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Smartkas: "We have ambitious plans
There are many opportunities in the strawberry sector in the UK. This is mainly because, historically, the country has relied mainly on off-season imports, as it could only rely on local production during the summer months.
Due to advances in CEA strawberry cultivation (Controlled Environment Agriculture), many growers have seized their moment. The agtech company Smartkas from Amsterdam is one of them. Smartkas started growing strawberries in a vertical farm just outside London. The cultivation location is in Harlow, Essex.
“Smartkas specializes in delivering global food security,” says Andrea Lypas, the company’s Operations Manager. “We focus on operating facilities around the world. We design, build, own and operate many types of smart farms. These can be fully automated vertical smart farms or greenhouses. It depends on the individual needs of the country in which we operate to operate.” Smartkas also has companies in the Netherlands, Hungary, Brazil and Romania. The company was founded in 2020 and went public a year later.
The location of the farm in the UK is in line with the company’s mission. “Our urban setting has been specially selected because it allows us to serve our market and reduce our transportation costs and carbon footprint,” Andres explains. For the same reason, the strawberries grown at Smartkas are only intended for the local market.
The importance of the root zone
To achieve the quality that Andreas wants, nothing is left to chance. “We are in full control of the environment,” he says. “We call that data-oriented cultivation. We have a dedicated team that works with robotics and AI to collect data to create the perfect growing conditions for our plants. This way we can control the plants based on climate, nutrient uptake , etc. For example, we do juice analysis, water analysis – we are very precise in how we grow our plants.”
In other words, they pay attention to the smallest details when it comes to what the plants need, especially in the root zone. “We have placed many sensors throughout the cultivation, even in the root zone. So we receive measurements about water absorption, oxygen content, and so on,” he explains. “If you grow on water, the grower must know how to control the plant. And in order to do that, you must be sure that root development and absorption are optimal. Thanks to the measurements of the sensors, we can ensure that the correct amount of water and nutrients are absorbed by the roots.”
A crucial aspect of the root zone is temperature. “The basis for this is about 18.5 to 20°C. Within that range the plant is strongest, because the roots are in the optimal environment. If you go above 20°C, you can have problems with fungi, such as pythium ,” notes Andreas. He adds that the temperature must remain constant during cultivation. “The temperature may drop or rise by half a degree, but not more than that.”
Precision
At the same time, it is not just about the temperature of the root zone, because other factors, even more complex, are also present. “When you look at the root zone, you not only pay attention to the temperature, but also to the dissolved oxygen, for example. That is why we also have a sensor for that, which indicates what percentage of dissolved oxygen is present in the liquid and whether we need to add more It is a combination of different data and measurements.
With precision being the key factor for Smartkas, Andreas notes that they are weathering the energy crisis, although challenging, well. “We rely on renewable energy sources as much as possible. In a country where there is a lot of wind, we will use wind. In the UK we use solar energy. Another important factor for us is that we have AI and data-oriented cultivation,” says he. “We only spend on energy when we really need it. We are careful about where and how we use it. For example, we have a light threshold, which follows our light recipes to allow the plants to express their full genetic potential.”
The result of the cultivation strategy is that of a joint effort between the cultivation team and the agronomic team, in collaboration with data scientists. “We know the needs of the plants,” he says. “And we validate them with our sensors. There are a lot of things to take into account when it comes to this type of CEA cultivation, but we have the expertise and the technology to keep everything under control.”
The old saying goes “never change a winning team” and Smartkas sticks to it. “We have ambitious plans,” says Andreas. “And of course these plans also include crops other than strawberries. We already have a lettuce farm in Amsterdam and new projects are in the pipeline. As Operation Manager, I have to ensure that all processes at the cultivation company run perfectly and that the harvest and quality we achieve are proof of our attention to detail. Apart from that, we will see what the future brings.”