To dive into the different futures of horticulture, we met up with Kristin Orrestig and Lisa Lindström in Sweden. They are an exciting example of embracing predictive growing to its full potential. Kristin is the CEO at Svegro Group, Lisa the supply chain manager. Together we talked about shifting operations from responsive to predictive growing. They are frontrunners in using predictive growing and firmly believe it's the way to keep your crops, people and business healthy and thriving in the future.

Kristin: My name is Kristin Orrestig. I am the CEO here at Svegro Group. I have worked here for ten years. Before I started working at Svegro, I have worked in industry, production and manufacturing.

Lisa: My name is Lisa Lindström. I have worked at Svegro for twelve years now. I have had several different roles at Svegro, previously department manager, now supply chain manager.

Lisa: It starts with the culture at Svegro. It is such a warm workplace, everyone is up for trying new things. And the people working at Svegro usually do so for a long time, you only stop when you retire. We need technical systems that gather data and the expertise people have, so we can actually help newcomers and don't lose the unique knowledge of cultivation when people retire. We already notice that both our experienced growers and our newcomers can control more hectares and more crops, which is a valuable aspect in times of labor shortage.

Kristin: Here in Sweden, we actually have a self-developed AI-based system AIGRO, together with Priva it allows us to use Controlled Environment Agriculture. This helps us to predict and track the size of our crops, so we harvest in the best quality at the right time. Considering the changing climate, frequency of heat waves and the relating humidity levels we see, predictive growing is the only way to keep delivering the highest quality in the future. Something that is also special about Sweden is that we have 100% renewable Swedish energy, in combination with heating pellets we can really minimize our climate impact.

Lisa: Our greenhouses are also located in the countryside outside Stockholm. That means we sometimes have power cuts. That's especially critical during the winter. It can lead to problems with our technical equipment or lights. That's why we have a specialized service team trained to take care of these problems. Absolutely crucial to avoid any growth disruptions.

Lisa: At Svegro, we have always actively worked with innovations and development in horticulture. We collaborate with researchers and universities, but we also work closely with many of our long-term suppliers. Together, we grow their and our research and businesses. This way we can ensure consistently high quality and meet our customer's expectations, all year round.

Kristin: Don't let the seemingly complex systems hold you back, systems for predictive cultivation are innovative and easy to use. We think, in 3 years’ time, the majority of growers will use them.