Recent frosts in Eastern Europe have again concentrated the mind on the risk posed by suddenly plummeting temperatures. It is a phenomenon with which South African growers, where AGI Frost Fans has been operational in six of the nine provinces since 2017, are well-acquainted.
Cultivation techniques can go some way, channeling cold air away and preventing it from pooling, says Stiaan Hugo, company GM, but the most effective is forcing warm air through an orchard or vineyard engulfed by cold air.
Doing that can be very tall stationary fans grabbing hold of warmer air in the inversion layer and forcing it down through the bottom cold. AGI Frost Fans' stationary fan comes in a fixed and foldable tower.
Should a ten metre-high tower in the orchard be deemed unsightly, two alternatives besides the laydown tower were developed by them: a 22kW electric mobile unit and a tractor-driven (PTO) unit. With the latter, one can utilize orchard heaters running on oil or diesel to supply the fan with heat.
© AGI Frost Fans
Correct positioning is crucial
The hardware is of limited use if not installed in the correct position, ascertained through knowledge of the lay of the land, katabatic drift directions, and topographic risk profiles. This can be obtained by risk assessments or with sensors and instruments monitoring air temperature, relative humidity, dew points, and so forth.
"We've just done a frost risk analysis for a client who fortunately has a couple of our sensors, and we could closely trace where the cold enters the farm and where it stagnates around the trees," Hugo says.
© AGI Frost FansTractor-driven unit with orchard heaters and fan
Turnkey frost protection projects
© AGI Frost Fans"AGI expanded our IoT wireless sensor range to supply all the crucial data in terms of frost management, but also general farm activities to monitor soil moisture and temperature, irrigation and dam levels, and much more."
Complementing the sensors are the weather stations built by iLeaf, which he says fit like a glove into their turnkey frost protection offering, rated particularly for its seven-day frost forecast.
Assessing the impact of their technology, they've found a 95% reduction in frost damage on farms protected by AGI Frost Fans. "Wind machines offer several advantages over traditional methods, including reduced energy consumption because they are powered by electricity, a cleaner source of energy than fossil fuels."
Moreover, he explains, wind machines require minimal operator intervention, minimizing labour costs with the additional benefit that wind machines do not require water to operate.
Hugo attended Macfrut this year, looking to enlarge the company's presence in Europe. Those interested in becoming distributors of AGI's fan systems, sensors, and weather stations can contact him.
© AGI Frost Fans
22kW electric mobile unit
For more information:
Stiaan Hugo
AGI Frost Fans
Email: [email protected]
www.agifrostfans.com
