At Dutch horticultural greenhouse cluster NEXTgarden companies and knowledge institutions are collaborating to develop a new cultivation systems for vegetable and pot plant cultivation. In of the projects, the entrepreneurs want to make food production more sustainable through the production, processing and marketing of protein-rich water lentils.
Greenhouse Protein NEXTgarden
The main focus in theprotein rich water lentils project is how to grow commercial water-lentils with the help of LEDs.
After a successful first water lentil cultivation pilot, a project group was set up to achieve the following four goals:
• controlled cultivation of water lentils in greenhouses;
• paving the way for consumption by humans and animals;
• opening up the chain from production to consumption;
• creating public awareness and communication towards consumers.
The advantage of greenhouse cultivation of water lentils is the fact that growing conditions can be optimized. An additional advantage at the NEXTgarde clustern is that after processing the residues can be used as input for a local bio digester.