PRESS RELEASE

Farm Plastic Warning

Agricultural or farm plastic has become incredibly widely used across the entire agricultural cycle – it can increase yields and soil temperature, reduce weed and pest pressure, aid moisture conservation, support soil fumigation and even keep silage fresh for much longer. 

The effectiveness of every single one of these is controlled by the vapour permeability of the plastic – not just for water vapour, but also to control the flow of oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethylene, the gaseous plant ripening hormone.  Using the right plastic in any situation is critical to optimize success and the way to do this is through testing - Versaperm's latest permeability measurement and testing equipment is designed to do just that.

The system is optimized not just for traditional plastics but also for the modern multi-layer "designer" plastics which can provide highly specific control over the diverse flows of different gasses. It is also important for the increasingly widespread photodegradable and biodegradable materials.  Some applications need to allow a gas, such as oxygen, to flow but prevent water vapour from flowing out.  The exact mixture of permeabilities depends on the specific crop, season, climate and even daily diurnal changes in temperature.

Versaperm's new single and multi-chamber ranges can provide measurements of vapour permeability for all farm plastics and gases, sometimes in as little as thirty minutes as opposed to the weeks taken with conventional gravimetric measurement systems. They can also, optionally, cycle through diurnal and seasonal changes.
The Versaperm system is typically accurate to a few parts Per Million (PPM) or even Parts Per Billion in some cases

Also important is that the plastic tarps used to control emissions from soil fumigation have been shown to be permeable to fumigant vapours, resulting in escape to the environment. Minimizing emissions of soil fumigants is critical for both protecting human and environmental health.

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ENDS

Please send any sales enquiries to
Versaperm Ltd: 10 Rawcliffe House, Howarth Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 1AP, UK,
e.mail: info@versaperm.com Web: www.versaperm.com
UK Tel: +44 (01628) 777668
USA Tel +1 (617) 855-7477

For Further Press Information please contact:
Gerry Palmer @ the Palmer & Rose Partnership
Tel +44 (0) 1494 637499
e.mail gerry@palmer-rose.co.uk