Vivent Biosignals

Horticoop actively invests in companies that are committed to a sustainable greenhouse horticulture industry. Vivent, world leader in digital crop diagnostics, has been added to the portfolio. The technology developed by Vivent gives growers more insight into plant health during the cultivation cycle. Wilco Schoonderbeek, Investments Director at Horticoop, talks to Carrol Plummer, CEO and co-founder of Vivent, about what the technology can offer the industry.

Carrol Plummer, Vivent CEO

Wilco: ‘Carrol, at Horticoop we believe that Vivent can be an important building block in data-driven control of greenhouse horticulture cultivation. There has always been a lot of emphasis on measuring and controlling factors that affect crops, but your technology is one of the few that enables us to make adjustments based on the response from the crop itself. Can you tell us more about this?’

Carrol: ‘That’s right! Vivent is a scale-up involved in continuous monitoring of plant health. We record naturally occurring electrophysiological signals
that plants generate in response to environmental changes. At the start of the cultivation cycle,
we attach a small sensor to the plant, which
is removed just before the plant leaves the greenhouse. We use a plant’s electrophysiology. This entails the sensor picking up on the plant’s internal electrical signals. Plants use these biological signals to regulate their internal growth and development and to monitor drought issues
or defence mechanisms. This enables the grower to monitor plant health throughout the cultivation cycle. Such sensors can be seen as wearables for plants.’

Wilco: ‘That’s incredibly useful, as it allows growers to intervene more quickly if it looks like things are going wrong. Previously, they could only take measures when the effects of poor conditions became visible on the plants. Vivent technology enables them to obtain direct feedback about a plant’s internal conditions.’

Carrol: ‘We can warn growers before visual symptoms, if the plant is attacked by pests, if it has a fungal disease or if there’s a shortage of certain nutrients. We transmit notifications and the grower receives interim reports so they can stay informed of developments.’

Wilco: ‘A promising technology that will contribute to improved greenhouse horticulture quality and sustainability. That’s why I believe that Vivent can have a huge impact in the industry. Horticoop’s current portfolio mainly comprises companies that are already somewhat bigger. The investment strategy has led to the inclusion of companies that are at an earlier stage and of which we have high expectations. Vivent is one such company.’

Carrol: ‘We also see a lot of potential in this cooperation. Of course, we welcome investments from every investor that can contribute to Vivent, but Horticoop’s investment received a particularly warm welcome. It increases our opportunities
for scaling up. We can also use your expertise to improve the product and market it effectively. It’s also a cooperative of growers of many different types of crops and has a lot of experience, outside the Netherlands too. So there are huge advantages for us in having Horticoop as an investor.’

Wilco: ‘I hope this cooperation enables us to surprise growers in a positive way. Naturally, growers rely on their experience. It’s an approach that has paid off for years. So it’s a major step to switch to data-driven cultivation. As a grower, you need to have faith in the technology.’

Carrol: ‘That’s right! I think it’s fantastic when I hear that growers have followed recommendations from our plant scientists. As soon as they trust us and see clearly better results, the ideas often start to flow. Then growers come to us with other ideas

so we can collect even more data. And we then give them the opportunity to test those ideas. The insights from collaborating are valuable for both parties. Growers are already experts, but many are seeking to learn a little more. In my opinion, the Netherlands has the best growers in the world and I’m looking forward to working with the best in the business.’

Wilco: ‘That benefits both growers and Vivent. But you do need to convince growers of this. New technologies result in a different way of working. Working practices are sometimes passed on from generation to generation, so they’re very personal.’

Carrol: ‘Indeed, our work is really at the core
of what the grower does. So I always think beforehand about whether our advice makes things less or more risky for the grower.
Growers are very good risk managers. They take major decisions at the start of the cultivation cycle – which crop will I plant and how should I approach the cultivation – and they then need to adhere to that until the end of the cycle. We hope we can achieve cost savings and better yields by helping them consider all the risks. Doing this helps us make growers’ livelihoods more secure. As growers take a long-term view, we can work with them to measure the impact of our technology on crop sustainability.’

Wilco: ‘That sounds like a great mission. I always find it encouraging to see companies searching for new innovations and a new market. Joining forces can also really pay off. In that respect, Horticoop offers Vivent a large network of companies where there are many opportunities.’

Carrol: ‘Certainly! We see so many opportunities for cooperation with the companies in which Horticoop has already invested. Take Blue Radix, for example, which is involved in AI controlled cultivation in greenhouses. We can offer them an additional information source, which adds value to the information they already collect. Growers are the ultimate beneficiaries of this.’

Wilco: ‘Indeed, groundbreaking innovations can emerge from such partnerships. Not only in greenhouse horticulture but for agriculture
in its broadest sense. That’s what makes it so interesting! If you’ve developed a technology that can also be used in other industries, it’s a huge plus point from an investor’s point of view.’

‘Plant-driven cultivation enables you to intervene in the cultivation process based on information that comes directly from the plants’

Carrol: ‘Certainly! Various companies are already rather advanced in this. Growers that operate high-tech greenhouses are taking the lead in data-driven control of their processes. We can take them to an even higher level by giving them more information that comes directly from the plants themselves. Then cultivation becomes plant-driven. Combining our technology with other innovative technologies enables us to develop concepts that can be used in more than one industry, which increases our impact.’

Wilco: ‘Pymwymic, our co-investor, can also support you in this. As a pioneering impact investor, Pymwymic has a wealth of experience. A truly fantastic cooperation from which both Horticoop and Vivent can benefit.’

Carrol: ‘Pymwymic and Horticoop had already given us so much, long before the investment was completed. We measured the impact of
our technology together. It was great to see how the teams readily came together and were willing to put a lot of time into Vivent in advance. Truly remarkable! The combined knowledge of Pymwymic and Horticoop will increase our opportunity to impact sustainability in the greenhouse horticulture industry.’

Wilco: ‘It’s certainly a great partnership and I’m so pleased that this trio was established! I’m looking forward to building towards a sustainable greenhouse horticulture industry and I’m convinced that the future will offer us so much!’

https://vivent-biosignals.com/2024/04/24/horticoop-invests-in-smart-vivent-technology/

One such company is Vivent who drew inspiration from working with information networks within trains to “look for similar information networks in living things,” as Co-Founder and CEO Carrol Plummer mentioned.

Most companies start by addressing a specific problem or market inefficiency but Vivent’s founders were certain that they would uncover important insights with disruptive market potential by exploring the fascinating ways in which living things use information networks. Once their research showed that they could reliably monitor and interpret these networks and provide unique insights, they developed a strong go to market plan and started building a business. This required intensive product development and Vivent brought together an A-list team in Caleb Carroll (Chief Information Officer), Nick Barker (CTO), and Andrzej Kurenda (Chief Scientific Officer) one of the world’s leading electrophysiologists.

ADVANCED MONITORING FOR HEALTHIER CROPS
Vivent now offers services to both growers and suppliers in the hightech horticulture sector. For growers, they offer crop health monitoring services and as Carrol explained, “We actually kind of plug into their plants. It’s like a Fitbit for a plant or a wearable for a plant.” Vivent continuously monitors crops, providing alerts for elevated levels of crop stress. This allows growers to identify issues well before visual symptoms are evident. Their biosensor connects to eight plants and Vivent will “install one in the middle of a compartment and one or two more in places in the compartment where the grower expects to have issues. So it could be the northeast corner where it’s cool and damp, and they expect a fungal infection, or it could be underneath vents where they might expect some aggressive insects,” Carrol described. Vivent is also working with companies in a multitude of roles including developing new plant varieties, new substrates, new crop treatments, and more. They help accelerate product development and demonstrate product efficacy by providing real time and constant feedback on how plants are responding.

PRESERVING EXPERTISE FOR FUTURE GROWERS
One of the main challenges Vivent sees in the industry is that head growers are ageing and the transition to younger growers needs to be made while transferring as much knowledge as possible. Carrol illustrated that Vivent’s systems are “capturing the knowledge of the older, experienced, very knowledgeable growers and helping transmit that knowledge to younger growers.” Vivent is a data and technology driven solution, something new growers are interested in as they seek out real time proactive systems. Vivent works with numerous universities and incubators to demonstrate their innovative approach and focus on the future generations of growers. They collaborate closely with Wageningen University in the Netherlands and several other universities in Canada and their home base in Switzerland. The list of incubators they have been a part of is extensive including the MassChallenge, HortiHeroes in Zuid-Holland, EIT Food System Accelerator, and Creative Destruction Lab.

Vivent Biosensor in glasshouse Vivent Biosensor in a tomato glasshouse
Carrol and her co-founder Nigel Wallbridge, had a previous venture in the Netherlands working with the Dutch railway company NS, allowing riders to use their computers and phones with Wifi and enabling information screens within the train carriages. Nigel linked the work on railway information networks with biological systems and Vivent was established in Switzerland in 2012 to hold IP from all of the research and development that they were conducting. Carrol’s background as a mechanical engineer with an MBA and Nigel, a PhD in biomedical engineering ensures science and technology are at the forefront of their work.
VIVENT’S NEW HOME IN THE WORLD’S HORTICULTURE HUB
Coming from Switzerland, Vivent wanted a location within the EU to expand their business that would allow them to eventually set up a research and distribution hub to service the European market.

With their focus on data driven growing, they required an ecosystem comfortable working with lots of data and “the growers trained in the Netherlands are already great at this,” Carrol pointed out.

Vivent set up their first international expansion location in Westland in Zuid-Holland as it is a world renowned hub for horticulture. Carrol pointed to the massive amount of agricultural technology being developed in the region and the big climate computer providers who are based in Westland as key points for them in choosing the region.

She even added that “there’s just a much bigger experience base in this region of the Netherlands than there is anywhere else in the world.” The region is particularly known for its openness in sharing experiences and welcoming new companies, allowing organisations like Vivent to have a seamless transition to the ecosystem. “Holland also has a fantastic reputation for exporting agricultural knowledge to the rest of the world.

This is also really important to us, and something that we want to participate in, we want to be part of that movement, we want the knowledge to be shared broadly, so that agriculture everywhere can become more sustainable,” Carrol commented. She also pointed to the communities within Tomatoworld and World Horti Center bringing together companies with similar sustainability ambitions as having made the region even more attractive to them.

Sustainability is at the heart of Vivent’s business, and their status as a B Corp. shows that commitment. They hope to go through B Corp. certification for their new Dutch subsidiary as soon as possible. Vivent wants to be a positive influence within the communities where they operate and are a perfect example of the agricultural ecosystem in Zuid-Holland’s focus as a whole. This has only been made stronger by recent investments from PYMWYMIC, an impact investor, and Horticoop, a group of over 400 growers from the Netherlands many of whom are based in Zuid-Holland. With these investments Vivent hopes to quickly grow its Dutch subsidiary by hiring another commercial focused employee to work alongside their Dutch Commercial Director, Carl Rentes, as well as hiring more plant scientists. Their client base within the Netherlands is already impressive, including Fundamental Systems, Maarel Orchids, and large seed companies.

A WELCOMING ECOSYSTEM
The combination of a welcoming ecosystem, potential clients in the region, and a focus on innovation and sustainability have led to Vivent’s new home in Zuid-Holland.

As Carrol put it, “it’s probably the most developed ecosystem in the world and so I think if you’re in high tech horticulture, if you’re providing services in that sector, you definitely should be speaking to people in the Netherlands.”

But she made sure to point out that there are other important clusters of greenhouses in the world including in Turkey, southern Spain, and different parts of Canada. Her advice to those coming to the Netherlands though is to “reach out to people like InnovationQuarter,” because of the strong network, a network that is only strengthened by the introduction of companies like Vivent to the region.

https://vivent-biosignals.com/2024/04/24/innovation-quarter-how-vivent-is-transforming-crop-health-

Pests and diseases can place a crop under severe pressure. To limit the damage, these stress factors must be identified and controlled at the earliest possible stage. Unfortunately, the first symptoms are often only visible several days after the insect, fungus or other pathogen has struck, which is too late. However, the plant actually signals an attack much earlier, so the skill is to be able to recognise those signals.

Kirsten Leiss, plant health researcher at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, is overseeing a two-year study looking into whether electrophysiological sensors can recognise biotic stress in plants. In particular, she wants to ascertain whether the individual stress signals can be associated with specific pests and diseases.

“How great would it be if a grower could find out exactly which pest or disease is affecting their crop before the symptoms can be seen with the naked eye? That would give them a significant advantage.”

EARLY PEST DETECTION
It’s just the same as with our nerve cells, the researcher continues. When you stimulate a plant, the electrical potential changes and an impulse is transmitted. “And that’s something we can measure.” Leiss expects that each stimulus will evoke a different electro- physiological reaction in the plant. “If we can recognise the stimulus for each signal, we can link the appropriate control measures to it – faster and more efficiently than we can at the moment.” She gives a thrips infestation as an example. A grower or crop worker will only realise there is thrips damage when they see its characteristic silvery sheen. “Keep in mind that symptoms only become visible after five to six days, and then only after a very thorough inspection of the leaves. An electrophysiological sensor, on the other hand, immediately measures a change in the electron flow when the plant is attacked. This happens as early as two days after the insect is introduced.” Armed with this knowledge, we can then act more quickly. It will help growers to protect their crops and yields, and nurseries and propagation companies to deliver a clean product.

BASELINE MEASUREMENTS
Leiss chose two crops to identify the stress signals: tomato and gerbera. The companies involved – Koppert Biological Systems, Florensis, Valto Biocontrol, Syngenta Flowers, PlantoSys and Agrifirm-GMN – recommended three main plant health problems to infect the plants with: powdery mildew, thrips and cucumber mosaic virus. The first two weeks of each test were all about the baseline measurements. “Before we could start working with the harmful organisms, we had to establish a ‘baseline’ for each species. How does a clean crop respond to the normal stimuli present in the trial environment? You need to know that situation before you can observe any changes.”

For this purpose, the gerbera and tomato plants were successively connected to the sensors. These flawlessly recorded every electrophysiological signal emitted by the plants. Software from Vivent then converted this data into a baseline for each species and organism. “It worked well,” Leiss adds.

FILTERING OUT THE RIGHT SIGNAL
After the two baseline weeks the researchers added a standardised quantity of harmful organisms to a group of plants. Then they waited to see when and if the sensors would detect a stimulus. “To make sure this stimulus was caused by the disease or pest in question, we simultaneously monitored a non-infected control group . After all, the sensors are extremely sensitive: besides biotic stress, they also pick up abiotic stimuli. We could literally see every variation in watering or sudden temperature change in the data, for example.” The main task for the researchers, therefore, was to detect the right signal. In other words, what stimulus was caused by the infection and not by something else?

SIGNAL CONSISTENT WITH INFESTATION

That observation was unmistakeable. In the case of mildew, the plant raised the alarm after four to five days. Visual symptoms only appeared after ten days. The plants infected with thrips emitted a stress signal after just two days (the effects were visible after five to six days). The researchers read off a clear spike in the data in both cases. And because each experiment – host plant plus disease – was repeated at least twice with the same outcome, Leiss is confident in concluding that the signals they read off corresponded to infestation by the pests/diseases in question. At the same time, she notes that the research is still at an early stage. “These are just the initial results, only with these two crops and these two diseases. The more data we collect in the future, the better the reliability of the results will be and the easier it will be for us to home in on those values. This will ultimately enable us to trace an intercepted signal back to a particular infestation.” Armed with this information, a grower will be able to detect pests and diseases in their greenhouse earlier than with regular visual scouting.

DATA-DRIVEN CULTIVATION SYSTEM
The researcher is optimistic: “The results are promising. With these types of measurements we can boost the use of artificial intelligance. This fits perfectly with current developments in horticulture: data-driven systems that can control and optimise crops autonomously using sensors and automation.” This year the research team is focusing on experiments with virus infestation. The expectation is that the tomato and gerbera plants will also respond to this stimulus. “This would be a great starting point for further research, as there are still a huge number of plant responses to identify.” This two-year study is focused solely on plant responses caused by “live” stimuli, but a stress sensor can also register signals caused by other factors such as climate, light and irrigation. “If we were able to recognize all these influences, we could read the crop in real time. But before we get there, we need to collect and interpret a huge amount of data.”

WIRELESS SENSOR
In parallel with data collection, we will need to make the sensor system more user- friendly. Leiss’s colleague Floortje Tilli points towards the three grow benches where the current trial has been set up. “Look: each sensor has eight channels and can therefore track eight plants. There are two electrodes attached to one plant on each input. So you’re talking about sixteen wires per unit – that’s quite a tangle of wires!” This makes life difficult during crop work and – for now, at least – makes it relatively costly to install throughout an entire greenhouse. But that, too, is being worked on, the researcher says. Leiss: “The manufacturer is working on developing wireless sensors.” That develop- ment will certainly add to the potential of stress detection in plants. After al; it is quite predictable that this method will be rolled out further in the future.

The article is published in In Greenhouses October 2023.

https://vivent-biosignals.com/2023/10/24/biosensors-show-mildew-and-thrips-six-days-before-visual-s