29th July, 2022
What are the latest advancements in horticultural lighting and how can we see this technology evolving in the future?
Horticulture Lighting: Advancements and the Future
Natural light often falls short on giving crops what they need to grow and flourish.
LED lights can control many aspects of crop growth to get better business results. Whether you produce vegetables, fruits or flowers – in a greenhouse, vertical farm or other indoor facility, LED lighting help you increase yields, quality and consistency of your crop.
In recent years, there has been increasing awareness and experience among UK growers in using LED grow lights and custom light recipes to significantly improve results for popular crops such as strawberries, tomatoes and lettuce. With LED grow lights you can increase yield, shorten growth cycles, improve quality, reduce energy usage and even steer certain plant characteristics.
Why choose LEDs to grow?
Deploying LED gives growers more flexibility and a competitive advantage versus non lit production. For growers currently producing without lights, the switch to year-round growing not only promises the opportunity for increasing the value of their business by capitalising on the lucrative winter market but also streamlining administration and operations. Workers are no longer seasonal, meaning full-time contracts can be deployed, helping growers benefit from a more experienced team. For those looking to invest more conservatively, LED can also be used for season extension which can involve half the investment level of full winter production.
Innovation: LED becomes a production tool
One of our latest innovations is our latest generation GreenPower LED production module 3.1. We took the step to make it dynamic as standard, meaning growers can change spectrum and intensity with ease using our GrowWise control system. This kind of flexibility futureproofs an installation, meaning growers can pivot to different crops depending on consumer tastes without compromising the suitability of the lighting system.
The way ahead
Crops such as tomato and leafy greens are relatively mature in terms of LED adoption, but we believe we can continue to refine our light recipes and push the established yield limits. It’s also exciting to see growers of other crops such as roses, peppers and cucumbers looking to explore their options for season extension and full winter production.
About the author:
For further information, please contact:
For commercial enquiries:
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. In 2022, we had sales of EUR 7.5 billion, approximately 35,000 employees and a presence in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in our operations in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for six consecutive years and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
