Anecoop, the first fruit and vegetable company in the Mediterranean, celebrates its 50th Anniversary. Fruit Attraction was the setting chosen to take stock before the media of these five decades of service to the sector in a press conference attended by the president of Anecoop, Alejandro Monzonand its general manager, Joan Mir. A journey through the history, the most important milestones, the present and the future lines of action of the entity.

Agriculture with values

With congratulations, "To all those who have been and are part of this great family." began his speech on president of Anecoop,Alejandro Monzon, "Our farmers are the protagonists of our history. They cultivate the future guided by cooperative values and committed to sustainable agriculture that ensures healthy food, protects the environment and strengthens rural communities."

Anecoop: from disruptive project to international benchmark

Anecoop was founded in 1975 when 31 citrus cooperatives decided to unify their production volume in order to approach the Eastern European markets under better commercial conditions. Being an attractive interlocutor for large-scale distribution in terms of supply and service was another of the main objectives from the very beginning. "This was the start of a disruptive project for that time, which today has become a benchmark in the fruit and vegetable sector in Europe". according to its president, Alejandro Monzón.

At present, Anecoop The association is made up of 61 member organizations and represents more than 20,000 farmers who cultivate more than 61,000 hectares spread throughout Spain, specifically in 13 provinces (Valencia, Castellón, Alicante, Murcia, Almería, Cádiz, Seville, Huelva, Ciudad Real, Segovia, Valladolid, Navarra and Lleida).

As far as its offer is concerned, the general manager of Anecoop, Joan Mir, has pointed out that "We offer a wide range of products including citrus fruits, seasonal fruits -summer and autumn-, exotic fruits, greenhouse and outdoor vegetables, as well as juices, canned vegetables, flowers and fresh produce. We also have a specialized wine division. To conventional production we add integrated production and organic farming practices, always with the aim of improving the profitability of our partners and responding effectively to the demands of the distribution channel."

With more than 90 products in its portfolio, Anecoop has a homogeneous offer in terms of volume, range and timing, present in a total of 74 countries.

In addition, it has a structure comprising five offices in Spain, twelve subsidiaries in eight countries and two logistics platforms, which enables it to provide an agile response and a close and efficient service to its customers, making it what it is, in the words of its president, "possibly the largest fruit and vegetable trading network in Europe.".

Milestones in Anecoop's history

During the press conference, some of the milestones that have marked the history of the company were reviewed. AnecoopThe company has been supported and driven by the people who have sustained and promoted it for five decades. Another of the organization's key moments was the birth of its international commercial network with the launch of first subsidiary in France in 1979.

Some milestones also included the launch of such emblematic products as the seedless watermelon Bouquet (1992) and the Persimmon(1997); the drafting in the same decade of the regulation naturane integrated production; the launching of communication campaigns to promote the rural environment and agricultural activities, such as Rations of Life for the Countryside (2020); its desire to go even further in the area of sustainable management, which began in 2021 with its adherence to the United Nations Global Compact and the presentation in 2023 of the Anecoop Sustainability Observatory.

Pioneers in sustainability and innovation

Anecoop is a pioneer in sustainability. Already in the 90's, he elaborated the regulation of the naturane which included ESG criteria that its partners had to meet in order to obtain this demanding certification. An integrated production system that was the first to be approved by GLOBALG.A.P. (then EUREPGAP) in the early 2000s.

This commitment has been reinforced with the launching of the Kiwa R&D&Iof the Anecoop Sustainability Observatorywhose presentation took place within the framework of Fruit Attraction 2023.

"An ambitious initiative that allows our partners to accurately measure their impact, adapt to regulations and make better decisions in this area, improving efficiency, competitiveness and the social and environmental value of the sector. There are currently 25 partner organizations that have joined this initiative, a number that we expect to continue to grow in the coming months."said Joan Mir in his speech.

The strategic focus on the creation of value from the innovation is Anecoop's hallmark. Not only in terms of the product, with two R+D+iT centers, but also in business management.

Integration and cooperative cooperation: "Together we go further".

For 25 years, Anecoop has been promoting progress in what is one of its founding objectives: the formalization of integration and inter-cooperation processes among its members. The generation of these alliances is key to the viability of agriculture in the future, since it strengthens the collective potential over the individual, multiplying the response capacity in a global market in constant transformation.

According to the president of Anecoop "We aspire to consolidate an ecosystem of associated entities that is more compact in number, but significantly more robust and cohesive. This evolution will be the result of sustained processes of integration, cooperation and generation of synergies that we have been promoting for years, with the firm conviction that union and collaborative work are essential pillars to ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of our structures in an increasingly dynamic and demanding environment".

Driving the future

A 50th anniversary is a time to look back and take stock, but also to lay the foundations for Anecoop's roadmap for the coming years.

In this sense, Joan Mir has pointed out that ".future guidelines include several areas: adaptation to advances in new technologies, climate change and new regulatory frameworks; the fight against pests, the promotion of the generational replacement that concerns us so much and the enhancement of the value of agricultural production for the consumer. We are also making progress in building differential value through communication. Furthermore, in order to adapt our management to changes in the environment and markets, we have started to work with a new organizational model within our commercial department"..

For his part, the president of Anecoop, Alejandro Monzón, wanted to emphasize that one of the main lines of work focuses on "The main argument is the very nature of agriculture: the responsibility to feed society. The main argument is the very nature of agriculture: the responsibility to feed society. Based on this message, we are immersed in the development of several projects together with our members, aimed at making cooperatives a business environment with which young people feel identified and which offers them the possibility of growth and future".

Anecoop will celebrate this 50th Anniversary throughout the fiscal year 2025-2026with the challenge of transforming all these challenges into opportunities to continue advancing in competitiveness and international positioning, improving the profitability of its farmers, which, according to Joan Mir, is one of the main objectives of the company. "are the raison d'être of Anecoop, a company of people for people"..