pomegranates
Cabet
Outside of the adoption period
The project
Adopt a pomegranate tree from the farm "Cabet" in Bétera (Spain) and receive your harvest in the form of pomegranates at home. The Farmer Paco will take care of your adoption and take its picture. Also, you will be able to download the adoption certificate and, if you wish, plan your visit to the farm. You do not enter into any long-term commitment: once you receive your harvest and you enjoyed the experience, you may decide to renew and extend the adoption.
What do you adopt?
You adopt a pomegranate tree cultivated under the European Union's Organic Farming regulations. We are in the process of converting and hope to get certified in 2024.
During the process of adoption you can choose a name that we will engrave on a plaque and hang on your tree.
You adopt a pomegranate tree from our orchards mostly located in Bétera (Valencia - Spain). The fruit of the pomegranate tree is the pomegranate and it has a very juicy pulp of an intense red color that surrounds the seeds and which are called arils.
In Bétera, the pomegranate tree has traditionally been part of the fruit trees that farmers planted on the edges of the fields for consumption. Our variety, the Acco pomegranate, has the particularity of being of early maturity and is harvested from the beginning of September to the beginning of October. It belongs to the group of pomegranates called reds and, thanks to our climate with cool nights and hot days, the fruit’s pigment is increased, accentuating that red color which characterises these fruits. At the same time, our clay soils increase their concentration of citric and malic acid, giving them their pleasant and characteristic sour tastes.
Our plots are certified by Global Gap which guarantees the use of good agricultural practices, traceability and respect for the environment, including also the GRASP certificate which supports our social commitment. In addition, the farm registered for the process of obtaining the organic farming certificate.
This variety of pomegranate tends to be small in size as it yields several joints in a short space. In order to obtain medium sizes we do manual fruit thinning and we have managed to obtain medium sized fruits that vary between 250 and 400 grams in weight. Our trees are young, about five years old and are producing about 20 kilos per tree.
The productive life of a pomegranate tree is around 25 years. For as long as you want to keep it and we can continue taking care of it, you can renew your adoption year after year. If your pomegranate tree dies, we will replace it with no additional cost and assuring the delivery of your harvest from other trees.
A pomegranate tree from our farm produces an average of 15 kg each season. You do not have to commit to the consumption of the whole harvest. Each season you may decide what quantity to reserve and pay the maintenance in accordance with the amount you reserve. This way you will only pay for what you consume and we can plan and sell the remaining harvest amount from you tree to others.
What will you receive?
During harvest season you can progressively receive the quantity of harvest that you reserve on the moment of adoption.
Shipping format: __5 kg box of Acco variety pomegranates__
* Each box contains between 15 and 20 pomegranates approximately
* They will be sent in cardboard boxes
* The pomegranates are harvested the day before they are shipped and making sure they are at their optimum harvesting time
* The pomegranate is at its optimum time of harvesting when its external color turns completely red without any trace of green
* When opening the fruit, you will find some intense red arils that can be squeezed into a juice which color’s recalls red wine
* Its taste is sour with a certain touch of sweetness
When you receive it, there may be some stains on the fruits’ skin as a result of impacts during transit. This is due to the fact that the pomegranate’s skin, although hard in appearance, turns out to be quite sensitive to bumps, although this will always be an aesthetic defect and does not affect the conservation of the fruit, which can be preserved for about 15 days at room temperature or longer if kept in the refrigerator.
Tip: if you make juice and detect an bitter taste, it will be due to the seed that has shed some of its bark. Just strain the juice through a sieve and it will lose the astringency.
When will you receive it?
Please, check the deadline for participating in this project (deadline for adoption) below. As of this date shipments begin.
You can plan all the deliveries once you completed the adoption process.
We will send you your pomegranates from the beginning of September to the beginning of October.
Why should you adopt?
* Learn who produces your food, how and where. Receive your food in a conscious manner.
* Buy directly from the farmer. Help to generate wealth and better jobs in the rural areas.
* Plan ahead and enable the Farmer to produce on demand. This way we can avoid overproduction and fight food waste.
* Reward Farmers who make an effort to use environmentally-friendly packaging and cultivation techniques.
Plastic-free
Fresh and in season
How does it work?
Meet the Farmers
Adopt and plan your harvest
Let the Farmer and nature work
Receive your harvest at home
Experienced Farmer
Conversion to organic farming
Farmer 360
Harvest analysis
Plastic-free
Renewable energy
Visitors welcome
Additional analyses
Paco Alufre
I am Paco Alufre, Engineer of the Agricultural Cabet and for more than 20 years I have been advising and directing the production of our farmers' harvest.
Since I was young I had a love for agriculture and enjoyed helping my parents in the family gardens. With time, this hobby was transformed, almost without realizing it, into curiosity, interest and passion for nature. When the time came to choose a university career, it was clear to me: I wanted to be an Agricultural Technical Engineer.
Soon I had the opportunity to work in the Agricultural Cooperative of Bétera, which is the cooperative of my home town, being able to develop not only professionally, but also personally putting at the service of my neighbors the knowledge and experience that I had, and helping them in the management of their gardens, which also allowed me to be modifying the form of production, and to introduce the integrated production, directing the production of the gardens towards the ecological production.
The current fruit market system does not value the traditional varieties, nor their taste and aroma, nor the way in which they are grown and this has caused many families to have to give up their farms, while others survive with much effort and sacrifice so as not to abandon what their parents left them.
Paco Alufre
"Now, thanks to CrowdFarming, I have the opportunity to lead this exciting and forward-looking project that will allow us to grow our trees sustainably and improve the environment by restoring our trees, our fields, our farmers and our way of life."
Cabet
Cabet
CABET, our domain, is originally a cooperative. It was actually born in the Agricultural Cooperative of Bétera, to which it owes its name. It is made up of plots of land owned by small farmers who, by joining forces, promote innovative projects such as CrowdFarming. It is here that a group of 10 farmers have brought their plots, their work and their enthusiasm to create this project, which we hope will continue to grow and incorporate new producers. At present, CABET includes 16 plots of land that make up 10.5 ha in total. Fourteen of them belong to the municipality of Bétera. The other two are located in Lliria and Villamarxant, two neighbouring municipalities. Our objective is to spread this project beyond our village, to develop it in other localities and promote these agricultural transformations to develop it in other localities promote these agricultural transformations.
Most of the plots are located in Bétera, a Valencian village that has historically been characterized by its dedication to agriculture, which is the livelihood of most families. It is in these small family plantations, where we have recovered traditional farming and where many tasks are carried out in a traditional way, as they were more than 100 years ago. From the pruning to the manual harvest of the fruit, helping out each other with machinery for heavier tasks or in cases that its use can improve the environment.
The geographical location of our territory gives our fruit unique characteristics. They are located at the foot of the Sierra Calderona, considered the green lung of Valencia, which lets pass the soft and humid winds of the Mediterranean east and the water from the river Turia, taken upstream of the Benagéber reservoir and reaching our fields by gravity without the use of a well or consumption of electricity. We also use the controlled deficit irrigation technique in the cultivation, which helps us saving a lot of water compared to conventional irrigation techniques.
We are currently three engineers in the team that manage our farmers' plantations according to the criteria of organic farming and we make sure that all the workers who carry out work on these plots comply with all the legal, social and environmental requirements.
We fight against food waste, but at the same time want to offer the best fruits, so the produce which does not meet our quality standards will be destined for the industry to be processed into juice. At the same time, we will follow rigorous protocols (internal and external fruit maturity, analysis, etc.), which will guarantee that when our fruit arrives at your home you will be able to appreciate, not only the dedication and passion of our farmers, but also the taste, aroma and color that our land provides.
Technical information
Address
Cabet, Bétera, ES
Altitude
125m
Team
1 woman and 2 men
Size
12,60 hectares
Cultivation technique
Organic agriculture (in conversion)
Irrigation
Drip irrigation
Location