LeaderBrand scales up with additional Da Ros Irrigation Booms: Doubling capacity for a sustainable future.
LeaderBrand are a household name and one of New Zealand’s largest horticultural businesses, delivering fresh produce to Kiwi families and markets around the world.
We have been working with the nursery teams at LeaderBrand in Pukekohe, Gisborne and Ashburton for a few years now. The company mantra of ‘straight up quality’ resonates with our team as we set about delivering innovative nursery supplies and mechanisation to this hardworking sector.
In 2023, our Projects team installed four large Da Ros Irrigation Booms into LeaderBrand’s original glasshouse in Gisborne, with a fifth boom recently installed in September 2024. Gisborne is also the home of LeaderBrand’s Future Farm facility, which is an impressive 11-hectare undercover greenhouse.
Next up, we installed six large Da Ros Irrigation Booms for LeaderBrand’s South Island farm in Chertsey (near Ashburton), which brings their tally to 12 booms and will double their seedling capacity.
Installation within four weeks
The nursery in Chertsey is in a very picturesque setting, overlooking the Canterbury Plains with the majestic Southern Alps in the background. Despite some average weather, PrimeHort finished the install in less than a month.
The installation of fully automated irrigation booms will make the watering of crops extremely efficient. Uniform water distribution, reduced labour and smarter water usage are the key advantages
With this extension, LeaderBrand now has the capacity to produce 12 million seedlings at any one time throughout the year. General Manager, Mike Arnold adds, “The irrigation booms ensure uniform plant growth, which is crucial for achieving consistent crop quality and even maturity at harvest. This reliability is equally important in seed multiplication, where synchronised flowering of male and female plants optimises pollination.”
As a specialist propagator for the seed industry, LeaderBrand continues to provide top-tier results in both fresh market crops and seed production. Mike and the team chose the Da Ros Watering Booms because they are not heavy or stressful on a greenhouse structure and are the highest quality in the Da Ros family of automated watering. The boom can be controlled via a mobile App (which is highly programmable to suit growers needs). Double rail booms empower growers to fine-tune irrigation schedules based on real-time data – resulting in higher yields, reduced costs, and more sustainable operations.
Everyone wins
The level of technology at LeaderBrand is not only good for the New Zealand economy but is excellent for helping generate growth and regional jobs. Greenhouses allow them to fast-track crop growth in a more sustainable manner. LeaderBrand are no longer at the mercy of New Zealand’s volatile weather, which means they can guarantee the delivery of healthy and affordable fresh vegetables – all year round.
The Da Ros Watering Boom consists of durable modular aluminium profiles with a standard height of 120mm to avoid any bending, independent of greenhouse construction. The boom runs safely inside the profile without noise thanks to the special Vulkollan wheels. The aluminium profile makes the system light and easy to install, and the full control panel with touch screen is easy to follow and allows immediate programming.
Additional benefits include:
- Water pipe movement is uniform with the use of the big wheel / recoil system
- The water pipe is barely visible and there is no pipes hanging down affecting access or walkways
- No components that can cause oxidising in the water
- There is no sideways swinging movement, giving a very even watering and no sound when the boom is in operation
- Option of mobile dosing/fertigation unit for each boom and individual spray nozzle that reaches the edges of the greenhouse and internal walkway
PrimeHort congratulate the LeaderBrand team on being at the forefront of nursery automation. Their commitment to ‘straight up quality’ is setting the standard for healthy communities NZ-wide. We look forward to working closely with them in their growing endeavours.
If you would like to find out more about automated watering, or nursery mechanisation in general, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
