Farmers
Know our stars
Farmers do most of the work in bringing food from their shoulders to our plates. Unfortunately, farmers also bear the brunt of food loss and waste imposed by beauty standards and market practices.
We work directly with farmers to find a new market for produce that would otherwise go to waste. Imperfect produce from their farms straight to your door.
Maria Jose
Maria José has spent the last 15 years producing berries, such as raspberries and strawberries, in the Alentejo, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. She has a 10-hectare farm where she employs 15 people and produces 90 tons of raspberries and strawberries throughout the year.
She uses a rotation model to ensure that different parts of her land are productive over several months, and by doing so, her harvest lasts from March to November. Before becoming a farmer, Maria José graduated in Management from the University of Coimbra and held different positions in Lisbon.
Mine
Meet the Queen of Carrots, Felismina Maria Rodrigues Espada! It's thanks to her that you get your much-needed dose of Vitamin A & C every week.
Ricardo
Have you ever wondered where our delicious tomatoes, courgettes and peppers come from? Meet Ricardo Filipe Rodrigues Carreira from Torres Vedras.
On his 25-hectare farm in Cabeça Gorda he also grows beans, cucumbers and different types of sweet potatoes. Together with his brother, Ricardo runs the farm and always makes us laugh when we meet him. Over the next two years, he plans to expand the parts of his land that do not yet produce any income. With this, our Ricardo hopes to be able to offer produce for more months of the year.
Until then, he is enjoying working with Equal Food and has found a great partner to sell his second-rate products.
Cristina
Fancy something sweet? Well, Cristina is your girl! Together with her husband, João Carlos, in 1993 they founded Moranguito Empresa Agricola Lda. Today, their children João Levi and Sofia Lúcia are also part of the company and help out on the farm! A family of many wonders, they not only produce these mouth-watering strawberries, but also raspberries and persimmons: with an annual production of 350 tons!
Your goal in the next 2 years is to increase the value of biological resources in production. Do you need a boost for your immune system this winter?
So, stick to your strawberry fix… besides their delicious taste, they offer a wealth of health and well-being benefits. They’re a great source of fiber, vitamin C and antioxidants!
Equal Food helps you with those strawberries that don't look good, but have excellent flavor and nutritional properties.
Daniela
Meet Daniela Policarpo. She has been behind her sweet potatoes that have been part of almost every basket since we started. She started her farming business in 2002.
In A dos Cunhados, near Torres Vedras, she grows the sweet potatoes that you are already familiar with, along with pumpkins and the famous spinach that we always ask her for.
Jorge
In his late 50s, Jorge decided to embark on this journey to produce blueberries. He had his first year of production in 2020 with a yield of around 220 tons: the highest production ever achieved on his farm.
There were many challenges in his first year and Equal Food helped him sell the quantities he was unable to sell to his customers. Despite our help, in his first harvest several tons of produce remained on the plants, as regular buyers did not consider them suitable for sale due to their size and shape. That is why we will continue to help Jorge overcome all these difficulties in the future.
Anthony
António has been growing cherries for several years in Fundão, Portugal. Fundão is known as the cherry capital because of all the cherries that grow in the area, but also because of the events that take place around this fruit, such as the "Festa da Cereja". The season starts in April and lasts until mid-summer.
Isidore
This is Isidoro, our new passion fruit producer on his farm, Quinta do Morgado, with his wife. Isidoro is 69 years old and is a young retiree from a transport company. Our producer always wanted to start an agricultural project and that is what happened. At the beginning of his retirement, he started a planting project with his son, Simão Morgado. Five years ago, they created an agricultural initiative as part of the Young Farmer project.
They started planting about 4 years ago. In the meantime, they have had to deal with some setbacks, for example, an excessive frost on one of the plantations, which completely killed the entire crop, and meant that it had to be replanted.
The plantation has the help of one more person, but they do this business, essentially, with the help of the family (mainly at harvest time). In terms of production, there are 5800 plants, which is around a production of around 8 to 10 tons per hectar.
Passion fruit is a product that is very sensitive to temperatures and frost, for example. These factors are a major concern for Isidro, but that is not why he is thinking of stopping his project.