Jacopo Majorana has managed the company for the past few years. A young entrepreneur who, after graduating from Bocconi, relaunched the business combining tradition, innovation and love for the land.
In the photo: Jacopo Majorana in the 10 hectares of Purple and Opal artichokes.
The company covers around 150 hectares between Catania and Ramacca and has been growing organic vegetables, citrus fruit and cereals for the past 25 years. "I manage around half of the hectares, the rest is managed by my father, Francesco. I'm mainly in charge of vegetables and citrus fruit."
In the photo: Jacopo Majorana in the 10 hectares of Purple and Opal artichokes.
The company covers around 150 hectares between Catania and Ramacca and has been growing organic vegetables, citrus fruit and cereals for the past 25 years. "I manage around half of the hectares, the rest is managed by my father, Francesco. I'm mainly in charge of vegetables and citrus fruit."
The company currently grows 20 hectares of Sanguinello, Tarocco nucellare, Valencia, Tarocco Gallo, Lane Late and Tarocco Lempso oranges as well as Mandalate tangerines, 13 hectares of Bellini potatoes, 2 hectares of Agila potatoes, 10 hectares of Purple and Opal artichokes, 5 hectares of peas and 3.5 hectares of broad beans.
Part of the land is dedicated to the production of wheat. "Cereals are very important for organic production, as they contribute to the balance of the soil. Because of the high temperatures, however, we've had to deal with a few problems - just think that around 10 hectares of citrus groves haven't even blossomed."
"We have just finished harvesting Tarocco gallo (around 50 tons) and tangerines (around 15 tons). We sold them on the traditional market as prices were actually higher than on the organic market. They were 10 times higher than last year, which was a true disaster!"
As regards Lane Late oranges, the objective is to sell them directly to France or Germany starting from late April. This year, the artichoke campaign started in January due to the cold temperatures. Volumes are destined mainly to local wholesalers and prices have doubled compared to last year.
Potato sowing was around one month and a half late due to the rain. "But we are rather optimistic. We will try with automated harvesting this year as, despite being clayey, our soil has very few stones."
According to the entrepreneur, the main challenge in the organic sector is to find cultivars resistant to fungi and insect attacks as well as identifying commercial outlets. "We still find it difficult to enter into the retail world. When we started cultivating vegetables 5 years ago, we sold most volumes to the traditional market. The fact that the organic market is almost non-existent in southern Italy caused various difficulties. Even though Sicily is one of the leading organic producers, it has the lowest number of stores and there are no storage and processing centres where we could send our surpluses."
"We currently sell our organic potatoes directly to Belgium, France and Germany, loose in jumbo bags. There is still a lot to do and we are working on restyling our brand. Another great challenge is the possibility to plan our production. The unpredictable weather and international markets are not the only elements affecting the market, bureaucracy and Sicilian politics are also becoming a problem."
"We haven't received contributions for the past 7 years because there are no tenders, we are not included or because there are unexplained delays. We will definitely take part in the Psr-Piano di sviluppo rurale (Rural development plan) to renew machinery and equipment, replace the groves affected by the Tristeza Virus and create structures that can help us process our products. It's the only way to continue operating on the market."
Contacts:
Aziende Majorana
Viale O. M. Tornabene, 3
95126 Catania
Mob.: (+39) 338 4737707
Email: info@aziendemajorana.it
Web: www.aziendemajorana.it