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At July 1th, 2026, Roel Coenders, Frank Coenders’ eldest son, will join the company Frank Coenders Kwekerijen BV.

Roel completed his studies at Wageningen University & Research this year.

Within the company, he will take on a number of commercial responsibilities, among other tasks. We wish Roel every success at this fine company.

Europe's largest floriculture trade fair, Trade Fair Aalsmeer (TFA), is coming up again. From Tuesday 3 to Thursday 5 November, Royal FloraHolland will open its doors in Aalsmeer for the 26th time to welcome exhibitors and an (inter)national trade audience from the floriculture industry.

IPM ESSEN – the world’s leading trade fair for horticulture – is the ultimate meeting place for the green sector.

Exhibitors from all over the world present their innovative products and services here in the fields of plants, technology, floral design, and garden accessories. No other trade fair offers such a wide variety of plants and so many innovations in this field. Climate change and sustainability are the defining themes here.

Disease detection by autonomous sensor car using AI  

Making the tree nursery sector more sustainable through AI disease detection through sensor data from self-driving sensor cars and the application of biostimulants

This project focuses on developing an autonomously driving sensor truck with advanced AI image recognition for the early detection and prevention of diseases such as mildew and downy mildew, with rose cultivation as an initial test environment. The application will be combined with the development of the preventive use of biostimulants to replace chemical crop protection, which will lead to a widely applicable product within the agricultural sector. 

The pilot in the tree nursery sector addresses a significant and urgent problem, where the impact of the innovation is high and makes a strong contribution to the sustainability of the agricultural sector by reducing chemical crop protection through a holistic approach. 

Year 1: the first year will focus on data collection. Camera images will be collected using a cart. The AI will be trained with these images to learn to recognize mildew. 

Year 2: a sensor truck will be built that can drive autonomously across the field. In the second year, the robot will drive through the laxa seedlings for the first time. The robot will be further developed.

Year 3: the sensor truck will be able to autonomously collect images and detect mildew at an early stage. After this, the damage caused by mildew in the laxa seedlings can be limited by applying biostimulants.