Why Automation Will Drive Future Greenhouse Vegetable Production
With a lack of consistent labor, indoor farming operations are turning more toward automation. With its two 35-plus acre greenhouses in Coldwater, MI, Mastronardi is at the forefront of the move.
“The future is going to be automation — there’s no question about it,” Paul Mastronardi, President and CEO of Mastronardi Produce, said at a virtual conference sponsored by Bayer AG on the future of farming, according to an article from the Daily Reporter. “It isn’t going to change overnight; we’re talking about a decade before we see a major shift in what’s happening. But I believe technology is going to be the key to the harvesting and growing of crops.”
Paul’s brother-in-law Kevin Safrance, executive vice chairman of Mastronardi Produce, told the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee the same thing.
“One greenhouse worker can harvest the equivalent to 37 traditional field farmworkers. Despite our farms being climate controlled and the day-to-day work being done without being subject to the harsh elements, greenhouse farms struggle to attract and maintain a stable workforce,” he said.
Mastronardi believes automation will eventually bring down production costs and will also usher in many new jobs to handle the technical aspects of CEA farming.
“CEA farming permits the grower to control and monitor virtually all of the elements of the environment, from the nutrients the plants receive to advanced computer systems with hundreds of thousands of data points to control and adjust, humidity, temperature, light, climate and other environmental factors,” Safrance said.
Continue reading at TheDailyReporter.com.
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