Business Investment Opportunities: New Agricultural Mulch Poised to Revolutionize Commercial Agriculture
As far as business investment opportunities go these days, EcoCover® may be one of the most sustainable. The company’s product, an agricultural mulch, eliminates the need for polyethylene covers and herbicides. The company is looking for investors to begin global expansion.
Auckland, NZ - (PRWEB) May 6, 2005 -- EcoCover, a New Zealand manufacturing
firm, has developed an agricultural mulch cover, a world first, that offers a
unique manufacturing business opportunity. “Business investment
opportunities come and go but the introduction of our product may prove to
be one of this century’s most promising because it could very well revolutionize
commercial farming, marginal forestry plantings and landscaping methods. It’s
already starting to do that in New Zealand,” says Murray Cruickshank, the
company’s CEO and founder.
An alternative to plastic agricultural mulch covers, EcoCover solves a myriad of
problems faced by commercial growers and landscapers and it is environmentally
friendly. “EcoCover is not only compostable and biodegradable, it
conserves water, reduces plant mortality, controls weeds, promotes plant growth,
moderates soil temperature, reduces soil erosion, eliminates or reduces
herbicide use and can also be used to carry beneficial soil additives,”
Cruickshank says. “This makes EcoCover the only environmentally friendly,
sustainable agricultural mulch mat in the world. Its attributes make it the
ultimate solution for a variety of problems.”
EcoCover is produced as a
patented composite laminate from paper that would otherwise be introduced into
the waste stream. “To our way of thinking, the fact that EcoCover is
manufactured using landfill waste makes it the perfect environmentally
sustainable product. Unlike traditional agricultural mulch and plastic
agricultural mulch covers, it doesn’t have a single negative attribute,” he
says.
Cruickshank points out that while the developed world is currently
preoccupied with concerns about energy supplies, sooner or later it’s going to
have to deal with what the underdeveloped world is already coming to grips with
and that’s a growing shortage of fresh water. “EcoCover allows growers to make
more efficient use of limited water resources, reducing usage by as much as 80%.
In addition, it also reduces and in most instances eliminates the need to use
herbicides which prevents the contamination of local groundwater supplies.”
Currently, the only truly effective agricultural mulch covers available
to commercial growers are made of plastic and, as derivative petroleum products;
they have limited application and present several unique handling problems.
“Aside from the fact that polyethylene mulch mats share few of EcoCover’s
positive attributes, landscapers increasingly dislike introducing further
plastic on the landscape and farmers are fed up with the high cost and hassle of
removing plastic from their fields. Many are also facing two additional problems
- increasing landfill charges and outright refusals to landfill the material at
all, he says.
EcoCover solves both of these problems. Since the product
is 100% biodegradable, it doesn’t have to be removed let alone disposed of. Its
use also reduces paper and plastic waste which accounts for more than 40% of
most landfills.
EcoCover’s agricultural mulch covers are backed by two
years of independent University research which can be viewed on the company's
website. An additional four years were devoted to the perfection of the current
production facility which serves as a model for expanded global operations.
EcoCover has received the coveted endorsement of AgriQuality, New
Zealand’s leading organic certifier, as well as the right to display the
prestigious label “Environmental Choice New Zealand”. AgriQuality, New Zealand's
leading organic certifier has approved EcoCover in respect of granting organic
certification. AgriQuality is a fully accredited member of IFOAM, The
International Federation of Agricultural Movements.
Founded in
Switzerland in 1972, IFOAM has more than 750 member organizations and
institutions accredited to it, from more than 100 countries. The Environmental
Choice Label License is all important because it opens doors. “Governments or
companies subscribing to a ‘Buy Green’ or ‘Greening of Purchasing’ policy use
such accreditation to determine their preferred suppliers.
EcoCover is
environmentally beneficial (not neutral) and the New Zealand Government through
the Ministry for the Environment has 19 core Government agencies including the
country's largest roading landscape enterprise signed up to this standard. A
company with the approved accreditation such as the Environmental Choice Label
will be a preferred supplier to all such agencies. EcoCover is only the 13th
company in New Zealand to meet the demanding audit requirements for this
License. The standard is measured against the three pillars of sustainability,
namely environmental, economic and social. EcoCover excels in each category.
EcoCover has been patented in 21 countries and presents itself as an
attractive business investment opportunity for companies in commodity (price
taker) markets. “An investment in an EcoCover production plant affords them the
means to reinvent themselves and to remain competitive. EcoCover also allows
manufacturers in traditional agricultural supply markets facing increasing
global competition brought about by the removal or lowering of trade barriers,
the means to get a jump on the competition,” Cruickshank says.
As a manufacturing business for sale, Cruickshank believes EcoCover
offers a uniquely sustainable business plan not only because the demand for the
product is assured, but that the production process is not labor intensive nor
is it challenging to operate. A plant can be profitably run with a staff of 4-6
individuals who in New Zealand have been resourced from a long term, unskilled
unemployment pool. Low labor costs and other key components of the manufacturing
process afford early profitability.
EcoCover's use is not defined by
geography, climate or industry. The product has been tested in a variety of
climates and has proven to be a valuable means to insulate soil and plant roots
in colder climates. In arid climates it provides growers the means to reduce
water consumption and to sustain soil moisture.
What is more, as a manufacturing business opportunity, EcoCover offers an
unlimited potential for diversification. “To cite just a few examples, in the
construction industry EcoCover could be used as an insulator. It can be used for
livestock bedding, as landfill daily cover, padded floor coverings, used in a
wide variety of packaging materials as well as an unlimited number of molded
products,” Cruickshank says.
With satellite offices in Auckland,
Brisbane, California, Tennessee, London and Dubai, the company has positioned
itself to start duplicating production facilities through the sale of this
unique sustainable environmental business opportunity around the world. “We have
every reason to believe that once a serious investor compares EcoCover’s
Investment Profile and Information Memorandum and sample manufacturing business
plan to the business plans of other manufacturing companies for sale, it will be
one of those business investment opportunities that immediately rises to the top
of the list.
“As an investor, if you are looking at starting your own
manufacturing business, one with a sustainable business plan, EcoCover may be
the answer you’ve been looking for,” Cruickshank says.
Investors looking
for business investment opportunities are encouraged to add EcoCover's
manufacturing investment opportunity to their list. To obtain further
information as well as a sample of the product itself, interested parties are
encouraged to contact one of the company’s regional representatives. Their
contact information is provided at EcoCover.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb237116.htm