Frans Wielemaker, Costa Rica

Frans Wielemaker graduated from Tropical Agricultural College in Deventer, The Netherlands. Since 1978 he has lived in Latin America and made his career in the banana industry in research and development positions. He spent three decades with Dole Fresh Fruit International, mainly in the field of pest and disease control. With the desire to change the industry, he pioneered Dole´s Organic program in 1995 and with his team made Dole a leader in organic banana (and organic pineapple) production and marketing. Ultimately, he held the position of Dole´s Director of Research at their headquarters in San José Costa Rica. He has ample experience in growing, packing, and marketing organic bananas and pineapple and the whole certification process. He is the author of a chapter on organic banana cultivation in, “Achieving sustainable cultivation of bananas. Volume 1: Cultivation Techniques” (Burleign Dodds Science Publishing 2018). He is now an independent consultant and entrepreneur.