TORONTO, Jan. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eurocontrol Technics Group Inc. (TSX Venture:EUO) (OTCQB:EUCTF) (“Eurocontrol” or the “Company”), a Canadian public company specializing in the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative test and measurement technologies for industry with application systems focused on precision agriculture, semiconductor and the energy security sectors, announces that its subsidiary Croptimal has received an endorsement from the Centre for Desert Agriculture, an Israeli government institution involved in R&D for agriculture in the Negev Highlands, southern Israel.  This endorsement of Croptimal’s disruptive precision agriculture testing technology provides encouragement and a 20% financial subsidy for farmers in southern Israel to utilize Croptimal’s technology as it believes that precise and efficient fertilization will result in an optimization of crop growth and profitability.  Croptimal’s technology came to the attention of the Centre for Desert Agriculture at Moshav Kadesh Barnea where Croptimal is optimizing the growing process of tomatoes.

Bruce Rowlands, Chairman and CEO commented, “This unprecedented endorsement of Croptimal’s technology is very exciting for us and is also an endorsement of the Israeli spirit of innovation. The Centre for Desert Agriculture recognizes our technology as a breakthrough in agricultural testing to increase crop yield and farm profitability. Their encouragement to farmers to utilize Croptimal’s technology and their financial commitment to incentivize local farmers will significantly increase Croptimal’s exposure. This endorsement along with Croptimal’s nomination as one of ten innovations that have been nominated for the prestigious 2018 Fruit Logistica Innovation Award both provide strong affirmation of our technology.”

About Croptimal Ltd.

Croptimal is a private Israeli company formed in early 2017 and is 100% owned by Eurocontrol.  Croptimal’s service was developed following the need and demand of farmers and agronomists to increase crop yields, both quality and quantity to meet the rapidly increasing world population.  Croptimal offers a suite of in-field decision support tools to agronomists and farmers based on an innovative system of big database analysis (machine learning) utilizing unique hardware and software that enables continuous measurement of nutrients in soil, water and plant tissue.  Croptimal’s technology offers a comprehensive and accurate service that encompasses a full range of in-field measurement activities, including collecting and automatically preparing samples and inputting them to the measurement systems, collecting environmental data using real-time systems installed in the field, conducting the measurements and transferring the measurement results to the farmer and ultimately providing fertilizer recommendations to the farmer or accompanying agronomist.  Croptimal’s unique technology measures N, P, K in their available forms as well as other micro and macro elements.  The in-field nutrients measurement technology reduces time of measurement from a 10 to 14 day cycle with traditional laboratories to a full cycle of 10 minutes.  The measurement data, based on the unique hybrid technologies developed by Croptimal, is fed into an expansive database with unique ID, time and location signature which in addition to the measurement data of nutrients, also collects key environmental data (temperature, UV radiation, humidity, etc.) based on time and location regularly streamed to Croptimal’s Cloud database.  Croptimal has developed unique machine learning algorithms that performs correlation analysis between environmental events (temperature, UV radiation, humidity, etc.) and the measurement data of nutrients combined with fertilization recommendations from expert agronomists to correlate it with the yield results allowing Croptimal to create Dynamic Growth Protocols to enable accurate fertilization recommendations based on the past event and to the extent known, a future event (for example; weather forecast).  Efficient and timely fertilization recommendations are enabled by the precise and fast measurement methods and enhanced by the real time feedback from the analysis algorithm of the Cloud big-data base.  Due to the efficiency of Croptimal’s decision support tools and the Dynamic Growth Protocol it is possible for Croptimal to supply a more qualified and comprehensive service at a price that is lower than farmers are currently paying while enabling continuous improvement of yield and the ability to measure it over time.

About Eurocontrol Technics Group Inc.

Eurocontrol is a TSX Venture and OTCQB traded company that specializes in the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative test and measurement technologies for industry with application technologies focused on the energy security, semiconductor and precision farming sectors based on Xenemetrix’s core technological platform of ED-XRF. Eurocontrol has three wholly owned subsidiaries, Xenemetrix Ltd., XwinSys Technology Development Ltd. and Croptimal Ltd. and an agreement with SICPA S.A. for semi-annual earn-out payments of 5% (minimum $9 million over six years) on revenues generated from the oil and gas marking and monitoring field relating to the sale of its former subsidiary Global Fluids International (GFI) S.A.  Xenemetrix is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of ED-XRF systems, a technology that is the most accurate and economic method for determining the chemical composition of many types of materials, including the analysis of petroleum oils and fuel.  Xenemetrix has a long-term supply, maintenance and support agreement with SICPA/GFI to supply SICPA/GFI with Xenemetrix products and services related to the oil and gas marking and monitoring field. XwinSys has developed a patented, fully automated metrology system for the semiconductor industry that combines 2D and 3D image processing technology with Xenemetrix’s ED-XRF technology.  Croptimal, has develo9ped a new mobile ED-XRF spectroscopic material analysis laboratory for the precision agriculture industry that could dramatically change agricultural testing methodology and increase crop yields.

For further information on Eurocontrol, please visit the Company's website at www.eurocontrol.ca or contact Bruce Rowlands, Chairman and CEO at (416) 361-2809 or browlands@eurocontrol.ca.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements. More particularly, this press release contains statements.  Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. The forward-looking statements are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Eurocontrol.  Although Eurocontrol believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Eurocontrol can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. In addition to other risks that may affect the forward-looking statements in this press release are those set out in Eurocontrol’s management discussion and analysis of the financial condition and results of operations for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017 which is available on the Corporation’s profile at www.sedar.com.  The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Eurocontrol undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.