Reducing risks

When you are growing products in an indoor farm you can be assured of constant and uniform product quality, free of pathogens, climate concerns or pesticides – all year long. Precision climate control is possible in the cell, resulting in secure production planning. Growers have expressed a desire to better control their planning of the production process and, in doing so, better satisfying consumer demand. Not only that: this shortens the chain and growers can be better informed of increasingly specific wishes. The risks associated with this are reduced to a minimum for growers working in indoor farms. Chance of other risks are reduced by:

• Perfect quality and process management with regard to climate conditions;
• Reduced pathogen pressure, considering that outside influences are excluded;
• Higher production reliability & crop quality;
• Reduced losses, less fall-out;
• Efficiency improvement and optimization of water and energy consumption, as well as the use of space and labour.

Higher yield & better quality

Specific growth recipes bring about improvements in quality and product properties as well as a longer shelf life. Controllability of the climate and circumstances allow these to be managed and implemented down to the smallest detail. In a fully automated growth cell, the cost of labour is reduced, while production increases. Growing crops entirely under lighting has a positive effect on plant density: the maximum plant density per square meter is applied, without any negative consequences on the development of fruits and/or the attraction of pathogens. Other advantages to growing products in an indoor farm under LED lighting:

• Higher crop yields;
• Improved plant quality;
• Increased production in winter;
• Cutting energy costs in half (in comparison to conventional lighting);
• A fully controllable environment;
• Short production cycles all year round.

References

• De Hoog - Control is the keyword at De Hoog Orchids; using new technologies allows the nursery to control the growth of its orchids, manage the quality of the production and to shorten the cultivation cycle. Raising young plants on cultivation tables and connecting climate control systems to the climate computer enables a more precise production planning to be achieved. This results in shorter production cycles, lower energy costs and higher reliability, thanks to a consistent and uniform product.
• Beekenkamp - In each of Beekenkamp Plants’ eight indoor farms (which are used to conduct tests on the cultivation of young plants, fruits and decorative plants) it is possible to control humidity, CO2, temperature and light recipes in a fully uniform manner and which is also tailored to the plants’ individual growth stages. Philip van Zanten, project manager at Beekenkamp: “We can be very flexible in controlling the climate. This can be done with the greatest precision using our Certhon Phytotron computer. We have noticed that this works extremely well.”.
• Freesia 3.0 - Duijvestijn Freesia has been conducting plant research in an indoor farm since 2015. Owner Chris Duijvestijn about this step: “The greatest advantage is that weather conditions can be excluded, which is of crucial importance in the first six weeks of growing freesias.”.