Agricultural set
The agricultural platform (from the French plateau) is a low, uncovered container used to transport horticultural and fruit products. It is self-stacking and has side openings to allow ventilation of the merchandise.
It is usually made of corrugated cardboard or compact cardboard (cartonboard). In the first case, double-double cardboard is used with papers of great consistency and heavy weight (generally, krafts and semi-chemicals). In the corrugator, it is given resin treatments (anti-humidity glue) and paraffins to protect it from humidity. The reason is that the sets travel and are kept in refrigerated places and humidity is the great enemy of cardboard. One of the most important tests carried out on this type of packaging is bottom flexing, since rubbing against the fruit on the lower tray can cause it to rot.
The sets can be self-assembling or machinable, in which case they need an assembly machine for their formation.
The best known models are the Plaform, the Agriplat 2 and the P84.