October 4, 2021 – A big step for Bogaerts Greenhouse Logistics which has entered into close cooperation with Ecoation. CEO Joris Bogaerts explains that he has been in contact for quite some time with the Canadian developer of a high-tech data-harvesting platform for greenhouse cultivation. "They are very passionate about it," Joris says. Ecoation has recently also entered into a world-wide partnership with Biobest. With Bogaerts Greenhouse Logistics it will be a three-way collaboration.
"Bogaerts will take care of the mobility platform, which we know well and are strong in," says Joris. "Ecoation will take care of data collection through an integrated suite of special sensors and high-tech camera’s, together with data from our platform. Biobest can then use those data for data-driven precision IPM. The collected high-resolution climate and crop data can also be used for data-driven growing, remote crop management and real-time analytics. "
Information
In concrete terms, this means that the growers receives a lot of extra information. "Ecoation will put its sensors, cameras, computer, etc. on our pipe rail trolleys. Now manned but soon also unmanned or autonomous pipe rail trolleys. That is the next step in the development process of this exciting technology.” The idea is that all that data can be collected in one go. In principle, the machine's column is high enough to scan the entire plant at once, including the flowers at the top. "There are also more and more solutions coming up, which we want to integrate as much as possible."
Collaboration
The first devices are already deployed and fully operational in the US, Canada, Mexico and France. "Soon the first projects will also start in Europe," says Joris. The question remains: Why did Bogaerts choose Ecoation? After all, there are several parties that are working on this kind of data-collection and data-analytics technology. "Ecoation has a long history in this field," explains Joris. "They have been working on this technology for more than 10 years, with a big enthusiastic team. Their knowledge and experience is of a very high level. It will not be easy for others to catch up with them any time soon." Ultimately, this will lead to a close collaboration between the two companies. “We tried several greenhouse logistics platforms in the past and Bogaerts by far is the best in the market in terms of quality and function” Says Dr. Saber Miresmailli, founder and CEO of ecoation. “Data collection on the go requires a reliable solution for mobility and based on the feedback we received over the years from our customers world-wide, Bogaerts offer the gold standard of reliability in the greenhouse. We are very excited about this partnership.”