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Conversion to Soilless Cultivation – 1st Edition

In response to the challenges of performance and sustainability, soilless cultivation represents a promising alternative for Moroccan agricultural operations.

To support this transition, Green Smile is launching a dedicated training program focused on tomato cultivation, aimed at producers and technical managers who are committed or in the process of converting their practices.

  • Agadir

  • 3 days ( 17 - 19 April 2012 )

Objective
Program
Speakers

Objective

Support the transition to soilless cultivation.

Program

Module 1: Plant Physiology Elements:

  • Growing conditions and their impact on photosynthesis activity.
  • Plant load, Radiation.

Module 2: Climate Management for Better Control:

  • Greenhouse climate formation and its control.
  • Functioning and improvement of dimat in Moroccan greenhouses and constraints of soilless cultivation.

Module 3: Introduction to Existing Soilless Cultivation Systems:

  • Main soilless cultivation models: Hydroponics, substrate-based systems.
  • Containers, volumes, and effective substrate reserves.

Module 4: Irrigation and Fertilization Management:

  • Water quality: composition, volumes.
  • Principles and management.
  • Control of volumes and drainage.
  • Recycling of drainage solutions.

Module 5: Necessary Equipment for Soilless Cultivation:

  • Irrigation: distribution, filtration, automation.
  • Fertilization.
  • Drainage control: quality and quantity.
  • Overview of essential soilless cultivation equipment provided by a local company (quality, cost, etc.)

Speakers

Boulard Thierry

Deputy Director of the INRA-URIH unit in Sophia Antipolis, Dr. Boulard is an Engineer and PhD in greenhouse climate characterization and modeling – summer climate control.

Research program leadership:

  • Coordinator and manager of the EcoSerre program focused on the sustainability of the greenhouse agro-system.
  • European CLOSYS program on recycling solutions in protected cultivation.
  • AIP Ecopath, responsible for the research program on "Climate management and control of phytosanitary risks in greenhouse tomato cultivation."

Supervision of theses (including 2 in Agadir):

  • Coupling of airflow transfers and the functioning of the plant canopy in greenhouses (Angers).
  • Study and modeling of the coupling of airflow and radiative transfers in fluid mechanics models of horticultural greenhouses (Agadir).
  • Study and modeling of the effect of insect screens on greenhouse ventilation. Thesis at the University of Agadir, Morocco (Agadir).
  • Collaborations with foreign organizations.
  • Modeling of natural ventilation and greenhouse climate (Morocco).
  • Airflow transfer models in greenhouses (Netherlands).

Thierry Boulard is the author of 100 publications, with the most recent including:

  • Bournet P-E., Boulard T., 2010. Effect of ventilator configuration on the distributed climate of greenhouses: a review of experimental and CFD studies. Computers & Electronics in Agriculture, in press.
  • T. Boulard, J.C. Roy, H. Fatnassi, A. Kichah, I-B. Lee, 2010. Computer Fluid Dynamics prediction of climate and fungal spore transfer in a rose greenhouse. Computers & Electronics in Agriculture, in press.
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Boulard Thierry

Corre Alain

Consultant and Trainer: Alain CORRE

  • Specialist in hydroponic tomato and strawberry cultivation
  • 15 years of experience as an advisor for members of the SAVEOL Group (France)
  • Co-manager of the consulting firm ANAHO

Main activities of ANAHO:

  • Cultivation monitoring
    • Climate management
    • Irrigation
    • Fertilization
    • Cropping calendar
  • Peripheral production topics
    • Variety selection
    • Planting
    • Substrate
    • Climate considerations
  • Training
  • Experimentation (variety trials, etc.)
  • Diversification (exploring new production opportunities in greenhouse systems)

Alain CORRE works as a consultant in Morocco.

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Corre Alain

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