SPC Group Provides Support for Young Strawberry Farmers to Expand ‘Happiness and Shared Growth through ESG’
SPC Group (CEO: Hur Young-in) announced on the 12th that it will help farming households to increase the number of variety of plants, and provide support for young farmers as part of its ESG management activities.
Following the agreement concluded with the Nonsan city government last February for the ‘Happiness and Shared Growth through ESG’ project, SPC Group, to take the project to the next level, participated in the R&D efforts to optimize ‘Vita Berry’ variety raised by young farmers in Nonsan for bakery products and released the related products to support the farmers to explore new sales channel and increase profits. SPC Group plans to contribute to creating a virtuous circle where farmhouses reinvest the increased profits to expand cultivation and improve the quality of new strawberry varieties.
Vita Berry Strawberry Fraisier, which was launched through Paris Baguette, is a Fraisier cake (French cake with the edges lined with sliced strawberries) made by filling soft cake sheets with sweet custard cheese cream and Nonsan strawberries and topping it generously with Vita Berry strawberries. In line with the launch of the new product, SPC Group plans to purchase 80 tons of strawberries including Vita Berry cultivated by farming households in Nonsan.
Vita Berry is a new strawberry variety developed for export by Nonsan Strawberry Experiment Station of Chungcheongnam-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services in 2019. It is characterized with the high vitamin C content in addition to firmness, flavor, and sweetness of the fruit. Since January 2019, Innovation Lab, which is SPC Group’s research institute, has been conducting a study together with Nonsan Strawberry Experiment Station and Nonsan-si to develop and commercialize Vita Berry as a strawberry variety optimized to baking.
Vita Berry also adds to the significance of SPC Group’s support to young farmers as it is cultivated mainly by young farmers in Nonsan-si. While the sense of crisis is heightening due to the aging of farmers and continuous decrease of agricultural population in Korea, fostering of young farmers has emerged as a solution for rural revitalization. Young farmers growing Vita Berry also performed as supporting models for Paris Baguette’s new product.
Park Tae-jun, a young farmer, said, “I decided to participate in SPC Group’s Happiness and Shared Growth through ESG project as a model because it will be a great opportunity to introduce the excellence and new variety of Nonsan strawberry, and promote young farmers.”
An SPC Group official said, “This year’s Happiness and Shared Growth through ESG project will comprise of various activities aimed at promoting the company’s growth at the same time as strengthening competitiveness of the farming industry, such as to expand new strawberry varieties for cultivation and foster young farmers in addition to purchasing and commercializing agricultural products.”
Since September 2020, SPC Group has been implementing Happiness and Shared Growth through ESG project to help local farmhouses experiencing difficulties due to COVID-19. SPC Group is continuously performing shared growth activities by releasing products made using potatoes from Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do, carrots from Gujwa, Jeju-do, strawberries from Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do, onions from Muan, Jeollanam-do, and ginsengs from Yeongju and Punggi, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
