100 years of Kwizda Agro: The Austrian family-owned company relies on long-standing partnerships, biological solutions and digital services to make agriculture resilient in times of climate change, regulation and resource pressure.
Vienna, 11 June 2026. Agriculture worldwide is facing profound challenges. Climatic changes, missing active substances as a result of impractical regulatory requirements, increasing resource pressure and the call for biological as well as digital solutions are changing the expectations placed on modern crop protection. For the Austrian crop protection expert Kwizda Agro, one thing is clear: the answers to these challenges do not emerge from individual products alone, but through close collaboration between agriculture, research, industry, trade and international partners. On the occasion of its 100th founding anniversary, the Austrian family-owned company therefore did not put the retrospective at the centre on 10 June 2026, but rather the question of how crop protection must be shaped in the future. Kwizda Agro sees its partnerships, grown over decades, as the central foundation for further developing practical, effective and responsible solutions for agriculture.
“Agriculture needs solutions that are scientifically sound, technologically mature and applicable in practice,” says Ronald Hamedl, Managing Director of Kwizda Agro. “That can only be achieved through networks. Our task is to bring together different competencies: the experience of farmers, the strength of research, the innovative power of international partners and our own development and application expertise.”
Agriculture under pressure to change
The demands placed on agricultural businesses are rising. Yields must be secured, natural resources conserved and crops protected even under changing climatic conditions. At the same time, crop protection strategies are becoming more complex: biological solutions are gaining importance, digital services support decisions in the field and advisory services are becoming an increasingly important factor for correct application.
Kwizda Agro understands this transformation as a mandate. The company aims to further expand biological crop protection solutions and integrate them into its portfolios, to link digital services more closely with advisory services and application, and to develop its international presence in a targeted manner. At the centre stands the aspiration to understand crop protection as part of an intact and productive habitat. “Today more than ever, crop protection is a systemic task,” says Hamedl. “It is not just about individual active substances or applications. It is about combining knowledge, technology and practical experience in such a way that farmers receive concrete support for their daily work.”
100 years of experience as the basis for systemic solutions
Kwizda Agro has been closely connected with agricultural practice since 1926. From a regional supplier of crop protection products, it developed into an internationally active solution provider with locations and activities in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Romania, the UK and the USA. The company brought numerous innovations to the Austrian market, built up comprehensive formulation expertise at its Leobendorf site and developed its own structures in international markets.
This development shows the role that long-term partnerships play in innovation in crop protection. Solutions emerge where international development and regional application, research and field, industrial competence and agricultural experience are brought together. “Our history is not just a company history. It is a history of joint development,” says Hamedl. “Many advances became possible because customers, research partners, industry partners, trade partners and our employees worked together on concrete challenges over many years.”
International network as a factor for the future
How important this network is was also evident at the partner and network event held on 10 June 2026 at the Cobenzl in Vienna. Around 200 guests from all over the world came together, including long-standing customers, international partners, representatives from agriculture, business and science, employees and members of the Kwizda family.
The international character of the evening reflected Kwizda Agro’s current orientation. Different markets, cultures and regulatory frameworks present agriculture with different tasks. At the same time, many fundamental questions are similar: How can crops be protected effectively? How can biological solutions be used more widely? How can digital services improve application? And how can innovations be brought into practice in a way that makes economic and sustainable sense for farms?
For Kwizda Agro, the answer lies in a network that pools knowledge from different markets and translates it into concrete solutions. The company sees this as an essential prerequisite for developing crop protection in a future-proof way.
From anniversary to mandate
For Kwizda Agro, its 100th anniversary is therefore not only a historic milestone, but a mandate for the years ahead. At Schloss Cobenzl, the company’s development was traced in an exhibition across three levels – from the beginnings, through technological milestones and the establishment of the Leobendorf site, to internationalisation, biological crop protection solutions, digital services and new markets. The common thread of this development leads forward: Kwizda Agro intends to further expand its role as a connecting partner between agriculture, research, industry and international markets. The goal is to develop solutions that protect crops, use resources responsibly and support agricultural businesses in an increasingly complex environment.
“The first 100 years of Kwizda Agro were shaped together,” says Hamedl. “Our thanks go to our customers, our partners, our employees and the agricultural community. We will also take the next steps together – with the goal of developing crop protection in a way that contributes to a strong and sustainable agriculture.”
About Kwizda Agro
Kwizda Agro is one of the leading providers of chemical and biological crop protection solutions in Austria and part of the Kwizda Group. With 100 years of experience, the company develops innovative active substances and produces complex, high-quality formulations at its Leobendorf site. In the development of its own products, the focus today is on purely biological crop protection products – a clear commitment to sustainability that is firmly anchored in the corporate strategy and consistently pursued at the Leobendorf and Tulln sites. Around 460 employees work for Kwizda Agro in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Romania and the USA. Through an international network, the company supports crop protection users with digital, data-based services for site-appropriate and sustainable crop protection. In this way, Kwizda Agro makes a significant contribution to vital crops in agriculture as well as to healthy gardens as places of recreation.
For more information, visit www.kwizda-agro.com.
To download the press release as a PDF file, please click here.
Press Contact:
Kapp Hebein Partner
Michaela Hebein
Email: mh@khpartner.at
Phone: +43 1 2350 422-70
Photo (free for publication, copyright: Thomas Lerch/Kwizda Agro GmbH):
Photo1.jpg:
(from left to right) Johannes E. Kwizda (Member of the Management Board, Kwizda Group), Ferdinand Lembacher (Secretary General, Austrian Chamber of Agriculture), Johann F. Kwizda (Member of the Management Board, Kwizda Group), Ronald Hamedl (Managing Director, Kwizda Agro)
Photo2.jpg:
International partnerships as the key to innovation (from left to right): Johann F. Kwizda (Managing Director, Kwizda Agro), Juli Jessen (CEO, Gowan), Matteo Cunial (CEO, Xfarm), Alexandre Simmler (CEO, SBM), Ronald Hamedl (Managing Director, Kwizda Agro)
Photo3.jpg:
A strong network across national and market borders: (from left to right): Marinela Dura (Kwizda Agro, Country Manager Romania), Gabor Krasznai (BASF), Sándor Barna (Kwizda Agro, Country Manager Hungary), László Kőszegi (Hőgyészi Agrokémiai), Andreas Reischütz (Kwizda Agro, Country Manager AT/DE), Thomas Karl (Head of Crop Protection Division, RWA)
