From "A Thousand Clicks" to Digital Simplicity:

In a world of iPhones and AI, it seems almost surreal that until recently, a fruit grower still had to operate every nozzle manually. Yet, this was the reality for Henk de Jongh at Van Kessel Fruit. For him, the mission is clear: delivering a high-quality product with respect for nature. The pursuit of Clean Food, Clean World begins right here, with the individual tree.

“The machine thinks for me now.”

The grower who refused to stand still

Henk de Jongh, responsible for Van Kessel Fruit’s Waardenburg location, manages approximately 30 hectares of apples and pears. He is a grower committed to innovation and was one of the first in the sector to dare to make the switch to full precision. His motivation is practical and results-oriented: “Ultimately, we want to make money with it… I want to see a plus”.

“In the past, I spent the whole afternoon clicking.”

The “absurd” normal of the past

Looking back at the old way of working, he realizes how inefficient it was to manually manage variation in the orchard. “I’ve spent afternoons in the pears where you’re constantly looking back, clicking nozzles on and off-by feel- to decide whether to treat a tree or not. With thousands of trees per hectare, I think I must have clicked a thousand times. At the end of the day, you’d think: I must be crazy. You always miss something, and it’s an impossible task”.

Technical limitations had become an accepted norm, such as spray pressure dropping as soon as the tractor slowed down for a headland. “That just doesn’t work,” Henk concludes now.

The need for 100% control

Henk needed a system that gave him back control over every individual tree. He wanted to move away from the “all or nothing” principle, where trees that required no treatment still received a full dose. The grower sought a machine that could execute the strategy flawlessly without the constant margin of error of manual work: “Those full trees should get a full hit… while I want to spray less on those thin trees”.

For example in the case of selective blossom thinning, Henk noted: 

“Normally, I wouldn’t spray the trees at all because I was too afraid of losing too much blossom. Now, I feel like: I dare to go for it.”

The solution: “The machine thinks for me now”

Since 2022, Henk has been working with the KWH 3-row sprayer in combination with the LeapBox. For him, the machine has transformed from a passive tool into an intelligent partner that understands what is happening in the orchard. Especially when entering and exiting rows, the difference is night and day.

“With the old system, it was always a struggle,” Henk remembers. “When you turn at the end, you slow down. The computer would drop the pressure to correct the application rate. As soon as you re-entered the new row on cruise control, it could take twenty meters before the sprayer was back at the correct pressure. You were already back up to speed, but your pressure was hopelessly lagging behind”. With BBLeap, that uncertainty is gone. “As soon as I open my nozzle, I immediately have those nine bars of pressure. Regardless of how fast I drive, I maintain my constant pressure and thus my optimal droplet spectrum. You drive into the row and it’s right from the very first tree. That is a huge advantage and brings a lot of peace to the cabin”.

Furthermore, the recirculating boom function ensures that the product is immediately at the nozzle. “In the past, the first 10 or 20 meters were just clean water coming out of the lines; now the system sprays the correct mixture from the very first second”.

The proof: increased yield

The BBLeap approach delivers tangible results. By specifically thinning trees that are too full and leaving trees with little blossom alone, he creates a homogeneous orchard. “Last year, we achieved a clear increase in yield per hectare for the first time,” Henk says proudly. “That is fantastic,” he says, because the investment in technology pays for itself directly in returns. He notes that multiple factors play a role—it remains a product of nature—making it difficult to pin down an exact price tag.

“Last year, we achieved a plus for the first time with precision spraying.” 

Toward a homogeneous future

For Henk, this is only the beginning of Plant Precision. By monitoring and treating every tree individually, the cycle of alternate bearing is broken and production remains stable, resulting in an even orchard. “It is much more uniform now. Just one even plot,” he says about his experiences with vigour and blossom maps.

This precision provides not only more kilograms but also better quality. A uniform orchard means an optimal fruit size, lower picking costs, and better storage. Henk sees opportunities to gain even more profit by regulating application per tree profile—applying more product in the dense ‘skirt’ of the tree and less in the top. The system is ready; it is now a matter of doing it.

“The possibilities are endless”

For growers who are still hesitating, Henk has clear advice: the switch to this system is more than worth the investment because of the endless possibilities and the sheer convenience. “It’s ideal. I select the right nozzle on the screen and the system does the rest,” he concludes. “You no longer have to change all those nozzles with a ladder or study tables. You step into the tractor and it’s done”.

“It’s ideal, I select the right nozzle on the screen and the system does the rest. I no longer have to change all those nozzles with a ladder or study tables, I step into the tractor and it’s done.”

Lees meer verhalen