Frostboss frost fan manufacturer expands capacity to meet demand
Frost fan manufacturer Frostboss has spent $12 million upgrading its Hawke’s Bay factory to meet growing demand. Marketing and business development manager Chris Kay said the company neared a pinch point and its facilities could not keep up with the current manufacturing of frostfans and frost fan blades.
There was also growing demand from overseas as increased hectares were under horticulture production and fruit needed frost protection, Kay said.
France alone had almost 900,000ha of horticulture and viticulture, an area greater than the Australian and New Zealand industries combined, he said.
Frostboss fans were used in a dozen countries and became more popular as the climate became more unpredictable, he said.
“At a time when climate change has resulted in more unpredictable weather conditions worldwide, Frostboss frost fans have proven their value for highvalue crops that are frequently affected by severe frosts.”
Varieties of crops that bud and flowered at the start of spring would be exposed to more numerous and more serious frost events.
“In many regions water availability is becoming a critical issue. Consequently, using overhead water sprinklers to fight frost is becoming a less viable option.’’
Water sprinklers must be turned on well in advance to achieve the right condition, Kay said. Overhead water sprinklers requires 10,000 litres of water per hectare per hour for every degree of frost.
”Frost fans will automatically start and stop, so they are only running when the real-time temperature requires it. Wind over water is an easy win to massively reduce demand for water in the viticulture and horticulture sector.”
A frost fan protected 6ha-8ha of land from frost and paid for itself in a single frost event, he said.
“The new Frostboss Blade manufacturing facility triples our production capacity. With new capacity coming on stream, we can continue assessing new geographical markets.
“In addition to manufacturing blades for our growing frost fan sales, we can now also actively offer blade upgrades.
“Our products and services are now in a dozen countries and counting, protecting wine and table grapes, nuts, citrus, stone fruit, pip fruit, berries, kiwifruit, avocados, mangoes, even instant lawn and grass – anything that can be damaged by frost,’’ Kay said.
The new facility used robotic technology and automated labour-intensive processes, making them safer.
Frostboss also launched a fan that could be laid down when not in use. This was used in areas with visual amenity regulations, such as Unesco heritage areas, and by growers who used centre-pivot irrigation.
These have so far been used in New Zealand and France.
Frostboss employed 100 people and had more than 2500 customers. The company had installation and service teams in
New Zealand and Australia, and recently opened an EU office.■