AeroFarms and Nokia Bell Labs Partner to Further AI-Plant Technology

By Johnny Eppich

August 11, 2021

AeroFarms and Nokia Bell Labs have unveiled a multi-year partnership. The goal is to combine their expertise and expand their joint capabilities in cutting-edge networking, autonomous systems, and integrated machine vision and machine learning technologies to identify and track plant interactions at the most advanced levels.

As part of this partnership, AeroFarms, a global leader in indoor vertical farming, contributes its commercial growing expertise, comprehensive environmental controls, an agriculture-focused data platform, and machine vision core foundation.

Nokia Bell Labs, the industrial research arm of Nokia, contributes its autonomous drone control and orchestration systems, private wireless networks, robust image and sensor data pipelines, and innovative artificial intelligence (AI) enabled mobile sensor technologies.

AeroFarms and Nokia Bell Labs have been working together since 2020. They have reached a milestone of achieving a proof of concept for this state-of-the-art integrated system and testing the technologies with AeroFarms’ current commercial crop varieties.

Together, they plan to scale this system to all of AeroFarms’ crops and future indoor vertical farms, including the next ones in Danville, VA, and Abu Dhabi.

The integration of Nokia Bell Labs’ AI-enabled drone-based sensors and advanced machine learning, computer vision, and data analytics technologies with AeroFarms’ existing machine vision tools enhances and elevates AeroFarms’ position as an agriculture platform and capabilities organization dedicated to solving food and agriculture supply chain challenges.

“With Nokia Bell Labs, we have developed the next-generation system that can image every plant every day in a cost-effective way at scale,” says David Rosenberg, CEO at AeroFarms. “This level of detailed imaging and insights helps us be better farmers by monitoring our plant biology dynamically and allowing us to course-correct as needed to ensure the highest level of quality all year round.”

Nokia Bell Labs’ machine vision technology has enabled the most precise data capture yet, down to the level of individual plants, using leaf size segmentation, quantification, and pixel-based scanning to identify consistency and variation.

Going beyond what even the human eye can perceive, this state-of-the-art imaging technology enables the gathering of immense insights about a plant, including its leaf size, stem length, coloration, curvature, spotting, and tearing.

The end-to-end system is flexible and robust, built to take advantage of Nokia’s 5G private wireless network with cloud processing technology. The network is designed for low latency and high privacy in an on-premises network. It also provides intelligent industrial analytics capabilities as an integrated service that can be deployed quickly and efficiently anywhere.

“Nokia Bell Labs is driven to solve hard and impactful problems, and together with AeroFarms, we are building the ability to see and identify plant interactions at unprecedented levels,” says Thierry Klein, Vice President of Integrated Solutions and Experiences Research Lab at Nokia. “The fundamental technologies of this partnership are our strength, and vertical farming is just the beginning. With the AeroFarms platform, we are exploring the power of network-driven intelligence for industrial outcomes. These capabilities can expand into a multitude of indoor industrial operations, including logistics, warehousing, distribution hubs, and manufacturing.”

Agtech Company AppHarvest Has Secured A $91m Financing Arrangement With Sustainably-Focused Investment Firm Equilibrium Capital To Fuel The Future Construction of 12 High-Tech Indoor Farms by 2025

By Mary Ellen Shoup

July 27, 2021

Agtech company AppHarvest has secured a $91m financing arrangement with sustainably-focused investment firm Equilibrium Capital to fuel the future construction of 12 high-tech indoor farms by 2025.

Read The Rest Here: HTTPS://WWW.FOODNAVIGATOR-USA.COM/ARTICLE/2021/07/27/APPHARVEST-SECURES-91M-FINANCING-TO-FUEL-2025-INDOOR-FARMING-AMBITIONS 

AppHarvest Taps Amazon Veteran Mark Keller To Operationalize AI-Informed Farm Operating System

July 26, 2021

Keller joins the AppHarvest technology group as SVP, Software Applications Platform, with a proven track record of building AWS services and high-performing teams

AgTech leader AppHarvest (NASDAQ: APPH, APPHW), a public benefit company and certified B Corporation focused on farming more sustainably using 90% less water than open-field agriculture and only recycled rainwater, has named Amazon veteran Mark Keller as its SVP, Software Applications Platform. Keller joins the AppHarvest technology group as it works to operationalize its Project TalOS platform to make fresh fruit and vegetable production as reliable as consumer goods manufacturing.

To create the Farm of the Future, AppHarvest is investing in robotics, artificial intelligence, tele-operation, and proprietary seed genetics. With robots roving through the facility alongside the company’s human labor force, interacting with and caring for the crops, the company will be collecting data continuously on plant production to feed into AI and then using software to align facility operations with sales and logistics.

“We are massively expanding our team to build out our digital operating model for farming, which has AI at its core that can manage a global network of facilities and effortlessly execute complex supply chain strategies intelligently and autonomously,” said Josh Lessing, AppHarvest chief technology officer. “Adding an industry veteran like Mark will be a true game-changer for this growth phase of our business, and his strong, people-centric leadership skills will be a key enabler for the AppHarvest technology group.”

Keller has a proven record spanning more than 25 years of turning ideas into full-featured technology solutions, such as launching Amazon’s first four large-scale Kiva robotics sortable warehouses and the PrimeNow Warehouse Management Software used to run the company’s one-hour fulfillment centers.

“The Holy Grail in agriculture is predicting and managing yield and quality,” said AppHarvest founder and CEO Jonathan Webb. “Having Mark join will accelerate our efforts as we train our intelligent robot, Virgo, to harvest multiple crops—ranging from tomatoes and cucumbers to more delicate fruits such as strawberries—as we move toward more AI-informed growing. These insights collected and analyzed, then fed into AI, will be the true game-changer for us since every piece of fruit is an outcome that resulted from the many variables in the growing process.”

“Two of the most pressing global concerns are water scarcity and creating resilient food supply, and AppHarvest is solving for both,” said Keller. “As a father of four, I want to leave a strong legacy for my children and leverage technology for good. The foundation AppHarvest is building will give controlled environment agriculture the opportunity to restructure the food landscape to mirror the hyper-efficient e-commerce landscape.”

Keller is a Hispanic Gulf-War veteran who brings a unique perspective to employee engagement programs being an early driver of the Amazon Warriors veterans employee group and having participated in the Latinos @ Amazon employee group. Keller also was an early adopter of the Military Apprentice Software Development Engineer program to improve diversity hiring in technology, which he expects to continue at AppHarvest.

About AppHarvest

AppHarvest is an applied technology company in Appalachia developing and operating some of the world’s largest high-tech indoor farms, designed to grow non-GMO, chemical pesticide-free produce, using up to 90 percent less water than open-field agriculture and only recycled rainwater while producing yields up to 30 times that of traditional agriculture on the same amount of land without agricultural runoff. The company combines conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology including artificial intelligence and robotics to improve access for all to nutritious food, farming more sustainably, building a domestic food supply, and increasing investment in Appalachia. The company’s 60-acre Morehead, Ky. facility is among the largest indoor farms in the U.S. For more information, visit https://www.appharvest.com/.

Grōv Technologies Signs Definitive Agreement With Superior Farms

July 12, 2021

Vineyard — Agtech and indoor farming company, Grōv Technologies, today announced a definitive agreement with California-based Superior Farms for the purchase of 10 Olympus Tower Farms that will produce fresh year-round feed for Superior’s upcoming Sheep Discovery Center™ in Central Utah. Grōv is part of Superior Farms’ efforts to dramatically improve the sustainability and growth of US lamb production.

The ten Olympus Tower Farms will produce 60,000 pounds of Grōv’s fresh High-Density Nutrient (HDN) Superfeed wheatgrass a day using less than 5 percent of the water needed for field-grown fodder, without the use of pesticides or herbicides.

The Sheep Discovery Center is a new venture of Superior Farms.  The goal of the Discovery Center is to showcase how sustainably focused science and technology can help farmers increase their flocks and consistently produce high-quality lamb.

“Our collaboration with Superior showcases how Grōv indoor ag technology can benefit farmers who want to improve production and sustainability, and minimize risk, especially as it relates to drought conditions that plague regions across the world,” says Steve Lindsley, president of Grōv Technologies. “The innovative thinking of Superior Farms is right in line with our efforts to provide feed security for animals and food security for growing populations.” 

Leveraging Grōv’s indoor Olympus Tower Farms to grow fresh HDN feed, Superior Farms intends to optimize nutrition and environmental conditions to help support animal health during the lambing cycle. Superior Farms will also implement Grōv’s seasonal lighting technology as part of Superior’s efforts to improve the productivity of their sheep and provide a more consistent lamb supply throughout the year. 

“The current Western U.S. megadrought is pushing farmers to ration their natural resources and find innovative ways to give their animals a more sustainable and nutrient-rich environment,” says Rick Stott, CEO of Superior Farms. “Feeding sheep with Grōv HDN opens up new opportunities for sheep farmers and gives them a way to overcome the water issues affecting their flocks.” 

During the Covid pandemic, more consumers tried lamb for the first time and continued to purchase it throughout the year.  The US lamb industry expects demand to keep rising as the number of new consumers who are more familiar with lamb continues to grow. 

For more information about Grōv Technologies please visit www.Grōvtech.com. 

About Grōv Technologies, LLC
Grōv Technologies is pioneering next-generation indoor agriculture technology and science to help meet the demand for global food and animal feed security. The company has developed enterprise-scale, automated controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems to grow high-density nutrient animal feed and other crops using significantly less water and resources than traditional farming. These systems utilize patented low-heat LED technology, seed-to-harvest robotics, and data-driven scientifically proven indoor growing protocols.  Grōv also operates an LED lighting and power management subsidiary, Stellar Smart Energy Solutions, using proprietary Wave Power Transformation and power management networking technology for commercial and agricultural facilities. Grōv is wholly owned by Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS), which develops and distributes a comprehensive line of premium-quality beauty and wellness solutions through a global network of sales leaders.

About Superior Farms
Superior Farms, the leading purveyor of sustainably raised, ranch-to-table American lamb. Proudly providing the highest quality natural lamb for a variety of recipes from weeknight dinners to Sunday brunch, lunches, and more, Superior Farms offers a range of premium cuts. From the mountains of Utah, the brisk winters of Minnesota, and the shores of California, Superior Farms prides itself on working exclusively with family ranchers who raise lambs with the best care and commitment to quality wellbeing and stable environment. Respecting a nutrient-rich land, maintaining a sustainable footprint, and working with dedicated family ranchers who raise flocks with the highest level of care, all are core values that make Superior Farms the leader in American lamb. From the plant floor to the corner office, Superior Farms is also proud to be 100 percent owned by its dedicated and talented employees. For more information, visit www.superiorfarms.com, order home delivery at www.superior-farms.com, or follow the brand on Instagram (@SuperiorFarms) and Facebook (@SuperiorFarms). 

How AgriTech Is Playing A Key Role In Greenhouse Vegetable Production

By Brian D. Sparks

June 2, 2021

Editor’s Note: This is the last of a four-part series covering of growth of Kentucky Fresh Harvest as it prepares for its first crop. Check out the previous parts of the series here.

In support of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s vision of a diverse and resilient agricultural industry in Kentucky, one of the keys to the long-term growth plan of Kentucky Fresh Harvest is its involvement with the Kentucky AgriTech Initiative. This initiative is designed to highlight Kentucky’s unique position to offer an environment that can attract, develop, and sustain agritech-related enterprises.

In this exclusive interview with Greenhouse Grower, Gov. Beshear provides a closer look at the AgriTech Initiative and how companies like Kentucky Fresh Harvest are building a brighter future for the commonwealth.

Greenhouse Grower: Can you give an overview of the Kentucky AgriTech Initiative, why it was formed, and its goals?

Gov. Beshear: Last June, I took several steps, including creating an AgriTech Advisory Council, to keep my promise to build America’s AgriTech capital in Kentucky. The council includes representatives from farming, education, labor, civic life, and representatives from leading companies in the commonwealth such as Alltech, AppHarvest, Black Soil, and Kentucky Fresh Harvest.

Your readers are familiar with Kentucky Fresh Harvest, which cares about where our food comes from, how our food is grown, and who grows our food. These are all elements that align with the Kentucky AgriTech Initiative. Because of this, they have been able to revolutionize the protected agriculture industry and become an authority on vegetable production in Kentucky.

Kentucky Fresh Harvest already has been through the growing pains associated with building a greenhouse of this scale. So, it made sense for them to join the AgriTech Advisory Council nearly a year ago in our collective mission to highlight and develop Kentucky’s tremendous potential to help solve one of the greatest challenges of our generation: producing reliable, safe, and accessible food for the world. While that challenge is prevalent today, the expected global population surge in between now and 2050 will only amplify its severity. Team Kentucky is addressing this by combining three signature strengths: Kentucky’s prowess as a national leader in both manufacturing and logistics, along with our deep roots as an agricultural state.

The initiative will attract and cultivate good-paying, private-sector jobs and companies that create technologies, services and produce to help feed the world.

Our AgriTech Advisory Council’s goals for the initiative:

• Create good jobs and strengthen Kentucky’s economy;

• Attract local and global technologies and partners that support the development of innovative agriculture in the commonwealth;

• Craft policies that spur the development of our agritech ecosystem;

• Develop local supply and demand for technologies and agricultural products grown and manufactured here in Kentucky;

• Develop and attract the necessary workforce to sustain the agritech ecosystem;

• Help develop access to capital for new and innovative businesses in this sector; and

• Build necessary cooperation channels between interested players.

Greenhouse Grower: What are the benefits of the initiative to both consumers and growing operations?

Gov. Beshear: By harnessing the assets in our backyard, the AgriTech Advisory Council seeks to develop an environment in which consumers gain better access to healthy food, obtain a more thorough understanding of where their food comes from, and realize the benefits of supporting local, sustainable farms. Relative to growing operations, the initiative focuses on helping them do what they do best – run their businesses while relying on Team Kentucky as a partner that shares their vision for a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient food system based right here in the Bluegrass State.

Greenhouse Grower: How can growers get involved?

Gov. Beshear: We want to hear from growers, no matter the size of their operations. We believe there are a number of opportunities for collaboration among growers and other innovators from all sectors – from greenhouse vegetable producers to our advanced manufacturing and logistic sectors. We even offer opportunities on all levels of the educational and workforce training system so that some of our youngest minds can look forward to becoming a part of the industry. If you are in a position to showcase your work or engage with Kentucky students, please contact us. Visit www.agritech.ky.gov.

Greenhouse Grower: What has been Kentucky’s experience of working with Kentucky Fresh Harvest?

Gov. Beshear: Kentucky Fresh Harvest has been a great partner of the commonwealth and true pioneers in the state’s high-tech greenhouse sector. Rocky Adkins, my Senior Advisor, and I visited the site in Lincoln County recently, and it was great to see the rich promise of agritech in Kentucky on display. The company’s scientific approach shows us that certain obstacles of large-scale agritech are no longer relevant. Kentucky Fresh Harvest’s dedication to education and inclusivity are great examples of excellent corporate citizenship and ambassadorship for the industry as a whole.

By Brian D. Sparks

Source and Photo Courtesy of Greenhouse Grower

Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit June 24-25

 We can’t wait for the virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit! From 65+ global speakers to 1-1 video networking opportunities and live-streamed panel discussions, this is one event you don’t want to miss on June 24-25.

Find Out More

Join iGrow News at the virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit (June 24-25) and connect with global farm operators, retailers, and investors for two days of insights into how CEA and vertical farming can reach greater profitability and scale

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Global farm operators, retailers, investors, and technology providers will host live panel sessions and interactive roundtable debates on new trends and technologies at the virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit (June 24-25):

REGISTER

The virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit will focus on CEA and vertical farming reaching greater profitability and scale in the USA and overseas.

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On June 24-25?

Vertical Farming Startup Oishii Raises $50m In Series A Funding

By Sian Yates

03/11/2021

Oishii, a vertical farming startup based in New Jersey, has raised $50 million during a Series A funding round led by Sparx Group’s Mirai Creation Fund II.

The funds will enable Oishii to open vertical strawberry farms in new markets, expand its flagship farm outside of Manhattan, and accelerate its investment in R&D.

“Our mission is to change the way we grow food. We set out to deliver exceptionally delicious and sustainable produce,” said Oishii CEO Hiroki Koga. “We started with the strawberry – a fruit that routinely tops the dirty dozen of most pesticide-riddled crops – as it has long been considered the ‘holy grail’ of vertical farming.”

“We aim to be the largest strawberry producer in the world, and this capital allows us to bring the best-tasting, healthiest berry to everyone. From there, we’ll quickly expand into new fruits and produce,” he added.

Oishii is already known for its innovative farming techniques that have enabled the company to “perfect the strawberry,” while its proprietary and first-of-its-kind pollination method is conducted naturally with bees.

The company’s vertical farms feature zero pesticides and produce ripe fruit all year round, using less water and land than traditional agricultural methods.

“Oishii is the farm of the future,” said Sparx Group president and Group CEO Shuhei Abe. “The cultivation and pollination techniques the company has developed set them well apart from the industry, positioning Oishii to quickly revolutionise agriculture as we know it.”

The company has raised a total of $55 million since its founding in 2016.

Little Leaf Farms Raises $90M to Grow Its Greenhouse Network

by Jennifer Marston

Image from: Little Leaf Farms

Massachusetts-based Little Leaf Farms has raised $90 million in a debt and equity financing round to expand its network of hydroponic greenhouses on the East Coast. The round was led by Equilibrium Capital as well as founding investors Bill Helman and Pilot House Associates. Bank of America also participated.

Little Leaf Farms says the capital is “earmarked” to build new greenhouse sites along the East Coast, where its lettuce is currently available in about 2,500 stores. 

The company already operates one 10-acre greenhouse in Devins, Massachusetts. Its facility grows leafy greens using hydroponics and a mixture of sunlight supplemented by LED-powered grow lights. Rainwater captured from the facility’s roof provides most of the water used on the farm. 

According to a press release, Little Leaf Farms has doubled its retail sales to $38 million since 2019. And last year, the company bought180 acres of land in Pennsylvania on which to build an additional facility. Still another greenhouse, slated for North Carolina, will serve the Southeast region of the U.S. 

Little Leaf Farms joins the likes of Revol Greens, Gotham Greens, AppHarvest, and others in bringing local(ish) greens to a greater percentage of the population. These facilities generally pack and ship their greens on the day of or day after harvesting, and only supply retailers within a certain radius. Little Leaf Farms, for example, currently servers only parts of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. 

The list of regions the company serves will no doubt lengthen as the company builds up its greenhouse network in the coming months.

Vertical Farming ‘At a Crossroads’

Building the right business model to balance resource usage with socio-economic conditions is crucial to capturing new markets, say speakers ahead of Agri-TechE event

Image from: Fruitnet

Although growing crops all year round with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has been proposed as a method to localize food production and increase resilience against extreme climate events, the efficiency and limitations of this strategy need to be evaluated for each location. 

That is the conclusion of research by Luuk Graamans of Wageningen University & Research, a speaker at the upcoming Agri-TechE event on CEA, which takes place on 25 February.

His research shows that integration with urban energy infrastructure can make vertical farms more viable. Graamans’ research around the modelling of vertical farms shows that these systems are able to achieve higher resource use efficiencies, compared to more traditional food production, except when it comes to electricity. 

Vertical farms, therefore, need to offer additional benefits to offset this increased energy use, Graamans said. One example his team has investigated is whether vertical farms could also provide heat.

“We investigated if vertical farms could provide not just food for people living in densely populated areas and also heat their homes using waste heat. We found that CEA can contribute to stabilizing the increasingly complex energy grid.”

Diversification

This balance between complex factors both within the growing environment and wider socio-economic conditions means that the rapidly growing CEA industry is beginning to diversify with different business models emerging.

Jack Farmer is CSO at vertical producer LettUs Grow, which recently launched its Drop & Grow growing units, offering a complete farming solution in a shipping container. 

He believes everyone in the vertical farming space is going to hit a crossroads. “Vertical farming, with its focus on higher value and higher density crops, is effectively a subset of the broader horticultural sector,” he said. 

"All the players in the vertical farming space are facing a choice – to scale vertically and try to capture as much value in that specific space, or to diversify and take their technology expertise broader.”

LettUs Grow is focussed on being the leading technology provider in containerised farming, and its smaller ‘Drop & Grow: 24’ container is mainly focussed on people entering the horticultural space.

Opportunities in retail

“This year is looking really exciting,” he said. “Supermarkets are investing to ensure a sustainable source of food production in the UK, which is what CEA provides. We’re also seeing a growth in ‘experiential’ food and retail and that’s also where we see our Drop & Grow container farm fitting in.”

Kate Hofman, CEO, GrowUp agrees. The company launched the UK’s first commercial-scale vertical farm in 2014.

“It will be really interesting to see how the foodservice world recovers after lockdown – the rough numbers are that supermarket trade was up at least 11 per cent in the last year – so retail still looks like a really good direction to go in. 

“If we want to have an impact on the food system in the UK and change it for the better, we’re committed to partnering with those big retailers to help them deliver on their sustainability and values-driven goals.

“Our focus is very much as a salad grower that grows a fantastic product that everyone will want to buy. And we’re focussed on bringing down the cost of sustainable food, which means doing it at a big enough scale to gain the economies of production that are needed to be able to sell at everyday prices.”

Making the Numbers Add Up

The economics are an important part of the discussion. Recent investment in the sector has come from the Middle East, and other locations, where abundant solar power and scarce resources are driving interest in CEA. Graamans’ research has revealed a number of scenarios where CEA has a strong business case.

For the UK, CEA should be seen as a continuum from glasshouses to vertical farming, he believes. “Greenhouses can incorporate the technologies from vertical farms to increase climate control and to enhance their performance under specific climates."

It is this aspect that is grabbing the attention of conventional fresh produce growers in open field and covered crop production.  

A Blended Approach

James Green, director of agriculture at G’s, thinks combining different growing methods is the way forward. “There’s a balance in all of these systems between energy costs for lighting, energy costs for cooling, costs of nutrient supply, and then transportation and the supply and demand. At the end of the day, sunshine is pretty cheap and it comes up every day.

“I think a blended approach, where you’re getting as much benefit as you can from nature but you’re supplementing it and controlling the growth conditions, is what we are aiming for, rather than the fully artificially lit ‘vertical farming’.”

Graamans, Farmer and Hofman will join a discussion with conventional vegetable producers, vertical farmers and technology providers at the Agri-TechE event ‘Controlled Environment Agriculture is growing up’ on 25 February 2021.

Bowery’s Founder, Irving Fain, On The Future of Vertical Farming

Image from: The Spoon

At one point in the not-so-distant past, vertical farming’s role in our future agricultural system was far from certain. Growing leafy greens in warehouse-like environments controlled by tech seemed like a compelling business, but one that had yet to prove itself either economically or as an important source of food for a growing world population.

That, at least, was a common sentiment Irving Fain, CEO and founder of Bowery, met with when he started his vertical farming company five years ago. “There was a bit of skepticism around it,” he told me over a call recently, suggesting that five years ago, there were a lot more “ifs” than “whens” in terms of vertical farming’s future.

Fain, Bowery, and the entire vertical farming industry get a much warmer reception nowadays. Investment dollars are pouring into the space. Around the world, companies, scientists, and food producers are using the method to not just supply upscale grocery stores with greens but experiment with breeds of produce, feed underserved populations, and grow food in non-arable regions. As Fain suggested when we spoke, the last 12 months seem to have turned those “ifs” into definite “whens.” 

Bowery’s last 12 months also illustrate this change. Fain said that Bowery went from under 100 retail locations about a year ago to nearly 700 right now, and will be in more than 1,000 “in the coming months.” Its produce is in a number of food retailers around the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, including Whole Foods Market, Giant Food, Stop & Shop, Walmart, and Weis Markets. And in 2020, the company experienced “more than 4x growth” with e-commerce partners.

While the pandemic is responsible for some of this popularity, Fain insists it is not the only reason for the eventful year. “It’s definitely bigger than the pandemic,” he said. “What you’re seeing is a food system that’s evolving and [people have a desire] to see transparency and traceability in the food system.” These, he says, are issues the traditional food supply chain isn’t really able to address right now, hence the opportunity for companies like Bowery, which effectively cut multiple steps out of the supply chain.

Bowery grows its greens (lettuces, herbs, and some custom blends) inside industrial spaces where crops are stacked vertically in trays and fed nutrients and water via a hydroponic system. Technology controls all elements of the farm, from the temperature inside to how much light each plants get. The company currently operates two farms, one in New Jersey and the other in Maryland. A third is planned for Pennsylvania. 

Technology, in particular, is something Bowery has big plans for. On top of a retail expansion, Bowery also added some notable personnel to its staff, including Injong Rhee, formerly the Internet of Things VP at Google as well a chief technologist at Samsung. Having such technology chops onboard will be vital in order for Bowery to realize many of its ambitions around advanced automation, which has the potential to optimize many parts of the seed-to-store process for vertically grown greens. 

For example, Bowery’s farms are equipped with sensors and cameras that are constantly collecting data — “billions” of points, according to the company — that can be used to not just observe the current state of plant health but also predict the most optimal growing conditions for each crop. Elements like temperature, humidity levels, nutrient levels, and light intensity can all be adjusted, via the BoweryOS software, to create those optimal conditions. The end result is more consistent crop production, better yields, more flavorful food, and, ideally, a better nutritional profile for the greens compared to what conventional produce offers.

The system can also, through automation and AI, detect problems with plants. In a recent interview with Venture Beat, Bowery Chief Science Officer Henry Sztul used the example of butterhead lettuce yellowing at the edges during growth. Bowery’s system is technologically advanced enough at this point that it is starting to understand the conditions that create those yellowing edges. That foreknowledge, in turn, will allow growers to adjust the crop “recipe” (see above mixture of lights, temperature, etc.) to avoid the problem.

It took Bowery years to get to this point in terms of what its technology is capable of doing. “The system [for] indoor farming that you choose has a direct impact on the crops you’ll be able to grow, on the margins you’ll be able to generate, and on the return profile of the business itself,” said Fain. “And so being incredibly intentional and thoughtful about what technology you use is something we spent a lot of time on because it has an extraordinarily important economic impact.”

On a less technically complex note, controlled ag from Bowery and others also goes some way towards reinventing the supply food chain. Rather than greens being harvested in, say, Mexico and shipped via a complex distribution process all the way to Baltimore, they are packaged up at the farm and distributed to nearby retailers, usually those within a day’s drive “It is much more sustainable. It is much more efficient, and it’s more reliable, and those things have been important to consumers long before COVID,” said Fain.

Bowery will continue to innovate on both the technology and supply side of its business, as well as with the food itself. The company just launched a new specialty product line that will experiment with different flavors of greens and change frequently. 

In terms of tech, Bowery’s latest farm, currently being built in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will incorporate even more automation than the company’s two existing farms. That location is slated to open later in 2021. When it does, Bowery will be capable of serving nearly 50 million people within a 200-mile radius.

The company hopes to expand its geographic reach much wider some day, building farms near most major U.S. cities and beyond. Given the increased confidence in the vertical farming sector as a whole, now looks to be the optimal time to move towards those ambitions. 

by Jennifer Marston, The Spoon

These 2 Companies Are Putting Big Money Into Hawaii’s Agricultural Future. Will Their Bets Pay Off?

A pair of companies backed by a billionaire and a pension fund are trying to revitalize fallow farmland in the state.

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By Brittany Lyte

02-15-21

On Lanai, where shreds of black plastic in the soil are the last vestiges of the island’s defunct pineapple fields, a sliver of long-abandoned farmland is getting an encore — and a reinvention.

In six high-tech greenhouses, a futuristic vision of food-growing is underway — one in which nutrient density and flavor are automated.

It doesn’t matter that the red dirt below the greenhouse is eroded or peppered with plastic that once served as Dole pineapple plantation’s weed control. In fact, the hydroponic tomatoes and leafy greens grown here by Sensei Ag don’t depend on soil at all. 

The ag-tech company founded by Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder who owns nearly all of Lanai’s acreage, and Dr. David Agus, a physician, and medical researcher, is pioneering tools to produce affordable food in places like Lanai that — despite its history as an agricultural plantation — lack traditional farming essentials like water and fertile soil.

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Sensei Farms Lanai, a two-acre indoor farming pilot project by Larry Ellison’s Sensei Ag, produced 35,000 pounds of produce in less than three months last year. Sensei Ag

In doing so, the company is redeploying a scrap of neglected farmland into active agriculture in an attempt to buck an unsettling trend: Hawaii imports more than 85% of its food.

Hawaii has tens of thousands of acres of fallow former sugar and pineapple plantation lands. There are many reasons why this land isn’t being used for farming — inadequate infrastructure, soil erosion, the sky-high price of agricultural real estate. All of these challenges and more make growing food on old plantation acreage unaffordable for most farming operations.

Putting more of this stagnant acreage into food production, however, is a worthwhile goal, experts say, because it could help the state wean itself off of a reliance on the cargo ships and planes that deliver food supplies to the islands. 

“When you bring up Hawaii to anyone anywhere on earth, what they think of is paradise on earth,” said Vincent Mina, president of the Maui Farmers Union United. “But what paradise do you know of that brings in 85% of its food?”

State Efforts Have Fallen Short

Re-fashioning former sugar and pineapple plantations into viable food farms is what the Hawaii Agribusiness Development Corp. was designed to do. 

However, a scathing state audit in January said that the 25-year-old state agency has so far failed its mission because “the economic void created when plantations ceased production remains mostly unfilled.”

Larry Jefts, one of the state’s largest produce producers, recently expanded his farm footprint with access to ADC lands in Central Oahu that had lain fallow since Del Monte stopped pineapple production nearly two decades ago. 

The problem, according to Jefts, is not that the ADC is inert. It’s the state’s poor land use policy that has allowed some farmland to be developed, as well as society’s lack of commitment to local agriculture.

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The Agribusiness Development Corp. has failed in its mission to reinvent Hawaii’s agricultural sector, two recent reports say. Office of the Auditor

“The problem is there’s no will here,” Jefts said. “Good farm ground is coming out to go into solar energy farms because the people who own it can make more money in solar. If they charged that much money to the farmers, the farmers would fail and imported foods would take over.” 

Yet while Jefts is farming on a portion of the 1,200-acre Whitmore Project — land left vacant by Del Monte in 2004 and then acquired by the ADC for local agriculture in 2012 — hundreds of acres attached to the project remain fallow almost 10 years later.

That’s in part due to the time-intensive, bureaucratic process of securing money, permits, and contracts to build and repair the infrastructure required to make more of the acreage farmable, said Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, a champion of the project.

It’s one thing to acquire the land, he said. But it’s another challenge entirely to ready it for farmers who need water, roads, electricity for refrigeration, and food safety-compliant facilities in order to make their businesses financially viable.

“With our state, there’s so many good intentions but just no money to put through to implementation,” said Kirsten Oleson, associate professor of ecological economics at the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

“If we’re serious about doubling production of food that is grown and eaten here, it would take some time to rethink policy and some pretty large and potentially risky investment that the state’s coffers don’t have.”

While state efforts flounder, a pair of new agriculture companies backed by a billionaire and a pension fund are stepping in with lofty goals to revitalize fallow farmland with diversified agriculture operations that aim to help Hawaii wean itself off of imported foods.

A Billionaire’s Bid To Boost Food Security

On Lanai, Sensei Ag is sidestepping many of the traditional high-yield farming requirements: lots of land, lots of water, lots of hard manual labor.

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Founded by Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, left, and medical researcher David Agus, Sensei Ag’s goal is to grow food that is more sustainable and nourishing than if it were farmed traditionally.

Sensei Ag

Although the company’s two-acre greenhouse farm is just a scrap of the 20,000 farmed acres that earned Lanai the moniker of the world’s largest pineapple plantation, yields from hydroponics can be far greater than those from conventional soil farming.

Sensei Ag CEO Sonia Lo projects the company will harvest 500,000 pounds of food for statewide consumption in 2021, including Swiss chard, basil, tomatoes, cucumber and eggplant.

“What we’re doing is we’re competing against the likes of Organic Girl that’s coming in from California or Earthbound Farms,” Lo said. “It’s pretty straightforward given that our stuff is a day old or two days old by the time it gets on a shelf as opposed to two weeks or three weeks old.”

Hydroponic growing is capital-intensive, however. Sensei Ag’s approach benefits from the fact that it’s bankrolled by Ellison, one of the richest people in the world.

Lo declined to reveal the amount of financial investment it took for the Lanai pilot project to achieve its inaugural harvest last October, but she acknowledged the role of Ellison’s wealth.

Yet while the cost to build a state-of-the-art greenhouse is out-of-reach for most farmers, indoor farming offers growers a chance to capture significant long-term financial savings since producing food this way requires significantly less land and water than traditional outdoor farming. 

According to Lo, Sensei Farms Lanai requires about 10% of the amount of water it would take to produce a similar harvest in the dirt.

With this in mind, Sensei Ag’s mission includes efforts to make greenhouse farming more accessible. The company is aggregating risk assessment data in hopes that it will encourage banks to finance indoor growing mechanisms such as greenhouses and vertical farms. The company is also writing a playbook for people who want to build a successful indoor farm business, Lo said.

The rise of this kind of high-tech, high-yield farming could be a key to making Hawaii-farmed foods more competitive, according to Jesse Cooke, vice president of investments and analytics at the Ulupono Initiative.

“Using a hydroponic system, you could guarantee that every week you would have the same amount of quantity and the same quality (of produce) — and that’s what you need to sell to a large grocer,” Cooke said. “A lot of outdoor operations can’t guarantee that because they’re at the whim of nature itself.”

Brian Miyamoto, executive director of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, agrees that indoor farming could be a game-changer — if Hawaii farmers can figure out how to raise enough capital to build the infrastructure without sabotaging future profits.

“We can grow a lot of things here in Hawaii as far as food products,” Miyamoto said. “What we struggle with is doing it competitively — that’s why we import so much.”

Hawaii can’t rely on billionaires to make the upfront investment in high-tech indoor farming, Oleson said. Rather, the state needs to follow in the footsteps of other countries that enacted public policies to encourage this kind of agriculture.

In places like Israel and the Netherlands, high-tech greenhouses are important food production tools, Oleson said. 

Beyond policy and economics, Oleson said there are aesthetic and cultural considerations associated with scaling up indoor farming in the islands.

“You’re not looking across rolling green landscapes, you’re looking at lands with big infrastructure on it so there’s sometimes social pushback,” Oleson said. “I’m not a Native Hawaiian, but I would be very curious to know the response of the local community to that kind of agriculture because it’s very divorced from the earth.” 

Will Mahi Pono’s ‘Serious Amount Of Money’ Pay Off?

On Maui, a partnership between a California farm management company and a Canadian pension fund is producing food on fallow land resulting from the 2016 closure of the state’s last sugar grower.

Since Mahi Pono bought 41,000 acres of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.’s former sugar cane fields in 2019, the company has begun growing some of Hawaii’s top food imports — potatoes and onions — in hopes of winning over some of that market share. 

Mahi Pono’s mission to produce foods that Hawaii imports heavily and that are agriculturally possible to grow here is a smart one, according to Oleson. But she said it could be difficult for the company to compete with the price point for potatoes and onions imported from the mainland. 

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In 2016, Hawaii’s last remaining sugar grower shut down an operation that had run for 146 years. Now the 40,000 acres are owned by Mahi Pono, the marriage of a California farm management company and a Canadian pension fund. The company is growing produce with plans to reduce the state’s reliance on imports. Courtesy: Mahi Pono

It might also prove hard to convince consumers to pay more for locally grown potatoes and onions as opposed to more perishable produce.

“Potatoes and onions can sit on a boat and the quality doesn’t decline quite as fast, but all of us know what happens when you buy a box of spinach from Costco and if you don’t eat it that night it turns to slime,” Oleson said. “So the concern is growing foods locally where the freshness really matters.”

But Mahi Pono is growing more than just root vegetables. The company planted over a half million avocado and breadfruit trees, as well as rows of trees to shelter crops from the wind. The company plans to plant its 1 millionth tree by the end of June, according to community relations director Tiare Lawrence.

The company is also growing produce ranging from tangelos and finger limes to broccoli and eggplants, and it’s leasing affordable land and water to small farmers for an annual fee of $150 per acre. 

Ultimately, Mahi Pono’s staple crops will be citrus, papaya, macadamia nuts, and coffee, Lawrence said.

And while the company is exporting papayas to Canada, and eventually plans to export coffee, macadamia nuts, and citrus to markets outside the state, the majority of the food produced by Mahi Pono will feed Hawaii’s people, Lawrence said.

“I personally think these lands can be brought into production,” Lawrence said. “We’ve seen it across Hawaii where farmers have been able to take former sugar and pineapple lands and turn it into a thriving farm and I refuse to entertain doomsday scenarios.”

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Mahi Pono is growing red, yellow, and white potatoes with the goal of stealing away some of the Hawaii market share from mainland-grown potatoes. Courtesy: Mahi Pono

But the farm enterprise faces many challenges. 

With an average wind speed of 30 miles per hour in the Central Maui plains, there are erosion issues, as well as crop damage from pests, deer, and pigs. 

“We really can’t plant a field unless we fence it in, so that adds to our costs,” Lawrence said. 

There’s also the problem of the former plantation’s aging, outdated infrastructure.

“Mahi Pono has spent a serious amount of money in updating the irrigation systems and making repairs to wells,” Lawrence said.

If Mahi Pono can surmount these challenges and find success, Cooke of Ulupono said the operation will be an example to follow.

“If they can get it up and running, that could be one of the hugest transformations that Hawaii has seen, especially going towards local food for local consumption,” Cooke said. “The worry is that it doesn’t work and somehow the land gets zoned residential and a housing development goes up.”

“Hawaii Grown” is funded in part by grants from the Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Marisla Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation, and the Frost Family Foundation. 

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Brittany Lyte

Brittany Lyte is a reporter for Civil Beat. You can reach her by email at blyte@civilbeat.org or follow on Twitter at @blyte

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Vertical Farming At A Crossroads As Pandemic Shifts Focus To Fresh Produce

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15-02-2021

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Getting the right business model to balance resource usage with socio-economic conditions is crucial to capturing new markets. Speakers will discuss the issues at the forthcoming Agri-TechE event on Thursday 25th February 2021.

Although growing crops all year round with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has been proposed as a method to localize food production and increase resilience against extreme climate events, the efficiency and limitations of this strategy need to be evaluated for each location. Research by Luuk Graamans of Wageningen University & Research, a speaker at the upcoming Agri-TechE event on CEA, has revealed that integration with urban energy infrastructure can make vertical farms more viable. 

“The pandemic has shifted the conversation to the global connectivity of countries, where people started questioning the sustainability and resilience of the international food network,” comments Luuk. “The big question is should countries or large cities (mainly) rely on imports to feed their citizens?

His research around the modeling of vertical farms shows that these systems are able to achieve higher resource use efficiencies, compared to more traditional food production, except for electricity. So, the vertical farm needs to offer additional benefits to off-set this increased energy use. One example his team has investigated is whether vertical farms could also provide heat.

“We investigated if vertical farms could provide not just food for people living in densely populated areas and also heat their homes using waste heat. We found that CEA can contribute to stabilizing the increasingly complex energy grid.”

This balance between complex factors both within the growing environment and the wider socio-economic conditions means that the rapidly growing CEA industry is beginning to diversify with different business models emerging.

Jack Farmer is CSO at LettUs Grow, the company has just launched its Drop & GrowTM growing units, which offer a complete farming solution, in a shipping container. He says that everyone in the vertical farming space is going to hit a crossroads, “Vertical farming, with its focus on higher value and higher density crops, is effectively a subset of the broader horticultural sector. All the players in the vertical farming space are facing a choice – to scale vertically and try to capture as much value in that specific space, or to diversify and take their technology expertise broader.”

LettUs Grow is focused on being the leading technology provider in containerized farming. Jack continues: “Drop & Grow:24, is primarily focused on people entering the horticultural space, and we expect it to be one of the most productive, ethical, and easy to use container farms on the market. This year is looking really exciting – supermarkets are investing to ensure a sustainable source of food production in the UK, which is what CEA provides. We’re also seeing a growth in ‘experiential’ food and retail and that’s also where we see our Drop & Grow container farm fitting in.”

Kate Hofman, CEO, GrowUp agrees, the company launched the UK’s first commercial-scale vertical farm in 2014. She comments: “It will be really interesting to see how the foodservice world recovers after lockdown – the rough numbers are that supermarket trade was up at least 11% in the last year – so retail still looks like a really good direction to go in. If we want to have an impact on the food system in the UK and change it for the better, we’re committed to partnering with those big retailers to help them deliver on their sustainability and values-driven goals.

“Our focus is very much as a salad grower that grows a fantastic product that everyone will want to buy. And we’re focusing on bringing down the cost of sustainable food, which means doing it at a big enough scale to gain the economies of production that are needed to be able to sell at everyday prices.”

The economics are an important part of the discussion. Recent investment in the sector has come from the Middle East, and other locations, where abundant solar power and scarce resources are driving interest in CEA. Luuk’s research has revealed a number of scenarios where CEA has a strong business case.

However, for the UK, CEA should be seen as a continuum from glasshouses to vertical farming. “Greenhouses can incorporate the technologies from vertical farms to increase climate control and to enhance their performance under specific climates.” Luuk continues.

It is this aspect that is grabbing the attention of conventional fresh produce growers in open field and covered crop production.  

James Green is Director of Agriculture at G’s, one of Europe’s leading fresh produce growers. He explains: “There’s a balance in all of these systems between energy costs for lighting, energy costs for cooling, costs of nutrient supply, and then transportation and the supply and demand. At the end of the day, sunshine is pretty cheap and it comes up every day…

“I think a blended approach, where you’re getting as much benefit as you can from nature but you’re supplementing it and controlling the growth conditions, is what we are aiming for, rather than the fully artificially lit ‘vertical farming’.”

Luuk, Jack and Kate are to join a discussion with conventional vegetable producers, vertical farmers and technology providers at the Agri-TechE event “Controlled Environment Agriculture is growing up” 25th February 2021.

Find out more: agri-tech-e.co.uk/upcoming-events/

Agri-TechE is a business-focused membership organization, supporting the growth of a world-leading network of innovative farmers, producers, scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs who share a vision of increasing the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of agriculture.
Together we aim to help turn challenges into business opportunities and facilitate mutually beneficial collaboration.

Agri-TechE

Agri-TechE directory information

Bringing The Future To life In Abu Dhabi

Amid the deserts of Abu Dhabi, a new wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are sowing the seeds of a more sustainable future.

Image from: Wired

A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture. 

Madar Farms is one of a number of agtech startups benefitting from a package of incentives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) aimed at spurring the development of innovative solutions for sustainable desert farming. The partnership is part of ADIO’s $545 million Innovation Programme dedicated to supporting companies in high-growth areas.

“Abu Dhabi is pressing ahead with our mission to ‘turn the desert green’,” explained H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, in November 2020. “We have created an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and the companies we partnered with earlier this year are already propelling the growth of Abu Dhabi’s 24,000 farms.”

The pandemic has made food supply a critical concern across the entire world, combined with the effects of population growth and climate change, which are stretching the capacity of less efficient traditional farming methods. Abu Dhabi’s pioneering efforts to drive agricultural innovation have been gathering pace and look set to produce cutting-edge solutions addressing food security challenges.

Beyond work supporting the application of novel agricultural technologies, Abu Dhabi is also investing in foundational research and development to tackle this growing problem. 

In December, the emirate’s recently created Advanced Technology Research Council [ATRC], responsible for defining Abu Dhabi’s R&D strategy and establishing the emirate and the wider UAE as a desired home for advanced technology talent, announced a four-year competition with a $15 million prize for food security research. Launched through ATRC’s project management arm, ASPIRE, in partnership with the XPRIZE Foundation, the award will support the development of environmentally-friendly protein alternatives with the aim to "feed the next billion".

Image from: Madar Farms

Global Challenges, Local Solutions

Food security is far from the only global challenge on the emirate’s R&D menu. In November 2020, the ATRC announced the launch of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), created to support applied research on the key priorities of quantum research, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems.

“The technologies under development at TII are not randomly selected,” explains the centre’s secretary general Faisal Al Bannai. “This research will complement fields that are of national importance. Quantum technologies and cryptography are crucial for protecting critical infrastructure, for example, while directed energy research has use-cases in healthcare. But beyond this, the technologies and research of TII will have global impact.”

Future research directions will be developed by the ATRC’s ASPIRE pillar, in collaboration with stakeholders from across a diverse range of industry sectors.

“ASPIRE defines the problem, sets milestones, and monitors the progress of the projects,” Al Bannai says. “It will also make impactful decisions related to the selection of research partners and the allocation of funding, to ensure that their R&D priorities align with Abu Dhabi and the UAE's broader development goals.”

Image from: Agritecture

Nurturing Next-Generation Talent

To address these challenges, ATRC’s first initiative is a talent development programme, NexTech, which has begun the recruitment of 125 local researchers, who will work across 31 projects in collaboration with 23 world-leading research centres.

Alongside universities and research institutes from across the US, the UK, Europe and South America, these partners include Abu Dhabi’s own Khalifa University, and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the world’s first graduate-level institute focused on artificial intelligence. 

“Our aim is to up skill the researchers by allowing them to work across various disciplines in collaboration with world-renowned experts,” Al Bannai says. 

Beyond academic collaborators, TII is also working with a number of industry partners, such as hyperloop technology company, Virgin Hyperloop. Such industry collaborations, Al Bannai points out, are essential to ensuring that TII research directly tackles relevant problems and has a smooth path to commercial impact in order to fuel job creation across the UAE.

“By engaging with top global talent, universities and research institutions and industry players, TII connects an intellectual community,” he says. “This reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.”

In Malahide, Two Friends Raise A Vertical Farm

Image from: Dublin Inquirer

When salesman Jack Hussey finishes his work day, he closes the laptop, leaves his home in Malahide and walks 10 minutes down the road. At the bottom of his friend’s farm sits an outhouse with a coldroom which now hosts his side business, Upfarm. A farm that goes upwards.

Imagine a shelf rack, says Hussey. “We’ve kitted the roofs of each shelf with an LED grow light. It’s to replicate the sunlight basically.”

A photo of the farm shows purple light beaming down on thick heads of lemongrass and basil, stacked on shelves. Yields from vertical farming are far more efficient than in-the-ground farming, Hussey said, on the phone last Friday.

He likens it to real estate. “You can have houses that are populated side by side or you can start going upwards with apartments.”

From Podcast to Table

Hussey always had an interest in food, he says. Last year he and a school friend, Bill Abbott, began to look into urban farming.

“But we were saying, is farming in the ground actually the best route to go?” Hussey says.

It’s labour intensive, which didn’t suit the two guys, who work other full-time jobs. Then, in March 2020, Hussey heard a podcast with American urban farmer Curtis Stone. He had an urban farm where he was using a spin-farming method, says Hussey. “It’s what they call it. You rotate crops out of the ground in a much more efficient way.”

“Essentially he was able to capitalise on a third acre of land. He was able to take in 80k a year,” he says.

Hussey was inspired by that, by somebody making the most of a small bit of land. So in June last year, in the middle of a pandemic and juggling working from home, Hussey and Abbot set about doing the same, albeit with a different model, and launched their vertical farm.

Image from: Farmony

How It Works

Farmony, which specialises in tech for vertical farming, sold Upfarm with the tools to get up and running – shelves, special LED lighting, a watering system and humidifiers. It is the ideal conditions for growing produce, says Framony co-founder John Paul Prior. Nutrients, hours of light, humidity and temperature are controlled in vertical farming, Prior says.

But Farmony is also a data company, Prior says. “So we capture data at all stages of the growing cycle. And we feed that back to the grower.”

This helps the grower to establish the optimum conditions, he says. “That’s not just in terms of plant growth, that’s in terms of workflow management.”

The size of an operation can be the small coldroom in Malahide that uses one Farmony module, and produces microgreens and wheatgrass for sale. Or it can be like a farm in Tipperary with 60 modules, he says. A module is 1 metre wide, 1.3 metres long and 2.5 metres tall, Prior says. Hussey says it is labour-intensive looking after a vertical farm module.

After work last Thursday, he and his dad replanted his microgreen crops into 30 different trays. “It took about two hours,” he says.

What Is the Benefit?

“So as long as you can control your temperature, your humidity, and your nutrient levels in the water, you can basically grow all year round,” says Prior. Vertical farming also means better conditions for workers, Prior says.

“If you’re working in a controlled environment, like a vertical farm, you’re working in a clean environment,” Prior says.

“You work between 18 to 22 degrees. There’s no harsh frost. There’s no extreme cold winters, equally there’s no burning-hot summers.,” says Prior.

The crop is consistent too, says Prior, thanks to the controlled environment.

“Let’s say I’m someone who loves basil and who makes a lot of pesto at home,” he says.

Getting basil of consistent quality from the supermarket can be difficult when it comes from different countries, or may have been sitting on a shelf for days after travelling thousands of miles, he says.

Image from: Farmony

Why Is this Important?

Soil quality is dropping, Hussey says. “What does that mean for outdoor growing?”

The answer, Hussey says, is vertical farming. It uses mineral-rich water so it doesn’t rely on nutrients from the ground, Hussey says.

Says Prior: “Vertical farming uses about 10 percent of the water of traditional farming.”

Prior says it takes less energy to get food from a nearby vertical farm than to ship it from afar. It was not always the case until a breakthrough in another industry, he says.

“Billions of dollars have been invested in the cannabis industry globally. It’s meant that the investment in grow-lighting technology has been huge,” he says.

“As a result, the price, the efficiency and most importantly, the energy efficiency of the lighting is really amazing” he says.

Says Hussey: “It’s not easy work but it is nice work. It’s good work.”

Ensuring Singapore's Food Security Despite the Odds

Image from: Reuters

As with most issues that impact national security in Singapore, it often seems that the odds are stacked against us.  Food security — access to safe and nutritious food — is a challenge on several fronts. 

Singapore is a small city-state with limited resources, with only 1 per cent of land available for food production, and over 90 per cent of food is imported from an increasingly disrupted world. The Covid-19 pandemic has further amplified the gravity of safeguarding food security.  The city-state has been proactively planning for long-term food security through the Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) strategy of “three food baskets” — diversifying food sources, growing locally and growing overseas.  This approach has served the Republic well in securing a supply of safe food.

DIVERSIFIED SOURCING IS KEY

Singapore’s food importers leverage the nation’s connectivity and the global free trade environment to import from multiple sources in about 170 countries and regions worldwide.  Should there be a disruption to any one source, importers are able to tap alternative food sources and ensure supply remains stable. Lockdown measures brought about by Covid-19 underscored Singapore’s vulnerabilities to supply disruptions in food. 

It was not by luck that the Republic’s food supply remained stable and market shelves continued to be promptly restocked — it was the result of a deliberate whole-of-government strategy to diversify food sources. To keep the nation’’s diversified food supply lines intact amid the Covid-19 global pandemic, SFA worked closely with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) to monitor Singapore’s food supply situation. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these economic agencies worked with like-minded countries to maintain open trade links.

LOCAL PRODUCTION AN IMPORTANT BUFFER

SFA drives innovation in local farms with the ambitious goal of producing 30 per cent of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030 as part of our “30 by 30” plan.  To meet this goal, we need a holistic and long-term approach to space-planning, boosting agri-food technology and developing local agri-specialists. To facilitate and support the establishment of high-technology and productive farms in Singapore, SFA tenders out land based on qualitative criteria such as production capability, production track record, relevant experience and qualifications, innovation and sustainability.

In addition, a masterplan for the greater Lim Chu Kang (LCK) region, spanning about 390ha of land, will be undertaken in consultation with stakeholders over the next two to three years.  The redeveloped LCK agri-food cluster will produce more than three times its current food production.

Building on the above efforts to grow Singapore’s high-tech agri-tech sector, SFA will continue to partner with the Economic Development Board and ESG to attract best-in-class global agri-tech companies, as well as to nurture promising homegrown agri-tech companies into local champions and help them to expand overseas.

EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE, UNDERUTILISED SPACES

Urban food solutions are expected to play a key role in global food security.  While there are progressive enterprises operating out of farmlands and industrial estates, some agricultural game-changers are also taking root in unconventional areas — indoors, on rooftops and in underutilised spaces.

SFA worked with the Singapore Land Authority to introduce an urban farm at the former Henderson Secondary School site, which was transformed into Singapore’s first integrated space comprising an urban farm, childcare centre and nursing home within a state property.  The farm space within the site was awarded in May 2019 to social enterprise City Sprouts, and it has become a vibrant destination for the young and old to learn about urban farming and enjoy a relaxing day out.

Citiponics, the first commercial farm located on a multi-storey car park in a residential neighbourhood, harvested its first yield of vegetables in April 2019.  In September 2020, another nine sites atop multi-storey car parks were awarded for urban farming. 

The successful bidders included proposals for hydroponic and vertical farming systems with a variety of innovative features, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology and automated climate control.  These sites have the potential to collectively produce around 1,600 tonnes of vegetables annually.

Image from: Ciitiponics

TAPPING TECH

The Agriculture Productivity Fund (APF) supports local farms in their capability development and drive towards higher productivity.  Through APF, SFA co-funds the adoption of farming systems to better control environmental variables, test-bed technologies and boost production capabilities. Between October 2014 and September 2020, a total of almost S$42 million has been committed to 115 farms.

The Covid-19 pandemic presented greater impetus to speed up local food production capacities. In September 2020, SFA awarded S$39.4 million to nine companies under the 30x30 Express Grant to quickly ramp up food-farm outputs over the next six months to two years. With advanced robotic and digital systems increasingly being used in farming, Singapore’s vegetables farmers have also become innovative agri-engineers and specialists in their own right.

With support from the 30x30 Express Grant, urban farming engineering solutions firm Indoor Farm Factory Innovation will set up an indoor vegetable farm with a vertical integration growth system up to 8m in height in a fully controlled and pesticide-free environment.  The farm will leverage artificial intelligence farming systems integrated with IoT monitoring, dosing irrigation and an advanced environmental control system to achieve optimum growing conditions all year round.

Seng Choon, a chicken egg farm that has been in business for more than 30 years, has also proved itself a modernist in its operations.  The company uses a computer that scans eggs to ascertain if they are clean; while feeding systems, temperature controls and waste cleaning systems have been automated with SFA’s support. Singapore’s efforts at ensuring food security would not be complete without support from consumers.  To boost recognition of local produce among consumers, SFA brought the industry and public together to create a new “SG Fresh Produce” logo. 

Farmers have been using this emblem on their packaging since August 2020. A website was also launched to provide a trove of information on locally farmed food. While the Covid-19 pandemic has led to import restrictions, it also helped to accelerate support for local produce. With public support for local farmers and other key measures, Singapore can beat the odds in ensuring food security in this ever-evolving, ever-disrupted world.

Organic: The Battle for a Single Word

Throughout history, when we see great leaps forward in technology, there are always pushbacks from the old world who want to maintain the status-quo. This can be for a variety of reasons and come from a variety of people. Sometimes, the resistance comes from workers, an example of this would be the fierce opposition from workers who protested the mechanisation of their jobs brought about by the industrial revolution. They were often referred to as luddites because of the propensity to destroy the new machines that were taking their jobs.

On the other hand, there can be examples of when the resistance to innovations come from industry competitors who don’t want to lose the dominance they once had. An example of this can be seen through the fossil fuel industries continuous attempts to limit the growth of renewables by lobbying governments to pursue policies more favourable to them.

Today we are seeing resistance to a new green revolution through innovation in the vertical farming sector primarily from industry competitors or even protective policy makers. Politico recently reported on a story regarding a fight between a Danish vertical farming company, called Nordic Harvest, and the EU whereby the former was prohibited from labelling their crops as organically produced. The reason given for this was that EU regulation demanded that anything being described as organic had to be produced in soil. This seems to be the antithesis to their Farm to Fork strategy as it heavily handicaps innovative indoor vertical farming companies.

Image from: Nord Harvest

Now this may not seem much like a significant infringement on the indoor vertical farming sector, but what this does is make it more difficult for companies, such as Nordic Harvest, to indicate to consumers their green credentials. Moreover, under the EU’s Green Public Procurement rules, indoor vertical farming companies gain a smaller share in food market than it normally would have due to the ruling on the definition of organics. The unfortunate aspect of this is that words only mean what we define them as, so the personal opinions of the individuals who made this decision are going down this direction for reasons not non-partisan.

Now there may so semi-legitimate reasons to resist the rise of indoor vertical farming, but it is clear that this will be the future of farming and it must not be kneecapped by ill-intentioned actors. The limitations of the sector, such as intense energy use or limited crop varieties, can only be solved if there is financial and legislative support from the powers that be.

This is clear with the recent certification of Sky Greens in Singapore as organic whereby the central government has been forward thinking. Speaking of their decision, the chair of the Food Standards Committee stated:

“The certification may allow local urban farms to expand into markets outside of Singapore. Having a national organic certification will help local urban farms to be on equal footing with the US…”

The Food Standards Committee in Singapore defined organic differently from the EU affirming that as long as they avoid mineral fertilisers or other pesticides and herbicides, which indoor vertical farms operating on controlled environment agriculture adheres to. At full capacity, Sky Greens can produce up to half a tonne of salads daily without LEDs and using gravity to collect rainwater to avoid pests. An important point to note however is that the vast majority of Singapore is urbanised with no domestic traditional rural farming industry.

Image from: Sky Greens

Another problematic component of this EU ruling is that may prove controversial is its impact on trade. Any vertical farming company from a country not with the restrictive rules and the EU that wanted to export their food produced in a vertical farm, they would as need to abide by these rules. For example, with basil being one of the major herbs produced in vertical farms, we often see it being used in Pesto. Unfortunately, this would not be able to be marketed as organic. With the EU being the largest trading bloc in the entire world, this will affect the global fortunes of the sector. We are also seeing this happen in the US but due to many legal appeals and challenges, they have not currently implemented the same rules as the EU.

So, with all this in mind, it is important to be aware of the pushback that will inevitably happen due to a green revolution brought about by innovation in the indoor vertical farming sector. The debate surrounding the definition of the word organic is only the start. We already see concerted efforts to ban synthetic meat companies from using words such as hamburger, hot dog or steak. However, even with this uneven playing field, indoor vertical farming is on track to increase its market share significantly over the next decade and beyond while traditional farming methods are on the decline.

Is AppHarvest the Future of Farming?

Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are red-hot right now, with investors clamoring to get into promising young companies.

In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Jan. 28, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman discuss AppHarvest, one such SPAC that is looking to disrupt the agriculture industry. Here are the details on what AppHarvest wants to do, and a look at whether the company represents the future of farming.

Nick Sciple: One last company I wanted to talk about, Lou, and this is one I think it's -- you pay attention to, but not one I'm super excited to run in and buy. It was a company called AppHarvest. It's coming public via a [SPAC] this year. This vertical farming space. We talked about Gladstone Land buying traditional farmland. AppHarvest is taking a very different approach, trying to lean into some of the ESG-type movements.

Lou Whiteman: Yeah. Let's look at this. It probably wouldn't surprise you that the U.S. is the biggest global farm exporter as we said, but it might surprise you that the Netherlands, the tiny little country, is No. 2. The way they do that is tech: Greenhouse farm structure. AppHarvest has taken that model and brought it to the U.S. They have, I believe, three farms in Appalachia. The pitches can produce 30x the yields using 90% less water. Right now, it's mostly tomatoes and it is early-stage. I don't own this stock either. I love this idea. There's some reasons that I'm not buying in right now that we can get into. But this is fascinating to me. We talked about making the world a better place. This is the company that we need to be successful to make the world a better place. The warning on it is that it is a SPAC. So it's not public yet. Right now, I believe N-O-V-S. That deal should close soon. [Editor's note: The deal has since closed.] I'm not the only one excited about it. I tend not to like to buy IPOs and new companies anyway. I think the caution around buying into the excitement applies here. There is a Martha Stewart video on their website talking up the company, which I love Martha Stewart, but that's a hype level that makes me want to just watch and see what they produce. This is just three little farms in Appalachia right now and a great idea. This was all over my watchlist. I would imagine I would love to hold it at some point, but just be careful because this is, as we saw SPACs last year in other areas, people are very excited about this.

Sciple: Yeah. I think, like we've said, for a lot of these companies, the prospects are great. I think when you look at the reduced water usage, better, environmentally friendly, all those sorts of things. I like that they are in Appalachia. As someone who is from the South, I like it when more rural areas get some people actually investing money there. But again, there's a lot of execution between now and really getting to a place where this is the future of farming and they're going to reach scale and all those sorts of things. But this is a company I'm definitely going to have my radar on and pay attention to as they continue to report earnings. Because you can tell yourself a story about how this type of vertical farming, indoor farming disrupts this traditional model, can be more efficient, cleaner, etc. Something to continue paying attention to as we have more information, because this company, like you said, Lou, isn't all the way public yet. We still got to have this SPAC deal finalized and then we get all our fun SEC filings and quarterly calls and all those sorts of things. Once we have that, I will be very much looking forward to seeing what the company has to say.

Whiteman: Right. Just to finish up along too, the interesting thing here is that it is a proven concept because it has worked elsewhere. The downside of that is that it needed to work there. Netherlands just doesn't have -- and this is an expensive proposition to get started, to get going. There's potential there, but in a country blessed with almost seemingly unlimited farmland for now, for long term it makes sense. But in the short term, it could be a hard thing to really get up and running. I think you're right, just one to watch.

Advice For New Vertical Farmers: Grower Spotlight on Andrew Worrall

Last week we spoke about running a farm at LettUs Grow. What excites you about vertical farming? 

It’s the future of the industry. Also, the amount of salad that these farms can produce for their local community. We want to be able to eat salad all year round and we import to make that happen. However, just a small farm can easily provide for its local community, very efficiently and all year round. The sustainability element is also exciting: with our salad there’s no food miles, it’s very minimalistic. You could use an electric van or bike to distribute this crop if you wanted to. It’s a step forward in terms of what we need to do to take care of our planet. 

What do you think are the biggest downsides to vertical farming?

It’s still a new technology and it can be expensive. The biggest roadblock facing the industry is that we need more people and companies to collaborate together to make sure we can build these farms at a sensible rate, so we can provide farms to anyone. We want to be able to provide farms to people, communities and countries that don’t have a lot of money, so that they can provide affordable fresh produce to local people. 

How has vertical farming impacted your life?

Massively!  I wanted to find my passion, a job that I loved - that was very important to me. It’s satisfying to be in a position now where I’m very happy to be doing what I do and I look forward to going into work. I was happy to make the move from London to Bristol. I would have moved even further if it meant being able to continue working within this industry.

Image from: LettUs Grow

How do you see vertical farming playing a part in the future? 

When indoor farming first came about, it had a reputation of being competition for outdoor farming, which just isn’t the case. There’s so much we can’t grow that outdoor farming can provide, such as cereal crops. I’m glad we’re at a stage where indoor and outdoor farms can start to work together to optimise both methods. With these new relationships, there should be a good increase in the amount of indoor farms you’ll be seeing. What LettUs Grow offers with DROP & GROW™ is an exciting project because that’s a 40ft shipping container which can be placed pretty much anywhere. It’s not that big - it could go in a car park or behind a restaurant, but actually provide quite a lot of salad to that area. 

How much of our food should be grown this way? 

Good question. If you had asked me a while back I would have just said salad, but now I’ve changed my mind. Indoor farming can have a massive impact on propagation, especially aeroponics, because of how we aerate and nourish our roots. We could start lettuce for greenhouse projects and we can also propagate tomatoes, strawberries and tree whips. Propagating trees in this way could potentially be hugely beneficial and it’s something we want to do more of. 

We can also quickly grow large amounts of microgreens, baby leafs, herbs and we can grow fruiting crops like strawberries. We are slowly chipping away and it’s really exciting. I’m waiting to see if I can ever say I’ve grown or propagated every crop that can be grown in these farms! 

What do you think are the biggest benefits of vertical farming? 

How fast these crops can grow! The turnover can be as short as 5 days from seed, depending on the crop. Also how clean it can be - I’m very dedicated to making sure these farms are built to ensure they are easy to be maintained and clean. The most exciting part is the crop growth rate though - it’s incredible how fast our crop grows from seed to plate. In a very well maintained growing calendar, which Ostara® is great for supporting, you can optimise your beds so that the day you harvest can also be the day you germinate onto that same bed. Your farms can be forever providing salad at very fast rates. 

Image from: LettUs Grow

What was the biggest change you encountered during your years indoor farming?

Moving from being a production grower to an R&D grower. It has been a great change! As a production grower I knew what I needed to know about growing the plant safely and getting it onto a plate so it was good for the consumer. Now I’m fully optimising, learning and understanding the plants completely, so that I can help the grower that I used to be. We spend a lot of time on crop recipes to make sure that whoever we sell our farms to can start up very quickly and they won’t have to spend months developing their crops. If they have the customers and clients behind them, they can buy DROP & GROW and start producing salad as soon as it's been commissioned. 

What was the biggest change you encountered in the industry?

More and more people are speaking about what’s going on in the industry and getting involved. I get so many messages on LinkedIn with people who want to get into this career. It’s exciting to see that indoor growing is a career people can access now. When I was developing my skills I didn’t know I would end up in indoor farming. There are more opportunities than ever before. For example, our Crop Technician is doing a placement here for 2 years. The aim is that they can gain the skill sets and knowledge they need to then go off and do the same practice in any farm they want. 

What advice do you have for people who are looking to start a career in growing? 

Reach out to companies who are already out there. You could start off part-time or as an assistant. If you are patient and dedicated then it’s a journey I promise you won’t regret. It takes a lot of work, but the outcome is amazing - you’ll be learning so much about this new technology. You’ll also build great relationships: there are so many amazing people in this industry who are so interesting, with different backgrounds, who are willing to share their knowledge. You can always learn more and other people are a great source of that. 

What about for those looking to start a vertical farming business?

Do your homework.  There are people out there who you can reach out to and it’s very easy to get information. It’s very easy to get excited about the idea and jump straight into it, because it is exciting and can be very rewarding, but it’s really important to do it step by step. Know how to scale properly, learning the differences between a small and larger farm. Understand how many people you’ll need and the logistics. I’d also advise people to get some practical work experience before you buy. You want to start the company knowing the tricks of the trade. 

Image from: LettUs Grow

LettUs Grow Blog: www.lettusgrow.com/blog/advice-for-vertical-farmers

Seattle Architect Is Helping The Fast-Growing Field of Indoor Ag Take Root

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By Marc Stiles – Senior Staff Writer, Puget Sound Business Journal

January 16, 2021

Seattle architect Melanie Corey-Ferrini’s kiosk-style lobby pop-up concept called G2 is the ultimate in farm-to-fork dining. Protein-rich grains and greens are grown on-site in the unmanned, transparent kiosk and combined with other veggies, roots, spices and dairy to make custom bowls ordered on a mobile app. G2 last summer was named best pioneering food service concept in a national contest.

It’s one small example of the possibilities of controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), which is at the heart of Corey-Ferrini’s latest endeavor: a multifaceted, urban ag project largely centered in Tukwila, where Sabey Corp. is providing warehouse space for hydroponic growing equipment that Microsoft donated.

Corey-Ferrini will use space at Sabey’s Intergate East data center campus to build and launch CEA education and business development programs this year.

CEA is a technology-based approach to food production that allows indoor farmers to maximize use of water, energy and labor. Worldwide in the third quarter, venture capitalists invested $1.6 billion in ag tech companies, bringing the 2020 total to $4.2 billion, according to PitchBook. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, a developer of life science office and lab space, offers early-stage companies move-in-ready space at its Center for AgTech in Durham, North Carolina.

The sector has struggled to put down roots in the Seattle region, where there has been one unsuccessful attempt. Now comes not only Corey-Ferrini’s to-be-named enterprise but also Kalera, a Florida-based company that plans to open a facility in 70,000 square feet of leased space in Lacey this year.

Several years ago, Corey-Ferrini consulted with Microsoft on a CEA project in Redmond. Contract farmers used Microsoft’s PowerBI and Azure platforms to grow in hydroponic towers lettuce and micro-greens for company cafeterias.

“I was like, why aren’t more people doing this? It seems like it should be a programmatic feature in all food-related spaces,” said Corey-Ferrini. “I’ve learned it’s really a little bit of robotics, a little bit of AI, a little bit of automation.”

As a member of Soroptimist Seattle, which works to empower women and girls, she is establishing a program at Alan T. Sugiyama at South Lake, an alternative public high school in the Rainier Valley. She is working with other groups like New Roots, an International Rescue Committee program that provides land and other support in South King County to around 150 immigrant and refugee families.

Deepa Iyer, senior program coordinator for New Roots, said a pilot indoor ag tech and business class will be offered at the Sabey building through Corey-Ferrini’s enterprise. She said it will provide pathways not only to a year-round growing platform but training for tech careers.

The experience of a Seattle indoor ag business, UrbanHarvest, shows the challenges of such an endeavor. Six years ago, it worked with Seattle’s Millionair Club Charity (now Uplift Northwest) during its launch, but the program shut down after about a year when it couldn’t raise additional funds, said founder Chris Bajuk.

Corey-Ferrini is approaching it with a long-term view and plans to build a multipronged enterprise with multiple income streams. Kara Anderson, director of architecture at Sabey, said Corey-Ferrini has a good shot at pulling this off.

“She’s got endless energy,” said Anderson, who added that, like Sabey, Corey-Ferrini is known for outside-the-box thinking.

“She’s not afraid to pick up an idea without knowing really how she’s going to pull it together. She just starts marching down the path to get partners and grab people into her extensive network to brainstorm,” said Anderson.

Sabey, a developer and operator of data centers nationwide, sees opportunities in the project for both its business and community.

“We’re interested in what’s going on in our backyard and opportunities to help out and make some lives better if we can,” Anderson said “At some point these indoor facilities will be monitored by computers and that, in turn, ends up feeding into the data center world.”

Melanie Corey-Ferrini

• Position: Chief experience architect

• Company: Dynamik Space, a design and branding company

• Founded: 2000

• Career: Also currently CEO of 3.14DC, which programs food and retail spaces

Lessons Learned

• Use your sense of humor.

• Be curious.

• Don’t fear failure.

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Join Us For Global G.A.P. World Consultation Tour - Focused On Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)

The GLOBAL G.A.P. World Consultation Tour goes into its second round! Join the upcoming virtual meeting on January 25, 2021 13:00-14:30 EST in collaboration with the Farm Tech Society.  Together, we aim to deliver an impactful standard in line with producers’ practices. The unique challenges presented by vertical farming or produce grown in controlled environments will be addressed to ensure an appropriate user experience.

High-tech monitoring and control systems in commercial controlled environment agriculture farms and their supply chains enable the opportunity to capture automated measurements, support assessment and analyze a wide range of variables including water to energy to inputs, reducing costs and adding value for individual farms and across the industry. The ultimate goal of the partnership is the development and implementation of an impactful standard and certification process.

Participants will meet the expert working group behind the standard revision, and will have the opportunity to join the ongoing discussion and process.

Click Here to Register

About FTS:
The Farm Tech Society (FTS) is an international non-profit industry association that unites and supports the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry, seeking to strengthen the sector through the development and implementation of resilient and future proof methods and technologies for indoor growing. The FarmTech Society is enlisted in the EU Transparency Register with #469686733585-87

About GLOBAL G.A.P.:
GLOBAL G.A.P. is a leading global certification program whose mission is to bring farmers and retailers together to produce and market safe food, to protect scarce resources, and to build a sustainable future.

Join the FarmTech Society in 2021

The Farm Tech Society (FTS) is an international non-profit industry association that unites and supports the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry, seeking to strengthen the sector through the development and implementation of resilient and future proof methods and technologies for indoor growing. We look forward to continuing to grow and drive #CEA4CriticalChallenges with members like you.  

Become an FTS Member