Granai della Memoria

The industrial nature of rice production which requires large capital and technical skills makes it difficult for new players to enter this world. There are rare examples of rice growers who do not have a long family tradition behind them, Marco Ducco, from Cascina Angiolina in Buronzo is among them. Since 2016, following health problems and the profound economic crisis that the construction world was going through, to which he had dedicated his professional career, he decides to change his life and move from the frenetic and crazy world of construction to the rhythms cadenced by the seasons. agriculture.

Marco places his family, his wife and two children at the center of all his actions, with whom he shares every step of his journey in the world of rice growing: they are the beating heart of Cascina Angiolina. The choice to devote himself to a different, non-industrial agriculture is also born from an ethical substratum shared with his family, an agriculture that places the well-being of those who work in the company above any choice, of all those who they consume its products and, last but not least, respect for the ecosystems that characterize the spaces that the company uses.

Right from the start, it is clear to everyone that growing organic rice is no joke: preparation, specific skills and observation skills are needed that are not part of the family's cultural background and are not even codified in convenient informative manuals. Being a farmer is a complex job and growing organic rice is even more difficult, you need skills that must be sought in the area.

However, luck is on the side of the Ducco family and the time is ripe: the group of organic producers from Rovasenda immediately makes them part of their larger project. If the first advice comes from a wine producer to whom Marco had built the cellar, the group of farmers from Rovasenda becomes a constant point of reference to rely on to dispel the most substantial doubts. Today the Duccos are an active part of the "Bioveri" group as the Rovasenda rice growers define themselves as opposed to the "biofurbi" who only pretend to produce rice that is respectful of man and the environment.

Marco does not hide the amazement of the other farmers when he started his adventure: he was a bricklayer who wanted to be a farmer and moreover cultivating organically. Being completely free from a family tradition and a wealth of technical knowledge in the field of rice cultivation was undoubtedly a limitation in the first years of activity but, at the same time, it also represented a form of freedom from pre-established cultural cages and strengthened by time. Marco and his family were thus able to freely build and interpret their own space, working methods characterized by a placid impetuousness. What seems at first glance an oxymoron describes in a crystalline way the experience of those who will spend some of their time at Cascina Angiolina.