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OLIVE OIL THAT DOES NOT DOMINATE, BUT DOES PROVIDE SUPPORT AND COMPLEMENT Since 1853, the Valderrama family has been dedicated to the planting and farming of olive trees in order to ensure their Extra Virgin Olive Oil is of the highest quality. The grandfather of José M. Valderrama founded the first Olive Oil factory in the land owned by the family, located in Montilla (50 Km. northeast of Cordoba). Being the eleventh son of the Valderrama family, José Ignacio Millán Valderrama did not have the opportunity to work in the family company. José M. Valderrama spent 31 years in the ITC world, where in 1985, he opened a branch with 5 employees of a German multinational in Spain; Software AG, from Darmstadt. When he left the company in the spring of 2000, the company had more than 1000 employees. José M. Valderrama was given a large number of stock options that he, luckily, converted into cash immediately.
Very quickly, he modernized both farms (the land covers a total of 273 Ha. and has 75,000 olive trees). High voltage towers were installed, a comprehensive irrigation system was implemented, including the construction of huge water tanks, and new harvesters were developed and purchased. Together with a mechanic, he developed a radically novel Olive Oil production method that resulted in the creation of revolutionary production facilities. This all required an investment of over 8 million euros. THEREFORE, AND RIGHTLY SO, THE PROMOTIONAL SLOGAN OF HIS COMPANY IS: "Tradition and technology"… The combination of a secular family experience with the most advanced technologies. José M. Valderrama was perfectly aware that this new production method would provide a much higher degree of quality. But the fact that this innovative method would provide such high quality Oil (as was confirmed later on) was a great surprise even for José M. Valderrama. The first harvest was performed in November 2002, and its production followed the new method. |
The result was that José M. Valderrama, after leaving Software AG, decided to return to his roots and dedicate himself entirely to his dream: “To make the best Extra Virgin Olive Oil" using the most advanced technologies and contributing his own ideas on innovation and management, which provided such good results in the ITC world. In order to achieve his objective, José M. Valderrama extended the land he inherited from his grandparents in Montilla and also acquired a plot of land in Pueblanueva (Toledo), one hour from Madrid by car. |