Twenty-five years ago, neither computers nor the internet, nor technology in general, had reached the level of development and modernity that we enjoy today. Neither had agriculture. For this reason, Seipasa’s story is all the more valuable because it was born in a very different context from today’s, with an agricultural industry fully focused on production, dominated by chemical synthesis treatments in which concepts such as sustainability had not yet become as important as they are today.
“If there has been one thing that has driven us into the future, it has been our vision to anticipate change. It has forced us to swim against the tide for many years, with incomprehension and rejection from part of the distribution and with a market that has not always understood our solutions. But the reality is that it is this boldness and foresight that has allowed us to stay ahead of the rest in developing a bio-based portfolio. We were the first to arrive and now we have a head start,” says Pedro Peleato, CEO of Seipasa.
For those who do not know, Seipasa is the acronym of Sociedad Europea de Intercambio de Productos Agrícolas Sociedad Anónima. The company was born in the heat of the commercial opportunities that opened up after Spain joined the European Union, although the turning point that marked this prescient vision of change occurred almost 8,000 km from Valencia.
“In 2001 we went to Havana, Cuba, on a business trip organised by the University of Alicante. Cuba was subject to the US embargo. This was one of many restrictions that prevented producers from using phytosanitary treatments to control pests and diseases. In response, farmers had developed biological control alternatives based on micro-organisms and botanical extracts. For me, this was a paradigm shift. I realised that this was where the future of agriculture lay, and when I returned to Spain, we put everything into this line of development," recalls Peleato.
From that moment on, Seipasa settled in L'Alcúdia, just 30 km from Valencia. Soon followed the development of the first product portfolio, the first commercial experiences in Murcia and Almeria, the first export to Turkey and the first international subsidiary in Mexico. There have been many firsts at Seipasa, followed by many more to build a global company with a presence in more than 25 countries around the world, applying the Natural Technology model developed by the company.
Commitment to plant-protection registrations
But what is Natural Technology? Pedro Peleato defines it as a way of understanding agriculture. “It is a commitment to technology, innovation and sustainability applied to agriculture, based on the use of botanical and microbiological principles. Natural Technology is a commitment to integrated pest management strategies and the reduction or substitution of chemically synthesised active ingredients in treatments. This is the foundation on which we have built and will continue to build our portfolio of solutions.
If that trip to Cuba marked the first turning point in Seipasa’s history, the second came when the company decided to increase its focus on the biocontrol segment and build a catalogue backed by the hallmark of phytosanitary registration. “More than 15 years ago, we saw the need to give a future and real value-added to the natural active ingredients we were working with: we had to register them and put them in the right place,” says Peleato.
New line of bioherbicides
Thanks to these efforts, Seipasa has more than 70 phytosanitary registrations in 25 countries around the world. “We have our own bioprotection portfolio, made up of lines of bioinsecticides and biofungicides, which will soon be joined by a new line of bioherbicides. There are multinationals that have had to spend billions of euros acquiring companies to get the same portfolio of biologicals because they lacked the technology and the resources. We have done it with our own resources and with a model created by and for farmers,” says Seipasa’s CEO.
This new line of bioherbicides is the most important project Seipasa is working on. It is an alternative to the synthetic herbicides on the market - and candidates to disappear -, presenting a new mode of action that has not been used by any of the references on the market. To make this project a reality, the company has just inaugurated its new industrial plant which, together with a new office building, adds up to 4,000 new m2 to make the leap into this more immediate future.
National Innovation Award
At this point, where memories of the past merge with projects for the future, it is worth asking what is the most exciting memory of these 25 years. “I would like to highlight the National Innovation Prize awarded to us by the Ministry of Science and Innovation in 2020. In that year of the titanic battle against Covid19, pharmaceutical and telecommunications companies played a very important role at a social level, but the prize for the most innovative company in Spain went to Seipasa, a company in the primary sector. As a member of an agricultural family, I was very proud to receive this award, but even more so for the millions of farmers who trudge through the mud every day despite all the problems and obstacles they face. This prize is also theirs,” recalls Pedro Peleato. For all these reasons, Seipasa is preparing for at least another 25 years.