00:00From the beginning of the earth to the end of the world, agriculture is everywhere
00:05We turn cow manure into profit, agriculture is everywhere
00:11The coffee that wakes you up to work hard, agriculture is everywhere
00:30Who can resist the sweetness of a strawberry?
00:40Each fruit carries the care of those who cultivate it with delicacy
00:44And whoever tries one of these strawberries takes home a sweet little piece
00:49From this land full of flavors called Santa Maria de Getibá
00:54The owner of this property here is my father-in-law, Anildo Larrasse
01:05And my mother-in-law too, who is Marli Brandt Larrasse
01:08I've only been working here for three years, but my father-in-law has been working here for approximately 19 to 20 years.
01:15Always producing strawberries
01:17Always producing strawberries
01:18Strawberry is the flagship
01:19Strawberry is the flagship
01:21We are in Alto Rio Lamego, here in Santa Maria de Getibá
01:34On a family farm
01:37It may not seem like it, but Arley is the new generation that runs this strawberry plantation here on the property.
01:45And the name of the place? Tell us who's at home, Arley.
01:48Blessed place
01:50Blessed
01:51Because look, the strawberries here, people, are really blessed.
01:56Hey Arley, how many strawberry plants do you have here?
01:59There are currently 17 thousand plants, right?
02:02Apart from the new part, right?
02:04The productive part is 17 thousand plants
02:06And how many strawberries can you pick here?
02:10Here, on average, 1,200 boxes have already been released per week.
02:13It's already been released in 800 boxes, 900 boxes, it varies a lot, right?
02:16But in the strongest production, it exceeds a thousand boxes per week.
02:19And do you have to be very careful to produce strawberries here in the region?
02:23There are, there are a lot of things
02:25That you can't even observe
02:26The plant here is already a little attacked by the striped, right?
02:30But we try to control it as much as possible, right?
02:33Then we control it the way we can.
02:35And it's suspended too, why?
02:38Because on the ground it's more difficult, right?
02:40Larger production, larger workforce
02:42Because nowadays there is no workforce
02:44And on the ground it's a more difficult thing
02:47That we have to stay crouched down
02:48That we work standing up when harvesting
02:50Everything is a better service
02:52And the fruit lasts longer
02:53The fruit is a fruit that you can pick today
02:55You can eat it in 3, 4 days
02:57That won't spoil on the floor, no
02:58Here I picked a strawberry
03:00That was growing
03:02But here, people, look at this
03:04The size of this
03:05Look, look
03:06And is it sweet?
03:08Sweet, can
03:08Do you guarantee?
03:09May I taste a little?
03:12Hmm
03:12It's really sweet
03:15It's really sweet, people
03:17Tasty
03:19Tasty
03:21This is all natural
03:22It's this kind of strawberry
03:25Where do these seedlings come from?
03:26This one comes from Spain
03:28These seedlings here come from Spain
03:30There the seedlings come from Chile
03:32And above the seedlings from Brazil, which is national
03:35We have these three varieties
03:38Why is that?
03:39Because the seedlings are not the same every year
03:42We're going around
03:44There are seedlings that don't come out so well
03:45There are seedlings that come in good condition
03:46So we have to always keep going and get it right.
03:49Planting strawberries is like playing the game.
03:51You win or you don't win
03:53It depends a lot on the seedling
03:54And we don't see the seedling when we buy it
03:55We will only see the seedling when the seedling arrives
03:58Arley, I'm watching here
04:11That we have a very new production, right?
04:15How long ago were these seedlings planted?
04:17It will be approximately three weeks for these seedlings
04:20And how long does it take for it to be in the fruit production stage?
04:26So around 90 days
04:28In 90 days she has a foot that's about the same size.
04:30Already in production
04:31After 60 days, the curl will already be released.
04:33But then I'm going to show you something interesting from home.
04:37You only see this part up here that's brand new, right?
04:40To avoid losing production
04:41Look here, look
04:42There is fruit underneath
04:44There is fruit underneath
04:45Why?
04:46Because we have to continue supplying strawberries, right?
04:50For now, this one doesn't give anything
04:52It's new
04:53We glue it underneath
04:54This one above started to look good
04:57We're going to disconnect the one below.
05:01This is how our harvests continue
05:03The strawberry that grows on the farm has a certain destiny
05:15It's fresh
05:16Straight to many people's tables
05:19But take with you something that cannot be packed
05:22The pride of those who plant dreams and reap the results
05:25This strawberry is a good part of the cooperative
05:32A good part also goes to Linhares and Aracruz
05:36These are our main deliveries
05:38Aracruz, Linhares and cooperative
05:40Cooper Fruit actually started in 2005 as an association
05:51And then it was an association of residents and farmers
05:55Then in 2011 there was this initiative to create the cooperative
05:58Then it became a cooperative exclusively for family farmers.
06:03And the main reason for creating this cooperative
06:07It was the strawberry issue
06:09That the small producers here in the region
06:11They were unable to sell their production profitably.
06:15Because there were intermediary companies
06:17That ended up exploiting these small producers a little
06:20So the idea of the cooperative was to emerge to help with this bottleneck
06:25What was the flow of production?
06:27Then we had quite significant growth until 2015
06:32And today we reach this scenario of 700 cooperative members
06:3634 direct employees under the CLT
06:39And a few more outsourced workers, bringing the total to 40 people involved in the work at the cooperative.
06:45And last year we reached a turnover of almost 18 million reais per year
06:51It was the strawberry that kicked things off
07:00But Cooper Fruit went further
07:02It opened space for other products, other farmers, other stories
07:07All with the same purpose
07:09Value those who live off the land
07:11The strawberry today is still the...
07:16We remember the story, right?
07:17That's what really made the cooperative come into being.
07:19And today we work with frozen strawberries, right?
07:22We buy the quantity of strawberries that the cooperative member has to freeze.
07:25Or we work with strawberries, right?
07:28Works with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries
07:30We work with a little pineapple, guava, mango, passion fruit, soursop
07:34And then there are the other products
07:36Beans, tangerine
07:37We work with black, red and carioca beans.
07:41Tangerine, pocan
07:42We work with something orange too
07:44Vegetables, greens
07:46A little bit of everything, right?
07:47Indirectly, we impact the lives of the entire community, right?
07:50Because in the market we don't just sell to cooperative members
07:53Sells to non-cooperatives
07:54Non-cooperative pays the bill, withdraws money
07:57Non-cooperative purchases in hard, fertilizer
07:59Sometimes we also buy strawberries or something from non-cooperative members.
08:02But with another price, the cooperative member always has preference
08:04So we managed to improve the region as a whole, right?
08:09The locality
08:10The focus is clear
08:21Transforming the lives of those who cooperate
08:24Remember Arley we met at the beginning?
08:27Well, he saw this change up close.
08:30Up close
08:31The cooperative helped a lot of people, right?
08:36We could very well sell to other producers
08:38But we prefer to sell the cooperative
08:40Because if it weren't for the cooperative
08:42We hadn't started encouraging greenhouses, right?
08:45She helped a lot of people
08:46If it weren't for the cooperative that had given this impetus
08:49We hadn't risked building more greenhouses, right?
08:53If we built more greenhouses it's because of the cooperative
08:56Those greenhouses were arriving up here
09:01No one had much wisdom on top of these greenhouses
09:04And this family here always had very good strawberries
09:07And he asked if the cooperative didn't have to somehow form a partnership
09:12Oh, let's do 100%
09:14So the tendency in the beginning was to take all of this family's production to cover the costs
09:21Until after about 3, 4 years
09:24The family itself took it and said
09:25Let's pay off this debt
09:26We have some money there
09:28We want to invest and that's it
09:30So, this was the first step for this family to start having these greenhouses.
09:34And today it's a senior position here in the region, right?
09:42Gives all the support
09:43In this case, there are agronomists
09:45It also has all fertilizers
09:48In this case, insecticides, right?
09:52Everything like this is on the cooperative's account.
09:54It's the agronomists who recommend that we pass this, this and this
09:56If we didn't have the technical assistance work
09:59Today was very difficult for us
10:01Because nowadays there are many pests and we don't know everything
10:05They make all the recommendations for fertilizers, poisons, right?
10:10Always thinking about the end consumer too, right?
10:13It's not going through anything so strong
10:15That's why we always get it from the cooperative.
10:19And always ask the end consumer
10:21This is cooperating
10:28It's when one's dream finds support in the collective
10:31And together, they saw reality
10:34After the fruit is harvested
10:44It is delivered here to the cooperative
10:46And come to this area here
10:47Which is a processing area
10:49That's why we are wearing masks and caps
10:52And then you must be wondering like this
10:54Ah, but there is a machine
10:56To be able to put this fruit inside the bag
11:00But no
11:01Step back, Rodrigo
11:03It's a manual job, folks.
11:06And the boys and the girls
11:08Don't stop here, okay?
11:10I can stay here talking
11:11That they will continue working
11:14Shall we do a test?
11:16One minute on screen
11:17Let's see how many bags they can produce.
11:22Counting from now on
11:23Come closer
11:35Danilo sped up the images
11:38It almost seems like a competition, right?
11:40But it's not
11:40This here, people
11:41It is high productivity
11:43It is the skill of the hands
11:45Do you have any idea?
11:47How long does it take to produce a bag like this one?
11:50Between weighing and packing?
11:52Seven seconds
11:54And I can stay here, oh
11:57Because nobody stops
11:57About that
11:58The box is getting full
12:01Full of frozen fruit
12:04We are inside one of the cold rooms here at the cooperative
12:20Do you see all this packaging here?
12:22All these packages
12:24They have a certain destination
12:25And each one
12:26Come here, please
12:28There is an identification, look
12:29Mix Food Service
12:31Contains 10 units of 1 kg
12:35Hey, Adilson
12:37Tell me
12:37Where is all this going here, huh?
12:40So these fruits are the red fruits
12:43The mixes we make
12:44These go to the private market, mainly
12:47We deliver, just like I said.
12:48Rio, Bahia, Minas, Sao Paulo
12:50And we are also starting to put it in some city halls
12:54A frozen strawberry
12:55Since it also comes in the same packaging
12:57Which one are you seeing there?
12:58You see us here with cool blouses
13:01Fruit, right?
13:03Good luck
13:04You have no idea
13:05The temperature in here
13:0615 degrees
13:09Negatives, is that it?
13:11Exactly
13:11All this to ensure quality
13:13And also that this fruit reaches the market
13:16With the quality desired by the consumer
13:19Exactly
13:20Here we are at this temperature precisely so that this fruit does not defrost.
13:24For it to maintain the same characteristics as a fruit
13:26As if you had it naturally, right?
13:29You make the juice and it will have the same properties as a fruit you just picked.
13:33Let's go because it's too cold here
13:35Let's go
13:35Where will Cooper Fruit go?
13:43And what else does Cooper Fruit intend to do?
13:46We intend to continue the growth we're experiencing, right?
13:50What happens?
13:51We have to observe when you reach a level of growth like we are today.
13:56We have to think like this
13:58No, okay now, let's stop here.
14:00Either we grow or we will end up being left behind.
14:02So our idea is to always try to observe the market
14:05We try to look for new markets
14:08We are always looking for new technologies for producers too
14:12To help within the property
14:13And we hope to grow more and more there in the coming years.
14:17With this thought and with this objective
14:19Who benefits from all this?
14:21Mainly the cooperative members, the producers
14:23The cooperative and the local community
14:25And did you think I would be content with just that little strawberry from the greenhouse?
14:38None of that
14:39Look what they prepared
14:41A strawberry smoothie to end the report
14:44Let's see if it's good?
14:45Hmm, this is the one that even gives you a little mustache because it foams
14:55Hmm, too good
15:00Tasty, sweet, with the face of Santa Maria de Jitibá
15:05Bye, bye
15:18Bye, bye
15:19Bye, bye
