Thierry Pradier Joins Kimitec as Sales Director for Europe

This is a newly established role that reflects Kimitec’s aim of becoming the European market leader in biological products.

The industry of agricultural inputs is currently advancing towards the substitution of chemical pesticides and fertilizers with more natural, biological products. This trend is especially strong in Europe, where the continuous demands of large distributors and consumers have been heard and reflected in the new Farm to Fork strategy, a program to which Brussels is currently highly committed, and whose aim is to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

According to Kimitec’s Chief Sales Officer, Víctor Rojas, “Europe is a key contributor in the field of biological inputs. But paradoxically, due to its lack of a specific regulation for the registration of biopesticides, the local market lags far behind that of other parts of the world.” And he adds: “This situation is likely to change, and the European market for bioinputs will be booming sooner rather than later.”

Thierry’s goal is to “position Kimitec as one of the top 3 biological input developers in Europe within the next five years.” And to that end, he intends to boost sales in Kimitec’s three key product categories: biostimulants, pre- and probiotics, and priming. Furthermore, he will oversee the launch of the company’s 46 R&D projects on biopesticides, insecticides, fungicides, and bioherbicides, which are currently being developed at the MAAVi Innovation Center, Europe’s largest center dedicated to natural agriculture. Founded by Kimitec, the center has recently acquired an Artificial Intelligence platform that will help their team in accelerating their R&D activities on natural molecules, compounds, and products, using a revolutionary technique that is so far unique in the industry.

Some of those projects aim to develop natural solutions for the most common agricultural issues in Europe, for example: an alternative bioherbicide to the increasingly unpopular glyphosate, and biofungicides for the control of cereal rust, which currently affects 25 million hectares in Europe, as well as septoria in wheat or powdery mildew in lettuce and potato. All of these diseases have a high impact on European farming.

Thierry Pradier brings over 20 years of experience in the European market of bioinputs, biopesticides, biostimulants and inoculants. He has worked in several business areas such as marketing, business creation and development, and sales, for well-known companies such as Novozymes, Monsanto and Sumitomo Chemical.