Cecilia Stanghellini

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at Wageningen University & Research

Recirculating hydroponic fertigation as used in high-tech greenhouses is over 95% nutrient-efficient, but relies on nutrients from finite mineral reserves. Moving away from conventional ‘linear’ fertilisers to ‘circular’ alternatives brings various questions. Whilst this has been investigated for open-field agriculture, in recirculating soilless gr...

Background Controlled environment agriculture, particularly vertical farms (VF), also called plant factories, is often claimed as a solution for global food security due to its ability to produce crops unaffected by weather or pests. In principle, essential macronutrients of the human diet, like protein, could technically be produced in VF. This as...

Vertical farming (VF), the cultivation of crops in enclosed and sunless environments, is touted as a solution to global challenges like population growth, urbanization, and climate change, thanks to land conservation, sustainability, reduced water usage, enhanced food safety, and shorter supply chains. This review critically analyses the sustainabi...

The rapid urban growth seen globally in recent years has not been supported by a simultaneous increase in agricultural land and/or crop productivity. Producing crops in (peri-)urban areas shows good potential to provide the vegetable products for a healthy and balanced diet for the growing population, but it has to deal with the local availability...

Greenhouse horticulture grows increasingly important due to its ability to provide a controlled microclimate which is optimizable for highly efficient crop growth and resource use, although it may come at a significant energy and investment cost. One of the most crucial inputs in any greenhouse is sunlight, giving free energy and light for greenhou...

Recent studies concerning the integration of agricultural practices in cities demonstrated that Urban Agriculture (UA) can boost new sustainable urban developments. New technologies allow to integrate soil-less cultivation in- and on- mixed-use buildings, creating new synergies between the built environment and the urban food system. Accordingly, r...

Goed gietwater wordt steeds schaarser, wereldwijd maar ook in Nederland en België. Het wordt dan cruciaal hoeveel liter je nodig hebt om een kilo product te produceren. Op zich is de waterefficiëntie in een moderne kas al hoog. Maar er zijn mogelijkheden om die nog te verbeteren. Door teeltmaatregelen, maar vooral door terugwinning van verdampt wat...

Increasing urbanization rates, loss of natural resources and the effects of climate change are challenging the sustainability of European cities. Therefore, ensuring resilient urban food systems is crucial to achieve food and nutrition security. Conventional systems are increasingly vulnerable to present and future disruptions, which urges us to ch...

Reducing environmental impact is a necessary condition for sustainability, but it is not a sufficient one. The current ‘linear’ economy not only leads to environmental impact; it also depletes finite natural reserves. This is why moving towards a more ‘circular’ economy is desired. One of the obstacles in implementing a circular economy are knowled...

Production of vegetables for fresh consumption in arid regions is usually done in greenhouses fitted with evaporative cooling, which does strain the scarce water resource in those areas so much that [lack of] water frequently becomes the limiting factor. Greenhouses fit with sufficient mechanical cooling capacity (closed/semi-closed greenhouses) no...

CONTEXT For high latitude countries like Norway, one of the biggest challenges associated with greenhouse production is the limited availability of natural light and heat, particularly in winters. This can be addressed by changes in greenhouse design elements including energy saving equipment and supplemental lighting, which, however, also can have...

Tomato greenhouses at high latitudes (≥58°North) require supplemental light to enable high yields and year-round production. Supplemental light systems can differ in lamp type, high-pressure sodium (HPS) or light emitting diode (LED), and also vary in lamp capacity. Based on a combined greenhouse climate, tomato yield, and greenhouse economics mode...

Vertical farming can produce food in a climate-resilient manner, potentially emitting zero pesticides and fertilizers, and with lower land and water use than conventional agriculture. Vertical farming systems (VFS) can meet daily consumer demands for nutritious fresh products, forming a part of resilient food systems—particularly in and around dens...

Vertical farming can produce food in a climate-resilient manner, potentially emitting zero pesticides and fertilizers, and with lower land and water use than conventional agriculture. Vertical farming systems (VFS) can meet daily consumer demands for nutritious fresh products, forming a part of resilient food systems—particularly in and around dens...

Greenhouses are complex systems whose size, shape, construction material, and equipment for climate control, lighting and heating can vary largely. The greenhouse design can, together with the outdoor weather conditions, have a large impact on the economic performance and the environmental consequences of the production. The aim of this study was t...

Production of vegetables for fresh consumption in arid regions usually takes place in greenhouses with evaporative cooling during the warm months of the year. In this period, water use for cooling easily exceeds irrigation water use. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how far water use for evaporative cooling can be lowered by adapting des...

This study analyzed interactions among photon flux density (PPFD), air temperature, root-zone temperature for growth of lettuce with non-limiting water, nutrient, and CO2 concentration. We measured growth parameters in 48 combinations of a PPFD of 200, 400, and 750 μmol m–2 s–1 (16 h daylength), with air and root-zone temperatures of 20, 24, 28, an...

Vertical farms rukken langzaam op. Voor een efficiënte teelt in zo'n afgesloten ruimte is het nodig een hoge groeisnelheid te realiseren en het huidige niveau van energieverbruik terug te dringen. Onderzoek van Wageningen University & Research zet bestaande inzichten over sla op zijn kop. Dat is niet alleen nuttig voor de teelt in een vertical farm...

In Europe, most greenhouse vegetable crops are grown in soil. Where soilless systems are used, apart from in The Netherlands, Belgium and France, they are mostly free-draining systems, in which nutrient solutions are not recirculated. Both soil-grown and free-draining soilless systems commonly have large nitrate (NO3⁻) leaching loss. Irrigation is...

Current food production on the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba is limited. Most food is imported from surrounding countries. The objectives of this study were to assess the current state of affairs with respect to agricultural production in the Caribbean Netherlands, to identify opportunities for development of the agricultural sector,...

A greenhouse climate-crop yield model was adapted to include additional climate modification techniques suitable for enabling sustainable greenhouse management at high latitudes. Additions to the model were supplementary lighting, secondary heating and heat harvesting technologies. The model: 1) included the impact of different light sources on gre...

Greenhouses shelter the crop from unfavourable environmental conditions and the covering largely contributes to creating beneficial growing conditions inside. There is no perfect greenhouse cover for all combinations of crop and climatic regions. Usually a greenhouse cover has permanent optical properties determining the amount of solar radiation e...

The increase in global food demand has led to the introduction of new food production systems. One key example is the plant factory. Plant factories face the same challenge as many high-tech building functions: high energy demands resulting from high internal heat loads. In this study we investigate how this energy demand can be reduced through faç...

p>In a greenhouse, the cover is the main element determining the amount and quality of entering and outgoing radiation, both short and longwave. The cover properties are therefore essential in determining inside climate and the amount of external resources (such as heating and water) required to maintain the greenhouse climate within the boundaries...

The EDEN ISS project has the objective to test key technologies and processes for higher plant cultivation with a focus on their application to long duration spaceflight. A mobile plant production facility was designed and constructed by an international consortium and deployed to the German Antarctic Neumayer Station III. Future astronaut crews, e...

LED lighting in indoor farming systems allows to modulate the spectrum to fit plant needs. Red (R) and blue (B) lights are often used, being highly active for photosynthesis. The effect of R and B spectral components on lettuce plant physiology and biochemistry and resource use efficiency were studied. Five red:blue (RB) ratios (0.5-1-2-3-4) suppli...

Models for the evapotranspiration of greenhouse crops are needed both for accurate irrigation and for the simulation or management of the greenhouse climate. For this purpose, several evapotranspiration models have been developed and presented, all based on the Penman–Monteith approach, the “big-leaf” model. So, on the one hand, relatively simple m...

Indoor plant cultivation can result in significantly improved resource use efficiency (surface, water, and nutrients) as compared to traditional growing systems, but illumination costs are still high. LEDs (light emitting diodes) are gaining attention for indoor cultivation because of their ability to provide light of different spectra. In the ligh...

About the book: This book provides an integrated approach to crop growth and development and the technical aspects of greenhouse cultivation and climate management. It combines an analysis of the relationship between crop production and ambient climate with an explanation of the processes that determine the climate in a protected environment. With...

This paper deals with vegetable cultivation that could be faced in a space mission. This paper focusses on optimization, light, temperature and the harvesting process, while other factors concerning cultivation in space missions, i.e. gravity, radiation, were not addressed. It describes the work done in preparation of the deployment of a mobile tes...

Current research seeking to relate between ambient water vapor deficit (D) and foliage conductance (gF ) derives a canopy conductance (gW ) from measured transpiration by inverting the coupled transpiration model to yield gW = m − n ln(D) where m and n are fitting parameters. In contrast, this paper demonstrates that the relation between coupled gW...

Het doel van het EDEN ISS-project is tuinbouwtechnologieën in een gecontroleerde omgeving verder te ontwikkelen dan de huidige stand van de techniek. Het richt zich op gronddemonstratie (op Antarctica) van plantenteelttechnologieën en hun toepassing in de ruimte. Het EDEN ISS project ontwikkelt een veilige voedselproductie voor aan boord van het In...

Research on closed plant production systems, such as artificially illuminated and highly insulated plant factories, has offered perspectives for urban food production but more insight is needed into their resource use efficiency. This paper assesses the potential of this ‘novel’ system for production in harsh climates with either low or high temper...

Rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) can generate significant advantages provided RTGs and buildings are connected in terms of energy, water and CO2 flows. Beyond the production of high-value crops, environmental benefits such as re-use of waste water, application of residual heat and absorption of carbon dioxide are derived from urban RTGs. Social benefits...

Urban Agriculture (UA) is an emerging field of agricultural production aimed to improve food security and the resilience of cities and to improve the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of urban areas. One of the options of UA are roof top greenhouses (RTGs), which are greenhouses built on the roof of a building, typically fitted wit...

Greenhouse production has increased over the last decades in the Mediterranean region. Greenhouses allow protecting crops from adverse climate conditions, creating microclimate conditions appropriate for obtaining high production with high quality all over the year. However, greenhouse production is generally associated with high environmental impa...

The vast majority of southern European greenhouses are unheated. Nevertheless, during the coldest months growth is retarded, since average minimum temperatures in the warmest European areas are between 7 and 9°C. Therefore heating is highly desirable in the winter, but in spite of the positive response of crops to heating its economic profitability...

Population growth and rapid urbanisation may result in a shortage of food supplies for cities in the foreseeable future. Research on closed plant production systems, such as plant factories, has attempted to offer perspectives for robust (urban) agricultural systems. Insight into the explicit role of plant processes in the total energy balance of t...

The Mediterranean Region is one of the most important areas of the world in terms of protected cultivation. Turkey, with its increasing greenhouse area, is one of the representative countries of the region. Thanks to the mild winter climatic conditions, cultivation of vegetables under simple structures is possible. However, due to the changing conc...

Future space missions require bio-regenerative life-support systems. Eating fresh food is not only a fundamental requirement for survival but also influences the psychological wellbeing of astronauts operating on long duration space missions. Therefore the selection of plants to be grown in space is an important issue. Part of the EDEN ISS project...

Extreme temperatures may be frequent in the coming decades as result of climate change. However, we need to keep crop yield high by means of breeding and improving crop management. And first we need to understand the physiological processes affected. Little is known about how cold affects plants during the night (when the incidence is higher), so t...

Climate change increases the likelihood of suboptimal conditions for plants. Nevertheless, we need to keep crop production high with different tools. In open field and simple protected systems, plants are vulnerable to weather. Breeding for more resistant genotypes would be here the strategy. When some type of climate control is present, an early w...

Plant cultivation in large-scale closed environments is challenging and several key technologies necessary for space-based plant production are not yet space-qualified or remain in early stages of development. The EDEN ISS project foresees development and demonstration of higher plant cultivation technologies, suitable for future deployment on the...

Anyone who clicks on the link until June 14, 2015, will be taken to the final version for free http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Qwhb1M27RQOGL We explore an under-appreciated side effect of semi-closed greenhouses: the ability to recover transpired water, thereby increasing water use efficiency. Semi-closed greenhouses are fit with cooling equipment...

Very few studies objectively quantify environmental impact of organic farming practices. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool has proved to be an accurate, objective, and transparent tool to quantify many environmental impacts.

The central thesis of this paper is that greenhouse production of vegetables is the most water-efficient food production system and thus can contribute to meeting the challenge of feeding a better diet to an increasing world population, without increasing the need for irrigation water. The various physiological and managerial components of agricult...

Improved energy efficiency is the combination of efforts to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. It includes all measures that are suitable to reduce specific components of the energy input, improving energy utilisa-tion and contributing directly to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The AGREE project...

This report illustrates case studies with an in-depth analysis of the interactions of energy efficiency measures with farm economics and the environmental impact (GHG) of the measures across Europe. The analyses followed a common methodology considering the farm gate as the system boundary. Therefore, considerable energy use in the post-processing...

During the last decades, the horticultural production in Europe has gradually moved from the northern countries towards the Mediterranean basin. Two welldifferentiated agrosystems can be distinguished as predominant in each area. The northern agrosystems (the most paradigmatic example is The Netherlands), sophisticated and oriented towards high yie...

Protected cultivation systems are used throughout the world as a powerful instrument to produce crops. They protect the crops from unfavorable outdoor climate conditions and pests and offer the opportunity to modify the indoor climate to create an environment that is optimal for crop growth and production, both in terms of quality and quantity. A q...

Semi-closed greenhouse management may increase greenhouse productivity. However, it relies on the application of mechanical cooling. Cooling can be applied from above or below the canopy. The positioning of the cooling affects the vertical climate profile in the canopy. In order to determine how this affects the vertical profile of transpiration an...

In this study we analysed the environmental and economic profile of current agricultural practices for greenhouse crops, in cold and warm climates in Europe, using four scenarios as reference systems: tomato crop in a plastic greenhouse in Spain, and in glasshouses in Hungary and the Netherlands, and rose crop in a glasshouse in the Netherlands. Th...

High energy use in rose cultivation at higher latitudes is caused by the need for artificial light to supplement scarce sun radiation. On the other hand, too high radiation levels are known to reduce flower quality. Therefore shading is widely applied during spring and summer, either through movable screens or seasonal whitewash. In both cases dama...

An optimisation algorithm, as an essential part of a model-based method to design greenhouses for a broad range of climatic and economic conditions, was described. This algorithm – a modified controlled random search using parallel computing – maximised the annual Net Financial Return (NFR) for a tomato grower by selecting the best alternative to f...

A novel system for heating/cooling greenhouses based on air/water heat exchangers connected to a thermally stratified water storage tank was tested in a small greenhouse compartment at the Experimental Station of the Cajamar Foundation in Almería, Spain. The system maintained a closed greenhouse (no natural ventilation) throughout the winter and sp...

An economic model was developed as a key component of a model-based method to design greenhouses for a broad range of climatic and economic conditions. This economic model was linked to an existing greenhouse climate-crop yield model to calculate the annual Net Financial Result (NFR) of a greenhouse. The aim of this study was to identify e among te...

Protected cultivations are expanding all over the world, particularly in otherwise marginal agricultural land. However, protected cultivation involves the intensive use of resources such as soil, water, fertilizers, pesticides and energy. As a consequence, such intensive production systems are perceived by many as artificial and highly pollutant pr...

This environmental impact assessment of the current situation of Dutch tomato production in a Venlo greenhouse in a temperate climate was developed as part of the EUPHOROS project. The project aims to develop a more sustainable greenhouse system with a reduction of external inputs yet with high productivity and an efficient use of resources. The en...

In temperate regions, such as the Mediterranean basin, there is a diurnal excess of energy nearly every day of the year, which is usually dissipated through natural ventilation. However, since suboptimal nighttime temperatures limit productivity of unheated greenhouses for several months a year, extracting the daytime excess energy and reusing it t...

In de jaren 2003 tot 2007 is het aantal bedrijven waarop (semi)gesloten geteeld wordt geleidelijk toegenomen. Op alle bedrijven bleken echter vragen te bestaan over de reacties van het gewas op het nieuwe klimaat. Daarom is in 2008 door Wageningen UR Glastuinbouw een onderzoek gestart naar de groei van tomaat in geconditioneerde kassen, waarin veel...

Improvements in the energy efficiency of agricultural production have the potential to significantly reduce energy inputs and thereby reducing production costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficiency analysis depicts the distribution of energy inputs in a given agricultural production system and enables the determination of activities in ar...

Energy efficiency is the goal of efforts to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. The general term "energy efficiency", when applied to agriculture, reflects changes in technology, governmental and EC policies – including the Common Agricultural Policy, climate change on a broad scale and local weather patterns, and...

The reduction of energy inputs in agricultural production is a process of practical implementation of a set of energy saving (ES) measures associated with a given type of production, farm infrastructure and managerial or organizational activities. In six national reports from Finland, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal for 13 sub...

The EUPHOROS project is co-funded by the European Commission, Directorate General for Research, within the 7th Framework Programme of RTD, Theme 2 – Biotechnology, Agriculture & Food, contract 211457. The views and opinions expressed in this Deliverable are purely those of the writers and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an offic...

Greenhouse design is an optimisation problem that might be solved by a model-based greenhouse design method. A sensitivity analysis of a combined greenhouse climate-crop yield model of tomato was done to identify the parameters, i.e. greenhouse design parameters, outdoor climate and climate set-points, that most strongly influence greenhouse perfor...

With the aim of developing a model-based method to design greenhouses for a broad range of climatic and economic conditions, a tomato yield model that describes the effects of greenhouse climate on yield was described and validated. A literature survey of temperature effects on tomato yield was performed and the main temperature effects were implem...

With the aim of developing a model-based method to design greenhouses for a broad range of climatic and economic conditions, a greenhouse climate model has been developed and validated. This model describes the effects of the outdoor climate and greenhouse design on the indoor greenhouse climate. For use in a greenhouse design method that focused o...

The effect of Near Infrared (NIR)-reflective screen material on ventilation requirement, crop transpiration and water use efficiency of a greenhouse rose crop was investigated in an experiment whereby identical climate was ensured in greenhouse compartments installed with either NIR-reflective or conventional material as internal movable screens. T...

High energy use in rose cultivation at higher latitudes is caused by the need for artificial light to supplement scarce sun radiation. On the other hand, since too high radiation levels are known to reduce flower quality, shading is widely applied during spring and summer, either through movable screens or seasonal whitewash. In both cases damage t...

Model calculations and the few data that are available show that over 100 L water condense yearly on each square meter of a greenhouse cover. It is known that the presence of condensate reduces light transmission. This effect is suppressed to some extent by adding film-forming (anti-drop) additives to plastic film covers and surface structures or c...

Als CO2 geld kost, is het verstandig de dosering te optimaliseren. Binnen het internationale project Euphoros is de basis hiervoor gelegd. Een automatiseerder komt volgend jaar met een toepassing. Het is de eerste keer dat een kosten/baten analyse – elke minuut gemaakt – de dosering bepaalt. Het principe kan op den duur ook worden vertaald naar int...

Pure (bottled or piped) carbon dioxide is commonly supplied to increase productivity of greenhouse crops. As ventilation is necessary for controlling temperature, particularly under sunshine (when a high CO2 concentration would be most desired) there is a need for optimal management of supply, in order to ensure the maximum net return from cost of...