“An agronomist with the ability to adapt finds work”

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[:en]With the resolution of someone who dares to set up a company in the midst of a crisis, Pedro Palazón (34 years old) reviews his successful professional career in just a few minutes. He has not stopped working since he finished his studies in Agronomic Engineering at the UPCT in 2001, when he found a job in the same place where he had done his internship. Since 2006 he has been self-employed and in 2011 he created his own research company, Ideagro.

A native of Ulea, Pedro has his company located in Lorquí, although "every day we work between Barcelona and Huelva, throughout the Mediterranean arc, both with national and international companies and in all kinds of crops", recounts highlighting that one of his current projects is to grow blueberries in the Region.

Ideagro outsources the R+D+i department for companies that do not have their own, developing new manufacturing processes and new healthier products through sustainable production."It is surprising that an agronomist is not planting lettuce, because the profession is associated only with the countryside, when there is much more potential in the agri-food industry, for which we came out perfectly trained", it states.

"We are capable of setting up a whole food industry, starting from a plot of land with nothing, designing production, including infrastructures and process lines, to start up a juice or jam factory," this entrepreneur gives as an example.

Pedro's company, which already has four workers and is expanding, also participates in international cooperation projects, developing small agri-food industries in Africa and Latin America, and has created an online platform for specialized training and professional retraining: agrodocentia.com. His last course, as a specialist in waste-free production, sold out the available places. "And all, with private 100% financing," he highlights.

Pedro is still linked to the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, with which he carries out joint research projects on the water footprint and deficit irrigation. “We are a connection point between producers and the university”, summarizes. As an outside observer, he appreciates that the Higher Technical School of Agricultural Engineering "has evolved a lot, they have impressive infrastructures and, from what I see, almost all of their graduates are finding work."

And it is that "The agri-food sector is one of those with the greatest growth potential for the coming years"What does an agronomist need to find a job? "Adaptability. If you don't mind moving, you work", sustains from the experience of someone who was employed for five years in Castellón.

Happily married with two children, Pedro is convinced that "The future is going towards sustainable products, without waste, and with high added value". Precisely, one of the topics discussed each year at the Alltech International Symposium held each year in Kentucky (USA), which is attended by more than 3,000 professionals from some 80 countries.

> Interview with Pedro Palazón in «UPCT Channel – Success Stories»[:]

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