What is a smart greenhouse?
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TAYLORVILLE — Greenhouses are structures that can help hobbyists or professional farmers extend growing seasons and improve yields. Even though traditional greenhouses can improve conditions for growth, certain variables can still affect output. That’s where smart greenhouses come into play. Farming requires reliance on intuition, but also on control of environmental factors like insects, irrigation and light. Smart greenhouses help make conditions more predictable and growing more efficient. The machinery manufacturer Yanmar notes that its Smart Greenhouses enable users to automatically control cultivation methods by customizing temperature, humidity and water levels depending on the crop and cultivar. This alleviates the guessing game on the part of growers and leads to higher yields. Smart greenhouses typically utilize multiple wireless sensors to measure everything from carbon dioxide output to lighting and transmit the information back to a computer. The data is calculated and adjustments to multiple pieces of equipment can be made through the wireless network all from one computer, unlike older systems that required wires and maybe even multiple computers. Smart greenhouses can control additional critical factors, including temperature and ventilation. Overall, an investment in smart technology could save farmers money in the long run.
