In the 1980s, farmers installed indoor bumblebee hives to increase pollination and, like young van Elswijk, fed the bees’ sugar water to keep them happy. Today, van Elswijk and his fellow farmers have upgraded from bumblebees to high-tech gas engines, predictive software and analytics tools that help save his company, Prominent Growers Association, millions of dollars. “Thanks to analytics, we don’t wait for the engine to fail — we act before it fails,” van Elswijk says. Van Elswijk is now taking the knowledge his company has gained and sharing it abroad through the Prominent Greenhouse Academy. “We want to use our knowledge and expertise to provide the best-tasting and healthiest tomatoes in the world,” van Elswijk says.

Source: Standard Digital November 24, 2016 07:16 UTC