Anyone visiting a horticultural greenhouse steps into a new biotope , so to speak . A place where peppers , tomatoes , or rose wine grow up stringently tell from other life forms , which might amaze a threat . Frank van der Helm , as the young associate lecturer of Living Plant Production Systems , part of the research group Integral Food and Production Chains , wants to make on stable biodiverse ecosystems for food and flower yield . " I want to make for liveliness back into gardening , " he says .
gardening is in churning urine . All kinds of international developing make it more and more hard for entrepreneurs to maintain their current economic model . Think of more and more rigorous requirements around plant protection products , emissions of N , phosphate , and CO2 , and ascend DOE prices .
This does not make Frank van der Helm , Word of a horticulturalist himself , pessimistic . On the reverse , " The challenges in horticulture propose an excellent chance to apply unexampled knowledge and engineering . This may involve gamy - tech applications , such as automation , robotization , and sensor proficiency , but also new knowledge about plant life resilience , ecosystems , molecular biota , and biochemical technology . "
Towards a organization of resilient cultivationAs an associate lecturer , Frank van der Helm want to bushel the crazy ecological balance in horticulture . " A crop is a lot warm if you grow it in an ecosystem with a capital diversity of living organisms . There are many more organisms that can bestow to the healthy yield of the crop than disease and pests . " This approach path is also known as bouncy or constituent development .
tone up biodiversity and produce profitably"Organic cultivation or ' organic ' is still a recess in horticulture at the second anyway , but very interesting things are happening there , " Van der Helm believe . " By combining that cognition and expertness with unexampled scientific insights and new technology , I think we can design living cultivation systems as balanced ecosystems . This will make a horticultural sphere in which grower strengthen biodiversity and produce profitably . What I also hope is that this will make room again for young entrepreneurs starting up pocket-size - scale businesses . After all , working in horticulture is more than a profession , it is a room of life history . In this way , I want to bring life back into gardening two times . "
Research , education , and informationWith inquiry , education , and selective information , Frank van der Helm hop to lead to what he calls the ecologisation of horticulture . " Several research projects are already running within the research group . For example , focusing on the biological tone of soil and the software of circular fertiliser as an alternative to hokey fertilizers . I have co - written a project proposal on nature - inclusive gardening that I hope will be honored by NWO . "
Training youthful professionalsFrank van der Helm was a reader - researcher at Inholland University of Applied Sciences for eight year and will continue to learn . " It yield me vigor . Moreover , breeding is important to satiate the dearth of horticultural college professional . Young professional will participate in the changeover that gardening is in . I require to give them as much noesis and , above all , perceptiveness as possible . By participate in our research projects , bookman gain former experience with the complexness of our horticultural production systems . Later , in professional practice , they can act consequently . "
With education , Frank van der Helm focalise particularly on business advisers , who have an authoritative purpose in the course entrepreneur choose . " If they eff the fundamentals of live culture , they can also send word well on it . "
coalesce hardheaded and theoretic knowledgeResearch , teaching , and information being so loop is the nice matter about working in higher vocational training , Frank van der Helm believes . " We are very close to practice . In college research and instruction , we work together with companies and investigator as much as potential . I see former student all over the sector as entrepreneurs , as cultivation specialists , or as consultants . I owe a lot to my hardheaded setting . The combination of virtual and theoretic knowledge make you really understand what happens in horticultural production . "
An essay by Frank on how he wants to contribute to horticulture can be readhere .
reference : InHolland University of Applied Sciences
