BBLeap in Rijen wins Agrifood Award

LeapBox lets every plant grow to its maximum

No matter how fast you drive over your field with your sprayer or if you brake or take a turn: BBLeaps spraying system ensures that every individual plant always gets what it needs to grow optimally. Whether its corn, wheat, potatoes, onions, apples, or any other crop. The company calls it ‘one hundred percent excellent spraying.’ Our LeapBox turns every sprayer into a precision machine, says Joren Wolfert.

Very cool

The secret lies in a technique BBLeap launched in 2020. It works as follows. On every agricultural sprayer there is a tank holding the liquid and 2 fold-out arms (‘spray booms’) with a hose (‘spray line’) through which the liquid flows. Every 25 or 50 centimeters there is a nozzle where the liquid is sprayed onto the field.

And now comes the trick. Between the spray line and the nozzle is a valve (‘plunger’) that opens and closes. The LeapBox can open and close this plunger 100 times per second(!). That mechanism is very cool to see, says Joren Wolfert with a happy face. But just as Coca-Cola does not reveal its recipe, BBLeap does not disclose exactly how its system works. The fact is that worldwide no one has yet succeeded in imitating this technique.

Droplet size

The LeapBox can precisely set 3 things: the amount of liquid the plunger lets through, how it distributes the liquid, and even how big each droplet should be. Droplet size is an underestimated phenomenon, Wolfert knows: Suppose it starts to blow during spraying. The smaller and finer the droplet, the more droplets blow away and end up where you dont want them. For example, at the neighbors field or in a forest.

That drifting is called drift. There is increasing legislation aimed at preventing drift. BBLeap seeks the solution in technology: Our system creates coarser droplets when the wind picks up. They land neatly on the intended plant, regardless of how fast you drive. The system controls it.

Not a drop too much

What effect does this system have in practice? Suppose you had potatoes on your field last year but choose onions next year. There will always be a few potatoes left in the ground. These become new plants that take nutrients from the onion, which then is hindered in its growth. So if you want to spray away the potato without harming the onion, says Joren Wolfert. Voilà, we can set that exactly for you. And you dont use a drop too much.

BBLeap works with data providers who can map exactly within one field where the crop grows excellently and where less so. Those maps help you determine precisely where the most soil potential is. In those spots, you spray a bit more fertilizer. But on a less green patch, you spray nothing, because those plants will never be the best in class anyway. We set your spray nozzles so they spray with decimeter accuracy. That way you save smartly on fertilizer use.

Everyone is enthusiastic

If you spray so smartly, your plants keep flourishing, says Joren Wolfert. ‘The biodiversity (The variety of life in a certain area) increases. Your crops keep growing longer, so you get a better yield, because per hectare you harvest more food from your field. And the food is healthier too, because it has less often been hit by the chemicals. And because you need fewer chemicals, you also achieve a significant financial saving.’

Moreover, spraying crop protection products can prevent diseases from sneaking into your crops, such as phytophthora (fungus) in potatoes. And if there is fungus in your potato, then we as consumers have no potatoes and the farmer has no income.

Everyone can do it

Ease of use is also an important advantage of the LeapBox: because it guarantees optimal distribution of crop protection products, it is no longer necessary that the person with the most experience drives the tractor. Anyone on your farm can do it, says Wolfert. Also important: the BBLeap system can be mounted on any agricultural sprayer, regardless of age and brand. That way you make every sprayer the most innovative sprayer there is.

The result of all these advantages? So far, no farmer has gone back on their steps. Everyone is enthusiastic. BBLeap started in 2020 with one system in the Netherlands; in 2025 there are 200 worldwide. The number of employees grew from 3 to 30.

Clean food, clean world

‘Clean food, clean world’: that is BBLeaps slogan. Wolfert explains what the company means by that. ‘If you can farm in a way that only does what is necessary, you leave a lot intact. And you see that back in the soil, the crops, and the environment. With our approach, we as a sector can show provincially, nationally, and worldwide that we do not recklessly scatter chemicals around. And then mouths will drop, predicts Wolfert: People will say: “Is the agricultural sector really doing this? Are they so advanced and so consciously working with crops?”’

Agrifood Award December 2025

“The innovative solution from BBLeap fits seamlessly with the mission of the Province of North Brabant. It is steering towards an agricultural and food system that is smart, circular, valuable, and connected,” says deputy Marc Oudenhoven (Agricultural development). “That is why the province appreciates this groundbreaking solution with an Agrifood Award.”