In recent years, more and more high-tech greenhouses have been realized in China, and the use of high-end techniques has become more common in the Chinese market. Whether it is for planting, for the greenhouse or for the management, more growers opt for automation and quite often turn to Dutch solutions. Since 2002, Beijing Ruixue Global Co., LTD. has helped bring these technologies to China. Their president, Huang Ruiqing, explains how the industry could optimize the use of these techniques.

All-round providers

Back in 2002, Ruixue Global was one of the first all-round horticultural providers in China. The company builds a bridge between Dutch technologies and the Chinese industries and can offer tailor-made greenhouse solutions. “We want to be the one-stop shop for horticultural services”, Huang says. “We focus on smart greenhouses and can help customers starting from the design of their facility. This way we want to help our domestic and foreign customers find the highest yield possible in the horticultural industry.”

However, reaching this highest yield possible is a challenge to Chinese growers. “Currently the total area of Venlo greenhouses in China is about a thousand hectares, and an additional area of 200 hectares is added each year”, Huang says. “Yet our domestic horticultural production in these greenhouses cannot yet reach the output and production level of the same type of greenhouses in the Netherlands. This is a matter of production efficiency, and we cannot help wondering what causes this gap between China and the Netherlands.”

According to Huang, the reasons for this gap could be diverse. “The industrial chain, the production processes, the availability of trained people in the greenhouse and in the management levels, market operations, and many other factors. You can introduce a Dutch model, but it is difficult to successfully replicate the complete system in a short period of time. It takes a certain period of time to create a development model suitable for modern horticulture in China.”