Questa

FARMS
I
n 1987 a group of young farmers embarked on an adventure — that of organic agriculture.
For years people who adopted the practice were seen almost as “heretics”, but the youngsters
have come a long way and now manage one of the most important farming ventures of its type in
Piedmont — and not only in Piedmont. They have over 100 hectares of orchards where they grow
told Piedmontese apple varieties (a Slow Food Presidium and marked, and with the Turin Provincial
Authority’s “Paniere” stamp of quality), and in their modern workshop in Bibiana they turn their cereals,
fruit and vegetables into jams, sauces, pickles, juices and so on. Recently they have also started to
produce Alpine herb and fruit liqueurs and digestifs and fruit liqueurs. Their latest offerings are cider and
perry, which are already enjoying success. In their byres they also breed prized Piedmontese Fassone
cattle and pigs, from which they make excellent cured pork products, and their bees produce fi ne
honey. The cooperative runs two agriturismo operations, in Bibiana and Bagnolo Piemonte, where they
serve all the products mentioned, which can also be bought at the cooperative’s various points of sale.
35