In the past decade, it has evolved from two hectares to the heart of the company’s EMEA operation
Fall Creek Farm & Nursery this month marks 10 years of operations in Spain. What began in 2016 as a 2ha harvest using plug material from the US has grown into the company’s principal hub for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), now serving customers across 52 countries and producing 14mn finished plants annually.
To mark the anniversary, an event will be held on 28 May 28 at the company’s Aznalcázar nursery, bringing together the operation’s 250+ employees.
Fall Creek acquired its first 16ha Spanish farm in Aznalcázar, Seville in 2015. Over the next decade, it built up its propagation, tissue culture, applied research and breeding facilities adding progressively across Aznalcázar and a purpose-built research farm in Villamanrique.
Today, Fall Creek Spain operates a tissue culture laboratory, propagation facilities, a full applied research and development programme, and the EMEA central office: the infrastructure of a company that came to Andalusia to stay.
“Fall Creek arrived in Spain at a moment when European and North African growers had limited legal access to high-performing blueberry genetics and the clean, certified plant material needed to scale production with confidence,” the company said in a press release.
“The Spain operation changed that. It is the only facility capable of producing disciplined, clean, true-to-type blueberry plants at scale for the EMEA region, giving growers access to world-class genetics on commercial terms that worked for them legally, reliably, and at volume.”
Unlike most international companies serving the EMEA market, which operate through Netherlands-based structures with regional markets as satellites, Fall Creek built its European presence with Spain as the hub. It has served as the primary gateway for the Sekoya and Fall Creek Collection licensing platforms into European and North African markets, and as an early-adoption and proving site for new genetics entering the region.
The applied research programme at Villamanrique has been central to that work: the company said its Fall Creek Collection Apex ‘FCM14-057’, which has generated strong early demand since its commercial release, was identified as an outstanding performer through Spain’s applied research, its potential proven in local growing conditions where it had gone undetected elsewhere.
The Spain team has also pioneered growing systems and plant production protocols that Fall Creek has since adopted across its global operations.
“Building this operation from the ground up, from the first crop in 2016 to where we stand today, has been one of the defining experiences of my career. Spain is not just a nursery. It has become a reference point for how Fall Creek operates globally: in innovation, in plant quality and in our commitment to growers,” said Antonio Álamo, EMEA regional director at Fall Creek.
Cort Brazelton and Amelie Aust, second-generation family leaders of Fall Creek, commented: “Fall Creek has been serving the industry in Europe since the 1980s and North and Sub-Saharan Africa since the 1990s. When we made the decision to establish a direct presence in the region, the south of Spain was a natural home base. We knew it was critical to achieving 52 weeks of supply and felt strongly about bringing Fall Creek-level quality directly to our customers.
“We had confidence not just in the climate, but above all in the people. We are proud of this exceptional team and grateful for every customer across EMEA who grants us the privilege of serving them”.
Driving growth across Europe, North Africa and beyond
Fall Creek Spain’s geographic position in Andalusia and its EU-certified plant health system have made it a uniquely capable export hub, mobilising plants across the European Union, North Africa and Western Asia. North Africa has been a core market for Fall Creek since the 1990s and represents a significant share of the EMEA business today.
The Wilczewski family farm, one of Fall Creek’s longest-standing customers in EMEA with nearly 30 years of partnership, has grown alongside the Spain operation since its earliest years.
“Working with Fall Creek brought a new level of plant quality and professionalism to our operation. The genetics, reliable supply and agronomic support gave us the confidence to plan long-term investments in new varieties.
“Today, ArabellaBlue and LoretoBlue from the Fall Creek Collection are among our strongest performers, with outstanding fruit quality and strong market potential. The European blueberry market is becoming more demanding every year, and I believe Fall Creek will continue to play a key role in shaping its future,” said Adam Wilczewski, owner, Gospodarstwo Ogrodnicze Jerzy Wilczewski.
Today, Fall Creek Spain employs over 250 people across its Aznalcázar and Villamanrique sites, making it one of the primary employers in both municipalities. Of more than 30 Fall Creek family members who joined in the operation’s founding year, many have grown into leadership roles in operations, agronomy, commercial and global functions, a continuity that reflects a decade of investment in the people who built this operation.
It is a team that the Brazelton family, founders of Fall Creek, has described as the anchor of a much larger global operation than they could have imagined when they first looked at a watermelon field in Aznalcázar a decade ago, one that has accomplished, in their words, at least 20 years of work in 10.
Looking ahead, Fall Creek said the Aznalcázar and Villamanrique complex is positioned to shape the next chapter of the blueberry industry across EMEA as it has the last. A pipeline of new varieties from the Spain breeding programme – the result of nearly a decade of applied work in low-chill environments – is expected to reach market in the coming seasons, bringing genetics developed specifically for European and North African growing conditions to growers across the region for the first time.
