Large-scale horticultural installations are on the rise around the globe, and North America is no exception to this trend. Ready to meet the increased demand for horticultural installations is PB tec and its North American subsidiaries.
PB tec is an international horticultural design and project management firm specializing in complete horticultural installations for greenhouses and indoor farms alike (see video below). More specifically, the company focuses on engineering and installation of water, electrical and climate systems. Aside from climate control and ozonation units, PB tec builds all of its own water units and electrical panels. PB tec is also a dealer of greenhouse management system Priva, of Hortimax systems and of Oreon, Fluence and Industria lighting.
In 2018, the company acquired the horticultural section of Armada Electrical Service Inc. to form its Canadian subsidiary PB tec Projects Inc., based in Edmonton, Alberta. PB tec North America offers all of the same services as its Dutch parent company and does so for the North American market.
“With more and more American states legalizing cannabis, we are starting to see some growth in that area. That said, cannabis is not our sole focus. Our focus as a company is to enable sustainable food production, so we work on an increasing number of greenhouses and growers in order to ensure we are meeting their needs and providing the most advanced and innovative systems to their facilities,” explains Rob Wiese, COO of PB Tec North America.
Rob also explained that with more large investment funds becoming involved in the agrifood sector, large-scale horticultural projects are popping up more frequently and benefit from PB NA’s connection to the Dutch horticultural sector and its understanding of North American construction norms.
“We bring that Dutch know-how to a project and combine it with the North American construction approach, which gives us an advantage. We’re used to working with general contractors in North America and understand the way that the region’s construction projects flow,” says Rob.
As such, PB tec NA has been quite busy with projects in Québec (Canada) and northeastern US, primarily, both for vegetable and cannabis production. The company has also noticed an increased demand of indoor farms, whose unique lighting and climate control needs make the projects unique and interesting. By providing both design and installation services, PB tec acts as the single entity to which growers and vendors can refer, allowing all parties involved to have a global view of the project rather than having information siloed by different stakeholders.
With the demand for high-quality food never higher, the global agrifood sector seemed to recover relatively quickly during the pandemic. PB tec had a busy 2020 and while the company is having a busy 2021, it has noticed changes to the supply chain as non-agricultural sectors begin to bounce back from the pandemic-induced standstill of 2020.
“2020 was slow but it didn’t seem to hurt the agricultural sector as badly because there was always demand and other sectors were quiet. But as other activities ramp up, we’re noticing differences in the shipping and supply chain,” says Rob. “Everything is backed up, so there are going to be some supply chain challenges in 2021.”
Further expanding its presence in North America, PB tec has also established operations in Dallas, TX to better serve the United States. Between the Dallas- and Edmonton-based divisions, and technicians located throughout both countries, PB tec has a fully functioning team ready to install large-scale horticultural projects across North America.
For more information:
PB Tec
www.pb-tec.com