Our story started in 1966, with a social and cultural project aimed at supporting agriculture: three fruit and vegetable cooperatives in the Emilia Romagna region set up the CALPO, the Fruit and Vegetable Product Growing and Processing Cooperative Consortium.
1972 saw the arrival of the Valfrutta logo and the consortium converted to the industrial organisation needed to process its members' fruit products at the plants in Cotignola and Barbiano, in the province of Ravenna. The organisation developed rapidly over the following years in both production capacity and the range of products, welcoming new cooperatives as members.
In 1976 came Conserve Italia, the national business hub for the products of CALPO and a further 14 Italian processing cooperatives operating in the fruit, vegetable and tomato sectors. Between 1978 and 1980, Conserve Italia began working at full capacity, laying the foundations for its national and international growth.
The Valfrutta main office was moved to Bologna and new cooperatives joined as members. Shared standards were introduced for growing methods, production plants and quality management and control systems. This period saw launch of the brand and the company identity, with huge investments in brand advertising.
The celebrated pay-off "La natura di prima mano" (nature at its best) was created in 1987, to communicate the core values of Valfrutta now and then: naturalness, goodness and tradition.
A series of brand repositioning activities were carried out during the 1990s: the Valfrutta people, cooperatives and plants joined together to form an agricultural and industrial complex which was one of a kind in both Italy and Europe.
Fifty years on, Valfrutta continues as the leader in supplying high-quality products with a high service content, using only renewable energies and launching new products on the market which are innovative in their type, format and packaging.
However, its founding principles and its core values remain the same even now: respect for people and for the land on which they work and its fruits. We believe human enthusiasm and technology are the perfect combination and this belief is the result of combining tradition and the mission of a European brand which keeps pace with the times.
