Winner Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge to be announced during webinar

Can artificial intelligence help cultivate cherry tomatoes in a greenhouse? This challenge was faced by the international teams that participated in the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and Tencent. The name of the winner will be announced during a free webinar with a keynote by David Wallerstein, CXO of Tencent, on Monday morning 8 June. Tencent is one of the world’s leading internet companies.

The ever-growing world population gives rise to an increased demand for fresh and healthy food. Greenhouse horticulture could play a crucial role but is hampered by a lack of skilled personnel to manage the cultivation of crops. Artificial intelligence (AI) could help solve this problem.

Cherry tomatoes
Thus, the second international Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge 2019/20 organised by WUR, focusses on combining horticultural expertise with AI. International teams conducted an experiment to remotely cultivate cherry tomatoes during a 6-month period. The tomatoes were cultivated in WUR greenhouse of the business unit Greenhouse Horticulture in Bleiswijk, the Netherlands. Each team had its own compartment in the greenhouse, equipped with the standard actuators and sensors to control temperature, ventilation, screens, artificial lighting, CO2 and irrigation. Climate and irrigation set points, as well as pruning strategies, were designed remotely using AI algorithms.

Webinar on AI in greenhouse horticulture
On Monday 8 June at 9 CET, the winner of the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge will be announced during the free webinar on the many possibilities of AI in greenhouse farming. David Wallerstein, CXO of the Chinese internet company Tencent, will deliver a keynote. Silke Hemming, head of the WUR Greenhouse Technology research team will share and analyse the results of the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge. Prof. Leo Marcelis (WUR) will share the outcome of the challenge on behalf of the jury.

GreenTech, the global platform for greenhouse horticulture professionals, is responsible for the organisation of the webinar. The webinar is scheduled for Monday 8 June 9.00-10.30 CET. Registration is free of charge on www.greentech.nl/webinar.

The Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge was made possible by contributions from Grodan, Axia Seeds, LetsGrow.com, Heliospectra and KPN. Learn more about the challenge and its participants on www.autonomousgreenhouses.nl.