The Forte Family: Growing Alfalfa Since 1962
- Delta del Po
Passion Dedication Commitment
for Three Generations:
Past and Present
Our origins—and the deep roots that define us—trace back to the story of Grandfather Luigi. In the early 1950s, he and his family, supported by the women of the village, collected marsh reeds to make “binding cords,” which they sold to landowners across Rovigo, Padua, and nearby areas of Emilia-Romagna.
Luigi Forte - Granfather
Our first alfalfa processing dates to the early 1960s, when Luigi and his son Giuseppe (father of Leonardo and Luigi, who lead the company today) began reclaiming land after the Polesine flood. They cleared old methane wells and sowed the first hectares of crops, building the very first drying facility—right where our current production site still stands strong.
Already in the 1960s, our family was visionary in recognizing the botanical value of the queen of forages, choosing to invest in alfalfa cultivation long before others did.
Giuseppe Forte - Father
But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds: Grandfather Luigi used to ride his Moto Guzzi every day to weekly commodity markets in Padua, Treviso, Bologna, Milan, and Verona in search of buyers for his harvest—not without challenges.
Yet from these hardships came his entrepreneurial drive and resilience, laying the foundation for our journey. His commercial instinct became part of our DNA, passed from father to son, and continues to guide us today as we serve both national and international markets.
Then and Now
With the entry of Giuseppe’s sons, Leonardo and Luigi, in the 1990s—driven by their love for the land and passion for farming, processing, and dehydration—our company began to expand commercially across Italy.
Following a deep transformation in the early 2000s that touched every area of the business, Agricole Forte enhanced the quality of its forages and feedstuffs, growing its presence from North to South Italy and gradually in key international markets.
In 2015, inspired by the deep bond between humans and animals (“we are what we eat”), we launched Open Farm, to promote the core values of the primary sector and to celebrate Italian supply chains—from field to plate.
From a vision to explore the nutraceutical potential of alfalfa, we created two new product lines dedicated to wellness and nutrition:
Take Care (body & skin care) Taste Life (functional nutrition)
Agricole Forte – Po Delta: Alfalfa Dehydration
The Open Farm Project: We Are What We Eat
Since 2015, with the launch of the Open Farm startup by Luigi Forte, we’ve also focused on raising awareness of the primary sector, livestock feed, and Italian agricultural supply chains.
It’s all about giving primary value to the primary sector: a journey through nature to bring Life back to center stage—and spark a path of inner transformation.
The land, the soil, the food.
We bring new meaning to what surrounds us and sustains us—inviting today’s consumers to rediscover the origins of food, starting in the fields.
From the field to the animal’s bowl, to our own tables.
Luigi Forte
Founder
