The idea behind the “Noccioleti Italiani” (“Italian hazelnut orchards”) project was born in 2011 and became operational in 2014 when Loacker set up its own groves in Tuscany. The first 240 hectares of hazelnut groves were planted in Loacker’s agricultural companies, Tenuta Corte Migliorina, (Orbetello) and Tenuta Collelungo, (Roccastrada).
Since then, we have expanded our supply contracts from Tuscany to Veneto, Marche, and Umbria.
The supply contracts guarantee different advantages to the farmers: by signing long-term partnership contracts, Loacker guarantees to purchase the entire yield at an advantageous price. The project also includes different services, for example the provision of technical consultancies and the product’s initial processing on site. Moreover, Loacker has made a deal with the Intesa Sanpaolo bank which will open favorable credit line to farmers involved in the project.
“I’ve learned the differences among the varieties of hazelnut trees planted here. For instance, here the Giffoni flourishes, the Romana takes a little longer but when it’s ready it blossoms spectacularly, and the Romana needs less water”
“When I think about Loacker the first thing that comes to mind is entrepreneurship. They give farmers the chance to grow a product that is already commercialized, and in Tuscany hazelnut plantations were not present until Loacker opened up this possibility.”
"The timings in agriculture are dilated and you see errors with time. For the hazelnuts trees, we’re not doing an agronomic management yet, as we do with our vineyards. All the manuals and guidelines cannot explain the different conditions of each soil and position. Here we’re by the sea and this crop has never been cultivated before, so a full agronomic management will be built over time.”
Contact us: progettonocciole@loacker.com
P.I.F. stands for “Integrated Supply Chain” project, funded by the Tuscany region in collaboration with Loacker. We currently own two irrigated farms, for a total of 340 ha since 2014, using Tonda di Giffoni for around 60% of the plants, Tonda Gentile Romana and Nocchione each for 15%, and Componica and Tonda Francescana for the remaining 10%. A portion of the plantation is destined for trials, with plots made of comparative planting layouts and plant shapes, in addition to orchard management techniques, hazelnut conditioning, and hazelnut storage.
We have planted around 300 hectares of hazelnut orchards in Tuscany, for a total investment of 2.3 millions euros.
We have built two processing and storage plants, for a total investment of 1.5 million euros.
We have completed three years of agronomic and post-harvesting field trials in collaboration with the Dafne Department at Viterbo University, for a total investment of 170.000 euros.
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