The use of plant protection products in greenhouse horticulture has decreased lately. The figures show a drop from almost 180,000 kg of active substances in 2012 to around 130,000 kg in 2016. Consequently, you would infer that the expenses for the grower have declined as well. Nonetheless, the development costs for new products are mounting due to stricter compliance requirements and risk assessment. For example, the average prices for plant protection products (in Belgium) grew by around 2% in 2014. Ultimately the growers have to foot this bill.

Labor is one of the biggest challenges in horticulture. More than 25% of all costs of many horticultural companies is labor-based. Temporary staff is widely made use of, and personnel with horticultural expertise is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Robotization, therefore, is often viewed as a promising solution.

The nursery is actually a green factory where a small cutting, plug or seed is used to cultivate something that makes a customer happy. Every day you are doing everything that’s in your power to offer the best quality at a great price. This whole process starts with the planting of input material.

Recently I have been occupied professionally with the cultivation of cannabis. No, I am not a criminal and neither is Mprise Agriware. However, as a company we can respond to challenges faced by growers of medicinal cannabis both in the Netherlands and abroad.

I had the privilege to grow up in a community in Ghana where seeds can sprout easily without any field preparation. As a son to one of the best smallholder farmers in the community, I was exposed to the different phases in crop farming at an early age. These memories have contributed a lot to my way of thinking and how I approach issues in crop farming. 

During the Seed Meets Technology (fair) session, Michel van Westen (Rijk Zwaan) talked about data management in real life situations. That inspired me to write this blog. A few points in his presentation do stand out. I have made an effort to elaborate them for you.

(APICS) – American Production and Inventory Control Society defines (MTS) Make-to-Stock as a production strategy when the producer sells finished goods from stock. Delivery times are the shortest. The customer has hardly any direct involvement in the product design.

I have spent a few years of my life working to address issues pertaining to business and information technology. My recent project was on addressing the gap between business processes and information technology in the Ghana cocoa industry. The project which was conducted with support from the Wageningen University information technology group received a lot of attention among stakeholders in the cocoa and information technology sector.

Recently I visited an inspiring seminar on the opportunities of Blockchain in horticulture. Blockchain has been caught, for several years now, in the spotlight of attention. It seems to be the solution for all data exchange problems.

Since I started working for Mprise Agriware a couple of months ago, I went looking for new markets and new ways Agriware (our software) can help growers improve their business. Agriware has traditionally been used as a planning and recording tool, but there is a lot more that can be done. These ideas mainly arose from talking with rose growers in Africa, South America and Asia. I would like to share a small selection of them with you.