Here at CLUN we improve on a daily basis by striving for quality and efficiency, with the maximum guarantees at all stages and processes of the value chain. Hence the fact that innovation is one of the pillars of our growth, with one fundamental aim: to optimise the nutritional profile of our milk naturally through the way in which we feed our cows, in order to offer our customers safer, healthier and full-flavoured products.
In order to do so, year after year we maintain our commitment to innovation, with an investment of more than 1.4 million euros, of which more than 42% is comprised of our own investment made through FEIRACO. We also cooperate with different research groups at regional, national and international levels.
Innovation, therefore, encompasses all of our products, processes and services and lies at the heart of all the operations carried out by the cooperative.
We seek to generate ideas on which to base new product and service creative processes or improve those that already exist, bearing in mind the human capital, the knowledge to transform resources into products and services that meet the new needs of the market as well as the cooperative and its partners, the business spirit capable of taking on risks in an organised fashion and internal and external cooperation.
CLUN’s innovation projects
CATTLECARE
<<Subvencionado pola Axencia Galega de Innovación>>
CATTLE CARE: Modernisation of cattle farms by controlling animal activity and food resources.
Aims.
Modernisation of cattle farms through the development of tools that make it possible to improve their management at various different levels.
1. Monitoring of cows so as to have data on feeding and behavioural patterns. The analysis of this data will enable us to extract patterns of activity and the subsequent early detection of alterations that affect production efficiency and the appearance of diseases.
2. To improve the management of food resources on farms by automating the control of stocks and the logistics of feeds acquired from outside the farm.
During the project’s third year, the developments carried out were transferred to a real production environment. The CATTLECARE monitoring tools were incorporated into a farm belonging to the CLUN cooperative where a representative group of cows wore a neck band for measurement purposes. This enables us to verify and improve the working of the animal activity classification system, as well as communications systems, processing and the storage and analysis of collected data.
On the other hand, a web application has been established by means of which farmers can check the evolution of their cattle’s behaviour and be made aware of any notable incidents, enabling them to adopt measures to remedy them immediately.
Finally, in this last year, processes to test and validate both individual elements as well as the project overall were implemented.
This project is subsidised by the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN), through the CONECTA PYME programme, with the backing of the Xunta de Galicia’s Regional Ministry for the Economy, Employment and Industry.
The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, through the operational programme Feder Galicia 2014-2020 and in particular OT 1: “Promoting technological development, innovation and high-quality research”.
Start date: 10/02/2016 End date: 30/11/2018 Aid granted: 51.338,07€
GALAC
<<Subvencionado pola Axencia Galega de Innovación>>
GALAC: TECNOLOGIES FOR THE RAPID DETECTION AND CONTROL OF THE IMPACT OF MYCOTOXINS IN ANIMAL NUTRITION IN GALICIA
Aim: CLUN, in combination and collaboration with important sector companies, successfully completed the ambitious R+D project “TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE RAPID DETECTION AND SECTORAL CONTROL OF THE IMPACT OF MYCOTOXINS IN ANIMAL NUTRITION IN GALICIA (GALAC).” This project was chosen to receive economic aid in the CONECTA PYME programme to promote public and private collaboration through research and development projects in cooperation between PYMEs (small and medium size businesses) in areas strategic to the Autonomous Community of Galicia, co-financed by the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER). The main aim of the project focuses on significantly improving the control of mycotoxins in animal feed and livestock productions in Galicia via three lines of action: i) widen the number of mycotoxins under research through the development of a new method of simultaneous analysis of a high number of mycotoxins and their metabolites in raw materials and forage and their relationship with farming problems, ii) validate rapid test kits for the analysis of mycotoxins via NIRS for its potential systematic implementation in the control of raw materials by gmp.galis at the loading bay or in community cattle feed mixing plants, and control much more efficiently the possibility of Galician livestock being exposed to mycotoxins; iii) develop a method of assessing milk cattle’s exposure to zearalenone through milk analysis. The project was led by SANOR, a micro-enterprise belonging to AGAFAC, the association of representatives from the feed production sector in Galicia, which focuses its aims on constantly improving and guaranteeing food safety in Galicia by systematically controlling the raw materials used by associated feed manufacturers, and a rapid alert system in the event a result obtained were to exceed the limit legally established or recommended in internal specifications. As partners, both CLUN and NORESGA took part in the project. CLUN, as a manufacturer of mixed feeds, a supplier of auxiliary materials and providing technical support for advice on feeds on partners’ milk cattle farms, in an effort to find the most suitable management systems; and the company NORESGA, with vast experience in analysis services in the agro-food and environmental field. Various research entities collaborated in the development of the different activities: A Coruña University’s General Research Support Services Unit (XSAI-UDC), with experience in the use of chromatographic techniques to analyse different types of samples, the Mabegondo Agricultural Research Centre (CIAM), specialising in research focused on feed for ruminants, and the Galician Aquaculture Technology Centre, CETGA, with extensive
experience in the detection of contaminants, thanks to the vast capabilities of its microbiology and parasitology laboratory and to the fully-equipped chromatography laboratory.
The development of this project is subsidised by the Galician Innovation Agency and 80% co- financed by the European Fund for Regional Development through the operational programme Feder Galicia 2014-2020 (OT 1. “Promoting technological development, innovation and high-quality research”).
Start date: 10/02/2016 End date: 30/11/2018 Aid granted: 87.735,83€
FEADER. Measure 4.1.1. Modernization of agricultural holdings
FEADER. Measure 121.20. Modernization of agricultural holdings
360º INNOVATION
At CLUN we are committed to a model of innovation from start to finish, enabling us to control and optimise all of the stages of the production process, from the origin to the consumer, from the farm to the table.
A 360º model encompassing industrial innovation, in our own industrial plants, as well as the development of soil quality, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions deriving from the cows’ digestive process, the quest for the best nutritional profile of our milk naturally and allowing us to assess the suitability of previously formulated feed rations.
