A
NARRATIVE VALUE
Certainty
●●○ medium
ABCDEFG
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (A). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
As of: 2026-Q4Status: ActiveCeiling reason: No confirmed −
History2026-Q4AHistory grows each quarter
Libera Terra: Co-operatives farming land confiscated from the mafia. The letter is A; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q4; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
Italy has had a law since 1996 allowing assets confiscated from the mafia to be put to social use. But a confiscation on paper means nothing if no one farms the land, and much of it simply went to waste. In 1998 young people in Sicily formed a co-operative and brought in the first harvest from such a field. That became Libera Terra.
It is run by ten co-operatives connected to the anti-mafia association Libera, farming around 1,400 hectares entirely organically. They sell some 70 products under their own label — pasta, wine, olive oil, pulses — and the group turns over around $8 million. They employ 140 people and deliberately hire women, migrants and young people at risk of being drawn into criminal organizations. More than 2,000 enterprises have been created on confiscated land, around a tenth of them co-operatives. The simple fact that there is work here offers the area another option.
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
On confiscated farmland in Sicily, local young people formed a co-operative and brought in the first harvest in 1998. Ten co-operatives now farm around 1,400 hectares entirely organically and employ 140 people, among them women, migrants and young people at risk of being drawn into criminal organizations. More than 2,000 enterprises have been created on confiscated land, around a tenth of them co-operatives. The fact that there is work here offers the area another option. Nature of sources: independent (SSIR and co-operative press).
Source nature: Stanford Social Innovation Review / Co-operative News / T2 industry media. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- The positive side of this assessment rests on the single story (N1) above and its source. A per-item ledger of positive effects has not yet been compiled for this organization.T2 industry media
Watching (unconfirmed; not counted in the assessment)- Local security and the safety of those who work the land
- the transfer and administration of confiscated assets
Looking ahead (not included in the assessment)- Bringing more confiscated land into use and expanding the co-operatives.
A second look
Tension with local criminal organizations has not disappeared, so the safety of the people who work there is a structural problem. So are the markets and prices needed to keep the business viable, and the slowness of the administrative process from confiscation to handover.
Sources
+N1Stanford Social Innovation Review / Co-operative News｜Libera Terra Reclaims Lands Stolen by the Italian Mafia / How Italian co-ops are fighting the mafia｜2026｜🔗
How to read this assessment
A Independently verified +, with no confirmed −
B Leans +, with independent backing
C Mixed. A confirmed − sets the ceiling, or much is unverified
D A serious confirmed − sets the ceiling
E A serious − reaches the core of the organization
F Serious and systemic, with little redeeming +
G Only extreme cases
Out of scope An entity whose core purpose is illegal
On hold Independent evidence is scarce on both + and −
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the narrative an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q4 | Back to top