“Only if we are sustainable will there be both an economy and a future”

The AgroBank stand at the Fruit Attraction trade fair in Madrid has been the setting chosen for the launch of the Circular Economy Awards granted by the financial and insurance entity and by LA VOZ.

“This is an initiative that we found very interesting and for which I want to congratulate all the winners and LA VOZ. And I would like to mean that “only if we are sustainable will there be both an economy and a future,” Juan Ignacio Zafra, Territorial Director of Eastern Andalusia at Caixabank, explained during his speech.

Therefore, an appointment that has premiered in Madrid and has done so with a format in which the head of Agriculture at LA VOZ, Jacinto Castillo, has shared reflections with the different winners. Reflections that can all be viewed through Agrobank’s social networks.

Carbon footprint
One of the awards has been the one that Biorizon Biotech has received for its contribution to reducing the carbon footprint. Its CEO, David Iglesias, has highlighted that “we attack the reduction of carbon footprint from two perspectives, on the one hand, through microalgae, for every kilo of biomass we are capturing 2 kilos of CO2. And then, within the strategy globally, we are participating in the reduction of the part of traditional chemical fertilization that also has a significant impact on the carbon footprint ”.

For its part, the company Cuadraspania has received the award for female leadership. Its manager, Josefina Cuadras, assures that “I was delighted that the human factor is taken and women are considered with a relevant role in this factor. We have always been here. That cannot be forgotten. But we have always been in the shadows. And what must be emphasized is that little by little we are already having a presence in the light ”.

Bioeconomía
The bioeconomy and circular economy award went to Kimitec, whose vice president, Antonio Domene, described how “the productive sector is very important and generates a series of by-products that, taking advantage of them, are relevant. Not only to give a second life but to improve other sectors. And I believe that production is very aware in this regard and Kimitec, as a biotechnology company, has circular economy projects as one of its objectives.

Water
The maximum and precise use of water is another of the permanent challenges of the sector. And, in this sense, the Aguas de Almanzora entity has been the winner in the category of the water challenge. One of its advisers, José Navarro, recalled how “in our basin it does not rain and the future is to carry out desalination projects. Now we are with a project in Cuevas el Almanzora of 30 hectometres of water per year. And, if possible, and that is how the project will contemplate it, we will do most of it with photovoltaic energy. We take advantage of our facilities because not a drop of water is lost. And to provide security and complete all the objectives through desalination ”.

Another of the categories to be awarded has been the one related to generational change, an award that has fallen on Coprohníjar that has been one of the examples of how to maintain the strength in the sector giving the possibility to new generations to continue giving continuity to the work of the generations that have preceded them.

Agriculture 4.0
The use of data and the way to transform knowledge into systematized practices is something in which the Hispatec Group is specialized, awarded in the category of Agriculture 4.0. Its CEO, José Luis Estrella, has indicated that “the sector is becoming highly technical because it knows that the only way to be sustainable is by studying what happens under the ground, at the roots, and taking that information and using it to minimize the use of nutrients or phytosanitary products to produce the same or more. We try to make knowledge by intuition something mechanized ”.

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