by Chiara Lo Bianco
Founder & CEO BioSikelia
In the early 1990s my father, Engineer Giuseppe Lo Bianco, decided to stop building houses and start building a better future for his land of origin, Sicily. The farm he had inherited was not particularly productive, but the land where it was located, between Avola and Syracuse, was unique and generous, suited for citrus fruits (we are in the land of lemons) and also capable of producing vegetables with extraordinary organoleptic qualities.
‘U ‘ncignere (the Engineer) was not an agronomist and certainly had no experience in cultivating fields, but he had always paid great attention to the world around him and possessed an extraordinary intuition: he understood that organic farming was the most important and necessary evolution that would take place in agriculture.
In 1992, Azienda Agricola Giuseppe Lo Bianco became the first organic farm in Syracuse: for this reason, my father was considered a pioneer, but also a madman. Imagine Sicily in the 1990s: today’s technologies and knowledge for combating plant diseases did not exist, and there was no desire to change something that had always been done the same way and was, all things considered, going fine as it was. Taking on the concrete risk of losing entire harvests to pursue something never seen before was a choice that people struggled to understand and that was harshly criticized.
What advantages could there be, at the time, in deciding to produce while risking so much?
My father used to say:
“My greatest satisfaction in life was finally being able to see butterflies by day and fireflies by night on my farm again.”
When I was a little girl and my father took me by the hand to look at the fields, I knew what I would do when I grew up. I graduated in Agricultural Sciences, earned a PhD in plant breeding, and worked in the United States and Spain. In 2009 I returned here, to work alongside ‘U ‘Ncignere and carry forward with him his dream, which had become mine.
Together, my father and I laid the foundations to transform Azienda Agricola Giuseppe Lo Bianco into a modern entity: we improved product quality, in the field and in the warehouse; we ensured continuity of supply to our clients through annual programs; we expanded production calendars to guarantee our clients consistent quality for a longer period.
The farm was ready for the next step: becoming even bigger by involving other growers who shared our ideas and worldviews.
In 2010, we founded the PO (Producers’ Organization) BioSikelia.
Sikelia is the ancient name for Sicily, a name that tells the story of the generosity of this land, named so by the ancient Greeks because it was rich in figs and olives (sikè, elaia). It is also the name my father had given to the first consortium he founded. Although that consortium did not continue its activities, the firm belief remained that mutual support and cooperation among agricultural producers are necessary to achieve real progress in the sector: keeping Sikelia in our name was a way to honor the richness of our land and always remind ourselves of the importance of collaborating to achieve shared goals.
When my father passed away in 2012, it was a moment of great discouragement and hardship, but thanks to the support and commitment of all the people who worked – and in many cases still work – with me, we managed to cope with everything and continue growing.
Today, BioSikelia is an entity capable of meeting the demands of the most discerning clients, with cutting-edge production processes and sustained growth rates, yet it has retained its family soul and its dimension as a project stemming from a life choice.
The people who work for us are at the heart of everything: without them, there would be no BioSikelia, and our work efforts aim for a better future also for all the families who live here, and without whom we could not face everyday challenges. Our work team is a community with whom we share values and goals: many of these people have been working with us for over twenty years.
This same shared vision defines our bond with all BioSikelia producers, who have been working alongside us since 2010 – and individually long before that – in product improvement and varietal innovation.
Chiara