Grupo Batlle S.A
The company has extended to all areas; besides of the production and the improvement of varieties, one of the most modern packaging and vacuum boxes facilities has been started. We find significant differences between products primarily based on two parameters, the source of their formulation or the application form. Under the first division we find chemical synthesized products, known as mineral fertilizers, and those from organic or natural origin, the organic fertilizers. We can also find those from a mixture of both, organo-mineral fertilizers. In the last ten years a new seed selection plant has been built in Carmona (Seville), with a capacity for more than 20,000 Tons of production; a new rehydration factory of alfalfa and fodders; and the investments and activities in the sectors of horticulture, praetenses and gardening articles (lawns, bulbs, rosebushes, etc.), have been increased considerably.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Manufacturer
- Industry Type:
- Horticulture
- Market Focus:
- Internationally (various countries)
About Us
CHRONOLOGY
1802
Joan Nonell Vinyes, known as the 'Bonminyó,' starts trading with seeds and plants: Semillas Nonell (seeds Nonell) is now born.
1808
Outbreak of the War of Independence in Catalonia. Jaume Nonell lives his childhood with the war as background.
1823-1884
Gregor Mendel introduces agriculture into genetic science, experimenting with peas with his studies about the transmission of hereditary characters.
1848
Inauguration of the first rail train in Spain, which covers the journey Barcelona-Mataro.
1857
Jaume Nonell opens the first seed store in Barcelona, HIJOS DE NONELL (sons of Nonell).
1864
Jaume Nonell launches an impressive work of rehabilitation of the farmhouse “Cal Bonminyó,” built on land owned by Rafel Moré.
1865
Joan Nonell publishes the ABC OF THE GARDENER. Other publications will follow, such as the GARDENER’S GUIDE and the HORTICULTURIST’S GUIDE, two manuals designed to assist the grower in choosing the right product and obtaining a successful crop.
1889
The Department of Development awards Semillas Nonell a Special Award (diploma and Gold Medal) in recognition of his role in the production of seeds and plants since 1857 and for his contribution to the progress of horticulture in the country.
1912
Miguel Batlle Civit was already exporting alfalfa seeds to Europe in the early twentieth century.
1947
The Batlle brothers reach an agreement with the Nonell family to acquire the comercial company in Barcelona.
1970
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Norman E. Borlaug for his work in plant genetics on high performance semi-dwarf varieties of wheat.
1975
The Ministry of Agriculture decorates Francisco Batlle Vernis with the title of Commandator of the Order of Agricultural Merit.
1978
Birth of the Spanish Constitution. Spain recovers definitely its liberties with the advent of a popular sovereignty.
1980
During the 80's there is an inflection point for Semillas Batlle, entering a period of expansion that has continued until today.
1985
Spain enters the European Community.
2002
The Euro arrives, a monetary union that symbolizes the beginning of the success of an historical debate that still is not over.
The Batlle family comes into play
First half of the twentieth century: we are in times of great mergers and very sounded acquisitions, manufacturers and retailers are anguished over a deterministic order, irrefutable, which reads: ally or die, you cannot survive alone, being competitive means being sufficiently large to have the power to control the market.
United by common interests, there are many unorthodox deals before the eyes of ordinary consumers who observe stunned the handshake between staunch competitors. What a different course of action as the one which was fashionable fifty years ago!
The same path, a philosophy in harmony, personal profiles and moods made of the same wood, with the same values and nobility of spirit.
This ensures that the good land continues; the people: they are the raw material, and in them, with the work of their hands, their minds and hearts, will sprout the fruits which are to be the offering of a business community to society.
Every fact has a time and place
In our story, the fact is a meeting that will set the course of the history of our beloved characters. In Lleida, in the first half of the twentieth century, two families united by a common trade come into contact: The Febrés and the Batlle.
Joan Febrés and his son Joan Tamburini, in their desire to continue growing, began to spread their seed production onto other areas, especially in the province of Lleida, and that was how the professional relationship with the brothers Ramon and Francisco Batlle Vernis began, natural of Bell-Lloc d’Urgell, with whom they contracted great part of their production.
The origins of the Batlle family were eminently agricultural.
Already Miguel Batlle Civit, father of Ramon and Francisco, in the early twentieth century, exported alfalfa seeds to several countries in Europe. In 1947, the Batlle brothers arrive at an agreement with the Nonell family to acquire the business. From that moment all the improvement and production fields and the central storehouses will be located in Lleida, and the offices and the store in Barcelona. Without leaving his native land, Ramón remained in charge of the control of production and selection of seeds, and Francisco was transferred to Barcelona directing the control of sales and the store “Hijos de Nonell”. New times brought new illusions and all the personnel of “Hijos de Nonell”, included the attorney of the business, a worthy personage to mention, Francisco Poch Xena, and the secretary of customer service Adela Feliu, true bulwark of its area of work and who brimmed enthusiasm, unmistakable symptom of the good tuning between the employees and the recently arrived managing. Little time after being established the new business, an expedition storehouse, next to the “El Born,” the Fruit Market of Barcelona, was installed. In this way all the expeditions process to the peninsula where improved.
In 1948 the authorization on the part of the Department of Agriculture for the production of forage and vegetable seeds was obtained, with the title of authorized producer Nº 2. During years, the production acronym 'Nº 2', appeared in all the containers of seeds commercialized by Semillas Batlle.
Since 1947 until 1967 Semillas 2 S.A. was the used commercial name, being Semilas Batlle the production company. From the year 1968, the company remained as an inoperative society passing the commercial activity to Semillas Batlle. Ramón Batlle, responsible of a growing phase for the company, passed away in February of 1963 and was around these dates when Francisco Batlle Vernis, president of the company, decided to incorporate his nephews Miguel and Juan Batlle Castillo to the direction of the business, both sons of its brother Ramón. Some years later Agustin Orero Buendía was incorporated to the management team, man with a dilated professional experience, who came to culminate a process of renewal and rejuvenation of a team that would increase spectacularly the activities of the society in issues of major crops.
From the 70’s, the business began to grow, with the opening of new offices in Madrid, the construction of the production plant in Talavera La Nueva (Toledo) and the establishment of delegations in the most important agricultural regions: Albacete, Cantabria, Cordoba, Extremadura, Lugo, Seville, Biscay, Valladolid and Zaragoza.