Ariel is a social cooperative established in 1995, providing services in various fields and
running a farm producing fruit, vegetables and ornamental plants. Since the beginning ARIEL was inspired as a social cooperative type B, whose aim is to allow people not commonly considered productive and therefore to be “assisted”, to be able to integrate into the production system and at the same time recover dignity and give meaning to their lives through the experience of concrete work.
They employ, through different ways and channels, also in collaboration with institutions and local authorities, people who are at a disadvantage, including asylum seekers. Some of the disadvantaged individuals who initially joined the cooperative through an internship or individual grant have, over time, successfully transitioned their contracts from temporary to permanent positions such as the case of the Ghana migrant.
Ariel is located near Foligno (Umbria, Italy) with a total of 7 hectares producing organic fruit, vegetables and ornamental plants. The social farm is constituted of two branches, a farm producing field and greenhouse grown organic fruit and vegetables, and a farm shop selling organic food. An excellence of their activities and products can be considered the self-produced extra-virgin olive oil PDO Umbria from the historical olive grove area Assisi-Trevi, that has been recently included by UNESCO within the Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems (GIAHS), commercialized under the exclusive brand “Villa Fabri” from secular olive trees. Villa Fabri, which is a member of the European Garden Heritage Network, is a property of the municipality of Trevi, including ancient olive trees whose harvest has been assigned to the Cooperative Ariel.
There is also a section of the cooperative providing gardening services, including a plant nursery. Recently they launched an e commerce offer through the in house website under the brand“Cibo Nostrum” gathering food products from other 10 organic farming firms and the network “Raccolti di community”with participation of other four social farms.
20 workers and 3 migrant workers of the organization.
Ariel has a vocational reason to include migrants in the workplace as one of its activities as a cooperative of type b is to promote and facilitate the inclusion of people in disadvantaged situations. On the other hand Their main farm activities are the organic vegetable garden, production of ornamental plants in greenhouses and open fields which require an important manual work for activities such as seedling transplants, weeding, weed eradication and harvesting which needs skilled workforce. Green management is another important part of their business for which they require skilled workers. They also employ seasonal workers for the olive harvest.
The president of the cooperative is also very sensitive to immigration issues and due to personal experience is now considering as a priority the work inclusion of migrant people in the agricultural sector starting from his cooperative.
ARIAL for its nature has several contacts with the local authorities, with who interact for different needs linked to their mission. They have a close relationship with the municipality for the management of historical olive grove area Assisi-Trevi, with l’ASL3 UMBRIA ( local health public center for the mental disease), whit the local jail authorities for the rehabilitation trough work of detainees, Caritas and other local association such as Cidis ( in the past) for the integration of asylum seekers.
The cooperative has extensive experience in integrating individuals with various disadvantages. One noteworthy success story involves a Ghanaian migrant who now holds a permanent position at Ariel. This integration journey began a decade ago with an internship that evolved into a temporary role and ultimately culminated in a permanent position.
Initially, he received support from another cooperative specializing in migrant management ( Cidis), which provided him with accommodation and access to public transportation.
Once his employment contract became stable, he decided to rent an apartment and shared it with an Italian partner. This arrangement allowed him to fully enjoy all the employment rights stipulated by the national contract, including access to health insurance and various fiscal benefits.
On the other hand, the other two temporary workers, one from Moldova and one from Albania, were hired through a local prison program. While they do hold temporary legal employment, they are required to return to the prison facility once their working hours are completed. The prison authorities provide transportation for their commute.
Ariel’s team is very heterogeneous and many of them came from disadvantaged situations.With regard to the inclusion path of the Ghana migrant the primary challenge faced was the language barrier, as he had a limited command of Italian.
The welcoming cooperative Cidis provided Italian language courses, which greatly facilitated their integration.The migrant has shown from the very beginning an interest in the work and a willingness to learn more about work and culture. Even for their mission, the management was open to cultural differences and willing to accompany him in his life project.
The employer has always hired in compliance with the National collective contract of agriculture recognizing their work duties and associated rights.After 10 years he still works within the company team within a permanent contract, and has an Italian partner he met in the workplace. The other team members (Italians) are very open and supportive, have no prejudices and support the newcomers in their daily activities at the farm.
ARIEL inclusion process is well tested and they have an internal procedure planned on three steps:
The person placed will have a team leader who will act as a job mentor for their integration.
The effective labor inclusion process is based on the learning by doing and observational learning which compensates when necessary, the linguistic barrier. Once the employee becomes autonomous , the trainer only supervises the activities and is available when needed.
This path applies to different kinds of disadvantaged people involved in the work inclusion process, the peculiarity is that Ariel is able thanks to their competency to shape a personalized program based on the singolar needs: people matter.
After a few years of work as a labourer, the Ghanaian migrant changed his job position and became a garden keeper.
The long-term inclusion process can be considered a best practice in fact the Ghanaian migrant who started with an internship and used to live in a shared house provided by a reception center, now holds a permanent job, his own rented apartment and an Italian partner with whom he had a child. He reaches the workplace with his own vehicle (bicycle) and is well integrated into society. Due to their condition as detained, they are facing a preparatory social inclusion program for when they would have finished their jail obligations.
Many farmer are considered able to manage team of migrant but they lack in cultural approach, therefore a training in this direction can be useful for the sector.
Training in working duties and right so as safety in the workplace are fundamental
A stronger network between social farms and reception center would be useful for migrants in order to be included in the farm sector, guarantee them cure and a shaped path for an active integration process.
MILIMAT is a 2-year project funded by the EU Erasmus+ Programme that focuses on integrating migrants into multicultural agricultural teams. The project aims to develop several training resources for farmers and migrant workers in agriculture, with the goal of promoting fair labor relations and encouraging commitment to European labor rights. MILIMAT is led by the CIA Agricoltori Italiani Umbria (Italian Farmers’ Confederation of Umbria).
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Migrants Labour Insertion in Multicultural Agricultural Teams