Favero family overcomes climate challenges and diversifies strawberry production in Paraná

The Faveros lived for a few years in Barcelona, ​​Spain, where they learned about growing raspberries. When they returned to Brazil, they realized that the fruit was not yet produced in the region and, 11 years ago, they decided to invest in the activity.

Mattew Favero, who participates in the business alongside his mother, Edina Favero, and stepfather, Claudiomir Pereira, says that the fruit also carries memories of the period he lived in Europe.

The family, which already worked with soybean crops and poultry farms, had to face challenges to structure the new activity. Among them were the bureaucratic requirements for a family farming company.

"A family farming business has a lot of rules, tax, fiscal and administrative issues. Getting everything in order is the most difficult issue you have," shared Mattew.

According to studies by Embrapa, raspberries are intensely cultivated in Eastern European and North American countries. The species needs cold periods for its development, a condition that has made production in the region difficult.

"The reason we stopped producing fresh raspberries was for climate reasons. The ideal time for them is 700 hours below 7.5°C. Our state no longer supports these temperatures", explained Mattew.

According to him, there are currently varieties that require fewer chilling hours, but implementing an adequate structure requires investment and specialized labor. “To build a greenhouse to hold 5 to 9 thousand plants, you need to invest R$180 thousand, R$200 thousand and have specialized labor,” he said.

Even with the interruption of the production of fresh raspberries, the family decided to continue investing in the diversification of the property. The experience with red fruits led producers to cultivate strawberries.

Today, there are around 15 thousand seedlings distributed in five greenhouses, in addition to an agribusiness of approximately 100 square meters.

Climate fluctuations, however, also brought difficulties to the marketing of strawberries. Fruits that did not have the ideal appearance for fresh sale began to be frozen and sold in packages at the local market.

It was from this experience that the family found a new business possibility. “And we saw, in the leftovers of the main production, a second business that today ended up being the main one”, said Mattew.

Currently, Lampone works with two ways of selling fresh strawberries. In winter, the period of greatest production, the focus is on fresh sales. In summer, when the harvest is smaller, part of the production is destined for freezing.

The company produces around six tons of fresh strawberries per year and approximately 15 tons of frozen strawberries. The products reach around 60 supermarkets, as well as restaurants, bakeries, micro-entrepreneurs who produce artisanal popsicles and state schools, through snacks.

For Mattew, the possibility of transforming the property's production into food that reaches consumers' tables is one of the main motivations for continuing in the field.

"What motivates us most for our work is knowing that it is the result of our hands. It is very gratifying to live honestly from what is ours and brings health to people", he stated.

The family's story began with an attempt to grow raspberries in a region with a different climate from that found in Europe. The adaptation of production led to strawberries and, later, the freezing of fruits that did not have the standard for fresh commercialization.

Between greenhouses, fruits and family work, the property found in diversification a way to maintain the business in the countryside and transform an experience lived outside the country into an activity that today serves consumers from different regions of Paraná.