With the GreenTech coming up in June we're getting in touch with several horticultural know-it-alls, entrepreneurs, innovators and general greenhouse geeks. Today Marcel Schulte of Holland Gaas tells us more about the use and benefits of insect netting systems.
What is your contribution to the advancement of the global horticulture industry?
Food safety and environmentally cultivation became a standard. Holland Gaas supplies insect netting systems that are durable and reduces the use of pesticides around the globe.
What would you say is the most important topic in horticulture at the moment?
• Food safety (consumers do not want crops with the recidues of pesticides / government rules forbid the use of it more and more / pesticides are also bad for the workers in the greenhouse) and the cannabis market are important topics.
• The use of cannabis oil is increasing rapidly and not only in the US. So protected cultivation (in greenhouses) of cannabis will also grow in the coming years.
What will you be doing at the GreenTech?
We will join the expo with a lot of colleagues at our booth, nr 12.801. We will bring interested customers to the expo and show them possibilities for their needs. We also participate in the medicinal cannabis info point. We expect a lot of foreign visitors for this new market.
What project that you’re currently involved in are you most proud of?
Last year we had projects in about 30 countries with their own market situation, so that’s quite hard to answer.
• We are very happy to see that we could help growers who had unexpected problems with epidemics of aggressive insects.
• We are also proud that semi-closed greenhouses proved their added value and that we are part of this quite new way of cultivation.
• There are also projects that converts sea water to fresh water with the help of the sun.
• And of course in cannabis projects it’s not allowed to use pesticides, so to keep out the insects growers are using our folded netting systems.
• But by far the most important is the experiences of growers themselves. Insect netting decreases the ventilation capacity partly, but it appeared that growers learn how to work with it and see the advantages:
less movement of the crops because the wind is broken by the netting. This causes more production.
growers can open windows when it rains.
growers save a lot of money on their expenses on pesticides.
growers can cultivate in a biological way and consumers are willing to pay more for healthy food.
How do you see the future of horticulture?
The world population is growing; in 2030 the world population will be about 8.5 billion! There will be more people to feed and there is less available ground and fresh water. And biological methods are of increasing interest of many growers. Only 1 solution: More production a square meter with less use of water. Therefore there will be a movement from open field and low tech greenhouses to mid and high tech greenhouses. All this have to be in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. We hope and expect that we can play a role in this global change.
Holland Gaas is to exhibit at the GreenTech exhibition June 12-13-14 in Amsterdam. The GreenTech summit will take place June 11th.
For more information on the GreenTech exhibition and the GreenTech Summit, check out www.greentech.nl.
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