Jan Jacob Mekes

Energie is een heet hangijzer in de orchideeënteelt. Verduurzaming is broodnodig, maar zorgt ook voor uitdagingen. Mart en Jacqueline van Wingerden, van kwekerij Bonito Plant, weten hoe ingewikkeld het kan zijn om die puzzel te leggen, maar gelukkig staan ze er niet alleen voor. “We vinden het belangrijk om up-to-date te zijn als bedrijf. Met de certificaten en de jaarlijkse audits van MPS weten we precies hoe we ervoor staan.”

Rob van Geneijgen has been familiar with crate washing machines from an early age because his father has also been selling and servicing them In New Zealand for decades. Family ties are a common thread in the history of both Limex and MatMan Washing Solutions: Limex was founded by the father of current director Joep Janssen, and Rob’s father is a first cousin of Joep’s mother. Rob saw the expansion opportunities for the Limex washing machines in Australia.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and chlorine are potent oxidizing agents used extensively across a myriad of industrial applications, including water treatment, disinfection processes, and bleaching in pulp and paper industries. Traditionally, these oxidizers are manufactured off-site and delivered to the user’s location. This traditional supply chain poses several challenges, including high transportation costs, storage difficulties, and potential safety risks. Recent advancements in technology, however, have made it feasible to produce these oxidizing agents on-site, leading to reduced costs and increased safety. Of these two options, on-site hydrogen peroxide generation, particularly by companies using no chemical inputs like HPNow, has shown promise in offering numerous advantages over on-site chlorine generation.

Wanneer twee bedrijven elkaar vinden en elk een ontbrekend puzzelstukje kunnen leveren, ontstaat een bijzondere situatie. Wanneer beide partijen elkaar begrijpen en gezamenlijk de puzzel kunnen oplossen, resulteert dit in een synergie-effect waarbij het geheel meer is dan de som der delen. Dit is precies het geval bij de samenwerking tussen Limex en VHM Machinery.

Sanitation is the unsung hero in the winemaking process, having significant implications for product quality and public health. However, traditional sanitation methods in the wine industry have not always been environmentally friendly or efficient. As the wine industry evolves to adopt more sustainable practices, there is an increasing need for green surface sanitation methods. Among the various alternatives that have emerged, one is particularly promising: the use of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), especially when it is produced on-site from electricity and water.

Plant diseases caused by pathogens like Phytophthora, Fusarium, and Pythium pose significant challenges for growers, leading to crop losses and reduced productivity. However, an innovative solution involving the on-site generation of hydrogen peroxide has emerged as a powerful tool for mitigating these threats. Leveraging this technology, growers around the world have reported lower plant mortality rates, promoting healthier crops. So, how can Peroxide UltraPure™ revolutionize plant disease management?

Het Belgische onderzoeksinstituut Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt (PSKW) heeft een proef uitgevoerd op twee slarassen, Fairly (Enza) en Alyssa (Rijk Zwaan), geteeld op water. Ze vergeleken drie opgeloste zuurstofconcentraties (DO) van 6,13 en 16 ppm. De verhoogde zuurstofconcentraties van 13 en 15 ppm werden verkregen door het water te verrijken met pure zuurstof (99,9% O2) nanobubbles met behulp van een Moleaer nanobubble-generator.

Investing in women is a great way to improve the overall level of prosperity in a community. When women work, they generate income not just for themselves but also contribute to greater financial stability in their community. In India, the contribution women make often stays unrecognized as they do not participate formally in the workforce – instead, they stay at home to do unpaid work: looking after the household, ensuring the children get educated and that everyone at home – the young, the elderly and in rural settings even the domestic animals are healthy and happy. Meanwhile, agriculture, a sector that has been on the decline in India for years now, represents another area in which women's contributions could make a significant difference if given the opportunity and support.

Een distributeur van Moleaer’s nanobubble-technologie in Spanje heeft samen met Agrocolor SL de effecten van met nanobubbles verrijkt irrigatiewater onderzocht op kastomaten geteeld in de grond. Agrocolor SL voert audits en certificeringen uit, en heeft een eigen afdeling voor onderzoek, ontwikkeling en proeven.

Professional Horticultural Consulting is a strawberry nursery and production facility in South Africa, with an acreage of 70 hectares. They supply their strawberry plants to growers across the country, and they’re also the largest exporter of fresh strawberry fruit in the southern hemisphere. The issue they faced is that the water in the area is endemic with Phytophthora infections. “It’s very important that we have a clean water supply going to the nurseries, so that we don’t get Phytophthora infections in the nursery and lose plant material, or supply substandard plants to the growers,” says Gavin Linsley Noakes, the company’s CEO and co-owner. Previously the facility was using industrial peroxide, which struggled to control plant infection. Industrial peroxide has a limited purity due to the production process at large chemical plants, and contains stabilizers which limit the reactivity of the pure hydrogen peroxide – thereby having a weaker effect on pathogens.

Cajamar, een bekend onderzoeks- en innovatie instituut in de Spaanse land- en tuinbouw, heeft samen met een Spaanse teler de effecten bestudeerd van met nanobubbles verrijkt irrigatiewater op kaskomkommers. En dan specifiek wanneer er geteeld wordt in zandgrond onder semi-gecontroleerde temperatuur en luchtvochtigheid.

Water pollutants such as pharmaceuticals and pesticides are very hard to remove from the water, and an increasing number of water treatment operations are looking at eliminating those. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are an essential part of the treatment chain. AOPs are used to remove harmful trace substances that find their way into the water cycle – for example, through the use of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, surfactants, pesticides, flame retardants, and others – and that would accumulate to critical concentrations in drinking water if not removed. In addition to eliminating micropollutants, established AOPs act as an effective disinfection barrier against viruses, bacteria, and protozoa.

Strawberry nursery, Aardbeienkwekerij Penninx, has been growing strawberries in a 1-hectare glasshouse since 2011 – the first nine years with Elsanta variety everbearers, and in recent years, fresh crops followed by everbearers. The company grows in substrate trays on a mixture of coco, Accretio, and perlite. In early 2022, Penninx conducted a trial with a Moleaer nanobubble generator. One irrigation section, about 25% of the acreage, was used as the control group and did not receive nanobubble treatment. Drain water was collected separately, so it could be used as irrigation water in a separate day tank. The other 75% was irrigated with nanobubble-enriched water from a day tank connected to the Moleaer nanobubble generator. This water was collected separately from the control group. This created the ideal circumstances to test the impacts of the Moleaer system on the same crop with a separate water system.

De Canadese kweker Harster Greenhouses heeft een moderne kas van 6 hectare, met volledige automatisering en controle van luchttemperatuur en -stroom, vocht in de grond, en schermdoeken. Elke bloem en plant bij Harster baat bij specifieke omstandigheden nodig, dus heeft elke afdeling in de kas een ander klimaat.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a highly versatile and sustainable molecule. It is widely used in agriculture to treat irrigation water and protect crops. As the H2O2 molecule is essentially water with an extra oxygen atom, there are no dangerous byproducts following use, making it particularly suitable for edible (including organic) crops. As an added bonus, the oxygen in hydrogen peroxide is released upon use, increasing dissolved oxygen levels in irrigation water and soil.

An HPGen A2000 system was installed at Pete Matthews' farm, and its efficacy for livestock drinking water treatment quickly became apparent.

As a grower, you care for your crops by providing them with all they need: light, nutrients, water, and the right growing conditions. Ironically, the system you are using to provide your plants with water and nutrients may also double as a vehicle for unwanted guests in the form of pathogens such as Pythium, Phytophthora, and other fungi and bacteria, which can damage crops and raise food safety concerns. This host of organisms is usually present in irrigation water in small amounts but tends to proliferate in the water system in the form of biofilm. Biofilm is not only a hotbed for pathogen infestation, but it also has a strong negative impact on irrigation uniformity as it blocks emitters. The effects of non-uniform irrigation are well known to growers, as plants receive uneven amounts of water and fertilizer, which leads to stress in the plants that receive less water. As a result, yields will be lower, and non-uniform growth leads to strong variances in time-to-market across the crop – both of these factors have a negative impact on profitability.

Leo Berghs-Trienekens is a household name in and around the German town of Straelen. The family company has a greenhouse where mostly tomatoes were grown until recently. Last winter, skyrocketing energy prices made the grower decide to stop heating. The sun-grown tomatoes were harvested, the greenhouse was emptied, and now half of the acreage has leafy greens and whole head lettuce growing in ponds.

Leo Berghs-Trienekens is een begrip in het Duitse Straelen en omgeving. Het familiebedrijf heeft een kas waar tot voor kort vooral tomaten stonden. De stijgende energieprijzen in de winter deden de teler echter besluiten te stoppen met stoken. De door de zon verwarmde tomaten werden nog geoogst, de kas werd geruimd, en nu groeien op de helft van het areaal bladgroenten en kroppen sla op water.

HPNow’s patented HPGen has won the Iberflora Innovation Award for technological improvement in ornamental production. The award, named after Professor Ballester-Olmos of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, was handed out to José García Meca, sales representative with HPNow, in Valencia at Iberflora. The Spanish trade show is one of the most important events in the international flower and plant industry.