GREENHOUSE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS FOR PEOPLE

Environmentally sound greenhouse production requires that: demand for market products is understood; greenhouse design addresses the climate circum-stances; input resources are available and consumed efficiently, and; there must be a reasonable balance of production products to the environmental impacts from system. Engineering greenhouse production systems to meet these requirements must include: a cost-effective and structurally sound facility; various sub-systems controlled to interact harmoniously together; and educated and experienced system operators. The major components of the environmentally sound greenhouse are: Super-structure and glazing (for a specific location and climate conditions); Climate control sub-systems (ventilation, heating, cooling, CO₂ control, pest protection, energy conservation, shading/lighting); Monitoring and control (for system operations data; decision-support systems; and, operations control procedures); Automation systems (for quality control, and effective resource utilization); and Crop nutrient delivery system (for control of plant root zone environment). Effective greenhouse engineering design, operations and management, must incorporate input from academic, private and public sectors of society. Therefore this team of researchers, educators, industry/ business, and experienced crop production operators has cooperated to include a current real-world applications perspective to the presentation. Greenhouse produc¬tion systems are described that not only include the fundamentals for success, but also the combination of sub-systems, at appropriate technological levels to meet the design requirements and restrictions for success. The collaborators on this presentation have capabilities and experiences of successful greenhouse production systems from around the world that range from simple, low-input systems to highly complex production systems. Our goal is to emphasize the current basics of greenhouse design, and to support the symposium about greenhouse production systems for people.