Focus on light at four-layer strawberry cultivation facility

In Hoogstraten (Belgium), strawberries will be grown late this year for the first time in a four-layer system. Below the three upper gutters dimmable LEDs will be suspended to compensate for the light loss on the lower gutters. In recent years, trials have already been conducted at Research Center…

"Choose what best fits your needs"

Thanks to adding new products to their range, BLV now offers a complete range of assimilation lighting: From lamps and power supplies to complete luminaires and from HPS or MH to LED. "All from one source and perfectly synchronised with each other", they explain.  At IPM BLV displays their new hybrid solution: the well established HPS lights…

Everything is automated at this Australian seedling producer

At Boomaroo, an Australian producer of vegetable seedlings in the open ground, a new project is being installed. KG Systems, not unknown down under, supplies them with an automatic container system consisting of nearly 2000 mobile containers. ‘Fully automated’ is how Floris Berghout with KG Systems describes the system.…

New lighting for Finnish cucumbers

In about three weeks his whole company will be provided with new lighting. Finnish grower Jan Lindberg of Malax Trädgård is happy now that his old lighting, that has been there for ten years, is replaced with the hybrid grow light installation of Hortilux. Top and interlighting In December the top lighting was installed at the full…

IPM Essen: Plastic-free concepts and various lighting solutions

The 37th edition of the IPM Essen started yesterday. It could have been the snow, it could have been the traffic, but it was a bit of a slow start in terms of visitors. Today the aisles are more crowded. "But the quality of visitors was better yesterday", an exhibitor laughed, summarizing the ongoing…

Spain: One of the most important tomato producers in the world

In 2017, Spain grew 4 times as many tomatoes as Morocco and 5.5 times more than the Netherlands. Turkey grew twice as much as Spain. China, the number one producer in the world, grew 11.5 times more than Spain. The total world production amounted to more than 180,000 million kilos, grown on an area of…

Village Farms files for NASDAQ listing

Village Farms has filed an application to list its common shares on NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “VFF”. Village Farms’ common shares will continue to be listed on…

Koppert India to train smallholder farmers

A consortium of Dutch companies – of which Koppert India is a partner – the Dutch government and leading Indian retailer, Future Group, launched an ambitious agricultural project and opened a demonstration polyhouse in Tumkur, Karnataka, India on Friday, 18 January. The aim of the project is to reduce food waste in…

Happy birthday, far away from home

Martijn Naaborg, project manager with Dry Hydroponics, is currently working on his first job in Canada, at the Thiel's Greenhouses project. Today he happens to be celebrating his birthday far away from home, so Bas, Joris, Dirk, Maurice, and Chris of Dry Hydroponics are taking this opportunity to wish…

Three startups take top prizes at Indoor Ag-Con Asia pitch competition

Indoor agriculture startups Biteback, Farmers Cut and Growers Agritech won top honors at the Indoor Ag-Ignite competition finals held during Indoor Ag-Con Asia, January 15-16, 2019 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Designed to support entrepreneurs and find the most innovative new ideas globally in the…

Everything is automated at this Australian seedling producer

At Boomaroo, an Australian producer of vegetable seedlings in the open ground, a new project is being installed. KG Systems, not unknown down under, supplies them with an automatic container system consisting of nearly 2000 mobile containers. ‘Fully automated’ is how Floris Berghout with KG Systems describes the system.…

Increasing taste and appearance of microgreens with light spectrum

Microgreens are gaining popularity and have created a steady demand from end-consumers. Its fast turnaround times for harvest has made it an ideal crop for all types of controlled environments in agriculture including indoor growing, greenhouses, hydroponics and vertical farming. Microgreens in highest demand are…

The amount of light plants can cope with

Is it possible for a plant to be exposed to too much light? Caution is the operative word for potted plants. However, various cut flowers and vegetable crops are able to cope with much more light than currently thought. Provided that the light is properly distributed. Horticultural consultants are regularly asked how much light a…

New lighting for Finnish cucumbers

In about three weeks his whole company will be provided with new lighting. Finnish grower Jan Lindberg of Malax Trädgård is happy now that his old lighting, that has been there for ten years, is replaced with the hybrid grow light installation of Hortilux. Top and interlighting In December the top lighting was installed at the full…

"Choose what best fits your needs"

Thanks to adding new products to their range, BLV now offers a complete range of assimilation lighting: From lamps and power supplies to complete luminaires and from HPS or MH to LED. "All from one source and perfectly synchronised with each other", they explain.  At IPM BLV displays their new hybrid solution: the well established HPS lights…

Syngenta CEO targets seeds as top M&A priority

Erik Fyrwald, chief executive officer at Syngenta, discusses the benefits of the company’s purchase by ChemChina and their M&A priorities. He speaks at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on "Bloomberg Surveillance."   Source: Bloomberg

Village Farms files for NASDAQ listing

Village Farms has filed an application to list its common shares on NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “VFF”. Village Farms’ common shares will continue to be listed on…

Vestaron appoints Sherry Mitchell as Director of Marketing

Vestaron has appointed Sherry Mitchell as Director of Marketing. Sherry most recently was North America Director of Communications for Nufarm Americas, a developer and marketer of crop protection and enhancement products, for its agriculture and turf segments. She also has strong brand and creative…

Happy birthday, far away from home

Martijn Naaborg, project manager with Dry Hydroponics, is currently working on his first job in Canada, at the Thiel's Greenhouses project. Today he happens to be celebrating his birthday far away from home, so Bas, Joris, Dirk, Maurice, and Chris of Dry Hydroponics are taking this opportunity to wish…

US: AVIV biofungicide now registered in Florida

STK Bio-ag Technologies has secured Florida state registration for its biofungicide AVIV. Based on a proprietary strain of Bacillus subtilis IAB/BS03, AVIV biofungicide is an advanced microbial fungicide that delivers broad spectrum disease control both in soil and on plant surfaces. AVIV is a clear liquid, which tends…

Koppert India to train smallholder farmers

A consortium of Dutch companies – of which Koppert India is a partner – the Dutch government and leading Indian retailer, Future Group, launched an ambitious agricultural project and opened a demonstration polyhouse in Tumkur, Karnataka, India on Friday, 18 January. The aim of the project is to reduce food waste in…

BVT receives first patent approval for its proprietary microbial strain

Bee Vectoring Technologies has received patent allowance for its microbial strain Clonostachys rosea strain BVT CR-7, granted in the United States. This patent allowance protects a critical component of BVT’s proprietary vectoring technology.   This is the first patent granted to BVT for its CR-7 microbial strain,…

Crop Enhancement secures venture capital funds

Cavallo Ventures, the venture capital arm of Wilbur-Ellis, has invested in Crop Enhancement, an innovator of sustainable agrochemical products for enhancing crop yields. With its investment, Cavallo Ventures aims to accelerate the development of Crop Enhancement’s crop protection technology in the United…

Spain: 40% of fresh vegetables Murcia are packaged in the field

Maximum freshness and the shortest packaging time possible are essential to meet demand in the EU and northern Europe. The importance of fresh vegetable production in the…

Beijing: 20 new cherry tomato varieties enter market before Spring Festival

20 new cherry tomato varieties were successfully planted in Xiaotangshan, Beijing. The new varieties were introduced from the Netherlands, Japan, and the USA. They have…

California rain delaying planting and harvesting

California has been receiving a tremendous amount of rain recently, with news reports of flooding in some areas. Although in general, producers in California are a little quieter right now than at other times of the year, there is still a lot of produce being grown throughout the state. Rainfall was…

US might consider lifting China tariffs

Some sources say US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed lifting some, if not all tariffs on China. He may even offer a tariff rollback during the next round of trade…

Higher demands for packaging as Chinese New Year approaches

“In recent years, with the increase of consumer demand for packaging products and the advancement of the fruit and vegetable industry, the market demand for packaging has become increasingly high for fruit and vegetable products. For example, packaged products need to be protected to the greatest extent.…

New funding for 'Improving agricultural education in Afghanistan' project

Just before the onset of winter the Dutch embassy in Kabul awarded an additional € 2.9 million to the Improving Agricultural Education in Afghanistan; or ATVET project. This raises the total project budget, until the end of 2021, to €26.5 million. These extra millions allow the project to expand its leading role in…

'Smart agriculture is a priority for Morocco'

Morocco’s Minister of Agriculture Aziz Akhannouch spoke at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) on Saturday in Berlin about the potential of digitizing Moroccan…

Spain: One of the most important tomato producers in the world

In 2017, Spain grew 4 times as many tomatoes as Morocco and 5.5 times more than the Netherlands. Turkey grew twice as much as Spain. China, the number one producer in the world, grew 11.5 times more than Spain. The total world production amounted to more than 180,000 million kilos, grown on an area of…

Selection of seasonal workers for Spanish strawberry harvest starts in Morocco

"With the money I earn in the strawberry harvest season in Spain, I can save, and then my family and I can live for several months without having to do a painful job," says Fatima Qazab, one of the candidates. Qazab, 39, divorced and with three children, showed up together with thousands of other women…

Brexit: France fears no-deal blow to farms

The head of France's main farmers' union has warned that a no-deal Brexit could have a severe impact on French agricultural exports. Christiane Lambert of the FNSEA union said…

EU publishes its proposals for free trade talks with US

On the website of the European Commission are listed the EU proposals regarding free trade negotiations with the United States of America. “The European Commission has today adopted proposals…

COAG regrets that Spanish vegetables suffer the consequences of EU-Morocco geopolitical agreements

The Coordinator of Organizations of Farmers and Cattle Ranchers (COAG) strongly criticized the position adopted by the MEPs who were in favor of extending the commercial advantages that Moroccan exports to the EU have to the productions of Western Sahara. This approval clearly harms the interests of…

UK invests £79 million to tackle future challenges

Advanced crop breeding, tackling infectious disease and clean energy technologies are just three areas where the UK will partner with world-leading collaborators to push boundaries and meet 21st century challenges. These are part of a £79 million investment in international projects that will see UK researchers and innovators…

US: Food and flower inspections delayed by shutdown

At Miami International Airport an army or federal inspectors are usually used to clear imports and exports bound for the US. and around the world. These are not usual times.  As a…

Italy: Bad season for the Sicilian artichokes

The main Sicilian artichokes producers are facing a very unpleasant situation. Enzo Nisseno invited us to the Maas in Catania to tell us about the current campaign trend, which is indicative of a bad season for the second year in a row. Enzo Rametta Rametta explained, “For the second year in a row, the artichoke campaign is just a…

Video: Turn-key bioenergy implementation launched

Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, this horticultural client of Enriva's is a family run business growing food and plants for the wholesale market. Enriva in conjunction with Smart Heating delivered this state of the art biomass project which provides a year round temperature controlled…

Veolia and Yara partner to recycle nutrients

Resource recovery company Veolia and crop nutrition company Yara signed an agreement to develop circular economy in the European food and agricultural chain by recycling…

Using nuclear science in marker-assisted plant breeding

Imagine you must identify a glass of seawater among a hundred glasses of drinking water merely by looking at them. Almost impossible! But what if the glass with the seawater had a small red dot – a marker – on it? You would solve the riddle in no time. Finding this marker is exactly what new developments in science…

Rest in peace plant breeding innovation in the EU after the ECJ ruling?

MEP Christopher Fjellner is organising an event entitled "Rest in Peace Plant Breeding Innovation in the EU after the ECJ Ruling?" on Wednesday, 6th of February 2019, from…

Visser Horti Systems introduces a new AutoStix-strip

Visser Horti Systems introduces a new AutoStix-strip. This multimedia strip is designed so that its plugs can be filled with any type of media. The rooting process of cuttings can therefore take place inside the plug, which provides growers with a new solution in automatic transplanting. More flexibility in automatic transplanting Automatic transplanting…

Toy plants made out of plants

Last year, Lego introduced plant-based plants, bricks that a re made of sugar cane. While producing from oil costs CO2, the sugar cane absorbs CO2. According to the Danish toy production company i t is a step in Lego's plan to make every brick from sustainable material by 2030. Check out this unboxing video to see what it is…

Microgreens – 2BFRESH presents new products in new packaging

According to recent research, all types of microgreens contain a vitamin concentration 10 to 15 times their amount in mature produce. A person who consumes 15 grams of microgreens is as if he/she had eaten 200 grams of mature produce. To illustrate, if you eat 15 grams of microgreen broccoli, it's as if…

Going Full Flower in Holland

The Dutch have a long and storied history as horticulture pioneers. While tulips immediately come to mind, other flowers and plants find welcoming ground in Holland. While the Netherlands might not be the point of origin for all of the flora it boasts, the fact remains that this country is one of the largest--if not the…

"We provide access to a more sustainable way of growing"

Finnish Kekkilä and Dutch BVB Substrates have come together, combining decades of horticultural know-how to create a leader in the European growing media sector “Thanks to smart technology, vast…

Whole Foods arrives in Europe via Amazon

For a few days now, the Amazon sites of Germany, France, Italy and Spain have been proposing organic products under the Whole Foods brand. After acquiring the American chain…

Green Bronx Machine

We’re growing the next generation of farmers in the South Bronx. I’m rooted in the belief that it’s easier to grow healthy children than fix broken men. #TeachingTuesday @StephenRitz pic.twitter.com/wragQjtbhe — Green Bronx Machine (@greenBXmachine) January 22, 2019

US (CA): Low or no pesticide levels in most fruits and vegetables

Once again, tests showed that the vast majority of fresh produce collected by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) met national pesticide residue standards. During its 2017 survey, DPR found 96 percent of all samples had no detectable pesticide residues or were below levels allowed by…

First report of tomato brown rugose fruit virus infecting tomato in Germany

In July 2018, unusual fruit and leaf symptoms were observed in numerous greenhouses cultivating tomatoes commercially in the Lower Rhine region of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.  In total, more than 25 ha of greenhouse tomatoes were affected. New Disease Reports, an international online peer-reviewed journal…

PCA organizes regional greenhouse tour of Tasmania

Australian growers can escape the summer heat in February and join the PCA in Tasmania on a two-day regional greenhouse tour. Together with fellow growers and PCA members, they will visit…

IPM Essen: Plastic-free concepts and various lighting solutions

The 37th edition of the IPM Essen started yesterday. It could have been the snow, it could have been the traffic, but it was a bit of a slow start in terms of visitors. Today the aisles are more crowded. "But the quality of visitors was better yesterday", an exhibitor laughed, summarizing the ongoing…

'Low demand for Turkish peppers after Christmas'

The situation on the German wholesale markets is very subdued, so shortly after the turn of the year. In Nuremberg the market has stabilized as well, after the increased sales during the Christmas season. January is also a quiet month for Turkish retailers, confirms Ali Macara of Ikram Gbr/Macara Fruits,…

Focus on light at four-layer strawberry cultivation facility

In Hoogstraten (Belgium), strawberries will be grown late this year for the first time in a four-layer system. Below the three upper gutters dimmable LEDs will be suspended to compensate for the light loss on the lower gutters. In recent years, trials have already been conducted at Research Center…

How agritech could transform farming in Singapore

Which countries come to mind when you hear "agriculture"? China? Yes. Japan? Probably. Singapore? Not so much. The country has never had a large role to play in agriculture. Yet in the past two years, the authorities cannot seem to stop waxing lyrical about the potential of Singapore as an agrifood tech…

Three startups take top prizes at Indoor Ag-Con Asia pitch competition

Indoor agriculture startups Biteback, Farmers Cut and Growers Agritech won top honors at the Indoor Ag-Ignite competition finals held during Indoor Ag-Con Asia, January 15-16, 2019 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Designed to support entrepreneurs and find the most innovative new ideas globally in the…

CAN (ON): Tilray buys 662,000 sq.ft. greenhouse in Leamington

Tilray has entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Tilray, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, will acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Natura…

Green Growth files bid to take over Aphria

Green Growth has filed its Offer to Purchase and Circular and related documents with the applicable securities regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States and will…

It's... Snowtime!