As Albert Einstein once said,"It is crazy to keep doing the same thing and expect different results." This is the reasoning behind the strategy of Cooperativa Parque Norte de Los Palacios, a company devoted to the fresh produce business, founded in 1998, which has succeeded in gaining the ability to unlearn on the basis of intense internal debates, as well as to learn to see the market with different eyes.
Thus, about a year ago, the management board raised the idea of making a major investment in a tomato sorting machine, with the goal of improving the product presentation and becoming more competitive. Months later, the 45 members who currently make up the cooperative almost unanimously approved the machine's acquisition.
Thus, last May, the machine, a commitment to technology which required an investment of around one hundred thousand Euro, was the fourth to become operative in Andalusia, being currently owned by the cooperative, Las Virtudes de Conil, and by another two in Almeria.
"The machine's main function is to sort the product by colour and size so that it can be presented in a differentiated manner to the consumer. Furthermore, it detects those that are damaged or rotten, or which are affected by Tuta (an insect that damages the fruit)," affirms Alfredo Gutiérrez, who is in charge of its management.
All of this is achieved thanks to a highly advanced technology that shoots 80 photos per second, making it possible to sort up to 15,000 kilos in an hour. Although the taste is the same, regardless of the colour and/or the calibre, these aspects do bring added value when setting a price for the tomatoes, hence the importance of sorting.
The cheapest tomatoes are those of calibre 40, then those of calibre 25, (which represent about 70 percent of the production in Los Palacios), calibre 20 and finally calibre 18, which is the most spectacular in terms of colour and size, and consequently the most expensive.
Customer demand also varies. In western Andalusia, the most demanded tomato is calibre 18, while Mercamadrid or Mercasa (Barcelona) prefer the 25.
Another important destination for the tomatoes of the 45 members that make up Parque Norte and their more than 70 partners, is the market in Perpignan. Hundreds of thousands of kilos are shipped to France each year to be then distributed to many parts of Europe, with a total production of over two million kilos per year.
Despite being unanimously approved by the managing board, the truth is that, last April, the machine raised serious suspicions among the most experienced producers in the cooperative, who didn't believe the investment could be profitable.
It provoked a healthy, inter-generational debate between the way agriculture was understood in the 20th century and what it involves in the 21st century. Today, and after six months of operation, the voice of experience which once questioned this new technology has had to wisely admit the advantages this has brought.
The importance of colour
Joaquín Durán "Chico", sales manager of the cooperative, defends the new methods by stating that "with this technology, the presentation of a box of tomatoes is radically better than when all kinds of sizes and colours are mixed together, which actually entails deceiving the customers, thus causing dissatisfaction; however, with this method, our customers get exactly what they want, so it is easier to gain their loyalty."
"What we want with this investment is to bring about a change in the mentality of our agriculture and to acquire the modern tools currently required by the markets, which have become much more demanding," acknowledges the manager José Manuel Gómez.
Source: Abc