In a time when food production has become a central topic for everyone, we want to share the story of a man who has never left agriculture and who, even today, tends to his olive and almond trees with care. This is Michele Lobascio, father of the Terradiva family, who long before the brand was born, consolidated the family farm. Behind the brand and the choice of organic agriculture, there are years of experiences, efforts, battles, human relationships, and social changes in Southern Italy and in the way of being farmers. This interview is divided into two parts, covering Michele’s life from childhood to the 1990s.
Part 1: Childhood Memories and Sharecropping (1960s)
Michele has been going to the fields since the age of seven, helping his father. In those days, the family also had animals — a horse, mule, and mare — which were the tractors of the time. Children assisted adults in animal surveillance during the “controra,” the early afternoon rest period after lunch when farmers took a break. The workday was long, from dawn around 5 AM until sunset, making the afternoon rest essential.
Animals played a crucial role: they helped plow the land, transported goods, and enabled travel between the town of Minervino Murge and the countryside. On the cart pulled by the mule and mare, it took about two hours to reach the fields on the Murgia plateau. Plowing was important for preparing the soil for sowing, breaking up clods and making it fertile for seeds. What took animals and men three full working days to do for one hectare of land back then now takes only two hours with modern machinery.
Michele helped with olive and grape harvests, and the transportation of pruning waste, which was piled outside the fields.
As a child, Michele viewed farming as an exhausting job, since farmers had to work outdoors regardless of weather conditions — rain, wind, sun, or cold. However, he admired the independence farmers had in organizing their work despite being sharecroppers.
What did it mean to be a sharecropper?
Sharecropping was a form of land management where the landowner provided the land and the laborers provided the work, organization, and manpower. Initially, the harvest was split 50/50 between owners and laborers. After laborers’ struggles, the split became 60% for laborers, who also demanded that owners supply fertilizer.
Michele’s father and other laborers eventually left sharecropping because it was not remunerative enough. Michele recalls the landowner’s visits in his Fiat 1100 car, overseeing the work and asking children to pick fallen almonds during harvest.
In summer, when school ended, Michele’s family stayed in the countryside for weeks at a time, sleeping on beds made from straw bales. Days started before sunrise and ended soon after sunset. In the evenings, friends of Michele’s father would tell stories and tales after feeding the animals. The animals were well cared for, cleaned, and groomed carefully, as they were the tractors of that era. Loyal dogs named Giglio and Bobby kept the family company through changing generations.
Part 2: The Land Occupation Movement and Cooperative Farming (1970s–1990s)
At the age of twenty, Michele actively participated in the land occupation movement in Minervino Murge during 1977-78. At that time, a national law aimed to help unemployed young people by allowing them to occupy poorly cultivated lands to make them productive.
In Minervino Murge, a large farm owned by a charity but managed by the Municipality was the target of the occupation. This farm was a legacy of the Counts Corsi, intended to fund schooling for laborers’ children through its proceeds.
The occupation was a struggle that lasted months. Each time the police cleared them from the land, Michele and the other young unemployed people would return and peacefully sit down, ready to be removed again. This repeated cycle eventually convinced the authorities to recognize their efforts and assign the lands to them.
The struggle even led to a trial in the municipal council chamber, and their story gained national media attention.
RAI, the Italian state TV, broadcasted a documentary on the agricultural laborers’ struggles in Minervino Murge. The documentary was viewed all over Italy and brought support from cooperatives in Emilia-Romagna, especially from Sant’Alberto, Ravenna.
Bruno Taroni, manager of a large cooperative in Sant’Alberto, wrote Michele a letter encouraging them not to give up. This led to a valuable collaboration between the cooperative in Puglia and those in Emilia-Romagna. Michele was invited to their annual cooperative celebration, where he met with agronomists and cooperative staff who helped structure their new cooperative.
Michele’s cooperative was named “Carmine Giorgio” after a local baker and early 20th-century laborer’s rights activist from Minervino. Through support from the League of Cooperatives of the Ravenna Federation, they received essential farming equipment like tractors, irrigation systems, and tools to help shift their land from mainly wheat cultivation to diverse fruit and vegetable farming.
Later, Michele was also involved with another cooperative, “La Primula” — named after the first flower to bloom after winter. These cooperative experiences were a vital training ground: sharing ideas, teamwork, and learning to navigate different opinions.
After some years, Michele worked in processing and marketing agricultural products. This period helped him understand the complexities of large-scale distribution, from sorting vegetables and table grapes to the inner workings of distribution centers.
Finally, in 1999, Michele decided to leave the processing industry behind and focus exclusively on transforming and running his family’s farm. This led to Terradiva becoming an organic-certified farm, dedicated to sustainable and chemical-free agriculture.
Michele’s Advice to Young Farmers
Agriculture is a job for those who love it. Trees and plants are alive and fragile, needing constant care and attention. You can’t work only when it suits you—they require daily dedication and understanding.
Today, Michele knows every tree on his land—their diseases, root problems, and unique needs. Caring for plants is like dealing with people; it requires empathy and attentiveness.
When asked about innovation, Michele says it means finding ways to live better, reducing fatigue, and enabling easier production. Agriculture is exhausting and far from the romantic images often portrayed in the media. Innovation helps produce more with less effort and without toxic chemicals.
This is the story of a farmer who never left the land—who fought for it, nurtured it, and transformed it. Michele Lobascio’s journey is one of resilience, community, and commitment to a better, organic future.
