In the July 2023 cover story for Greenhouse Grower® magazine, we asked growers, suppliers, and others from across the controlled-environment industry about the key factors affecting innovation in greenhouse production today. Here’s what they had to say.
Trend 1: Keep Looking Overseas
As has been the case for many years, much of the automation technology developed for U.S. horticulture originated in Europe, and that shows no signs of slowing down. For example, a gerbera harvesting robot originally developed by the Greenhouse Horticulture Business Unit of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has improved significantly over the past year. The end-effector (which harvests the gerbera stems) is considerably faster than before, and the robot relies less on 3D visualization, so the processing power needed to harvest the gerberas is shortened.
Photo: Wageningen University
Here’s how the robot works:
- A top view camera detects the flowers that are ripe and need to be harvested.
- A robot arm with an end-effector approaches the stem directly under the flower and descends to the bottom of the gerbera plant.
- Then the actual harvesting starts. There are roughly two methods for this: picking the stem or cutting the stem. The latter method has been chosen for the gerbera harvesting robot. The main advantage of this method is that the harvesting direction does not matter, which is not the case with picking.
To harvest, the robot has to find the exact location of the stem. In a previous prototype, the robot calculated the position and orientation of the entire stem under the flower with the help of camera information and calculated 3D visualizations. This requires a lot of computing power, and thus time.
The gerbera harvesting robot was developed by researchers from the Agro Food Robotics program and WUR. The research project is a public-private partnership and is financed by the Gerbera Crop Cooperative and the Horticulture & Propagation Materials Top Sector. It is not yet known when the robot will be on the market.
If you want more examples of technology that could be available to all growers in the near future, look no further than GreenTech, which named six finalists for its Innovation & Concept Awards for 2023. The winners in each category were announced during GreenTech Amsterdam, which took place June 13-15 at RAI Amsterdam.
“We received more applications this year than last year, and the level was very high,” says jury chair Jolanda Heistek. “As a jury, we mainly looked at the originality of the entries and at sustainability (less use of natural resources such as water and energy).”
Learn more about all the finalists by visiting https://is.gd/GJGXwE.
Photo: ISO Group USA
Trend 2: Suppliers Addressing Grower Needs
The most efficient technology solutions for the greenhouse market will ideally start with suppliers identifying what growers truly need. This partnership and communication is critical.
Kris Nightengale, Vice President of Sales at AdeptAg, says recent inquiries from growers have run the full gamut of production needs. Usually, the inquiry originates from the area of production that they are least confident in.
“We all accept that there is a high correlation between speed and quality; the faster you go, the lower the quality, and vice versa. Growers do not always know where the trade-off is when it comes to automation,” Nightengale says. “With good inputs, growers do not need to sacrifice speed or quality at nearly the same thresholds as with human labor.”
Ronald Hoek, CEO and co-founder of Blue Radix, says the biggest needs and concerns growers have will depend on their situation.
“For some, their biggest value driver is having difficulty finding skilled and experienced growers, especially if they are expanding,” Hoek says of growers’ needs. “They may also be looking for ways to improve production and reduce costs, as well as digital solutions to securing crop knowledge and best practices so they can be prepared if a grower leaves the company.”
One international company recently came up with a better way to meet the needs of its U.S. customers: It set up a new domestic office. In May, ISO Group USA, a subsidiary of Dutch ISO Group, manufacturer of automated plant handling machines, hosted a grand opening reception to announce its expansion into central Virginia.
ISO Group has always partnered directly with its customers. The expanded U.S. presence prioritizes this commitment. Local service technicians and a domestic service phone line enhance customer service. Domestic shipping increases parts availability and reduces lead time.
“The benefits of the U.S. expansion to our customers are many,” says John Menendez, Vice President and General Manager of ISO Group USA. “Our domestic phone number is more accessible to growers, and parts and service are readily available from our East Coast location.”
The expansion is not limited to location, but also highlights an expansion of available technologies to the North and South American markets. Planting, cutting, grafting, bulb planting, sorting, grading, and sampling are among the many plant handling solutions currently available.
Trend 3: Growers Increasing Investments
As tech suppliers look to solidify their ability to address grower needs, today’s growers are also planning with an eye on the future. The strong sales years of 2020 and 2021 gave many operations the means to invest in new technology or expansions, but supply chain concerns led most to pump the brakes. But with spring 2023 looking strong for the industry in general, these plans for growth may be coming to fruition.
Greenhouse Grower’s most recent State of the Industry survey, conducted in late 2022, offered a glimpse at what growers may have planned in the coming year. Around 45% of growers said they planned to invest in greenhouse structures and coverings in 2023, while 23% said they planned to invest in irrigation equipment, and 18% in planting equipment (bear in mind there were more than 20 categories listed in the query). Of those growers deciding whether to invest in new technology, 77% cited return on investment as a top factor, followed by cost (57%) and fit into current production space (29%).
Among the nation’s Top 100 largest greenhouse operations (who were surveyed in February 2023), 44% planned to invest in production automation equipment in 2023, followed by structures and coverings (40%), irrigation equipment (38%), and computer software (36%). These growers were also asked how they define return on investment. The most common responses referenced more than cost savings; they also included efficiency, reduced man hours, plant quality, and the ability to properly scale your business.
Trend 4: Technology Across Crops
The ornamental segment of the horticulture industry has, perhaps unfairly, been dubbed a mature market compared to the rapid growth curve taking place in the greenhouse vegetable market. Nonetheless, much of the emerging automation systems being developed in the market are initially focused on the fresh produce segment of controlled-environment agriculture.
“Our technology is currently running at production locations for tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers. In parallel, we are finalizing our solutions for both lettuce and phalaenopsis/orchids,” Hoek says. “Differences can be found in the installations that are being used (e.g., cooling). Another difference between the production of orchids and, for example tomatoes, is the fact that tomatoes are not moving through the greenhouse, as orchids do. This is a fundamental difference in terms of climate management.”
Nightengale says many of AdeptAg’s customers provide propagation services to both ornamental and vegetable growers.
“What we are doing is finding more uses for existing technologies. For example, the AutoStix, with the introduction of the media strip, can be used to propagate decorative plant cuttings or be direct sown with tomato seeds,” Nightengale says. “Similarly, the XL drum seeder can sow directly into the AutoStix media strip in the carrier tray, or into rafts/floats, trays, or pots in carriers. As
the economics of each market for each plant change, new opportunities present themselves.”
Many of these opportunities also come in the form of partnerships, whether just among suppliers or across multiple market segments. Take these stories, for example, all of which can be found on GreenhouseGrower.com:
- “New Robotic Harvesting System for Greenhouse Tomatoes” from Syngenta Vegetable Seeds and Four Growers
- “Autonomous Robot Does the Greenhouse Scouting for You” from Biobest, ecoation, and Bogaerts
- “Long-Term Far-Red Light in Greenhouse Tomatoes Can Increase Yields” from Signify, Nunhems, and Wageningen University and Research
Each of these companies are continuing to invest in technology across horticulture, which means innovation will be critical, regardless of the crop you’re growing.