Ranjit Singh, owner of Bmak Evergreen, began growing cucumbers in a small 1500m2 greenhouse that he leased in 2016. Ranjit now owns his own property with 4000m2 of greenhouses and leases a further 21,000m2, including a brand-new high-tech Apex greenhouse situated at the top of the Bombay Hills in South Auckland. At twenty-six years old, Ranjit has already achieved a great deal. He has worked tirelessly over the past six years to build his business that now employs twenty-five staff increasing to thirty in the warmer months.
This achievement is even more remarkable as Ranjit only immigrated to New Zealand in 2014 when he began working at a kiwifruit orchard in Tauranga before being introduced to greenhouse growing. He quickly identified an opportunity to establish his own business and so begin his growing journey.
The ability to learn quickly and implement good growing practices has been key to the growth of the business. Ranjit also identified that new technology and labor-saving techniques were required to maintain his business and profitability long term. The large issues currently facing the business are labor, energy, and fertilizer costs. It may sound like a broken record, but these are very difficult times for our industry and many others. Ranjit has identified the business needs to continually adapt to improve efficiencies.
To save on labor, Ranjit has been involved with developing a locally built crop removal machine that drastically reduces labor hours. He has also invested in a new cucumber wrapping machine that doubles his output. There is also some clever yet essential equipment, such as the easy pallet stackers to reduce unnecessary lifting and shifting.
Read the complete article at www.grower2grower.co.nz.