A bunch of ripe tomatoes here, a pollinated flower there, and oh, there seems to be a fruit 'aborted'. Tomato growers working with Source.ag use the app to record plant data that gives them new insights and enables AI control of cultivation. Since the beginning of this year, the app has also been live for pepper growers, while cucumber growers can count on the real rollout soon. So says Ernst van Bruggen during a demo of the latest developments the day before GreenTech. At the fair, the co-founder of the fast-growing Amsterdam-based company expects to give a lot more demos. "I have cleared my diary," he laughs.
The team this week at the fair in Amsterdam, where visitors get a demonstration of the app.
The expansion of the Plant App is the result of sitting down with growers. "We don't just build something based on our own insights, but really sit down with the grower. Without them, we wouldn't have just thought of adding leaves in cucumber or a side shoot in the app either."
Side shoot
The option to add a side shoot with a simple menu in the app that allows growers to walk through the greenhouse is "unique," according to Ernst. "We are now introducing this in the tomato app as well." The app for tomatoes was there first. Growers with a total of eight hundred hectares of greenhouse are already using it. Recently, there have been developments, especially in the part where growers register generative data about the plant. For instance, the app pays special attention to poor conditions. "You can register a A fruit that is there but that's not growing well with a fixed protocol. That, in turn, provides better data for harvest predictions."
When a grower finishes his round and finishes the almost literally digitally drawn plant, the grower saves the image. Source.ag then does the math. "Because of this, we see that it is becoming possible for growers to outsource this work. What is useful in this regard is that there are clear tutorials in the app with explanations in text and images of exactly what abscission, for example, looks like."
Important for automation is that there is consensus on what is what. For example, head thickness. Ernst: "We noticed that sometimes even within one greenhouse, growers measured head thickness in different ways. Nowadays, there is more consensus on how to measure it. That's important, also to use data to train our models."
Looking further ahead
Tomato is known as a fairly regular growing crop. Pepper and cucumber grow more by fits and starts. "Especially in peppers, and especially in snack peppers, you can really get such a Christmas tree without pruning," Ernst knows.
Arus Biersteker, head grower and general manager at pepper grower
C. Zwinkels, accounting for 20 hectares, works with the app. He says: "Maintaining a consistent and clear overview across three greenhouses is not without its challenges. It is easy to overlook important details, and it can be difficult to stay on track with the original plans, especially with a new variety."
The Source Plant app gives him a clearer picture of the current status of his crop, as well as any adjustments or decisions he needs to make. "With Source, I can also look further ahead and make predictions based on real plant data, which is much more accurate. I can see how much fruit I can expect by looking at the number of flowers I register in the app."
Specialist data
In cucumbers, the registration of leaves also stands out, especially their position. Ernst knows from extensive conversations with growers that they would like to see that recorded properly. "It's quite a strategic point. The grower decides where to keep leaves or not. That then comes down to specialist data on the number of leaves under the highest set fruit, for example."
In the app, cucumber growers who will soon start working with the app can easily enter this - or have one of your employees enter it as that is also what Source.ag etc aims to do with the development of the app. The fast-growing Amsterdam-based company wants to make it easier for equally fast-growing growers like Agro Care to run cultivation.
For more information:
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