In Masseria you never go on vacation, time is marked by the operations that must be carried out, the wheat harvest then the legume harvest, the seasonal fruit to be harvested, the animals to look after, the always abundant vegetable garden to take care of and prepare for the next harvest. They seem endless operations and yet they embellish the days letting the moments mark and at the same time making them poetic, like the sunsets we observe [...]
In times when a pandemic has crippled the global economy and our health, it is definitely the moment to plan our future more wisely, in order to grow in resilience and let opportunities arise organically. Talking about organic matters the European Commission, after what the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F) is promised to look like, seems very keen to promote a stronger, more resilient food production in Europe. This would mean also counting on young farmers and making [...]
Despite the coming summer holidays, the eTOMATO partners are keeping on working hard on the next steps of the project. In this article we want to give you some updates about what has been done so far. The last months of the project have been very intense, as the University partners with the strong support of farm partners finalized the outline of the courses and completed the creation of the training materials. The partners worked hard to develop [...]
Currently, spas are tourist establishments with the capacity to lead the development of rural areas in the “Empty Spain”, where more than 45% of them are located. In many cases, they are the economic base of a significant number of rural municipalities and their regions. They represent an important source of direct and indirect employment, at the same time, allowing the labor insertion of women and young people. These two groups are configured as key agents in development [...]
The owner Angel Tenev founded the first company "Ajax 95" Ltd. for breeding and fattening a special selection of animals 1995. Today, Ajax takes care of the constant high quality of its raw materials and monitors extremely precisely the control over all production units. Ajax stands behind its motto: "From the farm to you". Ajax Group works in several directions with a closed production cycle: Two feed mills - equipped with the most modern machines and equipment. Precise [...]
In the last days, everything returned to normal at the farm of Gebroders Vercammen here in Belgium. Normal? Well, the markets slowly begin to get going and the catering industry tries to start its business. Meanwhile our guests at the social farm begin to return! The summer lies ahead of us, schools are organizing their graduating parties. This means more activities, of course in line with the Corona-regulations, and saying goodbye to our interns. July and august are [...]
In rural areas like the Altiplano in Southern Spain there are many challenges of which graying and outmigration of young people are very important ones. As more and more people leave the small villages many of the facilities of these villages close too. We see all around us that schools close, supermarkets, and bars. People leave for many reasons like lack of jobs, livelihoods, opportunities and inspiration. At La Junquera we try to be an example for people [...]
In our multifunctional farm we try to find inspiration for the various educational workshops, from what we have around us. The month of June which marks the transition from spring to summer, and gives all the beautiful new colors to Masseria Redenta. In such period, we have created a laboratory on the colors of bees. You might not know, but bees do not see colors like humans: they confuse black with red (they do not visit flowers of [...]
On May 20, the European Commission has presented its newer flagship food policy Farm to Fork (F2F), confirming the intention of further focusing on the sustainability of European food chains. The F2F strategy is so far divided into 27 actions, organized by four macro areas: i) Sustainable Food production, ii) Sustainable Food processing and Distribution, iii) Sustainable Food Consumption, and iv) Food Loss & Waste Prevention. One can see the pattern, or rather, the “shape” of such conceptualization, [...]
Despite the difficulties and uncertainties of the historical moment we are experiencing, the eTOMATO project does not stop and all the partners keep working together. The partners are completing the training materials for the e-learning course, both the introduction course and the single e-learning course on the different MA fields addressed by the project: Rural tourism, Social and didactical farming, Short food supply chain. During the last virtual project meeting, University of Foggia presented Kahoot! a free game-based [...]