Good Practice - Project
New agri-food employment from fruit processing and storage in Romania
CAP funds create 50 jobs by establishing a state-of-the-art fruit processing and storage facility.
General information
RDP Priority
- P2. Competitiveness
- P3. Food chain and risk management
RDP Focus Area
- 2A: Farm’s performance, restructuring & modernisation
- 3A: Agri-food chain integration & quality
RDP Measure
- M04: Investments in physical assets
Beneficiary type
- Small-Micro Enterprise
Summary
MerryBerry is among Romania's largest private producers of fresh and dried fruit. In order to increase its revenue, the company used CAP investment support to establish a berry fruit processing and storage facility with an effective working space of 2 410 m2. The facility was equipped with the latest technology for sorting, processing and packaging fruit. Outcomes help support rural development through sustainable food systems and promote healthy nutrition.
Results
- The investment created 50 new jobs.
- MerryBerry's income has been steadily increasing. The company’s profit in 2022 exceeded EUR 20 400 and increased to nearly EUR 62 000 in 2023.
Promoter
S.C. Merryberry s.r.l.
Funding
RDP contribution: 899 795 (EUR)
EAFRD: 750 898 (EUR)
National/Regional: 148 897 (EUR)
Ressources
Context
MerryBerry is among Romania's largest private plantations of blueberries in Romania and one of the largest in Eastern Europe. The company owners are passionate about growing great tasting and healthy organic blueberries. MerryBerry has a blueberry plantation of around 100 hectares (ha) of which 20 ha are certified organic, while the other 80% are in the conversion period, which will be completed in 2024. The company sells both fresh and processed fruits through its distribution network at national and international levels, as well as through their own online store. The company also works with local farmers. MerryBerry collects, sorts, packs and markets their fruit and charges a fair retail price.
Co-financing of investments through the 2014-2020 national Rural Development Programme offered an opportunity for the company to establish a new fruit storage and processing facility in accordance with EU standards. CAP investment support would allow for a shorter investment recovery period and a lower cost of the invested capital. The location of the investment is very close to Bucharest, which is the company’s main market.
Objectives
The objectives of this investment were to:
- Increase the company's revenue by increasing the added value of fruits through improved sorting, packaging and processing.
- Create employment opportunities and increase the range of services.
- Minimise waste through the adoption of new technologies in processing and storage while also applying circular economy practices for waste and non-compliant products.
Activities
Project activities included:
- Purchasing vans equipped with refrigerators to collect the fresh fruit both from the MerryBerry plantation and from associated local fruit producers.
- Purchasing and installing an automatic sorting line with a sorting capacity of 2 000 kg/hour, which removes fruit that is damaged or does not meet market requirements.
- Purchasing and installing an automatic packaging line for 125 gr, 250 gr, 500 gr and 3000 gr punnets of packaged fresh fruit. The line has a packaging capacity of 4 500 punnets/hour.
- Setting up a five-room refrigerated space with a controlled atmosphere of ultra-low levels of oxygen (ULO) where the packaged fresh fruits are stacked on pallets and stored.
- Purchasing and installing a dehydrator with a capacity of 600 kg per batch. The fresh fruits selected are washed, placed on special racks, and placed in the dehydrator at a temperature of approximately 40 degrees so that the fruits' properties can be preserved. The water resulting from this process is collected in a drainable basin, protecting the environment.
Main results
- The investment created 50 new jobs. The employees did not have any previous qualifications, so the company provided them with professional training in the food industry and food hygiene.
- Thanks to this investment, MerryBerry now uses the most efficient technology for blueberry sorting and packaging in Romania. They make full use of all the fruit they harvest and ensure that this reaches the market in the best condition possible.
- MerryBerry's income has been steadily increasing. The company’s profit in 2022 was about EUR 20 450 and increased to about EUR 61 880 in 2023.
Key lessons
- Higher quality products mean higher production costs, and in order to keep sale prices competitive, it is important to adopt cost-efficiency strategies which are also environmentally friendly.
- Renewable energy is a good example of cost-efficiency strategies and the company plans to install photovoltaic solar panels in the near future in order to reduce electricity costs.
We want to expand the crops so that we have a harvest season outside the period dedicated to blueberries. If we can pick different fruits in the months of May-June, and later in the autumn, we will be able to retain the loyalty of the workforce and vary our production.