Naturagri is an agro-energetic company located in San Giorgio Lucano (Basilicata). It has 13 hectares with 180 greenhouses and a photovoltaic plant which was completed in 2010, the year when the company was actually founded.
"We produce giant blueberries in 150 greenhouses and, in the remaining 30, we grow Pleurotus Eryngii mushrooms, which are also known as trumpet mushrooms. We are the only ones producing giant blueberries in Central-Southern Italy," explains Sergio Valenzano, Planning & Control manager of the firm.
Mushrooms are produced between October and May, which is also the period when they are sold as the shelf-life of mushrooms is a maximum 48 hours in order to have really fresh produce.
Cultivating blueberries requires the usual care/growing activities all throughout the whole year - even though key activities are carried out between the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring. The variety (vaccinum corymbosum) is really early, in fact harvesting is already carried out between the end of April and the beginning of May, and it ends in July.
"We chose these two products for two reasons. The first one is the suitability of the cultivating environment (one sided photovoltaic roof greenhouses); the second one concerns the medium-high value of the product and the growing potential of the market itself. Another thing that influenced us was the chance to perform experiments and to innovate, as can be seen by the fact that we cultivate giant blueberries and we are the only ones in Central-Southern Italy."
As regards Pleutotus Eryngii mushrooms, he says that, "at the moment, we produce little more than 40 tons per year, and in the next two years we will increase to about 55 tons. Demand is growing for this produce, as its deliciousness and organoleptic properties are recognised all over the world."
Talking about giant blueberries, the manager stresses that this is the first real production year. "The vegetative cycle means we will be able to arrive to 2015. We are producing 1,000 kg/year, which will become around 2,000-3,000 in 2014 and around 6,000-7,000 in 2015. Because the variety is an extremely early one, demand for our blueberries is really high because our harvest fits perfectly between the last imports from Europe and the first Italian productions."
Targets for Naturagri are both the domestic and foreign markets. "We started with both products in 2010, first locally and then entering markets in Central and Northern Italy. At the same time, we are negotiating to insert our mushrooms in the European (Spain) and Asian (Japan) markets."
Mushrooms are generally packaged in 3 kg 30x40 crates (net weight - photo above). "Our mushrooms are also sold processed, either plain or in extra virgin olive oil, in 314 ml jars (280 g net drained weight)."
Blueberries are packaged in standard 125 g trays which are then placed in 30x40 boxes. Each box contains 8 trays, for a total weight of 1 kg.
"We send both products all over Italy every day. Despite the crisis in consumption, demand for our two products did not decrease, quite the opposite in fact, it has been growing."
Challenges
Combining technological innovation and agriculture: this has been the real challenge until now, and results have been positive.
For the future, there are many objectives such as the automation of spraying (mushrooms) and fertigation (blueberries) systems, computer monitoring of external and internal temperature/humidity parameters and investments in R&D for a packaging that will ensure a longer shelf-life. "High-quality in processes that become high-quality products."
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"Starting from the next campaign, our mushrooms will also be sold in 250 and 500 g modified atmosphere trays. Naturagri had in fact carried out a research to find out about a modified atmosphere packaging, protected by a thin film and with the ideal mix of gases in order to guarantee at least a 2 week shelf-life," concludes Sergio.
Contacts
Sergio Valenzano
Naturagri Società Agricola Srl (Unipersonale)
Via Einaudi, 7
75100 Matera
Tel/Fax: (+39) 0835 335666
Cell.: (+39) 392 5850859
Email: pianeco@naturagrisrl.it