The IDC Online Crop Management is helping growers to bridge distances. Greenhouse locations are further apart from each other and entrepreneurs and farmers are not always on-site to continuously monitor their crop. Scaling and investors from outside the sector make it necessary to map the risks. Risk management is essential when it comes down to large investments.
A trial is started using existing techniques and sensor technologies, combined with observations and manual records to research the possibilities of online crop management. The IDC Online Crop Management contributes to innovations in horticulture by providing insights in the existing techniques that contribute to the methodologies of growing from a distance.
The IDC Online Crop Management is set-up in a practice conform cultivation trial in one of the departments of the Improvement Centre. A Control Room is set-up in the Horti House, where the cultivation data of this trial is collected. Using the collected data the crop in this department is monitored and steered.
Your crop from the Control Room
A compartment inside the Improvement Centre is equipped with sensor technologies and cameras to monitor a tomato crop. This crop is used as a reference for pepper and cucumber cultivations. The crop data is collected in the Control Room. The data comes from the climate computer, the installed sensors and the camera images. Based on this data the cultivation measures are set.
Demonstration
New developments such as online crop management will only be successful when it can be viewed and experienced in practice. Growers are looking for information and references about dash boarding, sensor techniques and cameras. The IDC Online Crop Management plays an important role in the demonstration of these techniques. For this reason several events are planned to ensure the developments of this trial can be followed closely.