"There could be a five- to ten-degree Celsius difference between one spot and the other"
Source: VFD.com
"We saw problems along the way in the big vertical farms," says Gert-Jan van Staalduinen, Technical Director at Logiqs, a Dutch company specialising in cultivation systems, warehouse automation and vertical farming. © Logiqs bv Airflow built into the bench Logiqs answered both problems with the Controlled Environment Module or CEM, built in two forms: as production-scale benches that channel air horizontally beneath a layer of tiles, up through the crop canopy, and past the LED fixtures to cool them before recirculating, with around forty units in commercial operation to date; and as a six square metre closed research unit offering full control over temperature, humidity, light spectrum, CO2, air speed, irrigation method, pH and EC, built for repeatable trial work of the kind used in the HAS green academy basil study.
There could be five to ten degrees Celsius difference between one spot and the other," he says, adding that growers typically respond by keeping humidity low to avoid fungal disease, at the cost of optimal growth for many crops. Dutch bromeliad grower LKP Bromeliads adopted Logiqs' airflow benches across a 15,000-square-meter semi-closed greenhouse.
"They have increased their production by 25 percent, and at the same time made an energy saving of 25 percent, just because controlling the climate at a higher humidity is saving a lot of energy," Gert-Jan says. "There we also saw that there were practically no plants dying and the time it took to heal was reduced from six days to two days." Asked whether the energy savings seen at LKP could translate to other crops and systems, Gert-Jan says he is very sure that it can be achieved, possibly at even higher energy savings with specific crops.
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.
