“The farmer entrepreneur sees opportunities where others see problems”
The Food Chain Partnership initiative of Bayer CropScience is 10 years old and celebrates in style in Fruit Attraction in 2015. This initiative, which already has more than 125 projects stuck in Iberia, aims collaboration between all actors involved in the food chain to ensure that the final consumer reach quality food, safe and healthy.
Innovate, internationalize and integrate the three key levers of agricultural growth
To celebrate this 10th anniversary, Bayer CropScience has received Jaume Llopis, Professor of Strategic Management at IESE Business School, and with more than 30 years in the food industry. Under the title: “Horticultural Sector: strategies for growth and value creation”, the expert has given a talk on the three levers of growth that the Spanish fruit and vegetable producers must turn to differentiate their products and revitalize the margins: innovation, internationalization and integration .
Before a large group of producers and customers of Bayer CropScience, Professor Llopis said that “the enterprising farmer sees opportunities where others only see problems.” In a competitive market such as agriculture, the main objective should be to increase producer margins, hence the need to invest in innovation, internationalization and integrate with the rest of the chain.
“The producer has two alternatives, differentiate or die,” says Jaume Llopis, adding that “the only sustainable competitive advantage is innovation rather than competition,” particularly where this farmer is out with their products abroad. Jaume Llopis According to the current producer, internationalization is no longer an option because “internationalize has more risks.”
Referring to the cooperation model that drives Food Chain Partnership, the expert said that this Bayer initiative reflects the change that is occurring in the relationship with their environment producers (distributors, competitors, consumers, etc). Jaume Llopis, we are moving from confrontation to cooperation. The definition of the new environment would be “Stop Selling, Start partnering”.
In Spain, Food Chain Partnership is established on farms in seven regions: Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, Extremadura and Aragón. In total, they cover an area of over 28,000 hectares. Farmers adhere to the project have in common an innovative and clear export vocation and to be part of this value chain, gives them significant advantages when it comes to marketing their products in foreign markets. In the first six months of the year they have joined the chain 14 new producers in Iberia.
About Bayer CropScience
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in life sciences, in the fields of health and agriculture. Bayer CropScience, focused on agricultural nutrition is one of the leading biotechnology companies worldwide recognized seed and plants, innovation and crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company offers a wide range of products including high value seeds, innovative solutions for sustainable crop protection based on biological and chemical modes of action, as well as extensive customer support service for a modern and sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a wide range of products and pest control services from the home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 23,100 and is represented in more than 120 countries.
Source: Bayer
