Valdibella

Valdibella, a sustainable project within, where all resources, both human and natural, find their own realization.

It was born in June 1998 in an area with a strong agricultural and rural vocation, joining the Ithaca Salesian community, which deals with the reception of young people with social discomfort and promoting their insertion into the world of work through the “Jonathan” project.

From the beginning the cooperative has tried to unhinge not only cultural but also cultural stratifications that in recent centuries have dominated the Sicilian territory: that is to restore the dignity to farmers, promoting concrete actions against commercial and labor exploitation and fielding agricultural methods organic that focus on biodiversity and native crops.

They knew from the beginning that the only way to succeed in the project was the union between different farmers. Alone, each would have done little. Or nothing. And every day this belief is confirmed even in small things.

If today they produce wine, wheat and pasta, almonds and oil, vegetables and legumes, it is only because within their cooperative there are women and men who know how to overcome their individuality to join a common and cooperative project.

ORGANIC FARMING AS A CHOICE

They are convinced that organic farming is not a longing for a past past: it represents one of the most urgent responses to the planet’s imminent future, which depends on the ability to know how to change course.

The land they inherited from their fathers has undergone heavy changes since the post-war period onwards. Reappropriating it is a duty, because it is full of promises that it will only be able to keep if they learn to observe it, know it, listen to it better. To understand what it needs, to feed itself better and to flourish quickly.

Because the land they grow is truly alive.

And to maintain this vitality it is necessary to restore the forgotten equilibrium, paying particular attention to biological diversity in the production processes.

Good soil management practices, agricultural rotations, the rests themselves, are some of the examples that contribute to the creation of agriculture that respects the environment and biodiversity.

Basically it is a simple thought: their nourishment comes from the earth and therefore the more it is well, the better our health will be.