Vertical Farming when it matters: insights from Fieldlab VF 2.0
Through Fieldlab VF 2.0, we study where vertical farming offers advantages, not as a replacement for greenhouses, but as a complementary technology within the production chain. A key opportunity is young‑plant production or hybrid systems, where a sensitive growth phase is moved indoors to improve uniformity, timing, and pesticide‑free production, resulting in clean, high‑quality planting material. We also explore value‑added crops, such as plants grown for specific ingredient extraction or enhanced quality attributes under controlled conditions. Together, these insights clarify where vertical farming adds the most value and how it can be smartly integrated with greenhouse horticulture or used independently for high‑quality products.
Speakers
Nieves is full time researcher in cultivation of horticultural crops at the Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture of Wageningen University & Research. In this position, she has been leading numerous (applied) research projects and collaborating in many others, both national and international. Research topics cover the entire production chain, from propagation to post-harvest performance through the management of the crop in all its facets: biological soil disinfection, plant rooting, substrate selection, irrigation, fertilization, integrated pest control, the implementation of new materials and technologies and the efficient use of resources, especially energy. With her research she hopes to inspire growers and the horticultural supply industry, in The Netherlands and beyond, to implement cultural practices that contribute to increase the sustainability of the sector. Nieves studied Biology at the “Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona”, and has lived and worked in the Netherlands during nearly her whole profesional career.
Researcher in high tech cultivation systems and vertical farming at the Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture and Flower Bulbs (WUR).
