Kurt Group

Challenging high-tech greenhouse project in Turkey

The Kurt Group’s tomato production facilities are based in the Turkish town of Afyon. The Kurt Group is primarily a construction company, run by the Kurt family. The family is also active with a tomato facility in Afyon comprising 5 hectares of tomatoes plus a separate 1.2-hectare greenhouse for the propagation and growing of nursery tomato plants. Dalsem was awarded the project to build the 1.2ha nursery greenhouse, and took care of the entire process; it coordinated everything, from design and production to installation. The steel and aluminium used as well as the boilers, irrigation system and even the electricity installations all came from Dalsem’s factory.

Year-round tomato production
Afyon is situated in inland Turkey, approximately 300 kilometres from the south coast. In that region, aided by modern-day greenhouse expertise from The Netherlands, it is possible to produce tomatoes virtually all year round. The production facility is located 1,000m above sea level which means that it does not get as hot as on Turkey’s southern and western coasts. That results in a climate with cool, slightly colder winters (-10°C) and warm, very humid summers, thus enabling summer production. The greenhouse interior is kept cool using a combination of ventilation and screening.

Complex puzzle
This was a particularly challenging high-tech greenhouse project for Dalsem because of the climate, and especially in combination with the many different cultivation sections and the need to optimise the production process. For example, the numerous partition walls and rolling partition walls with all their air motors and winch systems created a complex puzzle.

Technical features
This nursery was further characterised by:

• flooded floor systems with the reuse of ebb-and-flow water
• underfloor heating in the germination room
• storage in water silos
• reuse and decontamination of water (very important to water the plants evenly)
• robotic sprayer
• high-pressure misting
• spray booms
• screening
• insect screens in front of the ventilation openings to limit susceptibility to diseases
• insect air-locks.

Geothermal energy
The major advantage of this region is the warm water that can be found just a few hundred metres below ground, which makes it possible to set up heated production at low costs. In the winter months, the greenhouse is heated using energy from a natural hot spring just 3 kilometres away. However, at just 56 degrees, the water that Kurt pumps up and transports to the production site is relatively lukewarm, which is why it is sometimes also necessary to use the gas boiler.

Local markets
The young plants for tomato production are propagated in the 1.2ha nursery greenhouse. They are not only intended for the company’s own use; they are also sold to tomato growers in the region who produce vegetables for the local markets.