Anecoop kicks off 50th anniversary celebrations at Fruit Attraction

Fruit Attraction served as the backdrop for the launch of Anecoop’s 50th anniversary celebrations on Tuesday. At a press conference hosted by chairman Alejandro Monzón and managing director, Joan Mir, the company reflected on key milestones, current challenges and plans for the future.

Agriculture with values

Monzón, began his speech by thanking all past and current members of the second-tier cooperative, noting: “Our growers are the cornerstone of our story and our success. Guided by deep-rooted cooperative values, they continue to nurture the future and remain fully committed to sustainable agriculture, producing healthy food, protecting the environment, and strengthening rural communities”.

Disruptive project to international benchmark

Anecoop was founded in 1975 when 31 citrus cooperatives decided to pool their production to improve their trading position in Eastern European markets. Another of the main objectives from the outset was to be an attractive partner for large retailers by offering a wide range of products and services. “This marked the start of a project which was considered disruptive at the time, but which has now established itself as a benchmark in the European fruit and vegetable sector,” Monzón said.

Anecoop currently has 61 member cooperatives, representing over 20,000 growers who farm more than 61,000ha across Spain in 13 provinces (Valencia, Castellon, Alicante, Murcia, Almeria, Cadiz, Seville, Huelva, Ciudad Real, Segovia, Valladolid, Navarre and Lleida).

When asked about the company’s product range, Mir explained that “we offer a wide range of produce including citrus, seasonal fruit (summer and autumn), exotic fruit, greenhouse and outdoor vegetables, as well as juices, canned vegetables, flowers and ready-to-eat products.

“We also have a specialist wine division. In addition to conventional production, we embrace integrated crop management and organic farming practices, constantly striving to improve our members’ profitability and effectively catering to the changing requirements of the distribution channel”.

Anecoop operates in a total of 74 countries. It has over 90 products in its portfolio and provides consistent supply in terms of volume, range and an extended production calendar.

In addition, it has five regional offices in Spain, 12 subsidiaries in eight countries and two logistics platforms, enabling it to respond quickly and provide an efficient, local service to its customers, making it “possibly the largest fruit and vegetable sales network in Europe”, according to Monzón.

Major milestones

The press conference reviewed some of the milestones that have marked the history of Anecoop, highlighting the fundamental role of the people who have nurtured and driven the cooperative forward over five decades. Other key moments in the organisation’s history include the establishment of its international sales network, with the first subsidiary opening in France in 1979; the launch of flagship products such as the Bouquet seedless watermelon (1992) and the Persimon kaki (1997), and the development of the naturane integrated production regulations in the same decade.

The 21st century has seen communication campaigns to promote rural areas and agriculture, such as Actions that Bring Life to Farming (2020), as well as a stronger commitment to sustainable management, with Anecoop joining the United Nations Global Compact in 2021 and launching the Anecoop Sustainability Observatory in 2023.

Pioneers in sustainability and innovation

Anecoop was a pioneer in sustainability. As early as the 1990s, it drew up the naturane regulations, which envisaged the ESG criteria that its members had to comply with to obtain this demanding certification. This integrated production system was the first to be approved by GlobalGAP (formerly EurepGAP) in the early 2000s.

Anecoop’s commitment to sustainability was further strengthened with the launch of the Anecoop Sustainability Observatory, in conjunction with Kiwa, which was presented at Fruit Attraction in 2023.

“This ambitious initiative enables our members to accurately measure their impact, comply with regulations and make better decisions in terms of sustainability, improving the industry’s efficiency, competitiveness and its social and environmental value. To date, 25 member organisations have joined the initiative, and we expect this number to continue growing in the coming months,” Mir said.

The press conference highlighted Anecoop’s strategic focus on creating value through innovation, which encompasses both product innovation, conducted at its two R&D centres, as well as its approach to business management.

Integration at its core

Anecoop has been working for a quarter of a century to advance one of its founding objectives: strengthening integration and cooperation among its members. Building these alliances is crucial to safeguarding the future viability of agriculture, as they enhance collective potential over individual efforts and multiply the ability to respond to an ever-changing global market.

According to Monzón, “we aspire to consolidate an ecosystem of member organisations which, while fewer in number, is far stronger, more robust and more cohesive”.

He said the company’s journey “reflects years of promoting processes of integration, cooperation and synergies among our members. We are firmly convinced that joining forces and working together are the cornerstones for ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of our organisations in an increasingly changing and demanding environment”.

Looking ahead to the future

While a 50th anniversary is an excellent time to look back and take stock, the company said it would also lay the foundations for its roadmap for the coming years.

Mir pointed out that “our future plans encompass a range of areas: adopting advances in new technologies, adapting to climate change and new regulatory frameworks, combating pests, promoting generational renewal, which is a major concern for us, and raising the profile of agricultural produce among consumers”.

“We are also making progress in generating added value through communication. In addition, we have introduced a new organisational model in our sales department to adapt to changes in the environment and our markets,” he said.

Monzón said one of the company’s main challenges and focuses is on developing real solutions to attract young people to farming in rural areas. “The main argument is the very nature of agriculture: the responsibility to feed society. We are working on several projects with our members based on this message, aimed at making cooperatives an aspirational business model that young people can identify with, and which offers them opportunities for growth and a future,” he said.

Anecoop will be celebrating its 50th anniversary throughout the 2025/26 trading year. It said it would continue to aim to transform these challenges into opportunities, boost its competitiveness, reinforce its international standing, and improve the profitability of its growers who, according to Mir,”are the raison d’être of Anecoop, a company of people for people”.