Greenhouse growers will enjoy ‘unprecedented clarity into the physiological state of their crops’ after Dutch AI-powered horticulture specialist Source.ag launched new metric tools
The two key metrics – Plant Balance Factor (PBF) and Generative Trend Indicator (GTI) – aim to help greenhouse growers move from reactive adjustments to proactive, data-driven steering.
Growers have traditionally relied heavily on experience, visual inspection, and complex interpretations of disparate data points to assess their crop’s health and determine optimal steering strategies, the company explained.
This often led to delayed adjustments, sub-optimal resource allocation, and a lack of quantitative insight into the plant’s true energy dynamics. The challenge of understanding whether a plant has enough energy to sustain its growth, or if it’s prioritising fruit production over vegetative development, has long been a significant hurdle.
The new metrics unveiled by the company will ‘transform this landscape’, it said.
PBF and GTI are proprietary metrics developed by the company, a spokesperson told AgTechNavigator. “They build on established plant science principles: the interplay between vegetative and generative growth. But what’s new is that we’ve synthesised this complex concept into two simple, quantifiable indicators. This is the first time growers can track plant balance in a standardised, data-driven way.”
PBF is designed to be standardised metric that allows for easy comparison across different cultivars. It assesses the equilibrium between a plant’s energy production and its growth demands. A PBF near zero indicates a balanced strategy, while a positive value suggests a conservative approach (excess energy), and a negative value points to an aggressive approach (energy deficit).
The GTI reveals the plant’s developmental focus, indicating whether it’s prioritising generative growth (fruits and flowers) or vegetative growth (leaves and stems). A positive GTI signifies a generative trend, while a negative value indicates a vegetative one. Growers can use it to fine-tune environmental factors like irrigation and climate to achieve the desired fruit load and plant architecture.
“We introduced these metrics now because we saw a clear opportunity to make plant balance – something that was previously based on experience and visual observation – measurable and comparable over time,” the spokesperson continued. “They are included as part of our Source Workspace platform, so growers don’t need to invest in new hardware or sensors. All calculations are powered by Source.ag’s models and existing greenhouse data, which makes adoption straightforward and cost-efficient.”
Weekly, actionable data
The tools give growers access to weekly, actionable data that allow for a more precise and proactive approach to cultivation management, the spokesperson stressed, leading to improved yields and healthier plants throughout the season.
“For instance, a grower might notice the PBF trending negative, which indicates an aggressive steering approach where the plant is drawing on its sugar reserves. This insight can guide them to adjust strategies like temperature or pruning to avoid plant stress. Conversely, if the GTI shows a strong generative trend, the grower can anticipate more sugar allocation to fruit and prepare accordingly for harvest and labour planning.”
The metrics are now available for Source.ag’s tomato growers, with plans for integration into pepper and cucumber cultivation in the near future.
“For years, the greenhouse industry has sought a singular, clear answer to the fundamental question: ‘How is my crop truly doing?’”, added Cedric Canovas, VP of Data and Plant Science at Source.ag.
“Our extensive research, dissecting plant science literature, conducting expert interviews, and rigorously testing our approach with real-world data, has culminated in our Plant Balance Metrics. It distils complex biological processes into two intuitive metrics, providing growers with the quantitative clarity they’ve always needed to optimise their steering strategies.”
