New Report Outlines Challenges and Opportunities in Greenhouse Automation
April 22, 2023 
Photo: Vineland
In February 2023, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Ontario hosted an event to bring together a variety of horticulture stakeholders including Canadian scientists, engineers, companies, and end-users. The goals were to communicate the outcomes of the Horticultural Automation Cluster funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), to hear from leading international experts on the state of horticultural automation, to create connections and develop opportunities for future research collaboration, and to create awareness for the advancement of Canadian automation research and development.
As part of this event, Vineland conducted stakeholder interviews with 26 different companies and organizations involved in horticultural automation in early 2023. These interviews comprised 22 automation companies, three consultants or government representatives, and one individual from academia, with worldwide representation from Canada, the Netherlands, the U.S., Japan, Singapore, and Israel. Twenty-two of these companies were directly involved with horticulture for both indoor and outdoor production, or working in both environments.
These interviews provided a great overview to understand how the companies work in the space, where they see the best opportunities, and how they can be connected to enhance impact for the sector. The interviews also highlighted many challenges faced by this emerging sector and the growth and key learnings gained over the past five years.
Addressing these challenges will be key to establishing a path forward and areas for future collaboration, research, and investment in the sector. Vineland provided a presentation on the main themes that emerged from these sector interviews. Following the presentation, an in-person conversation with event participants took place to address these challenges and create opportunities for future collaboration and growth of the horticultural automation sector.
Stakeholder interviews of the automation sector identified six main challenges facing horticulture automation development. A full description of these challenges is found in the presentation “State of the Horticulture Automation Sector: Challenges and Opportunities” and has been summarized as follows:
- Highly variable and harsh environments are a unique challenge within horticulture. Variability in crop type and variety, production practices, infrastructure and variability over time require more sophisticated equipment. It can be also difficult to define an average operation, which leads to the constant need to customize.
- Balancing the high cost of development with ROI is critical. A high variability means large data sets and extensive data collection times are required. Horticulture is a niche industry with each crop and/or growing operation design having unique requirements.
- There is an underestimated development time due to variability and need for customization. Extensive development time adds to cost. Expensive, robust electronics are needed for harsh environments.
- When developing connections with growers during the development phase, many growers are not willing to participate in trials due to potential liabilities, high financial cost, and time commitment. Word of mouth and personal relationships are key to developing horticultural connections, making it difficult for new entrants in the market to build trust.
Identifying challenges is an important first step. In fact, looking at them from a different perspective, they can be viewed as opportunities and areas for future research. There will be a continued need for horticulture automation to address labor gaps and environmental sustainability.
For a closer look at the opportunities in the sector, including more collaboration and trialing of emerging technologies such as vision systems and artificial intelligence, click here to read the entire report.
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