In this video, Freethink dives into Dutch horticulture to find out about the future of food. Obviously, they take a look into a greenhouse, because "if there is one place that approach is most clear, it is in their unrivaled greenhouse growing operations."
Ernst van den Ende, WUR Head of Plant Sciences, explains that efficiency is key to feed the world in the future. "If you produce tomatoes in an open field situation in Spain, at the end of the growing season you will end up with 4 kilograms per square meter. If you do this in a high-tech greenhouse in the Netherlands, you will end up with 80 kilograms per square meter, which is 20 times more. The best part is that we grow the 80 kilograms of tomatoes with four times less water compared to an open field situation."
In the World Horti Center Freethink find out that all kinds of ways to optimize growth are being tested and implemented. From LED lights to moth killing drones. And how they can replicate every climate on earth to improve food production around the world. "In the world we live nowadays, you need to link up with other people. You can't do it on your own", Ernst concludes.