Leafy greens innovation showcased during Leafy Hydroponic Summit company visits
Source: VFD.com
Leafy greens innovation showcased during Leafy Hydroponic Summit company visits During a company tour held as part of the Leafy Hydroponic Summit , participants visited several leading horticultural businesses in the Westland region of the Netherlands, exploring the latest developments in hydroponic lettuce propagation, greenhouse climate management, and crop control technology. Jos Dukker, Production Manager Vegetables at Beekenkamp Plants, explained that the greenhouse height is a deliberate design choice.
In regions where greenhouse space is limited and costly, growers aim to maximize plant numbers per square metre without compromising quality. In the Ultra-Clima greenhouse, especially the much lower CO2 use stood out.
Guus Sprengers and Rudy van den Berg presented Priva One, an umbrella platform that integrates climate control, irrigation, crop performance monitoring, and daily operational management. The number of integration partners connected to the Priva platform has grown substantially, reaching around 25 companies.
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
