The five main challenges of the Spanish agro-food sector

Lack of innovation, the technological gap and the difficulty of financing are some of the challenges facing the Spanish sectors according to the accelerator Orizont. It also points out that only 3% of entrepreneurs get involved in new agro-food projects.

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Orizont classifies the most common barriers of the Spanish agro-food sectors in five key points:

1. Lack of innovation. One of the main reasons for the absence of new technologies or riskier projects is the advanced age of the Spanish farmers, who according to Eurostat surpass the European average age. More than 33% of the Spanish farmers are over 65 and only 3.7% are below 35.

2. The technological gap. The agro-food sectors have to reach the rest of the economic sectors regarding the tech field.

3. Millennials' demands. This generation shows new trends in consumption, so lengthening the shelf life of products, reducing their price, offering more varieties or more sustainable packaging are some of the keys to adapt the sector to these new demands. In addition, consumers are showing increasing interest in superfoods.

4. Financing difficulty. This sector is made up of a large number of SMEs which point out the lack of economic support to start up their innovative projects.

5. The traditional way of shopping is in danger of extinction. The number of intermediaries keeps growing and online commerce has only strengthened this fact. Endeed, e-commerce is the means chosen by acquire a product or service by 35% of the Spanish population.

Source: revistainforetail.com