Extending over nearly 3,000 hectares, the estates that pertain to the Sociedade Agrícola dos Pinheirinhos once formed part of the centuries-old Herdade de Palma, that was acquired from the 8th Count of Sabugal (D. Luís Assis de Mascarenhas) in 1896. In the wake of the agrarian reform, the estate was divided into various companies. António Luís Posser de Andrade’s father owned three of these companies, which have now been merged into one. When he began managing the estate in 1998, António Luís Posser de Andrade immediately defined his key priority: to restore and safeguard the cork oak forest, that since 1974 had been primarily used for livestock breeding, with a significant impact on the ecosystem. From the moment that the estate was returned to the family in 1992, after nationalisation of the land following the 1974 revolution, he dedicated himself to planting pine and cork oak trees, embracing a bold vision of the future, which has been the biggest factor of his success. “When I began working in the Herdade, the forest was my principal concern. I negotiated with the tenants and persuaded them to move out of the forest and instead focus on rice cultivation. In this way, I was able to give back land to the cork oak forest.” Deep down, he was following the advice of his father who, notwithstanding the multiple activities pursued in the estate (in addition to cattle and rice, also corn and wheat), had always instilled in him a concern for the cork and the cork oak forest. His father used to say: “By the end of the year, if it weren’t for cork, we wouldn’t make enough money”. António heeded this lesson.
In addition to helping him recall his father’s business advice, cork also brings back fond memories of the “long holidays” of his childhood, often spent in the countryside, that gave him numerous opportunities to accompany the cork harvest. “The cork [harvesting] season has always been a joyful time for the workers,” says António Luís Posser de Andrade. “The people singing, the chef preparing meals, many people... It was an exuberant atmosphere.” Back then, he never imagined that he would dedicate himself to studying the profitability of this activity or to the production and conservation of this material, for which he has so many happy memories. Even as a child he was fascinated by the cork oak forest: “its beauty, its biodiversity, everything that the forest gives us - the wild animals, the silence, the animals in their habitat... it’s impossible to convey it in words”. Today, he knows that the challenges are as great as the joyful moments. His main concerns are the ageing of the cork oak forest and the short-term vision of a large part of the forestry producers, who opt for livestock breeding to earn quicker profits. “The big problem with the Alentejo’s cork oak forests is that if you have cattle, you can’t renew them. The cork oak forests become old, which is reflected in the quality of the cork.” He nonetheless maintains his focus. He is committed to the annual rotation of land in order to harvest cork and prefers the long-term vision that he learned from his ancestors, which he hopes to hand down to future generations. ““God willing, my children will preserve [the cork oak forest] as well as I have preserved it”
In order to maintain this vision of the future, he argues that it is vital to have support for the sector and collaboration with institutions that invest in innovation and research, such as Corticeira Amorim. He highlights the Greening initiative, which encourages agricultural practices that are beneficial to the climate and the environment, and the Terra Prima Project, which he regrets is no longer in force, which compensated producers with fertilizer and seeds due to their key role in the fight against climate change. In relation to Corticeira Amorim’s involvement, he describes the Forestry Intervention Project as “a very large and commendable investment by Dr António Amorim, who is extremely forward looking. It takes dedication to achieve what Amorim has done. I take off my hat to him”. Without this support, he believes that it would be very difficult to continue to make a commitment to a sector where income generation is slow and which is threatened by numerous constraints. “Investing in the cork oak forest is always a commitment to the future because it only delivers results after at least nine years. But people are often primarily concerned with making a quick profit.” One possible solution, and one of the main pillars of Amorim’s Forestry Intervention Project, is to continuously invest in innovation and research, in order to guarantee higher productivity from cork oak forests, through selection of particularly resilient specimens, and circumvent challenges such as climate change, through innovations such as irrigation systems. He is also a pioneer in the mechanisation of cork harvesting, having invested from the outset in the first machines to enter the market and testing Amorim’s prototypes whenever possible. What’s his biggest wish for the future? “That the Amorim Group continues to research and collaborate with us, forestry producers, which has been fundamental for the valorisation of cork.”
