Digitalization and mechanization become a part of Georgian agriculture as an increasing number of producers invest in precision farming technologies. Mkisa is a Georgian company contributing by building an agricultural business where almost every decision is based on data analysis taken from digital tools directly on the field. In the next few years, Mkisa plans to develop the whole value chain production and become a consultancy service provider for others.

The company started its operations in 2020 and has already planted 10 ha of almonds and 24 ha of maize, while 30 more hectares of almonds and 20 ha of blueberry orchards are planned to plant in the first quarter of 2022. First harvests are expected in 2023. In total, the company owns 200+ ha of land in east and west Georgia and has plans to increase it in forthcoming years. The eastern sites are intended for almonds production, while western sites are for the blueberries.

The decision to plant almonds and blueberries was based on market research, which revealed that almonds and blueberries were the optimal choices in terms of the Return on Investment (ROI) indicator and the time needed to receive the first harvests, compared to other considered alternatives. They also took into account government programs’ and the banks’ potential support while choosing the crops.

EastFruit discussed the company’s experience in digital agriculture and the future plans with its executive director Gigi Gachechiladze.

What kind of digital tools are you using to manage the orchards or planning to use in the future?

We’ve invested in a weather station, plant and soil sensors, as well as drones so far. In combination, these tools allow us to plan and manage almost all operations in the orchards based on precise and live data.

Weather station: price, components, and applications

We bought a weather station from the local representative of USA-based company DAVIS — CVIG. The bundle – weather station covering 40 ha, and leaf and soil sensors for 10 ha – cost 15 000 GEL ($4,644) in 2021. We are planning to add more sensors to cover a total of 40 ha of almond orchards in 2022.

Station has several transmitting nodes installed in the orchard. Each node is equipped with 3 types of sensors, soil moisture and temperature, and leaf wetness sensors. Nodes and sensors are fully autonomous in terms of electricity and the internet. Station uses solar panels as an energy source and 4G for the internet connection.

Analysis of historical data taken from the sensors is crucial for planning or adjustment of schedules and doses of pesticide, herbicide, fungicide, and fertilizer applications, while live data analysis guarantees timely agronomic measures. Agronomists agree that even hours matter when taking preventive measures against the diseases.

Each sensor gives different kind of information to plan various activities. Soil moisture sensor gives data crucial for irrigation and application management. The soil temperature sensor shows the temperature in the ground to analyze the root development of plants. Leaf sensor gives dates and duration of leaf wetness, helping agronomists to assess the effectiveness of applications and rainfalls.

Weather stations can give much more indicators if needed, but on a daily basis we monitor soil moisture and temperature, rainfalls, evapotranspiration (ET), humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and THSW (temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind) index. Station also forecasts the weather for the next 7 day period. Each data is crucial to analyze the real state of plants.

Agriculture drones

We have our own drone and are in the research and development stage in this direction. Drones can be equipped with a multispectral camera which gives multispectral images for analytics. We think that this technology will be useful for large fields and orchards as it can identify problematic areas of land and give signals to an agronomist to take a closer look at that area.

We also used an agricultural drone to spray 24 ha maize fields against the disease last year. It was the right decision, as plants were already tall and it was impossible to spray them conventionally. I find it helpful to use drones for spraying annual crops, while I’m a little skeptical about their use in the case of tree orchards. I believe conventional methods will be much quicker in orchards compared to drones, taking into account the short battery life and small tanks of drones.

Labor shortage and mechanization

We consider labor shortage during pruning and harvesting seasons as one of the future challenges. To meet this challenge our almond orchard will be fully mechanized since 2023. As for blueberry production, we consider buying mechanical harvesters. We’ve even selected the specific harvester and plan to attend the harvesting to assess it in the working process. This is the air-jet harvester produced in Serbia, which harvests berries by imitating storm and shaking plants with pulsating air jets. According to the producer’s information, the new technology less damages the fruit in the harvesting process and makes it suitable for selling on the fresh market, but we will have a clear view of it only after the tests in the field.

What are the future plans of Mkisa?

Our intention is not only to become a large-scale producer but to develop self-sustainable and green energy orchards, along with the whole value chain from planting to sales.

In 2023 we plan to build a cold storage and processing facility for blueberries in Tskaltubo or Khobi site, as well as receive certifications for both blueberry and almond production — GLOBAL G.A.P. and HACCP accordingly.

Today we work with local and international professionals to manage processes in the orchards. In blueberry orchard development, Mkisa relies on the knowledge of local consultants but receives coaching from Spain and Poland to manage almond orchards. After gaining the necessary expertise, we’ll become service providers ourselves. By that time our team will have valuable experience in digital agriculture as well, as we’ve already invested in digitalization and will continue in the future.

Сообщение Mkisa — Georgian agricultural company with a focus on digital agriculture появились сначала на EastFruit.

The EastFruit team conducted a virtual study-tour for farmers in our region who are interested in growing greens and aromatic herbs as a greenhouse business. To do this, we visited the Italian company Orto Ricci, which produces aromatic herbs, salads and vegetables both on 30 hectares in Anzio, near Rome.

A video report on how aromatic herbs are grown in Italy, both packed and in pots, is available here. The information can be especially relevant for countries where culinary herbs are an important export item – – for Georgia and for Uzbekistan.

What notable things did we see in Orto Ricci? We saw how to make more than € 2 million per hectare growing aromatic herbs in a hydroponic system. We learned what sub-irrigation is, how sub-irrigation mats or auto-irrigation mats function, how a floating sub-irrigation system works, what are the advantages of the sea climate, how long a greenhouse can work, what is basil biofortification with selenium and why it is needed, how an integrated pest management helps in marketing and much more.

Assortment of aromatic herbs and vegetables

Orto Ricci has a huge assortment of aromatic herbs and even vegetables, but about 75% of their total revenue comes from one crop – basil. Why basil and where does so much of it go?

Italy is famous for its pizza and the most popular pizza is, of course, Margarita. And here you cannot do without the basil. However, it is also used in many other dishes – in famous pesto sauce, in baked goods and salads, as a seasoning for fish, etc. By the way, there are quite a few types of basil. In the assortment of “Orto Ricci”, in addition to ordinary basil, there are brown, red, lemon and licorice basil.

What’s interesting, even nettles are grown here As a part of the list of herbs offered by the company: common and marsh mint, lemon balm, marjoram, myrtle, rosemary, sage, catnip, savory, tarragon, thyme, coriander (cilantro), lavender, borage, oregano, chives, lemongrass! The assortment also includes leafy salads, pumpkin flowers, etc. A separate line is cherry tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables for indoor growing in pots, which many use as ornamental plants at home.

Dill and parsley

The most popular types of greens in the post-Soviet countries, such as dill and parsley are almost unknown here. Parsley is still used in some recipes, but dill is unknown in Italy. Fennel is sometimes found here, which is often confused with dill, but real dill is almost impossible to find. However, the country is home to several hundred thousand people from the post-Soviet space, mainly from Ukraine. Therefore, Orto Ricci is now setting up the production of both dill and parsley. After all, there is a demand, which means you can make money on it.

However, let’s move on to the actual greenhouse business of growing aromatic herbs.

Location, climate, exports and domestic market

Why do Italian producers try to be close to the sea? The climate is milder here – warmer in winter and cooler in summer. And this means saving money on heating greenhouses in winter and fewer diseases and pests.

Orto Ricci has tried exporting greens to the UK, but most packed herbs are not suitable for long-term storage and potted plants take up a lot of space and are too heavy to make exporting such products profitable. Therefore, they decided to sell their products not only in the domestic market of Italy but concentrated on the market of the capital region of Italy and other regions in central Italy. First, the market is large enough. Secondly, the logistics costs are lower. Thirdly, the quality and freshness of the products are thus perfect. Well, and fourthly, in this way the company avoids many other issues.

Types of greenhouses for growing aromatic herbs

The hydroponic greenhouses used for growing aromatic herbs are quite old – around 25 years old. These are glass greenhouses, with ventilation (opening vents on the roof) that is very important to keep the air humidity under control in summer. Indeed, in these greenhouses, greens are grown in special floating cassettes with sub-irrigation, which means the humidity is usually quite high that can lead to plant diseases.

There is full digitalization in greenhouses – climate, irrigation water composition and other growing parameters are monitored with a computer system. The greenhouse, accordingly, has a variety of sensors.

In winter, the main problem is a lack of light, which leads to a slowdown in plant growth and can provoke the spread of diseases. To reduce energy consumption for heating greenhouses, special heat-shielding curtains are opened over the plants at night, keeping heat.

In summer, on the contrary, glass and film greenhouses are whitened from the outside in order to avoid overheating of plants. The whitewash self-decomposes under the hot Roman sun over the summer and the transparency of the glass is restored by autumn without additional costs.

The company also uses foil greenhouses and even grows its produce outdoors in summer.

Types of irrigation, what is sub-irrigation and how the company saves water

Herbs are grown mainly either in a sterile environment on floating foam trays, or in pots on sub-irrigation mats (special rugs with auto-irrigation). In addition, some of the greens are grown in the ground.

In hydroponic greenhouses, plants simply float in the nutrient solution in special lightweight foam trays. Plants reach up to the solution with their roots and get the nutrients they need. At the same time, the leaves remain dry and clean, which helps avoid problems with diseases and pests, which means to ensure a higher purity of products and environmental friendliness of the business.

The nutrient solution is constantly aerated and the computer monitors its chemical composition to ensure the ideal nutrition for each crop.

To reduce water consumption, Orto Ricci has a rainwater collecting system that is purified and used in greenhouses. The irrigation water in which the trays with plants float is changed only once a year.

Subirrigation mats, also called self-irrigated rugs, are also used mainly in glass greenhouses, but for growing greens and vegetables in pots. The nutrient solution is supplied to the rug, and plants reach out to the roots through the hole in the pot to the rug and receive the nutrition they need. Thanks to this approach, both the substrate and the leaves of the plants remain dry, which makes production more environmentally friendly. In addition, this approach avoids unnecessary waste of water and fertilizers, because they are more efficiently used by plants.

Integrated Plant Protection System (IPPS)

The company’s agronomists are constantly experimenting, trying to find approaches to reduce or completely eliminate the use of crop protection chemicals. Thanks to IPPS, an integrated approach is used that ensures the minimum use of chemical plant protection products when growing greens, salads and vegetables. For example, we were shown an experiment how the proximity of different crops in a greenhouse affects their development. This allows to discover new solutions for improving the sustainability and environmental friendliness of the business.

Labor force is an important factor in competitiveness

Since growing greenery, despite the maximum levels of business automation, requires a lot of manual labor, the cost of labor has a high share in the cost of the herbs. Most likely, this is another reason why the company relied on fresh herbs, because it avoids competition with imports from countries where labor is cheaper.

Orto Ricci employs many foreigners, mostly from Punjab, India. Therefore, all announcements and messages in the company’s greenhouses are duplicated in Italian and Punjabi. The employment is all official and the labor costs the company about 10 € per hour taxes included.

Cleaning of the herbs

Greenery is harvested by taking trays with plants and placing them in a special cutting machine. The roots remaining in the trays are shaken out, and undamaged trays are cleaned for reuse.

Cut greens are packed in bags for sale in supermarket chains. To increase the implementation period, only preliminary washing is carried out, and consumers should wash the greens once again.

Cleaning up potted greenery is not a problem at all. Since the pots are on sub-irrigation mats, you just need to pick them up and pack them.

Plastic-free biodegradable packaging and pots

The company takes pride in its efforts to reduce its negative impact on the environment. All packaging used by the company is biodegradable.

One of the hot questions is the use of biodegradable pots for growing potted greens and vegetables. The fact is that supermarkets require such greens to be supplied in biodegradable pots. However, they cost three times more than ordinary ones, and consumers pay attention not to the pot, but to the herb and its price. Therefore, greens in ordinary plastic pots can win in price.

Productivity of herbs with year-round cultivation 

The yield of basil in hydroponic greenhouses on sub-irrigation is from 7 to 10 tons per cycle from each hectare of greenhouses. The cycle lasts about 20 days in summer and about 30 days in winter. On average, it is possible to make about 14 production cycles per year. This means that the yield is about 120 tons per hectare.

Considering that the average selling price for cut basil, which is usually sold in packs of 50 grams, is 20 euros per kg, the total revenue per hectare of such greenhouses exceeds 2 million euros per year.

Herbs, Nickel-Free Basil and Selenium Biofortification of Basil

An interesting observation is that the company would like to grow smaller potted herbs than it currently does. This would lead to faster turnover. In addition, these greens are healthier for consumers. However, buyers prefer overgrown greens because think they are buying more.

A very important indicator of the quality of greens is their low nickel content – almost nickel-free.

The growing demand for a healthy lifestyle is constantly forcing the company to look for new ways to increase the benefits of the herbs. One of these areas was the cultivation of basil with a high selenium content.

Selenium is considered one of the most important trace minerals for human health. It plays an essential role in the functioning of the thyroid gland and in metabolism. Selenium helps protect cells from damage and oxidative stress by strengthening immunity, improving brain function, and even reducing the risk of heart disease.

Selenium is believed to help prevent some liver diseases, protect body from heavy metal poisoning. Since selenium is involved in the metabolism of iodine, this makes it an essential element for humans.

That is why Orto Ricci has been developing a program for biofortification or bio-saturation of the basil grown here with selenium for two years now.

Since selenium in basil accumulates better if plants get it through the roots, and not through foliar feeding, this was great for a company where sub-irrigation is mainly used.

As young leaves contain more selenium, the company was looking for the fastest growing varieties of basil. As a result, the choice was made in favor of the Gemini basil variety from SAIS Sementi. In addition, a cultivation technology has been worked out, which would make it possible to obtain the same yield of basil biofortified with selenium as for the ordinary basil. The company hopes this will give it an additional competitive advantage in Italy’s highly competitive market of fresh herbs.

Competition in the green market continues to increase

Since growing aromatic herbs allows for a high income per hectare of land, competition in this market continues to grow. The growth of competition in the market is taking place despite the high investment required to create modern greenhouses.

In addition, the world is now experiencing a real boom in investments in greenhouse technology and especially in the creation of vertical farms, which allows to grow greens anywhere and even in large cities.

However, these technologies have not yet found widespread use in Italy, and Orto Ricci, thanks to its continuous improvement of the quality, environmental friendliness and freshness of herbs, feels quite confident on the market, continuing to develop.

The EastFruit team is grateful to Orto Ricci for the opportunity to learn from them and for their openness in providing information.

Сообщение Growing aromatic herbs in greenhouses – learning from Italy (video) появились сначала на EastFruit.

Representatives of the European berry business, as well as EastFruit experts, took part in one of the largest berry events in Europe – Global Berry Congress, which was first held online this week. One of the most interesting conclusions from the event was the assertion of most experts that the COVID-19 pandemic did not change, but only strengthened the main trends in the berry business.

Analysts at Europanel and Rabobank, as well as producers and distributors from Spain and the United Kingdom, highlighted the following trends in the European berry market:

• Preference for locally produced berries and a shrinking supply chain. According to Cindy van Rijswick, senior analyst at Rabobank, the consumption of local and seasonal products has already been a trend before the pandemic, and the COVID-19 crisis only strengthened it.
• Similarly, before the COVID-19 crisis, the attraction of labor for picking berries in Europe was a huge problem, which only intensified. Therefore, the process of developing robots for harvesting berries has only accelerated.
• In this regard, breeding companies are accelerating the development of larger berries with more even ripening periods, as this reduces the need for labor, speeds up harvesting, reduces costs, and makes berries more accessible for harvesting by robots.
• Investments in growing berries indoors or other ways to minimize the impact of weather as an additional risk factor for business.
• Promotion of the consumption of more expensive berries, such as blueberries, for example, through social media, which is mainly used by young people, because it will allow us to form the taste habits of future consumers for years to come.

However, there were unexpected trends that formed during the COVID-19 crisis. The following tendencies were identified:

• An increase in the size of the shopping basket and, as a result, a decrease in the frequency of shopping trips. “We must meet the expectations of our customers, and packages from 500 to 700 g will be more often present on the shelves of European supermarkets,” comments Jaime Sánchez, Berry Manager, SanLucar (Spain).
• The need to increase the shelf life of the berries, but only on the condition that the variety retains taste because varieties that are well-stored lose their taste. If earlier such a requirement was due to the need to deliver products long distances fresh, now it is caused by a lower frequency of visits to stores and a large volume of purchases at a time.
• The return of plastic is a problem that the industry will still have to solve. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers were less sensitive to this problem, and the industry was not ready to produce a large number of alternative ecological packaging for the new-sized berry.

In conditions when people are less likely to buy products, those types of berries that can be stored at home for a longer time win. Thus, blueberries became the main beneficiary of the situation. As a result, prices and demand for blueberries rose. Currently, raspberries and garden strawberries have suffered most, although, in some countries, sales of strawberries have also grown. The season of deliveries of berries from Morocco and Spain to the main EU sales markets coincided with the height of the pandemic, which had a negative impact on prices in these countries at that time. However, now the situation has improved, and prices have not only returned to previous levels but even increased compared to last year.

However, there is a need to remember that the costs of manufacturers have also increased.

“The cost of growing and delivering berries has increased this year due to new sanitation and social distancing for workers,” says Cindy van Rijswick. Therefore, even if the prices of berries are higher, not in all cases they cover the increase in costs. Supermarket chains, given the increased consumer interest in buying berries, try to hold promotions even at the very beginning of the season, which negatively affects the profitability of the berry business.

By the way, in Ukraine, prices for berries are also so far pleasing to producers. From Georgia, we get similar information that confirms numerous buyers for blueberries and high demand. Therefore, we hope that this season will be favorable for producers of berries and our region that will help to attract the necessary resources for further development.

Сообщение Berry business in Europe: growth in consumption, robotics and focus on local product появились сначала на EastFruit.