Horticulture meets technology at GreenTech RAI Amsterdam

In the Innovation category biocontrols supplier Biobest from Belgium scooped up the coveted award for Micromus, a generalist predator for protected crops.

GreenTech RAI Amsterdam 2022 was the global meeting place for horticulture professionals (14 – 16 June). Finally, it was again in full format. More than 500 exhibitors from across the globe greeted an international audience of horticulture professionals. The theme of this AIPH – International Association of Horticultural Producers approved Horticultural Trade Show was ‘Happy Food Healthy Flowers’.

‘Exciting’ submissions for GreenTechAwards

On the morning of the opening day, celebrations began for the winners of the GreenTech Awards. Organic farms won the Concept Award for BERRY, a strawberry harvesting robot. Biobest won the Innovation Award for the Micromus-System, a generalist predator for protected crops.

The jury chair, Ms Liselotte de Vries (TU Delft AgTech Institute), says: “This year we received submissions with a wide variety, which is exciting to see after the past challenging years. The jury looked at biological-, production- and digitisation technologies.”

She continues about the winners: “The Concept and Innovation Award winners won based on their product and also based on their professional presentations. Both presented the jury with a high level of details, based on facts and figures and a very concrete insight into their product, company and business plans. We encourage future submissions to follow this level of professionalism.”

In the Concept category, BERRY by Organifarms from Germany scooped up the coveted award for Organifarms, a harvesting robot for strawberries.

The GreenTech Concept Award goes to…

BERRY by Organifarms, Germany, is a harvesting robot for strawberries automating the detection of the fruit’s position, ripeness, and quality.
Organifarms first product is BERRY, a harvesting robot for strawberries. Its key component is its image recognition software for detecting the fruit’s position, ripeness, and quality. BERRY can detect each fruit’s exact degree of ripeness, harvest them safely, and place them directly into punnets where they are weighed and ready for sale.

Ms De Vries says: “An interesting technology, strong team and strong network of partnerships that can contribute to Berry’s flexibility and swift development.”

The GreenTech Innovation Award goes to…

Micromus-System by Biobest, Belgium, is a generalist predator of adults and larvae. The brown lacewing Micromus angulatus preys on common aphid species found in protected crops such as vegetables, soft fruit, medicinal cannabis and ornamental crops.

Ms De Vries says: “With this winner, the jury expressed its support to continue the development of new sustainable innovations of IPM programs.”

To check out the long list of all the entries for the Innovation Awards, please visit www.greentech.nl/amsterdam/innovations/products/.

GreenTech Connect Presentations

GreenTech’s second and third-day themes at RAI Amsterdam include: ‘Feeding and greening the city’, ‘Sustainable horticulture’, ‘Lighting strategies’ and ‘Hydroponics’.

On Thursday’s theme of ‘Feeding and greening the city’, AIPH Technical Advisor Dr Audrey Timm joined a panel discussion, presenting an AIPH update on ‘Trends in the Green City Sector’ in the Vision Theatre to an audience of producers, practitioners, researchers and innovators.

Dr Timm says: “The ornamental horticulture industry is responsible for supporting urban planners and designers in making informed plant choices for successful urban greening projects. AIPH members can deliver additional value in producing plants ready for the design situation and accompanied by sustainable maintenance advice.”

The recording of this presentation, and others, are available on the GreenTech Connect platform.

Dr Timm’s presentation slides will be available on the latest AIPH Global Green City Update. To subscribe, click here.