BioSikelia and the University of Catania
In recent years, we have had the pleasure and honor of collaborating with a team of researchers from the University of Catania to carry out some of our most important development projects.
With Professor Alberto Continella, Associate Professor of Arboriculture and Tree Crops, we are working on two projects dedicated to tree crops: one focused on extending the orange production calendar and one dedicated to tropical crops.
Oranges all year round: the PassPartù project
BioSikelia already guarantees a very broad orange production calendar: we harvest our oranges from October to July, but we don’t stop there.
The PassPartù project was created to meet two major needs. The first is to extend the orange production calendar and offer a continuous supply to our customers, reducing the need to import produce from abroad. The second is to ensure greater job stability for our workers, both in the fields and in the warehouse.
In fact, a longer marketing calendar means longer-lasting and more secure work for those who share our passion for organic farming and for our oranges.
With this vision, we began planting early and late orange varieties, continually experimenting and drawing on our expertise, as well as consulting with expert agronomists and technicians.
In 2023, the project took a further step forward thanks to our collaboration with the University of Catania. Together with Professor Alberto Continella, we are experimenting with new orange varieties and new storage methods to offer quality organic oranges all year round, while keeping respect for the land and for people at the core of our work.
Buying Sicilian oranges without resorting to those imported from the Southern Hemisphere also means reducing the ecological footprint of the end consumer’s grocery cart, giving even greater value to choosing organic.
The name we chose for this project, “PassPartù”, combines the Sicilian word for orange (Partuvalla) and the goal of offering the perfect orange in every season.
From the PassPartù project, Arancia Elorina was born in 2024, available in NaturaSì stores since December 2024 with each season’s varieties.
Lemons all year round
The province of Siracusa is renowned for lemon production, thanks to the natural suitability of its land. Our lemon, appreciated worldwide for its unique organoleptic qualities, has been awarded the prestigious Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the European Union.
The flagship variety of our lemons is Femminello Siracusano, an endemic variety perfected over centuries by local farmers and now synonymous with quality and excellence.
The staggered ripening of Femminello Siracusano makes it possible to offer fresh, top-quality lemons from October to June.
During the summer period, in more limited quantities, the prized Verdello lemon is produced, characterized by a deep green color and an unmistakable taste.
As with oranges, we are also working on lemons with the goal of extending the production calendar and improving varieties, aiming to offer top-quality lemons all year round and reduce imports from the Southern Hemisphere.
We have been experimenting with lemon varieties and rootstocks since 2017 to identify those best suited to our climate and soil characteristics.
Here too, the University of Catania is by our side: the Department of Citrus Cultivation follows the project with us, with whom we agreed on the variety trials to perform and who will evaluate the achievement of set objectives in order to replicate the results in other BioSikelia lands.
The lemon varieties we are working on are Femminello Siracusano, Zagara Bianca, Fino 95.
Tropical Fruits
Avocado and mango are already part of our production calendar, but we continue experimentation with the goals of monitoring sustainability, improving quality, and extending the production calendar.
Avocado
In collaboration with Prof. Continella, we are conducting a sustainability monitoring project for avocado crops.
The climate and characteristics of our lands allow for excellent crop development, but water consumption requires careful attention, especially in a land like Sicily subject to frequent droughts.
Field studies conducted so far have enabled us to observe that the water consumption of our avocado crops is only slightly higher than that of a lemon grove, and thanks to our high-efficiency micro-irrigation systems, we are able to fully optimize water distribution while containing consumption.
Avocado is mistakenly viewed as an imported plant: in fact, its presence in Sicily dates back two centuries, and for the end consumer, choosing a Sicilian organic avocado means not only reducing the environmental impact of purchases, but also supporting projects aimed at protecting biodiversity and strengthening environmental sustainability, like ours.
Monitoring of our avocado orchards continues so that data collection becomes increasingly solid and relevant. The varieties we market are Bacon, Ettinger, and Hass.
Mango
The mango variety we currently produce is Kensington Pride, which performs very well but has a very short harvest window concentrated between August and September.
We are testing the field yield of other mango varieties such as Kent, Maia, and Keitt to evaluate their adaptability to our area and production quality, with the goal of extending the harvest calendar by starting as early as July and ending in early November.
