START-UP YEAR: 2021
PROJECT DURATION: 3 years
THEMATIC AREA: Social Farming
COUNTRY: Italy
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA: Provinces of Milan and Pavia
RECIPIENT: Mother Earth Social Cooperative,
Locality Cascinetta Sacchi -27030 Zinasco (PV)
BENEFICIARIES:
– 16 disadvantaged individuals from the reception experiences, former MSNAs, currently housed at UCAPTE, who will be received in a structured pathway aimed at job placement in the field
Agricultural(CARIPLO Foundation Project);
– Mother Earth Cooperative, which will benefit from improved agricultural production, thanks to the upgraded machinery and facilities, and will benefit from the implementation of the network of
sale(Cariplo Foundation Project and ASeS Project);
– Some farms in the area that will be able to make use of skilled labor(CARIPLO Foundation Project);-families and individuals who will join the AMAP pathway (CARIPLO Foundation Project).
PARTNERS:
1)Mother Earth Social Cooperative Location Cascinetta Sacchi
2)U.c.a.p.Te -Association “A Home Also For You”
3)ASeS-Farmers Solidarity and Development.
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERVENTION:
Social Agricultural Cooperative Madre Terra led by ACRA participated in the CARIPLO Foundation’s call for proposals “Coltivare Valore” with the project “Cascina Sant’Alberto -Nuovi modelli di economia solidale a sostegno dell’agricoltura sociale.”
This project, which was approved in December 2020,is aimed at the economic sustainability of Mother Earth Cooperative’s activities through the enhancement of the cooperative’s activities, the mobilization of aware consumers (AMAP)and the ability to provide employment to disadvantaged youth (former unemployed under-25 MSNAs).
GENESIS OF THE PROJECT AND PARTNERSHIP:
The project was born from an encounter with the figure of Don Massimo Mapelli, who for years has been involved in promoting paths of welcome and social integration for minors, adults in a state of difficulty and people with different fragilities, welcomed into the communities he created. Around these experiences, UCAPTE, of which Mother Earth Social Agricultural Cooperative is an integral part, and ASeS, although coming from different backgrounds, found themselves sharing the idea of collaborating in order to strengthen the cooperative’s own production and marketing structure and identified this project as an opportunity for collaboration and sharing.
GENERAL AND SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:
-Implementing horticultural production with a view to rationalization and effectiveness of marketing;
-Achieving economic sustainability;
-Contribute to the achievement of the objectives set forth in the “Cascina Sant’Alberto -Nuovi modelli di economia solidale a sostegno dell’agricoltura sociale” Project, financed by the “Coltivare valore” call for proposals of the CARIPLO Foundation, also with economic interventions aimed at the purchase of goods aimed at achieving the objectives, but not provided for within the aforementioned call for proposals.
INTERVENTION STRATEGY:
Enhancement of the cooperative’s facilities
Application of organic farming principles.
Consolidation and implementation of the sales network.
Convey to future clients the founding principles that inspire the activities of Mother Earth Cooperative:
organic farming, land stewardship, work ethic and circular economy serving the community.
Strengthening ecosolidarity networks.
Possible purchase of functional equipment to achieve project objectives.
Increased area under vegetable garden cultivation from 0.5 ha to 1 ha.
Possible training and hiring of a sales-organizational worker,
who eventually comes to have management autonomy, preferably a mother in a fragile state currently taken in by the UCAPTE Association.
