One early morning under a clear sky in Senador Amaral, a small municipality of the state of Minas Gerais and the city with the second highest elevation in Brazil, a few customers are waiting in front of an agri-input store, which is about to open at 7:00 a.m. This store is one of the newest among the 90 stores that Adubos Real S.A. operates, stretching across five states.
Among the options awaiting the customers—local growers—inside the shop are solid fertilizers from the Real Turbo series, Adubos Real’s main product line, which it manufactures by blending raw materials using special formulas developed through extensive testing to help growers achieve yield stability. The series has a unique product appearance, with vivid pink granules drawing the eye. The mixing rate of nutrients, including phosphorus and nitrogen, varies according to the kind of crop and the type of soil, thus allowing the Real Turbo series to offer growers many options to choose from; it’s not an exaggeration to say that these products are virtually tailored to the specific needs of each customer.
Founded in 1980 in Minas Gerais, Adubos Real has expanded its business as an agri-input retailer, selling growers the crop protections and fertilizers that it purchases from manufacturers. Ten years after its inception, the company started selling its self-developed fertilizers, at first outsourcing the production to third-party manufacturers, then later building its own blending factory and starting in-house production. Today, Adubos Real manufactures a variety of high-value-added fertilizers, including the Real Turbo series, at the four factories that it has in Minas Gerais as well as in its neighboring states: São Paulo and Espírito Santo. For large-scale growers that place a bulk order, the products are made to order, then shipped directly to them from the factory. Recently, Adubos Real has also started in-house production of a series of foliar-spray fertilizers named Safra Real, functional fertilizers developed by the company to demonstrate even higher performances. A brand-new blending factory dedicated to the Safra Real series has been fully operational since 2025.
Compared to general-purpose fertilizers, those developed by Adubos Real are more expensive yet more effective. According to the company’s test results, for example, the Bio Turbo series can increase crop yield, producing 392 more bags per hectare (a bag is equivalent to 60 kilograms of potatoes) than general-purpose fertilizers while requiring 20 percent less fertilizer. (This calculation was made by converting net revenue after subtracting all costs into crop yield.)
Besides being the world’s largest producer of coffee, oranges, and sugarcane, Brazil also boasts some of the world’s largest export volumes of other crops, including soybeans and corn, with agribusiness accounting for more than 25 percent of the nation’s GDP (gross domestic product). It is said that there are more than 9,000 agri-input retailers in Brazil; despite this, Adubos Real’s business model, which enables it to carry both third-party products and its own products, is unparalleled. The company provides its customers with detailed advice and guidance when it comes to deciding what materials to choose or knowing how much and when to apply them—another strength that distinguishes it from other retailers. In recent years, the company has also been offering data-driven support, helping growers make critical decisions in crop planning. Since day one, Adubos Real has always strived to adhere to its highest priority: helping boost the profitability of its customers.
“We don’t just sell products, we provide solutions,” says Claudinei Ferreira da Costa, Adubos Real’s sales consultant covering the areas in and around Senador Amaral, serving about 70 customers whose crops include potatoes, strawberries, and broccoli. Costa provides comprehensive support for his customers; for example, he advises them on when, where, and what to plant while helping them maintain the integrity of their farms. “I do my best to be there for the customer,” Costa says, “so when a problem arises on their farm, I will always be the first person that comes to mind.”
He is far from the only one at the company with this mindset—a key strength that empowers everyone on the Adubos Real team to proactively support their customers. Behind this lies the knowledge and expertise that Marubeni has built over the course of many years in this industry.
In 1987, Marubeni ventured into the agri-input retail business by acquiring Helena Agri-Enterprises LLC, a U.S. company. At the time, Helena was primarily focusing on manufacturing and selling crop protection products, but later transformed itself into one of the country’s leading agri-input companies, boasting a state-of-the-art laboratory that creates a variety of high-value-added products for the market. The number of its business locations today is five times larger than that of 1987, and the company now claims the second largest share of industry sales in the U.S. market.
Brazil, being another global agricultural powerhouse, has many elements in common with the United States, particularly in terms of farm size, types of crops, and growing methods—making it the most suitable investment destination for Marubeni to leverage the knowledge and expertise gained through Helena. Between that and the country’s incredibly high growth potential, Marubeni decided to enter the Brazilian market. Since becoming a Marubeni subsidiary in 2019, Adubos Real has been more aggressively expanding its business; particularly as of late, the company has been experiencing increasingly high growth, keeping its annual growth rate at 30 percent.
“Agriculture in Brazil has the potential to grow even further as the country is abundant in land, such as grassland, which can be used to increase crop acreage. Crop yield will also be improved as the adoption of technology advances,” says Ana Flávia Fagundes de Alvarenga, Adubos Real’s CEO; her father, the founder of the company, passed her the torch in 2023. She adds, “On the other hand, we are being challenged by climate change, and one of our critical responsibilities is to help our customers adapt to its impacts.” One project Adubos Real has been pursuing to address this challenge is developing products that can enhance the biological activity of plants. These products can help plants use their innate ability to adapt to the environment even on farms severely affected by rapid changes in climate conditions, enabling crop yields to return to their previous levels.
Determined to make its new endeavor in Brazil a success, Marubeni chose Adubos Real as its partner because the long-term visions of the two companies matched; from the start, both companies had remarkably similar ideas about how they wanted to support growers and grow the business, and these visions remain completely aligned to this day. “Adubos Real is achieving steady growth thanks to having incorporated modern business methods from Marubeni while maintaining the great corporate culture of a family-run business and pursuing the aspirations of its founder, principles all its employees share,” says Tsuyoshi Sekita, a seconded Marubeni employee who is currently serving as director at Adubos Real. He adds, “Our support for growers goes beyond simply offering lower prices. Providing our products in conjunction with the consulting services that we developed in the U.S., we proudly bring our customers value that is unique to us.”
Employees of Adubos Real are well-armed with a professional knowledge of agriculture, which serves the company well during its new product development process. First, Adubos Real makes a prototype at its own laboratory based on the feedback it gathers from growers, then repeats prototype testing on its own farm dedicated to R&D (research and development), using various types of crops, until the product is ready to make its debut. The company also sells Helena’s products, which it adjusts to the needs of the Brazilian market. Adubos Real and Helena personnel regularly consult with one another both in-person and online, building robust lines of communication and strong relationships.
Adubos Real’s fertilizers enjoy strong support among growers who place extra emphasis on achieving high levels of ROI (return on investment)—and who then continue to purchase and use these products, which deliver on that promise. “The key to successful product development is to ensure that our customers feel confident about using the products they buy. They need to be assured that our fertilizers will guarantee high productivity and high profitability,” says Renato Fonseca de Paiva, the manager who oversees R&D as well as RealTech, technical-service offerings such as soil analysis and satellite crop monitoring.
One grower that has seen these excellent results firsthand is Hiromi Farm, which specializes in leafy green vegetables like lettuce and kale and is situated about 40 kilometers east of the city of São Paulo. The farm had been using general-purpose fertilizer until the summer of 2024, when it experienced a huge loss because of persistent, record-breaking heavy rainfall events, which made its crops susceptible to disease. The farm then started using Adubos Real’s fertilizer, which allows growers to choose the mixing rate of nutrients that is best suited to their needs, as opposed to a general-purpose fertilizer that is made with a single standardized rate. “Our crop yield has doubled or even tripled,” says Mario Hissamo Yamasaki, the farm’s manager. He adds, “We suffered a lot that summer, but now we can say with confidence that we won’t have to face the same problem in the future.”
Having a well-developed system for prompt delivery is also essential for Adubos Real’s support for growers, as the company also functions as a wholesaler for small-size agri-input retailers, operating 10 distribution centers. To deliver products without delay to these warehouses and Adubos Real’s 90 retail stores—not to mention the tens of thousands of growers who are its customers—it is crucial to develop solid plans for sales, production, and shipping, then perfectly execute them. “The optimal windows to apply crop protections or fertilizers are extremely short,” says Antônio Nunes, the company’s Operations Officer, underscoring the importance of prompt delivery. He adds, “If we fail to deliver what our customers want when they need it, we may end up jeopardizing their agricultural planning.”
The Adubos Real store in Maria da Fé, Minas Gerais, is a special place; it is the company’s very first branch store, built 45 years ago and still standing in the same location today. Gustavo Caetano Braga, who grows soybeans and corn nearby, recalls visiting the store with his grandfather, a routine they shared almost every day from the time he was about two years old. Braga now brings his own young sons there. “Going to that store is part of my life. Even when I don’t need to buy anything, I will still drop by,” he says, defining this long-lasting relationship as proof that his family and Adubos Real have built an extraordinarily strong bond over the decades. Braga adds, “I hope that our friendship will last forever.”
Back when the company had just become a Marubeni subsidiary, Adubos Real operated only 10 stores in Minas Gerais with only about 220 employees. Since then, the company has grown rapidly through M&A (mergers and acquisitions), currently employing around 1,300 people. Today, many Adubos Real personnel agree that, despite the increased size, the company’s family-like culture—one of its greatest aspects—remains unchanged.
When new employees join Adubos Real through an M&A, they tend to start out with a more passive approach as they learn to handle products that are different from those of their previous employers. “But after a little while, they begin to speak with customers with more confidence. Every time I see them proudly recommending our products to customers, I feel very happy for them,” says Momoko Sakae, a seconded Marubeni employee currently serving as Adubos Real’s Chief Development Officer, responsible for marketing and M&A. She has been involved with Adubos Real since Marubeni began negotiating a deal to make the company a subsidiary. Sakae adds, “Adubos Real will continue to grow, and we will continue to do everything we can to preserve the warmth of the company, which always treats both its employees and customers like family.”
Working towards the goal of doubling Adubos Real’s sales by 2030, Marubeni has been supporting its organizational evolution, and these efforts are gradually bearing fruit; Adubos Real’s organizational structure, such as governance, internal controls, and credit management, is being updated and becoming more commensurate with the current size of its business. As seen with Adubos Real, the way Marubeni grows a business is indeed reminiscent of the way farmers grow crops with great care—keeping an eye on the weather and soil, then choosing the best fertilizer to help everything grow and thrive.
(All information contained in this article is based on interviews conducted in November 2025.)
