Biodynamic agriculture is rapidly growing in all areas of the world. More and more large companies want to apply this new method. In Europe and in particular in France, Spain and Italy, the reasons are not solely commercial, since several companies have declared to be interested above all in the results that the biodynamic method would have on the soil and on the quality of the products.
In Italy the Consortium of companies under the Demeter brand, namely the BIF - Biodinamic Italian Farm, has been instituted with the intent of avoiding fragmentation. More specifically, to avoid that individual companies or organizations working in the field of biodynamic production approach large foreign retailers (in particular those operating in Germany) and sell their products to them, triggering bitterness and price wars between competitors. The official presentation took place at Fruit Logistica in the exhibition space of the Italian Fruit Village, but the Consortium was officially established at the end of 2018.
The Consortium brings together three Producer Organizations (POs) and four companies from the entire peninsula. The POs are Amico Bio (Campania), Carpe Naturam (Calabria) and Campisi Italia (Sicily), while the consortium companies are Cascine Palazzo (Piedmont), Lacalamita Rosa (Puglia) and the latest addition Agrilatina (Lazio), while the Gruppo Terra is responsible for marketing on behalf of the Consortium.
The BIF can count on over 40 references throughout the year including vegetables and fruit and 1,200 hectares of certified biodynamic production for about 2,000 tons of salable products, certified by Demeter.
"We definitely join forces, thanks to our products. There are two main criteria for becoming part of the Consortium: all products must be certified by Demeter and must not overlap between one member and the other, but should be complementary to each other in forming the offer ", comments to FreshPlaza by Enrico Amico, president of BIF.
The Consortium also holds the ICEA certification for organic products. It is located in Bolzano and has a distribution and logistics platform in Verona, in addition to the three air conditioning centers, one for each PO. The commercial director is Patrick Frenner. We will start shortly with the campaign of early peaches, scheduled in early April 2019. Our main focus is Germany, but the intention would be to also involve the rest of Europe and explore opportunities with the Italian large-scale retail trade.
"Our main target is Germany, as the biodynamic market has been a huge success in this country. The numbers are important, therefore we do not want to be caught unprepared. Another objective is to explore other markets, including Italy, as we represent valid partners for the national distribution".
Another fundamental aspect is to work on the promotion and engaging in the training of those who are part of the Consortium. Demeter itself will prepare courses. Last but not least, the packaging also plays a very important role.
"We will focus on compostable packaging material, since it is being requested. We are looking for innovative solutions to eliminate plastic. One of the options, at the moment, is a waxed cardboard with beeswax, which we are testing on IQF products", concludes Enrico Amico.