The History of PlantTape
With the first Plant Tape on the ground it was time to start planting. Its been a busy period and over 10 million plants have already been planted. Feedback from the growers is fantastic, big labour and transport savings, incredibly fast and accurate
After some successfull trials a deal was struck and Plant Tape Australia was established.
David Fragapane made initial contact with Plant Tape and over following couple of years trails we organised and a full business case was developed
Sales boomed in the US and Canada.
PlantTape built a sowing facility in Tennessee which houses 2 sowing lines (PlantTape’s 3rd and 4th North American sowing lines).
Hemp Growers & Commercial Nurseries Adopt PlantTape
In addition to growers adopting PlantTape, many commercial plant nurseries adopted the PlantTape system. Nurseries saw they could increase greenhouse output (PlantTape allows for 300% increase in plant density and shorter growing cycles) and also offer the benefits of automation to their customers.
The U.S. legalised hemp production and PlantTape successfully planted 10,000 acres of hemp.
The PlantTape system was offered to growers and PlantTape made its first sales.
PlantTape conducted dozens of trials in North America and Europe. Growers were quickly impressed as they saw the power of PlantTape’s automation.
PlantTape built its first batch of commercial transplanters and transplanted 6,000 acres of mixed crops in the Salinas Valley.
In the summer of 2017, PlantTape was commercially introduced to the industry and hosted a 2-week open house in Salinas, CA. Growers traveled from around the world to attend the event. Attendees witnessed firsthand all phases of the PlantTape system—sowing, nursery operations, transplanting.
PlantTape’s North American factory was completed and began producing tape material for the North American agriculture market.
PlantTape utilised its newly-completed sowing facility in Hollister, CA, to plant 3,000 acres of mixed crops with the PlantTape system. These larger-scale trials demonstrated a beneficial cost model with improvements to yield and consistency.
Tanimura & Antle finalized the acquisition of PlantTape. Tanimura & Antle had high standards for releasing PlantTape for commercial use, and performed extensive research and development and rigorous testing.
Tanimura & Antle used the PlantTape automated transplanting system to transplant 200 acres of mixed commodities in the Salinas Valley. The system worked better than expected, and they began making modifications to its nursery operations to fully integrate the PlantTape system.
Brian Antle first encountered the PlantTape technology at a Salinas, CA seed trial. Impressed by the Spanish agtech company, he coordinated for the system to be presented to the Tanimura & Antle ownership team.
Shortly after, a group from Tanimura & Antle flew to Spain to learn more and to discuss how the company could implement the PlantTape system within their farming operations.
During that trip, PlantTape the two companies discussed forming a partnership to provide PlantTape with the ability to grow and expand.
