Silke Hemming

Head Scientific Research Team Greenhouse,
Wageningen University, NL

The Autonomous Greenhouse - Artificial Intelligence & Greenhouse Controls

Can artificial intelligence help cultivate cherry tomatoes in a greenhouse? This challenge was faced by the international teams that participated in the Autonomous Greenhouse challenge of Wageningen University & research and Tencent. The ever-growing world population gives rise to an increased demand for fresh and healthy food.  Greenhouse horticulture could play a crucial role but is hampered by a lack of skilled personnel to manage the cultivation of crops. Artificial intelligence (AI) could help solve this problem.

Find out how the AI teams results compared to the human reference growers and how AI may help growers make better decisions in the daily struggle to balance high production and high fruit quality with  costly inputs and low resource use. 

Ronald Hoek

Chief Executive Officer,
Blue Radix

Algorithms Can Feed the World!

The growing world population needs healthy and save food. Greenhouses can provide a big portion of this increasing demand for food. The acreages with greenhouses are growing, but there are not enough experienced human growers to operate these greenhouses. This problem becomes even bigger in the following 5-10 years. Smart, autonomous, steering algorithms can provide solid solutions! It can be done but demands a shift of minds and social innovation. Are we ready for this new era in food production?

 During the presentation you’ll also get insights in the way algorithms and smart data solutions provide the growers a digital brain. This brain does not only optimize climate, irrigation and energy in the greenhouse. It actually steers the greenhouse installations, including the climate computer. Curious how that works, how this impacts day-to-day operations and how the industry benefits the value?

Hussam Haroun

Director of Automation,
Vineland Research & Innovation Centre, ON

Ton van Dijk

Global Head of Sales & Operations,
LetsGrow.com

 Improve Crop Quality & Reduce Water Consumption Through AI

According to the World Bank, agriculture accounts on average for 70 % of all freshwater withdrawals globally. FAO projects that irrigated food production will increase by more than 50 percent by 2050. ⁽¹⁾ Today over 240 hours/acre/year is spent on irrigation by growers that is not data driven or coordinated.

This traditional approach results in inconsistent application due to varying staff habits.  The opportunity to automate this process is already within reach as most greenhouses already use a climate computer to monitor temperature. LetsGrow’s world leading AI data platform provides growers a holistic view of their greenhouse through data generated from the greenhouse and based on the plant physiology. VRIC’s decision-making software integrated into the LetsGrow data platform provides irrigation advice through the use of machine learning and data collection. The LetsGrow/VRIC crop agnostic solution has demonstrated to reduce losses by 5%, reduce irrigation labour by 47% and reduce water consumption by 15%.

(1) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Water at a Glance: the relationship between water, agriculture, food security and poverty.Rome.15pp. available

Luis Trujillo

Area Sales Manager
Hoogendoorn America

The Power of Data for Indoor Strawberry Production

Greenhouse strawberry production around the world has increased as the demand for high quality, high flavoured and low pesticide strawberries continues to grow.  Growing greenhouse crops is a complex task as all aspects of production (light, temperature, water and humidity, air movements etc.) and their interactions must be considered. If the greenhouse is too hot what is the best way to cool it so as not to impact all the other factors such as plant growth and water use.  Trujillo will talk about strawberry production using the basic principles of plant empowerment to efficiently produce highly flavored strawberries.

Pierre-Marc de Champlain

Technical Services Director,
Berger

Managing Growing Mixes & Irrigation in Cannabis Production

Selecting the ideal substrate for your cannabis production and managing it correctly can be very challenging.  This presentation will help you understand the role of each component that can be included in your growing mix and the factors that will influence your decisions throughout the production process.