FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

 VALDIBELLA

Valdibella is a cooperative of organic farmers based in Camporeale, in the hills ofwestern Sicily, where agriculture is understood not simply as production, but as aresponsibility towards the land and the community. Its members practise organicand regenerative farming, nurturing soil fertility through crop rotation, legumes andminimal intervention, while integrating cultivated fields with native plants, hedges,woods and uncultivated areas to protect biodiversity and create a resilient, balancedecosystem.

Equally important is Valdibella’s social purpose: fair and transparent relationshipsthroughout the supply chain, dignified work, social inclusion and the conviction thattruly good food should benefit everyone, from the farmer and the surroundinglandscape to the person who ultimately eats it.

Read more about Valdibella 

A DREAM FIFTEEN YEARS IN THE MAKING

As a wine merchant for more than half my life, coming to terms with Valdibella’sphilosophy of wine was challenging. In fact, it was seismic in my personaldevelopment. Whenever I discussed wine with Massimiliano Solano, one of theguiding figures of the community, he would place wine on the same footing as fruitand vegetables. At first, this was a hard pill to swallow, as I had been brought upwith the notion that wine stood at the very top of the food chain.

I am deeply grateful to Massimiliano for grounding a city boy who still visitsagricultural areas with excitement and awe, but who has never lived the complexreality of being a farmer in southern Italy today, with all its rewards and formidablechallenges.

Over time, and with a growing understanding of what really goes on in the food andwine industries, I have become increasingly conscious of what we are sold and fed,and of how difficult it can be to know the truth and make informed choices abouthow we nourish ourselves and those we love.

That is the dream I have held for fifteen years, and it comes true tomorrow eveningwith the arrival of a refrigerated truck carrying our first pallet of fruit and vegetables,weighing 650 kilograms: the kind of produce I dream of eating and sharing.

As the magnificent Teobaldo Cappellano wrote on his wine back labels: “Is it adream? Allow me to dream.”

Hopefully, this dream will endure.

A special word of thanks goes to an acquaintance of mine, a successful Czechlogistics professional, who untied the logistical Gordian knot by making it possiblefor me to transport everything from Italy, including this first refrigerated pallet of freshfruit and vegetables. Thank you! 

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST IN SICILY

What a journey these past thirty years have been, and yet this feels like only thebeginning.

Working with genuinely artisanal farmers means moving in step with nature: in wine,adapting to the character of every vintage; in fresh produce, responding to whateach new week brings. This is agriculture in its truest form, not a corporate supplyoperation designed around fixed demand throughout the year.

Every Monday, I receive a list of what is ripe, ready and at its best that week. By thefollowing day, some products may already have sold out. Nothing is bought in fromelsewhere simply to fill the gaps, satisfy the market or generate a little extraturnover. When something is gone, it is gone.