Expert Advice on Preparing Your Greenhouse for Social Distancing

Agrinomix social distancing in the greenhouse

Production automation greatly reduces your reliance on a large labor force. With a smaller number of employees, you will be able to reduce the crossover points. Photo: AgriNomix

The COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on greenhouse production was unforeseen for most growers. It rose up during the peak production weeks, and a lot of decisions had to be made quickly with very little understanding and guidance: Do you continue to produce and risk losing your staff to a COVID outbreak, not knowing if there is going to be a market for your product? Or, do you stop production and risk not having product available during your peak sales weeks?

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It was a hard choice. Now, with some experience operating during a crisis, what can you do to prevent a pandemic from having a significant impact on getting your production done?

There are some simple things to implement now and to prepare for the new way of doing production. For example, draw a map of your production facility so you can see the flow of your production process. Once mapped out, are there points in your process that cross over each other? Do you have to bring supplies from the front of the line(s) to the back to start production? Do employees walk back and forth and cross the path of their fellow employees? Try to eliminate all the cross points. Adding length to your production lines will spread employees out and allow them to work more comfortably.

These little things will reduce the risk of employee contact. The best-case scenario would be if all supplies entered your production area from the back and left the room from the front heading to the growing area or dock. Once you have worked out the flow pattern, post and review the map(s) with all employees, so they understand the flow. Mark the production flow out on the floor with brightly colored paint.

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With everything that has happened with the coronavirus so far, available labor has not improved. Looking at production automation will help you prepare for both. Production automation greatly reduces your reliance on a large labor force. With a smaller number of employees, you will be able to reduce the crossover points, and automation will reduce the number of human touches, thus minimizing the amount of exposure from one employee to the next and cutting down the overall risk of spreading a virus. What steps in your production can you automate? It is time to take a closer look at what is available as automation equipment is improving and becoming more reliable.

There is a silver lining to preparing your production area for the new way of production: it will make you more efficient. Being more efficient will make you a lower-cost producer overall. A little planning goes a long way.

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