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Farm description
Interview
Quality
Photos
. . . that Transmaritima aspired to be an international shipping company before it became an organic fruit producer?
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The Transmaritima farms, comprise of an original homestead, La Immaculata, of 80 hectares and Picada 21 of 100 hectares. They are planted in apples, pears, peaches, prunes, and pumpkin. It has been farmed organically since 2001, when it was converted from virgin soils. Picata means "sting", as in an insect sting. The word is used to refer to roads in the desert. So this farm is named 'road number 21'.
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Picada 21 lies along the Neuquen River, in central Argentina, at the northern edge of Patagonia. The clean water of the river comes from the snow-capped mountains of the Andes and flows across the vast empty desert. The farm is well isolated from other farms, with the river and wooded areas forming a natural limit. These woods provide an excellent protection from the prevailing south-westerly winds. A lagoon lies between the river and the farm. Black neck swans paddle serenely between stands of water reeds and many types of waterfowl drift in to land on the rippling surface. The orchard is watered via sprinklers using water from a sub-canal built by the owners.
There are several special aspects about this farm. The first is that the rows of trees do not run north- south as is traditional. They are planted 25 degrees off due north. This unusual decision was made by the owners after long deliberations about its merits. The reason for doing it was to ensure that the trees get equal amounts of sun on both sides. Why? Because the sun in the Rio Negro valley in Argentina is up to 30% stronger than the sun in Europe. This can burn the fruit, which changes the appearance and weakens the flesh of the fruit.
Another unusual aspect is that the rows within the orchard are 250m long, much longer than normal. The longer rows enable workers to be more efficient when they are using machinery for trimming or spraying. They don't have to carry heavy fruit bags so far. An unexpected issue came up when the longer rows were implemented - harvest workers in orchards are traditionally paid by how many rows they pick. The longer rows looked like a bad bargain for the workers, and the wage agreement had to be re-negotiated.
The farm includes several paperwasps' nests. An aphid infestation made them look for a solution. After noticing that areas with wasps present were free of the infestation, more wasps were brought in and encouraged to nest. Thus the infestation was controlled.
All of these examples demonstrate the owners' ability to think outside the square, which is an essential quality to have when farming organically.
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