The regional seminar and the transnational forum are part of the participative action of the CCI of Limoges Haute-Vienne and the Coopération Agricole Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the European Interreg Sudoe project AGROSMARTglobal, whose objective is to facilitate the internationalization of companies and agri-food cooperatives from Spain, France, and Portugal to the markets of China and the United States through digital strategies. These events were organized for promoting exchanges between delegations.

The transnational forum took place over three days.

Tuesday, June 21 was devoted to discovering the territory with a dive into the heart of Saint-Emilion and a visit to the Union des Producteurs de Saint-Emilion, a cooperative participating in the AGROSMARTglobal project.

Since its creation in the 30s, the Union of Producers of Saint-Emilion – UDPSE – has evolved. The six winegrowers of the beginning have since been joined by 164 harvesters. The purpose of these cellars was to unify a few properties around their production and their marketing in bulk.

Today, the UDPSE is:

– 50 hectares of vineyards in the Saint-Émilion and Saint-Émilion Grand Cru appellations
– 38,000 hectoliters of harvest per year
– Delta Vistalys optical sorting to select the best berries (size, shape and color)
– 8 vertical hydraulic presses
– An ageing cellar of 5000 oak barrels
– A bottling plant (8000 bottles filled per hour)
– An annual production of 4 600 000 bottles
– 7 000 000 bottles stored in a room

On Wednesday, June 22, all the participants met in the plenary room of the Hôtel de Région in Bordeaux for a studious morning, accompanied by interpreters in Spanish and Portuguese.

In the first part of the morning, Fernando APARICIO from the AMVOS Worldwide Digital agency, Spanish partner of the AGROSMARTglobal project, presented the results of the three years of work of the AGROSMARTglobal project which, although highly impacted by the global pandemic, have allowed to:

• Draw up a report on international trade and the use of digital technology to reach new international markets: a deliverable is available to all
• Define the strategy: reach professionals via 4 non-transactional marketplaces (2 in China and 2 in the United States) which are Alibaba and RangeMe for the United States and Import Food and Putaojiuwang (only wine) for China
• To open accounts on these marketplaces
• To raise awareness of the cooperatives and companies to the approach and the marketplaces
• To gather more than 70 cooperatives and food companies from the 3 countries (Spain, France, Portugal) meeting the requirements of these marketplaces (priority to certified products, verification of the brand) and to bring up more than 300 products
• More than 700 marks of interest were issued on these marketplaces, 60% of which came from the Alibaba marketplace

Fernando APARICIO also reminded that cooperatives and agribusinesses can benefit from a consulting service to analyze their real chances to market their products through marketplaces.

During the year 2022, training webinars have also been organized in each partner country. They will be accessible via an extranet space.

In parallel to this work related to marketplaces, a study is also being conducted to define ways to protect agri-food products with protected designations of origin and geographical indications on the Internet.

In the second part of the morning, Sami CHREKY and Jonathan HORYN from the French company Foodgates® presented Foodgates®: the first BtoB platform for food products between France and China to secure the entire customer journey from the producer to the Chinese table with blockchain technology.

It was in November 2019 that, thanks to this blockchain innovation available on the Foodgates platform, as part of the CIIE (China International Import Exposition) in Shanghai, French President Emmanuel Macron tasted Label Rouge-labeled French beef with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This high quality French beef came from a producer in Limousin. Its traceability and quality were verified using the innovative blockchain ecosystem integrated into the Foodgates platform, for reliable and immutable information throughout the value chain.

The Foodgates platform allows French cooperatives and producers to export to the Chinese market with simplicity, efficiency and security, using the blockchain ecosystem.  Foodgates allows a selection of French producers to access exclusive “one-stop” services to export to China (regulatory, logistic, financial, marketing and of course dedicated blockchain services). Chinese professional buyers can order these authentic French products with guaranteed origin directly on the Foodgates platform.

Eventually, Foodgates’ managers hope to bring products from all over Europe (Spain, Portugal…) onto the platform.

The participants, using their cell phones, were able to test the blockchain live via a QRCode.

All the participants appreciated this new technological solution which could be a continuation of the approach taken via the AGROSMARTglobal experimentation.

Thursday, June 23, 2022, the closing day of the forum, was devoted to a visit to the Cité du Vin and the launch of the Bordeaux Fête le Vin event: moments to promote contacts and exchanges.

The regional seminar was held on Wednesday afternoon, June 22, 2022 at the Hôtel de Région in Bordeaux under the sign of Environmental Social Responsibility -ESR- which was a theme of the AGROSMARTglobal project. Under the aegis of RESONANCE, which brings together all stakeholders working on CSR, including the Coopération Agricole Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the conference was held around two round tables:

– Round table 1: “RESONANCE, the network effect at the service of companies and organizations in the New Aquitaine region”.

– Round-table 2: “VSEs, SMEs, ETIs, what are the benefits of committing to a CSR approach?

  It was on this occasion that the New Aquitaine 2022 CSR/RSO trophies were awarded.