Explore Agricultural Services
This breaks down into the following:
1) Horticultural Lighting
A variety of abiotic factors (temperature, humidity, carbon-dioxide, etc.) have been traditionally used to stimulate plant growth. Light as an abiotic factor is the new frontier. Each plant variety needs a specific spectrum (wavelength) of light at each stage in its growth – this is known as the Light Recipe. LED lights can be programmed to provide a specific spectrum on an hour-by-hour basis for the entire length of the grow-cycle (which may be as long as a year from rooting to harvest). These lights can also affect crop mass, shape, composition, colour and taste while inducing resistance to pathogens. The end result is a higher yield, better quality and a shorter grow-cycle.
1) Horticultural Lighting
A variety of abiotic factors (temperature, humidity, carbon-dioxide, etc.) have been traditionally used to stimulate plant growth. Light as an abiotic factor is the new frontier. Each plant variety needs a specific spectrum (wavelength) of light at each stage in its growth – this is known as the Light Recipe. LED lights can be programmed to provide a specific spectrum on an hour-by-hour basis for the entire length of the grow-cycle (which may be as long as a year from rooting to harvest). These lights can also affect crop mass, shape, composition, colour and taste while inducing resistance to pathogens. The end result is a higher yield, better quality and a shorter grow-cycle.
There are significant differences between human and avian vision. Human vision is “trichromatic”, based on Red, Green and Blue. Avian vison is “tetrachromatic”. Also peak sensitivity wavelengths are different between human and avian vision. Avian vision is very sensitive to flickering as would be experienced for a light functioning at a frequency of 50-60 Hz, while human vision cannot even detect such flickering. Research indicates that performance of the lighting system great influences the bird’s mortality rate, mobility, behavioral patterns, diurnal rhythms, feed efficacy and average weight gain. Thus lighting can greatly affect the productivity of a poultry farm. Our proprietary lighting system is a true quad wavelength lighting system specifically developed for the poultry industry. It employs 4000K LEDs which provide Red, Green and Blue wavelengths, plus UV-A wavelength which provide all the benefits stated above.
As a key abiotic factor, CO2 plays a critical role in horticultural applications. Knowing this, horticulturalists have been using “CO2 gassing” as a means to deliver more of this vital input to the plant.
Typically, 85% of all protected-growth-operations are unsealed and have open venting. Even sealed facilities resort to venting during the spring, summer and fall months when other growing conditions such as light and temperature are optimal. This makes “CO2 gassing” impractical and prohibitively expensive.
Without optimal CO2, the plant cannot take full advantage of the better light and temperature conditions, leaving “yield on the vine”.
Our CO2 Delivery Solution is briefly described in the attached video:
Benefits of our CO2 Delivery Solutions™ are:
- Increased Yield - as much as 30% compared to traditional methods.
- Perimeter Protection™ - suppression of epiphytic pathogens such as powdery mildew, etc.
- Lower Carbon Footprint - over 95% reduction in CO2 consumption
- Optimal CO2 year-round - regardless of venting periods.
- Reduced usage of CO2 - the efficiency of distribution, necessitates a lower consumption of CO2
In summary, all growers can benefit from greater revenue and lower cost/kg, yielding greater margins and nearly doubling of gross profits, through enhanced plant growth and increased productivity and reduced carbon footprint.
Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) is recognized as a vital water treatment agent. Knowing this, horticulturalists have been obtaining H2O2 from commercial suppliers and using it to remove Biofilm (Slime), Pathogens and Bacteria from their irrigation lines as a means to deliver clean water to their plants.
Alternately, horticulturalists have been using bioicides which are potentially harmful to plants and irrigation systems could drive up operating costs.
H2O2 has none of the disadvantages that biocides present. However, its use in the past has been restricted because of transportation difficulties wherein a highly concentrated solution could present a safety hazard. On-Site H2O2 production eliminates the hazard of transportation, lowers cost and increases sustainability. There is no chemical input into the generation process; the only inputs are air, water and electricity to produce Ultra PureTM - a safe, yet effective, low-concentration H2O2 .
Benefits of our On-site Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) generation are:
- Improved margins, Lower Costs - on-site, on-demand, low-cost generation
- Improved yield - improved water quality eliminates biofilm
- Longer shelf life - all bacteria and pathogens are completely eliminated; zero post harvest residue
- Sustainability - educed transportation lowers carbon footprint
- Eliminates Logistics issues - only uses electricity and water; can be used anywhere without transported inputs
- Widespread applicability - can be used in any situation which requires water treatment.
In summary, all growers can increase their profits by using our on-site, on-demand Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) generation to improve margins, lower costs and improve yield.
Robots are coming into widespread usage in the horticultural industry, particularly for harvesting. Running on batteries that can be swapped out, these robots can “see” the crop and pick the vegetable or fruit with a ripeness that meets a preset requirement. Then it can “clip” the stem of the vegetable or fruit at a pre-set distance and “holding” it from the stem drop it into a container or shipping-box, without ever touching it. Shipping boxes can be stacked on a trailer that follows the robot and can be dropped off at the end of an aisle. The robot can move independently along pipe-rails through the rows and over the floor while changing aisles. Some robots can also function in outdoor fields on rubber tires..
The robot can also transmit statistics about the crop wirelessly to a control computer so that its performance can be monitored. The software to control the various processes can be adjusted to accommodate various crops and other management parameters.
The main benefits are:
- reduction of labour which is increasingly in short supply
- ability to work 7*24*365
- consistent quality of the picked crop
- improved management control of the picking process