Agro Solanum – APH Group partner since 2011
For Richard Borg (founder of Agro Solanum, a potato marketing group of three farmers), Omnivent has installed a 1000 ton potato box conditioning storage solution. The storage solution has capabilities of mid-term storage for fresh market and seed potatoes. The goal of Richard is to deliver high-quality potatoes all year round. Specifically when temporary wet spells do not allow harvest every day, because this makes it possible that he can also deliver during the short periods of no harvest. In these times of scarcity, the prices are higher and Richard can deliver from the store, where his competitors cannot. Last year the store has only been used for seed storage since this had the fastest return on investment. As a result, there was no capacity to store fresh products in the short term.
Cooperation with APH Group and Omnivent
“I am an agricultural entrepreneur and agronomist and grow wheat and potatoes on two farms. One of the farms is located in Parana and covers an arable area of 650 ha. Next to that, the farm in Sao Paulo covers 450 ha. With these two farms, I’m able to produce 9 months per year. Together with two other growers, we have established a marketing group, AgroSolanum. This group is managed by Peter Elshof. The goal is to supply high-quality potatoes for seed and industry year-round.
Within our group, we focus on the improvement of quality and efficiency, using state-of-the-art production technologies. Therefore we came in contact with APH Group in Brasil, they focus on delivering these state-of-the-art production technologies. Amongst others, Omnivent is one of their partners specialized in storage solutions for potatoes. With the expert knowledge of Omnivent/ APH Group Brasil, they designed the perfect solution for our challenges. This resulted in the investment in the very latest ventilation system, which improves quality, has better disease control, and shows a reduction of production costs.
Benefits and return on investment
I am now using this system for one year. In fact, I can clearly see the benefits. First, we have a better drying capability for wet and rotten potatoes. Second, we see better and faster wound healing. Third, we can now automatically maintain CO2 levels. And last, we can accurately control the equal crop temperature. This resulted in better quality seed, fewer losses due to reduced infection risk, equal emergence on the field, and higher yields.
The anticipated return on investment: 1,5 years on the Omnivent solution
With this system, I can store three times per year. Consequently, the anticipated return on investment is one and half a year on the Omnivent solution. In the future, I look forward to working closely together with APH Group for the state-of-the-art production technologies and with Omnivent / APH Group for storage improvements.”
