Family tradition since 1961. DODLEK-AGRO produces quality potatoes, onions and wheat in Međimurje, Croatia — GLOBAL G.A.P. certified, with a focus on partnership and trust.
The Dodlek family has been engaged in agricultural production since times immemorial. This production was intended solely for personal needs and for feeding livestock. In 1961, we began potato production for the market. For the beginning of our tradition, we chose one story that was important to us, which shaped our family and the future of the family business as the beginning of our tradition.
Milestones
In 1961, Franjo Dodlek began to cultivate land in the Belica fields in Međimurje after his grandfather Ivan lost his ability to work. Franjo was only 12 years old at the time. He inherited his love of the fields and the agricultural way of life from his grandfather Ivan, who was a farmer and a passionate horse lover. At first, he had horses, a gang plough and a wooden cart at his disposal. Over time, as Franjo expanded the business, the first machines arrived that made his work easier. In 1965, Franjo passed his tractor driving test and is today the oldest living professional tractor driver in Belica. The first tractor was bought in 1966. It was the first tractor in our village. Franjo was then 18, and the Steyr tractor was 28 years old. He bought his first potato harvester, a Sprint brand combine, in 1976.
Franjo, along with his wife Marija and later with their children, daughter Božica and sons Mirjan and Ivan, worked on the family farm. They predominantly grew potatoes, but also wheat and corn. All potatoes were sold to hotels and at the market in Crikvenica on the Adriatic coast, and also in Celje and a couple of smaller places in Slovenia.
At the end of the 1990s, we established the trade business "TRGOVINA DODLEK" as a combination of production and trade, because at the time we needed larger quantities of potatoes, but also other products such as onions, celery and carrots. In those years we sold potatoes mainly at Veletržnica Rijeka in Kukuljanovo and Zelena tržnica in Žitnjak in Zagreb. Franjo, with his wife Marija and with the help of their grandchildren, led production while his son Mirjan and daughter-in-law Mihaela led sales at the markets.
In order to better respond to the high demand for potatoes, we strove to increase the quality and yield of our potatoes. We had the first well for irrigating agricultural land in Croatia dug in the Belica area in 1994, at the "Kristoš" site.
With the growth of production and gaining knowledge and experience for many years of potato production, the trade company "TRGOVINA DODLEK" has been transformed into DODLEK-AGRO d.o.o. Since the beginning of the company DODLEK-AGRO d.o.o. we invested in modern technologies for soil processing, growing and extracting potatoes and other crops as well as for irrigation, proper storage and subsequent packaging and distribution.
In 2004 we were the first in Croatia to own automated packing machines for potatoes which allowed us to quickly respond to the needs of the market. In 2007 we started with the construction of the purchase-distribution center in Belica. In those years, a significant expansion of trade chains in Croatia and their sale of fresh fruit and vegetables has started. From the beginning of the company DODLEK-AGRO we have decided to sell through retail chains.
Since the start of trade we have increased our own production and we are expanding our cooperation in this area, so today, with 110 hectares of potato production, 110 hectares of wheat and 15 hectares of sugar corn, we work with 30 producers with whom we have contracted production of potatoes for fresh consumption on 600 hectares and 50 hectares of onions.
Today we have 40 employees, two of whom are agronomists responsible for managing production both on our fields and on the fields of our producers. We also work closely with the regional advisory service that monitors the complete development of agriculture in Međimurje County. Together with our expert team, they provide recommendations on crop protection and fertilization.
The agronomists mentioned above take daily care of crop conditions in the field, give recommendations to our producers on how to optimally use modern technologies in production, and control all processes of storage, preparation, packaging and dispatch of goods from the packing center, all in order to achieve the best possible quality of our products.
Along with caring for production itself, DODLEK-AGRO maintains high standards in its packing center and holds the GLOBAL G.A.P. certificate. Our customers in Croatia are wholesalers of fruit and vegetables and retail chains. In recent years we have been exporting to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, France, Kosovo, Hungary, the Netherlands, Germany, Romania, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
In 2023, after years of cooperation with the Dutch company Agroplant Holland B.V., we became the official distributor for the Republic of Croatia. Agroplant Holland B.V. produces high-quality seed potatoes. Every year in mid-July we organize Potato Field Day with variety presentations and a trial field on several hectares. Agroplant also organizes open days each year at the beginning of November for its distributors.
DODLEK-AGRO is primarily a family business and the entire Dodlek family is involved in running the company. Franjo and his wife Marija are retired today and advise their son Mirjan, daughter-in-law Mihaela and grandchildren Karlo, Andrija and Dino with their families in production. The company's greatest wealth is togetherness and trust that creates a bond within the family, among employees and towards partners.
On 22 July 2026, as part of the traditional Potato Field Day where we present a trial field with varieties from our partner Agroplant Holland B.V. from the Netherlands, we also marked the 65th anniversary of the family tradition of potato production. Back in 1961, at only 12 years of age, our father, grandfather and great-grandfather Franjo Dodlek began a path that shaped not only his life, but the lives of all his descendants and a large part of our small community in Belica. His dedication to work and selflessness — and later that of his wife, our mother, grandmother and great-grandmother Marija — greatly contributed to what the companies DODLEK-AGRO d.o.o. and OPG Dodlek represent today. For that we are endlessly grateful.
Among the many guests we must mention our dear employees, cooperators, business partners, representatives of the public media, Mr Ivica Todorić, representative of the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture, Mr Mladen Jakopović, representative of the Municipality of Belica, Mr Zvonimir Taradi, the Prefect of Međimurje County, Mr Matija Posavec, the State Secretary for Agriculture and representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Tugomir Majdak, and others.
We were greatly honoured by the Prefect of Međimurje, Mr Matija Posavec, who awarded us the Charter of Međimurje County in recognition of our exceptional contribution to the development of agriculture in Međimurje, with the words: “I congratulate all generations of the Dodlek family on their outstanding achievements, because this anniversary is not just a number. It is 24,000 acres, days and evenings of dedicated work, sometimes also of uncertainty. It is 65 years of faith in one’s own strength and 65 years of perseverance.”
We are very grateful to everyone who attended this celebration, and most of all to our employees and cooperators who work and live with us all these years. Therefore we presented certificates of appreciation and commemorative gifts to all employees who have worked with us for more than 10 years, as well as certificates to the first cooperators who placed their trust in us when we began organised purchasing. We also presented certificates to the Municipality of Belica and to Mr Zvonimir Taradi, former long-serving mayor of the Municipality of Belica, who have always helped us find solutions to all the administrative challenges we have faced over the years.
Belica as a micro location has excellent light sandy-loam soil suitable for potato production, but certainly also thanks to the great care of the producers themselves and our professional staff as well as large investments in the latest production and irrigation technologies. In cooperation with experts each year we organize educational workshops for our cooperators in order to encourage them as much as possible to introduce the latest technologies in production used in agriculture. Since Belica has always been known for potato production, the people of Belica raised a potato monument in the center of the village in 2007, the first in the world. Also, in 2025 the Potato Museum was built and opened.
