At the end of March 2011, FreshPlaza visited the factory site in Legnago (Verona - Italy) of the agricultural cooperative company Geofur, a specialist in production and marketing of chicory for twelve months a year, established in 1970 by Rodolfo Furiani.
Cristiana Furiani, company sales manager and Rodolfo's daughter, told us about the recent changes at Geofur.
IFS certification: the starting point for new goals
The company's processing plant underwent re-organization, in line with the requirements of the IFS (International Food Standard) certification, which Geofur obtained in early March 2011, after about a year from the first inspections of the auditing body CMI.
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Processing line of chicory.
As Cristiana explained: "We followed step by step the directions provided to us, working for 6 months to optimize our processing procedures and bring our process to excellence. We are particularly proud to have finally got the IFS certification, with a very high score."
Geofur is now IFS certified for the "selection, storage and packaging of chicory, sugar loaf, cabbage and savoy cabbage."
Cristiana said: "In addition to being a plus in relations with big retail, the IFS certification has given us good working conditions, identifying the improvements to implement in our procedures and optimizing the whole workflow of the product. For us the IFS certification represents the recognition of a non-improvised professional activity, but also the basis for new goals."
"Having to give a professional advice to buyers of horticultural products, I can tell them to use suppliers that meet the IFS requirements: in this way they can really guarantee safety and quality for consumers", Cristiana said.
Sunlight for the company's energy requirements
Geofur has also successfully completed the test of two photovoltaic plants, respectively installed on the roof of the plant in Legnago and in Bergantino (province of Rovigo). Solar energy will allow Geofur to cover most of its energy requirements, with savings in bills but also in environmental pollution.
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Photovoltaic plant in Bergantino.
Chicory: protagonist of the menu
Crowning the passion of his life, Rodolfo Furiani recently became partner in a restaurant in Legnago ('La Colombara'), where chicory is used in amazing and different culinary ways, from starters to dessert!
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Rodolfo e Cristiana Furiani together with the chef of 'La Colombara' restaurant.
A comment on the marketing season
"Due to the absence of extremely cold winter temperatures we recorded a surplus of production in recent months, not completely absorbed by the market. This has negatively hit product market prices. We preferred to wait, harvesting only excellent quality chicory and waiting until the market was again empty of product."
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"A trend we saw this year was the highest consumption of chicory at national level, driven by a growing awareness of the product and its consequent increased use in the kitchen. But there was a lack of demand from abroad, oriented more to the product from Chile."
Contact:
GEOFUR
Via Gallese, 17
37045 Legnago (Verona)
Tel.: +39 (0)442 641344
Fax: +39 (0)442 641426
Email:
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Web: www.geofur.it
Publication date: 4/26/2011
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