The precautionary environmental disinfection of greenhouses, water and irrigation systems for plant nurseries and conventional horticultural cultivations are carried out by the Italian company Ecofarm Storti in both Italy and Europe.
By applying the traditional management of environmental preventive hygiene in greenhouses, the costs of cleaning and disinfection can vary between 1,000 euros per hectare for non-in-depth disinfection, up to 30,000 euros per hectare per year in the case of contamination by quarantine pathogens, to which must be added the loss of production caused by the downtime.
The use of ozone for these good practices drastically reduces all these costs, compared to greater effectiveness and reduced consumption of chemical compounds.
"We have developed this technology by utilizing the properties of gaseous ozone, which has great biocidal capacity and leaves zero residue. The development of these protocols allows us to provide effective results at low costs. I think that preserving productions from risks of infection and eradicating pathogens present in environments, including those that have been present for years, at a cost of less than 1,000 euros/ha, is now an indispensable advantage," said Giorgio Zaffani of Ecofarm.
The sanitization with ozone of water and irrigation systems eliminates viruses, fungi, bacteria, and microfilms. Counteracting the contamination of crops and root systems is the first and most economical condition for agronomic success.
Ecofarm offers systems that do not require the constant presence of personnel and that are easily integrated into existing systems like irrigation or environmental diffusion fans and/or destratifiers for preventive sanitation. The generation of ozone uses only the oxygen present in the ambient air and very little electricity, with an environmental impact close to zero.
“The total cost to generate an irrigation system to treat all irrigation water and, where present, drainage water as well, with an amortization in five years, including the electricity consumption and the maintenance, is €0,30 cents per square meter per year. While, under the same conditions, for preventive environmental disinfection, the cost is around €0,10 cents per square meter per year. The installation costs, already largely compensated by the non-use of additional disinfection products and the reduction of pesticides, can also benefit from public funds such as, for example, Italian PSR and Agriculture 4.0."
Ecofarm will attend Macfrut at stand B5 151.
For more information:
Ecofarm Storti srl 
Via Castelletto 10
37050 Belfiore (VR)
Italy
+39 045 6134390
info@ecofarmstorti.com
www.ecofarmstorti.com