Since 2020, Swift International has been the distributor for mobile night frost control machines, which are developed and manufactured in New Zealand. As a distributor, Swift International works with service partner Zeelandtrac from 's Gravenpolder.
"Now that we are entering the third full season with Swift International, we are extremely satisfied with the sales channels we have established and certainly the expansion therein," Ernst Slabbekoorn reflects. "Whereas before it was mainly the forerunners who proceeded to purchase, now we mainly see extension and repeat purchases by individual growers in the same region when experiences are shared."
"We already have many good references from growers who want to make steps in quality improvement. When they calculate the yield per hectare, the choice for our systems is quickly made, especially if you include the ease of use and the fact that the COO (cost of ownership) is absolutely the lowest per hectare. If you take the cost of using braziers, for example, at -3ºC you are already losing around 3,000 euros per ha per 10 hours. And that doesn't include labour. So if you have five nights of frost, you are quite expensive, especially for fruit growers with a larger acreage," Ernst calculates.
"The advantage of our mobile night frost-fighting machines is that if they are in place correctly, the rest goes automatically. You don't have to start them up or stress about whether or not to start them up or damage the crop or soil. Last year, we had limited frost, although damage did occur in March to growers who had not taken measures. We anticipated this and now have the last arrivals for spring 2023 in our stock last week so on time. We can still deliver both models from stock immediately ready to start while stocks last."
For more information:
Ernst Slabbekoorn
Swift International
Absdaalseweg 53 a
4561 GE Hulst
sales@frostfans.eu
www.frostfans.eu