sostenibility – Giropoma

Giropoma favours biodiversity in the field for sustainable pest control

The coexistence of the greatest number of species in the same place and maintaining the balance of the ecosystem are key objectives in Giropoma‘s production. The company places special emphasis on favouring biodiversity in the field and activating useful fauna for sustainable crop growth. In this sense, the company seeks to create habitats through the development of various populations in nest boxes, insect hotels or with the conservation of trees and margins around the farms, as well as with the availability of water and the maintenance of grass between rows with a diversity of flowers. These techniques succeed in creating comfortable elements and environments for species to feed, establish refuges and reproduce.
‘These methods allow us to control the increase in pests or even bring them down to levels that do not cause damage to crops. In addition, there are species that can feed on this pest and this generates an increase in the population and, at the same time, benefits’, emphasises Cèsar Saiz, technical director of Giropoma.
All Giropoma’s fields follow the principles of the Catalan Council for Integrated Production (CCPI), choosing measures that aim to promote biodiversity -such as the installation of refuges-, the establishment of ecological compensation zones or the maintenance of the vegetation cover of the soil. Integrated production is the best system for crop protection and the basis for sustainable crop growth and pesticide risk reduction. The corporation points out that in growers’ fields there is often a large number of useful fauna, such as ladybirds, which help against pests. In addition, the CICC knows in which plots of land the products obtained following these criteria have been cultivated and what actions have been carried out in each plantation. ‘These practices are a further aid to successful production. However, they are not infallible methods and require observation of what is happening with biodiversity throughout the year,’ Saiz stresses.

Giropoma is one of the producers of the Catalan Council that since 2018 has implemented an irrigation system based on soil moisture sensors distributed throughout the production area, which through the data extracted – indicating the humidity and water available for the apple trees – and the weather forecast, allows them to give irrigation recommendations to minimise water consumption, control its correct distribution and the suitability of the means used.

In addition, the Catalan Council of Integrated Production contracts the control entities, accredited by the Spanish National Accreditation Entity (ENAC) in compliance with the EN-17.065 standard, to guarantee the monitoring of these standards. Giropoma is certified by the CCPI, so all the company’s products comply with the technical standards and regulations in force governing this agricultural production. In this line, Giropoma’s aim is to offer healthy, high quality apples, always following the values that define the company: the defence of the territory and the rural environment, respect for the environment, proximity, commitment and a commitment to people.

New filtration station enables Giropoma to reduce water consumption

Recently, Giropoma has made a new bet on technology and has installed a water filtering station in the first stage of the water circuit of the pre-sizing machine. In this first stage, the pallets of apples coming directly from the field are emptied, being this the first washing process that the apples receive.

With the installation of this station, Giropoma manages to eliminate all the soil, mud and organic matter in suspension from the water to keep it at an optimum quality level and, consequently, reduce consumption, since it avoids having to change it daily.

It is a filter, controlled by a web application, which consists of two tanks. A first one where the solids are precipitated, and a second one, which by means of a specific flint filter for the elimination of water turbidity and the retention of solids, filters the water to achieve a turbidity level lower than 1NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity United). In this type of filter, a cyclic backwash has to be applied, which uses a lot of water that until now could not be reused. However, with the technology installed, the apple producing and marketing company has been able to carry out a continuous backwashing of the water, separating this water and conducting it to the beginning of the filtering cycle, making the loss of this water to be zero.

This water filtration keeps the water clean and rigorously improves its disinfection over long periods of time.

Once again, Giropoma has opted for innovation to continue working on the company’s efficiency and sustainability.

SCABKILL project, rationalization of the use of phytosanitary products in the control of apple scab

Giropoma Costa Brava SL, as leader, together with Girona Fruits SCCL, Fructícola Empordà SL, Serrater SL and Agroalimentaria Mas Saulot SL; and with the participation of IRTA as technological center; is working on the development of precision treatment systems and inoculum management techniques to rationalize the use of phytosanitary products in the control of apple apple scab (SCABKILL).

In the Girona area, the control of apple apple scab concentrates more than 80% of the phytosanitary treatments, being the control of primary infections in spring one of the critical points for the management of the disease.

In this context, the main objective of the SCABKILL project is to define a comprehensive strategy for the sustainable control of apple scab by:

– Developing tools to manage the primary inoculum of ground leaves.

– Evaluating systems that allow forcing the release of inoculum at a time without risk of disease

– Using precision dusting systems to improve the efficiency of treatments

– Evaluating sustainable alternatives to synthetic products.

SCABKILL is framed within the European Innovation Partnership Operational Groups support for agricultural productivity and sustainability, financed by the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

“Project funded through the Operation 16.01.01 Cooperation for Innovation of the Rural Development Program of Catalonia 2014-2022.”

Giropoma is committed to energy self-consumption, thanks to an installed capacity of 550 kW of solar panels

At Giropoma we are committed to green energy and sustainable production. Currently, we have 550 kW of photovoltaic solar panels that generate approximately 22% of the company’s energy. These panels take advantage of the energy from sunlight, through the photovoltaic effect, which generates electric current.

We are committed to this type of energy because it is renewable, unlimited and abundant. In addition, it is the cleanest and greenest energy available, since it does not generate greenhouse gases.

According to data from the Register of Self-consumption in Catalonia, in September 2022, there were 208,376 kW of installed photovoltaic self-consumption power in Catalonia, 130% more than at the end of 2021.

Source: Regsiter of Self-consumption in Catalonia

In terms of Territorial Services, Girona is in second position in terms of installed photovoltaic self-consumption capacity with 36,116 kW, behind Barcelona, with 118,554 kW.

Source: Regsiter of Self-consumption in Catalonia

In addition, at Giropoma we have replaced most of the company’s lighting with LED lighting, which means significant energy savings for the company, longer bulb life, is environmentally friendly and produces low light pollution.

We also have an electric car charger for our employees, vehicles that have been on the rise in recent years thanks to greater environmental awareness and their increasing popularity.

We are very aware of sustainability in the field. We use biological control methods to reduce the use of chemical products, we promote biodiversity in the fields to deal with possible pests, we minimize water consumption through specific irrigation systems and we reduce waste.

In the coming years, we plan to increase the number of photovoltaic solar panels to increase the percentage of green energy produced.