Gramona Farm
Farm name
Gramona Farm
Farm type
Agroforestry with focus on olives
Location
Costal Karst, Slovenia
Farm size
9 hectares
Primary soil type
Alcaline clay soil
Temperature range
-5° – 45° degrees Celsius, USDA 8a
Average precipitation
1100 mm/ year
Social structure
Family farm with 4 generations on the farm
Sales channels
Direct sales through farm shop and olive tours to visitors
Produce
Olive oil (1500l in average), flavoured olive oil, olive salt, pickled olives, hazelnuts in the future (nuts, roasted nuts, nut butter), persimon (smoothie)
Contact
The Southern Light Farm
Gramona Farm‘s transition to regenerative farming
Climate Farmer since
2023
Previously organic
Farm history
- Andy and Nina met in England, traveled and worked in Australia as landscape architecs
- Learned there at permaculture farms
- Started farming back in Slovenia the the family farm of Nina
- Transitioned the olives to organic
- Started olive tours in 2016
- Opened farm shop in 2021
Previous practices
- Compost & Compost tea application
- Stop mowing
- Water havesting
- Rotational grazing
- Mulching
Investment costs
- Drip irrigation system overall (11.000€)
- Hazelnut plantation (40.000€, 50% covered by subsidies)
- Irrigation for hazelnut with solar powered pump (20.000€)
- Eathwork (excavator for earth work and rain collection systems)
- Compost tea application (50-100€ per application)
New practices
Agroforestry
❍ Agroforestry
Rotational Grazing
❍ Rotational Grazing
Ground cover
❍ Cover Cropping
Mulching
❍ Water Cycle Restoration
Swales and Drainage
❍ Water management
Leafe Sap Analysis
❍ Composting & Bio Fertilizers
Challenges so far
- Drought issues
- Water scarcity
- International trade
- Suzuki fruit flights that attect persimmons – fruits are getting fully destroyed
- Mamorated stink bugs – destroying olives and hazelnuts
Outcomes so far
- Number of worms increased a lot
- Improved sponginess of soil
- Far more species (insects, birds, etc.)
- Reduced input costs (fuel and fertilizer)
Learnings of your journey
- Business point of view: might need to chase the money – keep a eye on the business side
- Be flexible
- You will encounter some disasters for sure; thats nature, so be prepared
- Diversitz is absolutly key in anz regard!
- Add as much organic matter as you can
- Appreciate what you do, document your progress and go thorugh this progress yearly
“To have someone that is keen and interested to help on the farm is lovely. It is nice to meet people who are interested in what we do. We have quite a lot to offer: Seeing what works, what doesn’t and how a diverse regenerative farm with different income streams can look like”
— The reason why the Gramona Farm decided to become a training farm
Future ambitions
Use the land to enhance the cultural landscape heritage
Install proper glamping site and develop a woodland footpath to attract tourists
Get the hazelnuts going, start producing roasted hazelnuts and nut butters to increase income streams
Buy more land around to extent the farm
This farm is part of something bigger.
So can you. Apply for the Regenerative Agronomy Training.
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