This new chapter of our technical column ‘Valente Solutions’ takes place once again in Calabria, more precisely in Piana di Sibari in the northern part of the municipality of Villapiana (CS), where we will discover in detail the farm of our customer and friend Natalino Gallo.
We are talking about an amazing and very large reality, dedicated to the cultivation of citrus fruits and more, which has now reached the fourth generation of citrus growers with Natalino.
Then, about 30 years ago, in order to understand the area’s inclination towards other types of crops, they invested in stone fruits and 10 years ago also in pomegranates, to arrive today to an important production of both apricots and pomegranates.
The company then, despite maintaining a strong agricultural vocation, has structured itself over time to operate also at an international level, managing the entire supply chain from production to trading and marketing.
The reason for this was that Natalino had already realised in his early twenties, when he had just graduated from high school, that their products were not being valued, which led him to the decision to start marketing them directly.
In the year 2000, Natalino established the Cooperative, which today is a PO (Producers’ Organization) with 84 farms covering 1,200 hectares of citrus and fruit-growing land.
The production is both supply chain controlled and organic and zero residue – a new project started 6 years ago that allows all three consumer groups to be satisfied.
Regarding the systems, Natalino decided to cover the orchards and citrus groves because he realised very early on that some varieties, especially the early ones, were very vulnerable to winds and climatic changes, especially in winter when the tramontana wind blows in this area.
The results were clear; it was immediately noticed that the covered plants grew more and produced more than those without protection.
So we started by installing windbreaks and then continued with the covers.
The structure that we can see in the video is the first one that was built on the farm, precisely in 2000, so today it is 23 years old and is still working efficiently.
Its particular features are the type of mesh and its positioning.
Natalino, who is always looking for the best solutions and is not afraid of testing them, told us that initially a 5.20 m wide net was installed, a very large one, but later, due to their concern about hail, it was split into two 2.60 m wide ones.
In addition, different types of nets have been changed, always looking for the best result.
Here, for example, we have a net with a very dense texture, so as to have a mesh with ‘small’ holes that can reduce the wind intensity in favour of the plants, which is giving excellent results because, as Natalino explains, quality always pays off.
See you in the next video for the second episode of this beautiful interview.