Agronômica Laboratory is headquartered in Porto Alegre, Brazil and has been a part of the Cotecna Group since 2022. Agronômica is recognized by the Brazil MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture) and is a leading expert for phytosanitary diagnosis. Utilizing innovative techniques, Agronômica has a comprehensive and solid service portfolio that delivers sustainable solutions for plant health and the entire ecosystem.
How it all started
Driven by a passion for agribusiness, Agronomists Patrícia de Souza Teló and Valmir Duarte, founding partners of Agronômica, obtained in 2006 recognition from MAPA (the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply). Agronômica became the first private laboratory in Brazil to detect and diagnose pests coming from international transit agricultural products and by-products.
The path of professional success shared by the partners arose from the identification of an innovative business opportunity: promoting plant health with Brazil's major customer, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply.
Dr. Valmir Duarte had a passion for applied phytopathology, his interest in solving the needs of small farmers, and a great opportunity with private companies, transformed a little explored field into a business opportunity. Through Dr Duarte’s leadership, the Department of Plant Health became connected to the Agronomy College, which culminated into a clinical plant recognized by MAPA.
During her academic training journey, Agronomist Patrícia was always interested in the production of vegetables and found in this area the diversity of possibilities that would allow her to invest in an autonomous path as a professional. The desire to stay with her family in Porto Alegre, as well as the desire to “make her own business happen”, provided Patricia, in love with tomatoes and lettuce, to discover fungi, bacteria, viruses, and nematodes and a great opportunity to provide an essential service to society: protecting agricultural borders.
The importance of Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture in Agronômica's success story
After two years of work at a clinical plant, created by the current partner Valmir, Patrícia started in 2003 the Agronômica - Plant Clinic and Consultancy to meet the demands of rural producers. Initially, Patrícia found an interest in the challenges faced by small producers. It was her knowledge of these problems that paved the way for finding more effective solutions. However, success would be achieved by gaining a thorough understanding of the MAPA regulatory requirements.
A need for change led to the merger of the two clinics and, in May 2006, Agronômica became the first private phytosanitary diagnostic laboratory in Brazil accredited to provide a wide range of services. Here we have the coming together of two paths, two lives, with the same passion to undertake and carry forward an immense love for plant protection. The Agronômica Laboratory was created to meet the demands of Brazil's major agribusiness customer, the Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for overseeing Brazil's phytosanitary frontiers.
The next natural step for the company was expansion. It started from a family home and moved to the corporate floor of a commercial building. From the compact payroll of two employees to a strategic HR with 45 people, from the book of sample registration to the QR code of the samples, from the MAPA recognition to InMetro accreditation, from bilateral comparison to international performance, internal reference material for the collection of biological agents, from the roots to the branches.
The focus on continuous improvement of processes, the obstinate reinvestment in technology and the incessant qualification of a multidisciplinary team contributed to the establishment of performance parameters at the national level, and above all, contributed to the quality standard of agricultural products imported by the country.
Growth of phytosanitary in Brazil
In 2007, MAPA's defense actions, based on the results of detecting the mite Brevipalpus chilensis in fruits, led to the adoption of new bilateral agreements between Brazil and Chile, a fact that guaranteed the continuity of imports across the dry borders of the southern region of the country. Between the years 2009 and 2012, the return of innumerable batches of seeds imported from different countries due to the detection of invasive plant seeds led to an improvement in the quality of the internalized batches, and a consequent decrease in weeds in the matches taken to the field.
The consecutive record soybean crops transported by Brazilian ports to China determined the need for the development and validation of rapid and accurate methods of detecting different phytosanitary restriction pests. The same reports, once issued in seven days, were released in just 24 hours by using more specific molecular techniques.
Agronômica's performance in the official present pest survey programs, as a laboratory of the National Plant Protection Network in the country, promoted the growth of pest-free areas, as well as the expansion of areas cultivated with cocoa, coffee, citrus, and bananas, for example, phytosanitary certification programs of origin or propagated seedlings.
Agronômica’s contributions to phytosanitary
In these 18 years of service, Agronômica, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, has helped the detection and determining the quarantine of pests in Brazil. As well as the phytosanitary restrictions for partner countries, fueling the growth of Brazilian agribusiness and the opening of new markets for the commercialization of agricultural products.
The detection and identification of exotic pests contributed towards giving visibility to the technical quality of the group of researchers that made up the panel of analysts. New pests identified and taxonomically named by the Agronômica group have already toured scientific panels at international meetings, leaving a legacy, a contribution for the next generations.
We work seriously to ensure that this working relationship continues for many years because humanity's future depends on the production of healthy food. Protecting the plants, and promoting their health is the only way to guarantee the perpetuity of natural resources and their diversity. Promoting plant health will help bring food security.
To learn more about Agronômica or to request a quote, please contact us.
