Basil.

The highest-value fresh herb, and two crops rather than one

Basil is the highest-value fresh herb in most European markets and the one most often proposed for a controlled-environment project. It is sold as a potted plant and as cut leaf, and those are effectively two crops: one is grown to a finished plant a consumer keeps alive, the other to a harvested weight that goes into a pack.

The crop is sensitive to cold in a way most greenhouse crops are not, and chilling damage shows on the leaf, which is the product. It also responds strongly to light spectrum and intensity, which makes lighting a larger part of a basil specification than it is for most greenhouse crops.

Sale form splits the crop in two, and the two need different buildings. A potted crop is grown to a finished plant the consumer keeps, so the house handles pots, spaces them as the plant grows and runs on benches or moving gutters. A cut crop is grown to a harvested weight and runs on density and a pack line. Sweet and Genovese types are the commercial core; purple, Thai and lemon basils are separate crops with their own habit and market.

DutchGreenhouses® designs the structure, climate, lighting and irrigation around the herb, its sale form and the local climate, rather than transferring a result from one system to another. Get in touch to discuss a basil project.