This is a special year for Bio Procam. The company has reached four decades of history. A long journey that started back in 1983 thanks to the initiative by a group of families in the region. “At that time they only produced avocados and custard apples, and the installations were in the storeroom in a house belonging to one of the founding members,” the current manager, Fernando Martín, recalls.
Shortly after this, they added mangos to their offer and subsequently they extended their range with greenhouse products (cucumbers, beans and other typical products from the region such as cherry tomatoes and specialities in flavour). But if there is one milestone worth mentioning along this time line, it is the year 2006/07, when they started working on ecological production. “To begin with, we grew bio cucumbers and tomatoes and then, three or four years later, we introduced the tropical fruits.” Currently, they have the top certificates on this matter, such as Naturaland, Grasp, etc.
In spite of the complications of this campaign, “and a few more than are still in store,” Fernando Martín predicts a promising future. “We have diversification projects to continue adding more products to our range. We are moving slowly at the moment, on a small scale, due to the situation of the market. We have always been distinguished for our specialisation, rather than volume, although we also have some produce in volume such as cucumbers and avocados… We continue to look for varieties that bring extra quality to our clients.”
Since the beginning of the year, Bio Procam has been developing several events celebrating its anniversary, such as technical seminars and a commemoration event at the end of June, where the farmers played the leading roles. These activities will continue over the entire campaign with the other agents (workers, suppliers, clients…).
2023 Campaign
During this year, the profit margin for mangos will be “virtually zero. If the real price is passed onto consumers, nobody would buy them.” The positive point lies in avocados, where a normal campaign is forecasted.
As a new development, this year they have an important increase or around 130 hectares in surface area for avocados and mangos, holding Naturland and Biosuisse certificates.
In greenhouse produce, they will maintain their portfolio. Cucumbers are worth mentioning, which they produce 12 months of the year and they will have a higher volume than other years due to the increase in surface area and the high temperatures.
