The 5th edition of the Agrifood International Congress has highlighted the main disruptive factors that the agri-food value chain must face. Overregulation, bottlenecks, and international tensions have been identified as the three main elements generating disruption in the sector. In volatile scenarios, the congress speakers emphasized the sector's adaptability and agility in seeking alternatives to respond to new situations. Among the main challenges facing this value chain, Agrifood highlighted the loss of competitiveness due to excessive regulation; the need to embrace new business opportunities derived from new energies and rural development; and the improvement of logistics flows to move towards more efficient and sustainable models. With the celebration of the Agrifood International Congress, which gathered over 120 participants, Port Tarragona strengthens its leadership as the main agri-food port in the Mediterranean.
Professor of Economics at Columbia University (USA), Xavier Sala-i-Martin, was in charge of delivering the inaugural address of the congress on Thursday, October 15, in the afternoon. Under the title 'A World in Tension', Sala-i-Martin identified the eight factors of global disruption that explain the volatile scenario defining the current moment. For the professor, these factors are the policies promoted by Donald Trump; the deglobalization processes that are generating a new world order of uncertain direction; recent armed conflicts and the fragility of some of the main international trade corridors such as Hormuz, Suez, or the Strait of Malacca; global food insecurity; a youth characterized by fragility and impatience; political and social polarization and discontent towards migration; Europe's complacency; and the technological revolution, with artificial intelligence as a major game-changer.
Sala-i-Martin also offered advice and guidelines for effectively managing these turbulent scenarios. The economist summarized them in five points: understanding the world we live in; experimenting in these new contexts; diversifying to have alternatives; knowing how to identify "smoke" from reality; and avoiding complacency.
The second day of the congress began with the presentation 'European regulation as a "game changer" in agri-food trade', by Carme Soler, director of ASFAC, the association of feed producers in Catalonia. Soler explained the effects of the EUDR regulation, which requires that certain products imported or exported to the European Union do not originate from deforested land. Soler stated that the restrictions imposed on soy – a strategic raw material in feed production – are the same as those imposed on coffee or chocolate, despite being clearly differentiated crops.
This regulation mandates traceability, Soler detailed, from the producer to transport and logistics, to final processing, which "puts immense pressure on the entire value chain." The director of ASFAC explained that, according to calculations made by the association, this regulation entails an additional cost of more than 150 million euros annually, representing a 12% increase in costs, which ultimately impacts the entire chain, including final consumers. Given this scenario, she defended the need to "regulate without losing competitiveness," because otherwise, the security of raw material supply, which is "a strategic condition," is jeopardized.
The first of the roundtables at the 5th Agrifood was 'Food, feed, fuel: the role of agri-food raw materials in the energy transition'. Participants included Alberto Carmona, CEO and founder of NixAl Commodities; Joan Bolet, vice president of Vertex Bioenergy; and Joaquín Gaitán, Executive Manager of ADM Agro Ibérica. The three speakers explained how bioethanol production using corn starch is an opportunity to advance towards the decarbonization of society, while generating economic dynamism and retaining the population in rural areas.
Carmona provided a brief overview of the bioethanol production process and how it only uses corn starch, leaving the protein free for other uses in feed manufacturing, which can be an alternative to soy. For his part, Bolet emphasized how the use of bioethanol is key to advancing towards climate neutrality, as it reduces emissions by 70% compared to conventional ethanol. The vice president of Vertex also explained that in production processes, CO₂ can be captured and given other uses for the agri-food sector or as an element for the production of synthetic fuels. Joaquin Gaitán defended bioethanol as a commitment to promote the circular economy and regretted that currently the use of cereals for biofuel production is subject to the consumption of cereals for food use.
The second roundtable was titled 'Resilience, costs, and real decisions in a disruptive environment' and featured Jaume Arimany, Senior Commercial Manager of Proteins at Bunge; J.R. Albareda, from the Raw Materials Purchasing Department at Vall Companys; and Josep Ribó, Production Director of Animal Feed at BonÀrea.
The sector's adaptability was one of the elements highlighted when discussing resilience. Both Jaume Arimany and J.R. Albareda explained that feed manufacturers have various types of raw materials that can be used, which allows them to respond to disruptive contexts. Likewise, the Bunge representative stated that, in their case, being a global company allows them a global margin of maneuver that makes them more resilient.
The impact on costs was one of the topics discussed at the roundtable. Participants commented that when the sector is immersed in a disruption, the way to address it is not by trying to reverse the impact on costs, but by minimizing them. Josep Ribó, in this regard, assured that "resilience has a cost, but after different crises, we have learned to be agile. The challenge is more about management than investment." For the BonÀrea representative, having prepared and well-informed human teams is key to being able to find alternatives.
The third and final roundtable focused on bottlenecks. Under the title, 'The new bottleneck for agri-food products', the table featured Ramón García, Commercial Director of Ership; Javier Dolader, Supply Chain Manager at Grupo Jorge; and Carles Segura, Head of the Operations Area of Port Tarragona. The speakers focused on several elements that create bottlenecks in agri-food logistics, such as the lack of storage capacity, the limited availability of road transport professionals, and the need to move towards more efficient and sustainable models.
Given these handicaps, the proposed solutions are diverse. Ramón García explained how the new investments that Ership will carry out in Port Tarragona with the construction of new warehouses and mechanized transport systems using conveyor belts for solid bulk, will allow them to increase their storage capacity, in the case of the warehouses; and will offer a more efficient operation with less environmental impact, thanks to the reduction of trucks at the dock by transporting grain between the ship and the warehouses.
For his part, Javier Dolader explained Grupo Jorge's commitment to rail transport. "We wanted to bring the port closer to our production centers in Aragon," he explained. The company already relied on an intermodal system for exporting its meat products, where transport between production centers and the port – in this case, Barcelona – was done by train. Given the success of this model, they wanted to replicate it in the opposite direction, with grain imports for feed production. To do this, they have invested in their own logistics area within the Tarragona port facilities and with regular services for dispatching grain trains from the Port to the Aragonese stations of Zuera and Sariñena. This commitment allows them to control the entire value chain of their product, provides guaranteed logistical solutions in the face of possible uncertainties, and at the same time, represents a commitment to the decarbonization of the sector.
For his part, Carles Segura, Head of the Operations Area of Port Tarragona, explained how investment in port infrastructure is key to addressing these challenges and gave the example of the deepening of the Moll de Castilla, which will allow larger vessels to be accommodated, increasing transport efficiency and reducing emissions.
The three also highlighted the need to promote public-private collaboration to drive global solutions that address bottlenecks and the challenges the sector faces in a constantly changing world.
