The WET (Water Efficient Technologies) Centre operated from 2017 until 2024 at Niab’s East Malling site in Kent. Originally designed to demonstrate Niab’s water use efficiency research in practice for commercial strawberry growers, it expanded to demonstrate water use efficiency in raspberry and test nitrogen demand modelling.
It later evolved and developed into a facility that investigated ways of optimising key resources using novel approaches, and to increase precision, yields, fruit quality, and yield/harvest profiling in soft fruit crops.
During its seven-year life, The WET Centre was funded by a number of industry partners, with some providing the Centre with their latest products and technology to show growers how to employ these to improve precision growing of strawberry and raspberry.
The Agriculture, Horticulture and Development Board (AHDB), Berry Gardens, Cocogreen, Delta-T Devices, Netafim, New Leaf Irrigation, Stoller and Yara all provided funding as full partners during the life of the Centre, while Hutchinsons and Weatherquest were associate members.
The WET Centre became a centre of excellence for the latest growing systems including irrigation equipment, substrates, sensors, nutrient feeds, biostimulants and agrochemicals, along with tunnel technologies to provide water collection and improve resource use efficiency and productivity.
It also provided Niab with the opportunity to demonstrate results of its research in a commercially relevant production system, while Niab bred strawberry and raspberry varieties were grown to demonstrate any advantages and shortcomings over existing industry standards.
Commercial area of the WET Centre
For strawberry, the Centre was divided into a ‘commercial area’ which mirrored typical commercial practice and an ‘advanced area’, which incorporated the latest technologies to more precisely control the polytunnel phytoclimate. Not only did visitors to the site view this in action, but our scientists were able to make direct comparisons of fruit yield and quality between the two areas and report their results to the industry, allowing businesses to make informed decisions over whether to implement such technology on their own site.
Advanced area of the WET Centre
The WET Centre led the industry to reducing the average water use per tonne of fruit produced, it generated benchmark data for realistic net-zero targets, and also delivered benchmarking for comparative performance of other growing environments including glasshouse and total controlled environment agriculture or vertical farming systems.
It also successfully developed more precise growing conditions to maximise yields and fruit quality, and coupled with rainwater harvesting demonstrated ways in which local water security can be improved. Identifying how important light is to productivity has led to further Niab research to develop improved propagation systems for maximising propagule quality and cropping potential of strawberry.