Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Business Plan (blueprint)

Research

We are planning an experiment as described in the previous post, to test the influence of the restrictive pres on the global tree growth and fruit yield. I do not expect a significant decrease in growth or yield, according to a previous test, but we need to test it with different kinds of trees, during a long period and in different locations where different stress conditions (wind, drought, pests) are found.

We will create a mathematical-physical model of the modified trees and the pressures exerted by the winds, in order to establish the optimal dimension of the presses. We believe that modified trees will not only allow easy fruit collection, but they will also exhibit increased breakage resistance due to their flexibility..

We need U$D 18,000 for a 3 year research period.

Design

The design will evolve from the current published diagrams made with Google Sketchup, to a more precise blueprints with exact dimensions.

We need to establish the dimensions of the different presses to be applied to young and medium age trees.

In some areas where strong winds are expected, we plan to use thinner wood plates, allowing a more flexible tree that can be bent by the wind, instead of opposing resistance to it.

We need U$D 3,000 for the initial designs.


Field Test

The field test needs to be started soon, since the trees will need 2-3 years to bear fruit. It will include a majority of restricted (trunk-pressed) trees, and a smaller number of control trees, i.e., without any press.

The field test is also a business, since the grown, fruit-producing trees will add value to the land. An extra value will come from the easy fruit pick-up method obtained with the presses.

We need U$D 40,000 for a 3 year test period. We will buy a field in Uruguay, plant trees on it, run the tests and then we will have the field appraised. We expect to double the price due to the improvements. If we need cash, the field will be sold.

There are fields at U$D 5000 per hectarea (U$D 2000 per acre), at places with good production of apple, peach, pear, olive or other fruits.

Marketing

We will continue our current effort to market the idea in order to obtain more investors.

Currently we are running a limited campaign on Linkedin and direct email to scientists in agronomy and related fields. We will extend it and also travel to fruit fairs. There is FRUIT LOGISTICA 2013 in Berlin, and FRUYVER 2013 in Zaragoza Spain.
 
We need U$D 10,000 to attend one fair and continue and expand the campaign.



Patenting

We will patent in the following countries:  USA - Canada - Mexico - Brazil - Spain - Italy. 

We need U$D 30,000.

The patents will be offered for licensing. We expect to recover the investment plus a 100% margin in 3 years.



Sales

We will start the sales campaign in parallel to the research and development effort.

We will first travel to the fruit-producing regions of Argentina (Rio Negro, Entre Rios and Tucuman).

We need U$D 5000 to travel and visit propects.  

We expect to sell restriction devices for U$D 150,000 with a U$D 50,000 profit, in the first 3 years.



 
Total investment: U$D 106,000

Total expected return at 3 years: U$D 190,000

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