I come from a family of farmers. My father was a farmer,
my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my great-great-grandfather.
So being a farmer is something that is in my blood.
Since I was a child I always knew that this
was what I wanted to do when I grew up.
And I also hope that my two sons, at least one of them,
will follow this path, because I think that it is important
to keep this family tradition
and because agriculture is an inspiring activity.
Our farm is very close to Lisbon, around
30 km from Lisbon as the crow flies.
And it is inside the special protection area of the Tagus estuary.
It is a very beautiful area, where we have
many animal species namely birds
that visit us like flamingos, many ducks and many other species.
And so we also have an added responsibility
in the preservation of this biodiversity.
On our farm our main objective is to be more efficient.
And efficient in all aspects, whether economically
or environmentally, or in terms of production.
On this farm we use some precision farming techniques,
we analyse the soil, as everything is georeferenced,
we can correct any problems there may be in each spot locally.
We apply pesticides only where it is really necessary.
And with this we save money and we save the environment too.
I think there is a big problem of communication
between farmers and public opinion.
We have seen in recent years that public opinion is very urban.
With very little notion of what the life is like for a farmer.
Then there are many pre-conceived ideas
that have to be demystified,
and the use of pesticides is the best example,
because people think that farmers are crooks,
who want to poison consumers with pesticides when
this is an absolute mistake and an absolute lie.
We want to protect our crops, and have
our income, protecting everything around,
both the environment and our clients, who are the consumers.
We have had this farm in the family for
6 generations and I want it to continue.
And I have to preserve the resources I have, and my
main resource and my main capital is in fact the soil.
And ultimately the biodiversity that I have
all around and that helps me immensely.
