Technology is becoming an increasingly important part of modern agriculture, and reliable Wi-Fi is now a critical part of the infrastructure behind large-scale commercial food production.
Wifiworks was approached by Greenport Fresh to design and deliver the first stage of a multi-site wireless infrastructure project across its UK greenhouse operations.
Greenport Fresh operates large commercial growing facilities supplying fresh produce to the UK retail market. Behind the growing, picking and packing operation is an increasingly sophisticated technology platform, using connected systems and analytics to monitor production, workforce activity and operational efficiency.
For these systems to work effectively, reliable connectivity is required throughout the greenhouse environment, with data securely integrated back into the company’s central IT infrastructure in Austria.
The first installation at Netherhall Nursery in Essex was selected as the proving site for the wider project. Following a full site survey and assessment of the existing infrastructure, Wifiworks designed and installed a complete Ubiquiti UniFi wireless solution, including three UniFi Pro access points, PoE network switching and all associated network cabling, containment and conduit.
Designing Wi-Fi for a commercial greenhouse presents a very different challenge from a conventional office or residential environment. Large expanses of glass and metal, long growing areas, moisture and irrigation systems, together with constantly changing plant density, all need to be considered when planning reliable wireless coverage. The physical installation also had to work around a live commercial growing operation without interfering with day-to-day production.
Once installed, the UniFi network was fully configured and optimised, followed by testing and commissioning to confirm wireless coverage and performance throughout the required areas.
The new wireless infrastructure was then integrated with Greenport Fresh’s existing IT environment, with connectivity securely routed through its Fortinet firewall and back to the company’s central systems in Austria. This allows data generated within the greenhouse and its picking and packing operations to feed into the wider analytics platform used to understand productivity and operational efficiency.
Moving the wireless infrastructure onto the UniFi platform also provides centralised visibility and remote management, giving the technical team a consistent network architecture that can be monitored and supported remotely and, importantly, replicated across multiple locations.
The Essex installation was deliberately used to prove the design, installation and integration approach before progressing with the wider deployment. With the first site successfully installed, configured, tested and handed over, Wifiworks has now been given the green light to proceed with the remaining sites.
This project is a great example of how dependable network infrastructure is becoming fundamental across almost every industry. In this environment, Wi-Fi isn’t simply providing internet access – it forms part of the technology helping a modern agricultural business understand its operation, monitor performance and improve efficiency from greenhouse to packing line.
Ultimately, all of that technology helps get millions of cucumbers from greenhouse to supermarket shelf.
