Bloemteknik

This interview details Bloemteknik, an indoor farming technology company based in the UK. The interview is with James Fleet, Co-Founder & CEO of Bloemteknik.

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What is the origin story of Bloemteknik?

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Bloemteknik (t/a Bloem) brings together the former leadership team of GE Current EMEA. 100+ Years combined experience (Bloem team vs. Founders). Delivered some of the largest horticulture projects in Europe. 

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Frustrated with the lack of customisation, flexibility and speed being offered to growers, Bloem’s ethos is that collaborative customisation delivers optimal results for growers:

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• “When every grower’s application and farm is unique, why are solutions so generic? Bloem’s ethos is built upon the principle that collaborative customisation delivers optimal results.” James Fleet, Co-Founder.
• “To optimally design a solution, we must first understand the grower’s objectives, needs and environment. We ask, listen and collaboratively create customised solutions of the highest quality, tailored to our grower’s needs within their application.” Charlie Benson, Co-Founder.

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Bloem's ethos is built upon 3 principles:

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• Feeding 8-11 billion people sustainably is the 21st century's main challenge and CEA offers a potential solution for long-term sustainable food security.
• Optimised CEA lighting increases yield, reduces energy consumption and improves indoor farm viability.
• Collaborative customisation enables vertical farm operators and greenhouse growers to maximise productivity and optimise cost-of-ownership.

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Bloem's commitment to growers is three-fold:

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• A. Every solution is customised to our grower’s needs and unique environment.
• B. Optimising our grower’s lifecycle cost of ownership is central to every solution.
• C. Our success is determined by our grower’s achieving their long-term objectives.

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What are some of the biggest challenges facing Bloemteknik in the future?

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Challenges around maintaining efficiency & spectral leadership, navigating regulatory standards, certifications and managing supply chain complexities will be continuous. However, this is secondary to the broader challenge of how to continue to support growers to become more successful and scale. 

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With lighting typically representing up to 30% of an indoor farm’s capital and operating expenditure (depending on application & location), all manufacturers have a responsibility to help growers reduce acquisition, operational and lifecycle costs. Core to this is optimising crop yield and quality, whilst improving energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

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What is unique about Bloemteknik compared to competitors?

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Unlike ‘one size fits all’ competitors, Bloem’s core value proposition focusses on providing customisable and sustainable lighting platforms tailored to the unique needs of each indoor farm. Our philosophy is that to achieve optimal performance, you must customise the solution to the grower’s unique objectives, needs and environment. 

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Vertical Farming

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Bloem’s Align Platform is mechanically, electrically, optically and dimensionally adaptable to any vertical farm environment. This enables intensity uniformity to be increased, spectral deviation to be reduced and soil thermal load to be decreased, thereby increasing yields, reducing crop cycles, and increasing light-use efficiency. Mounting bracketry and power supply infrastructures are always customised to the specific vertical farm environment, halving installation time and cost, reducing lifecycle cost of ownership.

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Greenhouse 

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Bloem’s Balance Platform uses patent pending adjustable light-engines to increase PPFD by ≤36% on vertical crop faces vs. standard manufacturer optics to increase yields, shorten crop cycles and save energy. Engineered to be application adaptable, interchangeable, improve uniformity and maximise PAR light-use efficiency within commercial greenhouses. 

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What are some other relevant metrics of the company (growing area size, production quantity, team size, etc.)

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• Founded in February 2023 by James Fleet & Charlie Benson 
• Developed 2 product platforms – Align for vertical farms & Balance for greenhouses.
• 1 x patent pending / 1x grant application.
• Over 15,000 fixtures installed in our first year, validating the demand from growers for customised solutions. 
• New UK R&D centre opens to continue our mission to maximise leafy green productivity.

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What are some goals in 2024 and beyond for Bloemteknik?

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Our success is determined by our grower’s achieving their long-term objectives. Really that’s it! It may sound a cliché statement, but it really is the core and the ethos of Bloem. We’ve delivered some incredible projects over the last 12-months and many more to come in 2024 & 2025. However, we see it as our job just starting…we want to know what worked well?, what could be improved?, how do we generate further productivity improvements?, how can we improve efficiency?, how can we accelerate installation?, is there an easier way to access the technology? The answer to these questions is what drives us. 

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How can people connect with you or learn more about Bloemteknik?

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From June Bloem will commence a series of crop specific campaigns sharing their advice on how to maximise grower’s performance and optimise cost of ownership. We will consider light quality, quantity and delivery aspects, interview industry thought leaders and share results from growers adopting customisation. We will specifically cover leafy green, cannabis and strawberries for vertical farms, and cucumbers, tomatoes, leafy green and cannabis for greenhouses. 

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook & YouTube or visit us at Bloemteknik.com.

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