Topline Farms avoids up to $50,000 in yield loss by managing compartment by compartment
Source: HD.com
Topline Farms operates several locations in Ontario, Canada, including a 4.9-hectare (12-acre) facility dedicated to beef tomatoes. The site runs 6 climate-controlled compartments and supplies the Canadian retail market.
Their grower is responsible for crop strategy, climate setpoints, and the day-to-day decisions that determine yield and fruit quality across the season. LUNA AI gave them continuous plant metrics across rows and compartments, including stem width, fruit load, and head-to-flowering truss, alongside climate data such as daily light integral (DLI) and 24-hour temperature.
They tracked 24-hour temperature, outside radiation, and plant response metrics together to see directly how climate decisions were affecting the crop. Depending on how long the imbalance had persisted, estimated losses could have ranged from approximately $6,000 to $50,000 over a 4-to-8-week harvest impact window, assuming progressive losses between 0.05 and 0.2 kg/m²/week driven by reduced fruit size, softer yield, and declining productive plant density.
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.
