Futagrow nominated for innovation award

The new growing system Futagrow is nominated in the “Production” category of the Greentech Innovation Awards.

 

The Futagrow nomination on Greentech's page includes this description: "Futagrow is a new cultivation system for glasshouse vegetables that is fully aimed at maximally sustainable cultivation. It is based on the Cradle to Cradle principle: all waste is bio-degradable. The system intensifies production, with more efficient use of fewer resources. Changing crop several times a year ensures healthy young plants and gives opportunities for market approach."

 

The system, in which several innovations provide a completely different approach to cultivation, is designed to maximize durability. One of the main principles of the system is a sequence of short cultivations where two crop stages in the greenhouse are growing continuously. The system is based on 5.6 short tomato cultivations per year, during which nine clusters per plant are produced (50 clusters per year). Between the gutter rows with the existing crop, the young plants grow, which makes year-round production possible.  (To see a video of the system, click here.)                                                                               

 

The cultivation takes place in an oxygen-rich film of water, eliminating the need for substrate. The nutrient composition may be adjusted at any time of the day and any stage of the cultivation.

 

This way of growing is durable and fits with the Cradle to Cradle principle, since all materials used in the cultivation are biodegradable. Furthermore, the carbon footprint per kilogram of product is reduced by 20 percent. This is mainly achieved through the utilization of supplemental lighting in the greenhouse up to 95 percent of the day, so there is no longer a non-productive period. Futagrow has been tested thoroughly.

 

The partners on this project are: FormFlex/Metazet, Triomaas, Priva, Prominent Demokwekerij Westland, Combinations, Inno-Agro, RijkZwaan, Groen Agro Control, Jiffy, Hortilux and Van Iperen.