We built our first compost station at El Campillo de Julia. With sheep manure, oil processing waste and pruning waste, we produce compost to enhance the crop's long-term productivity.

We bought El Verger de Alicia, a new citrus fruit, pomegranate and persimmon farm.

We launched two new insectariums to try and stop the Cotonet plague that has been affecting our orange trees. This pest doesn't concern us too much because it only affects the appearance of the fruit, but it can kill the trees if you don't control it.

We removed plastic from all our packaging and started working with gummed paper to seal our boxes, thereby improving the quality of our deliveries.

We launched the olive tree project at El Campillo de Julia. Along with our friend and oil connoisseur Miguel Abad, we formed a team to start growing olive trees on a farm with more than five hundred years of history. These olive trees produce the olives to make our extra virgin olive oil. What’s more, we gradually refurbished the house to welcome people who adopt an olive tree with us.

In the orange grove, we set up the first insectarium to breed insects that help us control pests without breaking the natural balance.

We achieved to transfer our way of cultivating to our way of shipping by avoiding plastics.

We fixed the windmill that will extract part of the water thanks to the wind.

Project Oasis: We are planning to sow with two goals in mind. On the one hand to achieve that our bees collect pollen and nectar during the whole year. On the other hand that these plants add nitrogen and make our soil more fertile.

New farmers join CrowdFarming (www.crowdfarming.com) and enable people from all over Europe to adopt productive units from farmers worldwide and receive their harvest at home.  

They have achieved their aim: The once abandoned orange plantation of 2010 has turned into an orchard full of life. Where some years ago dead trees dominated the landscape newly planted orange trees are swaying in the wind. And there is more to it than that: CrowdFarming has allowed to plant the orange trees on demand and thereby to avoid the waste of oranges. All of the orange trees already have an owner that maintains them and waits for his/her harvest to ripe with every new season.

On the 16th of September 2017 Sofía Úrculo, the next generation of the Úrculo family, is born.

Gabriel gives a donkey as a gift to Sofía and they call him “Camilo”. His relationship to the dogs of “El Carmen” is not the best at the beginning. Over time, however, they become good friends.

The Crowdfarming of bees is launched. More than 200 people adopt a bee family of “El Carmen”. Thanks to Crowdfarming the bee population increases by 12,000 million new bees.

A plaque with the name their owners have chosen for them, can be attached on more than 1,000 trees. The team of Naranjas del Carmen takes a picture of every tree once a year so that their owners can follow their evolution.

Next to Gabriel and Gonzalo, Naranjas del Carmen can offer a job to 10 additional people. They prepare an orchard in one part of the finca and begin with the cultivation of typical Valencian fruits and vegetables. They combine, depending on the seasons, different varieties. Over the winter months, artichokes, broccolis, cauliflowers and kohlrabis are the protagonists. In summer, these winter varieties are replaced by tomatoes, water- and honeydew melons.

Thanks to a family member dedicated to winery, the viticulturein cooperation with a small Valencian wine grower begins at Naranjas del Carmen. They decide to produce a red wine based on a fantastic local Valencian grape: the Bobal grape.

This year, they present Crowdfarming to the world, an idea Gabriel and Gonzalo have been working on for many years. From now on, the orange trees are planted directly on demand of those families that order their oranges. Every tree will have a plaque with the name its owner has chosen.

Already 4,000 families trust Naranjas del Carmen with the cultivation and order of their oranges.

Gonzalo: “Our way of working has completely changed overnight. We do not only cultivate oranges anymore, we have to care for every tree as if it was the only one on our fields. Planting every tree knowing that there is someone already waiting for the harvest motivates us even more to give our best.”

First production of extra virgin organic olive oil in Altura (Castellón), the village where part of the family of their grandfather lived. The oil is extracted from the Arbequina olives.

The renovation of the orange tree begins: They pull out the dead trees and prepare the fields for the plantation of the new ones.

Thanks to word of mouth around 1,000 families order their oranges on the website naranjasdelcarmen.com. A lot of these families come from all over Europe to visit the cradle of Naranjas del Carmen.

Thanks to the friendship to the beekeeper-brothers José and Miguel Conchilla the first beehives are brought to Naranjas del Carmen. The bees help to pollinate the orange blossoms and make Gabriel and Gonzalo discover the taste of pure orange blossom honey directly from the honeycomb. As a consequence, they decide to turn “El Carmen” into a bee-paradise and to produce and sell orange blossom honey.

Already 500 families order their oranges and from now on, also orange blossom honey.

Gabriel: “We have achieved an oasis for the bees. Not using any herbicides has three advantages: We do not contaminate the soil nurturing our trees, we maintain a balance of the plants and insects and thereby provide the bees with a lot of pollen.”

After the first year in charge of the orange plantation of their grandfather and a first disastrous harvest, which they have to sell for very low prices to the intermediaries, the brothers create the brand Naranjas del Carmen to sell the oranges directly to those who will eat the fruits at the end.

Gabriel designs the web and prepares the orders while Gonzalo is in charge of the harvest and the transport. During the first season that can sell, pick and ship their oranges to around 150 families - most of them family, friends and friends of friends.

Gonzalo:”They bought the first box out of sense of duty and because we were a bit annoying. We were talking about oranges all of the time. But after ordering the second and third one we began to believe that they notice a difference.”

Gabriel (28) and Gonzalo (25) decide to leave their jobs behind, in order to bring the plantation of their grandfather back to its former glory. It has been abandoned over the last years and half of the trees are dead. They do so during the economic crisis in Spain. Hence, the prices the farmers receive have reached a minimum.

They take out a loan to buy a new tractor and renovate the irrigation system of the trees.

With the help of their younger siblings (Fernando and Patricia), their parents and friends the orchard can be put into operation again.

The grandfather Fernando Alvarez-Ossorio dies at the age of 83. His grandchildren inherit the orchard. However, they are still too young to take care of it. Gabriel and Gonzalo Úrculo Alvarez-Ossorio go to school and will start their university careers soon. Thanks to the Erasmus programme they spend some time abroad: Gabriel goes to England and Gonzalo lives in Germany for a while. During this time they realize that the quality and freshness of the oranges consumed in these countries have nothing to do with the oranges they eat on their finca “El Carmen” directly from the tree.

Fernando Alvarez-Ossorio buys the “Masia el Carmen” in Bétera (Valencia) and plants the first orange trees. In the 70s. 80s and 90s the cultivation of oranges is its golden age. One entire family can make a living from a small orange plantation.