ABRUZZI SHEPHERDS OFFER FLOCKS FOR RENT
Medina, a
young sheep from Anversa degli Abruzzi, was adopted this
weekend.
Reports
indicate she is reportdly the first sheep in Italy to have
carned a human parent, albeit just long-distance. She is
certainly the first to have that privilege in her herd of
1.300 sheep, all of them put up for adoption on the internet
by their owner, a biological farm in the mountainous Abruzzi
region.
Medina’s
adoptive fathher none other than agricolture minister
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, paid 180 euro to adopt her. In
Exchange, he will receive by mail, free of charge, all of
Medina’s products throughou the year five kilograms of
cheese and three of ricorta, four pair of socks and two pair
ofg men’s leotards, exclusively made with her wool. He will
also reccive packages containing the animal’s droppings, to
be used to fertlize plants.
By logging
onto the farm’s website (asca.dimmidove.com) potential
clients can follow in Mr. Pecoraro Scanio’s footsteps and
pay 180 euro to eat their own sheep’s produers all year
round – and even cat the sheep herself if they wish to.
The proect was
started by a small sheep farm, "Porta dei parchi"m also a
small agritourism facility. "Porta dei Parchi" has an annual
turnover of approximately 200.000 euro, "a limited but fair
amount considering where we’re located"W, said owner Manuela
Cozzi.
The farm
stands in the isolated village of Anversa degli Abruzzi,
just outside the Abruzzi National Park, near L’Aquila. The
adopt a sheep project aims to boost business, by promoting
the image of sheep farming in the face of the growing scares
caused by mad cow disease – which some fear may spread to
sheep raised in industrial conditions. "Some 80 per cent of
our sales, given our isolation, are through the mail, "said
Ms. Cozza, "We noticed that most of the people who endend up
buying our products by mail had previously visited our
agritourism. They were italian or foreign tourists who had
scen the way we work, who knew that our products were good
and, most importantly, that they were healthy".
Indeed, Ms.
Cozza said, "though we have estimated that we will
approximately losc around 25 euro for each adopted sheep,
the marketing stategy is worth the loss".
The first
adoptive parent appeared to agree.
"What
convinced me to set an example (and adopt Medina) was that
this project recreates a direct contact between the producer
and the buyer, and restores the client’s confidence in the
quality of produces – something that went lost with mass
production and distribution", said Mr. Pecoraro Scanio whose
last name. For the first part, means "shepherd".
Trough just at
the virtual level, "Porta dei Parchi" indeed aims to
establish a direct contact with its clients through its
website. Where clients from all over the "world will be
allowed to order cheese woolen products hams jarns and
honcy. The website which opens today, also offer a
newsletter that keeps buyers informed of the farm’s yearly
activities, such as sheep-shearing and transhumance.
The farm had
already been selling part of its products over this
Internet, on esperya.com a website selling quality foods.
"But having clients get theri products from their own sheep
and follow our, farming routine through our own website will
be something else" Ms. Cozza siad.
The idea of
long distance adoption actually came from two clients,
Christopher and Christa Castelli, who cach November come and
visit the mountains of Abruzzi alla the way from Boston.
It was their
idea, Ms. Cozza said, that one of the oldset tradesd in
history could survive, and potentially prosper, through
marketing strategies and the internet.
