Product Supplier to Solution Supplier

At this year’s PCA conference in the Gold Coast Andy Lee, Technical Service Manager at the Grodan Group gave his presentation on the recently released e-Gro software platform. e-Gro provides insight into the available data in the greenhouse and gives a complete and clear picture of what happens to the root zone, the crop, the climate and production.

Why have Grodan come up with this platform?

As a consultant, with my background in growing tomatoes and working with substrates, roots and water management, I believe there is more than one answer to this question.

Firstly, Grodan understand, like myself and many other consultants, exactly how incredibly important root zone management is for the success of the crop and secondly, because they understand the need to help their customers maximise every single bit of efficiency out of their substrates.  By engineering e-Gro, Grodan are adding great value to their product.  They are not only selling a product with sensors and leaving you to it, but providing a tool to make managing your entire crop more efficient and sustainable.

For well over 30 years growers have been carrying out crop registrations, which I am a huge advocate of, collating all of the data real time and analysing it provides new advantages, including speed.  The speed at which you currently collect growing data and make changes could rapidly increase. Making better more informed decisions faster should increase your opportunity to increase positive outcomes. In summary: ‘If you like a one stop shop for data collection, with real time feedback e-Gro, is a tool for both growers and consultants to assist with formulating faster growing strategies to improve crop outcomes’

Key Functions of e-Gro:

1. Crop Registration – Automating the process and matching up the climate and growing to make this more streamlined
2. Providing analysed information
3. Key analysed metrics
4. Vision to work towards increasing positive outcomes for customers

Key Outcomes of e-Gro:

1. Root zone prediction
2. Crop registration tool (create value from the manual process of crop registration)
3. Production forecast

Support for e-Gro:

1. 20 dedicated crop technical advisors
2. Software as a service (SaaS)
3. Using cloud-based technology
4. Data bridges to all major climate computers
5. Available for Tomato and Peppers

Grodan have made a substantial investment into the e-Gro system.  This is the next step using current technology, historical learnings from both growers and the company itself to keep providing potential advantages and positive outcomes for their customers. 

I am of the belief that if your customers are succeeding then this achievement means you the supplier will have success.  If growers are not making profit neither are we!  Well done to Grodan for this next generation thinking, it can be only a positive moving forward.  I look forward to the next innovation, as our work is never completed.

To learn more about the e-Gro software platform click on the link below

https://www.grodan.com/about/news–press/news-grodan-launches-softwareplatform-e-gro/

The information below is from the Grodan website:

Description

In the greenhouse, the decisions you make today have a major impact on your results tomorrow. Smart innovations like cloud solutions and Internet of Things applications are connecting the greenhouse, while AI learning and Big Data are allowing growers to level-up their cultivation. But, merging all these available tools and data to support your decision-making is complex and time-consuming. That is, until now. Grodan presents the fully redesigned e-Gro, the revolutionary software platform that allows you to collect and combine the relevant data from your greenhouse and translate it into real-time insights for data-driven Precision Growing. e-Gro supports your knowledge, experience and growing strategy with real-time insights and smart recommendations based on the root zone, climate, crop and harvest data.

e-Gro. The more you know, the better you grow.

Features and Benefits:

e-Gro offers real-time insights and smart recommendations based on the root zone, climate, crop and harvest data. Delivering comprehensive and detailed status of your greenhouse 24/7. This helps you support your growing strategy – that you have set out based on your own knowledge and experience – with facts and, where necessary, adjust it. 

e-Gro can be linked to most common climate computer systems and is available on your smart phone, tablet and desktop to help you transform your data into key insights that optimize your cultivation strategy. The data is presented in an open software platform that offers real-time, 24/7 visibility, anywhere and everywhere. The result: a comprehensive and clear status of your greenhouse at a glance. With e-Gro, you are in control and empowered to make informed decisions to maximize your harvest. 

The features and benefits listed below are all applicable to tomato and sweet pepper cultivation.

e-Gro combines relevant data from various sources on a single online software platform. The result: a detailed 24/7 picture of the situation in your greenhouse, giving you more control and allowing you to make informed decisions. e-Gro helps you with data-driven Precision Growing. 

Thanks to Andy Lee for his fantastic presentation this year at the PCA Conference, Gold Coast, Australia.  Andy is a wealth of knowledge and as always he was a pleasure to listen and learn from.

I appreciate your comments.  Please feel free to comment on the grower2grower Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/StefanGrower2grower/

Article Written and compiled by Stefan Vogrincic, Consultant, Grower2Grower

Article Edited by Marie Vogrincic, Editor, Grower2Grower