Maurizio Iurisci's wheat: the rigor of excellence
Santa Maria Abbaro is a small town in the heart of Abruzzo, in the province of Chieti. The green here is confused with the horizon, it is a particular green, unique. Maurizio Iurisci in that green was born and raised and like him his son, who has learned the smell of fatigue and love for that color since childhood. Not just for that, though. Because Maurizio is a pioneer, he was among the first to believe in the production of quality wheat, he was the first to believe that even there, among those valleys, there was a place for the yellow sea.
The grain is not the cultivation handed down by the history of my family, which mainly produced olives and beets.
I introduced it by alternating it with sugar beets, and my son with me learned to grow it and take care of it. In our territory it is not a typical crop, but I believed it.
Maurizio talks about his wheat as a son, who must be accompanied by birth with care and rigor:
Wheat is a culture that requires care: it must be followed by sowing to threshing, it should not be abandoned after sowing. The traditional model involves sowing and collection. But so a good quality wheat does not come out: it must be followed, the interventions should be made when required, only in this way is an excellent result.
The flag leaf must be maintained in excellent health; She is the responsible for nourishment and the quality of the wheat, we must do everything to keep it healthy, green, luxuriant.
That same penalty sent him to his first son who tells us of a timeless love and a true father, wise and severe guide:
I deal with the plowing, the preparation of the sowing bed. I don't remember when I started, I've always followed him, I've always worked with him, I've always been by his side. My father is sometimes demanding, but it's right, I'm young, he has to teach me ...
Maurizio is proud of his children and does not hide it, far from:
Working with your children is a challenge. It may happen that there is no understanding, that the same passion and the same interests are not shared. With my son he was immediately understood, we understood ourselves immediately.
And the same goes for the second, who is only 16 years old: as soon as he returns from school he immediately starts working with me. I started working at 14, this is a job that I recommend to all young people. It is a beautiful job that however requires patience and caution.
You must also think about it. You have to point out everything you have done in the past years and go to concern the documentation, never be superficial: starting from the crop, to the types of fertilization, to the types of deserves and treatments.
Maurizio is an example and not just for his children:
Not only do we apply the good cultivation rules in our fields, but we also give examples to our neighbors, we give advice, we teach to cultivate in a workmanlike manner and the cultivation of wheat has expanded to other fields that are not owned by us. We also work for third parties, but it is the same thing, we put the same commitment, the same passion and the same responsibility.
The secret is in the rotation: beetroot, corn, fodder alternate with wheat.
The beets is demanding: two sowing (October and March) more irrigation, desertion, fertilizations. It constantly needs water, even when we are engaged with the harvest, the workers deal with irrigation.
But to fully grasp the value of what Maurizio Fa, of his work, comes to the rescue Emilio Romagnoli, an agronomist doctor in Syngenta and the area technician:
Among my duties there is to follow the companies, such as that of Maurizio, to bring home the result. My role is to assist him on request, if he has problems that he cannot follow alone and also monitor the agronomic path until the final product is obtained with the characteristics requested by the supply chain, in this case an excellent quality of wheat with a percentage of protein not less than 14.5%. I am in contact with Maurizio at least once a week and we are constantly updated.
Yes, this is the deepest sense of the Armando pact: the incessant and obstinate research of excellence, the primacy of quality combined with quantity. Grano Armando is made of the effort of people like Maurizio:
The protocol is demanding for the farmer. It is not enough to obtain a wheat with certain characteristics, but it is necessary to make sure that the satisfaction is of all the actors participating in the supply chain: not only of the agricultor but also of the stocker who must have a healthy raw material, and not least of the pasta factory that there are good levels of protein and gluten, necessary to produce a high quality pasta.
The minimum guaranteed price is a basis from which to start, if the market increases the value, an increase is recognized. According to the traditional method of cultivation of wheat, production for quantity allows you to return costs, to the detriment of quality. In this context of the supply chain the perspective changes: part from a base, as long as you make a wheat of a certain type. Subsequently you do not lose the market of market trends that could be more favorable, because an adjustment is foreseen in the contract. But start from a minimum and with that minimum you are already able to cover the expenses.
I always try to do things at best possible, carefully, always be aware of what you do because the result of this effort will find everything in the harvest.
Dr. Romagnoli can only confirm:
Maurizio is one of those people with whom, regardless of the work component, a human relationship is established. I met him not a lot but we immediately entered the tune. We don't scruple ourselves to tell us things, as it is right to be in the best relationships. The will, the application, the constancy that puts in his work are important qualities that make him appreciate as a person.
But the perfect synthesis, at the end of the day, gives us Maurizio:
Pasta is like a house: you have to start well from the foundations.
