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from
the earth to the table
In the two short years since we started our agricultural enterprise
we have learned that the agricultural product distribution system
is characterised by inadequacies and by duplication. The producer
hands over his tomato to the local produce market (or to the deliveryman
to that market, thus adding another layer), which sells to the wholesaler,
who in turns sells it to the retailer! In the case of tomato puree,
there are more layers. |
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The result of course is a slender income for the producer and
a high price for the consumer. Thus our farm and, more broadly,
all the agricultural businesses of the Colli di San Miniato
decided to organize our own
independent distributionsystem, one that not only keeps to a minimum
transportation costs but allows us as well to ensure the quality
and identity of our products.The system is simplicity itself:
the producers release custody of the product only at the moment
of its processing or its consignment to the consumer. Fresh produce
is protected by transparent wrap with the producer’s identifying
brand name; processed products utilise traditional jars or bottles,
all of them bearing a lot number and the producer’s brand
information. For the most prestigious products, a commission of
experts approves use by the producer of Colli di San Miniato quality
seals.
Assurance of origin and maximum quality,
with no middlemen
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Visit Podere del Grillo
 We
grow on our farm the San Miniato Grinzoso Tomato, the San Miniato Artichoke,
and the Tuscan Red Onion. The Grinzoso seeds are still available to us thanks
to the passion and determination of the farmers who work these soils, in
particular Osvaldo Rossi and Armando Senesi, two veritable giants among
local farmers. Armando still grows the fagiolo bianco (white bean), and
the pisello dolce (sweet pea), two local specialties with hundreds of years
behind them. Podere del Grillo, though, specialises not just in the products
of our soil: Barbara has put together a network of tourism jewels that give
us the opportunity of sharing our area with visitors from every corner of
the globe. Called Dintorni Toscani, or Tuscan Surroundings, it is accessible
on the same website as our farm,
www.poderedelgrillo.com.
The name was carefully chosen, since Barbara’s goal is to introduce
the true Tuscany, the one which large tour operators miss: for instance
Bar Arzilli, where our local farmers gather of an evening, and Toiano, a
medieval borgo all but unknown, places chosen to show not “Tuscany”
but Tuscan life, and eating and drinking what is grown in this magnificent
earth.
Here at the farm we have begun an energy savings programme utilising renewable
resources. Our water and  irrigation
system and our lighting system are based on a photovoltaic mini-plant; it
operates an accumulator and a submersible pump: the water is pumped from
the valley into a hilltop tank, then flows by gravity into the irrigation
system, all thanks simply to solar power. |
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