Testimonials

Miguel COTTON

www.orchardofflavours.com

Miguel Cotton created Orchard of Flavours, a botanical garden dedicated to fruit trees of warm climate located in Tavira (Portugal). On its website (www.orchardofflavours.com), there is access to a huge database of fruit trees that could be acclimatized in Europe as well as many articles about agroecology practices.

Miguel shared:

“At the beginning of 2021, we conducted an extensive research about weather stations that could give us real-time information about the weather and soil conditions in the Orchard of Flavours botanical garden. We came across many excellent products with incredibly high prices which we could not afford. Then we found this great company, Prointegra with its brand Meteobot, who is selling affordable weather stations specifically designed for farmers and gardeners. Meteobot automatic weather stations offer excellent value for money and are very user-friendly (all is controlled on your mobile phone). Our station allows us to know exactly the amount of rainfall, calculates precisely the evapotranspiration, gives a precise indication of the soil moisture at different depths, and others. It also allows us to set up alarms (in case of light frosts, strong winds, high temperatures, water deficit, etc). So far we are very satisfied and we also appreciated their after-sale service very much.”

Belgin and Sezay Shukriev – field crops, General Toshevo

Belgin and Sezay Shukriev have 800 hectares of arable land in the village of Kapinovo, General Toshevo Municipality, North-Eastern Bulgaria. The crops they cultivate include cereals, oilseeds and beans.

Belgin shared: „Apart from Meteobot Pro, which we use on our farm, it’s nice that there are also small, “mini-Meteobots”, as we call them, which can be placed in the fields; the amount of rain in each field can be checked in real time. This is very helpful for farmers, as they don’t have to visit their fields after the rain to see how much it rained and if it is suitable to work there. This is a convenience for the farmer. The product is super – for us!“

Petyo Boshnakov – vineyards, Varna

Petyo Boshnakov grows 160 hectares of vineyards, some cherry orchards, 30 hectares of grain crops and 15 hectares of almonds near Varna, North-Eastern Bulgaria.

In a conversation with our team, Petyo shared: “The interesting fact about the weather station is that it is fully autonomous and doesn’t need any maintenance. We’ve been testing it for 6 months now in various conditions. We have even installed it at such a location where it gets directly sprayed by the tractors; without being covered. We haven’t had any problems, which satisfies me.”

“Contemporary agriculture is impossible without Meteobot” – Ivan Ganev comments.

“Agricom” company cultivates 1000 ha of agricultural land in Balchik municipality: wheat – 400 ha , sunflower – 300 ha, rapeseed – 200 ha and corn – 100 ha.

– Why you decided to buy a weather station Meteobot and the disease model for cereals?

“Two years ago I got to know Horta decision support system and understood that it can work only with a reliable weather station. Then I researched which is the most cost-effective and good solution on the market.”

– How did you practice before buying Meteobot? What problems did you have by tracking the weather conditions on your fields? Do you deal with them now?

“Before buying a weather station I used different kind of weather forecasting mobile apps, mostly I needed recorded data for the rain in my area. Since I have my own Meteobot, I use only its weather data. Now, I can see all the historical data about the rain which is quite useful and helpful for us -farmers.”

– Did you really save some money for spraying around Easter 2018 using your assistants in the field – Meteobot and Horta, and how much exactly did you save?

“Yes, thanks to Meteobot and the disease model I saved the first fungicidal treatment on the wheat. That is a cost around 2 EUR/ha. Thanks to the weather station and the disease model for cereals I successfully made only one treatment but in the right time. That saved me a lot of time and costs for spraying.”

– What recommendations you would give to the other farmers?

“Contemporary agriculture is impossible without Meteobot.”

Rumen Todoranov – field crops, Veliko Tarnovo

Rumen Todoranov grows 1500 hectares field and oil crops near Veliko Tarnovo, Central Northern Bulgaria. His Meteobot is integrated to the disease model for wheat – Horta.

Rumen shared: “One of the crop varieties I grown is Avenue (Limagrain). Through 2017/2018 I had seeded 140 ha of that variety. Happily I can say that I saved 2 fungicidal treatments, which cost is around 2.50 EUR/ha. Apart from that fields I have single parcels with different varieties, where I successfully saved 1 fungicidal treatment. My total saving was 17 400 EUR. For sure I will keep on using Meteobot and Horta’s forecasts for plant disease risks.”

“Agrocenter” – field crops, Popovo

“Agrocenter” cultivates 2700 ha of agricultural land in Popovo municipality: wheat, sunflower, corn, rapeseed and other crops.

The owner Georgi Georgiev shared: “We used Meteobot and the integration with the disease model for wheat (Horta) from the spring of 2018. Through this year, we seeded 200 ha wheat, variety – Basmati (KWS Momont). The variety is comparatively tolerant, so the model did not display high disease risk. That is why we saved 2 spring fungicidal treatments, which cost is around 4.50 EUR/ha. Also we seeded 1000 ha wheat – Avenue (Limagrain). There we skipped 1 fungicidal treatment. Our total saving for this year was 28 600 EUR. For the next year we decided to buy one more Meteobot for our distant fields.“