Joanne Micallef traded her long sales career for a return to her roots, taking up the mantle of farmer in her family’s century-old agricultural tradition.

And despite the onslaught of industrial development in Marsa, she has no plans to abandon the farm that has been in her family since 1908.

Joanne of Ta’ Lazzru Farms fondly remembers growing up on the land that she now tends to.

“Some of my earliest memories involve helping my dad work on our little spot of heaven,” she reminisces, as she surveys her blooming fruit trees and rows of kale and tomatoes.

But just a few metres from the richly packed fields, imposing buildings tower over her, with factories mushrooming throughout the years.

The two closest factories to the farm are located less than 200 metres away and the busy Marsa Road is just 100 metres or so away. Still, Micallef maintains that her land is still fertile and productive.

Micallef and her daughter, Rhiannon, run the business by themselves, and Ta’ Lazzru has created a solid social media presence, and thanks to that, as well as word of mouth, they have managed to generate a solid customer base.

“People come back repeatedly, and they recommend us to their friends as well. Which goes to show how good the land is,” Micallef said.

Passion for farming started at a young age

Micallef’s passion for farming began at a very young age but she only started professional farming after the pandemic and the death of her father.

Before taking on the farm, she worked in sales and marketing for decades and is now applying those skills to her new career.

While Micallef works in the fields and handles sales, her daughter manages the marketing and business operations. Her daughter also hopes to take over the farm when, and if, her mother ever retires.

With her daughter’s encouragement, Micallef has begun diversifying her business approach. Apart from selling her fruit and vegetables, the farm also created its own products like olive oil, peanut butter and olives.

Determined to see these traditions live on beyond their farm, Ta’ Lazzru has started organising workshops, called ‘HerHarvest’, teaching women on site how to grow their produce using traditional techniques.

But like any other farm in Malta, the produce cannot be classified as organic.

“People are obsessed with food being organic, but local produce cannot be organic as you need to have a certain amount of distance from cars, which is impossible to implement in Malta given our size,” Micallef said.

Given the farm’s central location, for generations her family had to fight to prevent their land being taken away from them, even landing in a court dispute in the 1990s.

From sales to soil: Joanne in the carob tree she grew up playing in.

More determined than ever to safeguard land

As a result, Micallef has become more determined than ever to safeguard her family’s land, produce and legacy.

“My forefathers had to fight for our land and now it is my turn,” Micallef said.

And even though the work is gruelling and she has almost no help, the thought of selling the land does not cross her mind because she is too busy living her childhood dream.

“When I was a little girl, I was always told to help my mother in the house. But I would find a way to sneak out and help my father in the fields instead.”

As she walks from her peach trees to her fig trees, Micallef says she has no plans of quitting, but nonetheless understands why others might give up on farming or not attempt it at all.

“It is not easy having to work in the blistering sun for long hours at a time with the possibility of little return. People don’t understand the effort required for this job. You invest so much time, and we don’t get paid for it,” she said.

Micallef says the biggest competition is the foreign suppliers who sell in supermarkets, not fellow local farmers.

Earlier this year, a number of local farmers gathered with their tractors to protest EU rules they say created an unfair playing field for local products as they face competition from imported foods.

Micallef did not participate in the protest as she sees herself as a lone wolf in the farming community, so much so that she does not even rely on the farmers’ wholesale vegetable market (il-Pitkalija) for her sales. 

“I am not a normal farmer, I’m a modern farmer. My daughter and I are trying to keep our traditions alive but we are doing it just a little differently.”

Joanne and her daughter Rhiannon, who helps her run the business.