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Job Offers
- Head of Agronomy: Research & Development - Berlin, Germany
- Africa Fruit Export Sales Manager - South Africa
- Grower - Philippines
- Assistant technical manager
- Food Safety and Quality Director - South Bend (IN) USA
- Commercial Manager - United Kingdom or The Netherlands
- Tomato Grower, Chapais - Canada
- Director of UbiGro Sales - California, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada USA
- UbiGro Sales Representative - California, USA
- Greenhouse Crop Specialist - Southwestern Ontario, Canada
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 -yesterday
Top 5 -last week
- "New lettuce concept meets demand for greater convenience for grower and consumer alike"
- Plant-based fertilizer behind first line of USDA certified organic greenhouse lettuce
- "I spent many hours in front of my computer, now I'm connected to nature again"
- Scientists unlock potential to yield “diet” fruit
- "Our goal is to reach more than 400 hectares in the next 3 years"
Top 5 -last month
Friday, February 26, 2021


Patrick Ménard, Sollum Technologies, on SUN as a Service™:
"We see a light recipe as a movie"
As horticultural lighting becomes more precise and efficient, so too are the control systems that manage it. A prime example is Sollum’s SUN as a Service™ application, which allows growers to modulate light recipes in real time by analysing ambient light and adjusting the fixtures’ output to meet…

extended oil service intervals by an average 80%
New lubricant for engines on non-natural gas
Q8Oils and INNIO Jenbacher have today launched Jenbacher S Oil 40 gas engine oil, a new lubricant for engines that operate on non-natural gas (including, but not limited to biogas, sewage gas and landfill gas). This is one of the first products developed by the long-term global partnership established by…

Four companies enter into joint venture Hortilogics
"The market needs logistics specialists that offer integrated solutions on a turnkey basis"
Four companies have set up a joint venture for the data-driven automation of internal logistics for greenhouses and packing centers within the international greenhouse horticulture sector. Hortilogics aims to unburden growers, producers, packers, investors and greenhouse builders completely in this area.…

"We offer the agriculture industry an alternative to Microsoft"
Tech innovator WayBeyond is taking on Microsoft’s Power BI and Excel products to give growers an alternative solution for integrating all their business data into one digital platform. “Historically, the technology to manage your data was limited. Growers have gotten used to spreadsheets and other historical tools,…

"it took a dog bite for the customer to accept the offer"
Bram's adventures at home and abroad
"There's no course for it. It's quite difficult." That's what Bram van den Ende says when you ask him if he finds it difficult to retire. After half a century at Stolze group, where he started at 16 as the first employee and he was able to work himself up to CEO, it is time to step down. "When you've…

Dolcinetto® Gourmet - Fatti col cuore™
Increased consumption of colored tomatoes
The positive trend for colored table tomatoes continues - while they used to be available only in northern European markets, they are now consumed all over the continent. One of the more interesting seasonal products of the past few years is Dolcinetto® Gourmet. We have talked about it with the sales…

Underground water systems; there's a lot we know (and a lot we don't)
Exceptional questions from growers, that is what Ines van Marrewijk of Groen Agro Control likes to focus on. If there is a solution to an issue that concerns a grower, Ines knows how to find it.At this moment, water quality is one of the major themes, she notes. The underground water system is a world on…

AppHarvest
AppHarvest announces 2020 financial results
AppHarvest, an AgTech company announced today its financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2020. Fiscal year 2020 highlightsNet loss of $17.4 million, compared to $2.7 million in the prior year period in 2019 and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $15.7 million, compared to $2.6 million in the…

Aggressive Canadian expansion announced
McCain Foods invests millions in vertical farming operation GoodLeaf
McCain Foods Limited has made a substantial investment in TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture and its wholly owned subsidiary GoodLeaf Farms, Canada's largest commercial vertical farming operation, to help drive the company's growth and expansion plans. "With this investment, GoodLeaf Farms is embarking on…

North American electricity case study for a ten acre lit greenhouse
The greenhouse industry is prevalent in many areas in North America. In Canada, greenhouses account for approximately 404 acres in Alberta and 3720 acres in Ontario. In the…
Fruit growers concerned at impact of new minimum wage on labour-intensive industry
Yesterday evening the South African Minister for Labour published the new minimum wage in the government gazette, a 4.5% increase effective from 1 March 2021 for workers in other sectors of the economy but for farm workers it represents a 16% jump from their previous minimum wage of R18.68 an hour. Farm…

Turning crop waste into high-value fashion products
Researchers at Cranfield University are working with partners at the University of York to develop a greener way to manufacture textiles for clothing using biomass derived from crop waste. The new process uses low environmental impact solvents to dissolve cellulose produced by bacteria from crop and…

UK: APS tests stem sensors to monitor tomato crops
Tomato growers in the Isle of Wight and Yorkshire are set to collaborate with researchers to understand better how new sensor technology could help improve yields and reduce crop losses. In a first for the use of sap-flow and stem diameter sensors in UK tomato production, the research aims to achieve a…

UK: 100% Renewable utility contracts
NFU Energy are committed to providing resources and expert guidance on renewable energy for NFU members and businesses alike and are helping to reach the NFU’s target of…

Ton van Kessel, Horti-Consult International:
“Everybody gained some experience with a closed greenhouse”
Lasst weekend the temperature in Netherlands rose to +15 degrees Celsius. A week before, it was -15 degrees Celsius. They went from winter to (almost) spring in just a couple of days. This means that growers were busy keeping their greenhouse climate at the right level and had to stay alert for the week…
Market Information more »

Indian greenhouse growers launches Clover brand for fruits and veggies
Greenhouse agri-tech start-up Clover Ventures has launched its direct-to-consumer fruit and vegetable brand ‘Deep Rooted.Co’ in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Clover will invest over $2 million in creating farmer-facing input-output technology, augmenting supply chain and cold storage capacities and…
February 24
The Union of Free Associations calls on Spanish self-employed, transporters, and farmers to a strike
The Union of Free Associations has called self-employed parties, transporters, and workers of the primary sector to a national strike scheduled for Wednesday, February 24.…

Qatar: Sales of local vegetables up 60% in three years
There has been a significant increase in the volume of sales of local produce through ‘Qatar Farms’ and ‘Premium Qatari Vegetables’ marketing programmes; sales soared by more…
Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance
PMA joins FACA steering committee
Produce Marketing Association (PMA) has joined the steering committee for the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA), a coalition focused on defining and promoting…

Sales increased by 0.6% compared to 2019 and represent 21.3% of the total in Spain
Andalusia broke agri-food exports record in 2020
Andalusia's agro-food exports closed the year 2020 with a total value of 11,255 million Euro, which is the highest on record. These exports also generated a record trade surplus of 7,040 million for the regional economy. According to Extenda data, this new record entails a 0.6% increase in sales compared…

Evokeag
Bigger is better: opportunities for agritech in the US market
Salad crops are big business in America, particularly California where more than a third of the country’s fresh vegetables and two thirds of its fruit and nuts are grown. “One of the things that makes Californian agriculture unique is the size and scale of our operation. It’s the fresh nerve centre of…
Today on social media more »

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Company News more »

Global Shop Solutions celebrates 45 years
Global Shop Solutions, a developer of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. Founded in 1976 by Dick Alexander, the family-owned business has grown from a small software developer to a global enterprise with five separatedivisions in the U.S, Mexico,…

Agriculture organisation UN reinforces partnership with international atomic energy agency
For more than 57 years, the partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and IAEA has contributed to addressing global challenges, including food insecurity, climate change, animal/zoonotic diseases and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. The IAEA and FAO…

BelOrta
Dutch pepper grower sells first green bell pepper of the season
This morning BelOrta sold the first green bell peppers of 2021. Buyer Legu-Fruits bought the first green peppers, supplied by producer Didier Algoet (Lentsche Heyde). These first green bell peppers also announce the arrival of the Belgian red and yellow bell peppers, although we will have to wait another…
Food Safety more »

Photo by Jaime Green
Wichita considers plan to encourage urban farming and reduce food insecurity
If there are three things Kansans like to do, it’s raise food, eat and make money. And the Wichita City Council was given an outline on Tuesday of a plan to make it easier for residents of the city to do all of the above. The need is profound, said council member Becky Tuttle, who presented the plan to…
Fertilizers more »

Enrique Cat, of Nostoc Biotech:
"Lower chemical use and higher productivity and Brix with vermicompost"
Soil is essential for soil-bound horticulture. It's not only the place where the plant roots develop and which contains the nutrients; it also hosts many microorganisms on which plant health depends. The soil itself forms an entire ecosystem with a great biodiversity, which is why the use of chemical…
Greenhouse more »

Study on modulating vapor pressure deficit to enhance the bioactive value of lettuce
Growing demand for horticultural products of accentuated sensory, nutritional, and functional quality traits has been driven by the turn observed in affluent societies toward…

"We enjoy growing food," says Hometown Farmer in Iowa
The Cornucopia, near Sioux Center, Iowa, has really grown since it was last featured in "Proud to be a Hometown Farmer" in 2014. Owner John Wesselius says the amount of vegetables the farm grows has tripled since then. "We enjoy growing. We enjoy growing food, we enjoy growing relationships and we enjoy…
Events more »

New webinar series focused on import/export regulations
United Fresh Produce Association has developed a six-part webinar series to inform companies of the regulatory issues affecting international trade of produce products…

New horticulture scholarship honors professional tie that led to lifelong friendship
As a peach and pecan producer in central Georgia, Al Pearson relied on the expert advice provided by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. In addition to the valuable counsel provided by Extension peach expert Maurice E. “Butch” Ferree, Pearson gained something unexpected: a lifelong friend. A…
Technique more »

Hotter, drier, CRISPR: editing plants for climate change
Gene editing technology will play a vital role in climate-proofing future crops to protect global food supplies, according to scientists at The University of Queensland. Biotechnologist Dr Karen Massel from UQ’s Centre for Crop Science has published a review of gene editing technologies such as…

New lightweight portable deck showcased
Pipp Horticulture, a provider of space‐saving, multi‐level mobile cultivation systems, announces the new Elevate Platform System. The Elevate Platform System is a robust yet lightweight and portable deck that allows cultivators to access PIPP’s Multi-Tier Mobile Grow Racks quickly, and most importantly,…
Cultivation more »

patented cultivation solution now available to all growers
FruitHydroSinni: 'We turned a problem into a business opportunity'
The Italian company FruitHydroSinni, which specialises in growing and marketing crops obtained from hydroponic and aeroponic systems, is sharing its latest innovation with growers who are planning to start or have already started a hydroponic cultivation. The company has been active in developing a…
Crop Protection more »

Study on polysulfides applied as formulated garlic extract to protect tomato against root-knot
The devastating root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita can cause severe damage to field and greenhouse crops. Due to high economic losses, alternative products are essential…
Product Info more »

Hans Boer, J. F. Boer Aanhangwagens en Stroomaggregaten
"We sell generators from Aalsmeer to Africa"
When it snows like last week, Hans Boer of J.F. Boer from Berkel en Rodenrijs, also known as Boer Berkel, knows what is going to happen. Growers get nervous and call him. "It has always been this way. But things are usually not that bad and we can provide a timely solution. Hans should know, the 'Boers'…
Open Field more »

MU celebrates Henry Kirklin with dedication of learning lab
State-of-the-art lab is MU effort to raise awareness of the university’s first Black teacher
The University of Missouri today honored Henry Kirklin, a celebrated Black farmer and educator who lived in and around Columbia from 1858 until his death in 1938, with the naming of the Henry Kirklin Plant Sciences Learning Laboratory in his honor. Nearly a dozen of Kirklin’s descendants were in virtual…
Packaging more »

PreZero Recycling
PreZero right on schedule in BelgiumPunctual opening of the sorting facility for lightweight packaging in Evergem
Following a construction period of just over one year and right on schedule, PreZero Recycling Belgium has begun operations at its sorting plant for light packaging in Evergem, Belgium. Every year, the fully automated plant will separate around 80,000 tons of material collected in the capital, Brussels,…
Suppliers more »

Matt Szucs general manager new Plantech West venue
"We've become a local area supplier for Leamington, Kingsville & Chatham-Kent region"
Recently, in an effort to respond to the dynamic and growing market in the Leamington/Kingsville/Chatham-Kent area, Plantech Control Systems Inc, owned by Richard Hiebendaal and Rob Brinkert, joined forces with JM Controls and Electric, owned by Jeff McFadden, in developing Plantech West, a new venture…
Grower in the Spotlight more »

Umami creates microgreens in the city center
Aquaponics in the heart of Zurich
They produce greens, but they travel to work by streetcar and don't need to put on weatherproof clothing. That's because Umami employees will harvest vegetables and herbs already in the early growth stages, as so-called microgreens. And they do so in a largely self-built facility, on the 4th floor of an…
Cooling more »

UF/IFAS
UF/IFAS researchNew study shows why strawberries must keep (their) cool
Right about now, if you eat a Florida strawberry, odds are it’s going to taste oh-so-good. That’s no accident. Strawberries are in season, and those you see at the grocery store should be shipped and stocked at the right temperature, says a University of Florida scientist. Experts stress the word…
Marketing more »

New appreciation for Kyoto’s heirloom vegetables
Vegetables unique to the Kyoto area are often called Kyo-yasai. One factor that makes Kyo-yasai unique is their size. They are usually quite large. Many are much larger than…
Breeding more »

"Old-world goodness with a twist of modern world traits"
New Vitalis Organic Seeds tomato lineup: Mixologist Collection
Vitalis Organic Seeds announces their newly developed breed of tomatoes in its Mixologist Collection, now available to growers in the United States. "Mixologist offers the perfect mix of old-world goodness with a twist of modern world traits. Explore the myriad of reasons to enjoy the craft and quality…
Substrates more »

New line of sustainable, organic greenhouse growing media
Gro-Bark, a custom soil and growing media blender, recently announced the launch of a new line of greenhouse growing media which emphasizes greater sustainability of ingredients and is certified organic. This initiative is one of the company’s most recent strategies to further enhance their…
Health more »

Edible flowers dinner during COVID and snow
Jeff Bednar and his wife, Lee, founded Profound Microfarms as a hydroponic and aquaponic farm in 2014, where they grew rare culinary herbs, edible flowers, and microgreens for chefs in North Texas. A few years later, they started collaborating with other local farms, such as Cartermere Farms in Celina…
Energy more »

TSO Greenhouses
Recycling solar energy for indoor farming use
New patented technology that recycles renewable energy is ready to revolutionize CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) and make indoor farming both more profitable and more attainable in remote rural areas. This upgrade in solar technology offers benefits for farmers, consumers, businesses,…
Retail more »

© Eugenesergeev | Dreamstime.com
Made in Israel agricultural produce, now also in Bahrain
Following the signing of trade agreements with the United Arab Emirates, now, in a matter of weeks, Bahrain will also be able to enjoy the flavor of fruits and vegetables made in IsraelMinister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alon Schuster: "Israel is an international powerhouse in the field of…
Machines more »

Getting your deck cleaner through the winter without any damage
With more than 30 years of experience and almost 1000 installations worldwide, they know how and what to do at Besseling Techniek. The machines are used year-round, to clean for more light output or to coat for additional protection. Machines always need their maintenance, but with a cold winter on the…
Organic more »

US: Organic greenhouse tomatoes see increased demand across varieties
Supplies of greenhouse tomatoes are good but volumes will soon build to meet the increased demand tomatoes have seen in 2020. “Supply and quality are both good, although the seasonally low light levels do slow the growth this time of the year. We should see stronger volume around March 1,” says Anthony…