When every decision counts, automation becomes a game-changer. Tom d’Aqui, a leading French growers’ cooperative, turned to Blue Radix’s Crop Controller to optimize and control climate and irrigation with AI. “It’s like having an expert on duty 24/7, something no crop manager could realistically achieve,” says Toby Wright.
Toby Wright is Technical Director at Tom d’Aqui, a growers’ cooperative consisting of six producers who grow high-quality tomatoes in southwestern France. They do this on two sites, one of 15 hectares and one of 10 hectares. This makes Tom d’Aqui one of the key players in greenhouse horticulture in France. “As Technical Director, I have the responsibility for our cultivation. I also manage crop planning. I try to anticipate to the growing conditions and meet the plants’ needs based on historical data, of course in collaboration with our cultivation team.”
Smoother transitions
Wright monitors the tomato plants and keeps a close eye on the climate computer’s settings. “We use a Ridder climate computer. It’s a very advanced and powerful system with many different components and settings. Since we started using Blue Radix’s Crop Controller, which is fully integrated into the Ridder climate computer. We just have to enter the target settings for temperature, light, humidity, etc., and Crop Controller does the rest. It’s much less hassle, it takes us much less time, and it’s much more accurate.” According to Wright, the climate adjustments in the greenhouse now feature smoother transitions and are more proactive and consistent than before. “The change from warm to cold or from humid to dry is more gradual. Because of that, I quickly noticed visual improvements of the crop.”
Blue Radix came to Tom d’Aqui’s attention during the search for new technologies. “We’re always looking for innovations that can help us move forward,” says Wright. “Autonomous Growing has gained significant importance over the past years and is expected to play an even greater role in the future. We therefore talked with several companies offering solutions for this but quickly realized that Blue Radix is the furthest along. Moreover, compatibility with the Ridder climate computer is essential for us. If the two systems hadn’t been seamlessly integrated, we wouldn’t have chosen this option. The support from Ridder in implementing the dedicated API and secure the environment of the data was also key.” Wright was introduced to Crop Controller at the end of 2024, and a six-month trial period began in early 2025. “It was so successful that we’ve now decided to continue and further expand the use of Crop Controller.”
Minimize mistakes
According to Wright, it’s logical for companies like Tom d’Aqui to try and implement new technologies. “If you want to grow as a company, you have to try to minimize errors. Making mistakes is human, but it’s the crop manager’s job to ensure that people make as few mistakes as possible. That takes a lot of time, leaving little time to actually manage the greenhouse. By automating more tasks, you can create more peace of mind. Crop Controller handles execution by calculating climate profiles every hour, for 3 days ahead on a 5-minute level. So it checks the weather forecast every hour and recalculates the best settings each time. I won’t find a crop manager who can do that as accurately and who also has the time to do it 24/7. We ask a lot of our crop managers, but they also need to sleep, and we respect that they need time for themselves. This system makes that possible.”
Wright had to get used to Crop Controller. “You have to trust the system; that doesn’t happen overnight. But thanks to the excellent support that Blue Radix offers, you quickly learn how to use it. When you start something new, you always encounter initial challenges. Because we were in constant contact with the Blue Radix technical team, everything was resolved quickly. They speak the same language as the grower, which is very important. And they monitor everything 24/7, so you never have to worry about overlooking something important.”
Learn faster
Crop Controller won’t replace the crop manager; Wright is convinced about that. “But the system does allow crop managers to focus on other things. This gives us more time to analyze what we’re doing and make better decisions.” He does see Autonomous Growing as a solution to the shortage of sufficiently qualified growers. “These days, we no longer hire people from outside but choose to train them internally. When we started with Crop Controller, they were afraid we wanted to get rid of them. But now they’re discovering that Crop Controller actually helps them to learn faster.”
Wright thinks Crop Controller can also help other companies in France. “You can save a lot of time with Autonomous Growing and work more efficiently.” Eventually, everyone has to make their own decisions about that.” At Tom d’Aqui, they’re already looking ahead. “We also want to get started with the autonomous irrigation module, knowing that we are also equipped with the Ridder Prodrain, the smart connected water sensor from Ridder which brings insight into water uptakes, transpiration and crop growth. This combination will make the irrigation results even more valuable. And who knows what the future holds. Camera vision could be a great addition. Then the greenhouse becomes a smarthouse even more.”
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