On their 9 hectare greenhouse operation in Keyingham near Hull, British tomato grower Keyingham Salads Ltd is using a new growth comparison technology to improve yields and balance the differences between productions.

Keyingham Salads is growing in a total of 4 greenhouses. Two of the glasshouses are identical to each other in terms of size, design and installed technology. But somehow the grower at Keyingham Salads cannot seem to create the same yield output of both glasshouses. “Each and every year, one of the greenhouses is always a few kilos ahead in production.”

Last year Keyingham Salads experienced a difference of 4 kilos, which is why they installed Paskal’s Growth Analysis System. “We needed to have an extra tool to see what is going on in both greenhouses, and we thought that the GAS might be a good tool to use to see what happens, and to change the situation.”

Since February 2015, Keyingham Salads has been using the system to fine tune their growing strategies; they analyse the growth of the crop and makes small changes in the settings in order to optimize the production of the greenhouse that lags behind. So far they have experienced yield improvements.

“Since we’ve been using the system, we’ve been able to make better grounded decisions and analyze the settings at an early stage. This resulted in improved production in the glasshouse producing the least. Production went up in this house, but also in the other greenhouse that was already ahead. The production in both glasshouses went up by a few kilos, and the difference in yield decreased.”

Keyingham Salads said the system is key to this improvement.

“When we make small changes in the growing strategies, whether it is a change in temperature, humidity or irrigation, we can see the result within the next two days. You can immediately see the effect of your adjustments.”

Currently, they are still learning how to utilize the system to its full potential. Paskal’s agronomist Dr. Menachem Dinar visited the grower last week to analyze the output of the system as well.

“So much data becomes available, that it changes the approach to growing. Every day we are still learning a bit more about how to apply the outcome,” the agronomist concluded.