Ontarian Government Invests in Autonomous Greenhouse Management Project

By Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers|April 17, 2021

The Ontario, Canada, Government recently announced it will be investing $3.6 million in 12 projects designed to bring innovation and help Ontario recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of these projects is an autonomous greenhouse management project designed by Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) and Blue Radix, a Dutch artificial intelligence company specializing in greenhouse management.

“Together with OGVG, we are introducing autonomous growing with Crop Controller to Ontario vegetable growers,” says Ronald Hoek, CEO of Blue Radix. “Crop Controller data models and algorithms control the greenhouse installations 24/7, supported by off-site Autonomous Greenhouse Managers with in-depth knowledge about crops, energy, and data. With autonomous steering of the greenhouse installations, the crop strategy is put into practice with artificial intelligence.”

There are four main objectives of the Crop Controller project are:

Research the specific needs of Canadian growers related to autonomous greenhouse management and translate these needs into product features.
Research and implement the adjustments that must be made to improve the match of Crop Controller with different Canadian (Ontario) climate conditions.
Demonstrate the working of Blue Radix’s data models and algorithms to help growers better understand the value of this new technology.
Share knowledge with market peers and help growers work with this new technology in their day-to-day operations.

“Crop Controller is not developed to replace growers,” Hoek says. “The grower is still needed to define the crop strategy. Ultimately, they can manage more square feet and worry less about repetitive actions and routine thinking. The algorithms do the work for them in their daily operations.”