"Horticulture will reinvent itself"

Production resources are becoming scarcer. With this in mind, Koppert Biological Systems is busy thinking about solutions. And these solutions will emerge. "There is so much information available in the form of big data. It's all about the linking of different information sources, which will be translated into action," says Peter Maes, corporate marketing director at Koppert Biological Systems.

One solution, take for example, the new Airobug. "It was recently launched. It's a fan with a self-propelled conductor. The Airobug blows and scatters natural enemies over a width of up to 10 meters into the crop," he shows. In a short period of time, there is even distribution: the natural enemies are dispersed like a ‘blanket’ over the crop. This distribution has everything to do with Airobug's technique: Fan application ensures a constant air flow that takes the predatory mites through the greenhouse.

"The device is being further developed. It will be equipped with sensors that first ‘looks’ whether and where there are pests in the crop," says Peter. "Then the device immediately decides to release predatory mites on those affected areas, so it’s done selectively. Not the whole greenhouse might be affected by that pest, and why would the grower have predatory mites released all over the greenhouse? That's not necessary at all. " In the foreseeable future, this system will be offered to growers.

Simultaneously with this new feature on the Airobug, Koppert Biological Systems now develops an app. This app will make it unnecessary to manually count whitefly on the yellow sticky trap. This Smart Scout app counts by itself using a photo. This app will be available for every grower.

 

Koppert Biogical Systems has hired young dynamic people who can focus fully on this topic. Peter Maes: "They think like software producers, they live and breathe it. They have the task of identifying and documenting associated technologies for us." A fantastic challenge. "There is a lot of progress to be made." The company goes one step further. They are looking for other companies to set up a more 'open source’ platform together. Peter Maes: "Because ... if you have basic data such as temperature, RH, light, H2O etc, you might even predict when a pest or disease occurs. When data are linked, you could prevent pests and diseases."