Like a growing number of American fruit & vegetable producers, Steve Tennes, a blueberry grower in Charlotte, Michigan, has integrated the Janny MT flexible controlled atmosphere technology into his farm, and got straight economic benefits.
A clear and dynamic website, a Facebook page with more than 8 000 likes, diversified productions, retail sales and farm picking, one third of the orchards dedicated to organic growing - Steve Tennes has everything the modern farmer could wish for. Connected and innovative, in direct relation with local customers, and implicated in the integration of the social and environmental issues of farming, Steve and his Country Mill farm are a perfect illustration of what the current evolutions of agriculture can permit.
Always looking for solutions that would help him to develop his activity or improve his working conditions, he quickly understood, when he first knew about the Janny MT flexible controlled atmosphere, that this technology had many interests for a producer like him. “I first discovered the Janny MT modules by an advertisement in a specialist magazine. It really caught my attention. I saw that the company was going to be at the MSU research station’s field day in Clarksville. I went there and met them to get more details and purchased the JMT boxes.”
“The first reason I bought this equipment was for our blueberries productions. With the price fluctuation in Michigan of approximately $1 per pound, one filled module of blueberries can realize a $300 gain in a few weeks. Therefore, the pay back is really fast. Furthermore, I then used the modules to store apples in the same year, which made the pay back even faster.”
These higher sale prices are thanks to the longer storage period offered by the modules in cold rooms that Steve can achieve. “For blueberries we went up to 20 days of storage. We could have gone longer, but as prices and sales were good we stopped at 20 days. By now, my modules are full of apples, that will remain in storage for at least 4 or 5 months.”
Benoit Janny, chief executive of JMT US, confirms: “For blueberries, our modules offer a storage up to 6 weeks, without any loss of weight or quality. And for apples, we can bring some varieties up to 8 or 10 months of storage, sometimes even more.”
For Steve Tennes, the main advantage of the Janny MT technology, is flexibility: “On our farm we do not have CA storage rooms. The benefit for us is to have small CA boxes with the flexibility of having 300 pounds of blueberries or 15 bushels of different varieties of apples in each box. One benefit is not needing a large investment in a big CA room and not needing to open an entire room at the same time. Furthermore, it is really easy to use. I recommend this technology for small and medium growers who have different crops at different times of the year.”
A positive feeling is reinforced by the quality of the support brought by JMT US, the American subsidiary of the company: “I am happy with JMT support that I’ve seen. I think it is good to have a representative in Michigan because we are close enough for the JMT Representative to come out to the farm if we have an issue. The first two weeks that we were picking and storing blueberries we were in constant contact with our JMT representative to ensure that our oxygen and carbon dioxide levels were correct. I am very happy with the support.”
A testimony that illustrates the relevance of the Janny MT technology for American producers. The company continues its development in North America, with two offices in the USA (MI, and CA), and also two offices in Canada (ON and QC). The company is looking to hire for its MI office, in order to keep on growing on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Contact :
Julien Chagué
Janny MT
Tel : +33 385 239 620