By adapting the heating strategy in line with the Plant Empowerment principles, Krisztián Czibula has achieved improved plant health, reduced chemical usage and increased yields in his tomato greenhouse at AGROTREND Kolárovo s.r.o. in Slovakia. He is now exploring other areas in which he can integrate theoretical insights from the Plant Empowerment knowledge platform into his existing practices to help the company remain at the forefront of sustainable and efficient tomato production.
User story
GreenCoop AGROTREND
How AGROTREND Kolárovo puts Plant Empowerment theory into practice
AGROTREND Kolárovo s.r.o. produces 3 types of tomatoes – beef, large plum and truss – on 4.2 hectares all year round. It is part of the GreenCoop group, which operates 4 greenhouses in Slovakia and 2 in northern Hungary. In the south of Slovakia, where the Kolárovo greenhouse is located, the summers are hot and dry. “It’s not unusual to have several weeks with temperatures of around 35 ⁰C,” says Krisztián Czibula, Head Grower and Greenhouse Manager at the Kolárovo site.
“This can make it difficult to steer the crop, resulting in thin and unhealthy plants with a decreasing leaf area and small fruits. If the plants don’t grow big enough in the summer, this affects our autumn production and results in a lower annual yield.”
Plant Empowerment as a solution to the problems
Looking for advice, Krisztián reached out to Alessandro Montanarella, his crop consultant and the Italian representative of stone wool manufacturer Saint-Gobain Cultilene. “Alessandro told me about the Plant Empowerment principles, which are aimed at creating a balanced greenhouse environment by focusing on the plant’s needs. This sounded very interesting as a possible solution to our problems. He put me in touch with the Plant Empowerment Implementation Partners,” he explains. They introduced him to the many different ways in which information and advice about the holistic Plant Empowerment approach is made available through the knowledge platform: online, in print and in person.
Using temperature to steer
When thinking about how the principles could be applied in practice based on AGROTREND Kolárovo’s existing greenhouse setup, Krisztián realized he could implement a change to the climate strategy relatively quickly and easily. “In the past, when it was hot outside, we used less heating. But Plant Empowerment has taught us that this causes the indoor temperature to fluctuate too much, which affects the plants and increases their susceptibility to disease. Therefore, we’ve tried a more activated heating strategy this year, making more use of temperature to steer the plants in late spring and summer. This has not completely eliminated fungal diseases, but it is definitely working better than last year,” he reflects.
As a result, the company has been able to further reduce its use of pesticides and fungicides. “This is good from the perspective of sustainability and food safety: two topics that are regarded as increasingly important by our end consumers, who are mainly located in Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic,” says Krisztián.
“Additionally, because the plants are healthier, they grow more uniformly, which enhances the overall efficiency of our operation and frees up time for us to focus on other issues in the greenhouse. Plus it gives us slightly more production, which is always good news.”
From plant nutrition to screening
Thinking from a Plant Empowerment perspective has sparked several ideas for other changes, according to Krisztián:
“We are happy with our irrigation strategy, which we developed in close collaboration with Cultilene a couple of years ago; it is working very well for us in terms of steering. But I’ve now started to think more about the balance of micronutrients and macronutrients in the feed recipe. I’m interested in gaining more knowledge about how we can tailor the nutrition to the plants’ needs, especially during hotter periods.”
Another topic for further consideration is screening, he explains: “It’s still a little too soon for us to implement a new screening strategy, because most of our screens at Kolárovo are shading screens rather than energy screens. However, we have installed new screens in a small part of the greenhouse so I’ve been able to try out a new approach there, and have already discovered that it works very differently. Using screening to balance light and temperature effectively is a complex topic that I’d like to learn more about in the future – not only for our Kolárovo site, but perhaps also for the other greenhouses in the GreenCoop group.”
Delving deeper
Besides accessing the online information resources, Krisztián and his colleagues make frequent use of the Plant Empowerment book. “We regularly look things up whenever we have problems or want to fine-tune our strategies. We always keep it within easy reach!” he says.
“That’s the beauty of working with plants. You’re constantly discovering things that you don’t know, and the principles help you to try new approaches and learn new things. And of course, we know that the Implementation Partners are always on hand to share their advice, all year round.”