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