Frank Boonman runs a mixed arable and fruit farm in Oudelande, Zeeland. The farm grows pears, blackcurrants, wheat and sugar beet, but the 13 hectares of Conference and Xenia pears form the main part of the business.
Two years ago, he invested in FrostFans' mobile night frost-fighting machine. His satisfaction with this machine is evident from the fact that an order immediately followed last year when a larger version of the machine came on the market. "Last year, the pear harvest went well. We had to water a lot, but fortunately we were able to do so. We were very satisfied with the kilos," Frank reflects.
In recent years, Boonman Family Farm had suffered quite a lot of night frosts in the orchard. "Doing nothing was no longer an option, so we started looking at options. We also considered irrigation, but we have to be economical with our groundwater and prefer to use it for drip irrigation. Moreover, we were not keen on digging up the entire orchard. We then came across Frostfans' new night frost machines as a very interesting option. It is proven technology, which was very important to us."
The machine has been used frequently ever since. "In the first year, the small version has already done about 50 hours. During the critical flowering period, the frost was all just around freezing, but I could see from the temperature sensors in the orchard that the temperature in the orchard went up as soon as I switched on the machine. Warm air is then immediately brought down," says Frank.
Temperature difference of the air the machine sucks in from above and the temperature down in the orchard.
Moreover, the machine's user-friendliness is a big advantage for the grower. "You put the machine up and it automatically turns on. If it runs one night for nothing, all you lose is some diesel. I think the biggest advantage is mainly that I have peace of mind thanks to these machines. I still switch on the night frost alarm sometimes, but only to check. You no longer spend the whole night wondering whether to turn on the sprinklers."
"Moreover, it is a big advantage for us that FrostFans is supported locally through ZeelandTrac in 's-Gravenpolder. There are a lot of these machines here in the region. The parts and knowledge are therefore available locally and do not have to be flown in from the other side of the world. That also gives peace of mind."
"And ultimately, I am convinced that it leads to better quality fruit. When we had night frost damage in recent years, especially in the Xenia - which is an early bloomer - we saw a lot of burst peels. In Conference, the frozen pips led to small pears. And that too is disastrous, because small pears don't bring in money, you need good sized fruit."
Graph of temperature differences by orchard. The purple line is the plot FrostFans is in. The temperature sensor is about 20 metres away from the fan. The blue and green line are 2 plots of Conference that cannot be affected by the fan. The orange line is a temperature sensor that is 100 metres away from the fan. That sensor does stand at about 60 cm height and the other sensors at 30 cm, hence the difference. But you can clearly see what the purple line does when the fan starts up.
"With the two machines, we have covered most of our acreage. The small machine is on an area with just under 4.5 hectares of Xenia pears, the big machine is in an orchard with 5.2 hectares of Conference pears. We would like to have our entire farm under wind machines in the near future and are considering adding another small and large one now that we see the results!"
For more information:
Boonman Family Farm
Oudelandsepolderdijk 9
4436 RD Oudelande
Mob: +31 (0)6 23602065
[email protected]
For more information:
Ernst Slabbekoorn
Swift International
Absdaalseweg 53 a
4561 GE Hulst
+31 (0)6 44138650 (WhatsApp)
[email protected]
www.frostfans.eu