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Interview with a Greenhouse Manager: Achieving 300 Grams of Lettuce from 900ml of Water
Interview with Andreas Lypas: Revolutionizing Greenhouse Lettuce Production in Greece
Hydroponics do not forgive mistakes, and theory alone cannot guarantee the optimal operation of a state-of-the-art greenhouse. The Magic Garden of Boeotia, under the management of Andreas Lypas, has successfully scaled up to an annual production of 9 million lettuces.
In 2019, the IGC and the Magic Garden engineers aimed to perfect lettuce production using the latest technology. However, after three years, it became clear that a key person was needed to maximize the unit’s potential. Andreas Lypas, now the Production Manager, brought valuable knowledge from Northern Europe, pioneering greenhouse cultivation in Greece.
What motivated you to return to Greece and join IGC??
I related to IGC 20 months before returning. As a consultant, I shared insights from Dutch and English experts. The friendly relations with the administration and my passion for innovative climate and hybrid management made it a natural step to work directly with the unit. From day one, I was committed to its success.
What improvements have brought the unit closer to breaking even?
We achieved this through several changes. First, we optimized nutrition and irrigation, including microdosing and precise irrigation schedules. Using sensory instruments from my collection, we refined climate management. This precision, akin to fine-tuning a guitar, allowed us to boost productivity significantly.
Could more greenhouses like this benefit Greece?
Absolutely. Such models could address the food crisis and boost exports. Greece has advantages like lower fungal risks and abundant sunlight, which are underutilized. Hydroponic systems eliminate seasonality and offer predictable yields, beneficial for both investors and retailers.
What are the technical challenges of hydroponics in Greece?
Managing the greenhouse climate during hot months and dealing with insect pests are major challenges. Advanced sensor technology helps us monitor and adjust conditions, creating a friendly environment for beneficial organisms. This integrated management reduces the need for chemical interventions.
Can this production be considered organic?
While we currently use chemical compounds like potassium nitrate, we could adapt to organic standards if the framework existed. Many fertilizers used are natural metallic salts. In the future, adopting organic certification could add value.
Should the State support the creation of more units like this?
Yes, the benefits are significant. It would attract skilled professionals back to Greece, solve food supply issues, and reduce reliance on imports. Greece could become an export powerhouse with superior quality produce.
What productivity gains have you seen?
We’ve seen a 30% increase this year compared to last, and we expect to exceed 7.5 million lettuces soon, a 50% increase. Additionally, the quality has improved, with fewer losses and higher yields.
What makes the IGC unit unique in Greece?
Technologically, it matches the best units in England or the Netherlands, featuring artificial lighting, excellent climate control, and comprehensive irrigation systems. The dedicated workforce is a key asset. The missing piece was a leader to demonstrate effective daily operations and apply international models accurately.
What were the biggest challenges over the past three years?
The main challenge was optimizing production. On the market side, the product’s long shelf life and superior taste ensure its competitiveness. Retail chains are responding well, and we plan to expand production
So is there a response and reception from the retail chains?
They are asking for more, based on what we are offering now, and that is why it is in the management’s plan to expand.
What is the next big goal?
Our immediate goal is to reach 7.5 million harvested lettuces this year and aim for 9 million next year with minimal losses. We also establish an experimental greenhouse to test biological formulations and cultivation strategies without affecting main production.
Will this extension be on the existing unit?
Another production department will be created but the most important is the creation of the experimental greenhouse outside, where all the biological formulations, the cultivation strategies, will be measured there, in real time, without affecting the production inside. Because some climate strategies that I have adopted and come from abroad, the indicators of irrigation and biological preparations, if something goes wrong, it appears immediately in the production. A mistake on my part there can ruin the day’s production. Hydroponics does not forgive mistakes, because we grow in water. There is no substrate to be able to, if the pH rises for example, to influence it and save it. Any change we make to the plants is immediately visible. Either something good, we see it after 2-3 days, or something bad, we see it within a day. That is, we can destroy the production and I am talking about 270,000 plants from one mistake.
What production does this refer to?
About 9 days. With 30,000 plants per day, there is no one else to compete with.
Would it be better if there were more greenhouses of this type in Greece? For the market balance and their penetration.
Greenhouses and models of this kind solve the food crisis in Greece and also provide a trigger for exports. We here do not stop cutting 30,000 lettuces every day, so there is a flow. It’s not cash flow, it’s fresh product flow. The same should be done in other units, whether it is called tomato, cucumber, pepper or strawberry. They are models that work abroad. The Netherlands has used hydroponics commercially since 1975. Why do we here refuse to do it? Are you afraid of production costs or do we not have the know-how? I am sure that only such models can advance. Completely eliminating seasonality and having a curve per forecast year so that the supermarket can make a plan but correspondingly the investor can do his balance sheet in advance to get his costs.
If the technology is similar to that applied in the Netherlands or Great Britain, does Greece not have advantages?
The difficulty for someone to cultivate in Great Britain and in general in Northern Europe is great, because there you have the following problem: There we face the big mycological problems. Due to increased relative humidity, either outside or inside, they facilitate the development of botrytis, powdery mildew or downy mildew. In Greece we are fortunate to have a drier climate, so less fungal risks, but we have the problem of insects because it is easier for them to pupate and have an outbreak, as is the case with the tomato tuta absoluta. However, Greece’s great advantage is energy, the great radiation of the sun. Outside we use LED lamps almost all year round to have sufficient photoperiod and photosynthesis.
Of course, we also benefit in the RES sector, more sunshine, therefore more energy at a lower cost.
Of course, production costs increase, because during the summer months we have to cool the greenhouse. In other words, we have to think about what method we will follow in order to have sufficiency in the electricity part, in this case the wet parias work and there is a homogenization of the climate inside the greenhouse. These two are the great technical difficulties that a grower, a production manager has to deal with on a daily basis. And this is where cutting edge technology comes in with the use of multiple instrument sensors and the immediate and daily recording and use of sensors to identify problems or errors and have a problem prevention rather than treatment approach. Here I have developed a model, unique in Greece, where I create a friendly environment for beneficial microorganisms and insects, such as the pots of the chain where the predatory insect lives and multiplies and where it finds a thrips in the crop it goes and exterminates it. I am so confident that I will not need to use medication for thrips which is very rare. For us, integrated management is not a simple conversation, it is the cornerstone for our production.
Can this production be described as organic? Is this something you are asking for?
In England, a targeted approach is being taken so that corresponding units here can get the bio certification to have the extra added value. In the USA in 2021 a corresponding bill was passed. A unit like this, using FDA-approved fertilizers, could and did get organic certification and repricing and ended up selling a Butterhead for around $6 apiece. It’s nothing. Cultivating outside the soil does not make you non-organic, as long as you meet all the conditions, such as not using plant protection, impermissible fertilizers and others.
Does your nutrition contain no chemical fertilizers?
Contains metallic salts, such as potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, monoammonium. Yes, these are chemical compounds. But provided we have the institutional framework to do organic production, we can get Dutch fertilizers, which are circulating and have pure organic fertilizers.
That is, if the framework existed, then you would adapt to it without any objection or harm?
But they are metallic salts, they are chemical compounds that exist in nature. They are not chemicals as people think of as something harmful. We ask for this because we can adapt. In the Netherlands some fertilizer companies have released products claiming organic approval. It’s something that’s coming. Be careful: Cultivating in the soil every year the same. You have root diseases and various other, much more harmful ones that lead you down other paths where the context is blurred and you can be biological in dealing with them.
Let’s talk about whether it would ultimately be necessary for the State to look with a different eye at the creation of such units that are now excluded from the PAA?
The benefit is twofold. People will come who will staff such units, people with great know-how who will return home. The problem of the food crisis will also be solved and we will stop these imports from Third countries that we now have tomatoes from Turkey or tomatoes from Poland and strawberries out of season from the Netherlands. We will have an overabundance of vegetables and export them that will be so superior because of the radiation, that not only will we not export, but we will become an export superpower.
The new product, the trio?
Inspired by a Dutch innovation, the trio features three different lettuce varieties in one pot: red lolla, oakleaf, and green lolla. This offers consumers a ready-made, rich salad with diverse flavors and textures. The challenge is ensuring uniform growth and nutrition distribution, which is where my expertise comes in.
What is the new product, the trio?
No it’s three seeds, so it divides, we have 100 grams of product times three. The bet is how you will have homogeneity, to face the competition to share the nourishment. That’s where my role comes in.