The Círculo Ecuestre, together with the Impact and Sustainability Commission, organized a breakfast discussion this Thursday with Alejandro de Frías, sustainability manager at Danone, and Eduard Obis, CEO of VEGGA Advanced Farming, to discuss the key factors for the future and present competitiveness of the agri-food sector.
The event, sponsored by CaixaBank, was presented by Elena de Carandini, businesswoman and founding president of the Raimat Lleida Community Foundation, who emphasized that “innovation means collaboration among diverse stakeholders and new ways of producing, managing, and generating value in the region.” The event was moderated by Laia Mas, founder of MasSalmones, who pointed out that emissions reduction can become a competitive advantage for companies.
José Carlos Martínez, coordinator of AgroBank, opened the session with an explanation of the current state of the sector, highlighting that without economic sustainability, the other dimensions of sustainability will likely never have an impact on civil society. In this regard, Martínez lamented the current two-speed approach to integrating and investing in sustainability. On the one hand, large companies have already become aware of the issue and are working on projects, while many small cooperatives are finding it more difficult. He noted that the cooperatives that have embraced sustainability are growing and improving their productivity.
In his remarks, Martínez also pointed out that the agri-food sector is not yet investing enough in innovation, despite its crucial role in anticipating market changes and improving competitiveness. He argued that "if we are able to measure and anticipate what will happen, we can make better decisions."
For their part, Eduard Obis and Alejandro de Frías presented the projects being carried out by both VEGGA Advanced Farming and Danone. Obis explained that VEGGA is working on initiatives aimed at accelerating sustainability and digitalization in the primary sector. Among these projects, Terra Nostra stood out, with which the company will work alongside large and small producers to transform their farms into real-world examples of digitalization applied to agriculture and demonstrate, on the ground, how the everyday use of technology can improve decision-making, efficiency, and profitability.
Furthermore, it also emphasized that its main objective is to convince the sector to use existing technology and begin to rely on it to improve competitiveness.
For his part, De Frías explained the major innovation projects that Danone is undertaking, among which the improvement of methane emissions management from manure is particularly noteworthy. Specifically, Danone is working with biodigesters that allow manure to be transformed into biogas for energy production and into digestate for organic fertilization. They are also working on projects related to livestock management and feed. All these projects, De Frías explained, have allowed Danone to reduce its CO₂ emissions by around 21% since 2017, with the goal of achieving a 30% reduction by 2030.
The discussion also addressed one of the main barriers to accelerating the sector's transformation: the difficulty of conveying to farmers and ranchers that sustainability must be linked to profitability. Alejandro de Frías pointed out that many of the measures needed to reduce emissions or improve production processes are not always initially perceived as a business opportunity, which complicates their adoption. Therefore, he argued that the sector must support this transition with data, education, and concrete economic incentives. In this context, he explained that Danone already applies performance-based bonuses, with the aim of demonstrating that emissions reduction and improved competitiveness can go hand in hand.
The day concluded with a shared call to facilitate access to financing and simplify the administrative burden so that farmers, cooperatives and companies can accelerate their modernization and face the challenges of the future with greater guarantees.