Field Trip: Organic Farm in Tuscany

Last week I visited an organic farm in Tuscany, near Florence. Fattoria Poggio Alloro has been certified organic for twenty years and is family-owned and operated.

Products

On the farm, they grow grapes used to produce eleven types of wine and a total of 200,000 bottles. They also produce olives for oil, durum wheat for pasta, wildflower honey, beef, pork, rabbits, chickens, saffron, and other vegetables. 

The farm has 1500 olives trees and several different types of olives including Correggiolo, Moraiolo, and Leccino. Olives are hand-picked in November and cold-pressed to produce high-quality oil. 

Crocuses for saffron are also hand-picked in November and dried near the fireplace. They keep bees which visit many different types of flowers to produce miele millefiori - honey of one thousand flowers.

I got to taste their delicious homemade pasta

They raise Tuscan and Cinta Senese pigs, which are used to produce homemade salumi including prosciutto, salami, pancetta, capocollo, and finocchiona. The meats are aged over twelve months with no additional additives. 

They raise a special breed of cow called Chianina, one of the oldest and largest breeds in the world. It is now in danger of extinction, after being raised in this region for over 2000 years. In order to label the beef as Chianina, they are required to know the genealogy for the past four generations.

 Their cows are fed an organic diet of hay, barley, oats, and corn, and allowed to wander through pastures and around the lake. They have a closed breeding program, which means that they do not buy outside cattle and that all calves are born on the farm.

Chianina beef is used to make the famous dish bistecca alla fiorentina, T-bone steak seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil and grilled over wood or charcoal until just rare. Walking though the markets in Florence, I saw huge pieces of deep red meat labeled as "fiorentina."

Practices

Since the farm is certified organic, they cannot use any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. I spoke with one of the daughters of the family that runs the farm, and she told me more about their practices. At Fattoria Poggio Alloro, they use copper and sulfur as fungicides on the grapes, and for control of some insect-borne diseases. There is not much they can do about the insects themselves, except supporting populations of insect-eating native species like frogs and ladybugs. 

In their vineyards, they use organic fertilizers and extensive pruning practices. They expect relatively low yields, but a very high-quality product. The organic certification is EU-wide, so they can sell their products labeled as organic in any of the EU countries. The regulatory agencies test both soil and agricultural products to ensure that organic practices are followed.