Wednesday 10 November – Technology applied to the workplace
The second day of the event “Technology applied to people and workplaces” brought together 97 company representatives, most of them also attending the previous day.
After a summary of the contents of the first session, Miguel Ángel Curiel, Vice President and General Manager of Driscoll’s in Mexico, gave a presentation on international best practices entitled “The berry industry in Mexico, growth and environmental impact”. The production in the Zapotlán and Chapala basins has led the company to take measures for sustainable water management to avoid potential environmental risks. These were explained in detail by Miguel Ángel, and conclusions were drawn that could be recommended for application.
This was followed by the presentation of Carbon Footprint: Introductory Guide and Best Practices in the Spanish Fruit and Vegetable Sector by three members of the ETF Sustainability Working Group; Konstantinos Roussis QA Manager Iberia of DPS Ltd. David Albaladejo technical manager of Kettle Produce España, S.L. and Sara Gil Bishop Quality and Environment Technician at Berry Gardens Ltd.
“Water: Environmental challenge and possible technological solutions. The case of the Mar Menor” was the main topic of the debate with the collaboration of four experts: from the company point of view, Miguel Ángel Curiel, Driscoll’s representative who contributed his experience in the water issue as he explained in his previous presentation, Pedro Fernández, agronomic advisor and expert on the Mar Menor issue having worked as an engineer in the Regional Ministry of Water, Agriculture, cattle farming, Fisheries and Environment of the Region Murcia Region, Rafael Seiz, Policy Technician of the Water Programme of WWF Spain and Daniel Prats, Emeritus Professor at Alicante University. The participation of such different speakers profiles greatly enriched the content of this debate (You can access the full content of this debate by clicking on the link in the title. Only Spanish).
In this session it was presented three unique best practices. Ana Hernández Buendía, R&D&I Director of the Hortofrutícola Paloma Group, shared “Crop forecasting and gauging of fruit and grape plantations”. The importance of knowing all the crop parameters as accurately and in advance as much as possible makes it viable to access to precision agriculture, which results in significant benefits in terms of quality and costs for the company. It should be pointed that Ana was awarded as Fruit Attraction Woman of the Year in the 2020 edition.
Beatriz Molina, director of R&D&I at Grupo La Caña presented “Digital transformation in the agri-food industry”. She developed her presentation around the Meditomato Project focused on improving tomato production and quality in all its phases, from fertilisation to processing in the plant through quality monitoring using different sensors in the field and in the processing lines. She also pointed out a couple of additional projects they are already working on both to detect the state and evolution of the crops and to control their environmental impact.
Yolanda Fuster, director of the consultancy firm IPYC Ingenieros de Calidad Y Producción brought “Improving the working environment through productivity monitoring (industry 4.0). The case of Camposol”. Industry 4.0 provides the necessary tools to be able to respond to one of the challenges facing companies: to be increasingly efficient and competitive while ensuring the well-being and health of the workforce. Each company must identify what needs to be improved and choose the right tool.
All the presentations were of great interest. Once finished, Sergio shared with the attendees an update on the activities of the Forums to finish by briefly commenting on the Ethical Trade Forums’ plan for 2022.