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Robo and Data Lab opened

"Westland must dare to think bigger"

A Robo- and Datalab was opened at Tomatoworld in Honselersdijk on Thursday morning. "A special day in the history of horticulture," said Aart van den Bos, interim director of Tomatoworld.

In the Datalab, companies with digital innovations for greenhouse horticulture can experiment with data, dashboards, and digital twin applications. The Robolab is a place for working on the robots being tested. All necessary materials are available here and have already been disinfected to make the virus risk as low as possible.

With funds from MRDH, the Municipality of Westland, and NXTGEN Hightech Agrifood, the cultivation facilities at Zwethlaan have been optimized, and the Robo- and Datalab has been realized. Alderman Peter Valstar of the Municipality of Westland was invited to cut the ribbon. Naturally, this was done in a creative, high-tech way.


Alderman Peter Valstar of Westland Municipality opened the Robo- and Datalab in style by cutting a ribbon, hanging from a drone that took off. View the photo report of the opening of the Data- and Robolab here.

Realism
Before it was all over, the alderman first had the chance to address a room of press and stakeholders on the importance of innovation for horticulture in Westland, in the Netherlands. In an "old-fashioned Westland meeting," he called on those present to show "The Hague" exactly how far the sector has come. For example, the robotic arm that processes potted plants has been saving labor for years.

At the same time, Valstar noted that 'The Hague' still sometimes lacks realism, especially about the greenhouse horticulture sector. That sector cannot simply do without labor migrants, although there are parties who think that a sector ban on temporary workers is a good idea.

The Westland alderman also acknowledges that there are abuses, but he also sees that his colleagues from neighboring municipalities The Hague and Rotterdam sometimes come to him all too easily when something is wrong with labor migrants. "They really don't all work in Westland," Valstar stressed.

Hard fight
The transition from manual labor to robotized labor is underway. But it will really take some time before all those little hands are actually replaced. With the Robo- and Datalab, the ambition is to accelerate technical innovation, but a harvesting robot was not yet on display in the greenhouse on Thursday morning, for instance. Growers have been waiting for this for years, and each time the moment for market introduction seemed to be there, the robots often turned out not to be really ready for practice yet.

That the Robo- and Datalab is now in place is positive. A large group of companies is helping. The Westland Municipality also lent a hand. Valstar does see that it is "a hard battle" to get money to make horticulture future-proof and to keep it that way. Of a budget of 5 million in the Westland Agenda, only 2.5 million is likely to become available in the coming years. And even that is hard to secure. "Westland thinks too small," he is of the opinion. Initiatives like in Tomatoworld are "the future of Westland."

Peter Valstar, Joeri van den Hoek, Jeroen van Zwieten and Jan Enthoven formed a panel. View the photo report of the opening of the Data and Robolab here.

Integrability
During the subsequent panel, the alderman, as well as the 3 Js, interacted. Joeri van den Hoek of RoboCrops and Jan Enthoven of Tomatoworld are themselves closely involved in Tomatoworld developments from their roles. Jeroen van Zwieten of Sobolt added the vision of the tech entrepreneur, who would like his company to be "the plug box of horticulture." In horticulture, he said, things still tend to go wrong on euros, ego, or logos. "You don't see Sobolt anywhere, but that's fine with him. The company is happy with its role."

Joeri introduced a new term in the panel discussion: Interrobility. By this, he means that in the future, when more robots will be working in the greenhouse at the same time, it will be much needed for all systems to be able to communicate with each other. The Hortivation Point is already a good start for this, in terms of setting a standard for positioning.

Despite the advance of new technologies, the grower will continue to exist. However, the panel members point out that the role of the grower is changing. The people currently working in greenhouses will also change, noted Anneke Postman of Horti Academy. More people will be needed who are good with robotics and new techniques. That could also make horticulture a more interesting employer again.


Nico Ammerlaan is the grower of Tomatoworld. He had plenty to say in a greenhouse full of modern techniques.

Once inside the greenhouse, after the opening ceremony, the use of all the techniques present revolved around an optimal tomato harvest. Yet, it is certainly not the case that the Robo- and Datalab only look at tomatoes. On the contrary. Joeri from Robocrops sees in the market that innovation sometimes goes a little easier in ornamental cultivation. "There, the margins are bigger," he says.

View the photo report of the opening of the Data and Robolab here.