The kick-off lecture dealt with the horticulture scene in Chile. Professor Alejandro Duimovic described several factors that have turned many Chileans on to hydroponic growing.
“We had a very interesting talk by Professor Duimovic about how Chile has a low-tech industry that's working hard to change,” said one of the event's organizer's, Andrés da Silva from EACEA greenhouse consulting company. “Nematodes are a problem there, and because growers can no longer use certain chemicals to deal with nematodes, they are turning to other solutions.” While growers have developed workarounds that leave out their usual arsenal of chemicals, those new options take a toll on yields. As a result, according to Professor Duimovic, many growers have turned to hydroponic growing.
“There's going to be a turning point in Chile toward hydroponic greenhouse growing, maybe next year,” said da Silva. “Growers there want to control nematodes, they want a marketable crop and they want good yields, and that might also motivate many Brazil growers to turn to hydroponics.”
Another talk focused on Ceickor, one of Mexico's premier training facilities that prepares people for the greenhouse industry. Felix Tarrats, one of Ceickor's representatives, described the evolution through which Mexican growers have progressed from open-field to net houses, from net houses to medium tech greenhouses, and finally, the growing presence of high-tech greenhouses. But he was also keen to point out one of the conference's big themes, which was the need to match technological innovations with adequate training.
“One of the main ideas of the conference was that even if you have good technology, it doesn't necessarily mean anything if you don't have good people,” said da Silva. “The same way you have to invest in technology, you also have to invest in training.” So impressed was da Silva with Tarrats' lecture that he made it known his organization is looking to replicate the Ceickor model of personnel training as soon as they can secure the proper funding.
Funding was another big topic at this year's HortiTec/Plasticultura conference, especially funding from investors and government agencies in Brazil. The event was a success in da Silva's eyes because it brought together potential investors in greenhouse operations and government representatives who can dole out the funds necessary to grow Brazil's horticultural sector.
“Nowadays, money is available in Brazil,” said da Silva. “We just need to present the government and investors with growers who have an enterprising attitude to get projects going.” He predicted that his country will have 200 new hectares of mid-tech greenhouses within the next five years. That number is based on natural advantages Brazilian growers enjoy as well as the great market for greenhouse-grown products.
“We had a presentation from Gilles Turcotte from AGRISYS, a Canadian consulting company that showed how they got great yields with biomass and compost substrate,” said da Silva. “Brazil has all of the necessary inputs to follow that model, so, for instance, I don't think we'll have to import rockwool, because we already have a lot of the things necessary for hydroponic growing. The demand for greenhouse products, especially organics, is high, the prices for those products are high because people are concerned with quality and health, so we have to do this – we have to give people in Brazil who are interested in greenhouse technology an option.”
For more information:
http://plasticultura.org.br
Andrés da Silva (e-mail)
EACEA LTDA
55 12 9613 2171
www.eacea.com.br
