Agromediterránea is set to launch living lettuces that have been produced free from pesticides

Agromediterránea, a member of the Foodiverse group specialised in the production and distribution of vegetables, has launched an innovative project through which it will offer its customers living lettuces, keeping the roots on, so that the product reaches the consumer in an even fresher and more sustainable state. Furthermore, no plant health treatments will be used on these crops given they will be grown in a fully controlled environment which guarantees that they will be free from pests and insects, without the need for the use of herbicides or pesticides. 

The initiative is being developed by the Centre of Agricultural Innovation (CIAM) located in the Valencian town of Montserrat, with a strategy based on soil-free hydroponic cultivation that enables better control over the whole process and, when the time comes, over the harvesting of the complete product. 

Vicent Mañez, head of the Innovation Department, explained that “with this project, we are operating at the cutting-edge of the sector by offering our customers what consumers are demanding: fresh, completely safe products straight from the fields. We have spent years reducing, when not directly eliminating, the use of plant health products and developing closed, vertical crops that do not impact on the soil and which enable us to reuse 100% of the water used”.

The project is being carried out using the oak leaf lettuce variety, but the aim is to work in the medium- to long-term on incorporating new lettuce varieties initially, and then other products at a later date. 

30% less water

Sustainability is a key element for Agromediterránea and it has implemented a number of measures focused along these lines. It has over 4,000 hectares of field crops located in 7 provinces that use rainwater collection systems.

All of them also use lower-volume hoses which enable them to make water savings of 30%. It has also incorporated harvesting machinery for cleaning and packaging vegetables straight from the fields, thus contributing towards more efficient distribution. The plant is equipped with LED technology and, to reduce carbon emissions, it works with pooling systems using returnable packaging, with a design that uses biodegradable or biocompostable materials. In addition, it has implemented reverse logistics to recover and recycle all the materials.

All of these values have been brought together in its new corporate video which has just been released and which summarises the corporate reality of a company that markets over 500 different product references, adapted to different formats, packaging and weights, in 25 markets across the whole of Europe.

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