Signify, the world leader in lighting, announced an agreement with Sunterra Farms to provide Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact for the company’s tomato and strawberry production greenhouses currently being constructed in Alberta, Canada.
Sunterra’s new greenhouses will include cutting-edge lighting systems designed to produce optimal yields as efficiently as possible. The greenhouses are being built by Prins Greenhouses, a certified Philips horti partner.
Six hectares of tomato production will be lit by a hybrid lighting solution of LED and HPS, and one hectare production area of strawberry will be 100% LED lighting. The lighting for the strawberry product will include both Philips LED toplighting compact and Philips LED flowering lamps.
The proposal development and review process involved numerous Signify personnel, including plant specialists from both Canada and the Netherlands, to calculate the anticipated yield increases. Its application engineers adapted and evaluated several lighting designs, while the in-country sales team collaborated to provide investment and payback calculations.
Ray Price, Sunterra Group President, said, “We are happy that Signify walked us through the process of evaluating multiple lighting designs and helped us with payback calculations. Their guidance and support through this long process ensured us that we selected the proper lighting solution for our business. We are excited to be working with Signify.”
“For more than 13 years, greenhouse growers around the world have been looking to Philips horticulture LED lighting products to improve their fruit and vegetable production,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Signify. “The installation of Philips LEDs will help Sunterra manage its energy costs and support quality fruit production.” In addition, LED lighting lasts five to ten times longer than HPS, which results in a more positive return on investment.
Co-founded in 1970 by Stan and Flo Price, and eldest son Dave, Sunterra Farms is known for its farming of top-quality pork. Sunterra is a vertically integrated operation with eight Sunterra Market retail locations in Alberta. The company also sells its pork and cured meat products under its Sunterra Meats and Soleterra d’Italia brands to the Sunterra Markets.
