Fruit Today magazine spoke with Manuel Moracho, CEO of the leading ready-to-eat vegetable company.
What are Huercasa’s current innovation efforts focused on for its main products? Whether in the form of new products or improvements to existing ones.
Since last year, we’ve been strongly committed to legumes and the concept of plant-based protein. It’s now our third main business line, after beetroot and corn. Our aim is to grow in this category, both in retail and foodservice. In 2024, we launched the ‘fresh legumes’ category, which can be used directly—no washing or draining required—for salads, hummus, and soups.
In 2025, we’re continuing to develop fresh legumes, with 150-gram packs for individual servings and 1-kilo formats more focused on the Horeca channel. We’re also introducing seasoned legumes (baked beans, black beans), and new beetroot formats such as diced and sliced for carpaccio.
With climate change, is it becoming necessary to adopt new seeds or switch varieties in production?
Fieldwork is a key part of our R&D&I. For many years now, we’ve been working to find seeds best suited to each type of soil, water availability, etc., while also striving for increasingly high-quality products with better health properties.
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The current climate conditions are making it more important than ever to find varieties that are more heat-resistant and require fewer water resources.
Is the company making any changes related to packaging and sustainability?
This is another fundamental area for us. In terms of packaging, we continue to prioritise more sustainable materials (recycled and/or recyclable plastics) that are compatible with our thermal treatment processes. In Agritech, we’re making progress with new digital tools that allow us to practise precision agriculture, optimise natural resources—especially water—and improve harvest planning using predictive models.
