Growing cucumbers based on facts instead of assumptions

Drenthe Growers has been using Delphy’s Climate Profiler and Quality Monitoring System (QMS) since december 2019. They use these instruments to grow cucumbers based on facts. Green fingers are essential, but the grower is in need of extra certainty.

This is a summarised translation of an article that appeared in Magazine DE Delphy.

Peter Bergsma is the right person to experiment with digital innovations. The co-owner of Drenthe Growers has a technical background and had no experience in growing cucumbers until a few years ago. This allows him to have a fresh outlook on his work. Traditionally growers use their gut feeling. But if you keep track of all your data it’s easy to see how you have handled situations in the past. This can prevent problems. Growing gets more predictable.’

Bergsma participates in two Delphy pilots: QMS cucumber and the Climate Profiler. He uses the QMS to plan the yield. Every week he entries data into the system, the QMS calculates the planning and Bergsma adapts his strategy accordingly. ‘This helps me get a better understanding of the plant. The influence of the climate on the plants can be seen in detail.’

Climate Profiler helps you decide

Drenthe Growers also uses the Climate Profiler to help the planning. This application generates climate and weather data like CO2 levels, the light sum, temperature development and moisture levels. The grower describes an example: ‘You can calculate which temperature you need during certain light conditions. This creates a profile. Next you decide yourself how you want to realise these conditions.’

Bergsma also gathers data about leaf splitting and crop growth that he inserts into the application. Delphy advisor Rens Smith shares his feedback on a daily basis. ‘Rens visits once a week, but thanks to this system he can provide advice every day of the week’, says Bergsma. ‘We are expanding in the near future. We will use QMS and the Climate Profiler to control each greenhouse separately. This helps us in our planning and logistics.’

Always data at your disposal

Advisor Rens Smith is an early adopter of digitisation. ‘I can see the growers’ data before I visit them, so I arrive fully prepared. My conversations with growers get more value. We can go more in depth’, explains Smith.

The Climate Profiler is a step in the direction of data driven growing. Seeing how every greenhouse or location responds to climate circumstances is a huge advantage. This enables the grower to set up a slightly different growing strategy in every location to get the optimal results. The Climate Profiler calculates everything.

Rens Smith: ‘Sometimes we miss certain information in cucumber cultivation. The advantage of more data is that you can base your decisions on facts instead of assumptions.’

The Delphy Climate Profiler is an application hosted on the 30MHz platform. Within this application, knowledge of Delphy is translated into an application that provides real-time cultivation advice. Do you want to get more out of your data? Let us know! support@30mhz.com