Delphy: 4 Weeks Early Warning Indicates 5x ROI for Gardin Alerts
Summary
- Early Detection Prevents Losses: Gardin's chlorophyll fluorescence sensors detect physiological stress up to 30 days before visual symptoms appear, enabling growers to take timely, low-cost corrective actions that preserve crop yield and quality.
- Proven ROI in Production Conditions: In a Dutch strawberry trial, Gardin predicted a major decline in Class-1 fruit quality four weeks in advance, delivering a 5x return and payback in under 10 days.
- Scalable Across Crops and Systems: Gardin's technology is crop-agnostic and greenhouse-ready, providing growers with a quantitative, automated platform to optimise cultivation, reduce waste, and maximise premium-grade output.
"Gardin sensors added value in seeing a response before we saw the crop deteriorating. I could definitely see the sensors being used to enhance quality and yield in lit crops, particularly as a way to increase their light use efficiency."
Stijn Jochems, Researcher at Delphy Improvement Centre.
Introduction
In fresh produce supply chains, quality determines margin. A kilogram of strawberries downgraded from Class-1 to Class-2 can lose 40–60% of its value, while aborted fruits yield no return at all despite consuming significant resources. Preventing such losses hinges on early detection — catching physiological stress before it becomes visible, before it impacts yield, and before it erodes profitability.
The earlier stress is detected, the more effective and economical the response:
- Time to Act: Early warning allows corrective actions—adjusting irrigation, ventilation, or biological controls—before stress becomes systemic.
- Protect Quality Premium: Maintaining Class-1 classification preserves price premiums and buyer trust.
- Reduce Input Waste: Intervening early requires lower doses of treatments, reducing costs and environmental footprint.
Traditional crop monitoring methods — such as visual scouting and thermal imaging — lag behind plant physiology. By the time they detect issues, it's often too late. Gardin offers a fundamentally different approach using chlorophyll fluorescence to measure photosynthetic efficiency in real time — a direct, quantitative window into plant health.
Comparing Chlorophyll Fluorescence To Other Crop Monitoring Methods
| Feature | Visual inspection | Leaf Temperature | Chlorophyll fluorescence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Responds directly to plant physiology? | No | Yes | Yes |
| Species-agnostic baseline | No | No | Yes (chlorophyll is universal) |
| Detects both biotic and abiotic stress | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Quantitative & automated | Low | Moderate | High |
| Typical advance warning | 0 - 2 days | 0 - 7 days | 7 - 30 days |
Chlorophyll fluorescence—specifically the Fv/Fm ratio—measures the performance of Photosystem II, a core component of photosynthesis. A decline in this signal indicates that plants are no longer efficiently converting light into sugars, often weeks before any visual symptom appears. This early window enables proactive intervention, safeguarding yield and quality.
Case Study: Strawberry Production at Delphy Improvement Centre (Winter 2023–24)
In a controlled trial conducted at the Delphy Improvement Centre in the Netherlands, Gardin monitored strawberry crops grown under different light recipes. Although light spectra had some effect, the dominant event was a significant drop in fruit quality around Christmas, where the Class-1 to Class-2 ratio declined from 1.00 to 0.82 — an 18% drop in top-grade yield.
Albion (top) and Favori (bottom) photosynthetic efficiency and berry quality during Winter 23/24 season.
Critically, Gardin detected this risk four weeks in advance, identifying a steep fall in photosynthetic efficiency. The root cause was identified as insufficient pruning, which left aging, starch-filled leaves that no longer contributed effective photosynthesis for fruit development. Once the vegetative canopy was refreshed, photosynthetic performance and yield quality recovered.
Albion (top) and Favori (bottom)
Gardin was able to quantify the monetary value of these four weeks and estimate the return on investment for an early warning system with the following assumptions:
| Assumption | Value |
|---|---|
| Typical annual strawberry revenue (modern greenhouse) | €500,000 ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ |
| Period length | 2 months (≈ 1 ⁄ 6 year) |
| Revenue during period (if no quality loss) | $500 000 × (2 ⁄ 12) = $83,333 |
| Price gap Class-1 vs Class-2 | 50% (Class-2 worth half as much) |
| Lost revenue when ratio drops 1.00 → 0.82 | 10% of period revenue = $7,500 ha⁻¹ |
| Gardin subscription for 2 months | $1,200 ha⁻¹ |
This results in a >5x ROI and payback period for using Gardin is less than 10 days. Gardin's technology leverages the universal biology of chlorophyll, meaning it works across all major crops — lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, herbs — and in all environments. The same sensor provides quantitative, comparable metrics across greenhouses, varieties, and growing strategies, unlocking benchmarking at scale.
Conclusion
Chlorophyll fluorescence transforms plant physiology into measurable data. By continuously monitoring the core engine of plant productivity—photosynthesis—Gardin's platform provides growers with early, actionable insights into plant stress well before symptoms become visible or yield declines occur. This early warning capability empowers growers to optimise their cultivation strategies in real time, safeguarding quality, improving input efficiency, and ultimately increasing profitability.
In a marketplace where quality determines success, the ability to maintain a high proportion of premium-grade yield is a necessity. Gardin delivers this advantage through a scalable, intuitive, and science-backed solution that works across crops, varieties, and growing environments. It replaces guesswork with data, subjective inspection with quantitative metrics, and late-stage reaction with preventative action.
The true cost growers face today is the lost revenue, wasted inputs, and damaged buyer relationships caused by issues that could have been caught earlier. In this context, Gardin is not merely a sensor platform — it's a strategic tool for quality assurance, operational efficiency, and risk management.
To start your journey towards understanding your plants better, please contact us to start the sales process.