Today, Amaia Barredo, the Basque Government’s Minister for Food, Rural Development and Fisheries, and Rosa Carabel, CEO of EROSKI, presented the Euskadi Elikatuz Awards. Backed by EROSKI and the Basque Government. In this first edition, the awards recognised Udapa, Euskaber and Carnicería Fernández Terreros as the best initiatives in innovation, sustainability and generational renewal respectively. More than 60 entries were submitted by companies, producers, technology centres and other players in Euskadi’s primary sector. The awards aim to recognise the best initiatives in innovation, sustainability and generational renewal, the three areas that contain the three major challenges currently facing the Basque agri-food sector.

The awards ceremony, held at the Basque Culinary Center, was attended by representatives of the entire Basque agri-food ecosystem, including producers, associations, industry, retail, scientific and technological bodies, clusters, institutions and specialist training centres. The winning initiatives were chosen by an independent jury made up of representatives of ENBA, Basque Culinary Center, AZTI, the Euskadi Food Cluster, IHOBE and HAZI.

At the event, Rosa Carabel, CEO of EROSKI, said: “This call for entries stems from the shared vision of EROSKI and the Basque Government on the need to showcase the Euskadi agri-food sector to the public. On the one hand, it is a strategic sector for our economy, territory and identity and, on the other, we must move forward on food sovereignty in Euskadi.” Amaia Barredo, the Basque Government’s Minister for Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries, said: “These awards allow us to recognise those who are taking concrete steps to build the future of our food and our primary sector. Behind each of the winning initiatives are companies and professionals who innovate, who create value from Euskadi and who show that it is possible to evolve while keeping a strong bond with our territory.”

Barredo also stressed the importance of collaboration between the different players in the food chain: “We need a sector that is increasingly connected, able to share knowledge and to build alliances between production, industry, retail, knowledge and institutions. Euskadi Elikatuz is also a way of making that collective effort visible and bringing it closer to society as a whole.”

The Euskadi Elikatuz Awards aim to become a benchmark space for showcasing the talent, commitment and transformative capacity of this sector. They form part of the collaboration agreement that the Basque Government and EROSKI have had in place since 2013. The main objectives of this alliance are to support local suppliers, boost the marketing and consumption of food produced in Euskadi, and promote the sector’s sustainability, innovation and competitiveness.

Three transformative initiatives for the sector

In the Innovation category, which recognises projects that stand out for adopting new technologies, developing differentiating products or services, improving production processes or driving new business models able to strengthen the sector’s competitiveness, the jury chose Udapa’s entry. Udapa is a cooperative with participation from farmers, business managers and workers, created in 1993 to promote the production and consumption of Álava potatoes. Today it is among the top five potato packers in Spain. In recent years it has invested nearly €15 million in state-of-the-art farm machinery and in building and equipping a new plant to receive, sort and store certified seed potatoes. Its aim is to farm 120 hectares of its own by 2028 for certified seed potato production, and to become a technological benchmark in the sector.

Euskaber was the company chosen in the Sustainability category, which distinguishes initiatives that balance environmental, social and economic commitment, recognising actions aimed at reducing environmental impact, strengthening the territory and moving towards a more responsible agri-food model. Euskaber is a poultry cooperative of 35 baserritarras based in Bizkaia, Araba, Gipuzkoa and Navarre, dedicated to producing and marketing local eggs from free-range and organic hens. In recent years, the cooperative has been measuring its social impact in order to draw up an improvement plan for baserritarras, employees and consumers.

Finally, in the Generational Renewal category, which rewards projects and careers that help ensure the sector’s continuity by bringing in new generations, passing on knowledge and combining tradition with innovation, the Fernández Terreros butcher’s shop in Muskiz was chosen to receive the award in this first edition. The family business has 118 years of history, four generations and a lasting commitment to quality, local retail, collective association and innovation. It combines tradition, innovation, its own production and closeness to its customers, bringing together livestock farming and retail while always guaranteeing excellence. They are livestock farmers and butchers.

Live cooking show

During the event, attendees enjoyed a cooking show, organised in collaboration with the Basque Culinary Center, in which chef Javi Rivero of Ama de Tolosa, together with Klaudio Landa, celebrated Basque gastronomy by cooking local produce live. The cooking came with an explanation of the uniqueness of the region’s food, a hallmark of the territory and one of the keys to the positioning of Basque cuisine as one of the most recognised in the world.