Addressing greenhouse growing challenges with new technology
A Kingsville-based data collection company in Ruthven Ont. is bringing autonomous computer imaging and tracking technology inside vegetable greenhouses to fine tune indoor growing methods.
Staff at Ecoation say Ontario’s growing greenhouse industry faces challenges that prevent greenhouse vegetable growers from keeping up with labour demand while producing higher yields, hoping their prototype robots will soon become accessible for farms.
“In Ontario, we've seen greenhouse acreage increase by 40 per cent since 2016, which is pretty significant, but we haven't seen the same professional workforce that manages these greenhouses grow by 40 per cent,” said, Daniel Bateson, Ecoation agronomy lead.
“Things like autonomous movement has been around in different industrial facilities before. Things like computer vision and image tracking is something that's existed before, but we're bringing it all together into a greenhouse space for probably the first time ever.”
Bateson says their automatic monitoring and scouting systems can operate day and night to fill gaps physical labour leaves behind, giving growers extensive and exclusive insight into potential pest or disease concerns that can then be mitigated to better forecast yields.
“Some of those gaps are things like just keeping track of what's going on, optimizing your treatments for pest management, or a really big one is production management. Making sure that you're letting people know how much you're going to harvest in the next week or in the future so that they can plan for it,” Bateson said.
“Human plus machine is definitely our motto at Ecoation, but we're building these robots that people are using to help them become more efficient and more precise when they're doing their jobs.”
“The premise of this is it can travel around the greenhouse at night, collect a lot of information and then when you come back in the morning, you can give it to someone who knows what they're doing. And they can go solve the problems that really a human can solve.”
Bateson told CTV News the autonomous solutions still require people to fulfill greenhouse operations.
“We still need boots on the ground. We still need people to help do the work, but we can make their jobs easier, more enjoyable, more efficient, and get more out of it as well,” he said.
“It is really cool. It's really fun too!”
Bateson noted the United Nations predicts the world’s population to grow to 9.7 billion by 2050, suggesting there will always be room for improvement in sourcing and securing food supplies.
“It's a really good time to be interested in agriculture. So if you're a data scientist or an engineer or someone who's working in computer science and coding, you might not always consider agriculture as an opportunity. But it's a great space to be if you're an innovator,” he said.
“We yield approximately 15 to 20 per cent more per square meter than conventional farming,” stated Richard Lee, executive director for Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers.
Lee said inflationary pressures and lack of infrastructure has stymied some greenhouse growth, telling CTV News autonomous solutions are necessary in this day and age to keep up with competitiveness and global demand.
“We kind of chuckle about Amazon and how convenient it is to purchase all these things. But it's the data. That data that they compile on each individual user is no different what we're trying to achieve,” Lee explained.
“We're trying to collect as much data, create those algorithms to best support higher yields and optimum growing conditions. Using that automation to check every inch of that greenhouse to ensure that we can maximize our yields to lower those costs of productions and be more efficient.”
Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers in Leamington, Ont. on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.