Greenhouse Grower

A greenhouse grower, based on Stratford-on-Avon in Warwickshire UK, manages a network of greenhouses specialising in the cultivation of high-value crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. As a progressive agricultural enterprise, they sought to improve operational efficiency and crop yield by adopting innovative technologies, with a primary focus on temperature monitoring and control.

Challenges

1. Inconsistent Temperature Management: We faced challenges in maintaining consistent temperatures across different sections of our greenhouses, leading to uneven crop growth and quality variations.

2. Resource Optimisation: Energy costs associated with temperature control have been escalating for our business, so one of our primary aims is to minimise energy consumption without compromising crop quality.

3. Predictive Monitoring: The previous temperature monitoring system was getting old and outdated. Even with modern real-time temperature monitoring systems, it is still difficult for us to respond promptly to fluctuations and implement corrective measures. “We don’t just need to know the current temperatures in our greenhouses, we also need know how warm or cold it is going to be in the next 4 to 8 hours. “.

4. Affordability and Flexible: We considered closed-loop control systems that automate both the temperature monitoring and control for our greenhouses. This would require a whole series of upgrades around our greenhouses, including window actuators, controllable heating, sensors, networks. The systems do not offer the level of flexibility we require and come at a hefty price tag.

Glorem’s Solution – Smart Temperature Monitoring

1. IoT Sensors and Network: Together with Glorem, we installed their IoT temperature sensors strategically throughout our greenhouses to continuously monitor and collect temperature data in real-time. These sensors were connected to cellular network via a gateway device to seamlessly transfer the temperature data to the cloud.

2. Cloud-based Analytics: Glorem developed the appropriate analytics to process and analyse the temperature data to make reliable predictions for our greenhouses. The AI algorithm learns how the temperature behaviour in our greenhouses to accurate forecasts how warm or cold it will be across each of our greenhouses.

3. Dashboard: Glorem made a webapp where we can see the temperature predictions. It shows us a temperature map for each greenhouse. It not only shows us the current temperature and the temperature history, but also predicts the temperature for the next 12 to 24 hours. The dashboard also shows is uncertainty for the predictions, which allows us to anticipate the any scenario.

3. On-demand Pay-As-You-Go: There are certain months of the year when our greenhouses are in fact empty because we are in-between growing cycles. The benefit with Glorem’s on-demand Pay-As-You-Go pricing is that there are no costs during those months. We are not being charged when we don’t need temperature monitoring.

4. Service: We didn’t have to worry about installing the temperature sensors or connecting them to the network. Not only did Glorem come over to install the sensors in our greenhouses and configured the connectivity. They also looked after the maintenance, including charging batteries and cleaning. Furthermore, the team at Glorem were constantly working on improving the AI algorithms, regularly releasing updates that gave better predictions.

Results:

1. Saving Time: We can save valuable time, every day, by having the reliable temperature insights. Deciding whether to open or close windows in our greenhouses has become straightforward. This is no longer a guessing game, particularly with the unpredictable we often having here in the West Midlands in the UK. Glorem’s temperature predictions are so reliable that we can decide ahead in time, and plan accordingly. Gone are the days (and nights) were we needed to go out to make last minute changes around our greenhouses. We would even dare to say that removing the element of mental stress is almost as valuable as the time saved.

2. Valuable Temperature Insights: Glorem provides temperature insights for entire greenhouses, not just as the specific locations where the sensors are placed. The webapp shows our greenhouses overlayed with a colourmap, predicting the temperature, from side to side and in every corner. The advanced visualisation makes it very easy to understand the algorithm’s predictions. This also allowed us to finally understand why crops are growing better in certain sections, compared to elsewhere in our greenhouses. With the gained insight, we knew what needed to be done to be able keep a more stable temperature in those sections to improve our yields. One time, we were even able to detect that a window broke in one of our greenhouses just by looking at a Glorem’s temperature predictions.  

Conclusion:

Without Glorem, we would have never risked adopting these high-tech solutions. Glorem made the latest technological advancements, such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and internet-of-things accessible to us. Glorem’s smart temperature monitoring system has really been a game-changer for growing crops in our greenhouses. Other real-time temperature monitoring system only gave us information of how warm or cold it is now in our greenhouses. We still had to guess what the temperature will be in the next two, four or eight hours. Glorem gives us temperature information when it is actually valuable to us, ahead in time. We can plan accordingly in advance. We also no longer make decisions based on unreliable data such as the weather forecasts or point-based temperature measurements. We can see the temperature across an entire greenhouse. We can rely on Glorem’s temperature monitoring system to do what best to grow delicious vegetables for our customers.