5 4 MANY people already know about the looming global food security challenge despite maximising production from the world’s existing agricultural areas, but not enough know about the ability of the greenhouse sector to answer it. Haifa Group, which supplies up to 30 per cent of the industry’s nutrition and is a particularly dominant player with advanced greenhouse systems, hopes to change this and has established a Modern Greenhouse Taskforce to extend knowledge of leading-edge systems and help drive adoption. “The knowledge is already there, but most of the world is not using greenhouses for significant production,’’ said Tal Shani, Soluble Fertilisers Marketing Manager with Haifa Group and a member of its specialist Taskforce. “Modern greenhouses are highly sophisticated, but they are a simple way to produce food using less resources including fertiliser and water. “The target is to produce more food for people from a much smaller area with less amounts of fertiliser and water. With reduced land available for production, using much less resources to produce more food is the future. “The nutrients we continue to take out of the ground are not endless, so we have to think about our kids coming through and future generations.’’ Haifa Group offers a wide range of high quality fertiliser products to the greenhouse industry, supported by key knowledge extension and technologies that use innovative software developed by the company to assist growers and technical advisers with different crop nutrition programs. “Haifa Group analyses the challenges growers face and aims to create the best solutions for their needs,’’Tal said. “The nutritional solutions we develop combine products and services that generate added value and benefits for growers. A good example is Multi-K™ Reci, potassium nitrate with near-zero sodium we developed for soilless greenhouses in Northern Europe, where regulations require circulation of the irrigation solution. “Multi-K Reci minimises accumulation of sodium, thus reducing the need to remove this harmful element. This is both an economic and environmental benefit.’’ Other Haifa Group products that meet specific needs of the greenhouse sector include GrowClean™ and Poly-Feed Stim, while it also offers Haifa Cal™ prime, Haifa MKP™, Haifa SOP™ Prime and Haifa Micro™. A new product the company is excited to launch soon is Multi-K™ Prime, a highly pure fertiliser that will especially suit the most sensitive crops and greenhouses, including hydroponics. Haifa Group’s digital technologies and services have further expanded its impact in the industry, with programs like NutriNet™ and its expert agronomists helping growers to optimise their fertilisation programs. To help “share the knowledge’’, the company recently hosted about 120 team members and distributors from 30 countries in the world’s greenhouse capital, the Netherlands. The ‘Haifa HortiTech’ event was staged at the World Horti Centre at Naaldwijk, an innovation hub for international greenhouse horticulture that harnesses industry research, businesses, government and educators, and where Haifa Group has invested strongly in research and development and also maintains an exhibition stand. Tal said the event had been planned since 2019, before covid interruptions, and was designed to bring professional people together from distribution and Greenhouse industry set to answer global food shortage including agronomists, who could advise growers and support the expansion of the greenhouse industry. “Knowledge sharing is one of Haifa Group’s major platforms. With our plant nutrition solutions, professional knowledge is essential for growers to realise the full benefits, and, more importantly, to grow better crops with less inputs and minimal impact on the environment.’’ In addition to a tour of the World Horti Centre and hearing presentations on a range of topics including irrigation, lighting, substrates, energy saving screens, water supply and even insurance, delegates were updated on some of the company’s latest developments and nutrition solutions for advanced greenhouses. Haifa Group’s digital offering also was in the spotlight and while this covered improvements to its FoliMatch and MultiMatch tools, there was keen interest in the company’s announcement of its partnership in Croptune, a unique smartphone app that monitors the nitrogen status of crops in real time. “Providing solutions to growers is the whole focus and for Haifa, that is about using all technologies in order to give the full solution to growers,’’Tal said. “Due to having to wait for lab results, a lot of growers don’t bother testing, but with Croptune you get the results straight away. “Growers get the correct information to help make immediate decisions. If the N status is too much, they can stop and not waste any more fertiliser or impact the environment. If it is not enough, they can apply immediately before perhaps seeing any deficiency symptoms, in which case it already is too late.’’ He said rather than relying on a number of leaf samples from crops, growers also could use Croptune at numerous sites and then take action on the information and make much more precise nutrition decisions. The technology also is constantly updated and already is being regularly Tal Shani (rear left), Soluble Fertilisers Marketing Manager with Haifa Group, and members of the company’s Modern Greenhouse Taskforce, which aims to extend knowledge of advanced greenhouse systems across the globe and to help drive adoption. Haifa HortiTech delegates at the World Horti Centre at Naaldwijk in the Netherlands. Click for further info Multi-K Reci GrowClean Poly-Feed Stim Haifa Cal Prime Haifa MKP used by distribution and agronomy teams, as well as growers around the world. Presentations from the Haifa HortiTech event in the Netherlands, in addition to a range of other professional videos for the greenhouse industry, are now available on the company’s youtube channel. Haifa SOP Haifa Micronutrients NutriNet FoliMatch Croptune
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjA0NDY=