Eight producers from Osona and Lluçanès join forces to further grow their businesses

Niu Verd is a family business dedicated to raising organic chickens in Sant Feliu Sasserra.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
02 June 2023 Friday 10:47
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Eight producers from Osona and Lluçanès join forces to further grow their businesses

Niu Verd is a family business dedicated to raising organic chickens in Sant Feliu Sasserra. Judit Saus, one of the owners, explains that the small producers work "very alone" with a "very small" infrastructure and that, usually, they have to do "all the paperwork of the auca." Precisely because they are stronger, grow in customers and generate synergies, eight small agro-producers from Osona and Lluçanès have joined forces and created the Directe Productors brand.

One of the actions that they will carry out will be the direct sale of their products once a month in a store that one of the producers has on a farm in Les Masies de Roda. To present themselves in society, they have organized a day this coming Saturday, June 3, where they will offer a tasting of their products.

Organic chicken, Angus beef, artisan carquiñoles or kombucha are some of the products made by the eight agri-food manufacturers that have joined forces under the Directe Productors brand. All of them coincided in 2022 in a sales growth program organized by the service for agri-food companies of Creacció and the Consorci del Lluçanès and they were clear that they had to join forces to help each other.

The Creacció agri-food technician, Núria May, explains that, in addition to helping to professionalize small companies, one of the main objectives of this program is to "create a network". From Creació they affirm that "we are very happy that they have had the strength and will to create an initiative like this one". In fact, the idea is that Creacció can continue to support them and help them find more producers who want to join the initiative.

The collaboration between the eight producers will materialize with the establishment of a point of sale direct to the consumer. There you can find products of all brands. In addition, they believe that the synergies that will be established between them will allow them to have "cross orders". Ferran Boix, from Enso Ferments, producers of kombutxa and fermented products, explains that, in relation to large companies, small producers are "more agile and versatile" but, on the contrary, they are asked "the same legal and sanitary requirements as in big companies." For this reason, he considers that it is very difficult for them to enter some distribution and sales channels.

The producers also believe that the pandemic has been a "help" to "raise awareness about the product that is consumed." This is how Cristina Puigdollers, head of the Musona project, which breeds and markets Aberdeen Angus beef, explains it. She believes that the consumer today "is asking for" local, respectful and "made with conscience" products and considers that this plays in their favor. In fact, she points out that one of the strengths of the new Directe Productors brand is traceability and that the consumer "knows where the product comes from, who makes it and how it gets to their home."

The promoters of the initiative believe that joining efforts can also help them reduce some costs, such as logistics or spaces. Puigdollers regrets that small producers have "very high costs" that, on occasions, "it is difficult for them to be charged with the price paid by the consumer." In fact, Puigdollers gives the example of transport, which he believes is the "big problem" for small producers to be able to serve all of Catalonia or the State. For this reason, they have created a kind of "logistics lobby" on the Les Masies de Roda farm from where, apart from making direct sales once a month, they hope that shipments can be made to customers' homes.