Importaco, leader in nuts production, has joined Proalmendra, nut farmers society in the Region of Valencia, to eliminate the presence of bitter almonds in the Maestrazgo area. We will be able to analyze the results of the project in the next harvest, in 2021, aiming to completely eradicate its presence by 2022.

This project will control the presence of bitter almonds through the proper maintenance of the trees, eliminating any spring that may generate bitter almonds, and through the implementation of good practices in farming to avoid the mixing of the fruits with wild almond trees. 208 farmers will participate in it, all members of Proalmendra, managing more than 1,500 hectares and producing 550 tons of Marcona and Comuna almonds.

“This project shows that value chain integration is the way to guarantee development and continuous improvement of the product. Thanks to this alliance with Proalmendra, we will improve the quality of our products and, therefore, our customers’ satisfaction” Xema Albert, Almonds specialist Director in Importaco.

Also, Rebeca Sales, president of Proalmendra emphasizes “our farmers have both the experience and the knowledge to cultivate almonds following the quality and sustainability standards. With this project, we will be able to provide value added to our products, while fulfilling the market needs”.

Good agricultural practices in almond farming.

Importaco has collaboration agreements with over 300 farmers, implementing good agricultural practices to guarantee the highest quality, food safety and sustainability standards. Through this project, the company monitors the agronomy behavior of over 7,000 Ha of almonds; analyzing key points as the influence of weather conditions, the quality of the product from the tree, and the farm characterization. Likewise, this process is applied to the whole life cycle of almonds: flowering, development, fruit ripening, harvesting, post-harvesting and storage.

Commitment with sustainability.

Importaco, committed with sustainability, leads the implementation of sustainable practices through its good agricultural practices program. The main actions carried out are: good management of phytosanitary products, water, soil and nourishment management monitoring, as well as biodiversity protection. The company is a member of Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, a platform to promote collaborations and to speed up the implementation of good agricultural practices.

Aiming to provide sustainable products globally, Importaco has an almond specialized factory, which uses electric and thermal energy from renewable sources, avoiding the emission of 700 CO2 tons a year. This eco-efficient plant follows a zero waste policy, based on the analysis of the product life cycle. The factory is certified with ISO14001 in environmental management systems.