"I founded I Frutti del Sole in 1992 and, with the help of 50 associates, we soon planted 60 hectares of Marsala. But we also work with prison inmates and former inmates because we believe in social redemption and in agriculture as an ethical opportunity. Our produce has become part of the 'Solidale Italiano' project promoted by Altromercato", explains Filippo Licari, administrator of I Frutti Del Sole.
Over the years, the company developed a chain that makes available, on Italian and European markets, 100 organic products made in Sicily.
The climatic conditions of the island enable the company to specialise in the production of vegetables, citrus fruit and fruit on 600 hectares. The warehouse has also expanded over the years - 4000 sq m, 3 processing lines and 4000 cubic metres of cold storage units. The produce harvested is transported using refrigerated trucks to maintain the cold chain.
"We manage to deliver fruit and vegetables in 48 hours." In order to better manage the connections to eastern Sicily, I Frutti del Sole also opened a second facility in Ispica.
"We managed to gather organic producers from all over Sicily. We negotiate prices, find agreements, prepare shipments and deliver the produce. When we started, there were just 4 of us in a small warehouse, now we have 40 employees in 2 production facilities managed by Agricoop directly."
"Our produce is used to make sauces, oil, wine, jams, juices and pasta, as well as organic fresh fruit jams in 130 gram jars made using only cane sugar."
"We also produce organic tropical fruit. We start harvesting in September with mangoes and continue with sugar apples, guavas, avocados and passion fruit. Producing tropical fruit in Sicily means European consumers get a "fresh" product because it reaches its destinations in just a few hours."
Turnover
"Citrus fruit is our leading product generating €6 million."
"Both demand and price are high for lemons, while the situation is the opposite for oranges."
"Apricots, pears and nectarines suffered from the lack of low winter temperatures, so quantities were rather low. The price of peaches was rather high."
"Our products are available all over Italy, but 30% of our turnover comes from exports to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Denmark and Germany. We mostly sell to the specialised sector and e-commerce and we have no agents because they would entail a 15% increase on our prices."
The weather and future challenges
"The mild winter caused problems for stone fruit and cauliflowers."
"For us, the main challenge is increasing efficiency. We are trying to respect biodiversity and have production facilities in many different locations. We do everything by ourselves and do not use public funds because we do not want to waste time with bureaucracy."
