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Farm description
Interview
Quality
Photos
. .. that birds prefer to eat apples that have well balanced sugar and acid contents?
and that wasps prefer pears?
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The farms of Agro Roca actually comprise several orchards totalling about 300 ha located in the province Rio Negro in Argentina. Most of these orchards are between 2 and 5 ha in size and are separated from each other by a row of poplars that serve as windbreaks. For organic farmers they also act as barriers to protect their fruit from chemical sprays, which may be applied by their neighbors.
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To minimize chemical contamination even more, Agro Roca has made a particular effort to select orchards that share few borders with conventional neighbors or none at all. Most of their orchards are located directly along the river, which has a minimum width of 200 m. The land immediately along the river also serves as a flood plain and is rich with abundant natural vegetation.
The farms of Agro Roca are owned by the Scholz and Lustig families, which are both of German descent. Even before they changed to organic production they already cooperated to better export their apples and pears to Europe. The main driving force here was Leonardo Lustig. The change to organic agriculture was initiated by Enrique Scholz. The original agricultural practices of Agro Roca already included integrated pest management. Enrique's comprehensive knowledge of plant pathology and entomology led him to experiment with organic methods. In fact, Agro Roca was the first company in the area to implement organic practices on a commercial scale.
In addition to producing organic fruit for Europe, Agro Roca has begun to sell organic input materials to assist other farmers in the region to change to more sustainable farming practices.
Products on this farm
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