Insider Insights on the Future of Automation in Horticulture

By Brian D. Sparks 

As Director of Business Development-North America for WPS (We Prove Solutions), Edwin Dijkshoorn works closely with growers across the controlled-environment industry. One of his main roles is to keep up with evolving trends in automation, the most critical pain points for growers, and how the two can come together.

In this exclusive interview with Greenhouse Grower Senior Editor Brian Sparks, Dijkshoorn shares a few of his insights.

Brian Sparks: Looking at the big picture of greenhouse technology, what are the most significant innovations that you’ve seen over the past couple of years?

Edwin Dijkshoorn: Definitely more robotics, and that includes transplanters. What we have to see now in our industry is the realization that you actually have a plant factory, and the minute you describe it in such a way, then your mindset changes. When you look at a car factory or a computer chip factory, you don’t see that many people because all the labor that was involved in that was just cumbersome. The more we look at labor shortages, I think we are going to see changes with robotics being applied more to plants, which we already see in Europe. A robotic arm used to cost close to half a million dollars.

> read the full article on greenhousegrower.com