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Meet the consultants

Remco Huvermann

Let it bee… let it bee… Our pollination and bee expert, Remco Huvermann, sometimes takes this quite literally. With 30 years of experience in the field, he is truly passionate about these flying wonders that work tirelessly in greenhouses to bring plants to life.

Since joining the Plant Empowerment Foundation as a consultant two years ago, Remco has been inspired by the passion and of his fellow consultants in helping growers worldwide. Now, it’s time for his beezy story!

Published: January 22, 2025 Share?

Speaking the same language

“Growers see the problem, they feel the problem, and they want to find the solution. And they’ll continue to problem solve even at the weekend or late at night,” he explains

In fact, being part of the Plant Empowerment team is like shifting from the fifth to sixth gear because it enables each of us to discuss topics and challenges that are relevant to growers and ask ourselves: ‘How can we optimise their crops’ performance? And how can we ensure that we speak the same language with our shared perspective?

The Plant Empowerment philosophy is helping growers to produce their glasshouse-grown crops more sustainably (and achieve higher yields) by using valuable data insights to keep the plants’ natural balances – water, energy, and assimilates (sugars) – in equilibrium.

When supporting this three-way balance, plants make more efficient use of water, fertilisers, and energy. The plants then become healthier, less attractive to pests and diseases, and present good quality flowers and pollen.

Technology and the new way of growing

However, the introduction of new techniques and technologies in the glasshouse can temporarily disrupt this balance while growers learn how best to adjust to their new regime, notes Huvermann, who is a pollination consultant for Koppert.

“Growers are getting more tools and technologies to help them, but it’s up to Plant Empowerment to create the knowledge in these new fields. I dare say it but, with the best of intentions, lack of knowledge or experience with these new technologies is still one of the biggest causes of mistakes. And that’s why the connection to Plant Empowerment can help growers. The Plant Empowerment consultants each have a different area of expertise, which means that together we’re able to give growers a realistic and widely-orientated input about what they can expect from a new product or technology. And sometimes, even for us consultants, it’s new. We also need to learn.”

Creating a pollination strategy together

Huvermann notes, for instance, that because LEDs are a relatively new technology, there’s still much to learn in this area – particularly because light has a big influence on bees’ behaviour. With some 35 years’ experience in working on greenhouse and open field pollination, Huvermann has diligently been applying his extensive knowledge of bumblebees to help growers optimise the pollination in their glasshouses.

Working with consultants from Plant Empowerment Implementation Partners Hortilux, Svensson, Letsgrow.com, and Lumiforte, he and his fellow Partners have been researching and learning how to optimise pollination in winter (cold) conditions and summer (hot) conditions.

The consultant shares, for example, that optimising pollination during winter conditions requires the hives to be located above the crop to ensure that the bees catch the early morning light and become active for as long as possible. Given the shorter days (that leave bumblebees with 70-80% less time to visit the same number of flowers in the crops) growers need to invest in extra bee colonies. Huvermann adds: “Opening the climate screens and bumblebee hives during the early morning hours is important. Next the bumblebee hives can be closed when the flowers close. The screens only need to be closed 1.5-2 hours after the bumblebee hives are closed ensuring enough UV (GPS) light for the bumblebees.” Moreover, the LED lights can help the bees become more active. They can provide additional blue and green light to enhance bumblebee activity, which is important – especially on darker days. For navigation back to the hive, UV also remains important.

Over the last two years we’ve made some big steps in this area – and it’s been one of the most significant achievements of Plant Empowerment during my time here.

But we’ve also realised that we have a lot more to learn – especially around the influence of climatic conditions/humidity deficit on pollen release. It’s been a bit like solving a puzzle. But in the beginning, when we only had two pieces of the puzzle, we couldn’t see the full picture. But as soon as we got more pieces of the puzzle, we gained more of an idea about which way to go. So, we’re still researching and doing some tests on how to improve pollination even more and that will be really interesting.”

The beginning of a beezy life…

Huvermann’s passion for bees and pollination was first ignited when he was just 12 years old. Then, his family went on holiday to France where they stayed in a beekeeper’s house.

His fascination for these buzzworthy creatures continues: “It’s one of my dreams to see the bumblebees both fly and pollinate flowers in the glasshouse at night. With the new LED light-optimised climate, we can already enable the bumblebees to fly at night. But they’re not always pollinating since the climate settings are not ideal. So, this winter, we hope that we can find the relevant parameters. I hope we can make a recipe for what we need to make it happen. I would love to be able to one day say to our customers that, ‘during night, you can control pollination and you will be able to keep the screens closed when you want. This will help growers to lower energy costs even more during darkest period of winter. So, that’s one of my dreams.”

Growers’ increased uptake of energy-saving LEDs – and second or third climate screens – in response to the recent energy crisis has been one of many global events or trends to have affected the world’s horticulture sector. Another such trend is the reduction in the availability of pesticides.

Beating challenges again and again…

“It’s difficult for growers. This rapidly-changing environment and continuous exposure to global events and trends means that, compared to ten years ago, the difference between growers of different crops is becoming bigger due to the specific types of equipment used. That is why the customised advice of the Plant Empowerment consultants is becoming increasingly important. Because they have to identify: ‘Okay, what are the specifications of this customer? How can we ensure that our technologies are doing what they need to do? I always like to say, for example, that pollination is more than just delivering a box of bees, you need to the right climate, the plants need to be attractive, you need to mindful of the pesticides that are being used … The product is arguably the least important part of the system.”

The pollination expert also points out that much of the data that’s generated by state-of-the-art smart climate control computers and other new devices still needs to be interpreted by a human. “It’s still human work, and this is also a role for Plant Empowerment – so that growers can get on with their work, particularly as its much more difficult these days to find good, trained people in our sector. So, the more we can optimise this data to help us make reliable predictions the better.

Looking to the future, Huvermann envisions the Plant Empowerment Foundation broadening its strategy. “Currently, our strategy is focussed on optimising plant growth, creating more balance. But we would also like to further focus on creating more resilient crops that better can handle sub-optimal situations (such as pest and disease outbreaks or extreme weather conditions). And I think that this is the direction we are already going towards, and we’ll likely take it one step further.”

Join our Summer School 2025!

Remco encourages those interested in Plant Empowerment to start exploring the online resources available on the online knowledge platform. He suggests diving into these materials to understand the foundations of the philosophy. Go to our online platform here.

If they ignite your curiosity, the Summer School is the perfect next step.

Are you a top grower and ready to elevate your growing techniques with other top growers from around the globe? Don’t miss your chance to participate in our exclusive Summer School, taking place from June 9-14, 2025. With only 15 spots available, this is your opportunity to dive deep into the Empowerment philosophy and gain insights that could transform your greenhouse operations.

Registration opens in February 2025.

Do you want to know more about the Summer School?

Project Manager

Jeannette den Boer