Spain
Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias de Andalucia (CAAND)
About
Agrifood Cooperatives of Andalusia is a SME composed of 641 agricultural cooperatives in Andalusia, with the primary objective of advising and representing them as well as defending their interests. The group of cooperatives associated with Agrifood Cooperatives of Andalusia brings together more than 290.000 members, involving a total turnover of 10.500 M€, This is equivalent to more than 5% of Andalusia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The member organizations of Agrifood Cooperatives of Andalusia account for more than 60% of the region’s agricultural production, although in sectors such as olive oil this percentage exceeds 70%.
The federation focuses its activity not only on representing the interests of its cooperative members and their associated entities, but also on promoting and boosting cooperative projects, aimed at ensuring that companies provide more and better services to farmers and livestock farmers, are more competitive in global markets and make their products available to consumers. All of this, incorporating the value of industrialization and commercialization into the products, to achieve the best level of income for the production sector (farmers and livestock farmers), with the aim of guaranteeing their future.
The entity counts with a quality and an R&D+I department and implement projects focused on waste management, recovery of by-products, environmental reports, technological improvement or quality certifications to different, cooperatives, etc. It also has a communication department which cover all the news from the member cooperatives and publishes a magazine called Earth Cooperative which provides information on all the projects developed by the entity, as well as useful information for its members. Tis departments also take care of the design and execution of the participatory research actions (surveys, interviews) which are done by the associations.
The entity has a stretch relationship with its associates and has acted on several occasions as a mediator between farmers and the policy making and the policy monitoring organisms in Andalusia (Junta de Andalucía, local governments, etc.)
Summery, the mission of Agrifood Cooperatives of Andalusia is to promote a business cooperative model that is profitable, competitive, professionalized, generates value and has a relevant dimension, thus contributing to the sustainability of the regional agricultural and agri-food sector.
Role in CHOICE
Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de Andalucía is making available to the CHOICE project its full scope both at the level of associated agricultural cooperatives and their agricultural and livestock partners, the assessment of the impact generated by sustainable agricultural practices mainly in the olive grove sector and the livestock sector, especially in cattle, pigs, goats and sheep, in order to reduce the carbon footprint. With the collaboration of all the agents involved according to the sectoral impact of agricultural and livestock cooperatives, CHOICE will assess the impact of sustainable agricultural practices in olive groves (which cover the largest percentage of the agricultural sector in Andalusia) and sustainable livestock practices. In addition, it will seek to influence the livestock production sector, especially cattle, pigs, goats and sheep, to reduce the carbon footprint.The role of cooperatives aims to increase the number of farmers who will opt for pro-environmental behaviour by using the suggested farming practices, i.e. rotational grazing, regenerative farming, bio-fertilisers and water management practices.Furthermore, it is intended to involve a network of more than 200 local actors with different scenarios of sustainable agricultural practices, interacting with the interfaces of the FABLE calculator and the spatially explicit GLOBIOM tool for biodiversity and health indices.Finally, it is intended to organise several large-scale campaigns and challenges throughout the life of the project that will highlight the motivations of influential sectors.
