To better align the greenhouse climate with the crop’s needs, the Mexican company Bresca Hortalizas decided to start using Crop Controller in 2021. Now, five years later, manager Yohnny Zárate, who is responsible for climate and irrigation management in the company’s greenhouses, remains very pleased with that decision. “The system does exactly what is needed and takes a significant amount of work off my hands. I also no longer rely purely on intuition.”
Bresca Hortalizas, a tomato producer based in Puebla, Mexico, operates three greenhouses covering a total area of 9.2 hectares. As greenhouse manager, Yohnny Zárate is responsible for managing the climate and irrigation. He joined the company in 2020 and, after some time, took on the role of climate and irrigation manager. By then, Crop Controller had already been integrated. For him, this was a new experience. In his previous greenhouse jobs, he had relied exclusively on his own knowledge, experience and weather forecasting.
From intuition to insights
Yohnny graduated from university as an agricultural engineer, specialized in sustainable production. He had been interested in greenhouse horticulture since childhood and began working in the field immediately after his studies. “From the start, I focused on the greenhouse climate and configuring the correct settings on the climate computer. I’ve been doing this at various companies in Mexico since 2019.” It is quite a challenge, Yohnny notes; despite his cultivation expertise, he has to adapt to constantly changing conditions. “The climate is always changing, every day, every season, every year. That’s why you can never rely on standard parameters; you have to always stay alert and sharp. Especially when you don’t have the support of an autonomous growing system.”
In those early years, Yohnny had to do everything by hand, relying on knowledge and often on intuition. “For instance, the windows had to be operated manually, opened and closed at just the right moment for ventilation. I received data from the climate computer, but the decisions were mine to make. You gain experience over time and get better at it, but my decisions were never perfect.”
It took some time getting used to when he started working with Crop Controller at Bresca Hortalizas, but Yohnny is glad he can lean on it. “This technology has made my job easier,” says Yohnny. “At first, I found it a bit scary. But I soon realized it’s a very practical system that makes climate control much more dynamic.” He adds: “Crop Controller does exactly what is needed. As a result, I’ve gained a great deal of confidence in the choices the system makes.”
About Crop Controller
Crop Controller optimizes and implements the grower’s unique strategy. The system acts as a virtual colleague, working alongside the grower 24/7. It calculates optimal climate control and irrigation settings every five minutes, projecting three days ahead. This gives the grower greater control and efficiency. As a result, the combination of autonomous climate and irrigation control significantly reduces the time growers spend managing their climate computer. With the system continuously optimizing settings, adjustments are typically required only once or twice a month, rather than several times a week.
One of the key benefits of Crop Controller is that crop knowledge no longer resides solely with individual growers. Knowledge and best practices are translated into autonomous control strategies, enabling new growers to become productive more quickly while safeguarding expertise within the company. This secures operational continuity and resilience, even when experienced growers leave or take on new roles.
Enabling you to become a better grower
“We can fine-tune things to a much greater degree. Compared to manual operation, everything runs much more consistently now, we can interpret and apply that data far more effectively, ensuring the plants get exactly what they need at the right moment.”
The team can focus more on observing what is happening in the greenhouse and monitoring the overall progress. “I no longer rely purely on empirical predictions or previous knowledge, I can learn a tremendous amount from all the data the system generates. Crop Controller enables me to identify the crop’s needs in a timely manner, which in turn helps us as a company set better targets for the future.”
Yohnny advises the new generation of growers to embrace Crop Controller. “It helps you understand greenhouse horticulture and what goes on inside the greenhouse. It shows you what the plants need. And it supports your work, enabling you to become an even better grower. If you want to get the most out of the technology, it is important to understand how it works, analyze the data, and appreciate the full potential of its predictive models.”
Take your business to the next level
Finally, he urges fellow growers who are still hesitant about autonomous growing to put their doubts aside. “You have nothing to lose. It is a technology that helps you and can take your crop closer to its maximum genetic potential. And as these systems continue to be trained and further developed, they will play an even more important role in the horticulture of the future. But you must also put in the effort yourself and be willing to collaborate in order to get the most out of it.”
