We are grateful to all our business partners who assisted in developing the concept for the plant's establishment and development 30 years ago during its formative years, and who in subsequent years provided it with real orders for greenhouse and other products, and who continue to do so today. Special thanks go to the managers and specialists of greenhouse farms, who appreciated the value and quality of our greenhouses and equipment and, through their orders, contributed to the creation of a favorable investment climate for the company. This allowed us to operate, develop, and, in turn, support the development of greenhouse farms through the sale of our high-tech products. Our company is a contemporary of the revolutionary reforms that took place in the country in the 1990s. It was founded in the wake of these transformations and laid the foundation for the technical re-equipment of the entire domestic greenhouse vegetable growing industry. AGRISOVGAZ LLC has become a hub for the development of new technologies and techniques for new construction and the renovation of existing greenhouses, which has facilitated the establishment of numerous enterprises serving this new and promising business line in the region, the country, and beyond.
We congratulate all our business partners: manufacturers and suppliers, customers, engineering, marketing, and sales specialists, on our shared celebration – the 30th anniversary of AGRISOVGAZ LLC. We are truly delighted to celebrate this occasion with you!
AGRISOVGAZ was established in the 1980s within the USSR Ministry of Gas Industry to meet the internal needs of employees of the ministry's enterprises and organizations, including those located in the north of the country, in regions remote from food supply centers, primarily utilizing the available energy resources of the industry's gas pumping plants. Circumstances dictated that, registered with the USSR Ministry of Finance on August 31, 1990, under No. 2171, as a joint Soviet-Dutch venture, our enterprise was completed between 1993 and 1995 as a Russian company—and the only one in the country—producing metal structures and equipment for complete industrial greenhouses.
The history of the development of production capacities of the Kaluga Region industrial enterprises "AGRISOVGAZ" begins with the Resolution of the Board of the USSR Ministry of Gas Industry No. 23-48/20 dated August 15, 1998, which adopted an industry food program that provided for the construction by 2000 of 2,350 hectares of winter greenhouses at gas compressor stations for the production of up to 500,000 tons of vegetables using secondary heat resources.
The Soviet Union, which at the time had approximately 3,000,000 hectares of winter glass greenhouses of various types and purposes, lagged significantly behind the leading greenhouse country, the Netherlands, which had approximately 10,000 hectares of greenhouses. The construction of the facility was intended to close this gap.
The construction of the enterprise, planned as a highly profitable, highly specialized production of greenhouse structures, as an industrial and technological complex, was, for the most part, completed by the end of 1995. The core of the enterprise's production capacity consisted of three plants:
- An aluminum structure plant with a capacity of up to 18,000 tons of profiles per year,
- A steel structure plant with a capacity of up to 70,000 tons of rolled steel and up to 30,000 tons of protective zinc coating per year,
- A plastic products plant with a capacity of up to 6,000 tons per year and a rubber seals plant.
The technical capabilities of each of these production facilities in terms of product range and quality at the time of commissioning had no domestic analogues.
Systematic sales of the company's products began, initially focusing on the designs and equipment for Venlo-type winter block greenhouses with a 6.4-meter-wide, two-humped span and 3.5-meter-high columns, developed primarily based on Dutch technical documentation. Even then, this type of greenhouse was a compelling alternative to the single-humped greenhouses common in the 1970s-1990s, with a 6.4-meter-wide span and 2.5-meter-high columns produced by the Antratsyt Plant of Prefabricated Greenhouses (AZST, Ukraine)—the only manufacturer of winter block greenhouses during the Soviet era.
The maximum yield of such greenhouses in the best farms in the country was approximately 40 kg/m² of primary vegetables and up to 120 pcs/m² of primary flowers—cut roses—versus the average national yield of up to 30 kg/m² of vegetables and up to 100 pcs/m² of roses. Energy consumption for production in such greenhouses in the Central Zone of the Russian Federation was approximately 4.5 Gcal/hour per hectare, and labor costs were approximately 25-27 maintenance personnel per hectare.
Already in the first years of construction, the average yield of the main greenhouse crops: cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouses of JSC AGRISOVGAZ, using the most advanced agricultural technologies of that time, reached a level of up to 60 kg/m2 of marketable products per year with energy consumption for production of approximately 3 Gcal/hour per 1 hectare and labor costs of approximately 15 service personnel per 1 hectare.
The first two hectares of fully equipped AGRISOVGAZ greenhouses were built at the company's Training Center in Maloyaroslavets to train staff and promote the new, modern greenhouses in Russia and abroad. At this facility, the first fully domestically produced versions of Venlo greenhouses with a 9.6-meter span, created by the company's designers, were developed and brought to optimal mass production. These greenhouses served as the prototypes for all subsequent cultivation structures developed at AGRISOVGAZ facilities.
However, with the collapse of the USSR, the implementation of the aforementioned industry food program, as well as the production of the planned areas of new greenhouses, as well as the structures and equipment for the reconstruction of old ones, turned out to be impossible due to economic problems.
The company began searching for new markets for its products, developing, mastering the production and selling a number of the most in-demand and high-tech product groups and metal structures made of steel and aluminum.
The greenhouse production sector, which ensures the highest and most uniform utilization of production capacity at factories equipped with the appropriate equipment for the production of greenhouse structures and products, has been and remains the most promising for the industrial complex's current status – AGRISOVGAZ LLC. Over 800 hectares of greenhouses have been sold to domestic and international customers of various types of ownership, including approximately 700 hectares in Russia and approximately 100 hectares in neighboring and non-CIS countries (Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Lithuania, Poland, and Finland). These deliveries included greenhouses of various purposes and designs, including:
GREENHOUSE PRODUCTS
- Industrial greenhouses and greenhouse complexes in multi-span (block) design with a span width of 4; 6.4; 8; 9.6; 12; 12.8 and 16 m with a frame column height of 4.5; 5; 6; 6.5; 7 m. The combination of parameters of these products allows for the formation of greenhouse complexes with service rooms, buildings and structures of virtually any area and configuration, taking into account all climatic zones in Russia in terms of snow and wind loads. All greenhouses ensure the use of the most modern agricultural technologies for growing vegetables, green and ornamental plants, seedlings and berry crops, technologies for special plant growing purposes, including: selection, propagation, seedlings, for growing forage crops, biological plant protection products, etc.
Industrial greenhouses are designed for year-round production of vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants using industrial growing technologies. Modern greenhouses from AGRISOVGAZ LLC have a service life of at least 30 years, thanks to the high level of technical solutions incorporated into their design, including the frame, fencing, and engineering and technological systems. The physical condition of the structural elements and systems of AGRISOVGAZ LLC greenhouses is designed for even longer use. The robust frame and fencing of the greenhouses, along with multifunctional engineering and technological systems, significantly extend the optimal lifespan of AGRISOVGAZ LLC greenhouses by promptly upgrading their production technologies to modern ones. Greenhouses and equipment are designed to adapt to new technologies from the very beginning, with sufficient safety margins and adaptability for long-term use. The estimated yield of industrial greenhouses for key crops currently stands at: cucumbers – up to 60 kg/m² (with light cultivation – up to 150 kg/m²), tomatoes – up to 55 kg/m² (with light cultivation – up to 100 kg/m²), and roses – over 200 pcs/m². Actual yields at leading farms significantly exceed average figures, indicating good prospects for productivity growth among other producers as staff qualifications improve and modern technologies are adopted.
Greenhouses are designed and manufactured in accordance with current Russian state standards, technological norms, and regulations applicable to the specific weather, climate, and engineering-geological conditions of the construction area, as well as the customer's needs. The greenhouses are resistant to seismic impacts of up to 8 on the Richter scale and comply with fire resistance rating IV. The high consumer qualities of AGRISOVGAZ greenhouses have been repeatedly confirmed by "100 Best Products of Russia" awards. Greenhouses and utility system equipment are supplied to customers with a full set of design documentation, and installation supervision and author's supervision are provided. The company constructs greenhouse complexes and infrastructure facilities using construction contractors with the appropriate permits and extensive experience in constructing complexes using AGRISOVGAZ greenhouses, as well as local organizations for general and specialized construction and installation work.
Today, AGRISOVGAZ is the largest industrial complex, uniting hot-dip galvanizing plants and steel and aluminum structure manufacturing plants.
The company is a leader in the Russian market for the production of architectural and construction aluminum profile systems for translucent facades, stained-glass windows, and winter gardens; high-mast lighting systems, transmission line supports, road and bridge barriers; metal structures for lightweight buildings and structures; and steel pipes and profiles.
AGRISOVGAZ LLC, having gone through a 30-year path of development, moving in sync with the development of the Russian protected soil industry at every stage of this path, has built a production strategy in the interests of the Company, taking into account the interests of business partners, suppliers and consumers, service companies and organizations, business partners, colleagues, comrades and friends of our diversified enterprise.
We intend to continue moving along this path, preserving traditions and partnerships, as well as the common benefit and rational interests of each participant in this movement.
