Agriculture and horticulture

Agriculture and horticulture give us potatoes and a variety of vegetables. Geerlofs Refrigeration has been providing these producers with cooling installations for decades. The storage of potatoes, vegetables and fruit (PVF) is improved by using cooling installations of Geerlofs Refrigeration.

Diversity in agriculture and horticulture

A proper cooling and storage system will give farmers in the agriculture and horticulture more control on the moment of dispatching and selling products. For some goods, such as tomatoes and spinach, the storage time should be as short as possible. These products decline quickly and every hour before it reaches the supermarket counts. Potato storage, on the other hand, could be extended to a period of many months, so as to enable supplies for the time in between two harvests. Hence, a cooling installation for horticulture and agriculture is always adapted to the product.

The importance of cooling it quickly

One thing is for sure: as soon as the root is cut, or your PVF comes out of the ground, the supplying of water and nutrients stops and the decay begins. With a proper cold storage the decay may not be prevented, but it will be suspended. When we prepare the fresh goods for storage, directly after harvesting, we first try to remove the so-called ‘field heat’. Obviously, upon harvest, the produce has absorbed the outside temperature. In summer, this could be 20 or 30 degrees Celsius, earlier or later in the year perhaps somewhat lower.

For many products one would like to remove the field heat as quickly as possible. Several cooling techniques (fast cooling and freezing) are available for this procedure. For other foods it would be better to remove the heat gradually.

Product quality

Each produce comes with a different optimum for storage temperature and humidity:

Agricultural and horticultural cooling is not always the same. But in any case we would like to:

  • Reduce the metabolism (digestion and respiration) of your PVF to a minimum. It will stay fresh longer.
  • Reduce dehydration of the produce: this benefits the quality and sale weight (and hence the revenue).
  •  Create a uniform and constant storage condition in the entire storage room, as to avoid differences in produce quality.

Your advantages:

Geerlofs has been a specialist in agricultural and horticultural cooling for over 80 years.

  • Our knowledge of your fresh PVF product, combined with that of cooling technology and control technology leads to a produce of better quality and higher revenue (more kilos).
  • A rich experience due to many projects on national and international level with your colleagues.
  • Design, production, installation and service in one hand.