The land we purchased had already been cultivated by a Frenchman, who had used a lot of pesticides, but the land had been resting for about 7 years; we were told a lot had been produced there. At that time we did not know what it meant to recover the soil, but we were attracted to the idea of producing vegetables in a healthier way.  
Angela – Those were the very first steps; there was a lot of experimenting, a lot of loss, a lot of lab work, until June, 1991, when we decided to make our first delivery. How could we go ahead with the project? Neither of us had any experience in farming. It was then that we asked Fábio Ramos, of Agrosuisse, to find us someone who could be in charge of the technical side. That was when we met Maria Claudia Arueira, who is still with us today and is the technical mainstay of our production.

Dick - For years we started putting the baskets together on Sundays. It was done during the whole of Monday, up to 10, 11 in the evening. We rose at 3:00 a.m. in order to finish the work, adding to the baskets the bunches of greens that had been left in buckets of water, so that they were very fresh when they arrived at the client’s home. It was a lot of hard work to keep up with everything until we got to point we’re at now.
Angela – Claudia and I used to go down before dawn to finish putting the baskets together. Because, just as it is in all start-ups, the team was small, new difficulties every day, also new discoveries, finding out how to go about it, finding solutions to the problems that turned up. It was filling in invoices until dawn, everything by hand, just like all the controls; everything that is automated now was done by hand. It was a huge amount of work, but I think all that was part of the beginning and enabled us to live each part of our business. When you manage to put things in place, you slowly start increasing your project. There was never any direct advertising. Our advertising was word of mouth. It is was a task that was always done with a lot of care, because we think that a job is worth doing well. Quality control in practice is difficult. We see that the choice of products for our clients is a great responsibility. They trust us and leave it up to us to choose what they’re buying, without seeing it. For that reason, we have always been very demanding with regard to the quality of our services. For example, the products are selected individually and separated by size.

Dick - At that time, in August 1997, we started to make test deliveries at a “Zona Sul” branch, branch 8, that large branch in Ipanema. We delivered 200 units per day, three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I can’t remember exactly how soon, but a few months later we were already present in all the branches, making deliveries 6 times a day.

Dick – As I was saying before, in two years, we went from a delivery of 600 units per week to 25,000 units per week.

Dick - Between 1997 and 1999. In view of this demand, we had to recognize the need to be better structured. We made an investment in Sítio do Moinho. We improved the shed, the supply of electricity, changing the transformer from 15 to 75kva.  We had to install a generator because there were many power cuts here; then we had two cold stores, one for goods to be dispatched, and one for goods received, and we modernized all the packaging equipment. A product that enters Sítio do Moinho goes straight to a moisturized cold store in order to give greater protection to the product, giving it a longer shelf life, thanks to the way it’s handled. For that reason, we acquired refrigerated trucks; we once had as many as five trucks for delivery to Rio de Janeiro. At present, we operate with three refrigerated trucks and two vans in Rio.

Angela – Just as important as the structuring of the logistics was the creation of a logo and the right package to preserve the integrity of the organic products in the stores and prevent them from being mixed up with conventional products. It was also the experience in stores that led us to place bar codes on the packages, and to realize the need to supervise the products in the stores.    

It is important to stress that, at that time, we felt the need to legitimate our work, by seeking certification. Because we had been practicing organic farming for 8 years, the IBD Seal (RJ 004) was given to us 6 months later, after some adjustments. We also became members of the Abio. Some years later, we were the first to implement a traceability process for our products.

Dick - Angela and Maria Claudia, as well as our technical staff, are always updating their knowledge, taking courses, such as Organic and Biodynamic Agriculture in Botucatu, and several others.

Angela - By that time, we had already read a lot, studied a lot, and we gradually gained knowledge through practice and especially through interchange with people who are experts in the technical side, considering that neither of us had previous experience in this area. At the beginning of the project, we also had the advice of Nasser, a consultant in the organic market, with offices in Itapemirim, in the State of Espirito Santo. 

Sítio do Moinho invests in home delivery with special care. How do you do that?

Mistakes sometimes happen, but the important thing is to identify them, to find out why they happened, correct them and learn from them so that it doesn’t happen again. You have to be constantly careful. 

Angela – Now that we have learnt how to work with home delivery, we have the chance to have a more conscious client, because those who opt for organic products believe in a healthy life. The home client is easier to deal with. We continue operating with supermarkets today, because we also work very carefully with this supermarket client in terms of product quality, which is the basic premise. Every product has to be of the highest quality. Vegetables are subject to climate problems, humidity, etc. We sometimes have problems with products delivered to the stores, but the important thing is to be always on the watch to correct them. It’s not for nothing that we have a team of supervisors that visit the stores every day, in addition to permanent promoters in some of them.

Angela – That’s true, we have a very loyal home clientele; some of them have been with us for 12 years. When we talk to a client on the phone we have a much better opportunity to show him what the organic product means, and he’ll go after a product that is healthy, well chosen, looks good and is conveniently delivered at home. With the growth in the market, with a much greater variety of products available for delivery, we always try to select those that are included in our weekly list with great care, because they have to be certified. The few non-organic products we have, such as home-made salad dressings, are mentioned in our home delivery list as non-organic. We are now able to bring in products from abroad, and we have reached the stage at which we have to restructure ourselves once again in order to grow.

Dick – I’d like to emphasize this work we do with schools. The organic concept fits into subjects such as environmental education, science, clean food, which are taught at school.

Angela – We have received groups of students here, for practical lessons on the environment, recycling, clean products, healthy agriculture. This is a kind of work we would like to increase, because we believe that if you succeed in educating a child, you are educating tomorrow’s consumer, with a clearer perception of the damage pesticides cause to health, the environment and the farmer. The same way that we see today a very great interest in young mothers who look for organic products for their babies’ soup. They are very different consumers from 5 years ago, when older ladies were the consumers. Today it is very different, because younger people are very concerned. The range of consumers is much greater.  

Dick – We have already received state schools, the University of Viçosa, a school from Jacarepaguá, from Itaipava, secondary schools from Rio, groups of senior citizens, families bringing children to see an organic plantation. This is all part of our responsibility.

Angela – We also feel this responsibility in relation to our employees. We are developing the implementation of a project in which we will bring them together for classes on organic agriculture, recycling, separate trash treatment, how to use vegetable peel and stems, or other subjects that may interest them, in the belief that they may apply some of that in their own lives. The rivers in our region are highly polluted, with the sad tradition of floods in the rainy season, due to the fact that trash and sewage are thrown in them. Collecting plastic generates income for a lot of people and avoids empty cans and PET bottles being thrown in the rubbish, due to a lack of awareness. We’d also like to find a solution for some of our employees who cannot read or write, by hiring a teacher. Today, the organic concept goes much further than actual production. We take it into our lives, by means of practices that involve more conscious choices, and that imply less waste and greater use.

Angela – Yes, we were the first in the supermarkets in a more professional way. Just as we are planning to bring several products from abroad, within this spirit of growth, we are taking part in the Biofach as sponsors and specially by enrolling in the business round, where we’ll be talking to producers, purchasers or organic product firms coming from Europe, and that are interested in setting up partnerships with South American producers. That’s how we’ll be seeking some form of growth.

Angela – Ana Maria Primavesi came to Itaipava as one of the teachers of a course on Natural Agriculture promoted by the Mokiti Okada Foundation. We took part in the course as students and one of the practical classes was at Sítio do Moinho. We were very happy to have Ana Maria Primavesi here, when she was able to see all that was good, and at the same time, she made some remarks that were very productive in terms of what could be improved. It is important to pass on to all our clients this feeling that we work with great concern for product quality, and for rendering good service to all of them. We give each client a specific service.

In the growing, the harvest and the post-harvest phases we give our product noble treatment, so that it reaches the client’s home well looked after. And what is incredible is that we started very small, we are growing and in fact what we see today is that the stage we have reached is still the tip of an  iceberg, because there is a lot still to come.

Dick – Some people are concerned because there are a lot of false organic products in supermarkets, some people may take advantage of this wave that is reaching us, but if you work seriously within the organic philosophy the work evolves, and it evolves a lot. What is making the organic market evolve is the demand for honest products. The reason for that demand has a reason to be. It is because it’s a nobler, healthier product and it is the alternative to products carrying pesticides, agro-chemicals, and that are consequently not good for the health. Organic agriculture means the product that is grown without harming nature. It implies in its principles the clean, positive and healthy aspect; in short, ”it comes from Goodness”. Today you have State governments interested in changing the school meal into an organic meal, because they know that this is for the good of the population’s heath, especially the younger generation, because this may result in lower expense with health treatment. I think organic agriculture is in a rising trend.

Dick – We have already done a lot, taking into consideration that we started from scratch. But don’t think, for one moment, from what one sees in the market, that we have already reached the top. The organic movement is starting now.

Dick – No doubt.  Biofach will help to make the Brazilian consumer aware of a reality that he may be unaware of. You have held seminars throughout Brazil. You went to Juiz de Fora yesterday. There were 70 people in the audience, wishing to learn a bit more about the organic movement.  Producers are beginning to understand that they have to change their life concept a little. Be it regarding cattle, poultry, dairy products, meat … because they know that the demand is going in that direction.

Angela – Very often the consumer wants to have healthy food because he wishes to introduce changes in his life, but he doesn’t know how to go about it. I would like to highlight the excellent work BioFach has done in the course of these months, by organizing so many seminars on organic production, the dissemination of information and opening up opportunities for new enterprises to be started.

A lot will happen in the future. In two years’ time, we’ll be sitting here and will see that what we have today is very little in relation to what we’ll have in the future in terms of organic products.