Greenhouse

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) business unit Greenhouse Horticulture recently planted three cucumber crops as part of the AGROS project. The cultivation of these crops is controlled in different ways: in one greenhouse operational decisions are taken by a group of crop and irrigation experts, while the other two greenhouses are controlled remotely by a [ … ]

PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation, 400 – 700 nm) is the driving force for photosynthesis and thereby also for crop growth and production. Light interception by the crop is an important trait. In general, growers aim to maintain such a leaf area that the crop has (nearly) full light interception. In order to estimate this, they [ … ]

Being a grower is becoming an increasingly complex task, especially since cultivation areas have increased considerably over the last decade. More and more is at stake and the number of factors to take into account increases. Autonomous cultivation can then be a welcome support. Autonomous cultivation implies that an algorithm takes care of daily cultivation [ … ]

In 2021/2022, the third edition of the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge was organised, in which lettuce had to be grown fully automated. On July 1, the results will be presented at the International Autonomous Greenhouse Event at the business unit Greenhouse Horticulture of Wageningen University & Research in Bleiswijk, The Netherlands.  Since years Wageningen University & [ … ]

In the AGROS project ‘Towards an autonomous greenhouse’, WUR Greenhouse Horticulture researchers are working together with business partners to realise fully automated cultivation in greenhouses. The project team explains: “We have taken steps from data collection with sensors, to data-driven support of cultivation, and the development of intelligent algorithms. Soon we hope to be able [ … ]

In the AGROS project, we are working towards autonomous control of greenhouse cultivation. We do so by integrating three building blocks: (1) physiological knowledge of crop growth and development processes, (2) advanced sensor technology to monitor greenhouse climate and plant status, and (3) intelligent algorithms based on mechanistic crop growth and greenhouse climate models and [ … ]

Sensor information provides a crucial source of information for the autonomous control of a greenhouse. In the AGROS project, a large number of sensors is applied to measure greenhouse climate, plant status, water uptake and crop growth. Intelligent algorithms can use this information and the crop traits derived to control the greenhouse autonomously. The “Winter [ … ]

Modern high-tech greenhouses are equipped with active control of actuators (for example heating, lighting and screening) to create the desired greenhouse climate for a crop. These intensive cultivation systems require a high use of natural resources such as energy, water and nutrients. In current practice, growers determine the set points for their greenhouse climate based [ … ]

Over the last few years, there has been a considerable amount of interest in the concept of ‘autonomous cultivation’ in greenhouse horticulture. The last two ‘autonomous greenhouse challenges’ with cucumber and tomato have demonstrated that it is possible to control a greenhouse remotely while using labour and energy efficiently, and having a high level of [ … ]