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After the loss of the family patriarch, mother and daughter keep alive the tradition of five generations of beekeepers and preserve the production of the rare white honey in the gaucho fields.
When Luiz Alberto Pinto Júnior died in 2019, Apicultura do Máximo could have ended a story built over years in the interior of Jaquirana, in the Campos de Cima da Serra. Instead, the property continued to operate thanks to Adriana de Bortoli’s decision to move forward alongside her daughter Juliana, preserving a work that had been part of the family’s life for generations.
Today, the family’s journey is intertwined with the very history of beekeeping in the region. According to Adriana, the family is in the fifth generation of beekeepers, a legacy that has spanned decades and continues to thrive among hives, native blooms, and the so-called white honey produced in the high-altitude fields of northeastern Rio Grande do Sul.
A move to the interior of Jaquirana marked the beginning of a new phase in the family’s life
The story of Apicultura do Máximo began in 2008 when Adriana moved to Jaquirana. According to information published by the portal Agrolink, her husband already had experience with bees because his family had a tradition in the activity, including a great-grandfather considered one of the pioneers of beekeeping in Cambará do Sul.
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What initially was a rural activity eventually turned into a long-term family project. Over the years, the couple invested in training, courses, and improvements to the property, developing an agro-industry focused on the production of honey and its derivatives.
According to Adriana, her daughter Juliana was always part of this process. Since childhood, she accompanied her parents to events and training related to beekeeping, strengthening what the family saw as rural succession.
The husband’s death put to the test a project built over more than a decade
The most difficult moment came in 2019. According to Adriana’s account, Luiz Alberto Pinto Júnior died in an accident just as the family had completed an important stage of the business’s professionalization: the legalization of the agro-industry through the Municipal Inspection System (SIM).
The loss could have ended the venture. In many small rural properties, the disappearance of the main person responsible for the activity often leads to the abandonment of production. But this did not happen in Jaquirana. According to Adriana, the support of her mother Evanilda and her daughter Juliana was decisive for the family to keep the project running even in the face of the difficulties brought by mourning.
The work came to involve three generations of the same family within the property
After 2019, Adriana took over the leadership of the agribusiness. She began to run the business alongside her mother Evanilda, her daughter Juliana, and later with the support of her daughter’s boyfriend, Vinícius Ribeiro. The property came to represent something more than an economic activity. It became a link between different generations of the same family.
While Adriana took care of management and production, Juliana started to collaborate in the promotion and administration of the business’s social networks. According to the family’s own account, this participation was fundamental to keep the young people connected to rural activity.
The white honey produced in the region is one of the most peculiar products of Brazilian beekeeping
The family’s journey is also linked to a product little known outside the South of Brazil. Jaquirana is part of the Campos de Cima da Serra region, known for the production of the so-called “white honey,” a type of honey mainly associated with the nectar of native flowers, especially the species popularly known as carne-de-vaca (Clethra scabra).
Unlike the more common honeys found on the market, white honey has a lighter color, delicate flavor, and unique sensory characteristics, factors that have been attracting increasing interest among producers and researchers. Currently, scientific initiatives seek to gather technical and historical data that may support the future official recognition of the product through a regional Geographical Indication.
The family’s story also became a story of staying in the countryside
In a period marked by the aging of the rural population and the departure of young people from family properties, the trajectory of Apicultura do Máximo also gained prominence for the succession between generations. Adriana stated that the continuity of the activity was only possible thanks to the involvement of her daughter Juliana, who assumed a fundamental role in keeping the family’s dream alive after her father’s death.
This permanence of new generations in the countryside is seen by sector specialists as one of the main challenges of Brazilian family farming. In the case of the Jaquirana family, succession ceased to be just a concept discussed in lectures and became part of the property’s daily routine.
Among beehives, native blooms, and gaucho mountains, the legacy remains alive
The story of Máximo’s Beekeeping is not just about honey. It speaks of a family that decided not to abandon a project built over the years, even after facing a profound loss. It speaks of a mother who took on the responsibility of continuing the work started alongside her husband and of a daughter who chose to stay close to the family’s roots.
Amidst the high-altitude fields of the Serra Gaúcha, the beehives continue to produce. And for Adriana, each harvest represents more than a rural product: it represents the continuity of a story that spans generations and is still being written.
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