Danny Monté is KUBO's growing expert in the BlueLab. He is responsible for cultivation in this experimental greenhouse. "The Ultra-Clima® continues to amaze."
“I have been working in greenhouses since I was young. I got my first job through a friend on my football team. His father had a tomato greenhouse. We picked tomatoes and were paid per kilo. My love for greenhouse cultivation arose during that time. That's why I started studying Horticulture Business Management. I learned the most during an internship where I worked on harvest forecasts for 6 months.”
“I wanted nothing more than to manage the cultivation, but in most companies that role is reserved for the owner. So I kept ending up in production. I eventually came into contact with KUBO through Smart Growing colleague Richard Jonkman. KUBO asked me to lead the cultivation in the Blue Lab. For me this was a golden opportunity. I can fully dedicate myself to cultivation here. That gives me a lot of energy and I sometimes feel like a child in a candy shop.”
“My most important task in the BlueLab is setting the climate. By optimizing this, I try to get as many kilos of production from the greenhouse as possible. I certainly don't run the BlueLab alone. I have some colleagues who keep track of the plants, from pruning to picking. And my colleague Emiel is responsible for everything related to the operation.”
“What I like so much about a test location is that you can really go into depth. I make test plans, get to work with different crops, make extensive use of data analysis, and I work with new techniques. For example, there are sensors and cameras everywhere. It's really very interesting. All facets of cultivation are included.”
“I only go into the greenhouse about 3 times a week. Most of my work I do from behind my computer. But I also regularly visit clients to help them with their greenhouses. I fly to Kazakhstan to visit a grower about four times a year, for example. Collaborating with growers remains a challenge for me. Does the grower implement your advice? Does he believe your analyses?”
“The Ultra-Clima® system continues to amaze. When we stopped adding extra CO2, I expected a drop in yield. But nothing turned out to be further from the truth - output actually increased. The same happened when we started testing with less energy consumption. It turned out that we could activate crops without extra heat. The idea behind all these tests is simple: how do we achieve more output with less input?”
“Our plans for the future? We are planning to collaborate with scientists so that we can have our results independently checked and published. Also, we want to try more different crops, such as strawberries, lettuce and peppers - but also medical cannabis, for example. And I’d like to experiment with organic cultivation in the open field. Can we achieve high yields of top quality and enrich the soil at the same time? There are many exciting things to come.”