The project also encompasses over 85 local agribusinesses across Veneto, Umbria, Tuscany, and Marche, boasting a total of 1,200 hectares of hazel trees. Loacker signed multi-annual collaboration agreements with these businesses and provided them with ad-hoc services, certified plant nurseries, and local companies to offer:
“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.”
