We The Italians | Italian good news: Social farming that makes you adopt a farmer to support small local producers

Italian good news: Social farming that makes you adopt a farmer to support small local producers

Italian good news: Social farming that makes you adopt a farmer to support small local producers

  • WTI Magazine #138 Apr 17, 2021
  • 721

Cows, bees, fruit trees, entire fields can be adopted online in Italy, all to be followed from a distance in exchange for food products delivered to your doorstep. For some time now there have been similar initiatives, united by a shared objective: to support the territory and the work of small producers. With the same purpose Coltivatori di Emozioni, a social farming platform born in Puglia in 2016, has launched "adopt a farmer".

On the site you can choose which farmer and which agricultural tradition to adopt at a distance. To then receive a food box with products from the supported producers, a "certificate of adoption" and updates on the chosen farm.

"The platform is also a tool to support employment for those who decide to return to the land and give new life to the Italy of small historic villages," says Paolo Galloso, CEO and founder of Coltivatori di Emozioni. Each adoption generates work vouchers (worth 10 euros) that are allocated to the production chain. Companies can also donate work hours for planting, pruning, harvesting or other specific projects agreed upon.

To date, the platform is active in 15 regions, supports 40 farmers and, thanks to a partnership with Associazione Borghi più belli d’Italia (the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy), promotes the enhancement of historic villages through the rediscovery of typical products. The goal is to create a wide network of farmers and supporters of rural traditions, to safeguard rural areas at risk of abandonment.