Reusable concept for plant protection

In Autumn 2020, the member companies in the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) presented their own “2030 Commitments” in response to the European Commission’s Green Deal. The agenda of voluntary obligations includes innovation, circular economy as well as environmental and user protection. The German branch of Sumi Agro, a distributor of plant protection products whose parent company is the Japanese Sumitomo Corporation, has reacted with a holistic system-based approach called Easymatic. The aim is to establish a flexible and intelligent reusable system for crop protection on the agricultural market. The chosen technology carrier is the hazardous goods container Variotainer ECO from SCHÄFER Container Systems with an integrated RFID tag and NFC modules.

A characteristic feature of high-quality plant protection is both packaging and reliable traceability. The latter, consisting up to now of manually recording pesticide use (Regulation (EC) no. 1007/2009), can now be automated and mapped completely digitally with Easymatic.

The necessary preconditions for this are created by the hazardous good container Variotainer ECO, with its characteristic stainless steel liner and robust top and bottom rings made polypropylene (PP). The containers are supplied to Sumi Agro already fully assembled with fitting, RFID tag and NFC module. The closed transfer system comes from Agroptop, the Bavarian specialist for plant spraying technology and is connected using a proven basket fitting. The intuitive Easymatic App for Smartphones and tablets is available for ERP connection and automatic data transfer.

The Variotainer from SCHÄFER Container Systems is available in sizes of 10 to 200 litres. Larger containers for similar applications can also be supplied in volumes ranging from 500 to 1,000 litres. For the system’s launch, Sumi Agro has chosen the 50-litre Variotainer ECO with a tare weight of just under 10 kilos.

“Easymatic provides a convincing combination of safety and simplicity in handling liquid plant protection agents and reduces the potential risks of spillage and splashing when filling the agent into the induction hopper on agricultural tank sprayers. As the centrepiece of the Easymatic system, we’ve chosen the robust stainless steel Variotainer from SCHÄFER Container Systems. Sumi Agro is thus clearly setting itself apart from its competitors on the European crop projection market,” explains Reinhard Appel, General Manager at Sumi AgroLtd., Branch Deutschland, in the upper Bavarian town of Allershausen near Freising.