Goirigolzarri: “Our aim is to drive the strategic anticipation of the agricultural sector and contribute to the sustainability of its business models”

• The chairman of Bankia, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, underlines that the goal is to 'support their customers by driving this strategic anticipation process' in the sector so that they can anticipate 'the changes of the future'
• Bankia's Corporate Manager of SMEs and Self-Employed, Antonio Rodríguez, states that 'despite the impact that Covid-19 has had on the economy of the world and our country, new opportunities have emerged'
• Bankia Forward by Innsai has identified great innovation trends that have already been impacting the agricultural sector for years and are accelerating after the impact of Covid-19

Bankia wants to 'collaborate to drive the necessary strategic anticipation of the agricultural sector' and, thereby, 'contribute to the sustainability of its business models'. These were the main messages launched by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, president of the entity, at the opening of the conference 'Agro 2021: Exploring opportunities in times of crisis' from Bankia Forward by Innsai, which was held on Thursday online in collaboration with several regional media.

At it, Goirigolzarri stressed that 'the agricultural sector has shown some resistance to the widespread decrease in economic activity' derived from Covid-19. In this way, 'the weight of both the primary sector and the agri-food industry have increased their importance in our economy'. For this reason, 'the sector has seen less job destruction and a lower proportion of workers affected by ERTE', Goirigolzarri said.

In any case, the Chairman of Bankia said that 'the agricultural sector must face with determination the challenges it faces'. Among them, he listed the strong growth in the demand for food as a result of population growth, changing consumption habits and, finally, the need to optimise the use of natural resources.

Goirigolzarri told attendees that Bankia's goal is to 'support its customers by driving this strategic anticipation process' so that they can anticipate 'the changes of the future'.

The Chairman of Bankia was confident that, in this way, 'we can contribute to the sustainability of the business models of the agricultural sector, which will be key for our economy to continue to move forward'.

Bankia's Corporate Manager of SMEs and Self-Employed, Antonio Rodríguez stated that 'despite the tremendous impact that Covid-19 has had on the economy of the world and our country, new opportunities have emerged that we want to explore and share with professionals in the agricultural sector'.

Innovation trends to face the future of the agricultural sector

At the conference 'Agro 2021: Exploring opportunities in times of crisis', the CEO of Innsai Business, Jesús Navarro, presented in his speech the five great trends of innovation that had already been impacting the sector for years and that are accelerating after Covid-19.

• 'Smart Agro: Efficiency and zero contagion'. Regarding the trend of digitalisation in the field, we can think that 4.0 technology can be a solution to the profitability problems of farms by reducing operating costs, optimising the use of raw materials, coping with labour shortages and, at the same time, reducing the exposure of workers to contagion.
• 'Sustainable Agro: Sustainability at a fair price'. The efficiency gains obtained by digitalisation will allow farmers to address the challenge of sustainability.
• 'New Foods: Consumption of plant-based ingredients and health'. The pandemic has generated greater concern for health during lockdown and has accelerated greater awareness of how consuming plant-based ingredients can help the immune system.
• 'Trust&Transparency: Local, synonymous with trust'. Consumers prefer local products and to know the origin of the products, which will cause a paradigm shift in the distribution sector, which will seek local, controllable supply chains with guaranteed supply. This represents a great opportunity for Spanish farmers.
• 'On-off channels: Breaking the barriers of the virtual'. The fear of going to supermarkets generated great growth in e-commerce. Buying local, which was already a trend before Covid-19, together with convenience, now becomes the key element of recovery.

Bankia Forward by Innsai was created in 2019 as an initiative to support companies, whether or not they are customers of the bank, in the development of their future businesses with the aim of inspiring, co-creating and financing innovation projects. In this respect, the objectives of Bankia Forward are to strengthen companies' innovation strategies, help them to understand change, generate networking and provide resources to generate new business.