"We have started to grow a new product - snack cucumbers, which we will produce thanks to an agreement with Italian and foreign operators," announces Florian Gostner, owner of Fri-El and of the H2Orto brand. Thirty hectares of greenhouses will be dedicated to the new crops, which will be grown using hydroponic techniques and production systems that guarantee the saving of 70% of surfaces and 70% water compared with traditional crops.
Snack cucumbers from Rijk Zwaan
"They will probably be packaged in 40-gram trays. The produce will be ready in a few months' time and, in the meantime, we are starting to collect orders. There is a lot of interest and curiosity, so we will see if we'll have to increase the production."
Florian Gostner (photo byPierluigi Benini)
This was the first year all of the 30 hectares of Fri-El greenhouses - 15 of summer transplants and 15 of winter transplants - were productive. There is an increase in the area dedicated to Strabena tomatoes, "a sign that the product is popular both in Italy and abroad. Our main foreign destinations are currently Germany, Austria, and Switzerland."
Some of the products (photo by Pierluigi Benini)
"We continue to satisfy the demand for packaged tomatoes, which is increasing. Our premium bunch tomatoes have a high Brix level and are placed in 500-gram trays. Hydroponic cultivation helps monitor all phases and control the diseases and insects that cause a lot of problems in open fields."
Greenhouse (photo by Pierluigi Benini)
Fri-El is a leading company when it comes to the energy front. Greenhouses are heated in the winter thanks to the warm water produced by the biogas system. "We are also working on a geothermal plant that uses the temperature of the subsoil. What is more, we are increasing the energy produced by the photovoltaic plant with 2.5 megawatts generated by the existing panels, plus another 19 MGw from a photovoltaic field that will be set up near the greenhouses."
"This will be truly innovative because it will also collect rainwater as it already happens for greenhouses. We are, in fact, focusing on energy and water autonomy," concludes Gostner.
For more information:
H2ORTO
Via delle Serre 1
44020 Ostellato (Ferrara) - Italy
Tel.: +39 0533 57411
www.h2orto.it