30/06/2022
LED, light recipes, greenhouse horticulture and everything around it: Wiki-Wouter gives growers tailor-made advice
His heart is in scientific research, but above all he wants to provide growers with the very best advice. Wouter Staats calls himself the spider in the web at Oreon: he knows everything about LED, has an enormous knowledge of greenhouse horticulture and an unrelenting interest in the latest developments. "I'm a kind of Wikipedia that is constantly up to date," he laughs.Wouter studied applied biology at the HAS University of Applied Sciences in Den Bosch. “I soon realized that I found the innovative side of greenhouse horticulture fascinating. The Netherlands is a frontrunner in this regard; all the latest developments take place here. I wanted to be part of that and learn more about this industry.”In 2016, after his studies, Wouter worked as a junior advisor at the HAS and started working with LED there for the first time. “It was already there, but it was still early days. A lot of research was already done; it was clear that LED had a big potential in the horticultural market. You could say that I saw the market really mature in those years and I believe the potential has even got bigger.”Because there is still plenty of room for innovation and improvement, that's clear. LED is now increasingly embraced in greenhouse horticulture and with the current gas and energy prices, the demand is increasing even further. It won't be long before LED is the norm in this industry.Flexible spectrumStaats has recently seen a trend emerging in glasshouse horticulture: growers choose what kind of crop they are going to grow on the basis of a light recipe. “They purchase a light recipe that allows them to achieve the best results in their own circumstances.” The development in light recipes is moving at lightning speed. At this moment, there are even experiments being done, with light recipes per part of the day or per hour, which will save extra energy. LED fixtures with a flexible spectrum where the grower has full control over the color and the amount of light is the future. “I am extremely proud to have been able to contribute to this innovation at Oreon and I can't wait to put this into practice, together with growers”.Wouter's heart is therefore with the research. He gains his knowledge by staying informed about developments in the market, Oreon’s competition and about science. He then translates this to the customers, in order to give them the best possible advice. "That's where I thrive best."
