Business:Productivity in the agribusiness.
Mission:Pioneer in intelligent solutions for the agribusiness.
Vision 2021:To be among the 10 largest of the world in the sector.
Planning and aggressive market performance are Stara’s differential marks. This feeling is what motivates Stara to produce high-tech-agricultural machines and keep conquering new market segments.
Stara’s technology is established by its forward-looking products’ portfolio. As a dynamic company, the machines are designed based on the farmers’ needs, which creates technology and generates higher profitable activities.
Stara operates throughout Brazil and on the five continents, exporting to 35 countries. Besides investing in its factory buildings, which aim for agile production, Stara also provides its employees with training and opportunities for personal and professional development.
Stara believes people can make a difference, make a growing and successful history come true, like Stara’s own saga, which started back on August 29th, 1960. Now in Argentina, since great producers deserve great machines!
The Stapelbroek family used to live in the Netherlands where the members worked as blacksmiths and farmers on a small piece of land. Life was comfortable and peaceful. They lived in a large house with running water, electrical power supply, and even owned a telephone. But the Second World War ended this, it devastated Europe from 1939 to 1945. The war left a huge number of dead people and a trail of destruction.
Back then, the years were harder. In 1945 the war ended officially, but there were rumors of a new one. To escape from an economic crisis and prevent the sons from serving the army, in case of a new war, Johannes Bernardus Stapelbroek and his family decided to immigrate to Brazil.
After travelling for four weeks on a ship, the Stapelbroek family arrived at Santos harbor on April 19th, 1949. Next, they headed to Ribeirão Farm, in Holambra, state of São Paulo, where they started to work in a cooperative organization.
The Stapelbroek family decided to come to Não-Me-Toque city, south region of Brazil, encouraged by Dutch priests and due to tough working and growing conditions in Holambra, state of São Paulo. Johannes Bernardus Stapelbroek formed a partnership with Gerrit Jan Rauwers and together they opened a small blacksmith named Stapelbroek, Rauwers & Cia Ltda. They assembled and performed maintenance in imported agricultural machinery from Europe. This machinery boosted agriculture on a large scale. The need to adapt the machines to the soil, crops and weather conditions boosted new implements manufacturing.
Rauwers and Stapelbroek families ended the partnership and on 29th August 1960, Stapelbroek & Cia Ltda, Stara, is established. First, it was a small repair shop that worked on and adapted agricultural machinery to follow agriculture development in the area. Johannes Bernardus Stapelbroek and his sons Johannes, Franciscus, and Harrie started to manufacture agricultural machines, and in 1968 they launched the first steerable-wheeled weeder equipped with suspended shanks. This was just the beginning of Stara’s tradition of agricultural-solution engineering.
Products as the weeder and harrows provided the company to grow significantly. So, the small blacksmith needed to be enlarged to meet all the market demand in several regions in Brazil. It encouraged the family to have a new factory built. Subsequently, Stara was transferred to an 8,000-meter building where the manufacturing process remains in the headquarters nowadays.
The crisis of 1982 was a major economic crisis, due to dollar appreciation, which affected mainly the industry. Stara had asked for a USD loan to have a new factory building built. The company debt increased significantly, causing payment delay to suppliers and employees, and almost leading Stara to bankruptcy.
Franciscus Johannes Stapelbroek, Seu Chico (Mr Chico in Portuguese) provided tremendous support to Stara in these tough times. As the founder’s son, Seu Chico worked the first years at Stara, and at the same time, he dreamed of being a farmer as well. In 1982, he became a respected farmer in the area and saved money to prevent his family’s dream from dying. This was when the new generation of directors took over the company, featuring modern management and keeping the founders’ values.
Stara launches front end loaders, the PADs, which become the absolute market leaders in Brazil.
Another novelty of Stara was the Asa Laser launching, the first subsoiler in Brazil featuring an automatic disarm system, in which the implement and the tractor are protected against sudden brakes.
Stara started developing equipment for Precision Agriculture for trends anticipation that would lead to crop yield increase. The first controllers were imported and they led Stara to learn and dominate this technology, which Stara itself started developing.
In 2000, the first project of precision agriculture was developed. Named Aquarius and directed to commercial purposes, this project aims at searching agricultural machinery that enables precision agriculture performance. Aquarius additionally maintains the greatest database in the world.
The company shares were granted to the daughter of Franciscus Stapelbroek, Susana Stapelbroek Trennepohl, to his son-in-law Gilson Trennepohl. The equity control of the company was given to his grandchildren Fernando, Átila, and Nicole. So, the third and fourth family generations acquired the company. The company had its factory headquarters enlarged, which resulted in product portfolio increase, the brand became solid, and more doors were opened to both national and international markets. Brava corn head was the first product launched in this new Stara period.
Stara starts producing planters, becoming the most complete lineup of agricultural machinery in Brazil and pioneer in variable-rate planting.
Inspired by its evolution philosophy, Stara made strategic investments that ensured its market share and sustainable growing. More products were added to the lineup, such as Gladiador self-propelled sprayers which became the only self-propelled sprayers of Brazil factory-equipped with technological features.
Stara turned 50 years and is proud to be a family business whose management sticks to transparency, sustainable growth, trust, commitment, in addition to profit sharing. Stara is conducted professionally and with responsibility, embracing planning and strategies that maintain its solid brand, and consequently keeping the company even more present in the global scenario. Stara had its branch in the city of Carazinho opened. The branch produces cast parts used to manufacture the company’s machinery.
In the same year, Stara introduced the first and only self-propelled sprayer equipped with central booms in the world, Imperador 3100. A new project in the world that had patent granted in several countries, highlighting Stara, making the company even stronger, and imposing its magnificence as an innovative brand technology developer.
For planting lineup, Stara launched Absoluta, a large planting equipment for seeds only. Another important launching was Topper 4500, the first controller developed in Brazil for Precision Agriculture.
In 2012, a big dream of Stara starts to come true. To have its exclusive dealership network. By means of the dealerships, Stara is closer to the farmer to provide quality services and excellent customer service. At first, there were five stores that later became dealers. These were extended to Brazil agricultural regions, in Paraguay and Bolivia.
Another large step in the company history stairway was Stara Finance. Due to the statute signature that allowed the company to provide the customer to ask for loans directly to the factory. In 2013, the first loan was granted by Stara Finance and signed by Susana Stapelbroek Trennepohl, when she was the CFO. Stara Finance operates to provide loans for farmers in all agricultural regions from Brazil to assist farmers faster when they require loans to purchase agricultural machinery.
CLOSER TO THE FARMER
To manufacture more machinery, Stara had another branch opened in the city of Santa Rosa, state of Rio Grande do Sul. There, the factory building is seven-thousand-meter large.
The year of the inauguration of a broad and modern facility that besides housing the Human Resources Department, Engineering Department, and Purchasing Department, comprises a dining hall with capacity of 2.5 thousand meals a day, and there are four different options for meals.
Evolution never stops at Stara. Early 2015 SAP (System Analysis and Program Development) was implemented officially, becoming the data processing system of the company.
In 2016, Stara launched four important products: Imperador 3.0 self-propelled, Princesa planter, Hércules 6.0 self-propelled spreader, and Brava + corn head.
Imperador 3.0 is the first self-propelled machine in the world that can provide two operations. In other words, it is a spreader and at the same time, a sprayer.
To manufacture its new machines, Stara had one more assembly unit built. This new facility is wide, modern, with twenty-three-thousand-meter-square-factory building, and designed to meet sustainability concepts, and more manufacturing efficiency.