Over a decade in business, Deb’s Greenhouse going strong | 12
Laying down healthier roots
Open-wall propagation tray shows positive results in Vineland field trial | 38
greenhousecanada.com
March/April 2023 Vol.43, Issue 3
A world first
The first time metagenomics is being used to discover the microbe community – including pathogens – in hydroponic tomatoes.
PhD student Phil Thomas is working alongside Dr. Gal Winter at the University of New England (UNE) in Australia on a project to examine microbe communities, including pathogens, in hydroponic tomatoes. See page 16. Photo: UNE.
Autonomous growing in Ontario Crop Controller project yields positive results for Ontario growers.
BY ANDREW SNOOK
management yields success in agribusiness Energy saving technologies in greenhouses from a plant viewpoint: Part 3
propagation tray shows positive results in
Grown out of love
Over a decade in business, Deb’s Greenhouse going strong.
BY MATT JONES
LEDs light up year-round veggie greenhouses
Nova Scotia funding program assists in funds den Haan’s Greenhouses new LED lighting technology. BY JOHN
DIETZ
Showcase your best and brightest!
I’m excited to announce that Greenhouse Canada’s annual awards recognizing top talent in the sector are now open for submissions!
Top 4 Under 40 Nominations are now open for Greenhouse Canada’s Top 4 Under 40 award. From commercial growers and wholesalers to manufacturers and allied trades, we’re recognizing the best and the brightest in greenhouse horticulture.
Sponsored by Paul Boers Manufacturing and Prins Greenhouses (thank you for your support!), these awards are designed to showcase the sector’s up and coming talent and future leaders.
Here are the details that you need to know for nominating someone:
Eligibility:
• All nominees must be 39 years of age or under as of December 31, 2023.
• Working in, or supplying goods, for the Canadian greenhouse industry and whose operation is based in Canada.
Grower of the Year
Nominations are also open for the 2023 Grower of the Year award!
This award recognizes a fellow greenhouse grower for innovative thinking, hard work and dedication to their craft.
Eligibility:
All nominees must be active in their greenhouse operations and based in Canada. There are no age restrictions.
Judging criteria:
We’re looking for nominees who demonstrate a strong work ethic, leadership and initiative, lifelong learning and/or active participation in the industry. Anecdotes and support from multiple colleagues are welcome.
Nominations close May 12, 2023. To nominate someone, visit: www.greenhousecanada.com/goty/ nomination-form.
Both the Top 4 Under 40 and Grower of the Year winners will be revealed at Grower Day and featured in an upcoming issue of Greenhouse Canada.
“All winners will be featured in an issue of Greenhouse Canada.”
All nominees should:
• Demonstrate a strong work ethic.
• Show leadership and initiative.
• Actively seek new opportunities for training and education.
• Participate in industry events and associations.
Nominations close May 12, 2023. To nominate someone, visit: www.greenhousecanada.com/ top4under40/nomination-form.
Have Questions?
Call or email Greenhouse Canada editor Andrew Snook at asnook@ annexbusinessmedia.com.
Good luck to all of this year’s entrants!
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Sollum Technologies names new director of sales
Sollum Technologies recently appointed Nick Occhionero as senior sales director. Nick is no newcomer to LED technology, innovative business development and dynamic entrepreneurial. In his previous role, he built the sales and business development function from the ground up for an international company offering continually evolving information technology services to industry leaders around the world. Before this, Occhionero held
senior sales positions with a precision LED lighting company.
“We are building a strong team at Sollum and we are thrilled to have Nick on board with us,” says Louis Brun, CEO for Sollum Technologies. “He understands where we’re heading and has the skills to position us well in this competitive industry so that our vision and our leading-edge technology can reach more and more greenhouse producers around the world.”
PURE FLAVOR ACQUIRES CERVINI FARMS C5
Continuing its growth path fuelling significant plans for expansion, Pure Flavor recently announced the acquisition of Cervini Farms C5 in Leamington, Ont. to add to its expanding portfolio of greenhouses and distribution centres. The location of the Cervini Farms C5 facility is adjacent to Pure Flavor’s home farm in Leamington, which now creates a 350-acre,
state of the art, flagship Pure Flavor Campus. The company’s strategic investments are focused on solidifying its future as an industry leader.
In the last 60 days, Pure Flavor also completed the construction of the company’s new Phase IV, 40-acre organic greenhouse and 210,000-sq.-ft. centralized packhouse and distribution center in Leamington.
BY THE NUMBERS
$775.8 million
Combined total value of inflationadjusted exports from January 2022 to November 2022.
The addition of 115 acres of greenhouse production this year will ensure an even greater supply of products yearround for Pure FlavorX’s retail and foodservice customers throughout North America. With expansion comes a need for greater resources, talent-wise, to support the growth. Pure Flavor continues to lead extensive recruitment drives at all its facilities.
Year-to-date inflation-adjusted exports totals are up 3.2% over 2021, and up 31.0% over the 2017-2021 five-year average. Up 3.2%
Pure Flavor is on a significant growth path to support their increased demand for fresh, greenhouse grown fruits and vegetables year-round. Future expansion plans beyond the Cervini Farms C5 location amd DeTemporada Farms acquisitions are ongoing to develop more regionspecific facilities as well as explore new product opportunities.
Source: Pure Flavor.
Up 41.6%
Inflation-adjusted exports from March 2022 to November 2022 were up 41.6% compared to the same period pre-COVID average. Exports were up by 0.2% over the same period last year (March to November 2021).
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AUTONOMOUS GROWING IN ONTARIO
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Ronald Hoek, CEO and founder of Blue Radix, says there are a lot of parallels between the Canadian and Dutch greenhouse industries.
Over the past two years, the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) has been partnering with Blue Radix to test the company’s Crop Controller autonomous greenhouse management technology and the results are promising.
In 2021, three grower members of the OGVG were chosen to test the technology. One large, one medium-sized and one smaller greenhouse company were selected for the project. The project was part of the Greenhouse Competitive and Innovation Initiative, delivered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council and funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).
“We started to cooperate with OGVG to bring our vision and our approach, but also our service, Crop Controller, to Ontario,” says Ronald Hoek, CEO and founder of Blue Radix. “There are many parallels between the Dutch greenhouse industry and what’s happening here.”
The Crop Controller system optimizes and realizes the grower’s own unique crop strategy autonomously. During the entire growth period, AI continuously uses all available data from greenhouse sensors, climate boxes and meteodata providers to forecast and optimize the climate according to the grower’s cultivation planning.
“One of the advantages of this approach is forecasting. The system forecasts the best possible climate for the greenhouse for three days ahead. This is unique and is very valuable for the grower. It means the system can work pro-active instead of the
traditional, more reactive way of growing,” Hoek explains.
Niki Bennett, innovation, adaptation, and plant protection lead for the OGVG oversaw the project. She says the OGVG has been researching different types of automation for greenhouses for a long time, including being able to better automate the climate computers and getting them connected better with irrigation and sensors, as well as having the system work together better overall.
“A grower will often fiddle with the climate computer, and a very experienced grower will be able to tell the changes and make those small changes with relatively good success. A less experienced grower is not going to be able to keep the crop in the same range,” Bennett says.
This is where Blue Radix’s Crop Controller comes into play.
“They’ve had a fair bit of success in the Netherlands infusing it and having it help growers better maintain the crops. So, we wanted to see how that would translate in Canada,” Bennett says.
“We believe that a grower will always be there to set the strategy to state where he wants to go, and that’s the power of the human – putting creativity to the task to improve results further and to think about new improved crop strategies. And also, to translate the agreements they have with the retailer and their marketer into concrete targets for them,” Hoek adds. “We don’t tell the grower how they should grow their tomatoes, bell peppers or cucumbers. We help them to structure their crop strategy. We
Crop Controller project yields positive results for Ontario growers
BY ANDREW SNOOK
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Crop Controller became commercially available in late 2021 and is in use in a wide variety of climates across 15 different regions around the globe, including in Ontario.
help them to optimize their crop strategy so they can get a better result out of it. But most importantly, we are executing their crop strategy autonomously without human interference.”
Another reason for the Crop Controller project was to identify barriers to the use of autonomous technologies within the greenhouse sector.
“What were the barriers that were keeping growers from using systems like this? Because, from the OGVG position, we keep hearing from growers how automation and technology are super important. But we’re not always seeing them being adopted in the same way, or at the same level as their interest would suggest,” Bennett says.
Blue Radix had its own questions to answer in the project, bringing this service to Canada.
“With Crop Controller, are there specific things that we have to adjust in the system to make Crop Controller applicable in Canada, where the weather conditions are different?’” Hoek asks.
That question has answered itself since Crop Controller became commercially available in late 2021. It is currently successfully in use in a wide variety of climates across 15 different regions around the globe, including in Ontario.
DATA CONCERNS
The key barrier that the OGVG discovered to the adoption of technologies like this one in Canada was related to the data collected. Growers have questions and concerns regarding who owns the data (and for how long), data storage, access to the data, service cancellations and if the data can be sold.
“Growers collect a lot of data, and they’re very confidential about it, because it’s essentially their secret sauce to how they grow. So, they’re worried that if they’re using companies that have access to their data, or are helping them generate data, that they’re going to have ownership rights, and what are those ownership rights? What if I change [services] and then I don’t have access to years of data,
for example,” Bennett explains.
To help alleviate growers’ concerns about data ownership, the OGVG is in the process of adopting Dutch-styled plain language data contracts. Implemented by The Netherlands, these contracts offer clear answers to growers regarding data ownership, sharing, term limits and other concerns. This process is helping alleviate grower concerns and increase the uptake of these kinds of technologies.
“In the Netherlands, they have data contracts that can be used between industry members to lay out the terms more clearly – who owns the data? For how long? What happens when I no longer want to use your services? Who owns the data then? Do they still get access? Who gets access? Things like that,” Bennett says. “In order to clearly lay that out, knowing that growers are not experts, necessarily, in this regard, and making sure that people’s expectations are clearly laid out, that was identified. That’s in development – how we could implement something like that for growers to help
them get a better sense, because it seems to be one of the bigger hurdles in them adopting any technology.”
Bennett says one of the advantages of Blue Radix’s Crop Controller is that the data generated by the technology is entirely in the hands of the individual grower. The data ownership remains with the grower and the data is solely used to benefit the grower and its greenhouse company.
“It’s about what their goals are, not about what the Blue Radix’s goals are. The company isn’t trying to sell them that there’s one way to do it or anything like that. That’s helpful because growers are also a little hesitant to feed into an algorithm that is going to be bolstering their competition. It wouldn’t allow them to keep their competitiveness or increase that competitive edge,” Bennett explains.
AGE FACTOR
Bennett is hopeful that more growers will adopt more autonomous technologies like Blue Radix’s Crop Controller to help manage the shortage of new growers entering the industry.
“The average age of growers continues to go up. And unfortunately, the number
of young growers coming into the sector is not keeping up,” she says. “Solutions like this will allow growers to maintain larger acreage and oversight of greater acreage, which is helpful as we transition to more automation.”
POSITIVE RESULTS
The project wrapped up in early 2023 and the growers are quite satisfied with the results, although it’s sometimes challenging for growers to change personal habits.
“It takes a little bit of onboarding time to get everything started, which is why Blue Radix asked for a six-month commitment.
Growers have been pretty happy,” Bennett says. “They have been able to get climate profiles for the coming days, calculated by algorithms. Those climate profiles based on the algorithms that were generated from Crop Controller, were based on what the grower data was. They had basically trained the Crop Controller based on what they did, using the data they have. They were able to set their strategy and leave the execution, including setting the climate computer to Crop Controller.”
After the onboarding and training of the algorithms, growers could have Crop
Controller steer the climate autonomously, without human interference.
“What that means is that they’re going to be able to do it without any hands-on tools. It is able to do it by itself. There’s a fair amount of trust in that, which is always tricky. But they have been able to show that they’re able to continue to steer the crop climate totally autonomously, being able to hit the checkpoints and being able to open up growers’ time so that they can take care of other issues as they pop up. I would say it’s a pretty successful program, mostly because it allows growers, in my opinion, to better utilize their time,” Bennett says.
In the future, Hoek sees Blue Radix expanding its services to assist growers in other capacities.
“We envision that we are going forward to an eco-system with partners where also pest management, and the choices you make in terms of labour, will be done by an algorithm that can make those trade-offs with all the data that is available. Together, we are going forward to create an A.I.-driven ecosystem in the greenhouse,” he says.
To learn more about Blue Radix’s Crop Controller, visit blue-radix.com.
Grown out of love
Over a decade in business, Deb’s Greenhouse going strong
BY MATT JONES
Deb’s Greenhouse is a labour of love. While the Alberta-based greenhouse plant-growing operation has expanded to include an online store with a wide variety of products, which has been successful, it all comes back to the love that owner Deb Foisy has: love for an agricultural lifestyle and love for her children, and how this business model has afforded her the opportunity to be close to them.
“I grew up in agriculture, on a small traditional cattle farm in Alberta,” says Foisy. “And I loved it. I was married and I had four little kids and we were at a point in our career where we would either have to expand the farm to do something bigger, maybe buy a store, we had a lot of options laid out before us. I really wanted to stay in agriculture, but I also really valued being as much of a stay-at-home mom as I could while my children were young.”
A friend suggested that she add a greenhouse to the existing farm. Foisy was so taken with the idea
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that she bought a greenhouse the very next day. That was in the Fall of 2009 and Deb’s Greenhouse was established as a business the following spring. This would be a running theme in Foisy’s conversation with Greenhouse Canada: she is very decisive and moves quickly once she’s set her mind to something.
“I love it,” says Foisy with a laugh. “I think that when you’re raised farming, you’ve got to be able to react quickly and make decisions.”
From the 2010 launch, greenhouse operations became a larger and larger portion of the farm’s business, with more greenhouses being purchased while the other aspects of the farm were deemphasized. By the summer of 2016, the business was at a turning point, as they had maxed out the population base in the area.
“There were just no more people to sell plants to. So, then we started wholesaling into the city. We did that for a couple of years to build the business.
Deb Foisy created Deb’s Greenhouse as a way to continue living an agricultural lifestyle and to remain close as she raised her four children.
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ABOVE Foisy, along with her children (from left) Clayton, 17, Paige, 21, Russ, 20, and Ryder, 15.
And then we decided, okay, its either time to move or to build a whole new facility. And we moved – we found a location that was for sale that we really liked.”
Now firmly established at their new 12,000-sq.-ft. greenhouse facility in Morinville, Alta, Foisy says that the business specializes in bedding plants, hanging baskets and outdoor planters. The greenhouse uses a gutter connection system, but there isn’t that much technology incorporated into their operations. The site has also allowed them to hold special events, as well as creating the “Secret Garden,” an area of the property with boardwalks and playhouses for children to enjoy while parents are shopping.
During this entire process, social media was becoming a larger part of the business plan. When the business launched in 2010, Foisy didn’t even have a Facebook page of her own, but her sister helped her set up an account where she could share videos about Deb’s Greenhouse. Today, social media is a huge part of the business, which, in addition to Facebook, can now be found on Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest and YouTube.
“I think that if you’re someone who does social media for your business, as it evolves, you evolve with it. I set time aside specifically to do social media, that’s part of my schedule in the day.”
Foisy started an online shop for the business long before it was fashionable to do so.
“Then COVID happened, now everybody has a website,” laments Foisy.
But Deb’s Greenhouse’s online shop continues to be a key
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Deb’s Greenhouse moved to this 12,000-square-foot facility in Morinville, Alberta in 2016. Foisy says that a further expansion will likely occur in the next five years.
facet of the business, with online sales making up around 25 per cent of their annual gross sales. In order to provide a more well-rounded experience, the shop includes other products beyond the plants grown at the greenhouse and Foisy’s own Secret Garden Seeds line (launched in 2019). The shop also includes a variety of
sticker books, puzzles and other items that Foisy sources from gift shows and the like.
“What we look at is, who is our customer base? Who are they shopping for? What are they looking for? We have a lot of sales for those types of items leading up to the holidays so we bring in extra of that type of product.”
The business also has a large pre-order program, where customers can purchase their plants and other products in advance for the coming year. To support that program, Foisy’s daughter designed a physical catalogue of their offerings for the coming year, much like the classic Christmas Wishbooks of catalogue stores in days past.
“We wanted a plant Wishbook that our customers could sit down and we imagine them cuddled up on a couch with a glass of wine in front of the fireplace and browsing through plants they could select for next spring.”
Deb’s Greenhouse is truly a family affair, not just for Foisy and her own children. Much of the 25 staff who work at the greenhouse are also families, with mothers and daughters working alongside each other.
“Boys do work here, but typically it’s the girls that enjoy the garden centre more. But we found that the culture among the team is fantastic. We’ve never had HR issues or infighting or anything like that. I think it’s because of the dynamic with the teenage girls and the adults. It’s kind of interesting because I think it’s the first time a young person sees their mom as a human, not just as a parent. And they’re in an environment where their mom’s not the boss.”
Looking to the future of the business, Foisy says that they will likely expand their operations again in the next five years or so. The business is “on a roll” and she wants to ensure that it is in the best position possible for the day in the future when her children take over, particularly her daughter, Paige.
“She’s only 21 but she is kind of committed to this industry. I think that when you have that as a parent, the expansions are a different kind of investment.”
Foisy says, ideally, she would like to double the size of the boutique and to add in offices for managers on site as well as a commercial kitchen.
A world first
The first time metagenomics is being used to discover the microbe community – including pathogens – in hydroponic tomatoes.
BY TREENA HEIN
As anyone in the industry knows, root pathogens are a common issue in greenhouse production, in systems that use soil but also in hydroponics. But if it happens that hydroponic systems are contaminated with one or more pathogens, as Dr. Gal Winter at the University of New England (UNE) in Australia explains, the resultant disease can be more serious than in soil growing systems. This is due to the closely-set environmental conditions, water recirculation and the lower populations of microbes that exist in hydroponics.
Starting in 2020, Winter has led a project to examine microbe communities, including pathogens, in hydroponic tomatoes. Her PhD student Phil Thomas is currently studying this for his degree. The project is based at the Future
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Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), which was established in 2019 to deliver research results through partnerships with Australian universities, other government bodies and private companies. In this case, the private partner is Australia’s leading fresh produce grower, Costa Group, which, under its Tomato Exchange business, grows various tomato varieties in a large state-of-the-art greenhouse in Guyra in the state of New South Wales.
The CRC project officially finishes in September 2023 and Thomas will likely finish his PhD in 2024.
PROJECT ORIGINS
Back in 2020, Winter, Thomas and their colleagues began to characterize the population of the
PhD student Phil Thomas is working alongside Dr. Gal Winter at the University of New England (UNE) in Australia on a project to examine microbe communities, including pathogens, in hydroponic tomatoes.
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microbes on and around tomato plant roots, and to understand the role these microbes play in supporting plant growth and pathogen resistance. They wanted to understand the dynamics of the root microbiome to better control common tomato-crop pests and diseases, and also evaluate the impact of biocontrol agents (probiotics).
First came setting up trial plots of hydroponic tomatoes at UNE with substantial support from Costa Group. The system emulates Costa Group’s system, which employs rockwool. They also sampled production crops at Costa Group’s Guyra facility.
The team then began establishing experimental procedures and running initial tests to characterise microbes in the root zone (the rhizobiome).
This used to require culturing microbes in the lab, but this is laborious and not all rhizobiome microbes can be cultured. The team, therefore, used some culture-based analysis but also DNAbased technologies to characterize the microbial community.
To the best of their knowledge, it was the first-ever study that uses DNA ‘metagenomics’ on hydroponic materials. Metagenomics is the study of the structure and function of entire DNA sequences isolated and analyzed from all the organisms (typically microbes) in a bulk sample.
SAMPLE TAKING
Thomas has spent significant time and effort developing a protocol for sampling the rhizobiome and purifying the DNA samples. A reliable method for extracting high-quality microbe DNA through using various purification steps was needed.
“I take samples from the propagation cube, which sits on
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If hydroponic systems are contaminated with pathogens, the resultant disease can be more serious than in soil growing systems.
top of the rockwool slab when the plant goes to the main glasshouse; two different locations in the main slab, which supports three plants; bare plant roots and the drain from the end of the hydroponic channel,” Thomas explains. “So, most of the samples include rockwool, roots and whatever fertigation solution happens to be in the slab at the time (could be wet or just damp, depending on how long since the last shot of irrigation). The extraction method is slightly different for each location.”
Thomas spent a lot of time and effort to get really good at purification, checking his efforts through measurement of DNA quality. He has worked to become very proficient at removing non-microbial DNA without degrading the microbial DNA. It takes skill to eliminate molecules such as proteins, solvents and other inert compounds from the rockwool and plant material. Winter believes Thomas’ method is the best
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Examples of tomatoes being grown as part of the ongoing research project.
available today.
DNA sequencing is done using a thirdgeneration DNA sequencer known as the MinION, so small that it can fit into the palm of your hand. It is made by Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
He has processed 28 samples in the MinION, not counting tests.
“The sequence yield was disappointing, but enough for me to set up an initial pipeline to process the data,” he says. “The nanopore technology has advanced significantly in yield and quality since my first effort, so I’m hopeful of better results in the next batch.”
Thomas adds that the sampling method is similar throughout the crop, “except that I didn’t take root samples for the first approximately four months because there are generally not enough roots outside the slab to get a full sample,” he says. “In the production glasshouse at Costa, we only sample a plant twice in succession, gradually moving down the row to avoid any impact on productivity.
December was a busy time for shotgun sequencing (analysis involving randomly breaking up the genome into small DNA fragments that are sequenced individually) which analyses DNA from any part of the
genome of all types of organisms present, as well as specific DNA locations used to classify microorganisms.
PROBIOTICS
In terms of probiotics application, the team has demonstrated that a popular probiotic persists and spreads in the rootzone of this project’s hydroponic systems at least 19 days after application. Costa Group Technical Advisor Paul Butterworth has said that these findings could potentially change the timing of
RHAPSODY
probiotics application to the root zone to provide greater benefits to the plants.
Thomas also compared their hydroponic microbiome to tomatoes grown in soil in high tunnels.
“We were surprised that there were more species present in the hydroponic system, but they were more closely related,” he says. “There was only a small overlap in core species between the hydroponic and soil environments. So, we suspect that the hydroponic microbiome includes many species that are related
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Dr. Gal Winter at the University of New England (UNE) in Australia, pictured here in the laboratory with students, started the project in 2020.
by abilities that give them a competitive advantage in this environment.”
AREAS OF THE ROOTZONE
The team had suspected that some microbes would be more successful in certain parts of the root zone. In its findings so far on this front, the team has found an interesting result.
“We’ve found that the microbial community differs significantly between the different root zone locations that we sample, which is not surprising because the microbial environment around the roots is different in each location,” says Thomas. “Being able to distinguish these locations tells us that the method is sensitive enough to detect the effect of quite subtle variations in the environment. And for the plant, having a microbial environment that’s different in different areas of the hydroponic
system is a plus. It gives the plant access to a wider variety of microorganisms when recruiting beneficial partners for the root zone.”
And as mentioned, with hydroponic systems having a much lower diversity of microbes than soil, this extra variety could be important for hydroponicallygrown plants in particular conditions, says Thomas, like when disease is present.
DETECTING ISSUES
Currently, Thomas is studying changes in the microbiome that indicate the plant has some kind of problem, whether that’s a stress problem, nutrient problem or a pathogen problem.
“I have set up crops in separate bays, one control and one treatment,” Thomas explains. “The plants are now mature and I have been sampling the microbiome
weekly. I inoculated with powdery mildew Dec. 16, which is a pathogen that’s a significant challenge in tomato hydroponic production.”
He adds that “a few weeks after treatment we will probably follow with another challenge such as water stress, to try to get the most data out of the crop. This crop has taken several months of effort to get ready, and we will continue to monitor it until around March 2023.”
They will not test the effect of probiotics right now but focus on identifying indicators in the microbiome that may give early warning of a specific pathogen attack, or response to pathogens in general.
“Once we identify candidate biomarkers, we will look at how to turn that information into a practical test that growers can perform regularly,” Thomas says, “to check on the status of the microbiome/crop.”
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LEDs light up year-round veggie greenhouses
Nova Scotia funding program assists in funds den Haan’s Greenhouses new LED lighting technology.
BY JOHN DIETZ
Through Nova Scotia’s Agriculture Business Advance program, den Haan Greenhouses received $300,000 in March 2020 to assist with installing LED lighting technology that would enable transition to year-round vegetable production.
Three years later, long English cucumbers are being harvested 365-days a year and greenhouse tomatoes are on tap any day their commercial customers want them. In the short-daylight months, October to March, the massive lighting system comes on at midnight, every night, and only shuts down at 6 p.m. to let plants and workers rest.
Total yield of the high-wire crops increased 25 to 30 per cent, as projected, after the LED toplighting system was installed.
The family-owned pair of greenhouses is located
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in the Annapolis Valley, halfway between Halifax and Saint John N.B. Den Haan’s fresh, high-quality product has become the go-to supply for Loblaws Canada, Sobeys and Costco in the Atlantic region.
As a unit, den Haan Greenhouses is the largest greenhouse operation in Atlantic Canada. Since the upgrade was completed, it has been meeting most of the demand in Atlantic Canada for local fresh cukes and tomatoes in winter.
Dutch immigrant Jac den Haan and his wife Helena landed to Canada in 1951 with 13 children. They founded den Haan Enterprises in 1963, starting with one greenhouse on Fitch Road near Lawrencetown, N.S.
The family-run business has been led since 2012 by grandson Luke den Haan. Wife Jodi and
The family-run business has been led since 2012 by Luke den Haan, grandson of Dutch immigrant Jac den Haan and his wife Helena, who founded den Haan Enterprises in 1963.
brother Josh, along with Luke, form the management team. They are supported by 50 full-time local employees.
Luke’s father built the first of the matched pair in 1999. The second was built in 2012. They each cover 3.75 acres or 1.5 hectares. They have a standard Venlo structure. Venlo construction, with alternating peaks and valleys, is storm safe and economical. Ventilation is truss-mounted and operated by a push-pull rail mechanic. Roof vents are on both sides of the ridge.
Climate and irrigation are computer
controlled with a Priva climate control system that maintains the temperature, moisture and air flow. The primary heat source is local forestry waste wood, burned in a biomass boiler.
Until 2020, den Haan relied on natural light to grow the high-wire crops. They had a nine-month harvest season.
Luke says, “We planted on Dec 16, then harvested from March 1 to November 30. Now, (with LED lighting]) we harvest yearround.”
“The Agriculture Business Advance
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Until 2020, den Haan relied on natural light to grow the high-wire crops. They had a nine-month harvest season.
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Half of the 50 employees had been parttime; today, all 50 are full-time, working regular schedules in full-daylight conditions.
funding was one of two big incentives from the province to increase our production through the winter months. The second came from the Advancing innovative Technologies Program. Our business was growing then and has grown much more since. Those incentives were important to us, good for us, our suppliers, our customers, and for the economy generally,” says Luke.
EYE-OPENER IN NETHERLANDS
In February 2018, Luke joined a Nova Scotia trade delegation to the Netherlands to examine year-round greenhouse production using LED lighting. It was considered a relatively new alternative to HPS (high pressure sodium) lighting.
“It was an eye opener for me. It was like walking into summer, and they were
talking about lots of yield and stronger pricing,” Luke recalls.
The lighting supplier was Philips, which operates a research centre in Eindhoven.
Back home, Luke den Haan convinced Josh and Jodi to investigate LED lighting for their growing space. What would it cost? What could they expect for revenue? Would the market support it? Could they get financing?
He’d learned in Holland that LED was more economical than HPS lighting, once installed. They would need about 1,800 fixtures. The LED fixtures would cost $600 each, three times as much as HPS fixtures. Could that amount of investment pencil out as wise with a long-term viewpoint?
Den Haan asked for quotes from three LED lighting suppliers. “In Holland, we looked at the Philips (Signify) LED lighting at two places. I approached them, and to two other suppliers here,” he says.
“I chose Philips lighting because their aluminum fixture is more rigid and robust and waterproof for a greenhouse environment. Philips has a very well-built fixture design. Plus, they could supply the inter-canopy lighting as well as top lighting,” he adds. Interlighting is essential for new-crop tomatoes while they grow below the old canopy in a year-round production schedule.
PHILIPS REBRANDS A DIVISION
Philips Electronics was established in 1891 in Eindhoven. Using HPS greenhouse lighting, Philips horticulture developed its first light recipe in 1993. It now could offer research-based recommendations for light intensity, duration and uniformity.
In 2007, Philips assigned a dedicated horticulture team to focus on LED solutions for greenhouses. With introduction of LEDs, the spectral composition of the light became a fourthingredient in their lighting recipe.
The North American Philips horticulture LED team installed its first LED interlighting system in Canada in 2012. It introduced Philips LED toplighting linear in North America in 2015.
Then, in 2016, the entire Philips lighting division was split off from other divisions. In 2019, it was renamed as Signify. Signify still manufactures Philips products. That year, it also introduced LED toplighting compact.
The toplighting linear output is about ABOVE
The Agriculture Business Advance funding was one of two big incentives from the province to increase den Haan’s production through the winter months.
half of traditional HPS. The compact output is equal to or greater than HPS light output. Now a third generation, Philips toplighting force, is being added to the Philips LED greenhouse portfolio in North America in 2023. Force will approximately double the HPS-light output, using less energy than a 1000-watt HPS fixture.
SIGNIFY TEAM SUPPORT
Douglas Marlow, a 35-year veteran of ‘high-wire’ vegetable production, was part of the initial Philips LED team for Canada.
Marlow says, “In North America, it was a bit of a struggle to convince growers that LED not only can improve crop production, but LED lighting also can drastically increase energy usage efficiency.”
Marlow adds, a lot of groundwork had to be done to convince growers that LED lighting was a viable alternative to HPS, and den Haan Greenhouses was among the first projects in North America.
Luke asked Signify for quotes. He wanted to budget for LED toplighting
as well as provide a reliable year-round supply of tomatoes and cucumbers for Atlantic Canada. For the first time, he would be selling into the highest-value winter market.
Three year later, those yield projections have proven to be “spot on,” Luke says.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Financing was Luke’s next stage. It came from a bank and from government programs.
“The Nova Scotia FarmLoan Board
provided the primary loan. The full investment amounted to about $6,000,000 when it was finished,” Luke says,
“We helped Luke with the bank and with the Nova Scotia power company by providing the calculations they needed,” says Marlow. “Our plant specialist created a yield prognosis and Luke provided fruit pricing for every week of the year, then we created a cash flow projection, per week.”
Luke added, “Bean counters just love that kind of stuff.”
They also had to consider his carbon
and interlighting for year-round tomato production. He also wanted to budget for LED toplighting for his cucumber greenhouse.
Den Haan and Marlow had known each other for a few years. Marlow supplied a customized light design and plan in less than a month.
“It’s one thing to talk and show numbers on paper; it’s another thing to touch and feel the product,” Marlow says. “When Luke went to the Netherlands and saw our research, that was a watershed moment. When he came back, he wanted to do this.”
Using Luke’s previous crop yield data, and a lighting recipe, a plant specialist for the Philips horticulture team developed the details, a new yield projection that included electrical usage. Luke used it in his discussions with financial stakeholders
The lighting project has potential to increase production by 25 to 30 percent
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balance. The big greenhouses needed more heat. For winter operation, he would use propane gas and liquid CO2 to provide both heat and carbon dioxide. However, the CO2 by-product of heating the boiler is scrubbed out of the flu gas and added into the greenhouse to spur plant growth.
Marlow says, “In essence, his carbon footprint probably is less than anyone can imagine. When he takes out the old plants and spreads them on farm fields, he actually gets carbon sequestering.”
After Luke had the financing package and signed off on authorizations, it took only weeks to install the basic lighting fixtures. Transformers had to be ordered and electrical panels were custom-built. The process took five or six months as the Covid-19 outbreak was developing. Crews with Paul Boers Ltd., a lighting partner in Ontario, did the installations.
“It was ready to go in May of 2020, but things take time. We waited until Fall 2020 to start using it,” Luke says.
When Luke activated the system fully, the Priva climate control took charge of lighting as well as the other functions.
“We start lighting at midnight, start irrigating at 5 a.m., and turn off the lights at 6 p.m., so we’re lighting for 18 hours a day, both tomatoes and cucumbers, from October to March. It’s amazing. It really feels like summer in there. It’s warm and always sunny,” he says.
When natural daylight hours increase, of course, Priva will control the LED lights to maintain the 18-hour schedule. Total LED lighting time annually, Luke estimates, is about 3,000 hours.
Generally, everything went according to plan. Budgeted production and energy consumption went as projected. Sales increases to new customers exceeded expectations.
Half of the 50 employees had been part-time; today, all 50 are full-time, working regular schedules in full-daylight conditions.
The greenhouses use more water, more fertilizer, and more biological products. The plants are producing seven days a week. Most workers go home when the LED lights go off, but a few stay behind for pest control work.
In five years, the world has become a ‘lot smaller’ for the Nova Scotia producer. Luke still must be price-competitive, and inflation has taken a big bite of projected profit margins. He’s not on Easy Street.
“Year-round production has exceeded my expectations, but it hasn’t made me any more money,” Luke says.
“I wasn’t planning on the pandemic or on inflation. The fertilizer price has doubled. Labor’s going up 10 percent. Energy prices are going up 14 percent. My margins are squeezed and squeezed and squeezed again. I can say we have one bright spot – my customers are happy. And in another four years, things will be different again.”
The lighting project has potential to increase production by 25 to 30 percent as well as provide a reliable year-round supply of tomatoes and cucumbers for Atlantic Canada.
Managing the Root Zone
RISK MANAGEMENT
2023 outlook
Risk management yields success in agribusiness.
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While food prices rose nearly 10% between 2021 and 2022, individual farmers and even larger agribusinesses are seeing little of that profit.
Despite the optimistic view for many who are closely watching the booming greenhouse industry, Canadian farmers were among the first to feel the effects of world events last year.
With oil prices skyrocketing and rising fertilizer costs stemming from the Ukrainian conflict, many farmers were concerned about securing an appropriate supply to produce a strong yield.
This year, farmers will need to remain alert for many of these same challenges, while still remaining flexible enough to take advantage of opportunities and market trends. All aspects of agribusiness will be tested this year, from rising input costs to the chronic labour shortage to increasing cyber risk.
A best-in-class risk management and insurance strategy will be the best way to protect profitability, vitality and resiliency in 2023.
PROFITABILITY
While food prices rose nearly 10% between 2021 and 2022, individual farmers and even larger agribusinesses are seeing little of that profit. World events, such as the war in Ukraine and China’s
zero-COVID policy, have continued to disrupt global supply chains, making important inputs such as fertilizer, seed and fuel less available and more expensive. Price hikes will continue across the board, including basic staples such as fruit, vegetables and meat.
The carbon tax adds to burden. Although annual increases have been in place since 2019, the increase is more significant in 2023 and farmers are feeling the weight. Margins are shrinking. Investing in technologies can help, but implementing these solutions also comes with a price tag.
Vertical integration and commodity futures to lock in prices are time-tested ways to help tame input costs and improve efficiency. But many threats to profitability in 2023 will be largely out of producers’ control, requiring strong risk, insurance and financial strategies to remain profitable.
VITALITY
With many Canadian workers actively re-evaluating their goals and prioritizing what’s important to them, farmers can’t afford to sit back and wait for
PHOTO: STOATPHOTO / ADOBE STOCK
the right workers to show up. In fact, the agribusiness labour shortage is expected to reach 123,000 workers by 2029. And any excitement around the growth of greenhouse operations may not be enough to attract new talent.
Rather, farmers will combat the challenges of recruiting and retention by investing in their employees. Many are beginning by re-evaluating compensation and benefits packages. By directing dollars toward the most important benefits, agribusinesses signal to existing employees that they matter. While it may seem impossible to leverage data to create personalized benefits options, it’s important to note that personalized benefits are major drivers of positive employee experiences, which helps build a workplace that attracts and retains workers.
At the same time, emphasizing a culture of workplace safety demonstrates a different kind of support for workers. Whether it’s a ramped-up onboarding system or implementation of a new annual training program, a business that takes its workers’ health and safety seriously will be better able to attract and retain workers.
RESILIENCY
While protected by much of the drama associated with extreme weather events, greenhouse growers will still face a variety of challenges in 2023. Extreme temperatures, especially cold weather snaps that bring the temperature down to -40°C, can be known to increase operating expenses by a significant amount to maintain appropriate temperatures inside. Other risks include possible business closures from new COVID-19 variants, problems with aging equipment and even strained finances due to tightening credit markets.
Given this environment, staying resilient will be directly tied to strong risk management. This means insurance coverage will be critically important. Yet rates will almost certainly be rising across the board, with additional pressure on excess liability coverage, property coverage and cyber liability coverage. Farmers will need to work closely with their advisors to take strong steps toward risk management and to secure appropriate insurance coverage.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
As agribusiness increasingly turns to automation to modernize and improve quality, cyber risk has become one of the
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Extreme temperatures, especially cold weather snaps that bring the temperature down to -40°C, can be known to increase operating expenses by a significant amount.
biggest challenges facing the industry. Bad actors can potentially hijack farm machinery or entire computer networks. The ramifications of such an attack include not only the financial loss of the attack and the cost of downtime in the event of an equipment shutdown, but also any reputational damage to the business as well. Manage cyber risk by mandating employee cybersecurity training, monitoring control systems and securing appropriate cyber insurance.
Another challenge will be food recalls. Recent years saw an increase in listeria concerns, and greenhouse growers will not escape these risks completely. It’s a good idea to consider product recall insurance and product liability coverage to protect you from costs related to food recalls and liabilities, which can run into the millions of dollars.
MAKE A PLAN
This year is not the year to sit back and do what you always did. Taking careful steps toward risk mitigation will yield better results. Consider these ideas when looking ahead and preparing for a successful year. Protect your employees. Your workers expect you to support their health, safety and wellbeing. If possible, offer them personalized benefits that don’t add to their costs – and gain the chance to win new, loyal talent.
Focus on onboarding and training. Set yourself – and your business – up for
success. Implement onboarding processes that include appropriate safety expectations. Require annual training for all workers to avoid costly accidents and injuries.
Understand your loss trends. Examine any recent large losses and take steps to mitigate any similar future issues. Be sure you can explain clearly to insurance carriers what those steps are. And consider whether it’s a good idea to consider a new carrier.
Close claims as quickly as possible. When it comes to insurance coverage, claims that take months or years to resolve have a negative impact on your reputation. Consult with your broker or claims management specialist to achieve the best possible outcome on each claim.
Gary Klemens (B.A.Sc., CAIB), is senior vicepresident, Southwestern Ontario, for global Top 5 insurance brokerage Hub International. He is the practice leader for HUB’s National Greenhouse Program. Gary is responsible for the design, negotiation and implementation of property/casualty agriculture programs across Canada as well as day to day operations managing the greenhouse programs team. He has more than 30 years of insurance experience in the Agriculture/Greenhouse sector. Growing up on a family farm, agriculture was the natural progression within the insurance industry. Gary has been providing specifically designed insurance programs for the greenhouse sector since 1994 as an MGA for the Canadian marketplace
Energy saving technologies in greenhouses from a plant viewpoint
Part 3: Heating systems, electricity and computer controls.
BY MOHYUDDIN MIRZA
SELECTION OF A HEATING SYSTEM
A well designed and maintained conventional natural gas furnace or boiler should recover 80 to 85% of the energy in the fuel as useful heat input to the greenhouse. The remainder 15 to 20% of the fuel energy is lost up the stack as ‘sensible heat’ (i.e., hot gas) and ‘latent heat’ (i.e., water vapour).
Improvements to the heating system can reduce energy costs by 10 to 40% depending on the efficiency of the current system. A modern furnace with a condensing heat exchanger can recover all of the latent heat and some of the sensible heat, achieving over 90% efficiency. High efficiency furnaces with condensers produce water which must be disposed of properly. This water is very acidic with a pH of around 4.0 and may also contain some combustion products. This water should not mix with your irrigation water.
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Regular maintenance of an existing heating system is one of the lowest cost and fastest payback investments in reducing energy costs in a greenhouse.
Location of the forced air furnace is also important for heat distribution and cold spots management. On page 36 is an example from a greenhouse where the furnace is located in the middle of the greenhouse. The hot air is forced on one side of the greenhouse and damage the plants. So proper heat distribution is important. When I visited this greenhouse in winter, ice was seen in many areas and several hot spots were also recorded.
COMPUTERIZED CLIMATE CONTROL
I have seen a variety of climate control systems varying from a simple thermostat
A good, computerized climate control system is an important component to reduce heating costs.
Images clockwise from bottom-center
Leucanthemum Sweet Daisy™ Jane 80393
Gaillardia SpinTop™ Red Starburst 62517
Perovskia atriplicifolia Jelena 88411
Phlox Flame® Pro Cerise 80434
Phlox Flame® Pro Baby Doll 80438
Gaillardia SpinTop™ Yellow Touch 62456
to programmable one and highly computerized setups. A good, computerized climate control system is an important component to reduce heating costs. This system continuously monitors variables such as sunlight, outdoor temperature, wind speed, indoor temperature, CO 2 concentration and humidity.
Production can be increased by precise control of environmental factors. It is worth pointing out that most of the climate monitoring and control computer would calculate what is called VPD (Vapor Pressure Deficit) or Moisture Deficit.
The VPD is reported as grams/m3 of air, Kilopascals (kPa) or Millibars (Mb). VPD in proper range indicates that plant is “working” and the if growers can monitor how many hours the plant was in that range, then it can be determined if energy is being used not properly or being wasted. For example, if the light, CO2 and nutrients are in the proper range but the VPD is not in the working range of between 3 to 7 grams/m3 of air then the plant is not performing optimally. Looking at the data from the computer, one can adjust the temperature and relative humidity to increase plant performance.
ELECTRICITY
Electricity cost is typically less than 20% of the total energy costs for a greenhouse operation. However, if artificial lighting is used then, the electricity cost can be up to 50% of the total energy costs. High Pressure Sodium lights convert about 75% of the electricity to heat, sometimes supplying 30% of the greenhouse annual demand. If this heating is not required or not significant, then LED (light emitting diodes) lights can be
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When I visited this greenhouse in winter, ice was seen in many areas and several hot spots were also recorded.
used. Some other options for reducing electricity costs include:
• Schedule electricity use to reduce peak demand charges.
• Negotiate time of day rates and schedule electricity. demand at the time of the day with the cheapest rates.
• Operate artificial lighting preferably when heating is also required.
• Clean lights and light reflectors to maximize lights to the plants.
• Convert from ventilation fans to natural venting.
• Cogeneration of heat and electricity can also be considered as an option; however, the capital costs are high and payback period may be up to 10 years.
SWITCHING TO A LOWER COST FUEL
Natural gas is the most commonly used fuel for greenhouse heating. Switching to a lower cost fuel usually involves the replacement of (or amendment to) existing gas heating system. This may be expensive initially as natural gas requires relatively inexpensive furnace equipment. Alternate fuels that may have a lower cost than natural gas include coal, wood waste or wood pellets, straw, sawdust or other biomass, waste engine oil, biogas from a landfill or a manure digester and geothermal system. A detailed analysis of the cost of equipment and operation and relative efficiency should be done before switching to any new fuel system.
With energy prices on the rise, greenhouse crop growers should make every effort to increase productivity per unit area in the context of energy inputs.
Family
Uncover the next crop of young achievers
The search is underway for Greenhouse Canada’s Top 4 Under 40. Nominees must work in the greenhouse, horticulture or related equipment and technology sectors and be 39 years of age or under by Dec 31, 2023
Recognize a lifetime of unyielding dedication
Know someone who brings innovative thinking, hard work and dedication to their craft? Tell us! Nominate a supervisor, staff member or fellow grower to recognize their impact on the farm and on the Canadian greenhouse sector.
Laying down healthier roots
Open-wall propagation tray shows positive results in Vineland field trial.
BY ANDREW SNOOK
A recently released study on an open-wall propagation tray is showing positive results for promoting healthier root systems.
The report, The Impact of Propagation Trays on Tree Establishment: A Five-Year Field Trial Comparing Four Trays, is a study that was conducted by Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland). In the report, Vineland discusses the results from a five-year field establishment trial it conducted involving four types of trays: a closed-wall tray, two types of semi-open trays and the RootSmart™ open-wall tray, which was designed by Vineland and commercialized with support from A.M.A. Horticulture Inc. (A.M.A.), a Kingsville, Ont.-based supplier that has been serving the horticulture industry since 1982.
“I think the tray is geared towards greenhouse production. It works best because it’s a relatively stable environment. There’s not a lot of wind, and there’s obviously airflow so the air root pruning
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effect works very well. There are no external winds to dry out the outside plugs of that particular tray,” explains Craig Willett, manager of Ellepots and PreFill at A.M.A. and former nursery owner.
The trial was conducted by the Plant Responses and the Environment team at Vineland, which is managed by Rhoda deJonge. She says they developed the RootSmart tray to help prevent future health issues with trees in the urban forests of Ontario.
“On our team, we’ve been doing a lot with our tree nurseries. These are the trees that become the urban forest in Ontario, and beyond. And so, we realized that when working with them, any issues that we’re going to see at the nursery production level are going to carry forward into the cities,” deJonge explains. “Trees never really grow out of having poor root formation. And so, we realized that if we could start with growers, right at the earliest stages in tree production, we could help prevent some of those tree failures that we see
The field trial found that the RootSmart tray led to healthier roots overall in both species planted when compared to the other trays.
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The five-year field establishment trial conducted involved four types of trays: a closed-wall tray, two types of semi-open trays and the RootSmart open-wall tray.
when those trees are 20, 30, 40 or 50 years old, growing in the cities.”
One of the best things a grower can do for a very young tree is have a root system that has some really nice lateral roots that develop without having misdirected, ascending, descending, circling roots –roots that could be girdling the tree in the future, she explains.
“And so, we developed this tray and the air pruning is a really smart way to prevent all of those wasted roots from forming,” deJonge adds.
Over the course of the five-year field trial, Vineland’s team compared two types of trees: eastern cottonwood and black cherry.
“It was really the cottonwoods and the cherries that we focused a lot of our efforts on because they were easy for us to propagate, and also, they’re commonly planted in some cities,” deJonge says.
The trees were propagated in the four different types of trays and then planted in Vineland’s test field. Each year of the trial, Vineland’s team dug up a row of trees and analyzed the root systems. They found that the RootSmart tray led to healthier roots overall in both species when compared to the other trays. Vineland compared three key categories: root quality, root distribution and root-soil contact.
“It’s actually quite a big change. If you look and handle one of these roots from the RootSmart trays, that’s when you really see how different it is from current production practices,” deJonge says. “At first glance, the trays may look the same. You have a number of different plugs growing together in a plastic tray. But when you look at the root zone, only 20 per cent of that root zone is actually in contact with plastic, 80 per cent of it is open to the air. So, then you include the top of that cell or plug and 95 per cent of the soil is exposed to air.”
By the end of the trial, it was found
that 44 per cent of the top performing black cherry trees were propagated in the RootSmart trays, nearly twice as many as any of the other trays. For the eastern cottonwood, 35 per cent of the top performing trees were propagated in the RootSmart trays.
One potential incentive for growers to use RootSmart trays is a quick propagation cycle.
“With some of the species, we saw that the production actually sped up a bit, and so, that’s another important thing for growers to keep in mind – the production cycle might be a little bit shorter, if they’re using RootSmart. That might be extremely appealing to some growers or be an adjustment for others. We’re not certain on the exact mechanism, but we think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the tree seedlings are not expending all of that extra energy creating roots that you end up having to prune off anyway – a lot of those circling roots, and ascending and descending roots, that are just trying to find their way until they’re supposed to stop. In the RootSmart tray, they’re going to stop once they hit the edge of that cell, and not expend all that extra energy, and instead use their resources for more positive growth,” deJonge says.
Rick Bradt, managing director of A.M.A., says the RootSmart tray could help growers turn trees over from propagation to final products in significantly less time than traditional trays.
“We saw this in Minnesota with elm trees. They usually did their trees in these big, long sand beds in the greenhouse, and they would transplant to the field in the next spring. They did the trial in RootSmart, and the trees were ready to go in September. In other words, they were ready to go to the field months sooner than the way they were doing it. So now, that’s five months of
not having to maintain those trees in propagation, which all costs money – it’s in a greenhouse that you’ve got to heat all winter,” he explains. “The tree goes to the field in the fall instead of the spring, and now it’s growing in the field. Let’s say it normally takes seven years to get to a caliber of tree that’s ready for sale, and now we do it in five, because we’ve got a better root structure going into the field that develops much quicker. Now I can replant my field every five years instead of every seven years. That’s a huge difference in acreage required to grow the same number of trees over time.”
BEST SPECIES FOR ROOTSMART
In the report, Vineland states that the species of trees where the RootSmart tray offers the biggest advantages are “key species demonstrating strong tap-rooting systems.”
These species include:
Native to Canada:
Hickory species (Carya): Shagbark, Big shellbark, Bitternut; Pine species: White (Pinus strobus); Oak species (Quercus): Red, White, Bur, Chinquapin; Hazelnut species (Corylus): American, Beaked; Red bud (Cercis canadensis); Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii); Black walnut (Juglans nigra); Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana); Kentucky coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus); Black cherry (Prunus serotina); Ironwood (Ostrya virginiana); Sassafras (Sassafras albidum); Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica); American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis); Paw paw (Asimina triloba);
Native to North America: Common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana); Yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea); Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos); Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum); Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra);
Other species:
Littleleaf linden (Tilia cordata); Japanese pagoda tree (Sophora japonica); and Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum).
To read a copy of the report, visit: rootsmart.com/propagationtraytrial. For the Grower Guide, visit: rootsmart.com.
MARCH
March 29 to April 2
CAST 2023 California, U.S. 2023cast.com
APRIL
April 19
Sawaya Gardens Hydrangea Trial Open House Waterford, Ont. sawayagardens.com
April 25-27
CPMA Convention & Trade Show Toronto, Ont. cpma.ca
To submit an upcoming event, contact editor Andrew Snook at asnook@annexbuinessmedia.com.
Choosing the right irrigation system
Irrigation is one of the most important controllable aspects of growing and could have a major impact on the quality of the crops.
BY GUILLERMO MALDONADO
Irrigation is one of the most important controllable aspects of growing and could have a major impact on the quality of the crops. How then to decide which irrigation system is the best suited to our needs? The answer isn’t always simple and will depend on several factors: type of crop, climate, labour, initial investment, growing media and type of soil, container size… Here are some pros and cons of some of the most common irrigation systems to help you to make the right choice.
Irrigation system #1: Manual irrigation
Pros:
• Low initial investment (inexpensive equipment);
• Catered irrigation (only the crops that need water get water);
• Good opportunity to inspect the crops.
Cons:
• Can be inefficient and uneven, requires training and experience;
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• Time-consuming task (more labour);
• Hard to keep crop’s canopy dry;
• Can have an impact on the soil structure, if the flow isn’t adjusted properly;
• Can be wasteful and hard to apply fertilizer evenly;
• Can’t be automated.
Don’t Forget to…
• Inspect plants before irrigation; feel the weight. Remove the container and touch the media. Don’t only base your decisions on a quick visual inspection;
• Avoid overflowing the container or using high pressure nozzles as it disrupts the soil structure; certain aggregates will migrate to the top while the fines will settle at the bottom of the container, reducing overall drainage and affecting the dry down cycles;
• Flush lines before irrigating to ensure the appropriate water or fertilizer solution is applied on all crops;
Choosing which irrigation system is the best suited to our needs isn’t always simple. It will depend on several factors, including type of crop, climate, labour, initial investment, and growing media and type of soil.
PHOTO: PRESSMASTER
• Make sure equipment and nozzles are adjusted to get the right flow and droplet size for the type of crop and container size.
Irrigation system #2: Sprinkler/Micro Spray Systems
Pros:
• Can be timed and automated;
• Can be used for a specific crop where low air humidity is an issue;
• Can be used to impact micro-climate around the plant and canopy;
• Medium to low initial investment.
Cons:
• Less efficient and wasteful if not managed properly;
• Uniformity can be a challenge;
• Low efficiency on dense canopies (may result in excessive runoff).
Irrigation system #3: Drip irrigation
Pros:
• Can be automated and programmed based on many different inputs;
• Crop canopy remains dry (reduces incidence of foliar diseases);
• All the water is applied to the media:
- Can apply precise amounts of water which can reduce water usage;
- Water has a better distribution through the media;
• Water can be collected, treated and reused.
Cons:
• Medium to high investment;
• Water distribution can be problematic if growing media becomes too dry or drippers aren’t positioned properly;
• Cleaning and maintaining the system can be challenging;
• Further investments are required to collect, treat and reuse water (Gutters, collection reservoir, filtration system, UV system, etc.);
• If leachate is not collected, a lot of water can be wasted.
Irrigation system #4: Water booms
Pros:
• Major reduction in labour costs;
• Can be programmed and automated;
• Can be used to apply different types of products;
• Can be used as a sprayer;
• Even coverage of the canopy;
GREENHOUSE
DESIGN AND CONTROL
• Excellent choice for large-scale monocrop productions.
Cons:
• High initial investment;
• Only possible for certain types of greenhouses;
• For better results, a trained operator is required to adjust equipment and carry out preventative maintenance;
• Difficult to manage with smaller batches of different crops at different growth stages.
Irrigation system #5: Sub-irrigation ebb and flow (for hydroponics systems)
Pros:
• Positive impact on evenness and uniformity of soil moisture;
• Can be applied to different growing systems;
• Water is typically collected and recycled, which significantly reduces wastewater;
• Can be used for a variety of plant species and container sizes;
• Plant canopy and foliage remain dry.
Cons:
• Medium to high initial investment;
This book deals with different types of greenhouses, materials, structures, advanced control techniques and tendencies that are needed for designing and controlling an advanced greenhouse.
The control system is presented as an integral system which covers the explanation of basic and advanced concepts for a real time controller. Also, structural analysis is introduced, whereby mechanical design is regarded as a key factor.
Written in a highly accessible manner, this book will prove useful to horticulturalists, agricultural engineers, greenhouse engineers and designers.
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• Can cause salts build up in the growing media (cannot flush the mix through this system);
• Generates a lot of wastewater if it isn’t collected;
• Requires a growing media with excellent wickability (capillarity), but also sufficient drainage;
• If the water is contaminated, the disease will spread rapidly;
• Must have an efficient water treatment system in order to safely re-use water.
Irrigation system #6: NFT - Nutrient Film Technique (for hydroponics systems)
Pros:
• Water is always in motion (improves dissolved oxygen (DO2) content);
• Water can be reused and recycled;
• System is typically programmed and automated;
• Decreases water usage as it runs through the system in a loop.
Cons:
• High initial investment;
• Needs to be managed by qualified operator;
• Little room for mistakes (roots directly exposed);
• Requires a climate-controlled environment;
• Difficult to control pathogens as they can spread rapidly.
Irrigation system #7: Mist fogging
Pros:
• Ability to apply high volumes of water though very fine droplets;
• Most suitable option for germinating chambers/rooting stations;
• Effective impact on air humidity and climate in the greenhouse/growing area.
Cons:
• Medium to high initial investment (Higher when we include the costs of a germination chamber);
• Requires an extremely efficient filtering system;
• Must install a high-pressure line.
Whichever irrigation systems you choose, preventative maintenance is always recommended. Make the proper adjustments when cycling through different seasons, crops and growth cycles. Be proactive and implement the best practices to ensure the healthy growth of your crops.
Guillermo Maldonado is a grower advisor for Berger.
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GARY JONES | Gary.Jones@kpu.ca
Future Proofing?
In case you missed it, ‘normal’ is being disrupted. Normal anything is now a rare commodity. Take your fertilizer bill for instance. Has it gone up this year? I am not a mind reader, but I’d hazard a guess that it has. Here’s why: “Disruptions started to occur in the global fertilizer supply chain mid-2020, when COVID-19 produced labour shortages that hindered natural gas production. More disruptions occurred in February 2021 after a deep freeze covered the U.S. southern Plains and froze natural gas wells. In late August 2021, Hurricane Ida hit the southern U.S., again impacting both natural gas and fertilizer production. Last fall, China, the world’s largest exporter of phosphorus, implemented quotas limiting international shipments of the nutrient that were initially set to end in June 2022. The quotas were recently extended through the end of the year and possibly into mid-2023.” 1 Russia is the world’s biggest exporter of nitrogen fertilisers, and the “Russia-Ukraine war has also disrupted natural gas flows. Russia halted exports of natural gas to Bulgaria and Poland in April [‘22], followed by Finland and the Netherlands in May, and Latvia in early August. It also reduced flows to the rest of Europe, causing spikes in European natural gas prices that led at least 10 of Europe’s fertilizer plants to close or cut output in July 2022 alone.” 1 A perfect storm brewing for a couple of years. Did you see each of those events directly impacting your fertiliser bill?
But fertilizer costs are not the only area of disruption for greenhouses. Look at just about any
crops like poinsettia, tomatoes).
In some areas, bio-tech advances may be the way forward. For example, “nitrogen-producing microbes that can add nutrients to soil without the need for natural gas during production.” 1 Where local legislation allows, manipulating plant genetics with newer techniques such as CRISPR gene editing may provide ways to produce more with less. Or just simply produce crops at all in some situations.
“In September 2021, the first CRISPR-edited food [tomatoes] has gone on public sale in Japan.” 2
Artificial intelligence and autonomous growing may have a role in making your greenhouse a more resilient production environment, reducing the effects of labour disruptions, input disruptions, or reducing waste. While on the topic of data management (we are aren’t we?) future proofing will also require the astute business manager to be aware of how to secure the business from cyber attacks and loss of critical data.
Building resilience also means making sure the physical greenhouse is working at its optimum. That means staying current with the latest in glazing options, screens, humidity control, lighting choices and management, heating and cooling options, water availability and use, carbon dioxide supply and use. The list seems endless. The big challenge for future proofing is to find a way to maximise your control of all these aspects and minimise external influences.
“In some areas, bio-tech advances may be the way forward...”
of your business inputs from seeds and growing media to containers and machinery. So, what to do? Well, like trying to make our bodies more ‘resilient’ to fight off colds, flu, and such like, we need to make businesses more resilient to adverse outside influences. We need better ‘future-proofing’.
Some adversities have been drivers for increased efficiency in use of inputs. For example, high fertilizer prices have driven “interest in high-tech precisionapplication tools and equipment that reduce the required amount of fertilizer.” 1 This may mean more precise control of fertigation dosing and timing. Or it may mean focusing on how best to purchase fuel supplies (forward purchasing, off-peak tariffs) and better matching heat input to crop requirements (crop modelling and weather forecasting to allow temperature integration for cooler regime growing of
I’d argue that perhaps the best way to future proof is to employ the best people. Gone are the days of the grower being hired for having a ‘green thumb’ and a feel for the crop. The ‘grower’ now is so much more than that. Recruit wisely, invest continually in your staff and respect your employees to maximise your business resilience.
1. Suzanne Jenkins ‘How the Russia-Ukraine War Helped Fuel Record Fertilizer Prices’ Oct 4 2022, https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regionaleconomist/2022/oct/russia-ukraine-war-recordfertilizer-prices
2. Wikipedia ‘CRISPR gene editing’ https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR_gene_editing accessed Feb 1 2023
Gary Jones sits on several greenhouse industry committees in BC and welcomes comments at greenhousewolf@gmail.com.
