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In the greenhouses a large part of the fruits and vegetables essential to ensure a healthy diet. We can say that our greenhouse farmers cultivate health and longevity.
The consumption of fruits and vegetables is expected to increase in the worldwhich ensures a promising future for greenhouses, whose surface will grow in certain areas of the planet.
As agricultural production systems, Greenhouses are already very efficient in the use of resources. However, the incorporation of innovations, such as the digital revolution and artificial intelligence, will transform the way it is cultivated, making them even more efficient and versatile.
The success of a crop depends on the farmer’s management of multiple factors such as climate, fertilization, pests and cultivation tasks. The new ones digital tools and the IA come to complementary the skills of farmer facilitating and optimizing its organization and execution.
Advanced sensorization will allow farmers to observe their crops from anywhere with a connection, but the true value of data lies in its processing. The AI will analyze this data along with other external data (weather, energy, etc.) to automatically alert, recommend or act on different equipment.
Artificial intelligence and vision
Ultimately, AI algorithms will be able, if the farmer so wishes, to assume absolute control of the management of climate and irrigation equipment. of the greenhouse, autonomously establishing the activation and deactivation instructions, in addition to advising on crop management tasks (harvesting, pruning of fruits and leaves, etc.). It is what is known as autonomous cultivation.
Artificial vision also complements visual inspection using drones, self-guided vehicles or portable devices. These cameras analyze pests, diseases, nutrition, growth, crop prediction and photosynthetic activity, among other aspects of the crop.
New greenhouse covering materials are going to be developed, more durable and capable of modifying their optical properties to adapt them to the needs of the crop in each period. An example are the thermoactive plasticscapable of gradually darkening as their temperature increases, so that bleaching is no longer necessary. In addition, the greenhouses will incorporate semi-transparent photovoltaic materials and/or capable of using only the portion of the spectrum less useful for cultivation.
The development of thermal batteries with different types of salts will allow excess energy to be stored which we now evacuate from the greenhouse through ventilation during the daytime period, to use that energy when the greenhouse needs heat at night.
Besides, producers will be able to obtain and concentrate CO2 directly from the air (direct air capture systems, DAC), and use it to make carbon enrichment in their crops, with an affordable energy cost. Natural light can be supplemented in the winter period with LED lamps with dynamic spectrum for each crop and for each stage of development.
The producer will be able to have real-time readings of the concentration in the soil or substrate of the different nutrients.thanks to techniques such as capillary electrophoresis or spectrometry. This will allow the fertilizer contribution to be precisely adjusted to the absorption pattern of the crop. Others sensors in the root will warn of attacks pathogensby recognizing certain exudates that the plant emits when attacked. The farmer will be able to know in detail the microbial profile of his soil (microbiome), opening the possibilities for its management and improvement.
Collaborative robots
Collaborative robots will take on repetitive tasks such as collecting and pruning leaves and stems, working in collaboration with human workersespecially in conditions of climatic stress and/or during the night period. Humanoid robots are not out of the question in the near future, we are already seeing functional prototypes at increasingly lower prices.
Additionally, AI and tools such as Ultra Wide Band will monitor the health and efficiency of workers, preventing problems by detecting bad posture or stressful situations, allowing work to be better organized.
Revolutionary new cultivation concepts will be possible, for example systems in which plants are transported individually to a workstation, where a human or a robot will carry out the various interventions: treatments chemicals, release of natural enemies, pruning and harvesting, etc.
In short, The greenhouses of the near future will be even more efficient than they are today, and will become safer and more aseptic spaces for workers.
The catalog of species grown in them will be diversified, incorporating other high-value crops, such as, for example, tropical fruits or crops with high-value functional ingredients..
Thanks to new information technologies and AI, Farmers will be able to better balance their work and personal life. In addition, circularity will continue to develop, from an agroecological perspective.
Technology and human wisdom will go hand in hand ensuring a long life for the greenhouses.
Illustration: Julián Echeverry
