Ejidomar SCA has celebrated its traditional lunch for partners, held yearly around this time of the year. The Ejido-based cooperative, which was founded over 4 decades ago, brought 325 partners and relatives together to celebrate the end of the campaign and the start of the new one.
Before the lunch, representatives of the International Organization of Fruits and Vegetables of Spain, HortiEspaña, presented the promotional campaign "Cultivos de Invernadero" ("Greenhouse Crops"). They showed them a video explaining the importance of the horticultural sector, which has made it possible for Almeria to become the largest exporter of fruit and vegetables in Spain. The goal of this campaign is to make all growers proud of their work. We supply healthy foods (containing vitamins, antioxidants, fibre, minerals) to 500 million Europeans during the winter months (in a society where diseases associated with obesity and sedentary lifestyles continue to become more common, also among children).
We are also pioneers in the way we cultivate. In 2007, we started to implement biological control. This "green revolution" has allowed us to minimise the use of phytosanitary products, which is in the interest of the producers; firstly, because those products cost money; secondly, because of the strict controls from the EU (which our products pass with concentrations 1/3 below what is required), and thirdly, because that way, we work in a cleaner environment. Almeria is a province where 48% of the surface is protected, while our crops account for just 3.4%. Such an efficient use of the soil is possible thanks to our greenhouse technology.
Almeria's agriculture, with Ejidomar as an example, is a successful model of family farming and the most redistributive system in the world. In Almeria, more than 50% of companies are cooperatives. Our agriculture demands a lot of labour, working mostly with people at risk of exclusion. More than 110 nationalities live together. Given all this, we must be proud of the work that the producers are doing. We are doing well, and we want to do even better!
Ejidomar in figures
Ejidomar has 240 members with a total of 385 hectares, where they grow a number of pepper varieties, including Palermo, Sweet Bite or bell peppers, Dutch cucumbers, courgettes, aubergines, melons and watermelons. Last season, it marketed some 40 million kilos of produce. Its main destination markets are Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, the US, Canada, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and the UK.