FarmTech Society made the grade at the 2021 GreenTech Amsterdam event, leading discussion panels, networking events, and fueling the debates. The 2021 edition was moved from June to September to allow for an in-person three-day fair—a nice opportunity to meet many of you there!
GreenTech Amsterdam is an annual horticulture fair event, focusing on food and flower production in greenhouses and vertical farms. This year’s agenda greatly focused on the development of the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry, highlighting its barriers, such as the lack of human-resources, lack of data and standards, or the wider lack of public and political recognition.
FarmTech Society brought many of its directors and members to this event and participated in key discussion panels, informing the audience about its collective strategies and projects driving the CEA industry forward. FarmTech Society is proud of its directors and members who participated and led the discussions with insightful knowledge and constructive approaches.
A flagship example is FTS’ project in the Lausitz Region in Germany, in collaboration with Certhon, Fraunhofer Institute & Baywa. The project will save the region, stricken with the unravelling of coal mining, by constructing 1,000ha for greenhouse growing by 2028 in line with the EU Green Deal. 10,000 jobs will be created to avoid mass unemployment while contributing to decarbonized local food production systems.
“the Lausitz project in Germany will combine renewable energies with CEA, creating 1,000 hectares of greenhouse growing for 10,000 new jobs in the region.”
Moreover, the greenhouses will be powered by renewable energies from diverse sources, requiring additional measures to help manage consumption and keep the energy grid stable. Greenhouse operations, with their unique energy usage patterns, can provide an excellent buffer for renewable energy sources. Furthermore, greenhouse energy plans can be designed to repurpose waste heat from power plants and to adjust their energy usage during times of high power demand, improving grid stability and energy efficiency for all customers. This ability to improve the efficiency of renewable energy sources increases significantly with the clustering of larger greenhouses.
Our members Priva also officially launched their brand new Kompano deleafing robot exclusively at this event. Check out this video about it with Henry Gordon-Smith of fellow FTS members Agritecture.
Among the hundred exhibitors present there was plenty of Members of FTS represented, including:
Watch the Replays of FTS’ panel discussions at GreenTech Amsterdam 2021
To get free access to the replays, please register to the dedicated online GreenTech Platform
Speakers: Thomas Zoellner (FarmTech Society), Nico Domurat (FarmTech Society & Fraunhofer Institute); Georg Czerny (FarmTech Society & BayWa), & Damion Schwarzkachel (FarmTech Society & Certhon)
Description: Integrating Greenhouses and Vertical Farms into renewable energy parks allows the transition from fossil based energy generation to a new area of truly sustainable production centered around renewable energy sources. In difference to other industries, CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) is able to push this transformation by flexibilization of production processes while stabilizing the grid and creating jobs: The Lausitz Project will be a showcase with the development of 1000 hectare of CEA production integrated in “green infrastructure”.
Speakers: Michele Butturini (Delphy Improvement Centre); Francis Baumont de Oliviera (University of Liverpool); Tisha Livingston (80 Acres & FarmTech Society
Description: “Building authority on market value and size while benchmarking new business models.” Lack of validated data on CEA globally makes the sector largely invisible to regulators and investors as well as consumers. Initiatives are needed to develop comprehensive and holistic approaches that foster confidentiality, data protection and independence as the means for engaging with the entire sector, providing combined benefits to the supply chain and operators and innovators that are going to scale up.
Speakers: Gayla Laskar (Barclays); Gus Van der Feltz (FarmTech Society) & Nicole Thorpe (Cultinova & FarmTech Society)
Description: Vertical Farming is a rising practice in Controlled Environment Agriculture, however vertical farming does not have access to low risk capital, thus resorting to Venture Capital which raises funds within the tech sector innovation startup segment! What does it take to lower the risk and what hurdles need to be addressed and solved. Compared with the Dutch greenhouse sector, the new form of production is interesting to scale beyond the traditional grower application with the creation of public listed vehicles.
