Climate, irrigation and yield
Greenhouse Farming
Every compartment grown like your best grower would.
More kilos per square meter, for less gas, power and water.
What changes in your greenhouse
- 40%
- of a Dutch vegetable grower's costs went to energy in 2022 Wageningen Economic Research, 2023
- 42%
- of US greenhouse and nursery production costs go to wages and contract labor USDA Economic Research Service, from the 2022 Census of Agriculture
- 17%
- less nutrient solution when sensors decide irrigation instead of a timer, at the same crop weight Montesano et al., Horticultural Science, 2016. Soilless lettuce.
- Less gas and power in every kilo
- Heating, lighting and screens decide most of the energy bill. Setting them hour by hour against the weather forecast and the power price lowers what each kilo costs to grow.
- More kilos from the same glass
- The crop responds to light, temperature and CO₂ together. Control that follows the crop, not a fixed recipe, turns more of each day into growth.
- Water and fertilizer by what the crop needs
- Irrigating on what the root zone measures, not on a timer, gives the crop what it uses and sends less to the drain.
- Your best grower's strategy in every compartment
- Good growers are scarce and hard to keep. Their strategy runs the same way day and night, in every compartment, whoever is on shift.
How it works in the greenhouse
- Control that considers both climate and crop
- KoPilot combines greenhouse climate models with crop information and grower-entered crop registration, so control decisions can reflect both environmental conditions and crop development.
- Crop registration where the measurements are taken
- Growers can record crop measurements and observations from a phone or tablet in the greenhouse, reducing the delay between observing the crop and making that information available for analysis and control.
- Operational context in one place
- Climate data, crop measurements, photographs, alarms and maintenance history can be connected by compartment and time, making it easier to understand what happened and why.
- Alerts that reach the right person
- When a climate or equipment condition needs attention, notifications can be delivered directly to the people responsible rather than remaining on a control-room screen.
Already evaluating another system? See how Koidra compares with Blue Radix and with Hoogendoorn’s Intelligent Algorithms.
For a hi-tech greenhouse with a climate computer
A hi-tech greenhouse can start in one of two ways. DataPilot connects to the climate computer and holds your growers’ crop registration. Maintenance Management needs nothing connected, so your team can start on its own. Predix needs both and is sold with both. KoPilot then runs the climate, using everything the other three hold.
For a mid- or low-tech greenhouse
A greenhouse without an advanced climate computer takes a different path. DripPilot is a separate product: autonomous irrigation on its own controller, for the houses where water is the biggest lever and there is no climate computer to build on. It reads irrigation, climate and root-zone sensors and decides when to irrigate, how much, and what drain percentage and EC to hold. It is not a step on the path above, and not an add-on to KoPilot.
What each product gives a greenhouse like yours
Start with Maintenance Management or DataPilot. Predix needs both, and KoPilot adds control on top. Each product pays for itself on its own.
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Start here
DataPilot
DataPilot puts climate computer data, irrigation, drain percentage and your growers' crop measurements side by side, compartment by compartment, over time. When the crop changes, you can see what the climate did before it. An alarm goes to the person who has to act, not only to a control-room screen.
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Start here
Maintenance Management
Every screen, vent, pump, boiler and drip line has its own service history and check dates, so problems get fixed before they reach the crop. You don't need a maintenance department. Each job goes to the grower who handles it, or to the service company you call, and closes with a photo.
Maintenance in a greenhouse, kept simple A pump stops, a screen sticks or a boiler check falls due. A job opens against that piece of equipment and goes to whoever handles it, your own team for the small things or the service company you call for the rest, and closes with a photo. The history stays with the equipment. Something needs attention a pump stops, a screen sticks, a boiler check falls due One job, against that equipment what, where, by when Your own team the small things The service company you call boiler, screens, climate computer Closed with a photo the history stays with the equipment -
AI insights
Predix
Predix sends a regular summary of what the crop received: daily light integral, 24-hour average temperature and vapor pressure deficit, compared with your strategy. Each summary ends with a recommendation on what to adjust. You set the target, as a number or in plain words, and the recommendation aims at it.
Predix in a greenhouse From the climate record and the crop registration it produces a weekly summary of what the crop experienced against the intended strategy, and recommends what to adjust toward the target the grower set. You your strategy, your target The greenhouse record climate computer, crop registration, irrigation, equipment checks Weekly summary daily light integral, 24-hour temperature, vapor pressure deficit, against your strategy What to adjust toward the target you named -
Autonomous control
KoPilot
KoPilot adjusts screen, vent, heating and other climate setpoints day and night. It works from current conditions, your crop goals and the weather forecast, and stays inside the limits you set. Your strategy runs the same way on every shift, whoever is on duty.
How KoPilot runs a greenhouse Plant and climate sensors in the greenhouse feed the climate computer, which sends the greenhouse data to KoPilot. KoPilot reads the weather forecast directly, and the grower adds crop registration, the strategy and the limits. KoPilot decides the growing conditions day and night and sends setpoints back to the climate computer, which moves the screens, vents, heating, lighting and CO2. greenhouse data data forecast crop registration, strategy and limits setpoints Plant and climate sensors Weather forecast Grower Climate computer KoPilot, 24/7 Screens, vents, heating, lighting, CO2
Proof
- 2×
- Winner, Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge 2018 and 2022, a live crop each time
- 17%
- Higher net profit than the expert growers 2018 competition, with 6% higher yield
- 19.5%
- Yield increase on cucumber 29.7 against 24.9 kg/m² in the growers' own zone
- 17%
- Energy savings lower electricity cost per unit, same lights in both zones
KoPilot has been tested in international competition and in commercial greenhouses. In 2018, the technology behind it was the only AI entry to beat the expert growers on both yield and net profit. KoPilot does more than recommend a climate strategy. It makes the control decisions and applies them, day and night.
What we measure here
- compartment
- screen position
- vapor pressure deficit
- daily light integral
- irrigation shot
- drain percentage
- electrical conductivity
- 24-hour average temperature
What our customers say
We wanted a ‘digital assistant grower’ — someone who never sleeps, reacts instantly to live data, and follows our instructions without bias. Our priority was speed and accuracy, especially for light and CO₂ strategies, because they drive a large part of the budget. KoPilot promised quicker decisions and tighter control in those areas. Dynamic lighting that factors in real-time electricity prices and radiation is a game-changer — saving energy without sacrificing crop performance.
I have seen firsthand the impact of Koidra’s DataPilot on controlled environment agriculture. The ‘actionable insights’ feature has been pivotal in translating real-time data into strategic actions, significantly supporting us to optimize growing conditions. What I like the most is that DataPilot allows me to easily show sensor readings from the climate controller and separately installed sensors in the same dashboard. Another feature I like is that creating new insights using raw data and advanced calculations is relatively simple.
See Koidra on your greenhouse data
Bring a week of readings from one compartment. We will show you what the platform sees, what it would have flagged, and what it would have scheduled.
Book a demo