Spain has gone in a few short years from importing pistachios to becoming one of Europe’s major development grounds for the crop. That is how Javier Fernández, Business Development Director at Agróptimum, sums up a transformation that, in his view, goes well beyond the growth in planted area. “This is not just about an increase in the area under this crop; we are witnessing the professionalisation of the whole industry: genetics, plant production, agronomic design, precision agriculture, processing, marketing and the development of new markets,” he says.
The figures the company works with map out the ground still to be covered. Spain currently produces around 11,000 tonnes of dried pistachios, with forecasts of 26,500 tonnes by 2030 and 55,000 by 2035, while domestic consumption already exceeds 28,500 tonnes a year and world demand tops one million. “There is still a significant gap between what we consume and what we are able to produce here. And for me that is precisely the opportunity: to go beyond producing pistachios and build a genuine pistachio industry, one that is competitive, fully integrated and able to lead production in Europe,” he notes.
The orchard begins in the nursery
Fernández insists that the success of an orchard is decided before planting. “A pistachio orchard does not begin when the tree goes into the ground, but much earlier: in the choice of plant material and in the design of the project,” he warns. Growers, he argues, must demand quality, uniformity, plant health and genetic control, because “not all plants are the same, and the decision taken in the nursery conditions many years of production”.
Agróptimum has built its model on that principle, with more than 75,000 square metres that the company presents as the world’s largest grafted-plant nursery. Even so, Fernández qualifies that plant material alone is not enough: “There is little point in having a good plant if there is then no sound design, professional management and data-based decision-making.”
On the genetic side, the company has been running a plant breeding programme for three years, with trials at two sites, one in central Spain and another further south, in order to anticipate how the crop will respond to climate change and to mechanised management models. “The challenge is not only to obtain a more productive plant. It is to achieve a production system that is more efficient, more resilient and better able to use every resource, water above all,” he says.
A crop that leaves no room for improvisation
Asked about the most common mistakes in new orchards, Fernández is blunt: “Our main lesson over these 10 years is that pistachios leave no room for improvisation.” He points to the initial planning of the project and the preparation of the ground, with deep tillage to encourage root development, as well as qualified technical advice and the ability to interpret the data provided by sensors and AI-based tools. He also champions preliminary studies, which make it possible to “anticipate how orchards will behave in the future and to have a view of the expected returns on each plot”.
Looking to the medium and long term, he identifies three challenges. The first is making growth sustainable and profitable in a context of pressure on water resources. The second is industrial: “Growth in production has to be matched by processing capacity. Processing capacity is still fragmented today and, according to our forecasts, it will need to gain scale to absorb the growth ahead.” The third is preventing Spanish pistachios from becoming a commodity: “We have to compete on quality, origin, traceability, security of supply and capacity for innovation. We have to steer clear of opportunism.”
Asked to sum up in a single idea what the sector will need to remain competitive in 2035, Fernández condenses it into two words: “Sustainable productivity.” And he adds: “Being competitive in 2035 will mean producing more value while making better use of resources. And that calls for genetics, technology, agronomic knowledge, industrial capacity and an integrated value chain.”
Expectations ahead of the World Pistachio Congress
Agróptimum approaches the World Pistachio Congress as an opportunity to project the progress of the Spanish sector internationally. “The WPC is an opportunity to share knowledge and to show how far the Spanish sector has come and how far it can go,” says Fernández, who stresses the need for forums where growers, researchers, technology companies and industry can exchange experience.
“Our ambition is not simply for Spain to produce more pistachios,” he concludes. “It is for Spain to be recognised as one of Europe’s leading benchmarks in how to produce them, process them and generate value around them.”
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