In Noáin there is already a space in progress that combines the ecological offer
The Navarre Organic Agricultural Production Council (NNPEK) has launched an innovative project in Noáin: Ekoalde, collection center and logistics of organic production in Navarra. On 15 March, the Navarro Institute of Food Technologies and Infrastructure (INTIA) and the Association of Organic Farming Enterprises of Navarra (AEN) opened its doors. The aim is to make it easier for organic producers in Navarre to market their products by short routes and, at the same time, to provide professional consumers with access to them in one place.
For retail traders
Ekoalde Gunea is not intended for regular consumers. “The aim of the project is to serve professional consumers, that is, to offer organic products close to hotels, restaurants, cafes, canteens and shops,” they point out. It is precisely one of the main problems of shops and canteens that want to offer organic products that they have difficulty in achieving them: the dispersion of organic food, the problems of obtaining large quantities… The aim is to solve these deficiencies.
The website will function as follows: customers www.ekoalde.org will make the request from the catalog of the website. Ekoalde will manage and transfer these requests to the producers, which will be the producers themselves who will transfer the products to the facilities. Customers will receive the full purchase at Ekoalde, where they will make the payment.
Collective project
The three entities have worked together with the producers to launch Ekoalde and intend to continue to operate collectively. “The road is to dynamize organic agricultural production and to create an infrastructure that makes the distribution of products, but that logistics and distribution are organised by the producers themselves,” they point out. Proponents want a “participatory, compatible and democratic” organization that takes into account the word of all participants in their decisions.
Today, over 50 producers with eco-label offer fruits and vegetables, beverages, oils, preserves and processed foods, bread, meat, dairy derivatives or coffee and fair trade sugar. The drivers want to reach more producers, however: “It’s about widening to the fullest.”
