“This becomes the biggest pilot we've done”
Source: VFD.com
Ecobloom partners with Ridder, Oksasen Puutarha, and Helle-Tech Oy “This becomes the biggest pilot we've done” Ecobloom Technologies has begun a pilot with Ridder, Finnish lettuce and herb grower Oksasen Puutarha, and Finnish greenhouse installer Helle-Tech Oy, allowing its AI crop-monitoring platform, EcoSense, to act directly on Ridder's Hortimax Pro, going beyond the advisory role the system has played until now. Based at Oksasen Puutarha's farm in Finland, the pilot is designed to test what it looks like when AI crop intelligence and greenhouse automation are connected end-to-end.
"It does indeed give EcoSense write access to trigger actions," said Hamza Qadoumi, Founder and CEO of Ecobloom Technologies. "This becomes the biggest pilot we've done, as many parts of the greenhouse will be controlled: windows, light, irrigation, and more." © Ecobloom Technologies Teijo Hyvönen (Helle-Tech Oy), Arjen Janmaat (Ridder), Jere Peltonen (Helle-Tech Oy), Hamza Qadoumi (Ecobloom), Juha-Pekka Väihkönen (Oksasen), Jaakko Juntunen (Oksasen), and Janne Sokajärvi (Oksasen) From advice to action Previously, EcoSense's connection to climate computers, Ridder's among them, ran one way: the system flagged issues and recommended a fix, leaving the grower to act on it elsewhere.
"They already use Ridder for control, and they use EcoSense for crop monitoring," he said. Help them reduce costs, optimise resources, and increase yield." Qadoumi said the deal happened at GreenTech Amsterdam, where the four organisations met and agreed to work together.
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.
