- After 35 years with the company, Hidalgo is leaving his current position, although he will continue to be linked to Planasa, having registered varieties of worldwide success.
- Formerly of Driscoll’s, BASF and Nunhems, Rosas comes to Planasa with the challenge of continuing the leadership of a key department for the company, as the core business lies in varietal innovation (breeding).
Cartaya (Huelva), 26th May 2021. Planasa has recently carried out its most delicate changeover, the one that concerns its core business and defines it as a company: breeding. After 35 years with the company, Miguel Angel Hidalgo is leaving his position as Corporate Scientific Director (CSO), which he has held since 2003. In this time the breeding team he has managed having registered globally successful varieties, including the Sabrosa-Candonga® strawberries, the Adelita raspberry, a blackberry variety and more recently six blueberry varieties that have allowed Planasa to grow at key moments.
Although he is leaving his current position, Miguel Angel Hidalgo will remain linked to the company as Technical Advisor.
“I feel very fortunate for enjoying the exciting work that is R&D in plant breeding and of course I am very grateful to PLANASA for the professional growth that has granted to me for 35 years. But I am even more grateful to my team for their involvement, loyalty, professionalism and above all friendship, because without their efforts we would not have been able to achieve what this department has achieved. I am only leaving my position in R&D management, aware that cycles must be closed, but I will keep on collaborating with PLANASA with the same enthusiasm, together with all my colleagues in the technical area. I welcome Manuel, wishing him major success in his new role, and deeply knowing that the great technicians and people I had the pleasure to share my life with during all these years of work, will continue to collaborate with him with the same passion and devotion they have had with me”, explained Hidalgo.
Planasa’s CEO, Michael Brinkmann, acknowledged and thanked Miguel Ángel Hidalgo for his career: “Thanks to Miguel Angel’s leadership and effort, Planasa has been able to develop some of the most recognised varieties on the market. Without his contribution, Planasa would not have become what we are today”.
Taking over from Miguel Angel is Manuel Rosas, whose professional career has mainly been developed in companies in the sector in the United States. For the last four years he has been Global Research Director at Bayer/BASF and Nunhems, before that he spent another six years as Vice President of Research at Driscoll’s and before that at Monsanto as Director of Vegetable Breeding.
“It is a great honour and a great responsibility to be given the opportunity to collaborate in this great company PLANASA. The team that Miguel Angel has formed is extraordinary and it will be very gratifying for me to be able to support them to continue to grow professionally and help our company to differentiate itself by innovating new varieties of berries, avocado, asparagus, and other crops in which we R&D. My main objective will be to continue with the excellent working environment that we have in our company and then seek to incorporate new technologies and tools to increase efficiencies in the improvement and development of our crops. I thank Miguel Angel for his great openness and availability during this transition period and my new team for the warm welcome they have given me. I am sure that together we will make a difference in this attractive and rewarding industry,” said Rosas.
