"Every Grower Needs To Be Truly Competitive In Order To Thrive "
Gert-Jan van Staalduinen of Logiqs B.V.
"Every Grower Needs To Be Truly Competitive In Order To Thrive "
With the GreenTech coming up in June we're getting in touch with several horticultural intellectuals, entrepreneurs, innovators and general greenhouse geeks. Today Gert-Jan van Staalduinen of Logiqs B.V. With their automated vertical farming system GreenCube they help growers optimize the use of resources.
What is your contribution to the advancement of the global horticulture industry?
We design and build sustainable and reliable automation – We strive to create logistics solutions that help our customers sustainably grow their businesses.
Helping growers produce more plants, achieve quality consistency and gain more control over their greenhouses. We don’t just automate for the sake of automation.
What would you say is the most important topic in horticulture at the moment?
Efficient use of resources (people, water, space) - because of globalization, a lot more growers do business internationally, and just about all local marketplaces have felt extra pressure. Every grower needs to be truly competitive in order to be able not just to survive, but to thrive in this new global marketplace. And that’s where automation can really make a difference.
What will you be doing at the GreenTech? Will you present any novelties during the trade show?
GreenCube – First introduced during the 2016 GreenTech, the GreenCube automated vertical farming system was met with a lot of enthusiasm by industry experts and we’ve been working hard ever since perfecting it and building the first few projects. So this year the GreenCube will once again be the focal point of the LOGIQS booth, and our team will be eagerly waiting to share the newest developments from the last two years.
What project that you’re currently involved in are you most proud of?
We are true believers that Vertical Farming can and will have a very positive impact on society. Moving towards pesticide-free food, requiring less water and producing vegetables with a much lower carbon footprint.
And we firmly think that in order for vertical farms to scale-up production volumes and be viable as businesses, they need to be automated. We’re very proud to be the provider of logistics automation equipment to a dynamic North American vertical farming start-up. Now already building the 2nd GreenCube facility, after their first trial project proved to be a huge success. We are very proud to be part of their ambitious plan to revolutionize the way food is grown.
How do you see the future of horticulture?
Because of the ever-increasing food needs due to worldwide population growth, Urban-Farming and Vertical-Farming will be more and more mainstream.
A.I. and deep learning algorithms - will start to play a bigger role in horticulture and agriculture and the gathering and processing of information will happen at a never before seen pace.
Better vision sorting systems that - will allow the software (A.I.) to automatically determine the perfect grow recipe for each plant.
Big data is coming to the greenhouse, and it’s coming fast!
Logiqs is to exhibit at the GreenTech exhibition June 12-13-14 in Amsterdam. The GreenTech summit will take place June 11th.
Publication date: 6/5/2018
For more information on the GreenTech exhibition and the GreenTech Summit, check out www.greentech.nl.