The companies
COT – Centrale Ortofrutticola Tarquinia
With its current 120 contributing members, Centrale Ortofrutticola di Tarquinia Soc. Coop. [Tarquinia Fruit & Vegetable Centre Cooperative], founded in 1964, is one of the largest fruit and vegetable companies in the Tuscia region.
Since the beginning, the cooperative has built up a large following among the area’s agricultural producers who, by continually improving production techniques, have been guaranteeing the consumer a fresh and authentic product for over forty years.
Production is characterised by the unique climatic properties offered by simultaneous proximity to the sea and the hinterland, as well as by a constant wind that is beneficial for crops, offering numerous different types of fruit and vegetables throughout the year. In terms of vegetables, mainly tomatoes, asparagus, cauliflower, fennel, pumpkin and onions are grown. The main fruit crops are melon, watermelon, apricot and kiwi.
Overall, about 40 million kilograms of fruit and vegetables are produced every year.
Production – which, we recall, continues throughout the year following the natural seasonality of each single product – occupies almost 1,000 hectares of flat land adjacent to the city of Tarquinia.
Coopernocciole
Coopernocciole Soc. Coop. Agricola was founded in 1968 with the name of Cooperativa dei Produttori di nocciole dei Colli Cimini e Sabatini [Hazelnut Producers of the Cimini and Sabatini Hills Cooperative) and, in 2013, was renamed Coopernocciole Società Cooperativa Agricola [Coopernocciole Agricultural Cooperative]. Today, with its numerous members, it is a major company in the hazelnut sector.
Production focuses exclusively on the “tonda gentile” variety, which is typical of the area and has extraordinary organoleptic properties. The main characteristic of this hazelnut, which is not to be confused with a defect, is the partial peeling after the roasting phase.
The product storage, processing and transformation plant, located within an area of 30,000 square metres, is equipped with modern machinery for all processing cycles, which guarantee the making of a product of excellence for the consumer.
In addition to direct sales to the consumer, Coopernocciole supplies shelled hazelnuts to various leading companies in Italy. This is especially true of the semi-finished products sector, where hazelnut paste, chopped hazelnuts, roasted hazelnuts and hazelnut flour account for 15% of the company’s turnover and are marketed and sold to Italian companies in the ice cream, pastry and confectionery sector.
Coopalto
Cooperative Centro Agricolo Alto Viterbese [Alto Viterbese Agricultural Centre Cooperative] was founded in 1970 on the initiative of a number of owners and producers in the municipalities of San Lorenzo Nuovo, Bolsena, Grotte di Castro, Gradoli, Acquapendente and Latera to revaluate knowledge and production of the Alto Viterbese PGI potato.
The challenge lay in turning farmers in the area into the protagonists of a new way of doing business and revaluating their products.
The headquarters are located in San Lorenzo Nuovo, in the locality of Poggio della Madonna on regional road SR 74, which connects San Lorenzo Nuovo with Castel Giorgio and Orvieto. It is here that the storage and processing of potatoes takes place, along with their sale.
Today, Coop. Centro Agr. Alto Vit. Soc. Coop.Va has 77 members, has a surface area with several warehouses of around 3,400 square metres, of which around 2,400 are occupied by cold stores for the preservation of products.
The members mainly cultivate and supply potatoes, such as the Alto Viterbese PGI potato, the Tuscia Viterbese red potato and the Viola potato; in small part also lentils from the Alto Viterbese area and cereals such as soft wheat, forage barley and corn.
About 80% of the turnover comes from processing potatoes which, in seasons with normal climatic trends, reach a quantity of between 50,000 and 60,000 quintals.
It should be emphasised that the members are all from the Alto Viterbese area and that the cooperative markets only and exclusively the product contributed.