turnkey project
Revolutionary greenhouse technology delivers higher yield and better quality
Japanese producer Kagome has recently completed its first season with a new tomato greenhouse complex designed and built by the Japanese company Daisen in close collaboration with a Dutch firm. The high-tech turnkey project comprises approximately 2 ha and is based on a revolutionary growing concept which uses innovative technologies to control the greenhouse climate. This makes it possible to grow crops in ideal conditions, boosting yield whilst also reducing energy usage and water consumption.
“The first ‘seed’ for the Kagome project was planted back in 2007, when Casey Houweling patented and launched Ultra-Clima technology in California, USA,” explains Robert Keijzer from Kubo, the Dutch firm which provides technical expertise and exclusively represents the concept worldwide. “One of our first customers for this concept was Peter Satow, an experienced British crop consultant who has his own tomato greenhouse facility in the South of France.”
Japan’s biggest tomato producer
Tokyo-based Kagome had been working with Peter Satow as a crop consultant since 2007. Kagome now had ambitious plans to build a high-tech, 2 ha greenhouse to expand its tomato production facility based in Akeno-cho, Yamanashi Prefecture, at the foot of the Japanese Alps.
“The climate in Akeno-cho is similar to the conditions in southern France: mild conditions in winter and spring but hot and humid summers – both during the day and at night – which has a negative impact on production,” explains Keijzer. “Peter Satow understood the challenges Kagome faced and could wholeheartedly recommend the new concept to solve them. He introduced Kagome to us in 2013.”
Established in 1899, Kagome is specialised in the manufacture and sale of condiments, foods and beverages, and the purchase, manufacture and sale of seeds, seedlings, processed vegetables and fruits. The firm is Japan’s biggest tomato producer based on market share and employs over 2,300 people. “We sell almost all our fresh tomatoes to supermarkets, with food service accounting for less than 5% of our business,” says Satoshi Harada, project manager at Kagome. “We have been fully focused on the domestic Japanese market so far, but we are currently running some export trials in Hong Kong too.”
Financial challenges
One of the biggest challenges in this project was of a financial nature, as Harada explains: “The exchange rate was terrible for us. It increased from around 90JPY/euro in 2013 to 140JPY/euro in 2014. This meant that by the time the financing was approved in 2014, there was a gap in the budget. In close consultation with the project partners, we cut back on components such as the heat storage tank and roof washer to reduce the overall project costs without compromising on quality.”
Building work finally started on the foundations in June 2014. “The foundations were another very important aspect of this project since the greenhouse facility had to satisfy strict Japanese requirements for earthquake resistance,” adds Harada. The construction of the greenhouse itself started at the beginning of September. The greenhouse is 6.7 metres high and comprises 1.9 ha. It contains seven rows of gutters in 12 metres. All the systems were installed on schedule and on budget, amounting to a total investment of approximately EUR3 million. Planting took place at the end of December 2014.
Active ventilation
The ventilation system is standard Ultra-Clima including side ventilation with some top ventilation for blow out. Insect screens are installed outside the side ventilation and top ventilation. The greenhouse is designed to produce the maximum result at every moment of the day thanks to optimal temperature, humidity, sunlight and CO2 efficiency. A number of factors combine to make the concept so unique. “A system of special fans and air hoses, which can be precisely managed, distributes the air along perforated double-wall ducts which run beneath each gutter. This circulates the air to all the plants in the greenhouse and this active ventilation creates a uniform climate throughout the greenhouse environment. Outside air is fed into the greenhouse and, if necessary, is first cooled to the optimum temperature for tomatoes. Furthermore, the generation of overpressure helps to keep insects out, thus lessening the need for crop protection measures,” explains Keijzer.
Heating costs reduced by 20%
The greenhouse in Akeno-cho is based on a semi-closed design. Reducing the number of air vents has allowed more natural sunlight and heat to reach the plants to stimulate maximum production. “The light transmission is better than in traditional set-ups because there is less top ventilation. Also, thanks to improved climate control, we can keep a higher CO2 concentration than in traditional systems, and for longer. Air circulation in the greenhouse is good for activating plants – it creates a more active mode for photosynthesis and increases their absorption,” comments Harada.
The greenhouse includes LPG heating in the corridor only (not with base pipe). In terms of energy efficiency, the use of convection heating using a heat exchanger is more fuel-effective and produces lower CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the active ventilation system brings in drier air from outside, thus reducing the amount of energy needed to dehumidify the air. All air in the greenhouse is also extracted, treated and re-circulated through the advanced network of air ducts, which minimises the loss of heat and CO2. “We’ve reduced our heating costs by around 20% compared with traditional systems,” adds Harada. Last but not least, the reuse of water guarantees minimal use of valuable water resources.
First-season results
The temperature control and humidity regulation of the Ultra-Clima system enabled Kagome to continue production during the challenging summer months in 2015. “This helped us to achieve the highest production (yield/m2) of tomatoes in Japan in the first year,” comments Harada. “At over 70 kilos per square metre, the first-season harvest was approximately 20% higher than other production locations, and the target for next year is around 80 kg/m2. Naturally, the tomatoes from the new greenhouse comply with the strict quality standards applied by us and our clients,” he adds. “We have collaborated with Daisen on several other projects in the past and we regard the company as the best partner for Kagome. We also had good experience of working with Kubo, the only company that can build this concept, on this project and are very satisfied with the results,” concludes Harada.
Summary
In 2014, Japanese tomato grower Kagome built a brand-new 2 ha greenhouse facility in Akeno-cho, at the foot of the Japanese Alps. In view of the mild winters and hot and humid summers, the company chose to install the high-tech Ultra-Clima climate management system to optimise production all season long. By the end of the first season, the yield was up by approximately 20% while maintain the same level of quality. Meanwhile, Kagome’s heating costs had been reduced by around one fifth.
Text: Lynn Radford. Photos: KUBO
Russian greenhouse project Agro-Invest captured on video
Agro-Invest is a turn-key greenhouse project in the Kaluga region, a special economic zone located 300 km from Moscow. The first 20 hectare of the in total 100 hectare greenhouse complex has been in practice for 18 months. Partners Dalsem and Hoogendoorn have captured this inspiring project on video.
The Agro-Invest project is a state of the art greenhouse with high-tech systems of Dutch origin. Among its features are a 40 MWe power plant for generation of heat, power and CO2, high light levels and intermediate plant lighting, irrigation water re-use, integrated propagation area with own seeding and germination facilities and a grading system suitable for all type of cucumbers and tomatoes.
Self-sufficient
The greenhouse comprises 10 ha for the production of tomatoes (four varieties: one beef tomato variety, one vine tomato variety and two varieties of cherry tomatoes), 8 hectares of cucumbers and a 2-hectare propagation area for young plants and seedlings, plus a packing area/irrigation room and an energy building. This greenhouse complex will make a tangible contribution to the region’s goal of becoming self-sufficient in the production of vegetables in the longer term. This is the first stage of a project that will ultimately comprise a total of 100 hectares of greenhouse on 238 hectares of land.
Source: Hoogendoorn Growth Management/Dalsem.
Related
Electrically heated greenhouse completed in Abkhazia
Debets Schalke completed a turnkey greenhouse project of five hectares in Abkhazia. Besides the fact that this is the first modern large-scale greenhouse construction project in Abkhazia, it is also unique that the greenhouse is heated using electricity.
In the Netherlands almost all greenhouses are heated by gas and in Poland most of the greenhouses are heated by coal. "Debets Schalke increasingly builds more greenhouses in areas where the availability of fossil fuels is limited", says Dylan Schalke of Debets Schalke. "The choice for electricity is not always obvious, but when electricity is cheaper than fossil fuel than it is an excellent price technical alternative."
Turn-key tomato greenhouse
The completed greenhouse turnkey project is located in the western region of the Caucasus. An area with a mild climate with short and mild winters. The white coated greenhouse has a post height of 6.5 meters. A lighting system is installed, allowing the greenhouse to produce year-round for the Russian market. The first tomatoes are being harvested now.
Source/photo's: Debets Schalke.
Related
Kubo to supply turnkey Ultra Clima greenhouse in China
Fruit juice producer Haisheng, a Chinese company with more than 2,000 employees, recently ordered an Ultra Clima greenhouse from Kubo. This fully closed 12-hectare greenhouse represents a value of approximately 14 million euros for Kubo.
This is Kubo’s first large-scale project in China. The greenhouse builder was awarded the order by participating in a public tendering procedure. The Westland-based company will deliver part of the greenhouse complex this year. The client, Haisheng, exports approximately 176 million euro in juice on an annual basis.
A breakthrough
Kubo’s CEO and owner Wouter Kuiper (41) called the order for the tomato greenhouse a breakthrough in het Financieele Dagblad (the Dutch Financial Times), because this is the first time that Kubo’s efforts to be granted an order in China paid off. Haisheng ordered an ‘Ultra-Clima’ greenhouse; a special type of greenhouse developed by Kubo only a few years ago. This fully closed greenhouse uses little energy and requires fewer crop protection agents due to the fact that plants grown in a closed environment are less susceptible to disease.
Turnkey project
Kubo will be delivering the greenhouse in China as a turnkey project. The company will be producing as many components as possible in advance in the Netherlands and subsequently ship all the material to China. Local construction workers in China will be preparing the ground and installing the greenhouse under supervision of a Dutch contractor. Kubo was in the news last month as well, when the company was engaged to realise a prestigious project by an oil company in Oman. The company will be building a solar greenhouse complex in the gulf state that generates steam from solar energy. The greenhouse complex will cover 190 hectares and be delivered in 2018.
Source: Financieele Dagblad. Photo: Kubo.
‘More than anything else, we simply want to remain the best.’
In the course of the past 50 years, the BOM Group has developed from an innovative greenhouse builder, heating systems installer and screening specialist into a leading international supplier of turnkey projects. At the beginning of 2016 the company moved from Naaldwijk to a bright, modern building in Hoek van Holland: a location that provides numerous logistics benefits to the BOM Group’s international clientèle. In this interview, BOM’s director Martin van Zeijl looks back at and forward to the many developments of which he has been a part.
The innovation and continual improvement of products and systems is the common thread running through the history of the BOM Group. Its founder, Piet Bom, may no longer own the company, but his innovative spirit can still be felt, even on the new premises on Kulkweg - or even all the more so. Van Zeijl: ‘We took over the company from him in 2001, and he stepped down entirely in 2004. He is almost 80 now, but he still contributes his ideas to the company. A born inventor, he is still busy inventing new things, although these are no longer for us but for his golf club. He invented a golf cart with solar panels so that it could be powered electrically, for example, and a collapsible golf cart that can be taken along on an airplane. He can speak of his inventions with enormous enthusiasm.’
‘The transition from steel to aluminium made a great impact on us, and one that received worldwide acclaim. But the list is even longer.'
Piet Bom was the main contributor of innovative ideas for the BOM Group. ‘The transition from steel to aluminium made a great impact on us, and one that received worldwide acclaim. But the list is even longer. We created a timeline on our website that displays the most important innovations. These include our roll-up façade screens, our low ridge concept, our APS screen and the SunergyKas 2.0, a new generation of semi-closed greenhouses. Piet was a genuine Gyro Gearloose. Fortunately, we are able to take over that role thanks to our outstanding R&D department, who are always on top of the latest developments,’ says Van Zeijl.
Success factors
Piet Bom’s smartest innovations were a determining factor for the development of the company in the past century. Now that innovative concepts are following on one another at an ever-accelerating pace, technical innovations alone are not sufficient. ‘We have an incredibly tight organisation. Our permanent team is composed of 30 people. Our heating and screening systems are developed in-house. Although boilers and other systems are made elsewhere, we do have a heating systems department that handles all the engineering aspects, as well as purchasing, planning, and so on. We work with permanent partners for water and electrical engineering. This enables us to deliver a turn-key project working in collaboration with no more than three or four other companies. As a result, lines are short and agreements are strict, but there is also more flexibility. Besides that, we prefer to engage local partners wherever possible. That’s one of the areas we excel in: organising our network of partners. I consider that one of our key success factors.’
‘Nowadays, almost 100% of what we produce is exported. This has had an enormous impact on our organisation.'
When Van Zeijl started his career with the BOM Group in 1999, its clientèle was composed primarily of Dutch and Belgian growers. The 2008 economic crisis resulted in an important turnaround. ‘Nowadays, almost 100% of what we produce is exported. This has had an enormous impact on our organisation. Last year we were active in eleven different countries, with Germany, the USA and Canada as our principle markets. In addition to this, we also completed several projects in Japan and China. Sales are doing well in Poland and Russia too, even if the market is receding slightly.’
Water-saving greenhouses
What are some of the technological developments that Van Zeijl is anticipating for the future? ‘We are expecting a great deal from the ‘water-saving greenhouse’ concept. We built the largest testing centre in the Middle East in Riyad (ed.: Saudi Arabia), for example. Minister Kamp was present at the opening. The complex measures 8,500 m2 and contains fifteen different sections, of which four are high-tech (closed greenhouse equipped with all imaginable facilities), seven are mid-tech (with a variety of covering, screening cloth and/or pad&fan systems) and two are low-tech (plastic greenhouses). The people working there now use 10,000 litres of water per square metre to harvest 30 kilos of tomatoes. Every tomato grown here costs 330 litres of water. And that in a country where water is becoming continually scarcer.’
‘We think that our closed greenhouses will enable us to achieve water savings of 90%.'
Van Zeijl believes that a water-saving greenhouse can drastically reduce the amount of water per kilo needed for production purposes. ‘We think that our closed greenhouses will enable us to achieve water savings of 90%. According to Wageningen University, the production in a greenhouse like that could be increased to 114 kilos per square metre. However, if they manage to get 90 kilos I will still be delighted. They will then be able to quickly pay back their investment on that high-tech greenhouse. The outside temperature there is 45 to 46 degrees; cooling via a pad&fan system costs a lot more energy in Saudi Arabia than in the Netherlands. They pump water up from the substrate, remove the salt and pump the brine back into the ground. As a result, the ground water there is becoming increasingly salty. This means having to drill increasingly deeper wells. At some point you will have reached the limit. The amount of energy needed is also continually increasing.’
Zero emission and zero residue
Are we working towards achieving zero-emission and zero-residue greenhouses? ‘You could never reduce emissions to zero, and the same applies to residue. However, almost zero is feasible. We work with over-pressure (we call these our Air in Control greenhouses), for example, which keeps all unwanted elements outside. Whatever does enter the greenhouse is filtered first. This way all pollutants are kept out of the greenhouse. We have sold several of these already. This greenhouse is comparable to the Ultra-Clima and Maxi Air greenhouses, which are equipped with air handling units mounted into the façade, and are combined in some cases with a pad&fan system, inside air recirculation, CO2 dosage and so on. We have noticed that this is a growing market, but it only works in specific areas. Systems like these simply aren’t as useful when in wet weather conditions. You have to be able to pump dry air into your greenhouse for it to work.’
'Greenhouses are becoming increasingly energy-efficient, but growers are also growing more efficiently.'
Can greenhouses become even more efficient? ‘With 40 cubic metres it’s too expensive, but we are working on 20 cubic metres per square metre. Greenhouses are becoming increasingly energy-efficient, but growers are also growing more efficiently. Greenhouses require more technology and expertise than ever before.’
Vertical farming
Vertical farming? ‘I consider that to be a niche product. Economies of scale cannot be achieved, and your costs prices will soar. If you build a greenhouse on top of an existing building, construction prices will be much higher than when you are building on a plot of land. We built a high-tech greenhouse for a customer in Canada who will be growing organic produce for Wholefoods. By means of an experiment, the greenhouse will be built adjacent to one of the stores. If the project is a success, Wholefoods will probably want to build more greenhouses next to their stores. I think that this concept will be more successful than the idea of closed-off cultivation systems with multiple-tier cultivation, LED lighting, robots, and so on.’
'I believe that most a supermarket shoppers consider prices look at prices first.'
How big does Van Zeijl think the market share is for produce grown in a closed system? ‘I expect it to be about 10% of all buyers. These will be among the more affluent segment and prepared to pay 20% more for their food. I believe that most a supermarket shoppers consider prices look at prices first. However, it could be very interesting for hipsters who want to use their smartphone to see how their head of lettuce or fresh fish are coming along.’
No-nonsense
Where do you expect to be five years from now? ‘We will still be in Hoek van Holland, with a fantastic team of enthusiastic people. We operate worldwide as a leading player in our segment. However, we keep telling each other: we don’t have to be the biggest, but we do aim to be the best. Of course, we’ll never scream this from the rooftops! We favour a no-nonsense approach. We walk our talk. It’s easy to become the biggest, but staying the best is no easy task. We are present at trade fairs and exhibitions, but don’t advertise in magazines to tell people how good we are. We prefer to leave that to our satisfied customers.’
BOM will be officially celebrating its 50th anniversary on 31 March 2016. The event will only be celebrated within the company itself. Anniversary festivities will probably be organised for all customers of the BOM Group during or after Greentech.
