HULLinFOOD

Unión Nuts, SCCL leads and coordinates the Project  HULLinFOOD: Bioactive ingredients for nutraceutical and functional foods from almond hull by-products with a zero-waste approach in a cascading biorefinery system, together with LEITAT as a technological center.

HULLinFOOD project seeks to provide solutions to two of the most complex challenges that modern society faces: (i) the need of healthy and functional foods to tackle the increase of global levels of diseases and (ii) the need for the transition to lineal business model to circulars ones, improving environmental impact of industrial systems. From these challenges, a new innovative and sustainable strategy emerges thanks to the upcycling of the almond’s hull (by-product of almond processing) as a new source of food ingredients with antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive, hypoglycemic and hypocolesterolemic properties. Almond’s hull is a rich by-product containing a wide range of bioactive components with high added value. Nonetheless, almond’s hull is mainly being employed as livestock feed and as biomass raw material to generate electricity. Thus, the potential use of using almond’s hull as a source for obtaining bioactive compounds would be highly beneficial for human consumption, increasing the availability of sustainable, resilient, safe, and healthy food ingredients by implementing circular strategies and valorisation processes to convert almond’s hull into innovative and natural functional ingredients and nutraceuticals.

You can find more information here.

Project CPP2022-010079 funded by:

GO REGEN_ALMOND

Unió Nuts, SCCL leads and coordinates the REGEN_ALMOND project: Environmental and economic viability of implementing regenerative agriculture practices in traditional and organic almond cultivation, together with Vivers Viladegut, SL and Ecoconreus.CAT, SCCL and with the participation of IRTA as a technology center.

Global food chains, market competition and industrial processes have considerably increased the productivity of the agricultural sector, but environmental and sustainability challenges remain great. Farmers and their cooperatives, and the agricultural world in general, have the opportunity and responsibility to protect the territory while fulfilling the purpose of feeding the population safely, responsibly and sustainably. Its sustainability strategy focuses on three strategic priorities: climate, land and water and people. Each of these priorities has a clearly defined focus to advance resilient supply chains, generate shared value for customers and drive positive changes in the operating and sourcing communities. One of the options that exists to achieve these objectives is to adhere to agroecological management, which has the premise of maintaining yields while offering additional ecological benefits, using practices such as not plowing the land excessively, adding vegetation cover, applying organic soil amendments, with the idea of ​​balancing agricultural productivity and ecological functionalities and thus improving resilience to external biophysical disturbances such as erosion, droughts, pests, etc. Another option that is currently being implemented regenerative agriculture and food systems to be more resilient and sustainable is regenerative agriculture, which aims to rationalize resources, doing things better with less. The idea is based on feeding crops correctly, trying not only not to impoverish the soils, but also with the idea of ​​regenerating them, also reducing emissions and the impact on biodiversity.

The main objective of the project is to demonstrate the environmental and economic viability of implementing regenerative agriculture practices in 4 almond farms of different typologies (irrigated, dryland, conventional and organic), located in different regions of the provinces of Lleida and Tarragona and which start from different realities and problems.

Action of the PAC Strategic Plan 2023-2027 co-financed by:

GO REGSUNUT

Unió Nuts, SCCL participates in the project REGSUNUT: Survival of hazelnut cultivation in Camp de Tarragona: Value of treated wastewater as a complement to conventional water resources, with the Comunitat de Regants del Pantà de Riudecanyes, who leads the project, and the participation of IRTA as the technology center and coordinator.

The current drought situation suffered by the Camp de Tarragona in recent years not only threatens to significantly reduce hazelnut production and quality in the area, which are closely related to the water they receive during the season, but also to kill trees and force entire plantations to be replanted. The reduced availability of water for irrigation in the counties of Camp de Tarragona is a limiting factor for the profitability of the hazelnut sector, and it is necessary to explore other alternative sources of water such as treated wastewater from urban centres to avoid production and quality losses due to water stress and using a water source that until now has been considered a water source. Thus, the general objective of the project is to validate the use of treated wastewater in hazelnut trees to study their physiological and agronomic response and to be able to recommend or not their use and to find out whether they are an opportunity to increase the competitiveness of the sector and its adaptation to climate change.

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Action of the PAC Strategic Plan 2023-2027 co-financed by:

GO OLIV.PODA_COOP

Unió Fruits, SCCL participates in the project OLIV.PODA_COOP: Improving the profitability and efficiency of water use in traditional olive groves in Catalonia using a new fully mechanized pruning technique, with Agrícola del Camp de Santa Bàrbara, SCCL. and COSELVA, with the participation of IRTA as the technology center and FCAC as coordinator.

The main objective of this project is to evaluate the application of fully mechanised pruning in olive cultivation, determining its effectiveness in optimising vegetative growth and production in both intensive and traditional olive plantations. The aim is to compare this system with the conventional pruning system in moto sierra at an agronomic, productive and economic level.

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Action of the PAC Strategic Plan 2023-2027 co-financed by:

GO GEO-CROP

Unió Fruits, SCCL participates and leads the project GEO-CROP: Tool to identify the best crops to optimize the competitiveness and resilience to climate change of farms with a pixel geo-referencing system, with Ametller Origen, with the participation of UPC as the technology center and the FoodService Cluster as coordinator.

The objective of the project is to simplify the chain’s processes by developing a unique digital tool that can be used to georeference a range of information from open-access data and farm data using a cartographic orientation system. These data must feed a whole series of new ones algorithms for creating significant indexes for farms using Artificial Intelligence methodologies. The visualization and analysis of the indices should help producers and administrations in making decisions for the planning of outdoor crops, mainly fruit and vegetable crops. In addition, work will be done on the clustering or grouping of grids based on the agricultural vocation of the study areas, in order to promote a competitive and resilient agricultural activity to climate change.

You can find more information here.

Action of the PAC Strategic Plan 2023-2027 co-financed by:

GO FERTIMSART

Unió Fruits, SCCL participates in the project FERTIMSART; Implementation of an intelligent fertigation tool using new technologies based on the synergy of digital twins, remote sensing and sensors, to improve the water and economic productivity of young almond and pistachio trees., with Eurospistachios Catalunya SLU., with the participation of IRTA as the technology center and coordinator.

The main goal of the project is to demonstrate how to effectively and practically solve the problem of managing fertigation in large commercial pistachio and almond farms with high spatial variability, to achieve maximum efficiency and water and nutritional productivity, as well as a rapid entry into production, especially considering potential future droughts, where new irrigation restrictions could be imposed.

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Action of the PAC Strategic Plan 2023-2027 co-financed by:

GO SAN-PROT

Unió Origen, SCCL participates and leads the project SAN-PROT. Study of Protein Recovery in Olive Pomace, with Andrés Pintaluba SA and Ingredalia SL., with the participation of Eurecat as the technology center and the INNOVAC Cluster as coordinator.

The SAN-PROT project addresses the growing demand in protein by 2050 by developing new alternative protein sources derived from agricultural byproducts, which contribute to environmental sustainability. The main objective of the project is to valorize the olive oil extraction residue, known as olive pomace, as a new protein source for various applications.

You can find more information here.

Action of the PAC Strategic Plan 2023-2027 co-financed by:

CIRPOL

Unió Origen SCCL. leads and participates in the project of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya CIRPOL: New circular business models based on the substitution of synethic antioxidant additives for polyphenols obtained in a sustainable way from agri-food by-products.

The project aims to replace food additives of chemical syntesis by polyphenols obtained using an innovative technology for the recovery of high value-added products (polyphenols) from by-products generated from the agri-food sector (grapes, olives, nuts and carob) promoting the circular economy.

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VISENSEFILM

Unió Origen SCCL. leads and participates in the project of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya VISENSEFILM: Ecodesign and reduction of shrink plastic film used in the wine chain.

The project aims to implement, in an integraded and complete way, the ecodesign methodology in the wine sector. To achieve this, we will work on a specific case of ecodesign and reduction of the shrink plastic film used in the wine chain during the packaging phase of the boxes with wine bottles for distribution to customers.

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LIFE CYCLOPS

Unió Origen SCCL and Unió Nuts SCCL, participate in the european project Life CYCLOPS: Recovery of polyphenols from waste from the olive oil and wine industry.

LIFE CYCLOPS aims to technically and economically demonstrate a sustainable technology to recover and value polyphenols from olive oil and wine industry waste, promoting a circular economy and zero waste model.

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QUALINUT

The main objective of the project is to identify and describe the main conditioning factors and defects caused by new almond varieties in industry and study if some of them can be corrected by adaptations in agronomic management in the field. This knowledge will provide relevant information, improving the industrial processes in which new varieties are involved and thus be able to increase the economic profitability of the processing industry.

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FRUHPH

The main objective of the project is the testing of the technology of Ultra Other Pressures (UHPH) as a non-thermal physical technology for the stabilization of vegetal origin drinks as wine, juices and concentrates in order to reduce the preservatives and improve their organoleptic characteristics.

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XAPFREE

The main objective of this project is to improve efficiency in the control of bacterial stains on almond and peach trees, thus reducing dependence on phytosanitary products.

The main objective of this project is to improve efficiency in the control of bacterial stains on almond and peach trees, reducing dependence on phytosanitary products.

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+EXTROL

The main objective of the project is to incorporate new extractive technologies to improve the extractive process of virgin olive oil developed in the oil mills of agri-food companies in the sector. This improvement would also involve the automation of a product with the highest quality and at the same time reducing process costs.

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POLIAPIG

Unió Fruits, SCCL participates in the POLIAPIG Project – Implementation of AI on an experimental farm as a tool to monitor health improvement in piglets fed polyphenol-rich wine by-products.

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EFENERVI

Unió Origen, SCCL participates in the EFERNIVI project: Energy efficiency in the wine sector. The main objective of the EFENERVI project is the evaluation and development of pilot tests to optimize strategies for the implementation of renewable energy sources in a hybrid way and to improve their operation in order to maximize energy efficiency in the process. ‘elaboration of wines and cavas. Due to the temporality of its production process, the wine sector has energy demands at different stages of the production process that are not constant over time. It is for this reason that the supply of renewable energy sources, some of which are influenced by climatic conditions, as well as the sustainable use of energy resources is a challenge for companies in the wine and cava sector. You can find more information here.

PREDIVI

Podreu trobar més informació aquí.

ALMON

In the GO-ALMON project, the epidemiology of moniliosis in almond trees in the producing area of the Ebro Valley has been studied, identifying the causative agent, monitoring its presence in infected plant material and evaluating its sensitivity to the main fungicides used in the intensive management of this crop, determining the importance of the damage caused by Monilinia spp. in almond trees and the contributing factors.

More information here.

Carob pulp valorization project

Obtaining flours, fibers, sugars of low glycemic index and tannins from the pulp of the carob. These products have food applications in the sector of bread, pastries, confectionery, cereals, confectionery, wine industry, petfood, pharmacy, infant and sports food.

Project for genetic improvement of the marcona almond variety

Experimental estates

Innopat alimentation comunity

Ketrenovin

Research and experimental application of biotechnology as a key KET (Key Enabling Technologies) key in obtaining new ingredients with high added value for the Catalan agri-food sector. Project financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union within the framework of the ERDF Operational Program of Catalonia 2014-2020, with file number COMRDI15-1-0028. Mes info

Microbiota

Identification of new ingredients modulating human and animal microbiota using industrial biotechnology, omics technologies and big data technologies. Project financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union within the framework of the ERDF Operational Program of Catalonia 2014-2020, with file number COMRDI15-1-0029. More information

+ InfoFiberox

Breakfast cereals

Operational Group for the Detection and Eradication of Bitter Almonds

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