Phoenix to produce innovative Bio-active Soil Fumigants from mustard seed
Alternative Agricultural Products (AAP), pioneers of alternative soil conditioning and pesticide replacement programmes have chosen to rely on the expertise of Phoenix in cold pressing and pelleting to produce their latest innovative soil fumigation product.
Over many years AAP have bred specific varieties of Mustard Seeds for use in bio-active soil fumigation. These would be grown and incorporated as a whole crop on the land being fumigated releasing a naturally occurring bio fumigant gas, isothiocyanate, into the soil.
AAP’s latest innovation is the application of Mustard Seed expeller pellets on to cultivated land a few days before planting; a much quicker and simpler bio fumigation process. To maintain the strength of the active component in the expeller, careful control of the cold pressing and pelleting process is needed.
The Phoenix production plant is fitted with automatic temperature controls throughout making it well suited to working within AAP’s tight requirements. Following production trials at the start of 2012 AAP, with the production support of Phoenix, hope to roll out production fully following harvest 2012.