Wouter van den Bosch
- Owner of Kwekerij Van den Bosch in Bleiswijk
- 5 hectares of green bell peppers, 1 hectare of blackberries
- Recently started working with Blue Radix’s Crop Controller for autonomous management of his greenhouse.
Wouter, can you describe what you understand by autonomous growing using algorithms?
“For me, autonomous growing means cultivating based on a crop strategy. The grower’s role is to determine the strategy and adjust it where necessary. The practical implementation of setpoints and greenhouse control is handled by the algorithms. This includes, for example, irrigation and its timing. This is all practical execution performed by the algorithms. Furthermore, to achieve the ideal climate, the algorithms automatically steer toward the correct energy balance within specific bandwidths. This allows the grower more time for measures required for more complex aspects, such as fungi, harsh spring winds, establishing a strong crop to withstand hot summer periods, and so on.”
In your view, what are the advantages of working with algorithms?
“Error margins are reduced, and it facilitates further automation of the cultivation process. In the future, I also expect that linking plant sensors will lead to new insights, enabling better production levels.”
How do you see the application within your company?
“The diversity of crops and plans for further expansion make it very complex. We do not want to compromise on the quality of our cultivation management, which is why we chose automation to reduce the workload and simplify daily processes.”
Where and how do you think autonomous growing will be applied in horticulture? What still needs to be developed?
“Growing is highly complex, and for the time being, it will remain a derivative of the grower’s input. The primary and most immediate benefit is that it unburdens the grower. We have a fairly clear picture of our greenhouse climate and the influence of weather on conditions inside. By combining this with weather forecasts and historical data, we can already anticipate effectively and gain added value through algorithms. However, greenhouse conditions are very dynamic, which can quickly make historical experiences irrelevant. Once we can feed the algorithm with feedback from the crop—such as crop measurements, photosynthetic efficiency, dry matter production, or simply production in grams—then we can truly start growing smarter.”
What is your advice to growers who may still be hesitant about growing with algorithms?
“Consider for yourself what it can offer you and how far your company’s horizon extends. Autonomous growing is in an early stage of development; getting in early gives you the opportunity to grow alongside these developments. However, in my opinion, the stage where algorithms are essential to remain a competitive greenhouse horticulture business is still a bit further off. By growing with the technology, we are able to implement it organically and make it part of our competitive edge. Artificial intelligence is an opportunity if you anticipate it. If you don’t, it could become a threat.”
What tip can you give Blue Radix to further develop their algorithms?
“The start is there with a good core product. When it becomes possible to integrate plant measurements from sensors into the system and act upon them, you will create even more value.”
