GRAINPRO is one of the most responsible companies we know. For full disclosure, that’s why two principals of our company, Ethical Markets Media, have been patient investors in GRAINPRO for more than 10 years. Now this amazing company is profitable and has paid its first dividend.
Founded in 1992, GrainPro, Inc. aims to improve the quality of life, particularly in less developed countries, by reducing world hunger and improving the environment. GrainPro achieves these benefits by developing and marketing post harvest technologies for food grains and other dry food commodities, as well as providing custom enclosures for emergency relief work. These GrainPro products are known as Cocoons™ and SuperGrainbags™ and have been used in over 30 countries. Most GrainPro products are patented. GrainPro products are largely manufactured at its wholly owned subsidiary, GrainPro Philippines, Inc., Subic Bay, Philippines that opened in 2007.
GrainPro Company Values
GrainPro describes itself as a “not only for profit company”, and is committed to its’ “4 Cares”. They are: caring about customers, employees, the environment, and the larger community of which it is a part.
Some of the ways it lives up to these values is with respect to customers providing honest, accurate information about its’ products and capabilities and ensuring high quality through a dedicated quality control program. With respect to the its’ employees, the company and its subsidiary GrainPro Philippines practices universal profit sharing, and stock ownership, as well as “top of the market” salaries and a full range of benefits (rare in the Philippines), in addition to an open communication policy and an active safety program.
With respect to the environment, the companies’ products contribute directly to eliminating pesticides and protecting the ozone layer. Its’ clean manufacturing processes emphasize reuse and recycling as well as energy conservation.
Reducing World Hunger
GrainPro’s on-farm and village-level hermetic storage units also prevent loss of germination capacity in stored seed. They significantly reduce post-harvest losses of food supply among both small and large farmers, particularly throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Reduction of these losses means much more food is available for family consumption and for local markets.
For international food relief to poor and war-torn countries, transportability and fast response set-up time of these hermetic storage units are essential. GrainPro strives to help in disaster situations by providing:
* Customized enclosures to meet both food and non-food needs.
* Grain handling and storage logistics for relief operations.
* Technical backup and training for grain storage and handling installations.
Improving the Environment
GrainPro’s pesticide-free hermetic storage units provide long or medium term organic storage, eliminating the need for chemical insecticides and fumigants and, hence, the associated risks to farmers, agricultural laborers, consumers, wildlife and the environment, specifically the ozone layer. Even the worst insect infestations are rapidly controlled without chemical insecticides by GrainPro’s hermetic storage units. Fungi do not grow in the low oxygen atmosphere of the Cocoons or SuperGrainbags, and, therefore, harmful aflatoxins do not spread.
In 1999 GrainPro introduced patent-applied-for Vacuum Hermetic Fumigation (V-HF) for storing high value commodities such as coffee, cocoa and spices. GrainPro and its partners also invented the patent-applied-for PITS “Pesticide-Free Integrated Transportation and Storage” system, currently in field use. Both technologies are now available for fumigating/storing high value crops. Pesticide free “fumigation” is typically done in less than three days at room temperature. For crushable high value commodities, such as figs, Gas Hermetic Fumigation (G-HF) Cocoons™ use CO2 to achieve the same pest-free results.
GrainPro’s portable storage systems can be used indoors or outdoors and be erected on any flat surface in minutes to hours, depending on the product.