With its suite of organic biostimulants, Québec-based Ulysse Biotech is helping farmers harness the power of nature to grow healthier, more abundant crops in a more sustainable way. Sollum Technologies is pleased to support its efforts.
Global agriculture is facing major challenges in the coming years. Organic biostimulants being developed and commercialized by companies like Ulysse Biotech offer a solution to these problems, by increasing yields and enhancing crop quality and resilience using less crop protection, fertilizer, and fossil fuel.
“Sollum’s lighting solution is critical to our work,” says Dr. François Gagné-Bourque, the company’s director of research and development. “To test our products, we use a grow room in which every variable – including lighting, water, and fertilization – must be controlled with exceptional precision and uniformity.”
“After exploring a few different products on the market, we selected Sollum for the lighting component. Their solution stood out for its ability to recreate almost any natural lighting condition according to detailed research specifications, without compromising the atmospheric conditions of the grow room.”
Real-time monitoring
"Following months of testing Sollum’s LED lighting solution, Ulysse Biotech was pleased with the results, noting that they were able to grow flowers of unprecedented quality and visual properties. They also observed a positive impact on the durability of their seedlings and the growth rates of plants – including species like corn, which grew much more quickly than expected under Sollum’s solution."
Since then, the company has discovered both scientific and commercial advantages to the Sollum technology. According to Dr. Lauriane Giroux, research analyst at Ulysse Biotech: “On a practical level, I don’t have to worry about the variable conditions that affect field research, or about the status of the light fixtures, because the automated monitoring system notifies me in real-time if anything is amiss.”
“However, it’s more than just that. Sollum’s fixtures are also more energy-efficient and emit less heat, giving us better control over plant growth cycles and enabling us to work through the summer when it would normally be too hot. This opens up new opportunities to experiment with an even broader range of applications for our products.”
Dr. Gagné-Bourque notes that being able to replicate the natural conditions in which prospective clients operate has been helpful in the sales process: “When we speak to growers in California, for example, we can assure them that we’ve tested our products in conditions that are as close as possible to theirs. Our investment in high-quality research and data increases confidence in our products and carries a lot of weight.”