We only use 100% Italian hazelnuts, which we grow in our own orchards and in collaboration with local farmers.
Hazelnut is one of our main raw materials and has always been a symbol and distinctive sign of goodness and freshness in our products.
We use only 100% exquisite Italian hazelnuts freshly roasted by Loacker.
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.
In our own Hazelnut Orchard “Corte Migliorina”, we use “Subsurface Drip Irrigation” – a method that irrigates both slowly and precisely, exactly where the plant needs it. This allows us to save up to -30% water compared to standard drip irrigation.
In 2021, we have installed a 50 kWp photovoltaic system at the Corte Migliorina Orchards, and a 75 kWp system has been installed at the Collelungo Loacker estate by the end of 2022. So our Hazelnut Orchards will be energy self-sufficient.
Since 2019 BMS Micro-Nutrients, leader in crop foliar feeding, has awarded Loacker the EcoMethod certificate . This confirms that our Tuscan agricultural companies, located respecitvely in Orbetello and Collelungo, managed to reduce CO2 emissions by 91.34% in 2019 thanks to the use of leaf fertilizers instead of conventional fertilizers.
On our two farms in Tuscany we grow two hazel tree varieties: Tonda di Giffoni and Tonda Romana. In our Tenuta Corte Migliorina in Orbetello we also cultivate other birch trees to study their adaptation and integration in the environment.
We currently source part of our hazelnuts from two farms in Tuscany owned by Loacker, for a total area of around 270 hectares. In addition, there are around 500 hectares already planted by 90 farms participating in our supply contract project in Veneto, Umbria, Tuscany and the Marche.
