HortiDaily Publishes Exposé with Simon Hansen – Norway’s Largest Vegetable Grower
“Miljøgartneriet is Norway’s largest vegetable producer, growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, on close to 8 hectares of advanced, high-tech glasshouses. Specializing in sustainable and environmental production, head grower, Simon Hansen, decided to invest in LED lighting and DryGair dehumidifiers in 2020. He has since seen significant changes in energy expenses, as well as in his yields.”
Read the full report on HortiDaily (en) or Groenten Nieuws (nl).
Humidity Difficulties with New LED Installation
“The first year of growing with the LED lights, we didn’t have any dehumidifiers, though we already knew we would need them. We simply couldn’t do everything in one go”, he says. “To be honest, it was a nightmare. We managed to grow, but it was very hard. The climate was very irregular, because of the enormous amount of transpiration from the plants, under the LEDs.”
That’s where DryGair came into the picture, of course with their dehumidifiers. “The year after, we installed the DryGair units. It was a whole different world – steerable, controllable, beautiful plants, beautiful products. After seeing the results, we took the final step and installed DryGair in almost all of our greenhouses, including those without the lighting. Today, we have a total of 39 DG-12 units in our facility.”
Yield Improvements
“Overall, it’s clear that you get a healthier and more even crop. If you have a wish for the way you want your crop to be, it’s easier to get there with DryGair. You have better control over your environment, you can keep your temperature and humidity more even.
This all creates a better balance in your plants”, he summarizes, and, taking cherry tomatoes for example: “Overall, it’s clear that you get a healthier and more even crop. If you have a wish for the way you want your crop to be, it’s easier to get there with DryGair. You have better control over your environment, you can keep your temperature and humidity more even. This all creates a better balance in your plants.”
Energy Savings and Return on Investment
Growing tomatoes using dehumidification is known to immediately reduce your costs, simply because you can close your ventilation frames on the roof of the glasshouse. The DryGair units take care of the dehumidification. Without dehumidification, as much as 60% of your total heating costs are actually for controlling humidity.
“So, right away, you have huge cost savings when using DryGair”, says Simon. “I always say, the actual savings depend on what you grow, where you grow, and how you grow it. But it’s certainly between 30%-60% in Scandinavia: before DryGair we used more ventilation to remove moisture, and our energy expenses were definitely high.”
When asked about the ROI, Simon says it depends on the energy price, of course. “We installed the first round of units three years ago, and they’re all paid off now. Now they’re just there, giving me a healthy, even crop, and saving me more money.”
