Spanish Guild APAE Hosts Midwinter Executive Meeting and Press Tour

March 4-7 program provided an unforgettable look at farms and food of southern Spain

The Asociación de Periodistas y Escritores Agrarios Españoles (APAE) hosted the IFAJ mid-winter Executive meeting in Torremolinos, Spain, on March 4, 2024, and followed it with an outstanding press tour for 25 IFAJ members through March 7. The meeting and press tour were sponsored by Cajamar Caja Rural, HORTIESPAÑA, Olive Oils of Spain, PDO Los Pedroches and Alltech.

“We are grateful for the wonderful hospitality of our Spanish hosts and for all the hard work of our colleagues at APAE,” said IFAJ President Lena Johansson. “Our guides and translators, Rosana Cervera—secretary-general of APAE—and Gema Usón were tireless hosts, and Executive Secretary Álvaro Bárez was a constant presence in the background providing support. We were also fortunate to meet APAE President Elisa Plumed and Vice President Lourdes Zuriaga, who traveled long distances to spend time with us during the week.”

Among the tour highlights were:

• A visit to the world’s largest olive oil producer, DCOOP, a second-degree cooperative—a co-op of 200 partner cooperatives representing 75,000 farmers and livestock producers. DCOOP hosted the Executive meeting and lunch, showed the group around its olive oil packaging facility, and described its €1 billion olive, winegrape, nut, cereals and livestock operations.
• A welcome dinner at Pimpi’s in Málaga’s historic downtown hosted by Sabor a Málaga, providing a gracious introduction to the delicious food and wine of southern Spain.
• A lesson in the bugs and the bees from the beneficial insects experts at Agrobío, which breeds bumblebees for pollination and a wide range of beneficial insects to control pests in the greenhouses of the Almería province’s greenhouse cluster—a 40,000-hectare concentration of structures visible from space. Agrobío has grown from its start in Almería to become an integral part of integrated pest management and pollination in 40 countries.
• An up-close look at Cajamar Caja Rural’s Las Palmerillas Experimental Station in the heart of Almería. The experiment station’s staff and their colleagues at Spain’s fruit and horticultural crop association HORTIESPAÑA have helped guide the way to making Almería’s greenhouses a sustainability success story.
• A visit to the world-class packing house of La Palma Cooperative, whose 710 Andalusian farmers produce approximately 75,000 tonnes of tomatoes, avocados, sweet peppers, and tropical fruits each year. Las Palmas specializes in miniature and specialty varieties, with an eye on quality and sustainability that is appreciated in domestic and export markets.
• A look into the future of Spanish tropical fruit production at the ISHM La Mayora Research Center, where scientists are fine-tuning the local production of avocados, mangoes, kumquats, cherimoyas, and more. Perhaps someday, guests will even enjoy a cup of Spanish-grown coffee at the site. Insight from the Spanish Association of Tropical Fruit Producers—which already counts more than 450 producers as members—points to a bright outlook.
• Among those Spanish Association of Tropical Fruit Producers were the dynamic young team at La Gitanilla, a 12-ha organic avocado and mango farm, whose commitment to environmental protection and high-quality fruit was matched by their innovative direct marketing and value-added product development.
• Alfonso Fernandez and Antonio Martinez Sanchez of Olive Oils from Spain led a tasting workshop that highlighted the diversity of olive varieties and top-quality oils produced by the nation’s 400,000 growers and 1,755 oil mills. Spain produces half of the world’s olive oil. The very best is reserved for raw uses that showcase its vivid flavors—including the dazzling varieties the group enjoyed at the tasting.
• A visit to what has to be one of the most beautiful hog farms in the world—the Dehesa del Campo Alto, where host and sponsor Fernando Adell raises 600 Iberian black pigs on pasture and acorns. After four years of curing, with conditions managed solely by opening and closing windows at the Dehesas Reunidas curing facility, the jamón Ibérico de bellota (acorn-fed Iberian ham) is a national treasure, marked with the protected-origin stamp of D.O. Los Pedroches. As with Spain’s premium olive oil, PDO Los Pedroches Ibérian ham is a treat to savor.
• From the lap of luxury in the oak-shaded pastures of the Los Pedroches Valley, the group climbed into the mountains, where the farmers of the Olivarera Los Pedroches (OLIPE) cooperative tend their olive trees on dramatic slopes (some so steep that harvesters must tie themselves to the trees to gather the fruit). There, members of the co-op and staff of sponsor Alltech described the sustainability initiatives that are positioning those 200-year-old orchards toward their next two centuries.

Amid all the touring and exploring, the Executive meeting was very productive. The Executive members on-site and tuned in via Zoom met our new Global Manager, Martina Graf; discussed the new Global Foundation for Agricultural Journalism, the IFAJ Code of Conduct, and the upcoming elections for members of the Presidium and trustees of the Foundation; reviewed the Federation’s accounts; and heard committee reports.

The volunteers of APAE created a phenomenal opportunity in March, and demonstrated how exciting and productive a press tour can be. Gracias a todos!