Article about our company published by In Greenhouses Magazine, a Dutch Magazine. 7 Artículo sobre nuestra empresa publicado por la revista holandesa In Greenhouses.

1. Text: Helen Armstrong
Images: Agrosol Export
SPAIN
REPORT
Advanced Spanish grower can flexibly respond to market
Agrosolprofits from high-tech year round production
Spain is – perhaps wrongly – still often seen as a country with middle-tech greenhouse
horticulture: that is crops grown in the open ground, only protected by plastic stretched over
wooden poles and the sun, however positive, as the most important growth medium. However,
that is changing. In southern Spain more and more growers are switching towards
professional vegetable cultivation in high-tech greenhouses.
Agrosol Export, of Roquetas de Mar, Almería, is one of those Spanish growers which has invested
heavily in climate control, water utilisation and is introducing organic production to ensure year round
harvest of quality produce. Founded in 2008, the company is owned by three families and run by eight
members of the second generation. Ambitious and knowledgeable in production and marketing, they
decided that their future lays in large scale, high tech greenhouses.
“Our fathers were growers and our families have been involved in agriculture in the area since
the 1960s. We realized that if we could provide our clients with the same quality all year round we
would be more competitive than other local Spanish producers and our traditional competitors in
Tunisia and Morocco. We made significant investments in 2008 in high tech greenhouses and then
again in 2012 when we installed heating pipes and CO2. At the moment we are very satisfied although
we do have plans to expand further,” says José Angel Amat, one of the directors.
Change the assortment
They have 105 hectares, including 32 hectares of state-of-the-art greenhouses, equipped with double
layered plastic between which air is blown, to give a very good thermal insulation.
Initially they grew cherry, beef and snack tomatoes but one of their advantages, says Amat, is
that they can change the assortment to respond to the market and client demand. “For the first four to
five years 60% of our production was cherry tomatoes but over the last two years that has decreased
as many other growers now grow cherry tomatoes. That changed the market. We want to be as
profitable as possible per square metre so we switched over to mostly sweet peppers and
cucumbers.” At the moment 50% of the greenhouses produce bell peppers, 45% long cucumbers and
only 5% (8 hectares) is tomatoes.
Year-round consistency
Another change was the installation of pipe rail heating on 15 hectares in 2012. Various types of
heaters warm the air in a further ten hectares. You’d think that heating pipes would be superfluous in
southern Spain but after a visit to Mexico Amat says he realised their potential. “You can’t imagine the
level of high technology they have there. They have pipe rail heating and I was very impressed with
the quality of the fruits they were able to produce. Here the minimum temperature in winter can be 6-
7ºC and at that temperature the yield of bell peppers and cucumbers decreases. And we have high
humidity in the morning which has a big impact on quality.”
Therefore, in 2012 Agrosol Export commissioned the Bom Group to install a methane-fired
12 MW boiler, a heat storage tank of 3,000 m3, pipe rail heating on 15 hectares and a CO2 system in
the greenhouses and at a cost of 2.5 million euro.
Further expansion
“We run the boiler, which also provides CO2, from the end of October until the spring. This year that
was until the beginning of May. This has enabled us to achieve consistently high yield of very high
quality. We will harvest until the beginning of August and we expect to reach a yield of 20 kg
peppers/m2; 70% red and 30 % green," says Amat. The cost price is around 0.80 to 0.90 euros per
kilo, compared with 0.50 euros in the hot air heated greenhouses where the yield is somewhat lower
at 7-8 kg/m2.
The benefit gained from the pipe rail heating means they are gradually installing more in the
current greenhouses and next summer they plan to build a new 10 hectares high tech greenhouse. “If
that goes well then in about three years we may build again,” adds Amat. “We believe that investing in

2. technology is the only way to be better than our competitors.” The new house will also have a double
plastic covering but they will aim to allow in more light and it will be higher, at 7 metres, to improve air
circulation.
Their success can also be attributed to their marketing and relationships with their clients. Most
growers in the area sell through a cooperative whereas Agrosol knows its clients directly. Its main
customers are UK retailers, although it does sell snack cherry tomatoes under the brand ‘Cherrytos
and co' aimed at children. These are mainly sold through Faborit, a trendy outlet in Madrid, or via e-
commerce. “We want to invest a little more in the snack tomato business because we think this is a
good way to gain more profit,” says Amat.
Of course they have to fulfil individual audits for their clients such as Nurture for Tesco, and
comply with codes of conducts such as GlobalGap and Leaf Marque but that is part of the commitment
required for these partnerships.
Trend to organic
They are also increasing the volume of organic production. “Nearly 10% of crops are organic and we
are planning to increase this in future to meet the growing trend.”
In the remaining houses they use an IPM program and biological pest control suggested by
their supplier Koppert Biological Systems. They have been implementing this since they started
Agrosol Export and their father’s used it before that.
This allows them to minimise most of the common diseases and keep well below the
mandatory maximum residue levels. “We have a highly developed pest control system which allows us
to avoid a lot of diseases,” says Amat. They currently include a range of natural predators including
Amblyseius swirski, macrolophus, orius and Amblyseius californicus. “We do a control at the
propagator and we make continual checks at all stages of the crop to check for disease and to ensure
the natural predators are well established.”
Cocopeat substrate
Over the last few years they have been gradually switching to a cocopeat substrate. Now the majority
of crops are grown in this, just some in rockwool. “We separate the cocopeat from the plastic bag and
recycle them both: the cocopeat is composted and we are building a plant to convert the plastic bags
into biodiesel for our own use.” It should be completed within six months.
“Our strategy now is to progressively convert all our greenhouses to high-tech, in a
sustainable way. This is the only way to produce high quality fruits year round and be profitable per
square metre,” the grower concludes. “It is a major investment but the results are good. Our clients are
very happy with our service and our ability to offer quality products during the difficult winter times.”
[Summary]
Significant investment in high tech greenhouses, including pipe rail heating, by large Spanish grower,
Agrosol Export, is allowing it to produce consistently high quality peppers and cucumbers year round.
The majority are sold to UK retailers. It has the flexibility to switch crops to market demand and is
gradually cultivating more and more organic produce.
[Captions]
[Tuboscalefaccion3]
Agrosol made significant investments in 2012 when it installed heating pipes and CO2 in 15 hectares
of greenhouses to enable it to produce high quality produce year-round.
[Foto 5 (Cherrytos)]
Snack cherry tomatoes are sold under the brand ‘Cherrytos and co’ through a trendy outlet in Madrid.
[Foto 2]
To remain as profitable as possible per square metre, sweet peppers have replaced a lot of the cherry
tomato crops over the last couple of years.
[Peppers agrosol2]
Red peppers, about 10% of which are now grown organically, are sold mainly to the UK.