Measure-to-manage agenda for Spanish producers

… worries about water …

… transition to net zero …

… increasing emphasis on biology over chemistry to manage crops …

… and a community of producers in need of trusted technological solutions.

A snapshot of agriculture in Spain paints a familiar picture. Agri-TechE’s recent trip to Valencia for Connect Clean’s International AgroTech Day and the associated Terra Eco trade show for organic producers created an opportunity to meet producers and gain an insight into the industry from another perspective.

 

Change is coming to the Spanish agri-food industry

Food pricing has been very topical and Spain passed a Food Supply Chain Law (LCA) in 2020. The LCA guarantees fair prices for producers across the value chain so that no-one works at a loss and puts an end to unfair trading partnerships; sanctions await those found to be contravening.

This is particularly interesting in the context of the EU Green Deal, which aims to reduce Europe’s GHG emission by at least 55% by 2030 and become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. This has seen the big supply chains passing their net zero ambitions onto their suppliers.

 

The challenges of meeting ‘measure-to-manage’ agenda

While there is a clear commitment to tackle environmental issues and labour standards, implementing them poses big challenges. Not least, the inability to accurately calculate the unit cost of primary production, without which a ‘fair’ price cannot be determined.

The Spanish agri-food system is a heterogenous, somewhat fragmented industry, consisting of many smaller producers all at different points on their journey of technology adoption.

So, there is a big requirement for technologies that would enable them to ‘measure to manage’.

And the weather is a constant challenge. This growing season’s cold pre-Christmas followed by a warmer period impacted the supply of product to certain customers, including to the UK. More extreme weather conditions are widely predicted which is likely to lead to ongoing instability of supply and there is a broad lack of trust in the quality of the forecasting data.

Some reflect that crop models serve as poor indicators of the future given the unprecedented challenges of climate change.

In essence, many producers are simply not adequately tooled up for the change that is coming their way, whether financially, practically, or psychologically.

 

Obstacles to overcome

In some cases, big investment in infrastructure is needed before innovation can be adopted. To give an example, improving the way that olive stones (pits) are separated from flesh would produce a higher quality oil and offer an additional valorisation opportunity for the pits. However, this requires not only a physical change in processing, but also large-scale investment in order to make it happen.

There is also an innovation gap between the research and producer communities, that further prevents the benefits of other tech ‘game-changers’ filtering into the growing sphere – this includes big data, distributed ledger technologies (including blockchain), and even artificial intelligence.

 

Next Steps

Despite these barriers, tech is being used. We saw how insects and enzymes are being used to create value from food waste, and the application of satellites and sensors for crop monitoring and forecasting.

Clearly there is a major opportunity – indeed a call-to-arms – for innovative solutions to support Spanish producers adopt the measure-to-manage agenda, through to bio-based solutions to manage drought and pests.

Tremap, one of the Agri-TechE members on the trip, saw clear opportunities for the tokenisation of trees, to help efficiencies in the production of citrus and olives.

An interesting market, with familiar challenges – and a lot more sun….

Watch this space for more opportunities to showcase your solutions in Spain!