Today we present the story of a young Calabrian who left Calabria to continue his studies elsewhere, and after some important work experience in Milan and New York, decided to return to his home town, Corigliano Calabro, to help his family’s small farm that is in danger of closure.
We refer to the young worker Osvaldo De Falco, who in 2015, together with his partner Giuseppe Cannavale,founded Biofarm, the first farm spread and shared through a web platform with record numbers: 108 farmers and farms involved throughout Italy, 55 thousand community users adopting trees, partnerships with important brands such as: Tiffany, Colgate, Sony, Iliad.
This digital garden located in the heart of the Sibaritide is a concrete example of ethical and sustainable agriculture. Here is the official website:
https://www.biorfarm.com
Anyone, anywhere in the world, can become a digital farmer, adopt a tree or an orchard, follow the growth phases of the plants and interact with the farmers through the “Countryside diary”, a noticeboard with multimedia content posted by the farmer to show what he does every day and how and where the products grow.
You can then choose whether to receive the organic produce at home or to go and pick it (from apples to tangerines, or blueberries etc. the community is an explosion of colours and scents).
Biofarm is really trying to support local production, explains De Falco:
"because we pay the farmer up to three times more than the traditional supply chain. The project involves private individuals, but above all companies. We have partnerships that adopt trees and orchards, green marketing actions that are very important today to convey credibility and reliability. Adoption lasts one year and can be renewed. There are companies that decide to give fruit to their employees, to give it to their customers or even not to pick it, to support - without anything in return - farmers who are going through a difficult time. A large publishing house has just bought 17,000 trees for an environmental education project involving all the schools in Italy".
Agriculture in support of small producers:
"by supporting small organic farmers who risk disappearing every year and are precious for the protection of the territory and to safeguard biodiversity and avoid the depopulation of the countryside."
Written by
Francesco Tirinato – Junior Project Manager (Jump Team)
Sources and photos by
https://icalabresi.it/fatti/agricoltura-orto-digitale-cuore-sibaritide-che-piace-microsoft/?fbclid=IwAR0B-PeIBxlUBoXDiRJtb20JV_tsKfHFrPd-dqVbaNUBnQEn2-hQybTFeM8
