Implementing LUNA AI at Bushel Boy Farms
July 2, 2024 The greenhouse business has grown increasingly more complex in the past 30 years. Like many farms, Bushel Boy Farms in Owatonna, Minnesota, has had to adapt to and implement new agricultural technology. Now growing more than 12 types of tomatoes, strawberries and cucumbers in the same greenhouse, the company’s farm looks a lot different than it did just a few decades ago.
Roberto Ramirez | Photo: Bushel Boy Farms
“The complexity really drove the need for being able to understand what’s happening in the greenhouse,” said Roberto Ramirez, Vice President of Greenhouse Operations at Bushel Boy Farms. “We’ve got growers who need to have 12 different sets of arms and legs and eyeballs to know what’s really going on.”
This increase of production in the greenhouse and lack of skilled labor put Bushel Boy Farms in a difficult position. The company turned to IUNU to supplement the workers they already have. “We needed to leverage technology to help our growers do their job even better,” Ramirez said.
Using LUNA AI in the Greenhouse
IUNU, a company that specializes in AI-assisted growing, implemented LUNA AI (LUNA) in Bushel Boy Farms, a software that combines AI and cameras to register and monitor crops during the growing cycle. The software places each crop at the center of its analysis, capturing pictures from the plant from top to bottom and recording industry-standard metrics as fast as possible.
One way LUNA has improved production at Bushel Boy Farms is by completing tedious tasks most growers usually dread from day to day. “If you talk to a greenhouse grower and ask them about their least favorite part of the job, it’s usually crop registration,” Ramirez said. “So that was a good place to start: going after the ‘dirty’ stuff people don’t want to do so they have a more enjoyable job is key.”
LUNA AI Measuring Vines | Photo: Bushel Boy Farms
Getting a Better Read on Plants
LUNA has made reading plants more accurate. According to Ramirez, greenhouses tend to take a more reactive approach than a proactive approach when growing their crops. For instance, a grower will typically react to an unsuitable climate damaging their crop than prevent it from getting damaged in the first place. But with LUNA, Bushel Boy Farms can adjust the climate before it can negatively affect the plant.
“LUNA tells you the same week if you’re growing in the right conditions or not,” Ramirez said. “Then you can make changes faster. The faster you react, the better the crop will come through.”
Greenhouse at Bushel Boy Farms | Photo: Bushel Boy Farms
Optimizing Greenhouse Conditions
LUNA has improved other parts of production, too. For instance, it can also tell if a plant is getting too much fertilizer or humidity. Growers who use traditional farming methods will usually take a subset of 10 plants and measure them daily. But with LUNA, growers don’t have to manually measure the distance between each plant, measure stem diameter or count how many leaves have developed. LUNA also collects a much larger sample size than 10 plants.
“The system can measure several rows of a greenhouse and get the data to you in real time,” Ramirez said. “I can see how much a plant grew from yesterday to today and that is a huge indicator of how well you’re tracking data.”
Partnering for a More Efficient Greenhouse
While Bushel Boy originally turned to IUNU for a solution for their greenhouse challenges, both companies have learned from each other and established a strong partnership.
“[IUNU] didn’t just come with a technology solution – they came up with an idea on how to help an operation,” said Chuck Tryon, President of Bushel Boy Farms. “And the way they did that was by truly understanding what our challenges were, what our needs were and how we work. That’s why this partnership has been enjoyable and rewarding.”