By growing in harmony with nature's rhythms and without the use of chemicals, you get good, wholesome products like Alce Nero's fruit and vegetables. But when is a food truly organic? We explain everything that happens from field to supermarket.
There is a lot of talk about organic food and often, when we do our shopping, our purchasing choices fall on products that are grown in harmony with nature. But could we give a definition of organic farming?
What really happens on land that complies with the organic production specification is explained to us by Gianluca Locatelli, Category Manager for fresh fruit and vegetables at Alce Nero, a company active in the organic sector since 1978 that today counts more than 1,000 beekeepers, farmers and processors in Italy and 14,000 worldwide: "We produce fruit and vegetables using only natural resources to strengthen plants, protect them from pests and improve soil fertility, thus excluding the use of any synthetic chemical substance such as fertilisers, herbicides, insecticides, preservatives and GMOs, as required by the specific European regulation." One of the natural techniques practised on organic land is, for example, green manuring: a herbaceous crop is left to grow alongside the fruit and vegetable crops, then cut and left on the ground so that it acts as a fertiliser.
But how can we be sure that a crop is truly organic if it grows next to other land where, on the contrary, organic farming methods are not practised? "This is the question we are asked most often," explains Locatelli. The law does not impose a minimum distance; it is the farmer who must ensure that their products always meet the organic parameters. There are several solutions to get around this problem. For example, an agreement can be reached with the neighbour to treat the areas bordering the two plots of land in an organic manner, or a selection is made from the outside towards the centre of the crop, downgrading the products closest to the boundary between the plots, and also by bordering one's own land with hedgerows that act as a barrier and protect the organic crops. In any case, it is essential that every farmer carries out an assessment of the risks potentially present on the boundaries of their land, so as to be able to decide in advance how to intervene."
The guarantee that a product is genuinely organic is then provided by checks: "Alce Nero carries out field inspections not only on the products, but also on leaves and soil, as well as laboratory analyses from cultivation to sale. Our producers are member farms or companies that are accredited following inspection visits by technicians, which are often also an opportunity to encourage interventions and improvements, as well as to provide assistance." To this are added public checks and certification by the national inspection bodies appointed by the Ministry of Agricultural Policy. The identification and traceability system also makes it possible to trace every single product back to the producing farm.
Only in this way does the Alce Nero product reach supermarket shelves with the qualities that make it "good, organic and fresh." Courgettes, salad, tomatoes, apples, pears, kiwis, aubergines, bananas, potatoes and much more fruit and vegetables for a complete, varied and safe choice. In the Alce Nero fresh products range you will also find those featuring the Top label, with different packaging: "According to seasonality, we select around fifteen products that stand out for their pronounced organoleptic and sensory characteristics and give them a name that reflects this distinctive quality. An example? The Cremoso avocado, the Spicchia orange or the Crocchia grape." When you buy an organic product, remember finally that, after a thorough wash, you can eat the skin too (which contains many nutrients), without any fear of pesticide contamination: as well as benefiting your body, you will not waste food and you will produce no scraps!
