The Seed of Collaboration

At 18 years old, Massimiliano Solano went on an ecology hike in his hometown of Camporeale with Gino Girolomoni, a pioneer of Italian organic agriculture. Walking with Gino opened Massimiliano’s eyes to a different way of farming. “The experience planted a seed in my mind,” he recalls. A seed that would come to fruition years later.

While Massimiliano studied conventional agronomy at university, he went on to take a course in organic agriculture where he discovered the principles of agroecology. Just as his walk with Gino had touched him, he quickly fell in love with this way of farming. “I traveled around Italy to learn more and more about these practices,” Massimiliano explains.

It was this curiosity and the strong desire to work with other likeminded pioneers that led Massimiliano to co-found Valdibella in 1990, a grassroots cooperative in Southern Italy anchored in regenerative farming practices that are economically, environmentally, and socially viable.

“We started farming organically from the start,” Massimiliano recalls. “Every year, we implemented more agroecological practices, never losing sight of the economic aspects of farming and the food supply chain.”

Strength in Numbers

Massimiliano’s family farm spans across the rolling hills where he cultivates heritage Sicilian grains and a variety of Mediterranean fruits and vegetables. While his farm is only 40 hectares, the nature of the cooperative and their collective impact make it feel much bigger. Together, they cultivate wine, wheat, pasta, almonds, oil, vegetables, and legumes, which they sell mainly through participatory supply chains, fair trade purchasing groups, food coops, and directly through their website.

The cooperative’s decision to work together is more than a smart business move, it’s a decision to rebuild trust locally. “This area of Sicily has had many socio-political-cultural challenges,” Massimiliano explains. “Lack of freedom created a survival instinct where neighbors don’t trust each other or the government.” With this context, it’s remarkable that Valdibella has been going against the grain, choosing to act collectively rather than individualistically for more than 25 years.

As Massimiliano points out, “Cooperation - not competition - is widespread in nature. I believe that acting individually leads to a weaker society. I am sure that all of the farmers and workers at Valdibella would not have done better individually. We are strong because we work together.”

This conviction led the cooperative to establish the Valdibella Practical School of Agroecology - Sicily's first independent institution dedicated to regenerative practices. The school unites local farmers with professors and pioneering farmers, conducting practical trials and spreading agroecological knowledge in a region that faces everything from organized crime to irregular rainfall.

“Little by little we have converted our farms to organic farming and begun a path toward regenerative agriculture,” Massimiliano shares. “It is our belief and commitment that all these novel practices be trialed locally and then taught and shared with other farmers.” 

The school runs entirely on cooperative support and voluntary hours from experts who believe in the mission. But as a co-founder, Massimiliano dreams bigger—of creating “Living Labs” and partnering with European projects to establish Sicily as a lighthouse for regenerative agriculture.

The Vision of Connection

Massimiliano's ultimate vision for cooperation extends far beyond his farm or even Sicily. He's working to create participatory supply chains across Europe where consumers and producers support each other. “This is how we will create a fair, just and independent agricultural system based on the principles of agroecology. All of us regenerative companies can work together synergistically at European level to create a comprehensive alternative to the chemical-industrial method," Massimiliano explains.

For Massimiliano, the future of agriculture lies in community. “We need consumers who check the origin of what they eat and understand that their choices are either contributing to industrial or regenerative agriculture,” he emphasizes.

By keeping consumers and producers in close dialogue, Valdibella is bridging the gap between those who grow food and those who eat it. Their determination to put the collective first shows how agriculture's future lies in cooperation - not competition - just as nature intended.