The Fieldlab Vertical Farm project has the ambition of developing a competitive Vertical Farming sector in The Netherlands through the collaboration between knowledge institutes, industry, and semi-governmental partners. The topic is approached from different angles, such as market and economy, cultivation and technology, and education and training. Among the demonstration experiments, comparative trials were run simultaneously at different partner facilities to find out whether starting with the same material and cultivation strategy would generate similar results.
The results of the first trials showed that with the same climate setpoints, different climate realization was achieved. Especially the temperature and relative humidity in close proximity to the plants, defined as microclimate, differed among facilities which resulted in different productions. In the next lettuce trial planned for the beginning of 2023, the necessity to find a more “standardized” way to set growth conditions will be addressed, and, at the same time, macro- and micro-climate realization will be measured to understand the link with crop production. In parallel, research is ongoing to respond to the current challenges of the Vertical Farming sector, such as energy-efficient cultivation and the production of added-value products.
A presentation by Caterina Carpineti, Researcher of Vertical Farming at Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture and Flower Bulbs – Wageningen University and Research.
Caterina Carpineti is a speaker at the 2022 edition of the Vertical Farming Conference, part of the Agrifood Innovation Event.
For more information:
Vertical Farming Conference
www.verticalfarmingconference.com