The Cooperative San Isidro de Loja has invested 2 million euros in a comprehensive project to extend its installations and modernise its machinery, to allow for the increase in demand for green asparagus which, in this case, has multiplied in just five years, rising from 400,000 to an estimated 3.5 million kilos in 2017.
José Luis Espejo, manager of the company, explains that with this project 3,000 m² of installations have been incorporated. Added to this is the acquisition of new machinery with automatic processing lines and personalised design that include machine vision to optimise the classification tasks by size and shape, optical recognition and cutting by high pressure water jet.
They have also developed two innovative formats. The first is a pack of asparagus tips that include a 25 millilitre bottle of their own olive oil. The second, prepared with aluminium packaging, includes oil and salt for cooking the produce directly in the oven or on the grill. In this case, they will be exclusively marketed by a German chain.
