One of the first to realize the importance of autonomous growing using Artificial Intelligence (AI) was Ronald Hoek. Ronald is one of the founders of Blue Radix, a specialist in autonomous growing.
The story begins in 2014, at AgroEnergy in Delft. Anno 2024, Ronald leads the company together with co-founders Rudolf de Vetten (responsible for the product) and Laurens van der Spek (responsible for IT and operations). Based in the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam, Blue Radix now controls climate and irrigation autonomously in mid- and high-tech greenhouses in 16 countries. Ronald takes us through his AI story.
Ronald Hoek
Laying down an international concept
Ronald takes us in his mind to a rooftop terrace in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. "It was just Tuesday, three-quarters of a year ago - I was at work, and I suddenly realized how cool it is to be able to start a company from a belief of my own. You see the concept come to life and then you are in another country telling about concrete implementations at growers thousands of kilometers away."
That is what Ronald likes about horticulture and entrepreneurship at Blue Radix - looking beyond national borders, adding value for fundamental challenges, and doing business with people in different cultures. "But what I also love is creating a solution together, where you see your vision come to life. Because everything we have achieved is the result of very intensive teamwork."
Horticulture as an entrepreneurial sector
When Ronald joined AgroEnergy after his career at Eneco, he quickly saw that horticulture really is a sector for entrepreneurs. "If you have a good idea, you can make it come to life in this sector. Greenhouse growers and entrepreneurs are interested and open to new concepts, as long as it adds value."
After rolling out the AI-driven system for energy at AgroEnergy, Ronald started to get an itch, he says enthusiastically. "We had developed something so powerful with the team - back in 2015 when people were not talking about AI at all. In horticulture, AI was not used that much yet, but we already saw the potential and the team had enabled a working AI system for energy management for AgroEnergy."
For the growers where, at the time in 2015, the first services with algorithms were deployed, it took some getting used to. "Then we learned that you can't just talk about technology. You will have to include growers in that process. Personal coaching is a success factor. But once growers experience the value, they also pick it up fully. That's also the reason we didn't start with insight and dashboards. After all, those already exist. We showed guts and, from the start, bet on algorithms, which actually drive processes. This is how we make a difference and our customers now confirm this every day."
Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge
At the very first Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge, organized by WUR in 2018, the test was put to the test. Participation in the Challenge, in which AgroEnergy joined forces with Delphy, was indeed successful. "We went through to the final five as the only Dutch team at the time. The jury also said that what we had developed could be put into practice quite quickly. We disagreed with that. After all, it was still a prototype, so it couldn't be. Autonomous growing is impactful and should be suitable for all growers and greenhouses, worldwide. That should not be underestimated. The jury report did confirm for us that as a team we had something on our hands that could be valuable and applicable in greenhouse farming."
The Challenge prompted Ronald, Rudolf, and Laurens, to develop the AI concept into a company, which was founded in 2019 as Blue Radix. A Dutch company, but internationally oriented - it now employs 35 people from all kinds of cultures. "A multinational AI company for horticulture with Dutch roots," is how Ronald describes it.
Entering the market
Blue Radix did not start as a small company from a garage box, but immediately with a serious team, to get off to a good start, thanks to its cooperation with AgroEnergy. This allowed the company to enter the market with the first version of a working product as early as late 2021, or early 2022. As mentioned, this is a process - in the beginning, growers were not eager. "But once a grower finds that he can rely on it, that it will be more comfortable and better than if he had to do it all himself, it goes fast. In the trial period, which lasts a few months, the grower can get to know the product completely and see that in practice the system does what it promises, both in terms of functions and value."
Aging population and economies of scale
Something that is also contributing to the growth of AI applications in horticulture is the aging population in the sector. "The fundamental problem of that is also being felt more and more. It's a problem if you can't find good growers. The increase in scale does not help either. If you have to manage 20 to 40 hectares alone as a grower, it becomes practically unfeasible to get the best results. AI solutions, and certainly autonomous growing, help solve the growing shortage of growing expertise and still get that best result."
Grower's brain
Looking ahead to the future - we put a dot on the horizon in 2028 - Ronald sees that the solution can be used more and more widely in covered horticulture. Blue Radix can optimize everything controllable. More and more functions will also be added to Crop Controller, Blue Radix's autonomous control system.
"After all, a lot of things come together in the grower's brain: crop protection, labor, climate, irrigation, outdoor conditions, energy prices, market prices... all these considerations that a grower makes in his daily operation, that's enormously broad. Towards 2028, we will structurally add more and more of those elements, through linkages with robotics and vision technology. The end result - control via a climate computer or directly to a robot - will thus become increasingly optimal. After all, if you are eventually going to deploy robots, it must be possible to deploy them in a very targeted way. That will definitely be an interplay with AI solutions."
This gives the grower step-by-step more and more possibilities to achieve the best achievable result in an efficient way. This will directly contribute to the future-proof growth of the industry and food production.
On the way to that dot on the horizon, Ronald values cooperation with partners. "Although we work with relatively new technology, we feel we are an integral part of the sector and therefore work intensively with our partners. In the greenhouse, we are part of a bigger picture. We add something to that ecosystem that has been adding value in a greenhouse for decades. We believe we can help make the whole even stronger and help growers worldwide with their daily challenges, big or small."
For more information:
Blue Radix
Ronald Hoek, Co-founder
Tel: +31 (0)6 5589 2077
[email protected]
www.blue-radix.com