Agronomix Software was founded in 1990 by my father-in-law, Dieter Mulitze, to provide plant breeders, crop researchers and agronomists throughout the world with specialized tools to help them better manage and analyze their data, improve their research productivity and increase crop yields.
From the start, family has been central to Agronomix. Dieter’s wife was the company’s CFO until it was acquired in 2022 by Cultura Technologies and their daughter was responsible for cleaning the office as a teen. More recently, she’s provided the company with some of the photographic material and drone footage used on our website and social media feeds plus the photo art for our office walls. I’ve often joked that having Agronomix in the family must have been like having a little brother since it required the same degree of nurturing, guiding and understanding as a growing child.
I’ve run other companies, but this one feels different. There is a greater sense of responsibility and commitment when a business is family-owned and operated as well as an additional sense of pressure. I feel the need to honor Dieter’s vision and make sure Agronomix thrives well into the future.
Since joining Agronomix in 2008, I’ve had the honor of working with a diverse group of highly talented individuals. When I started, we only had five or six employees. Now there are 17, but that feeling of family remains. It’s important to me and to my staff. Several members have commented over the years about how much they value the feeling of family within the company. We often get together outside of work for barbecues, dinners and other social activities.
Succession is important for any family-run business and Agronomix is no exception. Dieter has long had the future on his mind and broached the topic of his daughter taking over the helm many years ago, but she declined in favour of pursuing dreams of her own.
Fast forward several years and the topic of succession came up again. I told my father-in-law that I had a strong interest in overseeing the company’s future. We started down that path, meeting regularly so that I could gain a deeper understanding the complexities of running a software company dedicated to improving the working lives plant breeders worldwide.
When we were acquired by Cultura just over two years ago, the company started to go in a slightly different direction than when it was family-owned, but the support and personal development that I’ve received from Cultura has been significant and it feels like we are part of a new family now.
