Agromillora Group Now in Rural Florida

Agromillora Group Now in Rural Florida

See photos from the event here.

The Agromillora Group, based in Spain, broke ground on a new business in Sumter County almost a year ago. On Friday it celebrated the opening of a new facility.

What had been an empty field on County Road 229 is now a tissue culture laboratory developing a variety of rootstock, including citrus trees resistant to him greening disease that is devastating groves across the state.

The new facility is now complete and company leaders held a ribbon cutting with Sumter County Commissioners and local businesses.

Agromillora Group President Carles Sumarroca expressed his thanks to the county leadership for working with the nursery to Sumter County.

“Mr. Sumarroca said the county government and staff made the company feel welcome and made the entire process one of the easiest they have encountered in the country,” said Jessica Kelly, administrator for the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce.

County Commission Chairman Garry Breeden attended the ceremony and toured the facility.

“Agromillora makes you look at the agriculture industry in a whole new way,” Breeden said. “The work Agromillora does is cutting-edge. They think out of the box to create ways to improve the industry to produce more with less.”

The ribbon cutting was a great opportunity to see first-hand and hear about the process, Breeden said.

Agromillora is the largest nursery company in the world. The Sumter-based business is one of its three facilities in the United States and one of 14 worldwide. The company’s home base is Subtracts (Barcelona), Spain and it works with research facililities throughout the world.

“One of the things that drew the company to Sumter County was our close proximity to three colleges with research facilities,” Sumter County Administrator Bradley Arnold said. “The University of Florida worked closely with the company to bring them to Florida. Also available are the research facilities at the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida.

That makes three major research centers for the company to work within an hour’s distance.

“Also a part of their work is to create a citrus tree that is resistant to citrus greening. That moves well beyond Sumter County,” Arnold said. “Their work could affect the entire industry in Florida. There are multiple layers to what they bring to the nursery field.”

Article from The Villages Daily Sun by Patricia Steele. 2016 All material is in the public domain.

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