Pablo Zurita, GMR: “The primary sector has a lot of space for start-ups linked to health through food”

Pablo Zurita is the CEO of Rural Environment Management (GMR) of the Canary Islands, “a public company dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands that functions as 'own means' for the promotion of the agricultural, livestock and fisheries through the preparation of agronomic studies, the implementation of policies and active collaboration for production and marketing”, as described in his own LinkedIn profile.

The first part of the interview focuses on establishing the concept of start-up (scalable business model, digital component, global market aspiration) versus traditional entrepreneurship (not very scalable business model, low digital component, local market aspiration), where Zurita describes the different challenges that the primary sector must incorporate the concept of “emerging company”.

But by delving into this more focus on innovation in the business models of the primary sector, the CEO of GMR begins to identify opportunities. “Agriculture makes room for many possibilities that seem great to me and in fact, with us they have developed projects with the Mechanism for Recovery and Resilience (MRR), the tractor plans of the Next Generation. We always talk about linking the final purpose of these projects to agricultural activity. The pandemic has made it clear to us that we must increase the consumption of fresh food, make a switch between processed food and fresh food. There are options for innovation there and we have to understand that, in the primary sector, there is a lot of scope, because there has always been a very traditional marketing and business chain”.

Zurita mentions the case of “a company that is making fantastic typical Canarian fifth-range dishes, tremendous quality, with a shelf life of up to 40 days because they are working on a controlled atmosphere project. These are very interesting questions in which, effectively there, if the conditions for scalability, innovation, applying technology, looking for investors for growth, even for this same technology, this same technique are met, get it out. So, the primary sector has a lot of space for start-ups linked to health through food”.

In this sense, Pablo Zurita indicates that “there are activities in which we see that innovation works. We have focused a lot on health in the world of medicine and health and we should focus the focus of agriculture on health, on what we eat, which has a scientifically proven influence, that diet will improve people's quality of life. What is intended now in the Government is to put the focus on healthy eating.

“This year we have made a pilot program, we want to demonstrate, apply that a healthy diet effectively improves the fight against cancer in the short and long term. Degenerative diseases of the brain affect 50% of those over 80 years of age, which is already becoming very significant, since life expectancy is closely related to the quality of food”, Zurita continues.

“In the end, in improving people's diet and therefore their health, we have a range of related projects… Linking the agricultural activity of an urban garden or a rural garden… that is health, not only because of what you are eating, but also for the physical activity involved in maintaining that small orchard. Is that activity in the primary sector? Yes! Is it convenient for us to exist? of course! Is it ultimately an agricultural activity? Yes, of course! That generates an economy behind it, of course! Seeds are sold there, there are materials…”

The head of GMR believes “that our sector is facing more of a phenomenon of deglobalization. Since it costs 20,000 euros to bring a container from China, there are already many people who are repenting. We have a very important opportunity for Canarian production and for the zero-kilometre product. Not only will it be the trend of demand from people, but it will also have an economic justification.”

Zurita recalls that “the public administration gives aid to new establishments in the primary sector, we attend to projects through the Rural Development Plan and investments. That they present us with a public investment project, which is an innovative project, well, fantastic! The more innovative, the more theory applied, the higher percentage of assessment for its approval. That is already articulated”.

“When we talk about establishing population in the rural environment, which is one of the key objectives of our ministry, we must offer new fields of development in the rural world. There are great start-up ideas there. Are they strictly primary sector projects? Probably not, because they require other components, but they do revolve around the primary sector”, says Pablo Zurita in relation to what is identified as the AgroTech sector.

“The Government has the Canarian Institute for Agricultural Research, which is really the instrument for testing and technology transfer, and it works very well, that is where a public-private connection is also produced.”