Treasures of the Earth Az Agr Coop Onlus
(BioMu milk)

The Tesori Bio Cooperative – I Tesori della Terra is an agricultural cooperative in the province of Cuneo born in the early 2000s from the union of two realities that already practiced the organic method and were part of the Pope John XXIII Community Association, founded by Oreste Benzi in 1968.
From the courageous dream and stubborn dedication of the two founders (Dario and Livio) a biological and inclusive production activity was born, respectful of the environment and people, where "natural" and "social" are aspects of the same commitment.
Since 2013, Tesori della Terra has officially been a Social Cooperative Society as well as an Agricultural one. As such, it permanently employs members with disadvantaged workers in a number higher than 30% of the total number of workers and hosts various young people who are unemployed or with difficulties, who carry out work internships and social reintegration.
Today the company produces, transforms and markets excellent products that allow it to sustain itself.
At the basis of the economic and pedagogical success of the Cooperative is its particular organization of work: everyone works according to their abilities and everyone receives according to their needs. Of each activity, not only the yield is considered, but also the possibility of integrating people with difficulties, who find in the agricultural work of the farmhouse and the dairy a healthy and constructive dimension in which to devote themselves and, in the most fortunate cases, a real path towards autonomy.

Dario – founder
The Cooperative pays the utmost attention to the biological regulations established by the European Union and reaches out to the most fragile people. Thus, while the actual production is entirely entrusted to specialized technicians of the Cooperative's staff, there are more than twenty young people with difficulties who take care of the labelling, packaging and shipping of the products, as well as minor maintenance; large outdoor areas, support for the care of animals and fields, the company canteen and other tasks within the reach of each of them.
The company is environmentally sustainable and respectful of animals and the environment. The animals are housed in a bright and airy "ecostalla". The cows live on a compost litter produced on the farm, which is turned over daily, without any animal manure spreading. Every year the litter is replaced, while the old one is used as biological fertilizer for fertilizing. The ecostalla has no cement foundations and can be completely disassembled, thus avoiding the loss of fertile soils, a consequence of overbuilding, and is particularly suitable even in areas with a high seismic risk. The cows are thus fitter and more productive. The experimentation showed that the milk produced in the eco-stall has better quality parameters which give the processed organic dairy products a better quality.
The Tesori della Terra Cooperative produces organic UHT milk (whole, partially skimmed, highly digestible), organic yoghurt (whole, low-fat, compact), drinkable yoghurt, kefir, butter.
Yogurt is produced in a natural way, as it was once done. The ferments are added to the organic milk, the fermentation is slow (12 hours) to guarantee greater aroma to the final product, the whole process lasts 24 hours. The concentration of the milk takes place by evaporation, this allows the protein values ​​of the milk to be kept unaltered. The yoghurts with fruit are enriched and flavored with organic fruit and organic cane sugar.

Livio – founder
The Cooperative also makes use of the contribution of the "La Prata" farm, a zootechnical farm that has been organic and biocertified since 1999. Part of the milk with which the BioMu brand yoghurts marketed by the Cooperative are produced comes from this company.
La Prata, a family-run business, established in the 50s and run by Luca Bruciafreddo since 2012, covers about 150 hectares and houses about 130 Friesian cattle. The company produces entirely internally the food needs of its livestock, which are fed exclusively with stable meadow hay, alfalfa, soy, barley, corn, protein pea, field beans, all grown in the company's fields.
The La Prata company has been certified Bio since 1999 and since 2018 it has also obtained the c“STG – Hay Milk” certification and it's one of the very few companies in Italy to have both certifications.
The milk produced on the farm is of high quality.