Through the Cap Vert project, Les Crudettes, a company based in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire (Centre-Val de Loire region), wants to develop an innovative closed or semi-closed greenhouse for the pesticide-free production of salad for bagging. It aims to use aeroponics to grow plants without soil. The plants will be irrigated and fed by spraying the roots in the air.
- 16 January 2020
French consumers want local, healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables that are easy to eat and cook. Les Crudettes, the plant section of the LSDH Group, is investing in a new way in the development of innovative growing technology, which allows salad to be produced all year round. The solution uses no pesticides and little water, and greatly facilitates harvesting work.
Les Crudettes produces pre-prepared salad and crudités. This includes fresh, raw, washed, peeled and chopped fruit and vegetables.
The challenges of the project include mastering farming through aeroponics 365 days a year, as well as the health of pesticide-free crops, automated management of spacing as the plants grow, controlling the climate in a closed greenhouse, optimising energy, and finally, implementing a multi-criteria optimisation of the system.
The aim is to produce salad that meets the following criteria: sensory qualities, fresh and well-preserved products, food safety and naturalness, relocating production near to factories, reducing the carbon footprint, and drastically reducing water consumption.
An innovative greenhouse concept
The project plans to develop and equip an automated aeroponics greenhouse. This innovative concept, which will be developed by Les Crudettes, includes all the measures required to control the climate. The first step in the roll-out of the technology is to establish partnerships with market gardeners, to create farms that integrate the Cap Vert technologies, with multi-year purchasing contracts for the products.
The second step is to sell the production concept. Potential customers include producers, manufacturers, distributors, investors and backers, in France or in the export sector.
A comprehensive technical solution
Les Crudettes wants to offer its B to B customers (producers, processors, distributors) an innovative and comprehensive technical solution, which will allow them to start with salad seeds and ultimately sell pre-prepared salad in bags or punnets. This solution will be formed of the full innovative greenhouse and a processing system made up of one or more lines, including automated coring, chlorine-free washing, drying, portioning and packaging in bags or punnets, packing and palletisation. Finally, the solution includes an information system for just-in-time logistical management from seed to bag, with the aim of minimising the time between harvesting and packaging (under an hour).
A growth-generating project
The project will have socio-economic impacts in the region. The relocation of the activity will involve constructing 15 ha of greenhouses, in partnership with local market gardeners. The sale of this pesticide-free salad will generate additional revenue for the company. The high-tech greenhouse market, estimated at 1,000 ha/year worldwide (including 100 ha in France), is very promising for this innovative offer (greenhouses, technology and services).
Finally, the project should lead to job creation. For partner market gardeners, it will create 25 permanent and/or fixed-term positions, in roles such as crop management, technical maintenance and unqualified labour. For Les Crudettes, the project should generate 40 factory-based permanent positions in management, land management and qualified roles, support roles and unqualified labour.
On the customer side, ten permanent sales positions will be created. For the export of the Cap Vert technology, the five permanent contracts from the project phase will be maintained (project manager and/or technical expert).
Total investment and European funding
Total investment for the project ‘Cap Vert: Integrating new technologies for the production of eco-efficient pre-prepared salads with a move towards mobile aeroponics in semi-closed greenhouses’ is EUR 4 013 876; the European Regional Development Fund contribution is EUR 1 000 000 through the ‘ERDF ESF OP for Centre-Val de Loire’ cooperation programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority of ‘Jobs, growth and investment’.