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Winners emerge from the 2021 Greenhouse Technology Awards

Winners of the 2021 Greenhouse Technology Awards have been announced.

Hosted by Greenhouse Canada and sponsored by the Canadian Greenhouse Conference, the awards program aims to recognize technology demonstrating a high level of innovation in advancing the greenhouse and controlled environment agriculture sectors in Canada.

Entries were evaluated in four categories: Production, Pest Management, and Marketing for Canadian entries, along with a fourth International category for technology originating from outside of Canada. Judged by sector stakeholders across Canada, each entry was evaluated based on four criteria: innovation, importance, effectiveness and impact.

Three winners and one honourable mention emerged from the competition’s debut this year.

Winner, Production: Sollum Technologies Smart LED Lighting
Sollum Technologies’ smart LED lighting was victorious in the Production category. Based in Montréal, Que., the company is known for their AI-driven smart LED lighting solution which is able to dynamically recreate, modulate and perfect the full spectrum of the Sun’s light, as opposed to oft-seen blue and red wavelengths. Smart algorithms allow growers to create an infinite number of light recipes adapted to each plant at each stage of growth.

Sollum Technologies’ smart LED lighting solution

Winner, Pest Management: IPM Scoutek
IPM Scoutek’s mobile platform took home the winning title in the Pest Management category. Based in Windsor, Ont., the software solution is designed to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the scouting process, created in consultation with growers, scouts and IPM managers. It relays scouting data in real-time, streamlines pest management programs, helps correlate input spend and more to minimize crop injury while optimizing costs.

IPM Scoutek’ mobile scouting platform

Winner, International: Crop Controller by Blue Radix
Crop Controller by AI solutions provider, Blue Radix was the winning entry in the International Category. Starting with the grower’s strategy and continuously integrating real-time data both in and outside the greenhouse, the Netherlands-based artificial intelligence system calculates and continuously finetunes the operations of connected greenhouse systems to optimize costs and yields autonomously, needing only high level direction from the grower at the strategic level.

Crop Controller by Blue Radix

Honourable Mention: Luna by iUNU
Thanks to its high scoring entry, Luna by iUNU was named Honourable Mention this year. Based in Seattle, Wash., the system combines artificial intelligence with computer vision, using robotic optical scanners on tracks to assess plant growth, predict harvests, detect anomalies and track inventory. The latest enhancements focus on germination prediction rates and anomaly detection to reduce costs and shrink. Users can zoom in, down to an insect on a single leaf, using stitched images comprised of thousands of 4k, high resolution photos taken in real time.

The Luna system by iUNU incorporate robotic scanners above the canopy.

“The program was created with the hopes of spurring greater advancements and commercial adoption, focusing on homegrown solutions as well as those looking to actively support the Canadian sector from abroad,” says Greta Chiu, editor of Greenhouse Canada. “Entries that included letters of support from growers or were able to cite trial or commercial results scored particularly well.”

“Thank you to the CGC and our cross-Canada judging panel for their support. I look forward to highlighting new and innovative solutions in the next edition of the awards.”

To learn more about the winners and the judges’ comments on the entries, turn to the Canadian Greenhouse Conference showguide here. All winners will be presented in a special segment during this year’s CGC on Oct. 7. To see the schedule and to register, visit CanadianGreenhouseConference.com.

More information about the competition can be found here.