With Veracruz Almonds, a new player enters the market with trend-setting raw materials: sustainably and in a water-saving manner produced almonds of high quality and with a particularly sweet taste. The “smartly” organized company produces traceable almonds in Portugal with modern technology, processes them in its own plant in a circular economy to products in any form for confectionery, baked goods and snacks, and offers them directly.

What happens when a tech-savvy innovation manager joins forces with a traditional almond producer and sets up a farm in Portugal? First of all, a first-class, particularly sweet almond without bitter substances for pralines, bars and baked goods as well as savoury snacks. Also, high quality raw material – from whole almonds to almond flour – made possible by the special combination of farming and technology, care and precision. Veracruz Almonds uses various smart farming tools, artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technology to ensure consistent and sustainable production. In the process, every step is stored in a database via blockchain.

Products produced in a circular economy with a reduced carbon footprint and traceable via QR code: This is what CEOs Filipe Rosa David and Cavalho are passionate about. “Traceability using blockchain will become more widespread in the food sector as production and distribution chains are asked to provide transparent information at every stage,” David Cavalho is convinced. “Our goal is for everyone to be able to read the QR code on the packaging and access a website that lists the food on their plate. Every player in this extensive and complex chain will be able to transparently follow the path of our almonds.”

In order to be able to meet the high demands of both customers for the raw material and end consumers for the finished product, agricultural companies are required to produce “smartly”. To this end, Veracruz Almonds invests in technologies that ensure high productivity and efficiency, and as a result produce high-quality almonds – and this directly from the producer in the EU, which additionally minimizes the carbon footprint of the almonds and thus of the end product.

At Veracruz Almonds, water distribution, pest control and protection against diseases are managed by a team of specialists and monitored by drones. A software developer connects the collected data of all smart farming tools for this purpose. Analyses can thus be retrieved in real time, and the almond trees can be optimally cared for with great care. “In this way, we produce almonds of consistently high quality, whose path from the field to the shop counter is traceable, and which every processor can use transparently for their high-quality products,” David Cavalho emphasizes.

Efficient water management is one of the most important priorities at Veracruz Almonds, since water is the most valuable natural resource of our time, and it is becoming scarce in many parts of the world. This water management also accounts for most of the company’s investments: The almond farms have one of the most advanced irrigation systems in the world, which allows for a very precise distribution of water to the plants: the Aqua4D technology, where the water is treated directly in the fields before it is used, so that it is even better absorbed by the soil and then by the plant roots.

The precision irrigation equipment is controlled by software that precisely monitors soil moisture via measuring probes. “This way, no water is lost and water consumption in the almond orchards can be reduced by 20 percent,” explains David Cavalho. “And this does not only apply to almond plantations, by the way. Veracruz Almonds is a pioneer in Portugal in the use of Aqua4D technology. We are collaborating on university research projects to help all farmers use these systems productively.”

Veracruz Almonds also keeps everything in the cycle when it comes to the resources it produces itself: In addition to the almond itself, all by-products are also consistently reused. The green shell of the almonds is cleaned and used to fertilize agricultural crops and sold as animal feed. The hard almond shells are used for energy production. What is not used in the company’s own almond processing plant is processed into pellets for boilers.

The edges of the almond groves are planted with multifunctional beds to attract pollinators such as bees and increase biodiversity. This project is also accompanied by a research partnership to make the results accessible and applicable to the entire agricultural sector. “We stand by the fact that conserving resources and using the environment with care is one of the most important tasks of our time,” explains David Cavalho. “Our delicious, sustainable almond is a great example of how we achieve the highest quality for our customers by doing so.”

Veracruz Almonds’ premium almonds are available to businesses direct from the grower. Product shape and pack sizes are customizable. Currently, Veracruz supplies food producers, small retailers, hotels, restaurants and independent distributors.