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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Leveraging data-driven growing techniques to optimize treatment costs and increase crop yields

In a constantly changing world where margins are tight, greenhouse growers are looking for ways to optimize the cost of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and ensure that they are not overspending. With many solution providers in the space, it can be challenging to identify which innovations will prove to…

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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…

Local Bounti welcomes Jennifer Carr-Smith to its Board of Directors

Local Bounti Corporation announced that Jennifer Carr-Smith has been appointed to the company's Board of Directors and will serve on the Compensation Committee of the Board.  Craig Hurlbert, Co-CEO and Board Chair of Local Bounti stated, "We are very excited to announce the appointment of Jennifer to our Board.…

Kentucky and NL AgTech collaboration continues to Grow Together

The feasibility study of a Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Ecosystem in Kentucky listed ten recommendations for the development of an AgTech ecosystem. These recommendations included a clear pathway for open field and mid-tech high tunnel growers to grow towards high-tech CEA production and the…

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…

Douglas Minder promoted to CFO at Biotalys

Biotalys Board of Directors has approved a succession plan under which Douglas Minder will be promoted to Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective July 1, 2023. He will take over responsibility from Wim Ottevaere, who, after a long and successful career in finance in the life sciences industry, will…

A collaborative approach to automation innovation

Canadian horticulture, like most other sectors in agriculture, is suffering from a growing labor shortage. Overall, an agri-food workforce shortfall is predicted to reach more than 123,000 jobs by 2029. As such, the search is on for ways to do more with less. At the same time, labor-intensive…

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…

New insights into productivity, kilos for Dutch growers

The Rainbow Growers Group cultivates, harvests, and packages bell peppers. This Dutch company has multiple locations, accounting for 75 hectares of greenhouses. LinkThings has given these bell pepper growers insight into all their data. The growers were already unlocking data and creating dashboards in…

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…

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…

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…

Labor savings through 5 simple, practical, and affordable automated implementations

There are many handling activities in pot plant growing. Potting and spacing, filling trays, picking up and placing pots or trays, (de)stacking trays, cart loading, six-pack handle placing, sleeving and labeling, and so on. Many growers (still) perform these tasks manually. But this is heavy and…

Dutch aubergine grower shows new automated sorting and packaging hall

Aubergine grower Greenbrothers has expanded its acreage in Zevenbergen. In 2021, 7 hectares of greenhouse were added. A new sorting and packaging hall was also immediately built. Viscon took care of the automation for the growers, of which a video has been published. The video shows how the aubergines go…

US (VA): International horticulture automation solutions company to establish first U.S. operation in Virginia

Governor Glenn Youngkin today announced that ISO Group, a Netherlands-based innovative supplier of automation solutions in protected horticulture, will invest $570,000 to establish its first U.S. assembly and distribution facility in Chesterfield County. The company automates labor-intensive tasks within…

Robot Amiga assists farms of all sizes

At the height of the pandemic, Ethan Rublee and his family left California's high-tech area Silicon Valley for a small plot of land in Watsonville, California, where they started a new life in farming. Inspired by his background in robotics and the local growers he met, Rublee soon set out to build…

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…