As cultivation companies get bigger, and investors enter the world of cultivation, people with green thumbs travel the world to share their experiences. Wim van Wingerden: "I think that autonomous cultivation is going to be the basis for climate control in greenhouses." Wim joined Cropex, a group of cultivation advisers who share their knowledge and network with each other.
Autonomous cultivation
"In addition to autonomous cultivation, it is very important how labor is arranged and how diseases and pathogens are dealt with. For us it is a good challenge to define plant parameters, and base our climate control on that. Because investors precisely want to know the profit, we try to integrate autonomous cultivation in our advice."
Knowledge exchange
Cropex was founded five years ago at the initiative of Peter Stradiot. "Knowledge exchange and development are the main objectives of our group. All thirteen members have their independent projects all over the world, but if you run into something, it is good to be able to rely on each other. That can be done by simply sending a text message. Once a month we get together and we regularly visit companies. Another large advantage is that you can approach companies easier as a group. For investors without a cultivation background, we are a group with expertise."
Projects worldwide
Wim gives advice for the cultivation of bell peppers and eggplants. His work territory comprises of several countries in Europe. Other members advise on tomato, cucumber, leafy vegetables and herbs, and they work on projects in Morocco, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, and of course also in Europe. "Because there is no employer-employee relation within Cropex, trust is the basis of the group. It is an atmosphere I am happy with. Cropex is a wonderful group of people working at a high level for the best results for our customers."
For more information:
Cropex
[email protected]
www.cropexgroup.com