Environment &
Sustainability
One of the primary strategic goals of the company is to establish itself at the peak of the highest quality refiners of agricultural raw materials in the business segments Sugar, Starch and Fruit. Prerequisites for attaining and sustaining this goal are the careful selection of agricultural raw materials and the employment of state of the art environmentally sound and waste minimising technologies during the refinement process.
Due to AGRANA's strong relationships with the food processing industry, themes other than the technological aspects that are of increasing importance include food safety, quality management and retraceability of all industrial processes right back to the field, as well as social aspects and certifications (ISO 9001:2000, ISO 22000, International Food Standard, GMP+*, Quality & Safety).
AGRANA concentrates its efforts in environment and sustainability mainly in the following sub-sectors:
USE OR ENERGY AND RAW MATERIALS
As an energy-intensive refiner of agricultural resources, AGRANA continually strives to optimise energy and resource usage and the production process. Since 1990, the company has invested millions in transport, energy supplies, production and packaging and thus reached the Kyoto goals to cut CO2 emissions by 2010 years ago.
WATER & AIR
Production in the AGRANA plants is defined by creating closed circuit processes. This includes the reprocessing and reuse of water, as well as using as much of the raw material components and any by-products as possible.
Environmentally friendly production inevitably involves paying special attention to cleansing the waste water that is generated during the manufacturing process. Thus continually improving the waste water quality has been a focal point of investment in AGRANA plants for years. The potato fruit water produced by the potato starch plant in Gmünd | Austria, which contains precious minerals found in these tubers, is redirected to the ground in concentrated form. Similarly, in the maize starch plant in Aschach | Austria, the spring water is inspissated and mixed into animal feed, acting as a valuable protein source.
Continual improvement of the production plants as regards safety, ecological compatibility and in particular waste reduction is of key importance to AGRANA.
In cooperation with experts, governmental agencies and abutters, extensive measures have been taken to decrease dust, smell and sound emissions in recent years. Modern biofilters for organic odoriphores cleanse the emissions produced by by-product processing.
USE OF BY-PRODUCTS
Sustainable production also means using up any generated by-products as thoroughly as possible. The sugar and starch plants offer the by-products carbonated lime and potato fruit water as fertilizers and soil conditioners. Sugar beet pulp, potato protein and (Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles), which is sold under the name ActiProt, are distributed as high quality feed ingredients. In the fruit sector, pomace is sold to the pectin industry or as a feed ingredient, or used for thermal purposes.
CONSULTANCY SERVICE FOR FARMERS
To reduce and discourage the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the sugar and starch sectors, AGRANA has been providing its suppliers with in-depth consultations for many years. In addition, irrigation was optimised by measuring soil humidity in the root region. In the fruit sector, similar consultancy is provided via intense contact through the AGRANA "Category Buyers" with the fruit suppliers. AGRANA cooperates with certified suppliers of raw materials to ensure high quality standards and to encourage sustainable husbandry.
MANUFACTURE OF ORGANIC PRODUCTS
AGRANA has been manufacturing organic products in all its business sectors Sugar, Starch and Fruit since the 2008|09 sugar campaign.