Marco Mazzota has a degree in law but he is deeply in love with his agricultural entrepreneurship. His company is situated in the countryside of Siracusa, “The crop diversification allows us to improve and to keep safe our finance in a structured way. Our company is made up of three different areas occupying 45 hectares”
“Other than our own land, we rent another 20 hectares that we use for the farming of potatoes, carrots and green beans. 2/3 of our own land are devoted to citrus fruit – especially the Feminello di Siracusa. Then two hectares are used for the late Ciaculli mandarine farming and the other two hectares are for Valencia oranges. Finally, we produce vegetables in greenhouses (22.000 sqm) and tunnels (10.000 sqm) like tomatoes and courgettes as well as melons”.
Videointerview to Marco Mazzotta
The entrepreneur, “At this moment, the green bean is one of our flagships thanks to the Sicilian climate conditions which allowed the produce to be available earlier than other national produce. At the end of August, we planted a new variety, the Giulivo, as suggested by the technicians from Seminis. It is a new variety which adapted very well to the warm climate. Also, it remained healthy regardless of the heavy rains”.
Mazzotta, “We are very satisfied with the plant in terms of the leaves, the flowering ad the fruits. As of today, we have very good results. Within a few days, we are going to start the harvesting of a dark green produce, very shiny and extremely delicate, and therefore, very demanded by the market".
The producer, “We are still a bit perplexed by the prices. The harvesting process lasted longer this year, because of the temperatures. Therefore, there is an overabundance of the produce, which caused the low prices. We are talking about 1.20/1.30 euros per kilo to the producer. These are not enough at all if you consider all the costs that a producer has – last year the price was 2/2.50 euros”.
Mazzotta, “We hope that the weather will get worse. In the sense that we need the cold, as the current season should be. In this way, we can work on and expect a good revenue, eventually”.
Info:
Azienda Agricola Marco Mazzotta
Via Basento, 16/A
96100 Siracusa (SR)
Tel: +39 329 811 69 64
Email: agrimazzotta@gmail.com