A new event for propagators of both cold and warm vegetables worldwide was held on 20 and 21 September. The first day consisted of several presentations, interactive sessions, and panel discussions. The first presentation was done by Ton Habraken of Ludvig Svensson and Rene Beerkens of Hoogendoorn. They shared their vision of Plant Empowerment in propagation.
Furthermore, the floor was for Beekenkamp and ISO Group regarding their clipping machine, followed by Sigg Plant with their realization on indoor farming, and in another room Kekkilä BVB in combination with Klasmann-Deilmann about the future of peat.
Agri-Evolution (related to the plant conditions for fully automatized brassicas open field planting), Antonios Stellas & Syngenta (grafted watermelons), Gitzels Plant Nursery (Plant Empowerment in cold propagation), and HortiPar (the options with LEDs) complemented the agenda.
On the second day, the participants could join a joint presentation by WPK and Fluence or visit companies like Gitzels Plant Nursery and Syngenta.
After the event, we met Ad Kranendonk, Head of Sales and Business Development at Flier Systems; he was, of course, present throughout the event. "We had such great days. It is so special that so many people from all over the world made the effort to come here. Our goal was knowledge sharing and networking; both worked out well. We also received many compliments, and we are very happy with that too."
Topicality
Both Ad and Hans van Herk look back on a successful event; that much is clear. Flier Systems is committed to customer partnership. Their customers are international professional growers. And this event was in line with that. 'It is very interesting for us to know what effect our automation solution has in the cultivation and vice versa. So Plant Empowerment and the associated cultivation strategy were central to the presentations. Ultimately, our common goal, both from Propagation Solutions and Flier Systems, is to take the propagation industry to the next level. Hans does that in the form of (hands-on) on-site advice and we with customized automation solutions," said Ad.
The topics of the presentations were pre-tested with customers and in the market. There was plenty of room for input from that side. 'For example, we found three customers willing to share their views on the future of using peat. Videos were made of these and shown in the hall. These were then used in the presentation. Then the best discussions arise," says Ad.
Future
Cultivation in 2022 / 2023 cannot be compared to, say, ten years ago. There are so many more problems for entrepreneurs to tackle. Energy costs are one of them. In northern Europe, few exposed tomatoes will be grown this fall/winter. That shifts to spring. For growers, it means orders will be less staggered with the result that there simply won't be enough space. Growers indicate to growers that they need to keep space free but do not place an order. This is understandable, but of course, both parties crave certainty. So what do you do? How do you deal with it? This was one of the topics discussed during and around this event; very meaningful.
For more information:
Flier Systems
Ad Kranendonk
[email protected]
www.fliersystems.nl