30 October 2025
Authors: Marco Francesco Mazzù, Andrea Benetton, Angelo Baccelloni, Ludovico Lavini
Abstract:
“Misurare per conoscere” – Measure to know – is the motto of Maccarese S.p.a., and the summary of how the organisation operates. Not only one of the most historic farms of Italy, it is also one of the largest. Over the years, since it was bought off from the Italian Government by Edizione S.p.a., one of Italy’s most prominent holding companies, it strived to adapt to change, to incorporate the most modern industrial techniques and technologies, and to innovate both in terms of operations and organizations. The current top management — Andrea Benetton, President, and Claudio Destro, CEO — set its vision to have every decision to be data-driven, including the ones on milk yield or crop performance, by gathering and leveraging a myriad of data-points from sensors spread out in the entire farm: a way to achieve efficiency while caring deeply about animal health, the environment and its community, and by producing end-products of the highest quality possible. In a discussion that took place during the latest management committee, however, a relevant set of new challenges became evident. On one side, end-customers, that shop for milk and dairy products at retailers, have limited possibility to distinguish the quality of a top milk product and understand the differentiation elements, when comparing dairy products to the one of farms much less structured and less attentive to quality and transparency of their end-products. In the end, how to ensure that end-customers understand the quality, and assign the proper value, to Maccarese S.p.a.’s operations? On the other hand, another point of the discussion was whether increasing attention by the Company on themes connected to Social Responsibility and on reshaping its purpose, was understood enough by the general public and the relevant stakeholders. Are these themes sufficiently connected to the vision of introducing the technology to the farming activities? So, while producing a variety of milk that, thanks to the care that is put towards the cows, their well-being and the quality of the food they eat, Maccarese S.p.A. finds itself at an impasse, that requires a solution that will guarantee the company’s future in the short and long-term.How then to ensure that all the efforts in terms of animal health and environment preservation are highlighted and valued in the right way? And, most importantly, how to make sure that other companies can be pushed towards the same goal of respecting the environment, and everyone who lives in it?
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