Doubling production once is a feat; doing it two years in a row is a masterclass. At Berry Hill in Jalisco, Mexico, the secret to success isn’t a new fertiliser or a lucky season – it’s a radical shift toward Plant Empowerment’s data-led philosophy.
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Berry Hill
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How Berry Hill has tackled horticultural challenges to enjoy record-breaking success
Ignacio Castillo, engineer and director of Berry Hill, oversees a 12-hectare production site where the output is split evenly between organic and conventional strawberries. Despite this distinction, Castillo asserts that every fruit the company produces is entirely pesticide-free. “We want to deliver a healthy fruit to the market and to the people—and also take care of nature,” he explains.
Whilst this environmental pledge is laudable, upholding it isn’t easy when you’re producing a fruit crop in the warm climate of Jalisco, Mexico. While the region offers abundant natural light, the heat and humidity can create a “perfect storm” for horticultural challenges. Pests and diseases, in particular, can thrive in high temperatures and fluctuating moisture levels.
Happily, Berry Hill has successfully overcome these pest and disease challenges to achieve remarkable results by joining Plant Empowerment’s Plant Health Program and partnering with Plant Empowerment technical consultant Mark van der Werf.
Strengthening the crop
Van der Werf identifies three conditions that are necessary for a pest or disease to take hold: the presence of the pest or disease, a favourable environment for that pest or disease, and a susceptible host plant.
Whilst Berry Hill has deployed physical barriers like insect netting and biological controls to deter the pest from entering the crops, the real breakthrough has come from addressing the third condition: the plant itself. As the Plant Empowerment philosophy asserts, it’s essential to keep the plant’s balances – energy, water, and assimilates (sugars) – in equilibrium to cultivate the plant’s natural resilience to challenges such as pests and diseases.
The plant health circle
Berry Hill has successfully achieved this balance by following Plant Empowerment’s Plant Health Circle framework which, rather than viewing pests or diseases as isolated enemies, regards them as indicators of a systemic imbalance. This model suggests that when a plant’s metabolic “circle” is complete – meaning its energy, water, and nutrient uptake are perfectly synced with its environment – it becomes an unattractive host for pests and diseases. It is a philosophy of “health through harmony” rather than “health through eradication.”
Precision changes, massive gains
Working closely with van der Werf since 2023, the Berry Hill team has therefore transformed its operation to bring its strawberry plants into balance. Together, they have focused on several key technical areas:
- Climate and air movement: They installed fans and climate screens to manage Mexico’s high heat emission, ensuring humidity around the leaves has stayed within the “safe zone” to prevent fungal germination.
- Digital transformation: By implementing Hoogendoorn’s IIVO system, the team has utilised intelligent algorithms to make soft, gradual climate adjustments that have avoided plant stress.
- Nutritional strategy: They have fine-tuned the crops’ calcium and potassium ratio, lowering nitrogen while increasing silica and trace elements to make the plants naturally less attractive to pests.
- Water Quality: To combat high sodium chloride levels in the local water supply, they have installed a Van der Ende Group reverse osmosis system, providing a clean foundation for irrigation and nutrition.
Tangible results: Data-Driven success
The impact of these changes has been immediate. By moving from reactive growing to proactive, data-driven strategies, Berry Hill has doubled its strawberry production for two consecutive years.
Beyond doubling its yield, the Berry Hill team has achieved significantly larger fruit sizes and improved plant colour, with dark green, shiny leaves indicating a strong protective waxy layer.
“Just applying the principles of Plant Empowerment has made a huge impact in what we are doing right now – bigger [fruit] sizes, more production. It looks brighter year by year.”
By putting plant health at the heart of its production strategy, this grower has transformed a delicate balancing act into a high-performance success story.
Are you ready to master your Plant’s Health?
Berry Hill’s story proves that you don’t need to fight nature to get results – you simply need to empower your plants. By understanding the Plant Health Circle, you can transform your greenhouse into a high-performance operation just like Castillo and his team have done.
Take the next step in your growing journey by signing up for the Plant Empowerment Plant Health Year program. This year-long, exclusive course provides you with the tools to build stronger, more resilient crops through expert insights and advanced data analysis.
By signing up to Plant Health Program you will gain access to the complete video, the live Q&A with Ignacio Castillo himself and in-depth insights into the full journey (starting point, challenges, decisions, optimizations, and results).
Apply for the Plant Empowerment Plant Health Year program now to start growing for the future.
More information about the program