Cualin Quality is located in the Spanish province of Almería in the town of Antas. This region, located in the south of Spain, has the most hours of sunshine per year in Europe. This is a crucial factor for production of tomatoes. Their mission is to cultivate flavor in a natural manner. Using the Andalusian sun, they allow their crop to ripen which enhances the flavor.
Cualin Quality’s tomatoes are grown in a specially equipped greenhouse with an area of 40 ha. This greenhouse has a production system that has been perfected to grow the best tasting tomatoes all year round in a natural and sustainable way.
Kevin Spoelder, our Area Manager Sales at Hoogendoorn Growth Management tells us; “The service towards Cualin Quality we perform together with our partner AgroCatalogo. They are a provider of services and materials for greenhouses. With AgroCatalogo we have replaced the Economics with two iSii process computers and this year a third will follow.”
Managing resources in a sustainable way
With respect for nature and in order to optimize the use of energy resources, Cualin Quality has installed a modern cogeneration facility for the production of heat, electricity and CO2. The hot water produced is stored in large tanks and is then used to heat the greenhouse during the coldest winter nights. The CO2 released during combustion is directed to the plants after filtering to help them grow. At the same time, a generator produces electricity, which is fed back into the grid. In this way, the performance of the cogeneration unit is fully optimized.
Kevin spoke with Nicolás Hirschegger, Technical Director of Cualin Quality. “Our greenhouses are built with the most modern constructions and are carefully maintained on an ongoing basis. Using the iSii process computer, we take care of climate control and the optimal use of rainwater, optimizing resources for sustainable production”, says Nicolás.
Water resources for irrigation are kept in a number of reservoirs, which together hold more than 430,000 m3. “Our greenhouses are designed to make optimal use of water. Here we recycle and reuse rainwater and capture the condensation that forms on the grids and walls, so our water resources are used efficiently.”
iSii makes information more accessible
According to Nicolás, iSii provides accurate and reliable information and scores high in terms of user-friendliness. Cualin Quality has been a customer of Hoogendoorn for years. “In the other greenhouses there are already two of these process computers. These control the climate and water management for an ideal tomato crop. I therefore decided to place the same system in the new greenhouses. The iSii can support us greatly, as I expect we will have plenty of novelties and challenges with the crops.”
Nicolás sees the iSii as a useful tool to get all the information from the crop. “The visuals help make the information given more accessible not only to the growers, but also to the technicians. These are less used to graphs and tables.” The information they receive enables growers to adjust the various programs to achieve productive growing conditions.
A look to the future
Cualin Quality is committed to using the iSii process computer to be aware of what nature and the climate have to offer. ” My expectation for the future is that control of the growing environment will become increasingly important due to climate change. It is the best way to make efficient use of all our precious resources. We have several varieties of tomatoes and the newest project, medicinal plants will also use the iSii. We are going to use it for support in biological pest control and optimal resource management,” Nicolás concludes.
A vision of the future that we at Hoogendoorn are happy to support. Resources are becoming increasingly scarce and the world population continues to grow. For the production of food resources are needed, including water and fertile land. Together with Cualin Quality, but also with many others, we are committed to protect our resources.