Viveros Sánchez is a Spanish company reference in Europe located in Guadalajara, we have the opportunity to visit and spoke with Rafa, the agricultural engineer and manager of Viveros Sánchez.
Rafa belongs to the third generation of the Sánchez family, and nowadays, with his cousin, they are the managers of Viveros Sánchez.
Viveros Sánchez started as a small fruit nursery in Sabiñán, cradle of the main tree nurseries in Spain, named the fruit growing village of Spain. The story started during the Moorish occupation of Iberia, the conquerors taught the local population how to graft, and since they applied the techniques learned and developed the cultivation in the area. Over time and with the passing of generations they have been improving until becoming one of the reference nurseries in Europe, after being located in Guadalajara, Madrid.
Rafa explains that they currently have about 200 hectares, although they have reached 300 hectares. The Filomena storm in 2021 did a lot of damage to various parts of the nursery–. On these hectares he has approximately 1.3 million trees. He tells us that he works with a tree density between 6 and 7 thousand trees per hectare.
Viveros Sánchez provides the main Spanish construction companies that, when designing projects, have the trees of Viveros Sánchez and the gardeners of Madrid to stock up. He explains that Madrid is the point of sale of trees in Spain, more than Barcelona. And in its nursery has hundreds of different tree species where it also has an area focused on selling to the public.
Interviewer: What caught your attention about our Agilo solution? And what made you want to try it?
Rafa: I received a notification that you were going to exhibit at FIMA Zaragoza, just before the pandemic began. In fact, I almost suspended the trip! When I saw the Agilo I wanted to see it in person because we had been looking for a long time for a product that would hold the trees, to prevent them from moving and rubbing them, because, if a sales plant is grazed, scratched or marked by the holding area its quality is diminished.
We had been testing a lot of materials for a long time and couldn’t find the right test. We tested it and after a year of testing, we saw that it worked perfectly and we contacted ARaymond to make the first order. The truth is that we are very satisfied with the result.
Interviewer: Currently you have about 15,000 Agilo in your main tree nursery What is the reason that has made you repeat the purchase?
Rafa: We have analyzed the results of the use of Agilo, and we have observed that where we have tested them, the percentage of tree falling has dropped very considerably, when with the other solutions, when blowing wind, the plastic macaroon breaks and the tree falls. These falls involve dedicating the work of 3-4 people a whole morning to raise trees, which at the end of the year represented a very high cost for the nursery in terms of wages and labor costs. With the great reduction of percentage of tree fell I am very happy.
Interviewer: What percentage of fallen tree do you currently with the Agilo?
Rafa: We have about 15 thousand Agilos, since we have installed the Agilo our situation has changed, before using it, we always suffered losses with the other tree nurseries solutions. because the wind knocked down many of our trees or in the best of cases it marked and scratched the trunks.
The truth is that the Agilo is a great wind protection solution and now the wind does not worry us.
Interviewer: Do you have the purpose to purchase it again?
Rafa: Yes! For sure! As I mentioned the results of this amazing product surprised me and I obtained benefits to us. I would like to mention that we have had strong winds and the Agilo has not damaged the trunks of our trees.
My idea is to change the whole nursery step by step, so I think in 4 years I will have the whole nursery attached, besides being reusable and having a high life cycle, the return on investment improves the alternative of tying it up every year.