4 house models, 11 different covering options and 1-3 layers creates over 75 different retractable roof solutions to help you achieve your crop and financial objectives!
Back in 1982, the very first retractable roof for agriculture was invented by Cravo for the tree seedling industry in Canada. The customer requirement was very simple. He wanted to shade his young trees in the winter to protect the protective snow cover but needed the roof to retract automatically when it started to snow so that the structure did not collapse. From this humble beginning, Cravo has developed into the undisputed worldwide leader of automatic retractable roof greenhouses, cooling houses and field covering systems.
The first retractable shade house installed in 1982 was controlled by a snow sensor which automatically retracted the roof when snow was sensed.
Retractable roof greenhouses complete with optional blackout systems are now helping growers globally in temperate, desert, and tropical locations to produce strong, healthy, well balanced tree seedlings that improve their ability to survive, making reforestation efforts more successful.
Strawberry producers are using retractable greenhouse and cooling roofs to produce firm sweet fruit targeting the high price windows especially during the late fall and early winter. The fruit has the firmness of outdoor grown fruit making it practical to ship longer distances. Fixed and moveable gutters options are allowing growers to optimize the balance between plant density versus labor efficiency for spraying and harvesting.
Producers of raspberries in warm climates are targeting to year round production by using the retractable cooling roof to protect against the high radiation periods from the late spring to early fall and then again during the cold winter nights.
Retractable cooling houses are in high demand in the Middle East. They use over 90% less electricity and water for cooling than conventional pad and fan greenhouses helping growers to improve their food security while growing sustainably!
Retractable greenhouses and cooling houses can be fitted with bird nets or insect nets to provide additional crop protection.
Retractable greenhouses and cooling houses are helping growers in tropical monsoon locations produce vegetables through the hot dry summer conditions and during the humid rainy monsoons.
As the tourist industry rebounds after the pandemic, resorts in tropical locations (especially on the islands) are wanting to source fresh safe produce that is not dependent on the unreliable shipping industry, and from houses that are not destroyed by hurricanes. Cravo retractable roof houses have survived all 13 hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones that have hit the houses over the last 19 years.
Retractable orchard covering systems are allowing growers of tree fruits to advance harvests and consistently improve yields and quality to achieve better prices and satisfy customer demand.
High density plantations maximize revenue per hectare to help achieve the target ROI.
Investors are interested in large scale investments that are easy to manage and allow them to quickly become market leaders. Retractable roof houses allow growers to achieve different results than in a conventional greenhouse, nethouse or tunnel and the climate inside is uniform even if the houses are 5-40 hectares in size.
The dramatic increase in the cost of oil, natural gas and electricity is increasing the attractiveness of producing in warm and hot climates. Retractable cooling houses use only 2-3 kW hours of electricity per day per hectare, use supplemental water primarily for humidification, and do not require supplemental heating when located in warm or hot climates creating a long term advantage.