Since the foundation of the company, the breeding and cultivation of its own Kiri tree varieties has formed the core of the WeGrow Group’s business activities. The WeGrow Group raises the young Kiri tree plants in its own production laboratory in germ-free culture vessels under controlled environmental conditions as well as in greenhouses. The plants are propagated vegetatively and without the use of genetic engineering. Today, the WeGrow Group has four of its own protected Kiri tree hybrid varieties: NordMax21®, Phoenix One®, H2F3® and H2F4®. Plant variety protection covers 27 EU countries and, for individual varieties, six non-European countries, including the USA. Applications for plant variety protection in seven other non-European countries are currently in the approval review process.
For the (worldwide) shipment of Kiri tree young plants, the WeGrow Group uses the WeGrow PlugTray® cultivation and packaging system developed in-house. With the help of this WeGrow PlugTray®, which is patented at the European Patent Office, up to 10,000 Kiri tree young plants can be shipped per pallet. The WeGrow PlugTray® thus enables a particularly space-efficient and resource-saving transport of the plants. The special feature of the invention is that a specially developed holding device protects the plants from damage even when the transport boxes are turned over. This means that young Kiri tree plants can be transported safely over long distances with the WeGrow PlugTray®. The WeGrow Group is currently extending the patent protection of the WeGrow PlugTray® to a number of non-European countries.
For more than 12 years, the WeGrow Group has been active in the field of operational agricultural and forestry management (farm management). The company’s activities range from site selection to the establishment of local farms, as well as the planting and maintenance of cultivated areas and the harvesting of the felled Kiri wood.
The Kiri tree offers the opportunity for particularly sustainable forestry, as it is grown on land that was previously used for agriculture. Through a deep-reaching root system, nutrients can be unlocked from low-lying soil layers, the large nutrient-rich leaves decompose quickly and continuously promote humus build-up and soil fertility over the years. In addition to classical plantation management, the Kiri tree offers the opportunity to convert land for agroforestry / intercropping (combination of tree plantation and pasture or arable farming) and mixed afforestation.
Our team of experts in this business area consists of professionals with experience in project management, agronomy, business management and, in particular, in-depth technical knowledge in the field of sustainable Kiri tree cultivation. The range of expertise includes soil science, climatology, irrigation technology, scoring technology, crop management, phytomedicine as well as harvesting and post-harvesting technology.
Over the last few years, the WeGrow Group has built up operational agricultural enterprises for the management of Kiri wood cultivation areas at three locations in Tönisvorst (Germany), Güstrow (Germany) and Talavera de La Reina (Spain). Currently, a total of approx. 500 ha of Kiri wood cultivation areas are managed from there in Germany and Spain. About 80 % of the areas are cultivated for clients, the remaining part is cultivated for the WeGrow Group itself. In Europe, cultivation takes place exclusively on agricultural land as short-rotation plantations.
In order to ensure sustainability in all production steps, but also to benefit from further value creation, the WeGrow Group is also active in wood processing, sawn timber production and timber sales since 2020, in addition to breeding and cultivation. The required roundwood is currently still purchased from owners and operators of smaller Kiri tree plantations within Europe. With the start of the large-scale harvests on the self-managed cultivation areas, the self-produced Kiri wood is also to be processed.
In the wood processing sector, the logs are sawn into boards of different dimensions and then technically dried in drying chambers. For logistical reasons, most of the sawn timber is currently processed in local sawmills run by third parties, but the company also has its own small sawmill. There, the WeGrow Group also carries out further wood processing steps such as edging, milling, planing and sanding operations.
Since the end of 2020, the WeGrow Group has been marketing the quality sawn wood of the Kiri tree produced in-house as a timber wholesaler. A dealer network in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with over 30 dealer branches has already been connected.