Cucumbers and lettuce grown in the greenhouse complex Novy appeared in the stores of Cherepovets (Russia) in May. The chairperson of the regional legislative assembly, the secretary of the regional branch of the political party United Russia, Mr. Andrey Lutsenko, has visited the enterprise.
The complex with an overall acreage of 8.2 ha has been built in accordance with Dutch technology. The plants are grown here in hanging gutters. Most of the operations, for instance fertilizing and watering, are automated. However, cucumbers are picked by hand.
“We pick cucumber crops every second day, getting 8-9 tons per ha. Plants grow in mineral cotton made of natural substances”, shares the chief technologist of the greenhouse complex, Ms. Valentina Bogdanova.
“The pots, filled with substrate, are inserted in the hanging gutters, 54 pieces per section. In the next section, we plant the seeds, three seeds in every pot. Then there is automated watering. But operators control the whole process”, mentions the vegetable grower, Ms. Anastasia Frolova.
Construction of the tomato department is being finalized at the moment. The seedlings will be planted in July and the first crops will be picked in October.
“Here the most contemporary technologies have been implemented. The greenhouses are fully automated, which enables high productivity. We got the first cucumber crops three weeks ago and all the produce has been delivered to the shops. We will keep gradually enhancing the production. Now we collect the crops from a half of the whole cucumber department”, shares the general director of the greenhouse complex, Mr. Sergey Stolbov.
Vegetables from Cherepovets are delivered not only to regional stores, the produce is planned to be sent to Archangelsk, Murmansk and Tver regions as well as to Moscow.
“It is a contemporary production unit with the investment amounting to 29.5 million euros. The production volume should exceed 5.5 thousand tons per year. They produce organic vegetables. The project’s return on investment is good”, concluded Mr. Andrey Lutsenko. The complex employs over 150 people, mostly dwellers of Cherepovets and the area around it.
Source: cherinfo.ru