Article by Elena Licheri.
Sardos inParis was founded in 2018 with the aim of creating a community of Sardinian emigrants,
the Sardos inParis Association is an open and inclusive space for all lovers of Sardinia, Sardinian and not.
Their objectives are to raise awareness and enhance the Sardinian heritage (tangible and intangible), provide support to the initiatives of the Sardinian community in France and promote the development of Sardinian companies in the French market and vice versa.
On the occasion of 8 March, the Association dedicated the newsletter to the stories of young Sardinian women who tell their activities and experiences in the world of 2022.
Below is an extract from the newsletter with the interview with Otto Passi’s administrator, Rita Tolu, and to follow the English traslation.
Expertise, innovation, passion sublimated in the innovative products of the Otto Passi family farm by Rita Tolu.
Interview with the Manager of the company guardian of family values, which represents a laboratory of excellence for the application of cutting-edge technologies in the sustainable production of Sardinian fromages fermiers.
Rita Tolu was born in Nuoro in 1982. After graduating from high school, she began her university career at the University of Cagliari, where she graduated with honors in Law with a thesis on Insider Trading and Market Manipulation. She specializes in Corporate Criminal Law in Milan and in 2011 she takes the State Exam for qualification as a lawyer, receiving the Pietro Riccio Lawyer Foundation award as first classified in criminal matters.
After 10 years of life spent in a law firm, she decides to go back to her roots and, together with her brother Luca Tolu and her husband Paolo Musu, respectively entrepreneur and chemical engineer with experience in multinationals, he founded in 2019 a farm that raises sheep and produces cheeses, located in the ancient region of Marghine, in the Middle Tirso Valley.
Taking advantage of the skills and experience gained in other professional sectors, the three have returned to the world of the countryside and are now the administrator of the Company, the head of the breeding and the head of production, as well as the promoters of real delicacies. including sheep’s mozzarella, flowery crust, sheep’s stracchino, sheep’s casizolu.
Aware of the importance of recovering and enhancing local knowledge far from the folklore to which the consumer is often accustomed – and from which the producer struggles to free himself -, and at the same time investing so that they are communicated in an original and effective way, Rita, Luca and Paolo, through their unique products transmit the values and history of which they are the fruit, and which they intend to preserve.
“Otto Passi is the distance that our milk travels from the milking rooms to those where the magic of cheese making is still performed today.”
The wisdom of tradition, the courage and the curiosity to try new paths are the winning ingredients of the virtuous family-run farm.
Using modern technologies to take care of the pastures and cultivate the land with the aim of producing forage and hay in respect of the environment, Rita and her partners differentiate the crops and dedicate large areas to evergreen pastures.
The exclusive use of milk from their farm and natural starter cultures made by themselves, makes raw milk products easily digestible and influenced by a unique and inimitable soil. Furthermore, the production phases that combine the most refined traditional knowledge with the highest standards and the most advanced technologies allow to check that the cheeses have all the characteristics of safety, goodness and health.
This special attention to quality has allowed Otto Passi to receive numerous awards and certifications, as well as the applause of consumers and visitors to their agricultural “oasis” in the Middle Tirso Valley.
Consumer protection goes hand in hand with that of animal welfare: referring to the most advanced theories on the subject, on the farm the freedom from thirst and malnutrition, from discomfort, from pain, to be able to manifest species-specific behavioral characteristics, from fear and stress are a top priority.
Attracted by the history of this company, so close to our values and our personal experiences, as well as enticed by the exceptional quality of their products, we met its administrator, who kindly answered some of our curiosities.
What is the story of Otto Passi? What is it today and what would you like it to become in the future?
Our farm was founded in 1892 thanks to my great-grandfather Giovanni, who raised his flocks in Fonni, the highest mountain village in Sardinia. When he transhumance towards the plain to ensure good pastures for his flocks even during the winter, he arrives in the plain of Ottana, where he builds a sheepfold to shelter the flocks.
My grandfather Antonio, following in his father’s footsteps, bought new lands to enlarge his pastures.
My father will also follow the same path, demonstrating a strong entrepreneurial spirit from a young age: he further expanded the company, buying more land and cattle, modernizing the buildings and building new ones.
My father is the first in the family to understand that animal welfare passes through nutrition, so he buys modern agricultural means to cultivate the fields and produce useful fodder to be integrated into the pasture, diversifying the sheep’s diet. All this allows him to market his cheeses, both in the peninsula to that abroad.
In 1992 he takes the courageous decision to sell the flocks and rent the land to move with the whole family to the city of Oristano, where he starts a new business.
In 2015, my brother Luca left the family business to devote himself to breeding and continue the work of his ancestors, against everyone’s opinion. In Sardinia, in fact, most of the time the shepherd’s work is an imposed inheritance. Luca, on the other hand, made a strongly desired choice, and this certainly makes the difference.
Together with my father, he designed and built a modern farm with new buildings and state-of-the-art equipment for breeding, milking and cultivating the land.
Our farm was born from the meeting, and the clash (sic!), Of two completely different worlds, that of my father, who brought the tradition and heritage of knowledge inherited from his ancestors, and that of Luca who brought the his vision, the new approach to an ancient profession, in a global context.
In 2019, the “milk revolt” broke out in Sardinia, which aimed to ask for a fair price for sheep’s milk (at the time paid less than 60 cents per liter). It was then that Luca, Paolo and I decided to set up a company with the aim of transforming the milk produced on the farm and obtaining dairy products. Thus was born Otto Passi: we transform raw milk without heat treatments, using only natural grafts, without adding additives, preservatives, dyes, antioxidants and other corrective agents such as industrial freeze-dried enzymes.
We have written a charter of values and intentions that contains the principles that must guide our business and inspire the future choices of our business:
– respect the environment that has been entrusted to us by reducing the use of polluting technologies, by recycling organic waste and by reusing process by-products, by not using chemical pesticides for the cultivation of our lands;
– take care of our animals by adopting zootechnical techniques capable of respecting their physiological, behavioral and health needs;
– constantly update our skills through training, scientific research and experimentation together with local authorities and institutions;
– preserve tradition through the use of technological innovation that improves, preserves and protects its products;
– to contribute to maintaining the vitality of the countryside and its community through the creation of local activities.
What was your training experience, inside and outside Sardinia? What determined your choice to return? What were the steps that led you to this decision? How do you feel now that you have returned to the island and what advice can you offer to those who are wondering about the possibility of doing so?
I grew up in Fonni, a mountain town in the center of Sardinia, in the province of Nuoro.
I spent my days reading and studying, I was hungry for knowledge and confrontation with different life experiences, the life of the country was tight on me, I felt it was limiting.
After graduating, I specialized in corporate criminal law in Milan and after practicing in one of the largest law firms in Sardinia, I started my own business practicing law for 10 years.
I consider myself a lucky person because at the age of 35 I had realized all my dreams as a child, I was doing the job I had chosen, I was earning well, I was independent and free and I also had time to cultivate my passions. I was missing, however, the realization of my creative side, the colorful one, and then 35 years are too short to stop dreaming; and who says dreams can’t change?
In the meantime, my brother had begun renovating the family farm. I went to visit him, I spent a lot of time immersed in the silence of nature and took long walks in those farms that my great-grandfather had chosen and bought and that my grandfather and my father had preserved, increased and cultivated with so much sacrifice.
Those same lands that have allowed me to lead a comfortable and peaceful life have supported generations of my family and allowed me to have the best training and, therefore, have given me the possibility to choose my life. I felt deep gratitude towards this territory and the duty to return what he has given to me and to my whole family, bringing here my knowledge, my experience, my professionalism. They call it the call of the roots. As for me, it was loud and clear, unmistakable, and led me to upset my existence. And I thank God for having had the courage to listen to that little voice inside my heart.
What can I say to anyone who is wondering about the possibility of returning home is that it will not be easy, that it will be disorienting, that you will often feel like a stranger in your home. But, if you are aware of the added value that you represent when you decide to bring the knowledge, the experiences you have gained and, simply yourself, to the communities from which you started, I assure you that the satisfactions you feel are priceless. If you are wondering about the possibility of changing your life, it means that there is something in what you are doing that does not make you happy. Nature taught me that the seed, before sprouting and bearing fruit, dies, therefore crises, anxieties and disturbances are blessed, if they push us to change direction and realize ourselves.
You are so-called “returning”: on your site we read “we left and then we chose to return”. Do you believe that the possibility of choice is really such? Are there the conditions for a modern business idea in the agricultural sector to find space to express itself and be able to count on initial support? How do you think it is possible to stem the depopulation of the island and in particular of the internal areas? Could agriculture play a role in this process?
I am convinced that we can always choose who we are and who we want to be. It all depends on how strong the desire to choose is, inseparable from the awareness of the consequences that physiologically each choice entails. If I live in Berlin and I am a manager of a multinational it is clear that if I decide to return home, for example in Fonni, I will not find a job in the same position, so if I am a communications manager in Milan in a fashion company.
Bureaucratic difficulties are undeniably present and the only initial support you can count on are your own strengths (economic and motivational).
However, we must not give up as there is a lot of space to express a modern business idea in this much mistreated land, but full of opportunities, and not only in the agricultural field.
In the small Sardinian towns there is a lack of services as in all the territories far from the metropolitan areas, where the greatest investments are concentrated. In this sense, we Sardinians are neither special nor more disadvantaged than others, but it is a fate that unites many other peoples in the rest of the world.
I believe that people cannot be expected to repopulate small towns before creating services. On the contrary, it is necessary to start from the creation of services, to make our countries attractive to attract people, to give them other practical reasons to move, in addition to romantic ones such as slow life and silence. We could start recently, by extending the opening hours of shops or by enhancing connectivity services, for example.
Agriculture can play an important role in the fight against depopulation if the services and conditions are created to work in a dignified and ethical manner. By training and character, I think that welfare assistance is not dignified, except in the cases for which it is foreseen and necessary. Instead, I believe in work and commitment and that economic growth is directly proportional to the awarding of merit; rewarding merit in agriculture means paying a fair price for products, recognizing their quality.
This applies to products, but also to services, to the point of creating a virtuous circle, raising the bar.
Making quality, however, means working well, working hard, studying, updating, sacrificing oneself. Do we want to do it? Are the new generations of Sardinians ready to do it?
The myth of the difficulty of doing business in Sardinia does not seem to have died out. Does de Sardi envy exist or is it a bugbear that we shake ourselves with effects of self-fulfilling prophecy? What works and what doesn’t work in the agricultural sector and in general in the so-called “Sardinia system”? If you were given a magic wand to solve the problems you encounter, from structural ones to those apparently minimal but which significantly affect your work, what actions would you prioritize and with what approach?
I do not think it is right to attribute a priori the feeling of envy to the entire Sardinian people. It is undeniable, however, that too many Sardinians do not know the history of the people to which they belong, in the history books on which we studied at school the important events have always concerned other territories, many have never even heard of Republicha Sardischa. This feeds an inferiority complex towards Italy that leads to emulating a culture that does not belong to us or – and this is even worse – to sell off our culture, as when we dress up as nuragic shepherds for the pleasure of the tourist on duty. Only those who do not give their identity the value it deserves can give birth to a similar abnormality that offends the memory and honor of an entire people. So we must ask ourselves: envy is the male of Sardinia or is it the symptom of the inferiority complex of some Sardinians? For example, think of a foreigner who decides to do business in Sardinia: the latter is praised and admired. But if a Sardinian does the same thing, at best he is harshly criticized, or his abilities are questioned (“but who does he think he is?”), And at worst he is looked at with suspicion because “he wants get rich “.
Ambition, if it comes from Sardinian, is an unforgivable fault. The biggest structural problem that comes to mind because it is also the one that makes us lose more opportunities: logistics. Just think that it is impossible to deliver a product outside Sardinia in 24 hours. Other known problems are the cost of energy, even before the last infamous price increase, the lack of infrastructure and the inadequacy of existing ones, roads, signs, fast connection systems and telecommunications, there is really a lot to do.
But it is not all bad, because in the face of the listed serious shortcomings that Sardinian entrepreneurs have been complaining about for decades, there are many things that work. I am thinking, for example, of the extraordinary ability of the Sardinians to preserve and pass on ancient traditions.
The free services offered by the public bodies Laore and Agris work very well and are a very important resource for companies. Indeed, I take this opportunity to publicly thank them because they are now an irreplaceable resource for our company. Our suppliers are, except in exceptional cases, Sardinian companies and I can truly testify that we have an exceptional craft sector starting from those who work with steel, through those who make plant engineering and construction, up to the processing of ceramics, for example. There is innovation and tradition, or just one or the other, truly for all tastes.
If I had a magic wand, I would make sure that the PDOs guarantee the protection of the products (and end consumers) and not the producers, ensuring compliance with the traditional recipes of products made in Sardinia. To give an example, the Sardinian pecorino PDO specification allows for the pasteurization and use of industrial enzymes, two practices that obviously are not part of the traditional recipe.
According to recent estimates, more and more young people decide to abandon their activities to take care of innovative agricultural projects such as educational farms, recreational activities, social agriculture, agribusiness, etc. Expectations of change are therefore placed on you (the same ones that have been disregarded by the administrators for decades, ed.). Do you believe that this phenomenon can really involve, also as a side effect, the modernization of the system and the inclusion, both in the design and implementation phases, of principles such as sustainability, inclusiveness, attention to health and development of the territory?
I am happy with the many young people who are returning to take care of agricultural projects; I like to see that they have different experiences, different types of training. Our campaigns need culture, innovation. Tradition should not be confused with backwardness, it is transmitted in the present and lives in the present. If I make cheese every day with the stainless steel polyvalent and in compliance with all the health and hygiene regulations imposed by law, and instead in front of the tourist I use a cauldron, wearing change and sheepskin, I am not respecting tradition, I am doing a re-enactment historical. Tradition, on the other hand, as it lives, grows and evolves. Our task is to take it and project it into the future, improve it and, why not, also create new ones.
Our generation is undoubtedly more sensitive to issues such as sustainability, social inclusiveness and health than the generations that preceded us, also thanks to the latter and their scientific discoveries: we think about respecting the hygiene and health regulations issued to following research that has highlighted the health risks deriving from certain practices often linked to tradition. Until recently, for example, we did not know that wood was a material in which microbial colonies easily nest; or we used plastic indiscriminately.
What is the daily of a young entrepreneur in the agricultural sector in Sardinia? What do you think a good agricultural entrepreneur should invest in to ensure the sustainability of his business?
The daily challenge is to sensitize existing markets to the type of product you want to market, explaining to the consumer that, when choosing a product, he decides what type of supply chain he wants to support. Supporting the short supply chain means rewarding an ethical production system, which does not harm people and animals, which is sustainable because it does not impact the environment and is safe forHealth. Producing in this way has a higher cost than industrial production. When you buy an industrial product at a price that seems low, it must be taken into account that the price it pays in terms of health, sustainability and ethics is also added to the latter. It’s called conscious buying. For example, if I think it is unfair to exploit the labor of certain tomato crops, why am I supporting that supply chain by buying tomatoes at the discount at 0.99 euros per kg?
I believe that today the agricultural entrepreneur must invest in training and technology. In training because the people are the foundation of businesses, and if the people are competent, the business is competitive. In technology, because in a world without borders like the one we live in, a competitive company is the one that responds to customer needs in the shortest possible time, this is only possible if the company invests in new technologies that allow it to do so.
Is there an added value of doing business in Sardinia? In addition to the stories of individuals, what are the strengths of the agricultural sector in Sardinia on which we need to leverage to embrace new markets?
The characteristics of the Sardinian territory are unique, the niche and high quality products perform the dual function of telling these characteristics, enhancing them, and protecting biodiversity.
These are the products on which we need to leverage: I am thinking of natural cheese, made without commercial starter strains; While following the same recipe, it is a completely different product depending on the area in which it is produced. The same thing goes for oil, wine, bread.
To what extent have previous skills and experiences, gained elsewhere in different fields, found application in this project? To what extent have they been an added value?
They were decisive, both in the initial phase of opening the company and in the request for the necessary authorizations to produce and market in Italy and abroad, and in the marketing phase. The forensic profession then allows us to develop legal sensitivity and therefore to look at the deep meaning of our actions, even the smallest ones, to have full awareness of them in order to understand the consequences they produce on the environment, on other people and on animals.
Sardos in Paris congratulates Fattoria Otto Passi for having been able to reconcile and bring contemporary approaches, technologies and traditional values to the highest levels! We hope to see their products soon on French tables too!