A revolution is happening in horticulture. It’s a seismic shift that is set to change fundamentally how we grow plants – and it’s all down to lighting. Thanks to the unique properties of LED lighting and major advances in our understanding of plants, we now have exciting possibilities to tune the light to boost yield, customise the plant characteristics and maintain plant health.

With LED lighting, we can now manipulate the wavelength, pulse duration and spectral output to modify the structural and chemical characteristics of plants, enabling growers to extract greater yields from crop production. Each species has its own unique light ‘recipe’ which delivers exactly the right light at the right time.

Additionally, light can produce suppressive effects on disease-causing viruses, while maintaining plant health and productivity.

‘This is an incredibly exciting time for the horticultural lighting sector,’ said Ray Molony, programme director for the conference. ‘LED lighting looks set to make a major contribution to meeting the world’s increasing need for local, sustainable food production.’

Dr Phillip Davis of the UK horticulture research facility Stockbridge Technology Centre says LED lighting was recognised in recent years as being something that could really benefit horticulture.

‘There is a huge amount of interest across the horticulture industry with LEDs. This is not just because of energy efficiency, but because of the potential to manipulate plants. The main delay in application of the technology is convincing growers that LED is an economically sensible move.’

Dr Davis is one of a group of leading experts in the field who is gathering for a special event to explore this revolution in lighting and how it can help transform the horticulture sector.

The Horticultural Lighting Conference Europe takes place at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands on Tuesday 23 May 2017.

Topics to be covered include light and crops fundamentals; understanding LEDs; LED versus traditional grow lighting technology; metrics and methods; how to use tunable LEDs to manipulate crop production; what the research tells us about LEDs; LEDs and tomato production and vertical farming using LEDs.

There are special discounted rates for growers and students at the conference.

View the full programme at http://horticulturelightingconference.com/europe/