Robotics needed in Limburg greenhouse farming

Number 1 in Europe with 900 hectares of glasshouse horticulture

Deputy member Hubert Mackus states that horticulture is of crucial importance for Limburg. "With approximately nine hundred hectares of greenhouse horticulture, the North Limburg greenhouse horticulture forms, together with the horticulture in the neighboring German Lower Rhine region, the largest greenhouse horticulture area in Europe."

Less manual work, more robots

Léon Faassen, president of the LLTB, emphasizes the importance of the horticultural sector for employment in North Limburg, accounting for a large portion of the total of 50,000 jobs in the entire agricultural sector in Limburg.
This involves a lot of manual work. Given the pressure on the labor market, Faassen predicts that automation and robotization will take over some of the work. The flow of migrant workers from Eastern Europe is decreasing. Faassen: "What's more, other sectors - such as logistics and healthcare - are also in great need of personnel. The horticultural sector will therefore have to focus on reducing the need for personnel. Picking robots for tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries, for example, are already in development."

Source: WijLimburg