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Belgian Lettuce Grower De Glastuin Achieves Increased Production And Faster Growth Cycles Thanks To A Full LED Solution From Signify
Belgian farmers are using LED lights in an innovative way to enhance lettuce production
December 17, 2020
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Since the introduction of Philips GreenPower LED Toplighting Compact from Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, many vegetable, fruit and horticulture growers have made the choice to fully equip their greenhouses with LEDs. By combining this LED lighting with the GrowWise Control System, it is possible to both control and dim the light, giving growers a high degree of flexibility. This solution has now also found its way into lettuce growing; De Glastuin in Belgium opted for 100% LED grow lights from Signify.
Each type of lettuce requires a different amount of light. Heat is also a limiting factor when growing lettuce. As a result, in many periods it is not possible to illuminate the crops because too much heat accumulates in the greenhouse. Thanks to LED lighting, which emits less heat, it is possible to light the crop for longer hours, resulting in a increased production and faster growth cycles. The combination with the GrowWise Control System also allows the lighting to be dimmed. For example, to keep the light intensity the same on sunny days while maintaining light uniformity or to prevent climate fluctuations.
This summer, lettuce grower De Glastuin expanded its existing 1.75 hectare greenhouse with HPS lighting by 0.75 hectares. In this new part of the greenhouse, Philips GreenPower LED Toplighting Compact is installed together with the GrowWise Control System. The modules in the new part of the LED greenhouse have an output of 1800 µmol/s and require only 520 W (3.5 µmol/J). They provide a light level of 90 µmol/s/m². De Glastuin is pleased with the high quality and longer shelf life of the lettuce."With Toplighting Compact in combination with the GrowWise Control System, we can automatically adjust the amount of LED light to the amount of daylight at any given moment. As a result, there are fewer fluctuations in light intensity during the day. The lighting is much more efficient, dimmable and it offers us flexibility by allowing us to provide less light at any time," says Wouter de Bruyn, business manager at De Glastuin.
"De Glastuin's choice of Signify reinforces our conviction that we have chosen the right approach to make it easier for growers to switch to LED," says Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture LED Solutions at Signify.
The first Toplighting Compact was introduced in 2019 as a 1-on-1 replacement of HPS lighting to enable an easy transition to LED. The Toplighting Compact can be mounted on an existing HPS connection. This saves time and money during installation. In new greenhouses, installation is even easier thanks to easy-to-install brackets. The universal design of this system gives growers the possibility to fully equip their greenhouse with LED lights or to change their current set-up into a hybrid system with LED and HPS lighting. Signify's Compact range is also equipped with optics with normal and wide beam angles. The wide beam angle is ideal for growers looking for optimal light distribution or for lower greenhouses, for example. For crops where a greater distance between the plant and the grow light is possible, the normal beam is a better option.
More information about the Philips Horticulture LED solutions from Signify is available on the website.
For further information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the global market leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. In 2019, we achieved sales of EUR 6.2 billion with approximately 37,000 employees in more than 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for better lives and a more sustainable world. We achieved CO2 neutrality by 2020 and have been on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index since our IPO in 2016. We were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Signify news can be found in the Newsroom, on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
Most Americans Have Roundup in Their Bodies. Researchers Say One Week of Eating Organic Can Help
Organic, pesticide-free eating is an important factor in health and is something consumers should remain conscious of when shopping.
Photo courtesy of Scott Warman, Unsplash.
One week of eating organic can dramatically reduce pesticide levels in the body, according to a recent study conducted by the Health Research Institute, Commonweal Institute, and Friends of the Earth.
The group of researchers tracked the pesticide levels of four families across the United States. They took measurements after six days on a non-organic diet and again after six days on an organic diet.
The study, and a companion study published last year, found 16 different kinds of pesticides and chemicals in every participant. But after six days of organic eating, these compounds decreased an average of 60.5 percent—and some as much as 95 percent. Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup and the most used pesticide in the world, dropped an average of 70 percent.
A study by agricultural economist Charles Benbrook finds that the use of glyphosate has spiked 15-fold globally since genetically modified, “Roundup Ready” crops were introduced in 1996. The percentage of Americans with traceable levels of glyphosate in their bodies rose from 12 percent in 1972 to 70 percent by 2014, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego.
Glyphosate exposure has been associated with a wide range of health problems. Researchers have flagged glyphosate as a probable carcinogen, and the chemical has been linked to kidney disease, reproductive issues, DNA damage, hormone and digestion disruptions, fatty liver disease, and more.
The recent study poses organic eating as a straightforward way to avoid glyphosate. But the authors also recognize that organic food isn’t always accessible.
To improve the availability of organic foods in the United States, the team calls for top-down policy changes—like stricter regulations on pesticide use, more federal research into the effects of pesticides, and aid for farmers as they transition to organic farming.
“Our federal pesticide policy system is broken, and we need people shouting about that,” Dr. Kendra Klein, a co-author of the study and Senior Staff Scientist at Friends of the Earth, tells Food Tank. “Companies like Bayer, Syngenta, and Dow are spending millions lobbying, and they’re also spending tens of millions of dollars to shape the narrative and perpetuate myths, like the myth that we need pesticides to feed the world.”
Klein points out that just 1 percent of U.S. federal agricultural research dollars go towards ecological farming, and pesticide regulations are few and far between. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has loosened some pesticide restrictions in recent years. Between 1993 and 2008, the EPA raised the threshold for glyphosate residues on oats from 0.1 ppm to 30 ppm.
Larry Bohlen, Chief Operating Officer at HRI Labs and another co-author of the study, also emphasizes a lack of resources for farmers who want to transition to organic farming. He explains that universities and government training programs have taught farmers how to use pesticides for decades. “If they placed models of successful organic farming side-by-side with the synthetic chemical models, farmers would have choices instead of just one option,” Bohlen tells Food Tank.
Stringent pesticide regulations might seem like a lofty goal in the U.S., says Klein, but change is already underway abroad. Earlier this year, the European Union announced plans to halve the use of “high risk” pesticides by 2030 and make at least 25 percent of farmland organic.
To spur change in the U.S., Bohlen urges consumers to vote with their wallets, if they’re able. “Each person’s purchase is a small vote that, when considered collectively, sends a signal back to the grocer and the farmer about what type of food is desired. It’s your purchase that has one of the biggest effects on land, farmer, and consumer health.”
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Dairy Farms Find a Lifeline: Bee
Dairy Farms Find a Lifeline: Beer
Molly Stevens and Sean DuBois inside the parlor area where cows are milked at Carter & Stevens farm in Barre, Mass. To offset falling milk prices and sales, the family started Stone Cow Brewery. Credit Tony Luong for The New York Times
By Joshua M. Bernstein
June 11, 2018
Every day since 1938, farmhands at the 1,000-acre Carter & Stevens Farm, in central Massachusetts, have milked cows in the morning and afternoon. The same family has overseen operations for five generations. A sixth seemed uncertain.
“We’re at a historic low nationwide in terms of farmers getting money for their milk,” said Sean DuBois, who works in the family business. (His wife, Molly Stevens, is the daughter of the third-generation patriarch, Phil Stevens.)
Prices have cratered, driven by high supply and falling demand. For Carter & Stevens, staying solvent required creative thinking. “To succeed today as a dairy farm, you need to diversify,” Mr. DuBois said. “We found our passion for craft beer.”
Stone Cow Brewery’s barn, constructed in 1820, was originally on a neighboring farm before being relocated and rebuilt on the current property.CreditTony Luong for The New York Times
The farm opened Stone Cow Brewery in 2016, making beers like the Roll in the Hay I.P.A., which sells for $7 a pint at its taproom. That makes the beverage much more profitable than the dairy’s raw milk, which currently sells wholesale for about 16 cents per pint, even though it costs more to produce.
“It’s totally changed our farm forever,” said Mr. DuBois, 37, who manages the brewery.
America’s dairies have been gut-punched by declining milk prices — some dropping about 40 percent in recent years — and demand, as consumers embrace soy, nut and other milks, and the Greek yogurt craze cools. In some places, despair has set in: Three members of the Agri-Mark Dairy cooperative, which represents about 1,000 dairy farmers in the Northeast, have killed themselves in recent years, the latest in January.
To save their livelihoods, many dairy farms have started breweries, bolstering bottom lines with a different kind of liquid capital.
It’s another chapter in the dairy and brewing industries’ interlinked history. Brewers often supply farmers with spent grains for feed, and many American craft breweries have started by using secondhand dairy infrastructure.
Customers of all ages are welcome at the main taproom at the Stone Cow Brewery.Credit Tony Luong for The New York Times
Ken Grossman founded Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, Calif., in 1980 with equipment scavenged from closed Midwestern dairies. The tanks were attractive because of their abundance, affordability, and high sanitary standards. “For a small brewer who wasn’t going to pasteurize his beer, having hygienically designed equipment was a real boon,” Mr. Grossman said.
Dairies also adapt empty tanks for alternate uses — as Josh Cody’s family eventually did after its dairy farm in Alamosa, Colo., fell on hard times in the mid-1990s. “It just wasn’t fiscally viable for a family operation our size to milk cows,” said Mr. Cody, who was 12 when dairy operations wound down.
The farm started producing barley on a large scale for Coors Brewing. But family members sold off land, until, by 2006, the remaining fields weren’t economically viable. “We were following the normal farm story in America where we almost went bankrupt,” Mr. Cody said.
In a last-ditch effort, the family began a malting operation, transforming raw barley into more valuable malt — beer’s main building block. The family retrofitted a dairy tank to store the malt and created the Colorado Malting Company in 2008.
At its taproom, the brewery sells pints of its Roll in the Hay I.P.A. for $7. By contrast, the brewery gets about 16 cents for a pint of its wholesale milk.CreditTony Luong for The New York Times
In April, the farm finished the final leg on its beer journey, opening the Colorado Farm Brewery. “We’re making estate beers,” Mr. Cody said. As the head brewer, he uses the farm’s hops, grain, well water and a yeast strain native to the property.
To brighten a bleak financial outlook, Carter & Stevens, in Barre, Mass., started a farm stand in 2005 to sell produce, maple syrup and ice cream, soon adding a weekend barbecue featuring its grass-fed-beef burgers. “If we could sell them a pint or two of beer to go with their meal, that would be a bonus,” Mr. DuBois said.
Plans for a brewery were imperiled when a barn intended as its home burned down. Neighbors rode to the rescue by donating their 1820 dairy barn, rebuilt on the charred structure’s site. Carter & Stevens installed brewing equipment bought at an auction, hired a brewer and opened Stone Cow, decorating the property with a 10,000-pound stone cow.
“We have people that come in and get a growler of beer and a gallon of milk,” Mr. DuBois said. “We take so much pride when people buy our milk. That’s our heritage.”
Carter & Stevens Farm milks about 75 cows and has a herd of about 200 cows — an average size for a New England dairy farm. Credit Tony Luong for The New York Times
S & S Brewery, in Nassau, N.Y., opened in the Sanford family’s old milking house in 2014. A feed shortfall forced the family, which had worked the land since the 1800s, to sell its herd in 1996. Selling hay barely brought in enough money to cover taxes. “We were in desperate need to keep things going,” said the brewer, Jason Sanford.
After beers like its Brown Chicken Brown Ale sold well at farmers’ markets, the family turned a dairy barn into a taproom. Where cows once chewed cud, customers now converse over crisp pints of Hayfield Blonde as cattle roam outside.
“For a while I was watching the barn fall apart, and now I have hope that the brewery will bring life back to the farm,” said Carol Sanford, an owner of the farm.
Breweries are also resuscitating shuttered dairy farms. Zack and Laura Adams opened Fox Farm last spring in a renovated 1960s dairy barn on a 30-acre farm in Salem, Conn. The hayloft was cut out to create catwalks for reaching towering fermentation tanks, and the barn’s layout lets Mr. Adams easily load raw materials into the former milk room.
Daisy, left, and Delmar Stevens with one of their calves at Carter & Stevens Farm. Credit Tony Luong for The New York Times
Porters, pilsners, and I.P.A.s are served from taps topped with the property’s old shovels, and customers include former farm employees. The property’s rebirth is a point of pride. “If you care about the rural heritage of a town, supporting adaptive reuse is necessary,” Mr. Adams said.
Fonta Flora Brewery in Morganton, N.C., is currently turning part of the Whippoorwill Dairy Farm, which dates to the early 20th century, into a brewery. The buildings, constructed with irregularly shaped river stones, look “more like a monastery in Belgium than anything you’d associate with a farm in the South,” said Todd Boera, the head of brewing operations.
One structure is devoted to creating spontaneously fermented beer — made with wild yeast that has never been cultivated — while the milking parlor will be filled with large oak vessels to age beer.
“This is a true revitalization of that property,” Mr. Boera said, adding that he hopes someday to add dairy cows. “It’d be cool to offer a dairy product to return the farm to what it once was.”
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A version of this article appears in print on June 12, 2018, on Page D3 of the New York editionwith the headline: Now, Beer Taps Are What Dairy Farmers Are Pulling. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
Research Indicates Edible Flowers Are The Top Consumer Food Trend
Research Indicates Edible Flowers Are The Top Consumer Food Trend
Floral flavours are the number one consumer food trend for 2018 according to Whole Foods Market. For years, professional chefs have been using edible flowers as garnishes or to give dishes a signature flavour and consumers are now seeking new culinary experiences at home and experimenting with unconventional ingredients. In partnership with Freeman Herbs, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) has been investigating consumer preference for edible flower varieties for positioning in the marketplace.
Edible flowers are growing in popularity as evidenced through research conducted by Alexandra Grygorczyk, PhD, Vineland’s Research Scientist, Consumer Insights. “In 2015, we surveyed consumers on their preference for edible garden plants (strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries) and also included an edible flower option in the study,” said Grygorczyk. “We found 35 percent of respondents were highly interested in edible flowers and would prefer purchasing edible flowers for their garden over more traditional plants such as strawberries and raspberries.”
Freeman Herbs, a Beamsville, ON-based grower and distributor of fresh herbs in Canada, partnered with Vineland in 2017 to gain a better understanding of the edible flowers’ market. Following Freeman Herbs’ production trials on over 25 types of edible flowers screening for ease of production, blooming and compact shape for container production, 10 plants were selected for profiling by Vineland’s trained sensory panel and more than 200 Greater Toronto Area consumers.
“We were able to segment consumers in two groups: the bold flavour fans (56 percent) favouring strong aromas and spicy tastes; and the smooth texture lovers (44 percent) preferring smooth textured and subtly flavoured flowers,” said Grygorczyk. Results also showed edible flowers such as nasturtium and candy pop mint should be marketed to the bold flavour fan group while impatiens and dianthus (pictured, top) are of interest to smooth texture lovers.
“These research findings have been instrumental in outlining our business plan to expand into the potted edible flowers market,” said Jeff Nickerson, General Manager, Freeman Herbs. Freeman Herbs will be launching edible flowers in four-inch pots in the produce aisle in 2019.
What’s next? Freeman Herbs is now focusing on an effective strategy for product positioning informed by an upcoming consumer survey Vineland will launch this summer.
For more information:
Alexandra Grygorczyk
Tel: +1 (905) 562-0320 x672
alexandra.grygorczyk@vinelandresearch.com
Publication date: 6/14/2018