With the GreenTech coming up this month we're getting in touch with several horticultural intellectuals, entrepreneurs, innovators and general greenhouse geeks. Today Svensson tells us more on how a screen producer converted into a key player in creating better climates in greenhouses.
What is your contribution to the advancement of the global horticulture industry?
Global horticulture is one of the most innovative sectors of the world economy, and Svensson plays a modest, but essential role in this in collaboration with its partners around the globe. Svensson screens are designed with one primary objective: creating better climates in greenhouses, increasing crop quality and yields in an energy sound manner – which in turn comes with increases the bottom line, creating not only a better climate for plants but also for businesses.
What would you say is the most important topic in horticulture at the moment?
The most important topic in our eyes is the rapidly growing world population, and the consideration that to feed our ever increasing population requires healthy, safe vegetable production in larger, more diversified quantities. Vegetables produced in protected greenhouse environments, play a key role in feeding the expanding global population; to aid in maximizing production, Svensson’s ambition strives to help growers create reliable climates via state-of-the-art greenhouse climate screen solutions. Each project is different, and requires climate solutions fitting to both the crop and the local conditions.
As the pioneer and world leader in climate control, Svensson continues to develop new climate screen solutions to transform and improve climate conditions for growers worldwide. From humidity, UV and temperature control, to energy savings and insect control, Svensson screens enhance the growing climate, allowing growers to produce more food per square meter, helping feed today’s increasing population sizes.
What will you be doing at the GreenTech? Will you present any novelties during the trade show?
Our most important objective for exhibiting at GreenTech is to ‘stay connected’. Greentech is an outstanding marketplace to meet advanced growers from around the world, to learn from them and to talk about adequate solutions for their climate challenges. There is so much to be gained together: when goal-oriented investors meet solution-oriented entrepreneurs innovations are created and we look forward to continuing to experience this at the upcoming exhibition in Amsterdam.
What project that you’re currently involved in are you most proud of?
A lot of our efforts are focusing on further fine-tuning our climate screens solutions to meet specific grower demands. Recently we developed two new light-diffusing shade screens for rose growers who have concluded that in using a lower shade level than typically applied during the summer, may potentially lead to a boost in the production of flower stems. In order to ensure the crop quality be kept an adequate level, Svensson’s climate consultancy team of experts carefully listened to the growers specific demands and with uncompromised technical efforts succeeded in the development of new and specialized solutions.
Such solutions provided these growers with the ability to reduce shade levels by 10%, while at the same time ensuring the quality of the roses be kept at their desired levels. This was made possible through the development of materials with an extraordinary light-diffusing effect without compromise to high levels of light transmission. For us, such results are the ideal source of inspiration for continuing down this path.
How do you see the future of horticulture?
Without protected horticulture the means of healthy and safe vegetables would be very limited. So there’s no question as to whether there will be a future for protected cultivation. Add to this the fact that greenhouse-based cultivation makes it possible to produce vegetables with only 10% of the water consumption of unprotected vegetable production and our conclusion is clear: protected horticulture has a bright future.
Svensson 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.