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Urban Crop Solutions Appoints Tom Debusschere As New CEO To Manage Its International Growth
Urban Crop Solutions, the global indoor farming solutions provider headquartered in Belgium, appoints Tom Debusschere as the new CEO of its group. Co-founder Maarten Vandecruys will continue to lead the R&D division and will spend more time for international business development.
Tom Debusschere has an engineering and business background. Over the last 10 years, he lead two multinational industrial companies headquartered in Belgium, Deceuninck Group and Balta Group, both listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange. Urban Crop Solutions has grown tremendous in the last quarters. The company now has a proven technology and an expanding customer base in Europe, North-America and Asia; and is ready for international growth. The appointment of a seasoned leader will accelerate this process.
The goal of Urban Crop Solutions and Tom Debusschere as its new CEO is to develop the company into a leading total solution provider for the fast emerging indoor vertical farming industry.
Tom Debusschere also subscribes substantially into the Company’s series A capital round, targeting a 6m EUR capital increase, expected to close in the coming months.
“With the appointment of Tom Debusschere, we validate the ambition of our group and our shareholders.” explains Frederic Bulcaen, co-founder and chairman of Urban Crop Solutions. “Tom’s proven leadership, combined with his engineering background and his experience in building global organizations is a perfect match with the long term strategic plan that we are rolling out.”
Tom Debusschere: ”When I met Frederic and Maarten as a prospective investor, they were extremely transparent and offered me the opportunity to take a deep look into the Company’s superior technology, research projects, customer base, order pipeline, and above all their ambition. That’s when I truly got excited and offered them to help grow Urban Crop Solutions globally. The international potential is considerable. In 2050, the world population will grow to 9 billion people, of which 70% will live in cities. Indoor farming offers exciting opportunities for reduced water consumption, efficient land use, and bringing pesticide-free, healthy food close to consumers. Urban Crop’s research also focuses on efficient farms for use in pharmaceutical and cosmetics applications. I truly look forward in getting to know our Customers and Partners and help build sustainable factories for this fast emerging branch in the agricultural industry”
“Tom’s experience will bring tremendous value for our customers and to our team.” explains Maarten Vandecruys, the company’s co-founder. “The timing is perfect, as we feel that our products and services get traction in all parts of the world. As we are growing, we need to hire talent and develop our team. With Tom we gain the multinational and operational experience for our global roll-out, while my focus will lie on delivering superior solutions for our clients in both existing and new markets. This kickstarts the next phase in our company as we will build teams in various countries and time zones to guarantee our high standards of quality and support.”
Urban Crop Solutions develops tailor-made indoor vertical farming solutions for its clients. These systems are turnkey, robotized and able to be integrated in existing production facilities or food processing units. Urban Crop Solutions has its own range of standard growing container products. Being a total solution provider, they can also supply seeds, substrates and nutrients for clients that have limited experience with (indoor) farming. Currently the company has developed plant growing recipes for more than 220 crop varieties that can be grown in closed environment vertical farms. Some of these recipes (ranging from leafy greens, vegetables, medicinal plants to flowers) are developed exclusively for its clients by the Urban Crop Solutions team of plant scientists. With headquarters in Waregem (Belgium – Europe) and operations in Miami (Florida, US) and Osaka (Kansai, Japan) they are globally active.
Digestate As Alternative Substrate For Soil-Less Lettuce Farming
Researchers from Modena University and Reggio Emilia University – in collaboration with the Foggia’s CRA – evaluated the digestate as an alternative and sustainable substrate for farming and as a nutritive solution in the hydroponic farming of lettuce.
The consumption of ready-to-eat salad has been growing over the last 20 years in the European market. The annual growth rate is at 4%. That's why this food category is renowned as one of the most profitable horticultural segments.
As a result of a growing trend, the lettuce and chicory are farmed over a 1.2 million hectares surface globally. The global production is of 27 million tons, almost.
Italy occupies the fourth place in the world, with 38.542 hectares farmed with lettuce and chicory (31.7% in the north, 10% in the Centre, and 58,3% in the South) for a total production of 8.1 million tons. Additionally, greenhouse production is important as well, for a total surface of 4.549 hectares (37.3% in the North, 31.9% in the Centre and 30.8 in the South).
Leafy produce is considered to be one of the most exposed to microbiological risks. The ready-to-eat lettuce is often connected to food poisoning. The Escherichia Coli O157: H7 has been often associated with lettuce.
Researchers from Modena University and Reggio Emilia University – in collaboration with the Foggia’s CRA – evaluated the digestate as an alternative and sustainable substrate for farming and as a nutritive solution in the hydroponic farming of lettuce. In three different experiments, nine hydroponic combinations of substrate and fertilization (agriperlite + standard solution, agri-perlite + liquid digestate, solid digestate + standard solution, solid digestate + liquid digestate, soil + standard solution, peat + standard solution, peat + liquid digestate, digested pelleted + standard solution and digested pelleted + liquid digestate) were tested and compared for the cultivation of baby leaf lettuce.
During crop cycles, the yield and other agronomic and microbiological parameters have been studied. In all the experiments, the combination of agri-perlite + liquid digestate, solid digestate + standard solution and pelleted digestate + standard solution improved the plant growth by influencing roots (+ 32%), buds (+ 40%), total dry weight (+ 29%) and SPAD parameters (+ 17%).
As the results illustrate, the digestate represents a nutritive sustainable solution and an alternative for the soilless baby leaf lettuce farming.
Source: Domenico Ronga, Leonardo Setti, Chiara Salvarani, Riccardo De Leo, Elisa Bedin, Andrea Pulvirenti, Justyna Milc, Nicola Pecchioni, Enrico Francia, 'Effects of solid and liquid digestate for hydroponic baby leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivation', 2019, Scientia Horticulturae, Vol. 244, pag. 172-181.
Publication date : 12/12/2018
30MHz And Asian Perlite Industries Partner To Bring Wireless Sensing Tech To Southeast Asian Agriculture
30MHz And Asian Perlite Industries Partner To Bring Wireless Sensing Tech To Southeast Asian Agriculture
May 29, 2018
Asian Perlite Industries, leading provider of greenhouse solutions in the Asia Pacific region, has partnered with agricultural technology provider 30MHz to become the first distributor of the company’s wireless smart sensing technology in Asia. With 30MHz wireless sensors and its intuitive analytics platform, the two companies will empower Asian growers in horticulture and floriculture to be more productive, sustainable and cost-effective by providing real-time insights on their crops and growing environment.
Agricultural intelligence made accessible
30MHz provides all the elements growers need to deploy a wireless sensor network and start capturing accurate, crop-level metrics in moments, without technical expertise. Customers select the combination of sensors that fit their needs (capturing metrics including vapor pressure deficit, dewpoint, soil moisture, EC/VMC, light intensity, CO2, temperature and humidity) and have the option to scale with more sensors, or new sensor types at any time. The user-friendly, customizable dashboard provides customers with full control over how data is displayed, with all metrics in one central location. For a greater overview of growing conditions, customers have the option to view sensor data alongside third-party data sources, like climate control systems.
A natural fit with Asian agriculture
The partnership will focus on the agricultural markets in Southeast Asia, with a special interest in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, Dalat, Vietnam, and the Philippines. With deployments in 14 countries spanning five continents, including Malaysia, Vietnam, and Laos, increased focus on Asian agriculture is a natural progression for Dutch-founded 30MHz. “We see that growers in this region crave data and tools to innovate and make the most of their resources. They want technology that isn’t complicated and is quick to get started. This makes Asia a no-brainer for 30MHz. With 20 years of established trust in Southeast Asia, Asian Perlite Industries is perfectly positioned to bring the power of smart sensing to this market” says JP Papaioannou, Director Southeast Asia & China.
“30MHz provides an easy solution to show what is going on in the farms which takes away assumptions and guessing,” notes Luuk Runia, owner of Asian Perlite Industries. “The solution is affordable and farmers can easily expand and increase their sensors as the solution is highly scalable. Over my 20 years in the greenhouse space, I have seen many different systems. However, I really like 30MHz because the software interface is extremely user-friendly. 30MHz already works with leading customers in the Netherlands, such as Proeftuin Zwaagdijk, Kwekerij Moors, and Jan de Wit, and I’m excited to bring cutting-edge Dutch agricultural innovation to Southeast Asia.”
30MHz already counts tomato and cucumber growers Fresh Grow Holdings, in Cameron Highlands, as customers. Michael Rapattoni, CEO of Fresh Grow Holdings added: “We are very excited to work with 30MHz. Their sensor solution will allow us to better manage our production numbers and it will take away the guessing game. One of our goals is to be a high-tech leader in the Asian region and our relationship with 30MHz is key to accomplishing this.”
About Asian Perlite Industries
Asian Perlite Industries was established in 1997 in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia by owner and director Luuk Runia, and is a leading provider of greenhouse solutions in the Asia Pacific region. Amongst its products are irrigation and water storage solutions, soil steaming, cooling systems and harvesting, grading, labeling and packaging machines.
About 30MHz
30MHz is a rapidly accelerating provider of smart-sensing technology. The innovative 30MHz technology comprises a network of wireless sensors and an analytical software platform which gives growers real-time insights on their crops and environment. The company is headquartered in the Netherlands and has regional offices in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia.