Xavier Fitó: "We want to be the reference in Southern Europe from where agribusiness managers emerge"

BarcelonaXavier Fitó (Barcelona, 1972) is a businessman with an extensive career linked to the seed sector and a strong defender of innovation in the field. The executive, who claims the role that the agri-food sector must continue to play within the Catalan economy, maintains that the agronomists of the future must be capable of assuming functions "of lab coat, boots, and tie".

What led you to promote the degree in agri-food technologies and business management with the UPC and UB, promoted by the BEST Foundation?

— The Catalan agri-food sector is the one that generates the most GDP and the most exports in Catalonia. On the other hand, if we look at the agronomic engineering degrees in the country, there are only three, which barely fill the fifty places they offer. Then we proposed to create a more attractive university degree for students, who are agronomists, but who also have training in this more economic aspect.

What a welcome you have?

— As it is a public degree, pre-registration will begin in June. The first year is uncertain, although we have replicated these studies based on another degree that we offer through the BEST Foundation, in industrial technologies and economic analysis. The cut-off grade for this degree is 12.5 and it is very successful. We hope that, over time, the agri-food degree will achieve the same recognition.

Within a sector that represents 18% of Catalonia's GDP, why is it so difficult to find young people willing to train?

— In the collective imagination, the agri-food sector is still seen as a very primary and traditional sector. Nothing could be further from reality: it is a very dynamic, innovative and strategic industry, very resilient to crises, but when it is talked about, it is not given the glamour or image it deserves.

Recent studies such as the Fènix report qualify parts of the agri-food sector, such as the meat industry, as "highly subsidized" activities. Should the industry be recomposed, also from education?

— Indeed, within the agri-food sector there are activities with less added value and others with more added value. As we incorporate more talent, I believe we will be able to generate more value. And if you incorporate technology into the sector, salaries also increase. In the coming years, we have the challenge of automating and robotizing the sector to eliminate those more repetitive and low value-added jobs, such as harvesting..

Major food groups such as Bonpreu, Europastry or BonÀrea, among others, participate in the degree. What do you expect them to contribute?

— On the one hand, a scholarship system specific to the degree, to facilitate English language skills and promote international mobility with exchange programs. On the other hand, a system of internships, visits, and talks so that students can get to know the reality of the sector. We hope that these studies, which are pioneering, will eventually become the benchmark degree in Southern Europe for managerial talent in the agri-food sector.

From the rest of Europe, is Catalonia seen as a benchmark in agri-food?

— Catalonia has many challenges. In the agri-food sector, it is a benchmark, both in production and innovation, and also both in the public sphere –through the Institute of Agri-food Research and Technology (IRTA)– and in the private one, with very powerful companies. But I believe that we deserve a benchmark university degree like the one offered in Wageningen (Netherlands), which is currently the best university in the world in the agri-food business.

A large part of the degree is in English. Is it compatible to train young talent and internationalize it, while also being able to retain it?

— In general, it is important that students graduate with a good level of English, because it is the vehicular language for any activity involving training and research. And in the agri-food sector in Catalonia, we have many internationalized companies. The more trained people there are, the more employability they will have. Even if they leave for a few years to return with other experiences, I think it is good for the country. But we will have to be smart enough to be attractive and retain them. After all, we are dealing with a very innovative sector where many of the large companies are headquartered in Catalonia, but people are not aware of it.

The sector has been marked by numerous crises in recent years, both due to conflicts and the effects of climate change. Can controlling this instability be taught?

— Since Covid, we have learned that we must set ourselves concrete objectives and strategies. The geopolitical environment must be taken into account, of course, but the impacts are constant. Since 2020, we have experienced the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, high inflation, and now the impact of Hormuz on fertilizer prices. We must follow a line and know how to manage this uncertainty.

And regarding the advent of artificial intelligence, what does the sector expect?

— Artificial intelligence generates a lot of uncertainty about some jobs, such as in activities related to engineering. But in the agri-food sector, I believe it will be a help, because it will not drastically change it either, rather it will reinforce it.