Peter du Crocq, Key Account Manager and Technical Adviser at VanDerEng in The Netherlands, has developed a label for plant trays that can be read by a drone. The new technology was shown at IPM Essen in late January and attracted a lot of attention from visitors to the trade show. VanDerEng labels include a ‘green’ core of recycled plastic.
“In breeding young crops, growers want to gather more and more info on growth, quality and the substrates in which the crop grows best,” Peter explains. “Through the drone tag they can take video and photos of the plant trays in the greenhouse. This allows them to gather insights about the product in a short period of time.”
The label is already being used by growers.
“I have developed a label for this at several growers that fits into the tray and have now developed a model that stands under the tray with the label clamped into it,” says Peter. “The advantage is that there is less loss in the tray and the label is more stable and easier to read.”
For more information
Peter du Crocq can be reached at Peter.duCrocq@vandereng.nl. To see a video of the drone in action reading the barcode label at IPM Essen, see video below.