Bruno Vila, Rougeline's chairman, started working in the greenhouse produce industry 15 years ago, but his family has been in the business for twice as long. He leveraged that deep well of knowledge in his work with The Vila Group, which has greenhouses all across France. Vila is also the head of the Perpignan cooperative, Agrisud.
Bruno Vila
“We started in Perpignan with 10 hectares of tomatoes, but now we have a cooperation with the company “Rougeline” with 150 growers with 280 hectares all across southern France,” said Bruno.
Initially, Bruno grew cluster tomatoes on a standard timeline, but later expanded into winter varieties. “After two years we started to grow cluster and cocktail tomatoes on a winter-schedule”, said Bruno. “We plant in August and we start harvesting end of September beginning of October and finish the crop in July. Nowadays, we have lot of production available all year round. Most of the greenhouses we have in Perpignan are planting on a winter schedule.”
Besides the greenhouses in Perpignan, the Vila Group also manage greenhouses in other regions. “Our acreage increased significantly over the years,” said Bruno. “Nowadays we have greenhouses close to Montpellier, Perpignan and Bordeaux. Most of these greenhouses are modern greenhouses used for the production of year round cucumber and a wide variety of tomatoes like cherry and plum. But there are also some older greenhouses exploited by the Vila Group. “All together our acreage is over 60 hectares. This is including some older greenhouses and 13 hectare poly-greenhouses that are used for growing salads and babyleaf. On top of that we have developed 10 hectares of solar-greenhouses. We are growing asparagus in these greenhouse for the first time, with the first harvest coming next month.”
Throughout their growth, Bruno noted that they've tried to find ways to make the most of the resources on hand. “We've had CHP heating on some of our greenhouses for 15 years now,” he said, referring to combined heat and power, a type of heating that takes advantage of the heat generated by electric power stations to keep greenhouses warm in the winter. Though the technique is considered forward-thinking in some regions today, Bruno noted that they've been doing it for a long time, and they're already looking to expand on the concept.
“We're now working to develop new production sites, working with companies that are producing heat and are not using it,” said Bruno. “When companies already have the heat, and are not using it, we can take advantage of that to have low heating costs, for now and the next 15 years. Most of the time these companies have less taxes in France if they are more efficient in saving energy.”
As well as greenhouse operations and being the chairman of Rougeline, Bruno Vila is as well the chairman of coco peat substrate manufacturer Biogrow. An article on this division of his group will be published on HortiDaily.com next week. For more information:
Rougeline
Bruno Vila
www.rougeline.com
www.bio-grow.com
