Wageningen University has appointed Dr Leo Marcelis as Professor by special appointment of Plant Production in Energy-efficient Greenhouses, effective 1 February. The chair is funded by Westland Energy Services, a subsidiary of Essent. The new chair will be part of the Horticultural Supply Chains Group at Wageningen University.
Prof. Leo Marcelis is going to conduct scientific research into crop production in new types of greenhouses, such as semi-closed greenhouses, where energy efficiency is a central objective. He will primarily be studying changing production conditions and the corresponding adaptation process in the plant.
The Dutch greenhouse horticulture sector is the most advanced in the world. At the same time, the energy consumption of greenhouse production is high. Approximately 10% of the natural gas consumption in the Netherlands is attributed to greenhouse horticulture. Increasing competition, high energy prices and the call for sustainability are compelling growers to develop innovative production methods. At the same time, optimal production conditions must be created with a minimum of energy consumption – even leading to a greenhouse which produces a net surplus of energy – resulting in lower CO2 emissions. The horticulture sector is aiming to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45% in 2020..
In his research, Prof. Marcelis will focus on the physiological processes in crops under greenhouse conditions that are different from those in existing greenhouses. During this research, he will link up with recent innovations in greenhouse construction, such as closed greenhouse systems. In these new types of greenhouses, the conditions can be adapted more precisely to the physiological needs of the crop. Moreover, these greenhouses offer possibilities for far-reaching energy savings.
It is still unknown how a crop will develop under the conditions in a closed greenhouse, for example with high CO2 concentrations and low temperatures with high amounts of light. It is unclear how the large differences in conditions between the canopy and underside of the crop and in air movement in these greenhouses will affect the crop. The new chair will conduct research to develop the fundamental knowledge required to answer these questions, so that the production conditions can be adapted for higher production with lower energy consumption.
L.F.M. (Leo) Marcelis (Elst-Gelderland, 1963) studied at Wageningen University, where he earned his doctorate cum laude in 1994. Since then he has conducted crop physiology research for greenhouse production at Wageningen UR. At Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture, Leo Marcelis is the leader of the Crop Management, Modelling and Physiology team. The research will be conducted at Wageningen and Bleiswijk.