Respect for your privacy is our priority

The cookie is a small information file stored in your browser each time you visit our web page.

Cookies are useful because they record the history of your activity on our web page. Thus, when you return to the page, it identifies you and configures its content based on your browsing habits, your identity and your preferences.

You may accept cookies or refuse, block or delete cookies, at your convenience. To do this, you can choose from one of the options available on this window or even and if necessary, by configuring your browser.

If you refuse cookies, we can not guarantee the proper functioning of the various features of our web page.

For more information, please read the COOKIES INFORMATION section on our web page.

Refuse

News

Spain: the pandemic has exhausted stocks

20/08/2020 - François-Xavier Branthôme - 2020 Season

The season began in an unprecedented context

Despite appearances, the start of the harvest season in Europe took place in a context radically different from previous seasons. In Spain, as in most European processing regions, companies launched into the 2020 season with comparatively much lower inventories than last year, due to increased demand caused by the Covid pandemic, but also with significantly higher income levels.

The pandemic has undoubtedly impacted the usual practices of factories, by imposing the institution of demanding and restrictive operating rules to guarantee the best health and safety conditions for all the personnel involved, but also for the products themselves and for the entire supply chain, from the field to the end-consumer. It has also profoundly changed the context – in the strictest sense – of companies, which are launching into the season with stockyards and stores almost devoid of stocks from previous seasons. According to the actual comments of local operators, the exceptional demand recorded during the crisis, in particular during the harshest months of confinement (March and April) reduced the quantities of products available to their most meager expression, to the point that "processors from Extremadura no longer needed to make any effort in order to sell their products."

Manuel Vázquez Calleja

"We have not experienced such a situation for many years," confirms Manuel Vázquez Calleja, CEO of the Extremadura Conesa Group. "Consumption increased dramatically in March and April, then stabilized in May and June, although demand remained strong. This means that at this stage, there is no longer any product in stock, as all the products have been sold."
This observation is also that of Domingo Fernández, President of the Acopaex group and of Tomates del Guadiana, an industrial cooperative with a processing capacity of around 8 000 tonnes per day: "There are no more stocks from previous harvests, and this is the big novelty compared to other seasons." As for Celia Santos Blanco, Managing Director of Tomates del Guadiana, she confirms that "during the crisis, [the company] delivered up to 40 trucks a day."

The increase in demand has also resulted in a 10 to 15% increase in the price of products, compared to the reference value. This progression is good news for the industry, but the growers and their representative associations regret that it has not been reflected in the price of raw materials, which were negotiated and concluded (around EUR 70-72 per tonne) before the onset of the crisis.
"The increase in demand […] has led to higher prices in favor of industrial players. The market has behaved very favorably for processors, but this obvious advantage has not filtered down to growers," deplores José Cruz, Secretary for Agriculture with the UPA-UCE, who regrets that manufacturers are only talking about allowing growers to benefit next year from the positive economic fallout from the crisis.
"It is quite correct to consider that the growers should receive a higher remuneration next season, but the margins have also been excessively narrow for us," explains Manuel Vázquez, whose company is the biggest group in the European tomato processing sector. "The prices producers receive are expected to increase next season as production costs also increase. This is justified," confirmed Fernández, who added that under the cooperative system, "at the end of the season [2020], farmers will improve their incomes, if not because of a higher price, but at the very least thanks to better results in general for the company."

In-field computer controls

The last days of July, just before the start of the harvest season, were also an opportunity for stake-holders of the Smartom project to present, on demonstration plots of the Acopaex cooperative in Medellín (Extremadura), the results achieved with the help of this new program. Smartom is the result of two years of research in a project coordinated by the Food Technology Center of Extremadura (CTAEX). It has led to the creation of a complete crop management platform, which will be offered as a service to growers and technicians.

The novelty offered by this software is that it collects data and specific information on the crop, then makes it accessible in real time and easily. For example, at the very moment of data collection, it is possible to identify a specific deficiency in a crop sector and act without delay to regulate the situation locally through irrigation, explained Jesús Gil Soto, R&D project manager for CTAEX. The nutritional status of the plant is known in detail and is fine-tuned according to the final production goal. "Smartom analyzes the nutritional condition of the field and determines whether the fertilizer input to the plants should be increased or decreased. It assesses whether the tomatoes are red or green, with very precise evaluation of the production potential of the field," added Gil Soto.
The system enables "judicious decisions to be taken based on objective criteria", which translate into better profitability for the grower through increased production and reduced inputs.

In practical terms, Smartom requires the set-up of a surveillance system via a fixed camera on the plot or field, which then emits hyperspectral images. These are snapshots taken at different wavelengths to measure absorbed and reflected sunlight. The processing of these images and the development of a mathematical model make it possible to carry out a foliar analysis. Technicians and growers can thus visualize a map with the distribution and quantification of the chemical compounds of the plant as well as a count of the number of tomatoes per plant and their degree of maturity. At the same time, thanks to drones, data entry is automated in the field.
Furthermore, it is a self-learning system: "The more the platform is used and the more images are incorporated, the more refined the results will be. This means that it will be possible to better plan the harvest, among other tasks," added Gil Soto.

More information at:
https://www.ctaex.com/transferencia-tecnologica/GOS-smartom/infografia-animada
& https://smartom.es/

Sources: hoy-es, ctaex.com, itg.es, lavozdegalicia.es

Related companies

CONESA

Tomato processor See details

CTAEX

Research organisation See details

Tomates del Guadiana

Tomato processor See details

Spain: Smartom project

24/10/2017 See details

Back

________________________________________

Editor : TOMATO NEWS SAS - MAISON DE L'AGRICULTURE - TSA 48449 - 84912 AVIGNON Cedex 9 - FRANCE
contact@tomatonews.com
www.tomatonews.co m

Supporting partners