The BETA Centre and the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia sign a cooperation agreement

The UVic-UCC, through the BETA Technology Centre, and the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia signed last Friday a framework collaboration agreement to jointly carry out research projects and knowledge transfer. The agreement signed by the rector of the UVic-UCC, Josep Eladi Baños, and the president of the FCAC, Ramon Sarroca, also aims to promote academic, scientific and professional relations between the two entities.

Closing the cycle of organic matter in the wine and olive sectors, improving the management of nutrients to modernise the agricultural sector and producing a pelletised biofertiliser are the major challenges that are planned to be carried out. The collaboration between the FCAC and the BETA Technology Centre began in 2016 and has enabled the promotion of research in the Plana de Vic Cooperative with the development of a slurry concentrator that is one of the embryos of the current Ferticoop project for the better management of livestock excrement and agricultural fertilisation.

Ramon Sarroca stated that “it is the right time to expand our collaboration with the BETA Technology Centre in the productive sectors throughout the territory with the aim of promoting research in the field of environmental technologies in all Catalan agri-food cooperatives”.

For his part, the director of CT Beta, Sergio Ponsá, explained that this is a collaboration that “covers all the projects that we want to do”, and noted “that the Beta Centre is an ally of the primary sector and we are at their disposal”. The treasurer of the FCAC, Ferran Sabater, emphasised the FCAC’s desire to establish frameworks for collaboration with the university “so that it can contribute its knowledge in a sector that is strategic and that is lacking”. The event was closed by the Rector of UVic-UCC, who stated that the transmission of knowledge between the university and the surrounding economic sectors is one of the institution’s strategic lines of action.

The Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia is the body that represents Catalan agricultural cooperatives and its function is to guarantee the channels of representation and defence of the interests of the cooperative movement and to provide agricultural cooperatives with the services, information and advice that make competitive business management possible.