The Choice of Products
What are the evaluation criteria and elements compatible with our values that lead to the choice of one company rather than another? Let's take for example our province of Pisa, so large and varied, there is no town or small village that does not have its own valid family farm, perhaps in business for several generations. So what are the differential elements that determine the choice and our interest in the products made?
a) The company size : Fundamental for the first evaluation. If the production area is very large, different from the traditional artisan agricultural company which is characterized by its simple structure and production area, it leads us to discard the company as it has an orientation that tends towards production based on quantity which by its nature is opposed to the logic and laws that the natural process requires.
b) Production : the second element of evaluation is that relating to production, from the techniques used to the number of products grown, up to distribution. Production techniques must respect all those compatible agricultural processes that the land requires. There is no forcing, abuse, exploitation of the soil and industrial shortcuts, only the true natural cycle exists. The products are those that time allows to be created according to their product classification. In summary, the company produces what the land allows in the required time frame (weekly/monthly/annual), freshness is guaranteed.
c) Respect for the environment : third but not least is care and respect for the environment and its territory. Maintaining a constant symbiosis between man and land rewards not only those who cultivate it, but also indirectly all those involved. This point is inversely proportional to the company size.
d) Respect for animals : companies that over time have tried to maintain natural conditions within their farms are welcome, both in the structure that hosts them and in the food and daily life of the animals. A simple list of customs that helps to know the fundamental points to be respected in order to create an excellent, genuine and natural product, for example a cheese: animals eat hay, barley, grass and everything that is seasonally available, no corn , no soya, no silage. No powdered milk for the little ones, no antibiotics, no tied animals, no dehorning, access to pasture, natural fertilization.