News

Sometimes you have to be willing to make a move. That might be Frank Paul’s motto. He’s been willing to move as a young intern from one continent to another. To start his business, he moved from Ohio to the Blue Ridge Mountains. And as a grower, he’s moved from fixed diffused glass to a highly automated, movable screen greenhouse with a PARperfect setup.

Due to the high energy prices last winter, many growers left their SON-T lighting off or only continued with LED, even if they had a hybrid installation. But LED emits much less radiant heat, which can reduce the heat input in the greenhouse by up to 40 percent. This lower heat input must then be partially compensated by extra heat in the heating pipes. A second energy screen in combination with vertical fans can largely compensate for this, says climate consultant Bart Bakker. 

In order to find a solution to the thrips control problem, Gomalor, a greenhouse dedicated to the production of peppers, located in Tuxpan, Jalisco, decided to conduct trials with Svensson's insect control nets, during the 2022-2023 production cycle. Based on the positive results obtained during the trials, for the 2023-2024 cycle, Gomalor made the decision to fully equip its new expansion with Svensson climate solutions.

In 2021, after 15 years, the climate screen at tomato grower Wouter van Wijk from Bleiswijk, Netherlands was due for replacement. For his new screen, he chose Svensson’s Luxous 1147 FR. Why? “To save as much energy as possible,” says Wouter. A fresh, new, bright screen - and he notices that. "I can leave it closed longer."

Aware of the challenges they face in terms of pest and weed control, El Chapoteadero, a greenhouse dedicated to tomato production in the state of Puebla, Mexico, has found in Svensson's climate solutions, such as the Xsect Balance and Groundcover, key elements to ensure the success of their operation. These climate solutions have proven to be highly effective, providing an optimal climate for crop growth.​

Two years ago, one of the greenhouses at The Valley in De Lier switched from tomato to high-wire cucumber cultivation. At the same time, the entrepreneurs stopped using full lighting. In order to maintain a sufficient temperature in the greenhouse and also to save energy, they invested in a second screen at the beginning of this year; the Luxous 1147 FR screen from Svensson.

“My biggest challenge is finding more spare time,” says the smiling Marc Groenewegen of Prominent Grevelingen. "I'm always busy, but I do that to myself." Marc Groenewegen is the type of entrepreneur who does not sit still. He is always working on how things can be improved and he likes to be in contact with people including his own staff and fellow tomato growers all over the world. Svensson advisor Ton speaks to him regularly, offline and online, about all sorts of things. The weather, his company, the future, Plant Empowerment, energy and of course, climate screens.

Enbridge Gas, a natural gas supplier in Ontario, offers an incentive program for greenhouse growers to help with reducing their natural gas consumption and costs. The program provides incentives worth up to $200,000 per project and aims to help customers maximize the value of natural gas while promoting energy efficiency. We recently interviewed Haris Ahmadzai, Supervisor, Energy Conservation for Agriculture Market/Ontario at Enbridge to learn more about the details of this incentive program.

Svensson launches three new solutions with a focus on energy saving: Energy Monitor, ENERGYperfect & PARperfect Cooling.

Since the introduction of NEN 2675+C1 in November 2018, growers, greenhouse builders, installers and consultants are able to compare the performance of greenhouse cover and screen materials in a much more appropriate way.

Under a beautiful snow mountain in Lijiang China, 35ha high-tech greenhouses were built in 2019 for cut rose and calla production. Thanks to the unique geo-climate condition, advanced production facilities, and special cultivars, the flowers grown here are stunning which contributes to the charm of the brand ‘丽江の花’ (Lijiang Flower).

Growers know that successful production is a matter of the right amount of inputs, but what’s less well-understood is that so many of these depend on achieving the right balance of light to start with.

Taken from our guide "The magic of getting light balance just right", here’s an 11-point list of what happens when the pendulum swings from too bright to too dark in a greenhouse.