A Cambridge co-operative that has developed technology to help lettuces grow in space is celebrating a major anniversary in style.
Delta-T Devices, which manufactures high-quality scientific instruments and monitoring systems for plant and soil science, commercial horticulture and solar PV, is marking 55 years in business with a string of new contract wins.
Demand for the firm’s industry-leading product range has seen it hit £5m in annual sales, a £1.5m increase since 2021.
It has also invested in strengthening its team, bringing in experienced new department heads and developing capabilities across the business at its original Burwell home, where its modern HQ stands alongside the affectionately named ‘Tudor Barn’, an extraordinary late 16th-century building.
“Our initial purpose was to make instruments for ‘socially worthwhile purposes at, a reasonable cost’ and that founding ethic still rings true,” explained Heidi Hathaway, chair of Delta-T Devices.
“While our research heritage remains fundamental to what we do, the business today is focused equally between environmental research, commercial horticulture and solar PV, delivering solutions that operate for projects in more than 20 countries and across five continents. Our WET Sensor technology was even used to support experiments growing lettuce in outer space.”
She added: “Fifty five years in business is some achievement and I like to think our co-operative structure has given us the freedom to make decisions that are accelerating innovations and creating solutions that are changing the way the world works.”
Delta-T Devices help researchers, growers and solar-energy professionals collect accurate environmental data and use it to make better decisions.
Increasingly, the firm combines research-grade sensors with wireless communications and cloud-based data solutions to provide complete remote monitoring systems.
Significant investment is now being channelled into the development of new products. These include the WET90, a compact multi-parameter sensor designed particularly for commercial growing media, and a new Modbus version of the SPN1 Sunshine Pyranometer for simplifying integration into modern solar PV monitoring systems.
Both are due to be released shortly, and will be joined by Celora, which is a compact wireless telemetry unit that connects Delta-T and third-party SDI-12 sensors directly to the cloud via 4G, making it easier to deploy monitoring networks without conventional data-logging infrastructure.
Mark Daniels, head of sales & marketing, added: “One of the biggest opportunities for us is taking more than five decades of expertise in research-grade measurement and applying it to much larger commercial markets.
“Accurate data matters just as much to a grower managing irrigation or a solar operator monitoring a large PV installation as it does to a scientist conducting research.
“Interest comes from clients all over the world, with 80% of our revenue coming from export markets. The US, China and Europe are particularly important markets making us a true international success story.”
Delta-T Devices has several exciting plans to mark its 55th anniversary, including a major sympathetic restoration of the ‘Tudor Barn’, which will become an integrated part of its HQ.
More broadly, the co-operative is exploring how it can meet the growing demand around water-use efficiency, soil care, plant health analysis, environmental monitoring, automation and digitalisation.
This fits the company particularly well because technologies developed to satisfy demanding scientific users can increasingly deliver tangible benefits to commercial growers and renewable-energy operators.
Heidi concluded: “There is a slightly bohemian footnote to our origins. The community from which we emerged included Joan Harvey, a prominent Cambridge humanist and freethinker, whose daughter Sarah was married to musician and artist Brian Eno.
“Our founder Edmund Potter said the popular member of Roxy Music often hung out with the early members of the ‘Delta-T’ team, invariably filling a large notebook with his latest creative thoughts and ideas. Not the usual environment for a start-up.”