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WHY ORGANIC? |
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| ORGANIC PRODUCTION |
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Organic agriculture considers agricultural property as an unit, in which soil, plant, animal and man interact in harmony with the environment. It searches for the balance between all living beings of the ecosystem of cultivated plants and the development of soil's life.
To reestablish this sensitive balance, organic agriculture includes mainly the following: |
 One of the Montecitrus Group groves |
 Definite and permanent elimination of chemical fertilization and of the use of any pesticide or synthesized chemical products;
Reestablishment of traditional agricultural practices using organic composts or ground rock fertilization;
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 Lace-wing, natural enemy of citrus plagues |
Plague and disease control, by spraying natural products and vegetal extracts;
Stimulate plant natural defenses and increase the development of plague predator insects;
Promote biodiversity by maintaining native gramineous and leguminous vegetation to cover the soil and expand the presence of native trees that are bird and animal friendly by intercalating these trees in the cultivated areas.
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| The organic and ecological concepts are necessarily related to human aspects, and must be in agreement with the criteria defined by IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements): "an ecologically sustainable agriculture, economically feasible and socially fair". Therefore, the qualified and certified organic companies and producers must, in addition to offering healthy products and preserving the environment, give special attention to improve their workers' quality of life. |
| To guarantee the reliability of its products, organic production controls are extended beyond the agricultural product and to the handling, processing and transportation food chain up to its delivery to the retail consumer. All processes are isolated in order to ensure the products' complete segregation, for the complete safety of the produce to the consumer. All productive chain stages are also regulated and audited, in such a way that there is total traceability from their origin in the farm to the final product. |  Processing of organic products |
| ORGANIC PRODUCTION IN MONTECITRUS |
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| The worldwide demand for organic products increased significantly in recent years and projects for the near future point toward even greater increases. Following this trend, and because of its groundbreaking work in the industry, Montecitrus is currently the largest organic orange producer in the world. |
 organic oranges |
The cultivation of organic oranges by the Group began in 1995. The first attempts began in 1990. Properties that cultivate organic fruits, companies that process them and their logistic transportation system have undergone substantial modifications to meet the requirements of certifying entities. Consequently, the Montecitrus group delivers high quality and reliable raw material to meet the request of growing demands of worldwide markets. |
| The Montecitrus Group maintains close
contacts with major research centers, universities and researchers in
Brazil and in the world in the areas of phytopathology, enthomology, biochemistry
and agricultural mechanics, and has developed together with these entities
new techniques, biological products and specific machinery and equipment
for large-scale organic agricultural activities.
In the medium and long-range, the Montecitrus Group can produce a large quantity of oranges within the organic concept. The technology needed for large-scale production has already been absorbed by the company. |
 Organic orange juice drums with the Instituto Biodināmico certification |
| By supplying this organic oranges exclusively
to Citrovita, this company process the fruit to certified products of
highest quality.
According to the demands for the commercialization of organic products, the Citrovita Products are fully certified as such by the Instituto Biodināmico (Biodynamic Institute - IBD), whose accreditation has ample acceptance worldwide. |
| INSTITUTO BIODINĀMICO (IBD) |
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The Instituto Biodināmico (Biodynamic Institute - IBD) was founded in 1982 and since then, it has been promoting the development of organic agriculture in Brazil. Its activities are based on the certification of organic and biodynamic food production and processing. |
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 Click here to see a larger image of the critification (pdf file) |
For product certification, the IBD has a team of inspectors and a Certification Committee which check the conformity of organic production on a permanent basis, according to international standards (IFOAM Standards and European Regulation CCE 2092/91). The certification and subsequent quality assurance confirm the origin of the organic products and determine if the producer, processing company and exporter meet production requirements and follow the previously established international guidelines. The guidelines
followed by IBD Certification are monitored by three international accreditations: |
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