The Transformational Journey of Agriculture in Azucarera

Over the last five years, we have transformed our relationship with sugar beet growers supplying Azucarera’s factories. We started our transformational journey to adapt it to the new market environment to strengthen and sustain our partnership. Beet growers demand profitability, services, access to technologies, and resilience to climate change.

We have developed a commercially viable model that delivers a tailored, grower-centric proposition to build confidence in growing beet. The approach is about much more than price; it is focused on developing a collaborative model that encourages everyone to work together to minimise risk and overcome barriers to growing beets.

Our Azucarera team negotiate directly with growers to agree on a tailor-made model that works for them. This encompasses all aspects of the growing process, including buying the inputs to develop the beet crop, selecting service providers, and defining responsibilities and workload. This approach means all parties are aligned to deliver the best possible outcomes, resulting in a more equitable share of risk between us, the growers and other service providers.

Our collaborative model also gives growers access to Azucarera’s significant data capabilities, providing valuable insights that can improve yields.

Negotiating with our service providers and input suppliers on behalf of our growers allows us to ensure that beet receives exactly what is needed, in the amount requested, at the correct location, and within the agreedupon timeframe.

Our collaborative model also gives growers access to Azucarera’s significant data capabilities, providing valuable insights that can improve yields. Our proprietary ‘Visor’ platform empowers growers with real-time monitoring of crop health, irrigation levels, and the evolving sugar content in the crop. Visor aggregates data across all our grower sites, offering personalised advice and best practices to improve beet yields on individual farms sustainably. Visor gives Azucarera a significant competitive advantage as growers are incentivised to work with us to access a tool that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

The project’s success is a testament to our team’s commitment to collaboration. We have increased our beet area by 70%. By promoting a grower-centric approach underpinned by data and technology, we have increased the growing area and fostered trust and confidence among our partners to grow beets more efficiently and sustainably. We are all committed to consistently seeking out new technologies and best practices that can further enhance our collaboration and contribute to the sustainability of the beet crop.