In Langton, Ontario, strawberry propagator EZ Grow Farms and Dutch horticultural consultancy Delphy have completed the first cycle of a collaboration that began in February 2026. The objective behind it is the one EZ Grow president Dusty Zamecnik has set for his business as a whole: advancing knowledge of strawberry growers throughout North America.<\/p>\n
EZ Grow’s focus is on propagation, in a state-of-the-art glasshouse supplying young plants to growers. To understand those growers better, the company also grows strawberries itself, at research scale, in the Ed Zamecnik Berry Testing Center. Delphy works with EZ Grow on both sides, with head grower Alex Winne on the propagation side, and with Jaime VanOoteghem, who runs the research installation. Delphy brings experience from more than 250 consultants, researchers and specialists in agriculture and horticulture, active in over 50 countries.<\/p>\n
Propagation: going from estimation to a data driven protocol<\/strong><\/p>\n In the propagation glasshouse, Delphy and EZ Grow are working towards a better understanding of accurate and repeatable tip production. The first year focused on establishing a reliable picture of tip counts across the wide range of varieties grown there. This data driven baseline replaces previous estimation from experience and counts at the end of a season. Knowing where tip yield optimum sits, variety by variety, is the basis for better-informed decisions on when to harvest. This year of data collection and interpretation forms the first building block of a longer program.<\/p>\n Berry growing: five tunnel types, one central dataset<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Ed Zamecnik Berry Testing Center, fruit is grown in five different tunnel types: Gothic, low tunnels, umbrella, Rovero and Haygrove. This means cultivation data from each has to be recorded, compared and interpreted alongside the others to understand what differences occur, and more importantly, why. In practice, many growing decisions currently rest on a combination of experience, observation and figures that end up scattered across spreadsheets, notebooks and separate systems.<\/p>\n Here QMS Strawberry has also been implemented, Delphy’s strawberry cultivation management software, which brings that information together in one structured environment. The software is built around cultivation planning and tracking the assimilate balance. In this first year, much of the emphasis has been on the data collection. Centralizing what is measured in the tunnels, analyzing it and visualizing the insights so that differences between the tunnel types become visible. Interim results from the first season were presented and discussed with growers, breeders and suppliers at EZ Grow’s annual Open House on 16 July 2026<\/p>\n Future plans: where to next?<\/strong><\/p>\n Both tracks will continue into the coming season, with the propagation program building on the first year’s baseline and the research installation broadening the data it collects. Digital tools play an important part, but technology on its own does not create value, Delphy emphasizes. The real strength lies in combining data with crop expertise and utilizing the knowledge of the grower, translating measurements into practical recommendations a grower can act on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EZ Grow Farms and Delphy are collaborating to enhance the knowledge of strawberry growers across North America.","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":20068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[693,347,345],"tags":[3028,556,2241,1944,1128,391,855,2390,3031,508,609,2424,463,3030,3029],"class_list":["post-20072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-driven-crop-management","category-greenhouse-horticulture","category-soft-fruit","tag-aardbeienteler","tag-data-driven-crop-management","tag-datagedreven-teeltmanagement-en","tag-glastuinbouw-en","tag-greenhouse","tag-horticulture","tag-north-america","tag-onderzoekslocatie-en","tag-progress","tag-qms-en","tag-research","tag-research-location-en","tag-strawberry","tag-strawberry-grower","tag-vooruitgang"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n