legislative Decree No. 228 of 18 May 2001, according to which, services provided through the prevalent use of equipment or resources of the farm that are usually employed in the agricultural activity exercised, including activities for the enhancement of the territory and rural heritage, are also considered agricultural. Cultivation of land, forestry and animal husbandry are defined as activities directed towards the care and development of a biological cycle or a necessary stage of that cycle, of a plant or animal nature, which use or may use the land, forest or fresh, brackish or sea water. A correct perception of the figure of the farmer in Italian law is crucial to appreciating the set of rules that allow agricultural activities to take place. The amended text of Article 2135 goes on to specify that activities carried out by the farmer for the handling, conservation, processing, marketing and valorisation of products obtained mainly from the cultivation of the land or woodland or from animal husbandry, as well as activities for the supply of goods or services through the prevalent use of equipment or resources of the holding normally used in the farming activity carried out, including activities for the valorisation of the territory and the rural and forestry heritage, or reception and hospitality activities are considered connected to the main farming business. Within the meaning of Article 1 of legislative decree No 99 of 29 March 2004, a professional farmer (IAP4) is any person who, while having occupational skill and competence within the meaning of Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999, devotes at least fifty per cent of his, or her, total working time, either directly or as a partner in a company, to agricultural activities as defined in Article 2135 of the Civil Code and derives at least fifty per cent of his or her total earned income from such activities. The professional farmer (IAP) only is entitled to enter into a so-called “agrarian contract”, i.e., a contract ruled by the Act No 203 of 3 May 1982, which provides for a contractual duration of no less than 15 years and no more than 30 in the case parties are not assisted by a union, whereas, in the case of covenants in derogation, with the parties assisted by a union, a contract duration of less than 15 years is possible, never however for less than one year or, in any case, for a duration of less than the minimum duration that allows the completion of the biological cycle of the crop on the land under contract. It is therefore clear that, while drafting the new definition of agricultural entrepreneur, the law-maker had in mind to include in the agricultural business sector any activity that is based on the performance of an entire biological cycle or an essential phase thereof, bearing in mind that an agricultural activity is such despite its object being limited to one necessary phase of the plant or animal production cycle without necessarily encompassing the entire process. 4 Imprenditore agricolo a titolo principale.
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