SOTO DEL EBRO S.L coordinates and participates in several R&D and innovation projects, such as:
- REPERA Project: Circular Economy for Obtaining Chitosan from Mushroom By-products, Aimed at the Comprehensive Improvement of the Cultivation and Post-Harvest of the Rincón de Soto PDO Pear
- FRUTAL - Project for monitoring the variation of the caliber of the fruits and correlation with the climatic conditions
- ERWINAS WEATHER
- PERAPACK
REPERA is an innovative cooperation project focused on valorizing mushroom by-products to obtain chitosan and applying it to improve the sustainability of the cultivation and post-harvest preservation of the Rincón de Soto PDO pear. The project runs from July 2025 to April 2028 and promotes a circular bioeconomy approach applied to two strategic sectors in La Rioja: mushrooms and pears. Its aim is to transform a currently underutilized by-product, such as mushroom stems, into a high-value-added solution with agronomic and post-harvest applications.
The main objectives of the project are to evaluate the effectiveness of chitosan in the field and post-harvest, develop and validate sustainable extraction methodologies from mushroom stems, scale up the production of the selected chitosan, design bioactive coatings adapted to pears and validate their application under real-world conditions, as well as facilitate the dissemination and transfer of results to the sector.
The expected results of the project include obtaining antimicrobial chitosan from mushroom stems using sustainable and scalable methodologies, developing edible bioactive coatings for pears, validating the application of chitosan in the field and post-harvest, and optimizing an extraction methodology with potential for transfer to the agri-food sector.
REPERA is structured through a cooperation group comprised of Soto del Ebro, S.L., the Professional Association of Substrate and Mushroom Producers of La Rioja, Navarre, and Aragon (ASOCHAMP-CTICH), and the National Center for Food Technology and Safety (CNTA). The project combines business experience, scientific and technological capacity, and sectoral knowledge to facilitate the validation and practical transfer of results.
The REPERA project has been awarded funding in the 2025 call for proposals for innovative cooperation initiatives through cooperation groups aimed at climate change mitigation, adaptation, and the promotion of sustainable agriculture. The project has a total budget of €311,418.55 and has received a grant of €249,134.87.
Project co-financed by the European Union through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development and Environment of the Government of La Rioja, within the framework of the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.
The development of the action in which Soto del Ebro, Frutas Montecillo and the Sociedad Cooperativa de Albelda participate, whose main objective is to carry out a proof of concept to monitor the evolution of the size of the pears and seek the correlation that this parameter has with the agroclimatic variables. Growers, accessing both caliber and agroclimatic data collected at key locations of their crops through any device with an internet connection during a complete vegetative cycle, will be able to obtain conclusions on the most appropriate management of pear trees during development. of the fruits, which will also allow the participating companies to improve their competitiveness.
The project is financed through Aid aimed at companies to carry out collaborative projects of experimental development and innovation that solve challenges in the field of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, in its 2022 call.
RE-PEAR is a R+D Project promoted by Soto del Ebro and the Protected Denomination of Origin Peras de Rincón de Soto. It started in 2014 and is formed by an European consortium integrated by 3 Associations (PRS, FNAP and EUCOFEL), 3 SMEs (Soto del Ebro, Xeda and HS Luftfilterbau) and 3 RTD centers (IRTA, University of Malta and INSPIRALIA),
The goal aimed to ahieve in this Project is to find a novel and natural solution for pear conservation based on: - The preparation of standardized Postharvest Management and control practice specific for pear sector.- The development of a Natural and organic anti-scalding and ungicide coating. - The design of a novel industrial filter able to minimize the presence of fungi spores and bacteria in pear conservation chambers.
Soto del Ebro SL, will have the entire exclusivity to commercialize this technology in Spain, and will be able to offer it to our clients, based on a process of continuous improvement policy.
Additional information about our project can be found at www.repear.eu
ERWINAS WEATHER project is directed and coordinated by Soto del Ebro. It started in 2014 and will finish after 3 years of hard work in 2017. The University of La Rioja and the C.I.D.A. (Centre for Agri-food Research and Technological Development of the Government of La Rioja) are also involved, giving technical and scientific support.
The aim of ERWINAS WEATHER project is to develop an integrated predictive model which will be able to warn farmers when the fire blight infection could happen, in order to prevent this event during the pear cultivation. It consists in determining the conditions of evelopment of the disease knowing worldwide as “Fire Blight”, in the production area of the PDO.
Several weather stations were installed in selected test orchards area, using cutting edge technologies.
Soto del Ebro SL will publish all findings of the study on this website and in specialized press.
PERAPACK project is directed and coordinated by Soto del Ebro. It began to develop in collaboration with C.I.D.A (Center of innovation and food technology of La Rioja) in 2015.
The main objective of this project is to achieve a new product based on conference pear cultivar produced under the P.D.O regulations. The new pack format, which currently does not exist in the European market, will be designed as a flow-pack bag with special features for this type of product, where the packaging system will be optimized to reach modified atmosphere conditions.
Such technology will be used for the entire pear conservation and storage in order to improve the safe and quality and increase the lifetime of the final product.
Furthermore, postharvest factors (i.e. ripeness) and storage conditions (temperature, relative humidity) will be analyzed to assess the influence in the conservation and lifetime of the product, so as to select the most suitable pears depending on time of the year, the final market destination, etc.
The final project´s goal is to introduce our product to a new and different market; facilitating its export management, extending the product shelf-life, and preserving all its quality properties for the purpose of opening a new line of work for the company.
