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The Emilia-Romagna agro-industry cluster and The Emilia-Romagna agro-industry cluster and the the fruit and vegetable chainfruit and vegetable chain

Alessandro ZAMPAGNAAlessandro ZAMPAGNACenturia RIT – Romagna Innovazione TecnologiaCenturia RIT – Romagna Innovazione Tecnologia

General ManagerGeneral Manager

Adriatic Danubian ClusteringAdriatic Danubian Clustering

SofiaSofia, 15 June 2011, 15 June 2011

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1.1. Emilia-Romagna and the cluster conceptEmilia-Romagna and the cluster concept

2.2. The role of cooperatives in The role of cooperatives in Emilia-Romagna agrofood clustersEmilia-Romagna agrofood clusters

3.3. The fruit and vegetable chain in Emilia-The fruit and vegetable chain in Emilia-RomagnaRomagna

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1. Emilia-Romagna and 1. Emilia-Romagna and the cluster conceptthe cluster concept

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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 developmentCluster creation and development

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NOT a simple concentration of food processing enterprises

But

COMPLETE FOOD CHAIN SEGMENTS

MACHINERY AND SERVICES

INTEGRATION

COMMON ROOTS

Agrofood agroindustry clusterAgrofood 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

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The Emilia-Romagna Food ClusterThe Emilia-Romagna Food Cluster

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- 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 ClusterThe Emilia-Romagna Food Cluster

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2. The role of cooperatives in 2. The role of cooperatives in Emilia-Romagna agrofood clustersEmilia-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.

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Agricultural Coops in Emilia-RomagnaAgricultural 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: Difficulties in maintaining margins Develop new higher valued added activities along the chain (new-generation cooperatives) Mergers or alliances to obtain greater scale economies

How Coops were bornHow 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 CoopsThe evolution of Coops

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

Case study 1: OrogelCase study 1: Orogel

40 Years ago

Surplus of vegetables production from cooperative members

Innovation

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Case study 1: OrogelCase study 1: Orogel

PIU’ GUSTO AL BENESSERE

Case study 1: OrogelCase study 1: Orogel

fibre-rich

low fat content

fibre rich

high content in vitamins and anti-oxidants

Product diversification

Case study 2: OrogelCase study 2: Orogel

Market diversification: not only F&V

Case study 2: OrogelCase study 2: Orogel

219,000 tons, turnover 500Mn € first Italian-owned group in frozen

food

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Case study 2: Almaverde BioCase study 2: Almaverde Bio

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Case study 2: Almaverde BioCase study 2: Almaverde Bio

Almaverde at the start: going organic

Traceability

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High added-value products

Case study 2: Almaverde BioCase study 2: Almaverde Bio

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Case study 2: Almaverde BioCase study 2: Almaverde Bio

The alliance with other companies for wider

range of products

More service: the organic take-away

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Case study 2: Almaverde BioCase study 2: Almaverde Bio

Almaverde today: Turnover 29.4 million € in 2010

increase by 12.4% compared to 2009

Case study 2: Almaverde BioCase study 2: Almaverde Bio

To foster internationalisation of fruit and vegetable To foster internationalisation of fruit and vegetable cluster companies in the Mediterraneancluster companies in the Mediterranean

A bridge between the fruit and vegetable cluster and the A bridge between the fruit and vegetable cluster and the MediterraneanMediterranean

Case study 3: MFCCase study 3: MFC

27 Italian companies (in majority from Emilia-Romagna) in 27 Italian companies (in majority from Emilia-Romagna) in

different businesses of the fruit and vegetable cluster, have different businesses of the fruit and vegetable cluster, have

decided to cooperate in order to promote their activities in the decided to cooperate in order to promote their activities in the

Mediterranean:Mediterranean:

Fresh fruit and vegetable production and marketingFresh fruit and vegetable production and marketing

PackagingPackaging

MachineryMachinery

ServicesServices

Case study 3: MFCCase study 3: MFC

M.F.C. offices

MFC Italy

MFC Egypt

MFC Tunisia

MFC Turkey

MFC Russia

Case study 3: MFCCase study 3: MFC

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Thank you