 |
|
|
|
|
Clippings |
|
|
“These days being a grower is more than just producing a crop”
The Grodan Group is the world’s number one Substrate provider for protected vegetable crops. Substratus Horticultural Consultancy is part of the Grodan Group and provides crop consultancy services for Grodan’s customers.
 |
Q. Could you briefly tell us what the Grodan Group and the Substratus Horticultural Consultancy are?
R. The added value of a Substratus consultant to the grower’s business is that we are able to sit down and plan a production strategy that is realistic, while meeting the marketing goals of the business at the same time. If a grower has one particular problem that is limiting yield or quality, we will focus on this in the first instance and proceed from there. Grodan offers solutions in terms of products, advice and services adapted to the grower’s conditions.
“We keep the grower focused on the growing strategy”
Q. What is so special about a particular crop that a Crop Advisor is needed?
R. These days being a grower is more than just producing a crop, for you have to be skilled in many facets of people, market and crop management. It is not so much a case of one particular thing being special about a crop, but rather the complexity of the greenhouse business today and the constant need for a high level of production in combination with high quality. In this respect, the Substratus consultant keeps the grower focused on the growing strategy. Adjustments will be made to temperature and irrigation management based more often than not on changes in the outside climate, in order to keep the particular crop in balance and thereby achieve set production goals.
Q. Are there significant differences between types/segments in crop management? Why?
R. Indeed there are. This is why we tailor our products, in particular the range of slab types we offer, and our advice to suit the particular needs of the grower concerned. In order to service the market we rely on our distance advice tools. Currently we have two. The first is simple yet effective: we call it “Online Crop Registration”. Here the grower will manually enter data onto our password protected web site, providing us with weekly average outside and inside climate measurements.
The second tool, which we call “Gronow”, is rather more sophisticated and involves the installation of software on the grower’s PC. The major benefit of this system is that it provides continuous data over 24 hours, providing the Substratus consultant with a greater insight into the actual growing conditions. Both tools have proved highly effective and whichever tool the grower uses, they will receive a weekly feedback report from their Substratus consultant outlining the changes that are required in the climate, water or labour strategy to ensure that the crop is grown in the optimum conditions.
“Investment costs are obviously higher with high-tech developments, but then yield and quality are also vastly improved”
Q. We understand that the growers that need your expertise are those who invest in a high-tech production system. Why do growers opt for high-tech production systems?
R. In the long term, enlargement of scale is necessary in order for the grower to survive in business. This is very apparent in Western Europe and North America and this need can also be observed in Poland and the Far East. Investment costs are obviously higher with high-tech developments, but then yield and quality are also vastly improved, meaning that the production cost per kilo of fruit is actually lower than in the case of low-tech systems.
Q. Is high-tech production concentrated in specific locations or special climate zones?
R. Clearly, outside climate, light and temperature are very important factors when choosing a particular location in which to grow. Optimum conditions are found in areas where it is bright, so the plants are able to assimilate as much sugar as possible via the process of photosynthesis, and where outside temperatures are cool, so the grower can adapt the climate inside the greenhouse to ensure the ideal temperature, humidity and CO2 levels. If these conditions are met, production will be high.
“All successful production systems will rely on the quality of their components”
Q. What are the key drivers for this production system to be successful in the market?
R. All successful production systems will rely on the quality of their components, and here I refer to the quality of the greenhouse structure, be this plastic or glass. Account must also be taken of the control systems inside the greenhouse – the climate control system, irrigation delivery and the control system including substrate. However, what investment companies and even experienced growers often overlook when expanding their business are the necessary skills and knowledge available, i.e. “the people” (the crop manager, supervisors and general crop workers) who ensure that the control tools can be used to maximum effect.
Q. What kind of innovations will drive the production system in the next 10 years?
R. What constitutes an innovation really depends on where you are. Without doubt, the need for more and more production per square metre of higher and higher quality with reduced energy and labour input will be the main driver for innovation. For example, in the hi-tech markets of North Western Europe and North America we have seen the emergence of “closed greenhouse” technology for energy reduction and assimilation lights to extend the cropping cycle into winter. Moreover, I see a greater role being played by other “softer” tools such as knowledge and (consultancy) services, which will probably be internet-based. However, relatively simple and already proven technologies such as fogging systems are also proving to be “innovations”.
|
|
|
|
