On September 30, 2016 AB Agrowill Group introduced a new organic food brand AUGA, which is to become available for Lithuanian consumers in October. Agrowill Group announced the plan to change the company name to Auga Group.
The history of AUGA started 2 years ago, when Agrowill Group took a decision to change the culture of conventional farming and started organic production. The company created a vision – organic food can be affordable for everyone.
The company aimed at developing the new Lithuanian agriculture that would change the current situation and would promote Lithuania around the world. It raised a lot of new questions. Is it possible to grow and produce without harming the environment? Is it possible to align organic farming with modern technologies? Is it possible to produce clean food at fair price and make it available to everyone?
„The situation of agriculture in Lithuanian and globally is not acceptable. In many cases farming results not in producing clean food, but in creating profits for chemical industry. Lithuania is one of the cleanest countries in the world, therefore we have a unique opportunity to use this advantage and to develop ecological agriculture. To achieve the results we need to change conventional farming principles and to invest in new technologies. Some individual organic farms do it, but they lack scale in order to make organic food available for a wider circle of consumers. Moreover, people, especially in our region, still lack knowledge and trust that so called ecological products are really what they are. One of our objectives is to create this trust with a brand that would be open, transparent and would speak for itself.“ - Kęstutis Juščius, chairman of the board of AB Agrowill Group, spoke about the issues of organic farming during the press conference.
The demand for organic products has been growing globally for about a decade. Consumer expectations for clean food are increasing in Lithuania as well. The representative survey conducted by the research company Spinter tyrimai showed that 76 percent of population associate the consumption of organic products with health and quality of life. Similar number (74 percent) of people in Lithuania would support the idea of banning the use of any chemical fertilizers in agriculture.
The aim to meet consumer expectations and to address the issues of agriculture has led Agrowill Group to start the biggest investment project in company‘s history. Now it got the name AUGA.
AUGA is a Lithuanian verb, that means „to grow“, to strive upwards. According to K. Juščius, AUGA is not just a word or a brand name – it is a philosophy and vision of the company, that aims to represent Lithuania globally.
„In cooperation with the biggest creative agencies in Lithuania we spent a long time looking for a word that would best represent our idea and would reflect the process of producing organic food. We were seeking this name to be short, easily and similarly pronounced in all main languages, because our market is global. However, the main criteria was the Lithuanian origin and meaning of the word, because we want it to represent Lithuania.“ - spoke K. Juščius.
AUGA brand name will be placed on a wide range of organic food products. Fresh and preserved champignons, potatoes, carrots, beetroots will appear in retail already this October. Next year the assortment will be extended with diary, grain and poultry products.
All AUGA products are marked with Lithuanian and European Union ecological certificate signs. It means that while growing and producing AUGA products minimal environment impact was caused, no chemical fertilizers were used, the soil was taken care of, aiming to make use of side products in the process, and there are no GMO or synthetic additives in the food.
The company has taken the major and irreversible decision to engage in ecological and sustainable framing and food production business. Special attention was paid to product packaging. AUGA preserved champignons and vegetables are packed in innovative doypacks that produce significantly less CO2 emissions during the product lifecycle compared to a glass jar of the same size. “While growing organic food we look for the best and most efficient solutions, create and apply innovative technologies, cooperate with inventors and engineers. We aim to create new technologies of ecological farming to be able to share them with our fellow farmers in Lithuania and abroad.” – said K. Juščius.
In the press conference Agrowill Group also announced its plans to change the name of the company to Auga Group. According to K. Juščius, renaming the company is a natural step reflecting the changes in the group. The process of changing the company name is planned to finalize in November.
For more information: Kristina Karnickaitė UAB “Integrity PR” Šv. Ignoto g. 5, Vilnius 01144, Lithuania T: +370 616 89310 F: +370 5 268 5133 Skype: kristna1 kristina@integrity.lt
