'We need growers with foresight'

Added on 26 April 2023

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In the next years, fewer operations inside the greenhouse will be performed manually. Algorithms, artificial intelligence, and robotics will make things a lot easier for growers. Silke Hemming of Wageningen University & Research and Maren Schoormans of Honest share updates on these developments.

Horticulture is facing major challenges worldwide. The demand for food continues to increase, greenhouse surfaces are increasing, the availability of employees is decreasing and growers have to decide on more and more aspects, such as yield, quality, sustainability, timing, and market forecast. This increasing complexity necessitates the move to a more data-driven approach, said Silke Hemming of Wageningen University & Research during GreenTech Americas in Mexico. By growing in greenhouses, a higher production per square meter can be achieved and products can be produced all year round. In addition, modern cultivation systems ensure that these products can be grown sustainably through efficient use of water and energy, among other things, and the application of biological crop protection. “By automating and digitizing those processes, using sensors in the greenhouse and using robots, growers can be helped to make the right decisions,” says Hemming.

Intelligent algorithms
Wageningen University & Research was the initiator of the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge, in which international teams grew vegetables in greenhouses via fully automated control with the use of artificial intelligence. The challenge, which took place three times, proved that it is possible to grow autonomously. To do so, it is important that intelligent algorithms are developed, says Hemming. “We are currently working hard to achieve that.” Three cucumber crops were recently planted at the Greenhouse Horticulture Business Unit of Wageningen University & Research as part of the AGROS project. The cultivation of these crops is controlled in different ways: in one greenhouse, operational decisions are made by a group of crop experts, while the other two greenhouses are controlled remotely by a Digital Twin based on a mechanistic model and an artificial intelligence algorithm based on Reinforcement Learning. “The AGROS project aims to realize an autonomous greenhouse in which cultivation is controlled remotely by intelligent algorithms. Advanced sensors measure the most important crop characteristics and thus support the decisions that need to be made to grow profitably.”