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
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.