Agrodolores new auction rooms in Adra (Almeria), in the premises previously belonging to Agrupaadra, has been working at full capacity since the 2nd of January. A few days before this, just as the end was coming to its 40th anniversary year, Agrodolores put the perfect finishing touch with the inauguration before an audience of 300 people, including political authorities, headed by the councillors from the sector in the Andalusia and Murcia regions, Carmen Crespo and Sara Rubira, along with company executives and organisations such as Proexport and Coexphal, as well as farmers.
“A dream come true”
In his speech, Simón Conesa, Chairman of Agrodolores, affirmed that “we are fulfilling one of our dreams, by being present in one of the main agricultural enclaves. We are celebrating our 40 years, proud of this great achievement.”
This step has been taken after three years of experience working in the province using a collection point, with over one hundred farmers supervised by Agrodolores.
The company, a benchmark in Murcia’s smallholding sector, moves over 100 million kilos of fruit and vegetable products every year, and in 2023 it reached a record in its invoicing history, with 90 million euros. An important leap, and one that consolidates the growth curve of the last two years: in 2021 it invoiced 40 million and in 2022, 50% more, reaching over 60 million.
“Our main strategy is to grow with profitability in order to become more competitive and efficient,” Conesa remarked.
A call to take care of the sector
In spite of the good projection of the company from Murcia, Conesa wanted to recall that in the present situation “the most important factor is survival, which is no small feat as matters stand.” Accordingly, he listed some of the main obstacles for the sector: the constant increase in costs, the lack of skilled labour, the uncertainty regarding water, the imports from third countries that bring the prices down, and the excessive pressure from the Public Administrations, with the 2030 Agenda in the background.
For all these reasons, the Chairman of Agrodolores made a call to the public administrations to request them “to be responsive and help the farming sector, as, if this is not the case, we could be faced with the dismantling of the primary sector, leading us to depend on third countries.”
