"LEDs bring the harvest of strawberries forward"

Brookberries, a strawberry grower in the Netherlands, has chosen Philips GreenPower LED toplighting of Signify to move to an earlier crop and year-round production. With LED toplighting, Brookberries expects that part of its crop will be produced as much as 10 to 11 weeks earlier, resulting in higher prices.

“We are seeing that more and more strawberry growers realize that they can use LEDs to bring the harvest of strawberries forward,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Signify. “This gives them a head start over the competition and gives them a more predictable offer to their customers.”

Brookberries, run by Marcel Dings and Peter van den Eertwegh, is a member of the Fossa Eugenia growers’ association, which takes care of the sale and distribution of the strawberries. Brookberries chose to work with Signify because of the positive experience it had with its LED lighting technologies. The company gradually equipped all its locations with Philips GreenPower LED flowering lamps from 2012 onwards. The move to the new technology was the next logical step given the suitability of LED grow lights to offer more predictability and earlier yields compared to non-lit greenhouses. Signify’s plant specialist and account manager proved invaluable in helping them to take this step forward.

Marcel Dings

“With the addition of LED toplighting we can now better steer our harvest times to provide our customers with fresh strawberries at the time that they would prefer to have them,” said Marcel Dings. “By aligning the crops grown in the new greenhouse with those grown in the existing greenhouse under Philips GreenPower LED flowering lamps, we can supply our customers with strawberries for a much longer time.”

The installation at Brookberries involves long-term certified Philips Horti LED partners Agrolux and Codema B-E de Lier.

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