Joyride Horticulture re-establishes greenhouse horticulture as an attractive and safe working environment
30 October 2024
One of the projects on which robotics research associate Anouk Leunissen is working on behalf of her employer Wageningen University & Research is Joyride Horticulture. The project is now about midway through its term. A good time to review the results and progress so far.
With her biomedical engineering education and background, Anouk Leunissen might not seem an immediate fit with a research project in greenhouse horticulture. Until we look at the research questions. Because Joyride Horticulture, the project funded by the Top Sector Horticulture & Starting Materials and the Club of 100, involves many biomedical aspects. Challenging greenhouse climates, increasing work pressure and more physically demanding work have made greenhouse horticulture less appealing as a working environment. Anouk Leunissen and her colleagues want to change that. The Greenhouse Horticulture and Flower Bulbs Business Unit at Wageningen University & Research looks at the technical issues, while Wageningen Economic Research (WEcR) is involved at social level. “The project identifies the current challenges and we explore whether we can address and/or alleviate them using the team’s technical and sociological knowledge.”
Putting people at the heart of the greenhouse
“Today’s greenhouses contain more and more technology and much more is automated. These are good developments, but we mustn’t forget the human factor in these developing greenhouses. In this project, we are not therefore focusing on the development of the greenhouse but on the greenhouse employees and how they can still work comfortably and safely alongside all these developments.”
At 10 greenhouse horticulture companies, various people including owners, human resource management and other employees were interviewed to discuss the challenges they face. “We were then able to identify several primary challenges or key problems. These include climate, physically demanding and repetitive work, training and onboarding and communication. Every year, we re-analyse which of those main problems we will tackle that year.”
From fans to cooling vests
“At the end of last year and this year, we started looking at the greenhouse climate. High temperatures, high humidity and high radiation intensities create an uncomfortable working environment.” One possible solution that emerged from market research into existing solutions to protect greenhouse employees better from heat and humidity involved PCMs. This is an abbreviation for Phase Change Materials, in this case in the form of cooling vests that employees can wear while working in a greenhouse environment. “During an earlier test in climate-controlled cells, in which the climate was set to be similar to that of a greenhouse, the cooling vests seemed promising. The heart rate and skin temperature of employees were monitored, and surveys were conducted asking questions about comfort, sweatiness of the vest, etc. Based on this preliminary research, a positive difference could be seen between those who were wearing the vest and those who weren’t,” Leunissen says.
A larger-scale experiment to test these vests in both horticultural and floricultural companies was launched early this year. The data is currently being analysed after which conclusions can be drawn. “However, we can already say that although cooling vests are perceived as cooler, there are also issues in terms of how long the cooling vest stays cool. That is one to two hours and condensation forms on the vest which is experienced as unpleasant. We also find dwindling enthusiasm among employees when an action affects their effective working hours, from clocking in to clocking out, and that is also a factor when putting on and changing cooling vests. During conversations with employees, some told us they saw a fan as a solution. That could be a portable small fan on the chest which is another solution we want to explore further. These are measures to address issues relating to the high temperature typical in horticultural greenhouses. Tackling the high relative humidity is a lot more challenging. Until a greenhouse is ‘controlled’ remotely, you might consider limiting the length of time spent in greenhouse sections where relative humidity is (too) high.”
Pictures from the experiments to test cooling vests to better protect greenhouse horticulture and floriculture employees from heat.
Overcoming language barriers
“Because of the numerous nationalities working in a typical greenhouse horticulture company, communication both on the work floor and with management can be challenging. It may not always be clear to employees what is expected of them, for example. Conversely, employees may find it difficult to tell management if they are unclear about something or have questions. Employees now often have to rely on one intermediary who does not fully master the language themselves. This can increase the likelihood of miscommunication and reduce confidence in the accuracy of information. We want to address this with a solution that can generate an automatic real-time translation using artificial intelligence. There are already certain earphones on the market that we want to test, particularly for technical jargon, because that is and remains a challenge for language databases.”
Physical support
One of the paths the team may still want to explore in the next two years focuses on the type of work and physical demands of working in greenhouses. “Working in a greenhouse often involves repetitive actions performed in uncomfortable positions (e.g. a lot of reaching overhead or bending) or is simply physically demanding. A lot of this kind of work can end up creating problems for the body. In this respect, there are several aspects we could explore, like wearable sensors that trigger an alarm if a person repeats the same action a lot, or using an exoskeleton to provide support for uncomfortable positions or physically demanding tasks.”
Best practices
Besides retaining employees, the Joyride Horticulture project also aims to lead by example. “I want to emphasise that technical developments are good and certainly necessary because it is becoming increasingly difficult to find employees. However, it is important to ensure that we do not forget the welfare of greenhouse employees. It is vital to look at how we implement new developments effectively and efficiently in practice. But perhaps even more important is its adoption by the people who are expected to work with those new developments and technologies.”
Joyride Horticulture, the project funded by the Top Sector Horticulture & Starting Materials and the Club of 100, continues until 31 December 2026.
