News

We are pleased to announce that we have selected the Czech company Photon Systems Instruments (PSI) to build the NPEC module 4 High Throughput Phenotyping (HTP) growth chambers. This module will be housed in a dedicated building at the Wageningen Campus.

On 22 June 2021, the East Netherlands Development Agency (Oost NL) organized with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Japan, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) an online event “Robotics & AI for data-driven horticulture and agriculture” as part of the digital TeamNL Tokyo Expo ‘Rangaku Now’. Approximately 600 participants from Japan and the Netherlands signed up for this event.

Will vegetable growers soon be able to create the perfect conditions for their crops using computer models? We plunge into the world of the digital twin, a promising new technique in which WUR researchers are doing cutting-edge work. What are digital twins, what can you do with them and what are the benefits? “If this works, we will be able to save a lot on water, energy and raw materials.”

The more data, the better growers can control their cultivation. Sensors play a crucial role in this: they can tell, for example, how moist the soil or air is, or how high the CO2 content is. Sensors have to be removed after a crop rotation, and that is fairly labor intensive. The Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture of Wageningen University & Research is therefore participating in a European study into sensors that are biodegradable.

NPEC’s ecotron facility is to be realized at Utrecht University and will consist of a range of fully closed and controlled mesocosm systems that allow for real-life plant (agro-) ecosystem analyses in real time.

NPEC’s multi-environment module will host a series of 15 small climate chambers with the highest level of homogeneity in temperature, humidity and light intensity available.