What’s coming in genetics is fascinating
The CEO of the world’s largest network of micropropagation laboratories and nurseries reviews Agromillora’s global expansion.
The CEO of the world’s largest network of micropropagation laboratories and nurseries reviews Agromillora’s global expansion, the innovation‑driven culture behind it, and the impact of agronomic models—such as hedgerow olive orchards—that have transformed food production worldwide. He also anticipates the next major revolution: “Gene editing will lead to disruptive leaps we never imagined,” he emphasizes.
By Danilo Phillipi
Photography: Claudio Aguilera
Agromillora was founded 40 years ago in Barcelona, driven by its founders’ intuition that biotechnological innovation could change the way farmers produce food. That spirit is embedded in the company’s very name: millora means “improvement” in Catalan. What began as a local initiative to support growers in Catalonia soon gained greater momentum. First Spain, then Europe, and eventually the entire world. Its global vocation emerged almost by chance, although—as often happens with chance—it was underpinned by a clear ambition.
The first international destination was Chile, in 1997. Brazil and Oregon, in the United States, followed soon after. Jordi Mateu, CEO of the company, recalls that this early expansion relied more on intuition than on business manuals:
“We did something no business school would recommend: we started a project without a market study, without experience, without money or a financing plan… but with extraordinary motivation and drive. And I believe this is what pushed us forward and turned Agromillora into what it is today.”
Today the company is present in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and its recently inaugurated subsidiary in Mexico. Its footprint also extends to the United States (three subsidiaries), Australia, and much of the Mediterranean region—Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey—alongside its original nursery in Spain, totaling twelve operations worldwide.
Nine countries, two hemispheres, and a diverse cultural constellation that forces the company to rethink everything at every step.
“This multinational presence is demanding in terms of adaptation and flexibility,” says Mateu.
“From the very beginning we knew this was a key factor. Wherever we go, we always do so with the humility to learn and adapt to the local context, and then see what we can contribute under those conditions.
For example, we have always been clear that management and teams must be local. That helps us move any project forward. From Muslim countries like Morocco or Tunisia to Anglo‑Saxon and liberal countries such as the United States or Australia—there are countless cultural and religious differences, different ways of doing things and communicating, and we have managed to adapt successfully to each of these environments. It has been a demanding task, but it is also the most interesting part of the business.”
One of the defining innovations in this story was the development of the hedgerow olive orchard, a super high‑density system that made it possible to mechanize a millennia‑old crop and significantly increase its profitability. Today it is a global standard: more than 400,000 hectares are managed under this model, and projections indicate that by 2030 it will exceed 700,000 hectares. For Mateu, this revolution was the result of the culture that defines the company:
“We are always looking for new species and new geographies where there is an opportunity to create value through our genetics and propagation expertise.”
The challenge was anything but minor: bringing technology to a crop that covers millions of hectares worldwide and had traditionally been worked entirely by hand. Based in the Penedès, a renowned wine‑growing region, the team came up with an idea that sounded reckless at the time: using over‑the‑row grape harvesters to harvest Arbequina, a compact olive variety. They increased planting densities, altered tree architecture, and designed a completely new agronomic system.
“The idea seemed crazy… going from 200 trees per hectare to 2,000 in an ultra‑traditional crop like olives.”
Three decades later, that “madness” is an unquestionable success.
“It transformed the industry. Today no one can imagine an olive oil industry based on traditional low‑yield, hand‑harvested systems. It would be impossible. Thanks to this technology, we are now able to produce large volumes of oil at a controlled cost, which allows us to offer it to the market at a reasonable price and thus increase consumption. It has definitely been a revolutionary model, also for us, because it has allowed us to market millions of plants. A win‑win for the industry and for Agromillora.”
Agromillora defines itself as a “Global Genetic Platform.” What does this concept mean for the development of new crops and the efficiency of modern fruit growing?
Within the industry, Agromillora is a unique company. Nurseries are typically family‑run businesses with a regional focus. We are the only one with a truly global corporate profile. We operate in the world’s most important agricultural regions, and over the years we realized that our value proposition was completely different from the rest.
Why different? In addition to being present across multiple latitudes and geographies, at Agromillora we work with many species: olives, almonds, citrus, grapes, berries, apples, and we are constantly searching for new crops. In that sense, we maintain close relationships with breeders around the world who are looking to propagate their materials. We saw that our global position represented a major opportunity. Breeders are spread all over the planet, and one of their main challenges is finding a reliable partner who can help them move their material to any geography where they want to develop it, and to do so in a serious and professional way. That was our bet. We knew that our deep understanding of breeders would allow us to approach them with a strong value proposition:
“If you have a raspberry breeding program in Chile, we can help you bring it to Australia, Europe, the United States, Mexico, or Brazil—and we can also help you collect royalties to secure your return.”
This idea—which is innovative, because no one had taken this position before—is working extremely well, and today the world’s leading breeders, across all species, trust our platform to move their materials into different geographies.
How does in vitro propagation contribute to more productive, healthier, and traceable agriculture?
When we started, in the mid‑1980s, in vitro propagation was a technology used only at a scientific level. That’s why I believe one of Agromillora’s major contributions was bringing this propagation technology to a commercial and scalable level.
Today, 11 of our 12 nurseries have an in vitro culture laboratory. Modestly speaking, we are leaders and experts in clonal propagation. No one else has the volume and capacity we do.
Why? Because in vitro propagation has proven to be the most reliable system for safely and healthily cloning plant material. Modern agriculture requires not only the best genetics, but also the assurance that the plants received are true to type with respect to the original genetics. Plant cloning is therefore essential, and in most species, in vitro propagation is the fastest, most reliable, and safest way to do this work.
In recent decades, advances in genetics have been impressive. What can we expect going forward?
Genetics is, without a doubt, the greatest driver of innovation in the history of humanity. It is what has enabled the major leaps in agriculture and food production. And what lies ahead—referring to the possibilities opened up by gene editing—is even more spectacular. We will witness disruptive leaps we never imagined. We will achieve varieties resistant to diseases that were previously considered irreversible. For example, we are working with a U.S. company, a spin‑off from the University of Florida, that through gene editing has developed plants tolerant to greening, the bacterium that has devastated citrus orchards in Brazil, in Florida itself, and that is now spreading across Mexico and Central America.
This is just one example, because much more is coming: varieties that do not require chilling hours, varieties resistant to the most common diseases, allowing treatments to be reduced, species or rootstocks resistant to drought or salinity, enabling us to reclaim land that had previously been discarded. In short, what lies ahead is fascinating. And all of this will allow us to improve critical aspects such as sustainability—that is, producing more and better while using fewer resources.
Agromillora is known as “the nursery of nurseries.” Was this intentional, or did it develop naturally?
At Agromillora we have always had an industrial mindset: producing large volumes of plants with a high level of quality in a small format. This has made us natural suppliers to nursery operators. Today we have two types of clients: the end customer, meaning the grower, whom we supply with finished plants ready to be planted in the field, representing approximately 50% of our sales; and nurseries, which account for the other half of our business.
Thanks to our in vitro propagation capacity, we can supply rootstocks to most nurseries—in all the countries where we operate—so they can then plant, graft, and ultimately supply growers. In vitro propagation only makes sense when you have sufficient volume and scale. It is difficult for a laboratory producing one million plants or fewer to be economically profitable. As a result, nurseries usually need to rely on a supplier capable of providing these materials in the quantities they require. That is where we have found a niche that has worked very well for us, allowing us to work with the best nurseries in the countries where we are present.
What specific innovation lines do you have for the nursery channel?
Peru and Mexico are the company’s most recent subsidiaries. What strategic criteria guided this expansion?
For us, Peru and Mexico are two strategically key subsidiaries. At Agromillora, we have been working in the berry segment for more than 20 years. We were pioneers in developing in vitro propagation protocols for raspberries and blackberries. Rubus is a genus where the industry has historically been reluctant to use clonal propagation due to mutation risks.
However, at Agromillora we developed a propagation protocol that minimizes that risk, allowing us to enter the berry business with visibility and recognition. Peru and Mexico are major berry production hubs—huge markets where we were either absent or only indirectly active. At a certain point, we realized that if we wanted to consolidate our position within the industry, we had to be there, just as we are in Chile and Brazil. Our first year in Peru was truly outstanding, and of course we have high expectations for our new subsidiary in Mexico.
In recent years, Chile has been losing leadership compared to Peru’s productive capacity. How do you see the future of fruit growing in the region, and how is Agromillora addressing this scenario?
It is true that Chile has lost ground in some key species. However, the country has a professional agricultural mindset, a competitive spirit, an export vocation, and sufficient climatic and soil resources to believe that Chilean agriculture will continue to be a benchmark in the future—perhaps not in every species, but certainly in many important ones.
As a result, we will continue to invest in Chile and expect to keep growing in this market. Peru, on the other hand, is undoubtedly the southern hemisphere player with the greatest growth potential, thanks to its efforts to improve water infrastructure, bring thousands of hectares into production, and make the impossible possible. Its potential goes far beyond blueberries. Peru has much to say in stone fruit such as peaches, nectarines, and probably cherries as well. More broadly, from Agromillora’s perspective, all of Latin America—and especially South America—offers enormous agricultural growth potential.
What message would you like to convey to young agronomists and entrepreneurs seeking to transform agriculture through innovation and sustainability, just as you have done?
Agriculture is at a fascinating moment. We now have access to technological capabilities that never existed before. Genetic breeding programs have reached unimaginable levels. And right now we are entering the next stage: gene editing, which represents the major qualitative leap the industry will experience at every level. We are witnessing a disruptive change that will bring opportunities we are still unable to fully visualize. At the same time, mechanization and digitalization technologies will make future agriculture far more specialized and predictable.
This highly technological environment will attract not only investors, but also young talent, who will be drawn to become part of the industry. The agriculture of the future has nothing to do with that of the past. In disruptive moments like these, if you are in the right place, the opportunities that open up are extraordinary. The need to feed people in a healthy and sustainable way will continue to grow—and for that, we will need technology as well as highly skilled professionals.
