Superintensive gardening

Since 2016, superintensive gardening has been successfully developing in the territory of the Krymsk District. An agreement of understanding on cooperation in the field of investments was signed between the Administration of the Municipal Formation Krymsk District and Yuzhnyye Zemli LLC, a subsidiary of the AFG National Agricultural Holding.

More than 3 billion rubles were invested as part of the investment project for the establishment of intensive-type gardens using hedgerow planting, irrigation, and hail-protected systems and the construction of a warehouse complex for storing products (Head of the Gardens Division, Oleg Vyacheslavovich Ryanov).

With these funds, Yuzhnyye Zemli LLC, a subsidiary of the holding, established apple orchards for more than 400 hectares with a capacity of up to 60 tons of apples per hectare, organized its own nursery for growing seedlings, and also built a modern storage facility with a capacity of 10 thousand tons with a line for washing and sizing fruit.

The company plans to construct second fruit storage with a capacity of 15 thousand tons at an approximate cost of 1.5 billion rubles and increase the area of orchards up to 4,500 thousand hectares and the volume of apple production up to 250-300 thousand tons per year.

Superintensive orchards differ from traditional ones not only by their high yield but also by the highest quality of fruit. Due to modern technologies, apples in such orchards are large and beautiful having a rich and even color. Currently, Yuzhnyye Zemli LLC grows more than 10 varieties of apples including the most popular and beloved by Russians Summer Red, Gala, Granny Smith, Renet Simirenko, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, and others. More recently, such apples were brought to Russia from Poland, Moldova, China, Serbia, and Argentina, and at the present, Russian producers are confidently on the same shelf with foreign competitors.

About a fifth part of the harvest is sold at the place of production - in the Krasnodar Region and the South of Russia, the rest of the apples are sent to other regions: to Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Volga region, Ural, Siberia, Yakutia, and the Far East. Federal and regional retail chains are the main sales channel for products.

Thanks to modern storage systems, AFG National can deliver apples to stores all year round. The technological fruit storage is equipped with refrigeration equipment, ventilation, as well as temperature and humidity sensors, to create optimal conditions for storing products. Remote monitoring of storage processes in real time and retrospectively is provided. The controlled technology of the gas environment is used to preserve the taste and marketability of apples.

By increasing the amount of carbon dioxide and lowering the oxygen content in the sealed chamber of the fruit storage, the apples are put into sleep mode, and the apple’s «breathing» process slows down. This ensures the preservation of the fruit for 6 to 12 months, depending on the variety, without covering the apples with wax. That is, even after 6 months, the apples will not only look fresh but will also retain their taste and benefits. And, most importantly, such storage technology is absolutely environmentally friendly and safe for humans.