Naranjas del Carmen: adopt your own orange tree

Bétera would be a typical village on the outskirts of Valencia if it wasn’t for the fact that it used to be the location of an asylum for the mentally ill. Today however that stigma has passed and it is becoming better known for reinventing agriculture.

The coastal plain of Valencia is one of the most fertile places on earth, mainly due to the complex irrigation system started by the Romans and perfected by the Moors, who lived here from the 8^th to the 13^th centuries.

One success story in Bétera is Naranjas del Carmen, a company that has combined farming with modern concepts such as Crowdfunding, or in this case CrowdFarming.

For this reason they receive visitors from all over Europe, coming to visit one of the nearly 11,000 oranges trees that bears their name because they have adopted it.

Originally founded by brothers Gonzalo and Gabriel Úrculo in 2010 to sell citrus fruits on-line, they later branched out into honey (you can even adopt your own hive, although individual bees are a bit more challenging) and wine.

A tree can be planted for each customer, who has a right to its fruit in return for a small upkeep fee.

Crowdfarming is a spin-off company from the original idea and delivers ecological products through the company’s network, and which currently sells olives from Castellón and almonds from Granada, as well as cocoa trees in the Philippines and coffee shrubs in Colombia.