Building tomorrow's natural capital

Launching The Land Group in 2016 represented for Francisco the perpetuation of a family tradition managing extensive privately owned farmland holdings in Portugal and South America, a practice started by his great-grandfather over a hundred years ago and continued by subsequent generations.

Francisco previously led London-based Union Group, an investment firm focused on real assets in South America and co-founded Union Energy Group, a Peruvian run-of-river hydropower project developer later acquired by TSX-listed Polaris Renewable Energy.

Before these ventures, Francisco founded Plane Tree Capital, a renewable energy and carbon markets-focused investment firm regulated by the UK FCA, sold to Union Group in 2011.

Earlier in his career, Francisco worked in renewable energy and carbon credit investments at Carbon Capital Markets, management consulting at Booz Allen Hamilton, and capital markets at Edmond de Rothschild Group and Banco Icatu in London, Geneva, and Rio de Janeiro.

Besides his busy professional life, Francisco has been surfing giant waves in Nazaré, Portugal, since 2017. This serious hobby has grown into Team Red Herrings, a big wave surfing team he co-founded to develop talent, carry out ocean-related social and environmental initiatives, provide water patrol services, and organise management training and team-building offsites for professional sports teams and companies.

Francisco holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Lausanne in Switzerland. Francisco speaks fluent English, Portuguese, Spanish and French.

A co-founder of The Land Group, Joaquín has deep roots in agriculture, having grown up in Mercedes, an agricultural hub surrounded by fertile farmland on Uruguay's western border. His family has been involved in agriculture for three generations, beginning with his grandfather Ariel Simoncelli, one of Uruguay’s largest honey producers and its first exporter who, remarkably, remains active in farming at the age of 90.

Since 2016, Joaquín has led our operations in Uruguay and Paraguay, where he has built the local teams of operations and management professionals that underpin our organisation. He was instrumental in transitioning our clients’ holdings from a lease-based to an operating model and expanding our regenerative farming initiatives across our portfolio.

Before co-founding The Land Group, Joaquín was an investment director at Union Group (UK) LLP in London, spearheading renewable energy and agriculture ventures across South America. In this role, he managed the development of a 250 MW portfolio of run-of-river hydropower projects in Peru, including 53 MW with long-term sovereign dollar-denominated power purchase agreements. He also led the acquisition of an operating 6 MW plant and the financing and construction of two hydropower projects with 27 MW, raising $28 million in equity from institutional investors and $60 million in project finance debt from a consortium of international Development Finance Institutions (KfW/DEG, FMO, OeEb, and COFIDE).

Joaquín's finance, agriculture, and renewable energy expertise is supported by his consulting background at CPA Ferrere and treasury management at Conaprole. He holds CPA and CFA credentials and earned a master’s from Universidad de Montevideo. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Shirley Simoncelli joined The Land Group in 2016 to oversee Financial Control, Procurement & Sales.

Shirley, who founded her own advisory firm Estudio Simoncellli, has decades of experience advising companies and local authorities on accounting, financial control, and compliance across various sectors, including healthcare, education, and agriculture.  

Shirley holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Postgraduate degree in Business Administration from the Universidad Católica del Uruguay.

Shirley is fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Italian.

Edgardo is a profoundly experienced agronomist and operations specialist who joined The Land Group in 2016. He has played a crucial role in shaping our portfolio strategy and overseeing its execution.

Previously, Edgardo held key leadership positions in various agricultural companies, including as a board member and technical advisor at Agriculture Investment Group, a company he co-founded. Before that, Edgardo served as Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Uruguay. 

With a PhD in Animal Science from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from Universidad de la República, Edgardo brings a wealth of academic knowledge and practical experience to his role.

Edgardo is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Manuel joined The Land Group in 2024 to oversee business development and marketing.

Before joining us, Manuel led design and marketing at Pickles Caps, a successful online hat company he co-founded in 2020. He simultaneously played rugby professionally at Racing Club Narbonnais in France.

Manuel, who has been playing rugby for the Portuguese Rugby Federation since 2012, was a standout player for the Portuguese National Rugby Team, "Os Lobos", during the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

Manuel holds a Bachelor's degree in Publicity and Marketing from Escola Superior de Comunicação Social in Lisbon and completed a specialisation in Motion Design, 3D, and VFX at World Academy Portugal.

Manuel speaks fluent English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Juan Pedro joined The Land Group in 2020 to oversee operations and sustainability initiatives across our diverse portfolio of Uruguayan properties.

Juan Pedro previously worked as a crops controller at Semillas del Sur and Garmet; with cattle operations at Agrosocio; and with irrigation systems at Agrotracking.

Juan Pedro holds a degree in agricultural engineering from the Universidad de la República and undertook a Business course at Instituto BIOS in Montevideo, Uruguay. He speaks fluent Spanish and English.

José Almeida joined The Land Group in 2024 to oversee our company’s digital initiatives, from designing and implementing online growth strategies to collecting, processing, and reporting the extensive data generated by our farming activities.

Before joining us, José led digital advertising initiatives at GroupM and Zumub, managing over €2 million in digital advertising for diverse acceleration projects, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Inspired by this success, he founded Scalyng Growth Agency, helping companies activate their data to create value.

As an external consultant, José has worked with early-stage startups and scale-ups to support their growth strategies for customer acquisition and retention.

José holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing from Universidade do Aveiro and a post-graduation in Data Science from Atlântica.

José speaks fluent English and Portuguese.

Diego joined the Land group in 2019 to oversee our operations in Paraguay.

Previously, Diego managed over 80,000 hectares of farmland in Uruguay and Paraguay dedicated to livestock, row crops, and pulpwood.

Diego holds a PhD from SMC University in Switzerland and a bachelor’s degree in Farm Management from Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias of Uruguay, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. In addition, Diego has completed several farm management courses at Lincoln University in New Zealand and agricultural economic studies at Minnesota State University in the United States.

Diego speaks fluent English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Nicolás joined The Land Group in 2020 to spearhead our operation at Villa Lucero, our 9,000-hectare Uruguayan flagship property, and oversees tenants across our portfolio.

Previously, Nicolás worked at Del Carmen ACISA and Rafael y Horacio Cash, overseeing winter and summer crops and managing logistics. His prior experience at Establecimiento La Cordillera made him an expert in artificial insemination. This skill has been the cornerstone of the cattle breeding operations we built at Villa Lucero and El Castillo.

Nicolás holds a degree in agricultural engineering from the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay. He speaks fluent Spanish and English.

Raúl Culñev joined The Land Group in 2024 to oversee livestock management at La Victoria, our 5,000-hectare farm in northwestern Uruguay.

Raúl has more than 30 years of experience managing cattle production—from breeding to finishing—and crop operations across multiple regions in Uruguay, both on a principal and agency basis. His expertise includes livestock, crop production, procurement and sales, personnel, project management, and administration.

Raúl holds a degree of Agricultural Technician from Universidad del Trabajo del Uruguay.

Federico joined The Land Group in 2020 to oversee a portfolio of six Uruguayan properties combining cattle, row crops, and forestry on 8,500 hectares.

He has been instrumental in developing our regenerative cattle grazing operations on pasture/crop rotational systems at La Pilarica, El Tauro, and Cabatir, as well as on natural grassland at La Victoria.

Federico brings a wealth of expertise acquired in his previous roles with row crops at Empresa del Carmen ACISA, cattle breeding at Estancia Los Cerros de San Juan, and irrigation systems at Empresa Consultagro.

Federico holds a degree in agricultural engineering from the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Leandro joined The Land Group in 2024 to oversee Budgeting & Control.

Before joining us, Leandro managed rural investments at the Caja Notarial de Seguridad Social. He also worked as an administrative assistant at the Asociación de Magistrados del Uruguay and as an accounting and administrative assistant at Estudio Soneira & Asociados.

Leandro holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Universidad Católica del Uruguay and is pursuing a degree in agricultural business management at the Universidad de la Empresa.

Leandro is fluent in English and Spanish.

Abel joined The Land Group in 2019 as a procurement, sales, and logistics manager.

Previously, Abel oversaw logistics and procurement at Agroganadera Pyvithur and Agronegocios Terere. Before that, Abel was a manager at Zusa, a Paraguayan petrol distribution company servicing the agricultural sector.

Abel holds a degree as a technical agronomist from the Escuela Agrícola in San Pedro del Ycuamandyú, Paraguay.

Abel speaks fluent Spanish and Guaraní.

Giovanni joined The Land Group in 2019 as a technical agronomist.

Previously, Giovanni worked in multiple roles, from production to sales, at various Paraguayan agricultural companies.

Giovanni holds an engineering degree in zootechnics from the Universidad San Carlos in Asunción, Paraguay.

Giovanni speaks fluent Spanish.