I am one of the farmers of the cooperative, my name is Antonio Bottiglieri, and like most of the other members, I am a small farmer with a passion for the land and the fruits it gives us. The land I've been cultivating for 20 years now has belonged to my family for at least three generations: from my grandparents to my parents and now to me, unified in a single farm, which despite being small looks to the future with great enthusiasm, love and patience. Since I was a child, I have always been in contact with the land and work. My grandfather was a farmhand and he passed on to me the values of respect for the land and for man's work. My father did the same and since I was a child I have always been used to going to the fields and working them. Agriculture has always been my passion. That's why, after obtaining my degree in accountancy, I started working in the family business. Unfortunately, however, the earnings from farming were not enough and I started working (and still work) in the port of Gioia Tauro, 5 kilometres from my farm. Despite this additional work, I have never stopped going to the countryside and looking after it, and my dream is to be able to make a living from farming and dedicate myself 100% to this work. The difficulty is that most companies in the area produce the same, and although we are trying to diversify our production, the process is slow. In addition, as a small company, it is difficult to find sales channels on our own that pay a fair price for the product. In this scenario, the help of the cooperative has been fundamental, because it has helped me and many other farmers to get a fair price for our products, in addition to the agronomic knowledge and logistical help they give us. The work that is normally carried out in the countryside is varied, depending on the time of year: the fruit is harvested during autumn and winter, then in March-April we prune the plants, and from May until October we water them, control weeds by mowing/shredding and, only if strictly necessary, carry out treatments against harmful insects using products permitted in organic farming. Thanks to CrowdFarming, we have the opportunity to introduce our products to people all over Europe. This gives us greater security for the future which, inevitably, will translate into benefits for everyone: farmers, workers and the land.

Calabria is a region rich in resources and ideas, but poor in concrete initiatives in the field of agricultural production and product marketing. This does not give the producer (often small farmers or agricultural entrepreneurs) the opportunity to receive proper remuneration for their product, and causes the exploitation of farm workers, who are all too often denied their rights. It was in this context that the Cooperative 'I Frutti del Sole' was founded in 2005, in a restricted area with a purely agricultural vocation, straddling the provinces of Reggio Calabria and Vibo Valentia. The desire for change of a group of producers gave rise to this new reality, which aims to give the right value to their work, agricultural products and the right recognition to the workers who work daily in the field. To date, our group has 37 members for a total cultivated area of 91 hectares. Each of the cooperative's members cultivates their own farm and all farms are certified organic. Thanks to the application of the organic method, the products maintain their organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, also protecting the health of the producers and farm workers who work in the field, since no synthetic products are used. Our area is purely agricultural, producing mainly citrus fruits, kiwis and oil. We also respect traditions, growing the same products. For some years now, however, we have also started to try tropical fruit and, specifically, avocados. Clementines are our flagship product. They are in fact the product we produce in the largest quantity and are also certified PGI - Clementine di Calabria. In addition to the production of typical local products, the cooperative also promotes fair trade farming projects. In particular, we carry out socio-cultural integration activities for the non-EU employees of our cooperative and collaborate with the socio-economic projects carried out by the GOEL group, Associazione SOS Rosarno and Associazione NO CAP. We use drip irrigation systems. In this way, irrigation water is only released at the points where it is needed by the plant, thus greatly reducing the amount used. We also use probes to monitor the humidity of the soil near the roots of the plants. These two techniques allow us to save a lot of water because we only irrigate when it is necessary (thanks to the probes), in the right quantity for each plant and in the area closest to the roots. Apart from water, soil is also a fundamental resource in agricultural production. In order to safeguard its functionality and avoid the loss of nutrients, the only processing we do is chopping. This also allows us to safeguard the environment for beneficial insects and not interfere with the natural balance. Our plots all have Organic Certification as well as Global Gap Certification, which guarantees good agricultural practices, traceability and respect for the environment, including GRASP certification to support our social commitment to workers. One of the requirements for this certificate is that all our employees have a regular employment contract and receive a salary in line with the national legal wage scale. In total, we employ around 50 people. Most of them have been with us since the beginning of the cooperative and have a fixed-term contract for the busiest periods of the year, from October to March. Some have a permanent contract throughout the year, and also help us with pruning, grass control and other work on the farm. Fruit that is unsuitable for marketing is sold to the processing industry for the production of juices and jams. Pruning residues are mulched on the ground and decompose naturally.