'Dutch growers are Max Verstappens of food production'

What is your story?
“We have been assisting growers for 2,5 years with our Source Cultivate and Source Control products. You can consider this as an operating platform that you can have  access to your own account via your browser. Next year, we expect to support more growers with Source services. They can use them to simulate what kind of production can be expected and what kind of cultivation strategy they can follow for the best results. The AI ​​does not take over everything, the grower remains in charge to the control of the cultivation processes as a professional. We provide the software to help growers make the right decisions.

To make this work, we first improve and simplify data collection at the cultivation company. In addition to data about growing conditions, our system also collects biological data from the plant itself, for example about flowering and fruit set. We use that data to train the algorithms that support growers in making harvest forecasts and developing and implementing the ideal cultivation strategy. You can consider it like driving a car. Where you used to look at the map for the ideal route, you now have a navigation system. It responds to current changes such as traffic jams and then provides advice on an alternative, better route.”

What are the incidents that you concerned today?
“I see the farming world in which operating a cultivation is becoming increasingly unpredictable. The unrest and sky-high prices on the energy market, viruses with a huge impact on your crop and variety choice, sudden inflation and the increase in energy taxes. This makes growing vegetables, flowers and plants increasingly complex and challenging. This confirms that our services add a lot of value, so that growers can deal better and smarter with these types of unprecedented challenges in the industry.”

What do you need to be successful in greenhouse horticulture?
“In the Netherlands, we recognize and dare to say that with indoor farming and horticultural industry, we hold the future of food production worldwide. Our growers are the Max Verstappens of food production and they are desperately needed in a world where millions of people currently do not have access to fresh food. And where climate change and geopolitical unrest cause uncertainty about food production. If we are able to further digitize this world-class sector, indoor farming, greenhouses and horticultural industry will attract more talents worldwide to making it even stronger.”

Source: Goedemorgen

Photo: Rien Kamman.  The founder and CEO of Source.ag

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