December 2016: Lit cultivation takes off in UK, Canada and the U.S.

And here is December; the last part of the series of articles in which we looked back at the most interesting industry happenings of 2016.

December once again started for us with the annual Growtech exhibition in Turkey. But this year, due to the aftermath of the tension between Russia and Turkey, it remained a bit calm at the Antalya event this year. Yet, while most of the exhibitors confirmed the difficult times in Turkish horticulture, they remained positive, believing that better times are on the horizon, hoping that the greenhouse industry will again invest in advanced horticultural technology in the year 2017.

We also published an article on how greenhouses can help clean up Chinese 'zombie' companies and solve the unemployment that millions of Chinese are facing when the government will close hundreds of its infamous 'zombie enterprises'.

More positive news came from Holland, where tomato grower Lans announced the purchase of 44 hectares of land for new greenhouse development. And from Leamington, where plans have been announced for the realization of a Greenhouse Centre of Excellence.

And from Quebec...because Serres Toundra officially opened its new state of the art cucumber greenhouse.

And from the UK, where Flavourfresh Salads Lansdale picked its first crops earlier than expected thanks to the investment of a Philips LED lighting installation supplied by LS Systems Ltd and their partners in the Netherlands Agrolux Europe BV.

And another highlight of December was included in our newsletter this week. Shenandoah Growers, the largest retail grower of organic herbs in the United States, has deployed thousands of Fluence LED solutions in its state-of-the-art vertical farm and greenhouse facilities. With the new LED lighting solutions, Shenandoah Growers has boosted crop yields and quality while reducing land, water and fertilizer resources.