An Italian excellence with solid roots

With 1,500 hectares on a single site,

Agricola Dante is one of the most extensive farms in Italy. One distinctive characteristic is the great diversity of its farming activities, also thanks to the particular suitability of the land for cultivation and its great versatility.

Agricola Dante is located in the province of Ferrara, in the municipalities of Fiscaglia, Codigoro and Jolanda di Savoia, an area dominated by the Torre di Tieni, an ancient customs tower facing the Po di Volano river. Since 1994, it has been part of the Unigrà S.r.l. Group, a company founded and still entirely managed by the Martini Family. It is a modern and innovative farming business that places great importance on sustainability. Agricola Dante’s operations span from the farming of fruit, vegetable and cereal crops and the production of electricity from renewable sources, right through to livestock farming used to support the agro-energy supply chain.

A unique geographic position and particularly favourable environmental conditions,

such as a temperate micro-climate, fertile soil and an abundance of water, support the high-quality production of fruit, vegetables and cereal crops. In fact, Agricola Dante is situated two metres below sea level and its land is surrounded by three canals, two for irrigation and one for drainage. The advantage of this is great availability of water which enriches the soil with organic substances, guaranteeing optimum production, both in terms of quality and quantity.

All of the crops benefit from this characteristic: this includes the soya and rice used to produce our OraSì products, cultivated exclusively on land owned by Agricola Dante.

Our story

  • 1876

    Lombards performed the first land reclamation works in the Grande Bonifica Ferrarese area outside the city of Ferrara and the La Lodigiana enterprise is founded on around 1,200 hectares of land.

  • Beginning of the 20th century

    La Lodigiana is taken over by Serafino Cevasco, “the most passionate industrialist dedicated to farming” who transforms it into “an industrialised farming business”*, managing it for over 20 years.

    *Source: Le vicende della Società Lodigiana (Lodigiana: a company history) by Prof. Vittorio Peglion.
  • 1928-1934

    The first buildings for storing the machinery for harvesting and working the land and for storing fuel are constructed.

  • 1934

    A mechanised silo for cereals is built with a capacity of 2 million kg.

  • 1940

    Rice paddies are introduced for the first time, covering a total of 558.20 hectares.

  • 1946

    The company’s first rice mill is built, with a capacity of 10 tonnes.

  • 1966

    Serafino Ferruzzi purchases the company and initiates a programme of hydraulic and agricultural developments, transforming it into a modern agro-industrial business.

  • 1994

    Luciano Martini, leading the Unigrà S.r.l. Group, acquires the company and continues the modernisation, making it a cutting-edge European player.

  • 2006

    Agricola Dante achieves GLOBALG.A.P. certification.

  • 2014

    Organic farming begins with the progressive conversion of the first 220 hectares of land.

  • 2015

    OraSì is born: a range of vegetable-based products from a 100% Italian production chain that starts on Agricola Dante land.

  • 2016

    All of the company’s land is converted to integrated production, alongside organic cultivation. The orchard achieves GLOBALG.A.P. Grasp certification.

  • 2017

    The area designated for organic cultivation exceeds 300 hectares. Experimental organic cultivation of rice and Williams pears begins.

  • 2019

    The area dedicated to organic crops reaches 400 hectares.

  • 2020-2021

    New crops are added to OraSì’s 100% Italian supply chain: gluten-free oats and almonds.
    The cultivation of seed corn is introduced, a project born from the collaboration with an important multinational in the sector.
    Experimental high oleic sunflower and organic sugar beet cultivations begin.
    The arrival of a new manager marks a step change in optimising the use of GPS technology in order to lower operating costs.

Our figures

1,500
Hectares on one site
100
Hectares of orchard
2,000
Indicative tonnes/year of grains
1,000
Indicative tonnes/year of oleaginous product
30,000
Indicative tonnes/year of feed
10,000
Indicative tonnes/year of vegetable crops
3,000
Indicative tonnes/year of fruit
16,500
MWh of clean energy produced each year
5
Pivot irrigation units
1
Rainger lateral unit
1,200
Hectares of drainage

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