What are the main activities of Würth Elektronik and what products and services do you offer to the agriculture industry? What drew you to the company personally?
Würth Elektronik is part of the Würth Group, the world market leader for assembly and fastening materials, and one of Europe's largest manufacturers of electronic and electromechanical components. My career at this company started in 1997, first as a technical sales representative and then as the person responsible for setting up the research and development, product, quality and supply chain management departments. My vision as a CTO is to continue to support our customer-centric approach through which we partner up and develop solutions together. We are active in 50 countries around the world and have production sites in Europe, Asia and North America. Our portfolio includes electromechanical components and power electronics which are used by manufacturers of farming machinery, and the LED lights play a central role in indoor farming.
How can LED lights influence the way plants are growing inside greenhouses or vertical farms?
Together with the Technical University of Munich (TUM), we are researching the influence of wavelengths on the growth of plants, and our goal is to find the perfect light recipes that can enhance nutrition uptake and final characteristics. For instance, we are testing if the use of LEDs, as an additional light source for winter cultivation, can increase the number of flowers of tomato plants. Instead of using the powerful light sources that imitate the sun inside greenhouses, it would be much more efficient and sustainable to find out the precise light intensity needed by plants in different growth stages. LEDs have a higher luminosity and can last six times more than HPS lamps, ten times more than MH lamps and three times more than fluorescent tubes.
Cultivation with light-emitting diodes saves around 70% energy and minimizes CO2 emissions by up to 90%.
The margins of CEA farmers are suffering due to soaring energy costs. Can lighting solutions help them address these challenges further or are we already closer to the limit?
Because of market fluctuation and supply chain disruptions, products in general are suffering price increases, as well, and there is so much that we can do to keep them in charge. The key is in scaling up the farming facilities in a way that is profitable. Cultivation with light-emitting diodes saves around 70% energy and minimizes CO2 emissions by up to 90%. At the same time, the need for pesticides, fertilizers, water and cultivation area is reduced by about 98% compared to conventional agriculture.
Furthermore, government incentives would be helpful, especially in geographies where the energy crisis is hindering farming production. We support players in the CEA space with our Lighting Development Kit and the necessary environmental control is an IoT topic that we research and provide with sensors and radio modules.
Given that you are a member of the Association for Vertical Farming, what are the advantages but also the challenges of this particular growing system?
While CEA, and vertical farming in particular, is not going to replace traditional open field crops, we can benefit from fresh on-demand produce closer to our homes. By excluding the lengthy supply chains, we gain food security and safety and we are able to use the remaining 37% land to grow crops that are not adaptable to indoor conditions. However, vertical farming is still in its early days, in Europe at least, and the initial investment costs are still high. In order for this movement to gain more momentum, we need to obtain and exchange more know-how, which will lead to a greater interest and trust in these systems.
What is the potential of collaborations between smaller tech companies and larger enterprises in the field of agriculture and what role will your Hightech Innovation Center play in this regard?
Every innovative prototype requires hardware, the absence of even the smallest component leading to the failure of an entire project. Startups are more agile and are not afraid to come up with disruptive ideas. Consequently, we are offering them a very hands-on support, from knowledge transfer on electronics designs to regulatory expertise and assistance in networking with manufacturing companies. Horticulture LEDs are a key technology in vertical farming, and we work with partners that can provide complete luminaires to further help startups like Organifarms to develop a lighting concept for the BERRY harvesting robot, enabling it to harvest around the clock. This involves compensation for changing light conditions so that the robot's camera system can identify ripe from unripe fruit.
What growth targets does your company have over the next few years?
We aim to continue growing our footprint and to further develop the Hightech Innovation Center. We are not simply interested in selling electronic components but want to be actively involved in the R&D of future-oriented technologies. Economic success leads to responsibility. Anyone who is successful with technical products should give something back to society, and invest in future technologies that provide answers to the challenges that humanity is facing.
