Agrotopia: Europe’s largest rooftop greenhouse
Inagro has set up Europe's largest rooftop greenhouse. In Agrotopia, the new research and demonstration greenhouse, Inagro aims on co-creation with companies and end users to promote innovation in greenhouse horticulture and professional urban horticulture.
West Flanders is not only the most important agricultural and horticultural province in the Flanders region (accounting for almost 20% of the turnover in this industry). The Roeselare area is also known as "the vegetable garden of Europe". One third of all frozen vegetables sold in Europe come from this area. REO Veiling is the second largest fruit and vegetable auction in Flanders and provides an important market for vegetable cultivation. So it is no coincidence that Agrotopia emerged in this area as a special site for practical research and the development of innovative glasshouse and urban horticulture processes.
The 9000 m² greenhouse and its high-tech facilities can accommodate innovative research at the European top level. The thirteen research compartments are representative of the modern hydroponic cultivation of fruit, vegetables and leafy vegetables. They offer sufficient space to develop, test and demonstrate new technologies in conditions that are comparable to real life. High-tech facilities rule in Agrotopia. They allow crops to grow in optimal conditions and lead the way to a greenhouse horticulture of the future that is more sustainable and efficient. For example, Inagro's double screen cloth and ventilation jets apply more sustainable cultivation principles that use heating energy more efficiently. A climate control computer automatically meets the crop’s needs for heat, light and humidity in each compartment.
Unique in many ways
Inagro can also explore the possibilities of professional urban farming thanks to Agrotopia's unique location on the roof of the REO Veiling crate warehouse and on the outskirts of the city of Roeselare. The flexible and ultramodern facility includes an elevation greenhouse that is twelve metres high and allows experimentation with optimal use of space, vertical farming, multilayer cultivation, various types of growing gutters and new, more sustainable substrates. At the same time Agrotopia aims to synergise with its surroundings by investigating how the functions of agriculture, industry and the city are intertwined. Some examples of this are innovative water recycling and the reuse of urban residual heat. Agrotopia relies on two external sources of heat: REO Veiling's combined heat and power (CHP) system and the MIROM heat network.
A meeting place that encourages co-creation
The rooftop greenhouse is located close to the producers and buyers of fresh vegetables, so it is also a unique hub for knowledge exchange and demonstrations with an expo zone and demo installations in cultivation compartments. Collaboration with other players is essential to increase the impact of innovation and optimisation in the agricultural sector in West Flanders and beyond. That is exactly why the rooftop greenhouse has been set up as a meeting place for researchers, advisers, growers, knowledge institutions, governments and tech companies. The design integrates research, demonstration and knowledge exchange in one greenhouse structure.
Knowledge partners and entrepreneurs who are interested in setting up a joint project at Agrotopia can contact Katrien De Dauw (katrien.dedauw@inagro.be)
Agrotopia was established with the support of Inagro, the Province of West Flanders, the Flemish government via the Flemish Agricultural Investment Fund, REO Veiling and the European Union via the European Regional Development Fund for Flanders. The Crop on Top project is receiving 900,000 euros from the European Regional Development Fund for Flanders.