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Quality & Innovation

Quality & Innovation

Raw materials

Manufacturing quality products starts with carefully selected raw materials. This is why Agaris Horti has a large part of its raw materials under its own management. We also strive to use as many local and renewable resources as possible.

Local and renewable: all our raw materials are carefully selected, with quality and sustainability as decisive criteria. We maintain a significant part of our raw materials under our own management, because that way we can ensure the quality from its origin. For a number of specific raw materials we appeal to reliable partners who use the same high quality standards. Wherever we can, we use local materials. The share of renewable raw materials such as compost, barks, coconut or fibres with vegetable origin in our products is also steadily increasing.
Testing & screening: Agaris aims to be the preferred partner for sustainable and top performing solutions, with respect for natural resources. Therefore one of our goals is to reduce the amount of peat in our substrates. Our innovation department is fully engaged in testing and screening raw materials. As we believe that peat in some cases is still the best performing ingredient, we aim to maximize the use of Responsibly Produced Peat (RPP). This guarantees for ourselves and our clients that our harvest methods and the nature restoratoin plans of our peat bogs have been well considered.

Investing in R&D

Our investments in innovation are a win-win situation for everyone – for the grower, for the consumer and for the environment.

Over the years Agaris Horti has built up an enormous expertise in the production and composition of potting soils. The colleagues at our R&D department work on further perfecting our products each and every day. In doing so they combine the feedback from our customers with the latest knowledge in the field. But we also dare to look beyond. Today we are already creating the basis for the innovations of the future in cooperation with various research centres and universities.

Striving for a more sustainable cultivation: our innovations involve working in three different domains. We improve the physical properties of our products to obtain optimum air and water management, while ensuring stability throughout the entire growing period. We optimise the chemical processes: we ensure that the plant receives the necessary fertiliser and nutrients at the right time, and control the level of acidity and other chemical parameters. Finally, we also work on a biological level: micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi or extracts from plants and algae indeed have a significant positive influence on crop health.

Quality along the whole chain

Agaris Horti manages and owns each stage of the production process. This means we can guarantee our customers the highest quality, from raw material to delivery – and even long after that.

Raw materials: Starting from a strong basis. Agaris Horti itself manages a significant part of its raw materials, which allows us to be certain of the quality from their origination. Where necessary we use partners who use the same high quality standards.

Production: Control at every stage.

Our raw materials pass through different stages, from fractionating and mixing, to the addition of additives and moisturising the end product. Our quality department monitors each step in the production process. Our processes are also regularly
audited by both customers and independent institutions.

Feedback: Continuous improvement.

We take different samples from each delivery for analysis into our own laboratory. We then always check, monitor and trace the quality of our products. Our commercial staff closely follow the results of our products at our customers. Their feedback is fundamental for our own R&D department, which further refines and improves our products.

Operational management: Integrated in all our business processes.

Agaris horti’s headquarters and the production sites in France and Belgium are ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified. This means that striving for continuous improvement is ingrained in all our business processes, from accounting and personnel policy, to finance and sustainability management.