Organic Seeds

A vegan and regenerative farm in the heart of Veio Park

Mino and Roberta: twenty years of research into biodynamics, permaculture, and social inclusion.

Semia Bio: A Story of Land, Research, and Humanity

In the heart of the Veio Park, an ancient Etruscan capital at the gates of Rome, stands Semia Bio: an organic farm run with authentic dedication by Mino e Roberta. Four hectares of land cultivated according to the principles of biodynamic and permaculture and regenerative agriculture, where every decision is the result of a ongoing scientific research and a deep respect for biodiversity. Certified Bioagricert, Semia Bio represents one of the most interesting models of contemporary Italian agriculture: a small family business that, for over twenty years, has been experimenting with innovative techniques, collaborating with universities and international research centres, and placing the value of its project at the centre of its human in addition to the agronomic one.
 
 
 

From the Land Purchasing Group to the company's birth in 2007

The origin of Semia Bio is a little-told page of the new Italian agriculture: in the nineties, a group of 30 families coming from the world of scouts and family homes decided to collectively purchase the land of the Veio Park through one of the first Land Purchasing Groups (GAT) in ItalyA pioneering experiment in shared ownership, a cooperative model that allowed those lands to be removed from real estate speculation and dedicated to organic farming. From that cooperative nucleus, the 2007 the farm, originally called “Old Farmhouse", that Mino and Roberta they took over complete management in 2014, separating land ownership (which remained with the collective LLC) from production and commercial management. This is how Semia Bio was born in its current form: Mino and Roberta's company on community land.
 
 

 
 

Mino's Journey: From England to Australia, Back to His Roots

The story of Mino It is an international agronomic trip: after having done the hotel manager in England, specialized in biodynamics and permaculture on a large scale, experience then deepened in Australia where he saw these techniques applied in large companies. Returned to Italy in 2001He brought with him this rare baggage for the Italian landscape of the time. He was running another organic farm in Rome when, in 2007, he launched Semia Bio. One of his first Italian experiences was pioneering: raising free-range chickens with "houses on wheels" that moved within the garden — an innovative practice in 2007 in Italy, probably the first similar experience in Europe.
 
 
 

From biodynamics to vegan agriculture: a conscious evolution

The agronomic path of Semia Bio has been a continuous and conscious evolution: it started from biodynamic as a guideline, they have been placed side by side permaculture e regenerative agriculture “when nobody was talking about it yet”, and finally — since the COVID period — the big turning point was made: the transition tovegan agricultureA philosophical as well as technical choice: “We realized that, although biodynamics was the guideline, without knowing it we were doing vegan agriculture.“, says Mino. From 2020, Semia Bio has abandoned traditional biodynamic preparations (which require cow and sheep organs) and fertilizers based on blood, meat and bones - although permitted in organic farming - adopting exclusively specially grown vegetable compost. A coherent agriculture to the core, where even fertilization follows the principle of integral animal respect. The biodynamic philosophy remains in the background as vision: lunar calendar, constellations and holistic approach continue to guide the work.
 
 

 
 

The experimental laboratory and collaboration with science

One of the most distinctive features of Semia Bio is the scientific vocation. From 2015-2016 collaborate with the CREA (Council for Agricultural Research) of Rome and with theInstitute of Fruit Growing for advanced research projects. For several years he has collaborated with a researcher at the University of Stuttgart on issues of intercropping and biodiversity. He has created a orchard in collaboration with CREA. A was dedicated experimental lot of 1.500 square meters to a real one miniature reproduction open-field conditions: here, intercropping, varieties, sowing and transplanting techniques are tested every year, with everything recorded and labeled. The farm is divided into four plots from the poetic name — Fox, Porcupine, Badger and Caves — each composed of lots and ajole, with biodiversity strips maintained spontaneously for the monitoring of entomological fauna.
 
 
 

Social inclusion: people with disabilities at the heart of the company

Perhaps the most human and touching feature of Semia Bio is the deep social commitmentFor nearly twenty years, the company has welcomed people with physical, mental, and neurological disabilities into its workforce. This practice stemmed from Mino's experience in England, where he encountered projects of "social agriculture" through biodynamics. The first five years with the kids of theAIPD (Italian Association of People with Down Syndrome) in Rome. Following a project of neurological rehabilitation in collaboration with the Santa Lucia Foundation. All this, Mino and Roberta underline, "we do it for passion, not for money” — without regional funding, without subsidies, only with its own company budget.
 
 

 
 

Production: open field vegetables, fresh eggs and biodiversity

I 4 ha of the company are cultivated entirely in certified organic open field vegetables, in a studied rotation that enhances the natural fertility of the soil. The now exclusive horticultural production was previously accompanied bypoultry farmingThe techniques used include a careful use of water resources — there is a well and irrigation takes place exclusively at night to reduce evaporation. The cure for the seedlings It's complete: Mino learned to be a nurseryman, and all the plants are grown from his own or selected seeds, in keeping with his philosophy of food sovereignty and biodiversity. Mino's production philosophy is clear: "It's not that organic produce has to have holes, worms or mold.“. Semia Bio has focused on thehigh-end organic product range: beautiful, healthy, nutritionally rich and perfectly clean vegetables.
 
 
 

Why choose Semia Bio

Choosing Semia Bio means embracing one of the richest and most coherent agricultural projects in Italy: it means rewarding a company that merges biodynamic, permaculture, regenerative e Vegan in an original synthesis; supporting a cooperative model born from a pioneering Land Purchasing Group; valorising the scientific research in agriculture through collaborations with CREA and the University of Stuttgart; embracing the profound value ofsocial inclusion of people with disabilities in production processes. It also means, simply, bringing to the table top-quality vegetables grown in the heart of the Veio Park, next to the Etruscan ruins and the Lazio woods. A small, precious testimony that another form of agriculture—more humane, more scientific, more ecological—is not only possible, but already alive and productive.
 
 
 

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