The Emilia-Romagna region can boast 44 DOP and IGP certified products, the highest number in Europe! It is no coincidence that in Emilia-Romagna there is a UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy: Parma, where 6 of these 44 products were created.

The food&wine excellences of this region have made it known throughout the world, attracting both tourists, those interested in tasting local products, and professionals interested in processes and products.

Agri-food is in fact one of the pillars of the Emilia-Romagna economy: a sector that manages to combine innovation and tradition while at the same time offering employment.

However, it is important to remember that when we talk about Agri-food, we are not just talking about restaurants and catering, but also about food production, trade and agriculture.

Analyzing the Skills Intelligence Emilia-Romagna data concerning the sector, it is interesting to observe that, in 2023, were published 26.038 online job advertisements, i.e. 9% of the total online advertisements offered in the regional territory, with a decrease of 12,1% compared to the previous year, and a forecast growth of 0,2% for the next 2 years.

Generally speaking, it is possible to notice that the most wanted profiles actually belong to the world of catering (waiters, kitchen boys, bartenders, cooks,..), as emerges from the most wanted categories (ESCO level 1): Service and sales workers (47,4%), followed by Elementary occupations (25,6%) e Technicians and associate professionals (8,9%).

However, it is important to also deep dive into the most wanted skills and profiles at more specialized levels.

Taking into consideration only the group of Professionals (ESCO level 1), the top five most wanted professional profiles (ESCO level 4) are:

1. Engineering professionals - 20,1% of the total ads in E-R
2. Environmental engineers - 18,3% 
3. Environmental protection professionals - 9,9%
4. Organisation and management analysts - 9,4%
5.  Industrial engineers - 8,2%

In particular, Engineering professionals and Environmental protection professionals are profiles with a HIGH difficulty to retrieve, according to the Excelsior classification.

This means that in Emilia-Romagna there is a need for these professions, but the profiles necessary to fill in this gap are lacking.

It is important to underline that in Parma in 2023 took place the 22,3% of the activations/hires of the Professionals group in the agrifood sector throughout Emilia-Romagna. In fact, there are 246 activation/hiring positions registered in the Siler archive.

Well, if your profile is not yet included among the most wanted in this sector, but you would like to deep dive into the Agri-food sector, you can find many training opportunities. These are the best in the region:

• Food-ER, l’università internazionale dell’agroalimentare - Professional Master's degree, Master's degree, higher education dedicated to businesses, PhDs

• ITS Tech&Food: Nuovi saperi per l’agroalimentare - Six courses for Higher Technicians in the Food Industry

• Tecnico di sostenibilità nella filiera agroalimentare - Higher Technical Specialization