Light4Food celebrates 10 years in business

Ten years ago, Light4Food started with a clear vision: providing LED lighting for plant growth. Today, the company offers more than LED lighting, with expertise spanning a wide range of cultivation solutions.

Strategic partnerships for climate chambers
Over the years, Light4Food has built partnerships. As Don van Haeff explains: "In 2017, we partnered with Philips to integrate LED lighting into climate chambers. In 2019, Light4Food joined forces with Priva for the control systems of these chambers. Today, our clients include seed breeding companies as well as universities, such as Wageningen University & Research."

Photo of climate chambers project for Maastricht University in Venlo

Grow lights for greenhouses
Light4Food's partnership with Philips also created opportunities to equip greenhouses with LED lighting. Together with its partner, the company provides tailored advice and engineering to achieve the ideal grow light for specific crops. "Whether it's a small number of lamps for a test setup or the full-scale implementation of lighting solutions in large greenhouse complexes, Light4Food always aims to meet its customers' needs."

Grow lights for a cucumber greenhouse in Switzerland

Using research to innovate
To continuously advance technology for cultivation in climate chambers, Light4Food invested in its own R&D test center: the Light4Food Indoor GrowHow facilities. With 650 m² of research cells, consisting of various climate chambers – including high-wire systems, table-based cultivation, floating systems, multi-layer cultivation, and drying rooms – the company has achieved numerous things. These facilities allow Light4Food to experiment and develop optimal cultivation methods, techniques, and automation solutions for crops such as lettuce, soft fruits, high-wire crops, flowers, and medicinal cannabis.

"In the test center, we conducted extensive research on various lettuce cultivation systems, including the Mobile Gully System, table cultivation, and the Floating System. The technical research demonstrated that the Floating System (also known as Deep Water Culture) has great potential, offering higher yields at lower costs – both in terms of investment and operational efficiency," says Don.

Photo of Indoor GrowHow research into floating system

A focus on automation
Since 2018, Light4Food has been fully committed to automating its cultivation system. What began with simple harvest stations for head lettuce has evolved into complete turn-key automation solutions for greenhouses. In 2022, the company started developing robotic solutions for handling and placing floaters in ponds, as well as robots for transplanting young plants.

"Thanks to our partnership with Triple Green Innovation, which designs and manufactures floaters, we can now deliver fully automated cultivation systems from a single source," Don tells us.

Photo of 2 machinery lines for harvesting lettuce and filling of crates in the United States of America

International growth
The company has grown significantly in recent years. To support its projects in the United States of America, Light4Food established Light4Food Inc. in Houston, Texas, in 2022. Since 2024, the company has been operating from its brand-new headquarters in Maasbree, the Netherlands.

Photo of new factory in Maasbree, Netherlands

"After 10 years in business, we have more than 100 custom-built climate chambers (ranging in size from 5 m² to 400 m² per chamber), delivered 26 hectares of Floating Systems with accompanying automation, and completed projects in 27 countries across 4 continents," Don tells us, like a proud father.