Construction of the Fruitcentre of Irta

On September 18 on the grounds of the Science Park and agri-food technology of Lleida took place the ceremony of laying the first stone of the new enclosure that Irta is going to devote to research and innovation in the fruit sector and thatwith the name of Fruitcentre, it will be unique in Europe in his side.

Catalonia is one of the relevant European regions in the production and marketing of fresh fruit and transformed product. However, this sector is subject to profound changes both of the productive structure (relative change of species and varietal renewal) as well as changes in the realm of the demands of consumers (more quality, more easily to consumption, different and new formats of consumption)(, costs...) as of the society (sustainable production, reduction of the use of phytosanitary products, etc.).

Laying the first stone of the Fruitcentre.

The Fruitcentre was born with the vocation to help the sector to deal with and respond to these changes by developing a powerful activity of research, development and innovation with a new infrastructure that integrates physical and conceptually different teams that work in fruit treewith a multidisciplinary approach and overview of the value chain of the fruit. The Fruitcentre will have 6 pilot plants and 23 laboratories in a total built area of 6.356 m² on a plot of 4201²m, distributed over four floors. Pilot plant of new technologies for the conservation, preparation and packaging of fresh fruit, 4th and 5th range, engineering of cold, as well as biocontrol agents will test new technologies, scale processes and develop new products. Thus, technologies such as the dynamic atmosphere or the non-destructive measurement of the quality of the line of clothing, the development of new products for 4th range, or establish the conditions for the conservation of new varieties developed in the genetic improvement programmethey are examples of activities to develop in these pilot plants.