Fighting mould, bacteria and viruses on plant trolleys with foam disinfection module

Plant trolleys such as CC-containers, Danish trolleys and Flora trolleys are used in the logistics chain by multiple and often unknown users. The trolleys are regularly soiled with plant, sand and substrate residues which can harbour mould, bacteria and viruses such as Fusarium, Xylella and ToBRFV. Upscaling,…

Pure strawberry

Atlas Pacific Engineering's new destemming machine safely removes the chalice and pedicles of strawberries. The machine, which has twelve conveyor belts, processes five berries per second per belt and produces 2,722 kg of strawberries per hour. The fruits are introduced into the machine by a soft automatic filling system. They are…

New developments in AutoStix

With IPM 2020 coming up Visser introduces new developments in their repertoire of transplanting technologies. AutoStix comes with new innovations: new strips, trays and a brand new sticking technique. Officially new to the concept: the Multimedia stripTo meet a rising demand for new AutoStix developments in the field of cutting…

Costa’s in Australia increasing its size with automation

When considering one of Australia’s largest wholesaler, distributor and exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables, the dynamic and entwined structure of the Viscon Group is able to support Costa’s Guyra tomato glasshouse expansion in 2020. To better highlight this, Viscon Fresh Produce and Viscon Logistics are…

New spinach and lettuce seed planter launched at Fruit Logistica

Agricola Italiana's High Precision AI-640-SN seed planter was specially developed to sow lettuce and spinach seeds. It will be shown during this year's Fruit Logistica. They can be configured to suit the customer's wishes, which greatly reduces row spacing. In order to meet the needs of different types…

Visiting Alumat Zeeman, the ‘well known unknown’

"Horticulture is not lacking a distinctive character"

It’s been five years since Bert Strikkers became co-owner of Alumat Zeeman. Together with Hans Zeeman, third generation in the family business, he now runs the well-known but also unknown company. Bert Strikkers and Hans Zeeman at their office Bert comes from outside horticulture and sometimes takes a slightly…

Demonstrating complete packing lines during interpack

At this year's interpack MultiVac will be presenting itself as a supplier of integrated solutions in packaging and processing. The company's focus on the main exhibition stand (Hall 5, E 23) will include four fully automated packaging lines, as well as concepts for producing sustainable packaging…

"During the Dutch season the 'traffic light pepper' machines are running at full speed"

Pre-packaged vegetables and fruit are indispensable in the supermarket. Now that the ‘less plastic’ trend is prominent, a packaging company must be able to respond quickly and that is not possible without functioning and flexible machinery. At IQ Packing in Waddinxveen and Hazeldonk, they package fruit…

Fieldwork raises £0.3 mln for fruit picking robot

Last Tuesday, intellectual property commercialisation company Frontier IP announced that its portfolio company, Fieldwork Robotics, has raised £0.298 mln through an initial equity funding round. The firm said Fieldwork would use the proceeds to accelerate the development and scale-up of its novel…

Naïo Technologies accelerates next growth phase with €14 million funding round

After a first round of €3 million in 2015, the French start-up Naïo Technologies, specialized in agricultural robots, announces the closing of a €14 million funding round led by Bpifrance. Impact investor Pymwymic and its historical shareholders, Demeter and Capagro, flanked Bpifrance in this investment…

Using artificial intelligence to guide watering decisions in Canada’s greenhouses

Getting smart about greenhouse irrigation

For Canada’s greenhouse operators, crop irrigation and finding experienced growers to manage it, are among their greatest challenges. Historically, greenhouse growers have made decisions about where and when to irrigate, visually checking the water status of plants — often spending several hours and…

project Service & Produktion GmbH presents PROBAND V in Berlin

"Banding machine with quick change frame is unique in the industry"

Currently, solutions with banderoles are not only used in the food industry, but also in many other sectors. At this year's Fruit Logistica, project Service & Produktion LLC will be present for the first time and the company will present the new PROBAND V process to the trade public. This new banding…

Machine manufacturer Schomaker Convenience Technik tackles fruit and vegetable industry:

"In the end, it doesn't make much difference if you process meat or vegetables"

Fruit and vegetables are becoming increasingly important in people's diets. The health trend among young people is causing consumption to rise, but climate change also plays a role, as fruit and vegetables are more energy-efficient than meat. This development is also evident among machine manufacturers who…

PerfoTec’s new DLS manufactures MAP liner bags at source

The fully integrated Dynamic Liner System (DLS) is PerfoTec’s new technology that manufactures modified atmosphere liner bags, for bulk packaging, at source. Fresh produce growers and packers can now produce liner bags on location, with the most suitable permeability for their produce at that moment. The…

the best read articles

2019 in horticulture: LEDs, ToBRFV, soft fruit, vertical farming and hydroponics

Whether you spent the beginning of the new year dancing all night, playing board games with the family or going straight to bed at 9 PM, we hope you had a wonderful start of 2020. While following our holiday break we're ready to dive into the new year as well, we also want to look back one last time.…

Global Unmanned Spray System from Fresno - California

Autonomous orchard sprayer for specialty crops and more

Every ag tech manufacturer and news site seems to be talking about automation. But at a discreet facility southeast of Fresno, California, it’s more than just talk. There, we find not some prototype of the future of agricultural equipment, but GUSS, the Global Unmanned Spray System. GUSS is in production…

New agricultural robots and the challenges of a sector

As the need for task automation increases exponentially in the agricultural world, FIRA must support this change in progress. This 4th edition of FIRA, the International Forum of Agricultural Robotics, was marked by a growing participation not only from manufacturers in the sector but also from farmers,…

Buitendijk Slaman introduces the updated Masterlift C-series

Safely through the greenhouse with the cruise control turned on

At the start of 2018, it became known that the European regulations regarding pipe-rail vehicles- and crop care vehicles would be tightened after the end of 2019. When it was announced, the people at Buitendijk Slaman went back to the drawing board with, as a result, the updated crop care vehicles of the…

Lack of legal framework is ‘slowing ag robotics innovation in the EU’

A new Robotics Report published by Agro Innovation Lab concludes that agricultural robots are now technically so advanced that they could soon see increased use in…

Two turnkey lettuce processing lines for Len Wright Salads

Sormac can take all a customer's worries away by delivering processing lines in a turnkey approach, even if other producers' machines need to be integrated. Two lettuce processing lines have achieved turnkey at Len Wright Salads Ltd. in Preston, in the West of England. In the 1960s, Len Wright started…

Robots threaten to fail due to lack of a legal framework

Development of agricultural robots slowed down

Innovations and the market entry of agricultural robots threaten to fail due to the lack of a legal framework. This is the conclusion of the Agro Innovation Lab in a new…

Tomato grower automates palletizer to stack higher, faster

To maximize how much product could fit on a truck for shipment, Canadian tomato farm Cecelia Acres wanted to stack its pallets higher than its employees could comfortably handle. A Kawasaki CP180L robot integrated by Caxton Mark did that and more. The robotic system enabled Cecelia Acres to get the most…

Micha van NIeuwkerk (Van der Ende Groep):

"Sodium removal and less drainage go hand in hand"

It is (or actually ‘was’) a challenge to remove sodium from water and, at the same time, to retain as many nutrients as possible. Van der Ende Groep developed the Poseidon to meet the above task, and it was achieved - the first 20 installations have now been put into operation. Growers mainly focus on…

Improving the efficiency of tomato grafting

Horticultural grafting is routinely performed manually, demanding a high degree of concentration and requiring operators to withstand extreme humidity and temperature conditions. Researchers presents the results derived from adapting the splicing technique for tomato grafting, characterized by the…

Increased power and operating life for Helpy

With 4 1000-watt motors, six long-efficiency batteries and 30 hours of operating life, the new Helpy from Ecogreen is a new solution to facilitate fruit harvesting. New Helpy machine presented at FuturPera in Ferrara. "The new model improves the previous one with suggestions we received from our clients.…

43 Mexican tomato shipments intercepted for ToBRFV suspicion

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader) has reported that the US authorities stopped 43 shipments of Mexican tomatoes in recent weeks, on suspicion that they…

Japan tech venture gets autonomous vegetable harvesting robot into the field

An agricultural high-tech startup company in eastern Japan has launched an autonomous robotic harvester that picks greenhouse vegetables and has begun leasing the machine to an asparagus farmer in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan. According to Inaho, this is the first time that an autonomous harvester…

Inaho - Kamakura

Japanese firm fields autonomous vegetable harvesting robot

Japanese high-tech start-up company Inaho has launched an autonomous robotic harvester that picks greenhouse vegetables. It has also begun leasing the machine to an asparagus farmer in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan. According to Inaho, this is the first time that an autonomous harvester robot has…

2,000 strings per hour

Kilometers of string are used in greenhouses to tie up the crops at the start of a new growing season. To make the hanging of the string easy, Steenks Service have developed a string machine. Nearly 500 units of the latest model has been sold and it is also a success abroad, according to Steenks. The string machines are…

Shortage of personnel leads to a lot of new technology

Robotisation on the rise in greenhouse cultivation

The use of robots in greenhouses has increased compared to the previous year - at the same time, one in five gardeners states that they lack personnel. But is robotization the short-term solution to staff shortages? Robots in greenhouse horticultureA total of 11% of gardeners use robots for cultivation…

Walmart wants robots in stores. Target doesn't.

Walmart wants robots in stores. Target doesn’t.The "Auto-S," Walmart's shelf-scanning robot, moves around aisles and identifies which items are low or out of stock. Walmart and Target are taking different approaches to adding robots in stores, a split that will have an impact on the companies’ massive…

Royal Brinkman and Weterings extend collaboration

Re-entering of volume order for Bio Chopper series

Royal Brinkman and Weterings will continue their international cooperation in 2020. The cooperation mainly revolves around machines that are used during the busy crop rotation period: the Bio Chopper and Bio Hopper. From left to right: Stevie de le Cluse, Rob van den Berg, Igno Weterings and Bas Brinkman…

Make no mistake, labour is not only for harvesting

Smart minds worldwide are working on robots to speed up harvesting. Tomato picking robots, bell pepper picking robots, strawberry picking robots ... Yet the process prior to the actual harvest requires especially a lot of work, as Dirk Aleven of FoodVentures once again shows fittingly in the LinkedIn…

Misset and Wageningen UR - 'Global Future Farming Summit'

‘Governments must change rules of automation’

The fact that food production will automate further, is a given. That is why governments need to adapt the rules for using robots to this new reality, that will lead to more productivity and more sustainability. Automation is still in its early stages, but the developments move fast. The Global Future…

Global interest in Norwegian strawberry picking robot

The 'strawberry picking robot' can work all day and could soon replace the seasonal workers. According to Norwegian grower Simen Myhrene, this is the future: “It does not take a lunch break or anything. It is, of course, interesting to reduce wage costs." Myhrene demonstrated the robot at the…

Orange juice on wheels

"Juice, the smart way to recycle fruit and vegetables"

The juice sector is a key and strategic sector for Spain. Last year's citrus campaign was disastrous and one of the alternatives to avoid losses and the uprooting of trees was to resort to the juice industry and the vending style. The current citrus campaign, marked by low volumes and high prices, is not…

Blueberry packaging machine to help clients' needs year-round

The international trading company, Gottmann, has a new BBC Curo 12 blueberry packaging machine. They have had this device since the end of August. "We considered developments in recent years. We also took the constant demand into account. This comes from our clients as well as producers. We, therefore,…

An automated workforce to harvest Canada’s greenhouse cucumbers

Canadian cucumbers are a hot commodity. Canada is the world’s fourth largest cucumber exporter with a farmgate value of cucumber production at roughly $326 million in 2014. Amidst this strong production outlook, human labour — both cost and availability — are holding the industry back. Human labour…

Octinion Agriculture presents versatile platform for greenhouses

ExpoSE 2019: Modular platform Xenion with the Curion scouting device

At the expoSE, the Belgian Octinion company introduces the Xenion modular platform to the market. Xenion is a versatile platform for greenhouses. It can work completely autonomously…

The Lowpad enters the greenhouse

Juggling many types of plants and many different customers can be quite a challenge, but no longer, now that the Lowpad comes into play. That at least is the potential of this smart Automatic Guided Vehicle. “If you consider that with young plant growers each tray is now picked up twice and that this represents more than half…

New injectors allow for easy programming of injection rate

The D132 Series is available now. The D132 is part of the Mega-Flo Series. It has the D14 Series familiarity with the high-performance piston, low number of internal parts, and there are no Venturi tips to clog. The D132’s low injection rates allow for direct injection of undiluted products, and…

Mobile stick plug brings uniformity and relieves employees of strenuous and monotonous work

A mobile stick plug is the newest addition to the Flier Systems assortment. The machine, which is called MSM19, automatically places sticks in stone wool blocks. Great tool“For us, the mobile stick plug has become a great tool to be able to transfer heavy and monotonous work to a machine. This is a relief…

After packaging robot, BOLD has more automation solutions in the pipeline

'Newbies' in horticulture industry take big steps in automation

With no background in the horticulture industry but being surrounded by many greenhouses in the Niagara region, Canada (ON), automation experts Willem Bijlsma and Bill VandenOever started Bold Robotic Solutions Inc. 2 years ago. "We noticed that greenhouses still make use of a lot of manual labor.…

Watch this tomato picking robot in action

Recently we published an article about Root AI's new tomato picking robot, but the article lacked one critical element: footage of the robot in action. The Virgo, as Root AI called the robot, is a robot that uses 3D cameras, artificial-intelligence, enabled reasoning and a dextrous gripper in combinatio…

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