With the aim of fighting food waste, the Diputació de Tarragona, with the collaboration of eight local and international partners, is launching the SOULFOOD project, an initiative that for two years will look for formulas based on technological innovation to deliver the surpluses of agricultural productions to social initiatives. The project has a global budget of 801,739.88 euros, 90% of which is financed by the European Social Fund Plus and has the participation, in addition to the Provincial Council of Tarragona, the City Council of Reus, REDESSA with the Hub Foodtech & Nutrition, the Southern Catalonia TIC Cluster and the Espigoladors Foundation. It also has four European partners, leaders in the agri-food and social innovation sectors: the Lithuanian Innovation Center (Lithuania), the Digital Innovation Hub Agri-Food (Lithuania), the City Council of Roman (Romania) and the NGO Boroume – Saving food saving lives (Greece).
The coordination of the project corresponds to the Provincial Council, which will also lead its dissemination. SOULFOOD is organized into four work packages: management and coordination, identification and testing of digital solutions for sustainable agricultural and food production, identification of solutions to improve social food distribution initiatives and communication. Each of these work packages has associated different activities, led by one of the partners and participated by different partners each. In this way, the aim is to learn about different ways of working and learn from good international practices, in order to be able to try to apply them to the reality of each of the different participating territories.
During the presentation of the SOULFOOD project this Tuesday at the Palau Bofarull in Reus, the president of the Provincial Council of Tarragona, Noemí Llauradó , made it clear that "from the Provincial Council we promote and add efforts and knowledge from other administrations and agents in order to develop projects that make our society more sustainable and equitable", and added that this project "aligns with some of the main strategic lines of the Diputació de Tarragona: bet on sustainability, contribute to equity and promote digital transformation".
On behalf of the Reus City Council, which participates through REDESSA and the El Roser Social Center, Josep Baiges , councilor for Economic Promotion and Knowledge of the Reus City Council, as well as deputy representative of the Council's European Projects of Tarragona, has explained that "The SOULFOOD project coordinates different agents who, under the umbrella of the Hub Foodtech & Nutrition, work to generate collaborative projects that offer new opportunities for growth and promote sustainability, efficiency and 'use of resources; prioritizing initiatives linked to the circular economy, which is one of the topics that most interests the more than 50 agri-food companies affiliated to the project".
The manager of the TIC Catalunya Sud Cluster, Sergi Novo , has stated that "for the TICSud Cluster it is very exciting to be part of the SOULFOOD project and to lead the work package focused on identifying, developing and implementing digital solutions for a sustainable and efficient agri-food production . We firmly believe that technology can play a crucial role in the fight against food waste and we are committed to bringing the experience and innovation of TICSud's expert companies to achieve this goal."
Finally, the food waste coordinator of the Tarragona area of the Fundació Espigoladors, Daniel Martínez , has emphasized that for his organization "it is essential to join efforts to advance towards the prevention and reduction of food losses and guarantee the basic right to healthy and sustainable food. Thanks to the recovery of the gleaning activity, we have been able to weave a network of agricultural producers from the countryside of Tarragona and from all over the territory who have a strong commitment to food utilization, in addition to knowing on the ground the reality of losses in the primary sector. At Espigoladors, we also have a long history of collaboration with social food distribution organizations, to deliver to them what we recover from the gleanings. The SOULFOOD project will make it possible to take a step forward in the identification of challenges, good practices and innovative solutions both in the field of loss prevention and food donation".
This coming Thursday and Friday, October 5 and 6, SOULFOOD will be formally kicked off, as technicians from the various partner institutions, both local and international, will meet in Reus. During this first meeting the project partners will share their planning and development forecast for the different work packages and planned activities.
SOULFOOD, a project with soul
Behind the general objective of wanting to contribute to the fight against food loss and waste through the testing of technological tools, we find four specific objectives:
- Reduce food loss, contributing to a more sustainable agri-food sector, and improve the efficiency of food distribution/donation initiatives for vulnerable groups implemented by NGOs and local governments.
- Increase the digitization of the main agents of the value chain: producers and social initiatives.
- Improve the networks between local agri-food producers and the social initiatives of food distribution in the participating communities, to promote new collaborations for the reuse of lost food for social purposes.
- Raise awareness of the problem of food loss among the main actors in the value chain and the general public.
The partners of the project
The Diputació de Tarragona: leads and coordinates the smooth operation of the project, as it will advise and monitor the tasks of the other partners. In addition, he will also coordinate the communication and dissemination.
The Reus City Council, which participates through the Social Center el Roser and REDESSA: will coordinate the organization of the final conference of the project and will participate in different activities, such as identifying the needs of local producers regarding food waste or putting testing a digital tool that connects producers and social initiatives.
The Southern ICT Cluster: will lead the work package that will identify and test digital solutions for sustainable agricultural and food production and will participate in various project activities.
The Espigoladors Foundation: will coordinate the work package that will identify solutions to improve the social initiatives of food distribution, will coordinate some tasks, such as the identification of good practices to connect food producers and social initiatives or the preparation of reports with the results of the investigations
The Lithuanian Innovation Center: coordinates some tasks, such as identifying the needs of local producers on waste, preparing a report with learnings and conclusions or organizing mutual learning events between local producers and initiatives social, in addition to participating in other activities.
The Digital Innovation Hub Agri-Food of Lithuania: participates in different project activities, such as identifying good practices or testing the digital tool that will be developed.
The City Council of Roman, from Romania: will also participate in different project activities, such as the tests of the digital tool that will be developed to connect producers and social initiatives or the identification of good practices.
The NGO Boroume – Saving food saving lives, from Greece: will participate in various project activities.
The choice of the different partners participating in the project has been made according to their scope of action (administration, technological sector, agri-food sector, social initiatives...) and countries have been selected where the fight against food waste is 'special relevance.