1 The Emilia-Romagna agro-industry cluster and the fruit and vegetable chain Alessandro ZAMPAGNA Centuria RIT – Romagna Innovazione Tecnologia General Manager Adriatic Danubian Clustering Sofia, 15 June 2011

2 1.Emilia-Romagna and the cluster concept 2.The role of cooperatives in Emilia-Romagna agrofood clusters 3.The fruit and vegetable chain in Emilia- Romagna

3 1. Emilia-Romagna and the cluster concept

4 NOT top-down planning But Self-originated and self-sustaining concentration of enterprises Fostered by local specialised services and funding The local government does not “create” clusters but helps the start-up and growth of the cluster through a support system composed of funding and especially services Cluster creation and development

5 NOT a simple concentration of food processing enterprises But COMPLETE FOOD CHAIN SEGMENTS MACHINERY AND SERVICES INTEGRATION COMMON ROOTS Agrofood agroindustry cluster

On a national level, Emilia-Romagna represents 15% of the sector 50 billions € (3,2% GDP) > 100,000 employed All food chains: pasta, meat, fruits and vegetables, sugar, wine, seeds, etc. Traditional and industrial production of typical food products: eg. Parmesan cheese, parma ham, vinegar, etc. Over 20 DOP and IGP 6 The Emilia-Romagna Food Cluster

7 -Tradition of artisan businesses within rural households. -Extensive networks between small businesses (farms, producers, distributers) leading to a high degree of flexibility. -Very high concentration of production of agricultural machinery, and industrial and food product packaging machinery -Close cooperative relationships between SMEs, and large cooperative system -Large-scale research institutes based in 4 local universities (Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, Parma). Cooperation in research among industry, government through integration of small- scale agro-food research institutes. The Emilia-Romagna Food Cluster

8 2. The role of cooperatives in Emilia-Romagna agrofood clusters

Emilia-Romagna agricultural gross product amounts at 4,000 millions Euro. More than 50% of the agricultural produce is managed by cooperatives. Cooperatives have had a primary role in the development of the cluster. 9 Agricultural Coops in Emilia-Romagna

FIRST-GENERATION COOPERATIVES «Defensive» objectives: to protect members from market risks and to reduce costs through scale economies “Decision Centre”: Board of Directors, composed of farmers, and Assembly «one head one vote" Evolution: 3Difficulties in maintaining margins 3Develop new higher valued added activities along the chain (new-generation cooperatives) 3Mergers or alliances to obtain greater scale economies How Coops were born

NEW-GENERATION COOPERATIVES «Offensive strategy»: scale economies in activities closer to the consumers (processing, logistics, marketing), in order to get more value added. They try not to sell commodities but higher-value products. Complete vertical integration, to obtain control of the whole chain. Or strategic alliances with companies (even non coops) with synergic expertise. The evolution of Coops

12 3. The fruit and vegetable chain in Emilia-Romagna

Case study 1: Orogel 40 Years ago Surplus of vegetables production from cooperative members

Innovation 14 Case study 1: Orogel

PIU’ GUSTO AL BENESSERE Case study 1: Orogel

fibre-rich low fat content

fibre rich high content in vitamins and anti-oxidants

Product diversification Case study 2: Orogel

Market diversification: not only F&V Case study 2: Orogel 219,000 tons, turnover 500Mn € first Italian-owned group in frozen food

20 Case study 2: Almaverde Bio

21 Case study 2: Almaverde Bio Almaverde at the start: going organic

TraceabilityTraceability

29 High added-value products Case study 2: Almaverde Bio

30 Case study 2: Almaverde Bio The alliance with other companies for wider range of products

More service: the organic take-away 31 Case study 2: Almaverde Bio

Almaverde today: Turnover 29.4 million € in 2010 increase by 12.4% compared to 2009 Case study 2: Almaverde Bio

To foster internationalisation of fruit and vegetable cluster companies in the Mediterranean A bridge between the fruit and vegetable cluster and the Mediterranean Case study 3: MFC

27 Italian companies (in majority from Emilia-Romagna) in different businesses of the fruit and vegetable cluster, have decided to cooperate in order to promote their activities in the Mediterranean:  Fresh fruit and vegetable production and marketing  Packaging  Machinery  Services Case study 3: MFC

M.F.C. offices MFC Italy MFC Egypt MFC Tunisia MFC Turkey MFC Russia Case study 3: MFC

36 Thank you