Nathalie Zwinkels
“Digitalisation is becoming increasingly important in horticulture and I am proud that this is also happening within Beekenkamp! We recently started working with LetsGrow’s app to digitise scouting.”
As a Crop Protection Specialist, you are engaged in detecting and mainly preventing diseases and pests. In cooperation with crop colleagues, protocols are made for scouting and for monitoring the crop. In addition, Nathalie is a supportive factor for representatives and customers. She also keeps in close contact with ‘the neighbours’, the surrounding growers at our sites to exchange information and knowledge. An incredibly important and diverse job she is proud of!
The Beekenkamp Plants Vegetables department recently started working with the LetsGrow scout app. A few months ago, a working group was set up with colleagues from the ICT department, cultivation and crop protection to compare different providers of the app. The pilot was run at the ‘s-Gravenzande site and has also been rolled out to the other Vegetables production sites.
How exactly does it work?
At the ‘s-Gravenzande site, our colleagues Yve and Patrick unlock their phones and enter the greenhouse. They open the LetsGrow app, which was custom-made for Beekenkamp Plants. There are nine traps in each department. These are numbered in the app by path number so there can be no confusion. They go down all the sticky traps in the greenhouse and enter their scout counts in the app. Comments can also be posted on, for example, observations in the crop and photos can be shared. Scouting in this way happens weekly.
The scout counts are transferred to the online environment on the computer where Nathalie can view all results. The results are converted into graphs and tables with which a well-considered decision regarding crop protection can be taken every week in consultation with the growers/scouts. This consultation takes place at a fixed moment in the week in the greenhouse so that the corresponding batch is always reviewed.
The biggest advantage of this app is that it eliminates the need for piles of paperwork – everything is digital. Another advantage is that predictability can be created on recurring situations. The app and the online environment provide a lot of valuable information, allowing us to be even more alert when it comes to crop protection. Thanks to this app, Beekenkamp Plants Vegetables gets better and better insight into what is going on and which threats are current. This insight enables us to switch faster and faster, resulting in beautiful, healthy plants for the grower.
