Kroptek and Surexport have started collaborating on an exciting project to sustainably grow strawberries, with the goal of fast-forwarding the strawberry season by a full month, with the best quality fruit.
This project is a mutually beneficial research agreement between the British and Spanish companies, with Kroptek providing its expertise on horticultural lighting to sustainably grow strawberries within Surexport’s brand new state-of-the-art one hectare greenhouse in Huelva, in the south of Spain.
Thanks to their advanced product development capabilities and agile manufacturing, Kroptek can deliver highly customised lighting solutions in a cost-effective manner. Surexport will be able to provide continuous feedback and propose adjustments to optimise the project setup and start harvesting strawberries as early as the beginning of December.
Iván Pérez, Production Manager at Surexport, added: “We’re eager to meet the needs of our customers and at the same time go ahead of environmental standards. Kroptek gives us technical and material support to help us meet our goals and we’re excited to be partnering with them.”
In addition to the high-performance energy-efficient LED lights, solar panels were installed to power the operation with clean electricity. This packaged solution was provided by Kroptek, with the help of a local partner. It was important for both parties to evaluate the use of solar energy during the winter months to develop a commercially viable and environmentally sustainable solution as the project scales up.
With the ongoing and escalating energy crisis in many countries, Kroptek is actively developing solutions that reduce power consumption in agriculture and generate power using solar energy. Most recently, Kroptek won grants from Innovate UK along with academic and commercial partners to develop photovoltaic glasshouse panels with testing to start this winter.