United Kingdom
June 21, 2024
The Zayndu stand at GreenTech was kept busy hosting discussions with growers about how ActivatedAir can reduce growing costs and environmental impact, thereby increasing profitability.
Representatives of Zayndu’s sales, engineering and plant science teams were available on the stand, demonstrating a Z10 ActivatedAir seed primer for visitors. Seeds treated with ActivatedAir are free of pathogens and have rapid and more even emergence. Typically, this leads to yield increases of around 20% and reduced time for crop turnaround.
The team noted that grower sentiment seemed buoyant but that many were searching for new technology to improve their production systems further.
Ralph Weir, Zayndu CEO at GreenTech 2024
“The common theme from growers has been reducing the cost of growing a crop,” says Ralph Weir, Zayndu CEO. “If you can get more production out of a facility, then you have reduced the cost of production.
“Another theme has been growers looking to reduce the environmental impact of what they do, which is linked to energy efficiency. ActivatedAir has appealed to these growers because it is a pesticide-free solution, and quicker crop cycles mean less energy used per crop.”
Robert Woods, business development director for Zayndu, found that facility hygiene and production flexibility were two things that always interested large-scale producers visiting the stand.
“They were reporting issues with pathogen control, either because it isn’t working, is costly or inefficient for them,” says Robert.
“They were also interested in the flexibility rapid even emergence gives their system: do you get your crop off sooner and get the same volume, or do you leave it as long as you would without ActivatedAir priming and get more yield?
“It is great to see growers realise the options ActivatedAir could give them that they haven’t considered before.”
About Zayndu:
Zayndu’s seed treatment and priming process harnesses cold plasma to create ActivatedAir™, the world’s first application of this technology on seeds. It maximises profits for controlled-environment agriculture growers by increasing yields and speeding up growing cycles.
ActivatedAir™ eliminates seed-borne pathogens, stopping them from contaminating growing facilities and reducing seedling diseases like damping off. It also kick-starts the seed’s metabolic processes, effectively priming it for sowing.
The idea for Zayndu came from collaborative work by Dr Felipe Iza’s research group at Loughborough University and industrial partners - who identified a growing unmet need for sustainable seed treatments that delivered increased productivity and plant health.
To exploit this opportunity, Zayndu was formed in 2019, and Ralph Weir was brought in to head up the company as CEO. A proof of concept was tested and established, and now ActivatedAirTM is fully commercially available.
Presently, ActivatedAir™ is being used by some of the biggest and most sophisticated vertical farms in the world, as well as more traditional greenhouses. The most common crops are leafy greens and micro greens, but the team has experience with a wide range of crops beyond these.
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