NxtGen creates grower-focused tech for smart investments

Added on 19 February 2024

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NxtGen creates grower-focused tech for smart investments

Demonstration at GreenTech – data infrastructures and data standardisation is one focus of the NxtGen work for greenhouse horticulture. Courtesy of AIPH

Increasing difficulty in sourcing labour and a need to boost economic growth following the setback caused by the worldwide pandemic has seen millions of euros released to accelerate the development of ‘hands-free’ crop production in Dutch horticulture.

The support for the NxtGen Hightech programme, which extends to a range of industries important to the Dutch economy, comes from the Netherlands’ national growth fund, established in 2020. Robotics in agriculture and horticulture is one of the areas the programme has singled out for funding, with the work being led by the Dutch high-tech association FME and Wageningen University & Research (WUR), in cooperation with several companies many growers will be familiar with. These include technology specialists Priva and Hoogendoorn, vegetable breeders Rijk Zwaan, and HortiVation, a foundation of ag-tech companies involved in greenhouse design and construction.

Why do we need common standards?

The programme embraces three sectors – open-field crop production, food processing and greenhouse horticulture. “The goal for all is more autonomy; not just robots doing tasks but autonomy with decision-making, so better sensor networks and measuring systems,” says Erik Pekkeriet, who leads the Agro Food Robotics team at WUR.