The non-renewal of CIPC in the European market has left a huge gap in the potato storage sprout suppression market and growers are urgently looking for alternatives for their potato crops. Being aware of the potential for CIPC’s non-renewal, Restrain lead by Global Sales Director Dirk Garos, made significant investments in the business, enabling the company to increase its manufacturing capacity at its production facility in The Netherlands and therefore ensuring that it has the capacity needed to fill the gap left by CIPC.
Restrain’s generators have been used for potato storage for over 14 year and are fitted with unique sensors which maintain a stable, low level of ethylene, which is vital for the safe storage of potatoes. The generators have large 20 litre fuel capacity, so daily filling is not required unlike other catalytic generators and Restrain generators use a unique start-up mechanism which ensures the best possible outcome when storing potatoes.
Garos commented “Through our determination to create a world class product we completely redesigned our machines, taking the manufacturing in house to improve machine quality and investing heavily in the development of our sensor technology. This means our new B100 and B200 generators require limited annual maintenance and are fully calibrated before leaving our site, making them ready to use straight away”.
Following a series of successful variety trials, Restrain technology has recently been adopted by the global potato processing sector. The sector, which has traditionally used CIPC and other storage chemicals, has seen a global trend towards more sustainable, chemical free solutions, so Restrain meets these requirements and just at the right time.
Garos says “Seeing that the processing sector might need alternative solutions to CIPC, we invested in multiple processing variety trials to ensure that we have robust data for processing customers. Our results show that fry colours are preserved, there is no need for a delay between storage and processing and the potatoes are completely residue free.”
Importantly Restrain is priced in line with CIPC, making it one of the most cost-effective alternatives available. In addition to this, customers do not need to pay for the machines themselves, which are supplied free of charge, with customers only paying a fee on a per tonne basis for the crops they are storing.
Restrain has also invested heavily in ensuring regulatory approval of its ethylene product for use on potatoes for table, processing and seed, enabling customers to use Restrain with confidence.
Restrain operates across 30 countries worldwide in sectors including potato and onion storage, tomato, bell pepper and banana ripening, with full regulatory approval.
For more information:
Paul O’Connor
Restrain
Tel: +31-623935714
paul.oconnor@restrain.eu.com
www.restrain.eu.com