Into the machine age

摘要

Rising wage costs and other pressures on margins are persuading growers to mechanise. We have the technology, the equipment and the know-how to automate just about every growing task. Plants can be ordered automatically, potted automatically, monitored every minute of every day, ventilation opened, feed applied, lights and shading turned on and off, temperature raised or lowered and irrigation applied as needed. Plants can be shunted down a line for pot washing, automatic labelling and sleeving, placed on a trolley automatically and delivered to the lorry. In the future, it may be possible to run the nursery literally from a PC in the office.