Hamill

Customized harvesting machines at any budget

“The pandemic hasn’t slowed us down at all. I’m an entrepreneur and I saw an opportunity in the vertical farming market because a lot of leafy greens are cultivated,” says Robert Benner, CEO of Hamill Group. The upcoming market could open another door for Hamill. “We have some great engineers, therefore…

"With this pepper de-coring machine we are focusing on the higher middle segment"

The idea for a new machine often comes from a manufacturer looking for a solution or from a machine manufacturer who sees a gap in the market for a new application. This time, however, it was the distributor who came up with an idea and worked it out into a concrete machine together with the…

New in-line fertilizer injection and irrigation unit showcased

GHBD Holland B.V., manufacturer and supplier of water treatment equipment for the horticultural and agricultural industry, introduces the new In-line fertilizer injection and irrigation unit. Jan Wijgerse of GHBD Holland has years of experience in exporting this equipment to many countries and knows the…

Bottom of fresh herbs bag becomes growing pot

Danish based growing company Grow Up FARM is launching a new product, named Eat-Grow-Repeat: small pea plants that grow in hemp in a bag. Refrigerated and bagged, the pea sprouts keep fresh for a week. "Rip off the upper section of the bag, and the bottom of the bag is now the pot," they explain. "Place…

Strawberry plants in line for the Plantsauna

By teasing tray plants and strawberry cuttings a little with a special temperature treatment with steam, it's possible to supply disease free plant material without using chemicals. That's the principle of the Plantsauna in a nutshell. After years of development, the concept is now ready for practice.…

Top Cleaner for contracting company Quartel

Thijs and Chris Quartel, Contracting and Transport Company Klaas Quartel from 's-Gravenzande, recently received a new Van der Waay Top Cleaner greenhouse cleaner. This Top Cleaner will be used to clean greenhouses with a height of 4.8 m. For more information:Klaas Quartelwww.klaasquartel.nl    

The Roofmaster: Innovations through the years

‘Never change a winning team’ is a popular saying. After all: ‘Why make adjustments to something that is already good? It often only makes things worse!’ However, if you are actually making improvements rather than just changes, that’s an entirely different matter. And that’s exactly what Besseling…

"We are happy that our machines could help providing front-line workers with safely packaged supplies"

“This year hasn’t been great but considering the circumstances, we were quite lucky”, says Rick Briston, business development manager for UK-based machinery manufacturer Redpack. A common sentiment at the end of this year. The COVID-pandemic has brought a number of challenges for the fruit and vegetable…

AquaJet goes off the rails

Rijk Zwaan is busy building a new greenhouse. And with a new greenhouse come new installations. In De Lier (the Netherlands) at the Rijk Zwaan Seed Quality Center, the breeding company recently got a new AquaJet.  Tom Zwanenburg with Van der Waay, the company that built and supplied the machine, explains that it is a special AquaJet. "Normally,…

Investors to support developers bringing leaf cutting robot to the market

SAIA Agrobotics, a tech spin-off from Wageningen University & Research, will further develop its technology for greenhouse robotics with investments from the Technology Transfer funds of Innovation Industries, SHIFT Invest and the ION+ fund managed by Oost NL. SAIA Agrobotics develops robots that can…

Argos smart scanning system for trolleys

Professional growers nowadays are supplying a large variety of plant species to their clients. A very labor-intensive process and in addition to the extensive audit work, it’s also a very error-prone process leading young plant propagators to expensive and often compromised solutions. That’s why TTA…

"Same mission, upgraded platform, shaped by lessons learned"

Available in January 2021, ecoation’s next generation of the OKO platform (OKO Tantalus) offers several upgrades including the world-first 8K 360-degree virtual walk with live broadcasting software and cart-independent hardware that allows the platform to be easily installed on existing fleets. These…

Bid online for fruit and vegetable processing and packaging machinery

Are you looking for weighing and filling lines, multihead weighers, slicers, washing machines, traysealers, separators or other machinery? The online auction in Kapelle (NL) for the food industry, includes a various offer of fruit and vegetables related machinery. The broad offer holds a weighing and filling…

France’s vegetable vending machines

With the business of selling chocolate bars to office workers in meltdown owing to the Covid crisis, French vending machine makers have turned to experts on growth: farmers. And for farmers who want to reach consumers directly, vending machines offer a way to meet new demand and respect health…

"With this bell pepper de-coring machine, we're focusing on the high-middle segment"

Producers seeking solutions, often come up with ideas for new machines. Or, it's machine manufacturers who see a gap in the market. This time, however, it was a distributor who came up with an idea. They developed it into a working machine along with the manufacturer. The result? A bell pepper de-coring…

Rolf van Koppen Fotografie

Who in horticulture robotics really knows how far the competition is along?

The fourth edition of Future Trends & Innovations was recently held. Unlike earlier editions, it was completely online this time, and with more applications than ever before, noticed organisers AVAG, TNO, Stichting Hortivation and GreenTech contently. There was also plenty of discussion from behind the…

Duijndam Machines continues the remarkable growth story with second generation

What started in the seventies with the emergency sale of some agricultural machines by Dutch vegetable grower Bert Duijndam, has now grown into a large international trading company in used agricultural and horticultural machinery. The company supplies used machines suitable for sowing till packaging of…

Temperature meter added for extra secured access control

Nowadays, you often can't just walk into a greenhouse or food processing company. First, you have to pass a turnstile or go through a hygiene sluice to get disinfected, and then you can access the company. LETS has added a new product to their hygiene equipment line: a body temperature meter. This…

Pipe rail trolleys in need of cleaning

After a long cultivation season, the pipe rail trolleys are often in need of cleaning. At the end of the year, the trolley platform is likely covered with the plants' green. To make sure the green can easily be removed after the cultivation season, the Frekofix was introduced to the market. Steenks…

High-speed gapping line finds its way to Turkish propagator

The team with TTA recently delivered and put into operation a CombiFix-II gapping line at Ege Plantek in Turkey. Ege Plantek Cicekcilik, located in Izmir, Torbalı, produces flower and vegetable seedlings. It operates on a total area of 86,000 m2 and is one of the leading companies in the agricultural…

Solutions that optimize the fruit and vegetable packaging process

The year 2020 has been a difficult one dominated by the pandemic. Even with increasing work volumes and fewer staff available, TopControl technology provided its hardware and software solutions to guarantee fresh products. A video of the machine while it is operating The most challenging aspect in these…

"Alleged escapades at Landgard agricultural cooperative"

On Saturday, an article was published on the online Der Spiegel edition, allegeing serious accusations against the Landgard agricultural cooperative: How officials would spend…

First international growers discover the powerhouse that is VDB Green Eater

For the past eleven years, contractors and growers have gotten to know the brute strength of the VDB Green Eater. Without any trouble, this powerhouse can shred any crop during crop rotation in a matter of seconds. Something most growers don’t know is that the machine was not developed by the contractors…

VARTA and Naïo Technologies working on charging station for agricultural robots

Naïo Technologies and Varta collaborate to create an autonomous transportable charging station for robots to offer higher performing robotics solutions to farmers. The first prototype will be presented at the FIRA 2020 from 8th to 10th December 2020. The event will be hosted online. The objective of this…

Shutterstock: Kevin E Schmidt

Using a high-resolution X-ray machine to detect the presence of seeds

In the world-first, agriculture department uses high-resolution X-ray machine to detect presence of seeds. The Australian agriculture department is undertaking a world-first trial of new technology aimed at detecting seeds sent in the mail after 228 reports of Australians receiving mysterious seed…

CAN: Funding available for agricultural innovation

As part of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP), a funding stream has been launched to promote collaboration between agricultural and value-chain partners. Creating partnerships accelerates the creation and adoption of innovation for our industry. For more information on this program, including…

Savings in labor costs with the Horizontal Fumimatic machine

IDM develops a machine for horizontal spraying in greenhouses. The crop protection is specially suggested for strawberry, nurseries and ornamental flower crops. It is a machine just 85 cm wide, with horizontal bars that open and stretch, making the treatment from top to bottom. “It is the best solution…

Steenks Service

String machines in times of crop rotation

The end of the year is approaching, and for many greenhouse horticulturists this period is dominated by crop rotation. The crop rotation is the process in which the old crop is removed and the greenhouse is completely cleaned to make way for the new crop. This process is crucial to prevent diseases and…

Labor cost increases continue, highlighting importance of automation

Rising labor costs and the move to greater automation remain driving forces in the horticulture industry, even amid the Covid-19 crisis. A recent industry survey highlighted these issues according to Javo USA, Inc. General Manager Michiel Vanderwaal. “The situation at the beginning of the year was very uncertain,“…

Safe and efficient transport of bell peppers with shuttle harvesting system

Van der Burg bell pepper nursery in Est recently commissioned the 'Pepper Shuttle Harvesting System’ of Berg Hortimotive. This system allows the efficient harvesting of bell peppers at a height - with a minimum risk of damage - and subsequently their unmanned transport to the sorting area. The idea of…