Canadian grower celebrates Farmworker Awareness Week

Windset Farms® likes to do things for its farmworkers. The company regularly brings in food trucks for lunches and holds raffles and barbecues at its head office in Delta, British Columbia. However, the most beloved event it hosts is a multi-week soccer tournament that all farmworkers are invited to play…

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AU: $11.5M effort to deliver bot-ready strawberries

Strawberries specially bred for automated picking will soon become a reality in Australia after the launch of an initiative to develop varieties that can be easily harvested by a robot. Scientists will naturally meld together the flavor, color, and aroma traits Aussies love the most with premium…

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US (FL): Farm workers use Florida march to pressure other companies

Farm workers were leading a five-day, 45-mile (72-kilometer) trek on foot this week from one of the poorest communities in Florida to a mansion-lined, oceanfront town that is one of the richest in an effort to pressure retailers to leverage their purchasing power for better worker pay and working…

A sowing, pruning, and harvesting robot for Synecoculture Farming

Synecoculture, a new farming method, involves growing mixed plant species together in high density. However, it requires complex operation since varying species with different growing seasons and growing speeds are planted on the same land. To address this need, researchers have developed a robot to sow,…

Development of fully automated harvesting and transportation robots with AI

A system of robots that harvest and transport crops on their own without human assistance has been developed for use in agricultural facilities such as smart farms. The research team under Choi Tae-yong, principal researcher at the AI Robot Research Division’s Department of Robotics and Mechatronics of…

Housing at pepper grower expanded

At Jansen Paprika in Andijk, an expansion of the employee hotel has been realized. The residential studios were installed at the end of last month. Last December, the foundation for this had already been poured. A total of thirty modules, called 'blocks' by Marc Govers of Blueblox, which supplies the…

"We need to rethink the investment in educating the younger generation"

We need to reposition our approach towards investing in educating the younger generation to understand the importance of the sector and the advantages of working in agriculture, is the signal given by Member of Parliament Adrian Chesnoiu, former Minister of Agriculture and currently Member of the…

Tagawa Greenhouse rooting cuttings better and faster

Tagawa Greenhouse is using soft-filled Ellepots produced in a FlexAIR machine to root vegetative cuttings quicker with more roots and improved labor efficiency. Tagawa Greenhouse Enterprises, headquartered in Brighton, Colo., has been growing a variety of seed and vegetative crops since it began…

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South Korean institute develops smart farm robot

A South Korean research team has developed an unmanned smart farm robot that can harvest and transport fruits without the need for human help. The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials said that its researchers has developed a special robot that can harvest garden crops such as fruits and vegetables…

Packing line for snacking tomatoes significantly reduces labor need

The selection of tomatoes in any retail store is abundant nowadays. Both retailers and consumers ask for different types of tomatoes as well as all sorts of packaging. In response to this demand, JASA Packaging Solutions is offering packing lines that have the ability to pack most tomato varieties, from…

Achieving operational efficiency with a precise match of technology to business processes

Southern Paprika specializes in capsicums and has become the largest single-site greenhouse operation in New Zealand, with over 27ha (67 acres) of greenhouses. They have adopted an approach of continuous improvement, whereby they are constantly comparing and developing new methods, processes, and inputs…

US (IL): iSEE seed-funds project on high tunnel farming with robotics

The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is providing seed funding for research projects that will use automation to reduce manual labor costs in small urban farming operations. The Robot Integrated High Tunnels (RobInHighTs) project will use AI-powered robotics to automate…

NFU launches ambitious growth strategy for UK horticulture

Against the backdrop of empty supermarket shelves, the NFU launched a strategy to boost UK horticulture. If backed by the government, this could be the solution to minimize…

This month's special: Labor and Staff

Robots aren't fully ready yet, and there's a widespread lack of human labor in many sectors. Wages, work conditions, but also skill level, are all points to address, currently. That's why this month, the special is going to focus on Labor and Staff. SpecialIf you have news to share regarding this topic or…

Dutch grower signed multi-year agreement to deploy robotic workers

MetoMotion has signed a multi-year agreement with RedStar for the purchase of multiple MetoMotion’s Greenhouse Robotics Worker (GRoW). RedStar started harvesting with the GRoW robot in 2022 and is now scaling its usage with purchase of the robots covered in this agreement. The plan is to reach full…

Canadian government invests to address agri labor demands

"Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector continues to be among the sectors most affected by the pandemic, which caused plant closures, market fluctuations, and supply chain…

NL: Horticulture around Emmen offered new employment after decline in peat labor

Anyone driving just past Emmen will encounter a sizeable glasshouse horticultural area. Promotion Group Horticulture Emmen reminisces on how the greenhouse horticulture area came into being. Horticulture in the north of the Netherlands came about at the initiative of the municipality of Emmen. In the…

Oppy named one of British Columbia's top employers

Oppy is being honored three times over for its commitment to its people and community. Firstly, Oppy has been selected as one of BC’s Top Employers for 2023 for the seventh consecutive year. Honored in the province Oppy first called home, this annual program evaluates organizations across a range of…

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US (VA): The impact of inflation on greenhouse growers

Normally, at this time of year, the crew at Woods Farms in Franklin County would be filling up every greenhouse, but that’ll have to happen a little later this year. It’s the game of dollars and cents. Mark Woods, the owner of Woods Farms, says it comes down to fuel prices. “We use diesel in our houses,…

Data-driven lighting for autonomous growing

Better quality products. A larger harvest. Improved planning to predict crop yields. Better control of costs, including energy and labor. Today, a new age is dawning to help greenhouse farmers achieve these goals. It's the age of autonomous growing, in which artificial intelligence and data-driven…

Türkiye starts 2023 with a large minimum wage hike

Türkiye entered 2023 with a significant rise in its national minimum wage. As announced by president Erdoğan in the second half of December 2022, the Turkish minimum wage has…

New solar panels show growers the light

Arable land is at an all-time premium. Since the last ice age, humans have cleared one-third of the earth’s forests and two-thirds of its wild grasslands, much of it for…

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Saudi: Al-Fadhli approves plan to increase agricultural production in greenhouses

Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Eng. Abdulrahman Bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli, who is also the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Development Fund, has approved the expansion plan in the plant resources sector and greenhouses with a new investment worth SR4 billion until…

UK government provides boost to horticulture industry regarding seasonal workers

The British government has announced 45,000 new visas for seasonal workers for horticultural businesses next year. According to Defra officials, the Seasonal Agricultural…

UK: "Energy and labor must not hinder the hort sector in 2023"

In his New Year message, NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board chair Martin Emmett praises the determination of the sector and looks to the government to deliver its ambition to grow horticulture production.To say these are turbulent times is a gross understatement. It seems since the Brexit vote in 2016,…