Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
“When You Start Growing Upwards, There’s More To Consider Than Verticality”
The Massachusetts-based company manufactures the Agrify Vertical Farming Unit (VFU), a stackable, multi-tiered cultivation chamber designed to increase yields while improving harvest consistency and quality
“Vertical farming technology has really focused on the utilization of the vertical space," says David Kessler, Chief Science Officer at Agrify. "To that end, the environmental management is left to the operator who needs to choose a system and integrate it cohesively; this is a major undertaking. Agrify has a systems-engineered solution to enable vertical growing without needing to figure out all the other obstacles."
The Massachusetts-based company manufactures the Agrify Vertical Farming Unit (VFU), a stackable, multi-tiered cultivation chamber designed to increase yields while improving harvest consistency and quality. Also delivering on improved biosecurity and environmental control over the crop, a single unit has two tiers, and three units can be stacked for six total levels of canopy.
According to David, the transition towards taller vertical farms has made environmental control difficult as the high planting density increases total transpiration and the height of the building results in air temperature stratification. The Agrify VFU is an enclosed cultivation chamber and is monitored and controlled remotely using Agrify’s software. This enclosed climate-controlled design affords operators enhanced environmental management, and is one of the key features distinguishing the Agrify VFU from other vertical racking systems, according to David.
While the VFU was specifically designed for cannabis and hemp production, Agrify first began by producing leafy greens, which David says allowed the company to accrue significant experience in optimizing the environment to increase production.
“When you’re growing leafy greens as opposed to high-value medicinal herbs, the profit margins are quite slim. This form of economics sharpened our swords and forced us to become experts at controlling cultivation environments, with a keen eye towards production costs,” says David.
Smart design for grower safety
Occupational safety is an increasingly important subject in vertical farming, specifically in tall installations relying on manual labor. Scissor lifts are common in the horticultural industry but can be precarious when used in tight spaces at full extension. With vertical farming pushing the boundaries on height, it is important that employees’ safety be prioritized. According to David, Agrify has designed its farming units with employees in mind by incorporating an integrated catwalk into the system’s design and ensuring that its units can be solidly connected.
“When you start growing upwards, moving all of that biomass is cumbersome and can reduce workflow efficiency while increasing risk to employees. Our cultivation chambers are roughly 4’ by 8’ by 9.5’ tall and can be stacked side-by-side with a catwalk in between. This gives employees more safety and flexibility to work standing or sitting,” says David.
Automation in the Agrify VFU
According to David, the Agrify VFU is automated to control irrigation, fertigation, sanitation processes, lighting, humidity control, etc. The VFU control system also allows growers to collect roughly 100 data points per chamber per hour and a minimum of 850,000 data points per year. Features in the software then allow the grower to run daily analyses both within and between chambers. David explains that having enclosed chambers also facilitate this data collection and use as growers can implement different growing conditions in different chambers then compare the resulting outcomes to determine the best production conditions.
Moving forward, Agrify is looking to integrate cameras, artificial intelligence and machine learning into its systems to enable the consistent recreation of precise environmental conditions and proactive crop management.
“We believe that the future will not necessarily be in autonomous production but in computer-aided production. Machine vision will allow 24/7 crop monitoring rather than the typical weekly pest scouting, as an example. With our software, we’re capturing the data as well as providing the tools to analyze it and act on it.
For more information:
David Kessler, CSO
Agrify Corp.
David.kessler@agrify.com
www.agrify.com
23 Apr 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Affinor Growers To Enter Aruban Market With Circular Farming Systems
Affinor Growers Inc. is nearly ready to plant its first seedlings and begin showcasing its vision of sustainable agriculture for a ten-year period
Green Cash Crop Funds
Leafy Greens Growth
Affinor Growers Inc. is nearly ready to plant its first seedlings and begin showcasing its vision of sustainable agriculture for a ten-year period. The company recently announced its lease agreement for a 15,000-square foot greenhouse.
The land is located in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and is reportedly divided between a 15,000-square foot greenhouse operation and a 12,000-square foot composting facility. With the Canadian spring beginning its transition into summer, Affinor Growers Inc. is looking forward to planting its first crops in the greenhouse by July 2021.
The new greenhouse site
Cannabis cuts profit margins differences
According to CEO and founder Nick Brusatore, the greenhouse will use vertical production techniques to maximize space efficiency in the greenhouse. The company currently plans to grow strawberries under one greenhouse bay, romaine lettuce under another bay, and eventually have a craft cannabis operation in another section. Affinor Growers is currently building out and getting ready to submit its craft cannabis license application to Health Canada but is content to begin with food crops for the time being. As Nick explains, his main goal in growing cannabis is to showcase sustainable production techniques and to increase the profitability of the entire system.
“We want to sustain our strawberry and romaine production, but food crops typically have lower margins. The high price of cannabis will allow us to grow even more strawberries and romaine lettuce by washing out the differences between profit margins. That way, we can deliver our products to the market at a good price and high quality.”
Greenhouse features
Continuing in its systems approach to agriculture, Affinor Growers Inc. also plans to reduce waste by composting organic materials and remediating its growing material. Altogether, the greenhouse and composting operation will allow the company to pursue its vision of high-quality, low-cost food production in a circular manner.
The greenhouse will also be completely automated, allowing the company to reduce labor costs by eliminating the need to move plants and materials manually. As Nick explains, the time between removing a crop from the greenhouse and replacing it with a new one takes a few minutes, as the plants are cut in the cooler and the soil replanted with new seedlings before being sent back into the greenhouse.
Vertically stacked cannabis
Entering Aruban market
While the 15,000-square foot greenhouse is located in British Columbia, the company is planning to take its vision into new markets and will begin with Aruba, according to Nick.
Nick explained that after having worked with the people and incorporating Vertical Designs Aruba VBA along with understanding the Country and Government needs after six years learning what is needed to mass-produce plant tissue, he has become attached to the country and has seen the need for circular farming systems. Affinor Growers Inc. will reportedly be building a farm near San Nicholas, in the southern region of Aruba.
Affinor Growers Inc. wants to work with Arubans to provide good jobs and economic benefits to the area. If all goes as Nick hopes, this project and others like it could increase tourism on Aruba’s southern side. Nick also explained that cannabis production is a possibility pending success in licensing application once the country’s laws and licensing are complete, this strategic move that will benefit agricultural capabilities in the long-term through the construction of infrastructure.
“We figured we would grow cannabis because the demand s high, so we can easily build-out. As the cannabis demand settles down globally over the next 5-10 years, the industry will have paid for massive food infrastructure without the government or taxpayers paying for it. In Aruba, we’re going to take a lot of that profit to create food infrastructure,” says Nick.
For more information:
Nick Brusatore, Founder and CEO
Affinor Growers
Publication date: Thu 22 Apr 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
WEBINAR: Learning Transfer From The Cannabis Industry To The Vertical Farming Industry
We are thrilled to organize a Webinar focusing on the technical aspects and experience of these experts
MARCH 3, 2021
AT 16:00 Central European Time
ONLINE
Register
Critical Lessons: Learning Transfer from the Cannabis Industry to the Vertical Farming Industry
We are thrilled to organize a Webinar focusing on the technical aspects and experience of these experts:
Our speaker Emil Breza is Co-Founder, President, and CEO of AgricUltra™ Advancements Inc. Bringing together his interdisciplinary technical expertise and many years of product development and innovation he introduced to AgricUltra a PlantFirst™ design approach to create one of the industries most advanced Turn-Key Vertical solutions for Controlled Environment Agriculture applications.
Prior to founding AgricUltra, Emil had years of experience in Process Engineering, the Automotive Industry, Professional consulting, and the Military where he honed his ability to identify the root cause of problems and develop solutions that are outside the box.
Our speaker Buck Young is co-founder and Executive Director at CannTx Life Sciences Inc, a Canadian LP focused on leveraging innovation and science to produce exceptional cannabis products and provide solutions to the industry. He is also the CEO of Saed Technologies Ltd, which develops and licenses technologies related to plant propagation, a Board member of Mary Agrotechnologies, and sits on the management committee for a cannabis botanical drug strategic alliance with Devonian Health Group. He is passionate about translating research findings into commercial outcomes, advancing the adoption of precision agriculture, and understanding nature’s pharmacopeia.
Emil Breza
Buck Young
Dr. Joel Cuello
Please register here, there is only a limited number of tickets available.
Register
TAGS: ADVANTAGES OF VERTICAL FARMING AFRICA AGRITECHNICA AGROSPACE AVF WORKSHOP BRAINSTORM THE ECOSYSTEM DESIGNING THE ECOSYSTEM DLG ECOLOGICALLY ECONOMICALLY EVENT FOOD SAFETY FOOD SECURITY FOOD SYSTEM FOODSYSTEM FOOD TRACEABILITY FRAUNHOFER FRAUNHOFER IME HOW VERTICAL FARMING WORKS HUNGER INFARM INFOGRAPHICS INSPIRATIONAL ITALY MOTIVATION OPPORTUNITIES OPPPORTUNITIES PARTNER EVENT REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT RETAIL ROME RZ SOCIALLY SOUTHAFRICA STORYTELLING SUBMISSION SUMMIT SUPERMARKET SUPPLYCHAIN SUSTAINABILITY THE SIX SESSIONS URBAN AG VERTICAL FARMING WORKSHOP WORKSHOP WARM UP
Emerging Needs In Vertical Farming And Cannabis Cultivation
The development of vertical farming will continue considerably in the coming years, according to Montel Inc.. With the company’s Vertical Farming Systems Montel expects a very high volume of new projects in both food and cannabis. “COVID-19 has only increased the need to grow locally and inside cities”, says Yves Bélanger, VP Sales Vertical Farming Market International
15 January 2021
Jacco Strating
Yves Bélanger of Montel Inc. believes that COVID-19 has only increased the need to grow locally and inside cities. He speaks about why the development of vertical farming will continue considerably in the coming years.
The development of vertical farming will continue considerably in the coming years, according to Montel Inc.. With the company’s Vertical Farming Systems Montel expects a very high volume of new projects in both food and cannabis. “COVID-19 has only increased the need to grow locally and inside cities”, says Yves Bélanger, VP Sales Vertical Farming Market International.
Established in 1924, Montel pioneered high-density mobile storage systems providing cost-efficient storage solutions using less space and established a global network of authorized Montel distributors. Montel's achievements include some of the most prestigious projects in North America and around the world. “Prior to becoming North America's leading manufacturer of mobile systems, we had acquired nearly 40 years' experience in the electrical industry, including extensive involvement in the construction of generating stations and power grids for major world-leading hydroelectricity plants. This explains our expertise and the exceptional quality of our electrical mobile systems”, says Bélanger.
Inventive ways to feed the world
Before the crisis, it was already accepted as a general consensus that we are facing a complex challenge: we will need inventive ways to feed to growing population but the potential and land availability for cultivation has almost reached its maximum capacity. Also rising before the crisis was the global trend of growing locally due to a variety of factors or needs: in regions in which climate is a challenge, in remote areas, where there is water or soil rarity, aiming at lowering the carbon footprint, increasing product short shelf life, cutting down on transportation, etc. “In the long term, we feel that the current crisis will accelerate tremendously and definitely crystallize the need to grow locally and/or inside cities and the need to grow in a controlled cleanroom environment which will result in a higher demand for our product and a growth in our sector”, says Bélanger. “With its mobile carriages, the Greenrak Integrated Vertical Indoor Farming Solution is the ideal response to the current situation allowing both to increase yield while reducing the required surface by eliminating space wasting.
Customers increasingly have groceries delivered directly to their homes seems to be also an underlying trend rising from this crisis and in the long term, this may also play a role in creating a higher demand for our high-density cold storage solutions.”
Montel’s Greenrak and Grow&Roll systems were developed specifically for growing applications. Greenrak mobile system is lightweight, rust-resistant, and simple in design which allows for easy installation, use, and maintenance. Grow&Roll mobile system is the heavy-duty version of Greenrak and can withstand a weight of 3630 kg. Growrak was engineered to free up space between frames at each level providing plenty of clearance for better airflow, ventilation system ducts, lighting fixtures, and enough spacing for oversize trays to pass through between frames.
High yield hydroponic vertical farms
“Given the fact that Montel's Vertical Farming systems have been implemented in numerous indoor high yield hydroponic vertical farms that utilize cleanroom technologies and automation as well as many medical or recreational cannabis facilities around the world, we feel our expertise will benefit this growing sector. We are expecting a very high volume of projects that will require Integrated Vertical Farming Solutions. Our experience and knowledge allows us to rapidly assist the emerging needs in vertical farming and medical or recreational cannabis cultivation. By extension, we also foresee an increasing demand in the Cannabis Dispensaries market for our Light-duty drawer cabinet. We also expect a possible higher demand for our High-Density Cold Storage Solutions for the grocery delivery market and Buy Online, Pickup In-Store (BOPIS) market.”
Tags: Vegetables, Medicinal cannabis
Combining Hydroponic And Aeroponic In Vertical Farming
Growers are finding new ways to drive the efficiency up and the cost down, and one of these solutions is vertical farming.
Generally speaking, horticulture operations can be quite expensive to operate; yet, growers can rely on hundreds of years of knowledge to improve the efficiency, so that those costs go down. At the same time, indoor farming cannot rely on such knowledge, and it is not uncommon to see cultivation facilities with huge bills at the end of the month. As the industry matures, growers are finding new ways to drive the efficiency up and the cost down, and one of these solutions is vertical farming.
LED technology
Nowadays, LED technology has made a huge leap forward, and Alvis Ma, the CEO of GrowSpec claims they are the industry standard. “Growers generally make the switch from HPS to LED for three reasons: increased yield, improved cannabinoid, and terpene content, and energy efficiency,” he explains. Thus, LEDs allow for vertical cultivation, which has a host of benefits, especially when it comes to space optimization.
“The VetriAero Planter system uses a mobile planting rack that reduces the ‘required’ indoor grow space area and extends the plant cultivation space by multiple tiers, maximizing growth space, increasing the yield and thus the profit,” Alvis Ma points out. “And if a grower wants to use one rack only initially, other tiers can be added later on: the helves can be connected to one another so that growers can modify the VetriAero Planter system length according to the size of the room.”
A very peculiar feature of this system is the integration of both aeroponic and hydroponic methods. “Instead of growing in soil, the roots are suspended in mid-air and surrounded by oxygen,” he adds. “The plant roots get misted directly with a nutrient-dense solution that gets sprayed to the roots every 3-5 minutes. At the same time, the remaining liquid at the bottom of our container ensures that, in the event of an emergency, there is still enough nutrient-dense liquid to sustain your plants for up to 48 hours.”
“Commercial indoor cultivation operations can be very expensive,” says Alvis Ma with GrowSpec. “And if you look at the cost of the real estate, added on top of substantial
power bills and staffing requirements, it becomes critical to find a way to increase profit and reduce overhead costs.” Exactly to respond to such a demand, GrowSpec has developed the VertiAero Planter system, a new vertical growing system. “One of the primary reasons why vertical farming is so attractive for growers is the improved performance of current LEDs,” Alvis Ma continues. “This is something that could not happen back in the day, as HPS has been the go-to lights for decades, and they produce a lot of heat; generally speaking, the plants have to be placed a couple of feet away from light to stay safe and healthy.”
Controlling the environment
Indoor growing, especially vertical growing, requires a particularly efficient airflow system to guarantee healthy growth for the plants. This has direct consequences on the growing environment. “Maintaining optimum temperature, humidity, and air circulation is challenging for all cannabis operations,” Alvis Ma remarks. “But in vertical growing, there is even more variability in macro and micro environmental conditions, because more plants make control more difficult.
That’s why the GrowSpec VertiAero’s multi-layer airflow solution improves the airflow rate in the micro-environment of the plant canopy by maintaining consistent plant canopy temperature and humidity, reducing the cultivation potential of harmful pathogens, and increasing the rate of photosynthesis by evenly distributing CO2 over the plant canopy. The system utilizes various sensors to detect crucial data points such as moisture change, for instance.”
Although such a system might sound complicated to use, user-friendliness and easiness of use are very well implemented. “The VertiAero Planter system integrates intelligent control and touchscreen control system so that your business can save up exponentially on overhead costs,” Alvis Ma points out. “At our core, we operate according to the highest standard, combining this with technology that respects our planet.”
For more information:
GrowSpec
Yuxin Industry Zone, Shishan Town, Nanhai, Foshan, Guangdong, China
+86-15914220731
VIDEOS: The Technologies Helping Move Agriculture Indoors
As more agriculture moves indoors, Israeli technologies are moving in with them to optimize lighting, watering, temperature, and other factors for an efficient and effective operation. Greenhouses and urban farm factories are expensive to set up but pay off in higher yield, quality, and market value, growing all through the seasons.
Greenhouses and urban farm factories are expensive to set up but pay off in higher yield, quality, and market value, growing all through the seasons.
A pick-yourself strawberry farm in China built inside an Azrom greenhouse. Photo courtesy of Azrom
Grain crops will always need large fields. But tomatoes, leafy greens, peppers, and strawberries are some of the many fruits and veggies that thrive indoors under precisely controlled conditions.
Though it costs more to raise produce in greenhouses or urban “farm factories,” the payoff is higher yield, quality, and market value. The plants can grow year-round with less fertilizer and pesticide.
As more agriculture moves indoors, Israeli technologies are moving in with them to optimize lighting, watering, temperature, and other factors for an efficient and effective operation.
Sarai Kemp, vice president of deal flow at Trendlines AgriFood. Photo: courtesy
“There is a growing trend for traditional greenhouse farming and indoor hydroponic and vertical farming for certain types of crops,” says Sarai Kemp, vice president of deal flow at Trendlines AgriFood based in Israel with branches in China and Singapore.
Kemp tells ISRAEL21c that most greenhouse-grown tomatoes go straight to consumers while most field-grown tomatoes go into items like ketchup.
“Growing indoors helps you produce more in a better environment than in open fields,” she says. “Farmers invest in technology for greenhouses because they can control the growing environment and sell the produce at a higher value.”
Kemp says a lot of indoor farming technology originated in Israel. “We have the experience, capability, and technology to provide monitoring solutions.”
Europe is the main market for Israeli indoor farming technology, and Kemp notes that a new market has opened closer to home.
“The United Arab Emirates is very interested in indoor farming because of the desert conditions that make it difficult to grow in open fields there.”
Let’s look at a few Israeli solutions for indoor farming.
Greenhouse experts
This 5.5-acre medical cannabis greenhouse complex in Greece is covered with f-CLEAN, a durable polymer offering exceptional light transmission and energy savings. Photo courtesy of Azrom
One of the oldest market leaders in the greenhouse farming business is Azrom, a family company that has specialized in designing, building, and installing fully customized greenhouse systems since 1979.
“That’s all we do,” says Zviki Porat, Azrom’s international marketing manager. “We started exporting in 1979 to Greece and since then we have done about 1,500 projects in more than 70 countries.”
In the old days, technology meant simple drip irrigation. Today, Azrom partners with Israeli research institutes and ag-tech companies to stay a step ahead of the greenhouse technologies curve.
“Now it’s a whole package of high-tech systems that lead to much higher yields and monitor processes better, including weather and topography, planning, designing, engineering, and remote controls,” says Porat.
Also in the early days, greenhouse crops were raised in the ground. Today, most farmers opt for hydroponics – growing in soil-free mediums.
“There are 10 kinds of platforms to choose from in hydroponics, so it’s much more complicated today to plan and price a greenhouse system,” says Porat.
Four kinds of crops growing under one greenhouse roof in Belarus. Photo courtesy of Azrom
“And every year more crops are being grown in greenhouses because land is in short supply. The main crops are vegetables, strawberries, ornamental flowers, and medical cannabis. But you can even grow watermelon, pineapple, and mango indoors where they stay warm and are exposed to fewer pests.”
In addition to Asia and Europe, Azrom has projects planned in Louisiana (US) and Dubai (UAE).
“Greenhouse growing requires a high investment. But you pollute less because you don’t spray as much, and you can collect and reuse water and even fertilizer,” Porat says. “So we have a lot to contribute to desert agriculture.”
Hydroponic greenhouse factories
A British-Israeli venture formed from a merger of two established companies about eight years ago, Growponics designs and builds automated hydroponic greenhouse factories in urban settings.
“You can grow vegetables all year round in greenhouses in many places, like in California’s Salinas Valley. But that is not where the population is,” says founder Lior Hessel.
Hessel says shipping costs today account for more than 80% of the landed cost of vegetables – that is, the total expense to get a product to its destination.
“Local greenhouse farming is expensive, but it pays off compared to shipping costs,” Hessel tells ISRAEL21c. “In the last 10 years, a new trend is local production with a lower landed price and lower carbon footprint.”
Still, for a massive greenhouse factory to be profitable, its steep capital and operating expenses must be offset by maximizing yield per square meter, Hessel explains.
“In Growponics we do this by using automation. The plants move on conveyers. We eliminate aisles, which normally take up 15 to 20% of greenhouse space; and we adjust the spacing between plants in different parts of the growth cycle. That alone can increase yield by more than 40% on top of the savings from eliminating aisles. It’s a gamechanger when you put them together.”
With funding in part from the Israel Innovation Authority, Growponics invests heavily in R&D in cooperation with institutes in Israel, the UK, and continental Europe.
One innovation is a data collection robot that supplements the data collection done by sensors in the greenhouses. Another is organic fertilizer produced via atmospheric nitrogen fixation, which uses bacteria to make nitrogen in the air available to plants. This technology won Growponics the European Union’s Seal of Excellence and €2.5 million in funding to implement it in Europe.
Growponics has three sites in Israel, accounting for more than 70% of domestic hydroponics.
“In Europe, we registered a new company in Greece to do more than $4 million in projects,” says Hessel, “and we are going to the UAE as part of an Israeli business delegation before the end of the year.”
Three years ago, Growponics established a two-acre greenhouse factory in Connecticut that sells its produce to New England supermarket chains. Further US expansion is planned with local partners as owner-operators to handle marketing and distribution.
Lighting and growing system
“Indoor growing demands scientific knowledge of what each plant needs and when,” says Daniel Levin, founder of Tel Aviv-headquartered Growor, whose indoor agriculture system can reduce overall costs up to 40 percent (up to 70% electricity saving alone) while increasing yield by about 30%.
The business started five years ago with a light-bulb idea, literally.
Pharma-grade cannabis thriving under Growor’s lighting system. Photo: courtesy
The smart LED light, which can manipulate outcomes such as tomato color and juiciness, was developed by Levin’s business partner Michael Naich, now CEO of Growor and its companion R&D company Group 1607 (so named because both their birthdays are on July 16).
But lighting alone wasn’t enough. Indoor farmers must control and monitor a variety of inputs such as water, nutrients, temperature, and humidity.
“Because we had so much data from our lighting system, we were able to develop a full dynamic protocol for any kind of indoor growing,” says Levin. “The protocols adapt to help each plant feel it is in the best conditions at any time and location.”
Energy-efficient LED lighting retains a starring role in the Growor system, which includes sensors, AI software, and a mobile app to manage cultivation remotely.
“We adjust the rest of the parameters to the light parameters because only light can manipulate the plant’s behavior drastically. More or less water, or more or less fertilizer, won’t change a tomato’s color.”
Growor has pilot projects in Israel, North America, Europe, and Asia for growing flowers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and pharma-grade cannabis. The latter crop, says Levin, is raised in clean rooms and must be reliably stable and consistent because “there’s no room for surprises.”
Robotic indoor harvesting
The higher yield in indoor agriculture requires more farmhands, and that’s a problem.
“One of most the urgent issues today is a labor shortage because most activities are done manually,” says MetoMotion CEO Adi Nir.
MetoMotion is developing a robotic system that automates labor-intensive greenhouse tasks and simultaneously gathers actionable data to improve yield and quality.
MetoMotion’s GRoW robot picks tomatoes and performs other labor-intensive tasks in greenhouses. Photo: courtesy
This portfolio company of The Trendlines Group has been testing its unique GRoW robotic tomato harvester in Israel and in The Netherlands in partnership with Bayer Crop Science.
“Since March we haven’t been able to travel from our offices in Yokne’am,” says Nir. “Our team there works with the robot and the software is operated mainly from here. This reduces the amount of staff needed at the greenhouse.
“You always need people too, but the robots work autonomously and from the office, you can see yield and yield forecast and other actionable data collected and transmitted to the cloud.”
The first commercial GRoW units will be shipped to a few farmers in Europe for evaluation in the next eight months.
“We are currently focused on tomatoes, but the platform can be adapted to different vegetables,” says Nir. GRoW also can be adapted to perform pruning, pollination, and de-leafing.
Wall to fork
As ISRAEL21c previously reported, “green walls” can provide insulation, air purification, and aesthetic landscaping to the interior or exterior of buildings.
They can also produce salad greens, mushrooms, and strawberries in an urban space-saving way.
However, vertical farming is still quite limited because to be profitable “you have to either grow more or save on costs of labor or resources such as electricity,” Sarai Kemp from Trendlines tells ISRAEL21c.
Among several Israeli vertical farming startups working to make this model viable are Verticanna and Vertical Field.
Verticanna, in the seed investment stage with two medical cannabis pilots running in Israel, aims to revolutionize vertical hydroponic growing systems for crops including, uniquely, citrus fruit.
Vertical Field of Ra’anana makes the Vertical Farm, a modular, moveable soil-based platform that can grow 200 types of organic, pesticide-free crops and requires no special training to operate.
The Vertical Farm can grow hundreds of types of crops indoors or outdoors at a supermarket, restaurant or another retail outlet. Photo courtesy of Vertical Field
Vertical Farm can be placed in a 20-foot or 40-foot standalone container equipped with advanced sensors that monitor, irrigate, and fertilize crops throughout every growth stage.
Vertical Farms are up and running at some Israeli supermarkets and at Farmers & Chefs restaurant in Poughkeepsie, NY, and at Evergreen Kosher Market in Monsey, NY. Expansion across other US cities is planned.
“We offer an easy-to-use real alternative to traditional agriculture,” CEO Guy Elitzur said. “Our urban farms give new meaning to the term ‘farm-to-table,’ because one can pick their own pesticide-free greens and herbs at supermarkets, restaurants, or other retail sites.”
The Israeli startup was cited by Silicon Review as one of “50 Innovative Companies to Watch in 2019” and named by World Smart City in 2019 as “Best Startup.”
Abigail Klein Leichman is a writer and associate editor at ISRAEL21c. Prior to moving to Israel in 2007, she was a specialty writer and copy editor at a major daily newspaper in New Jersey and has freelanced for a variety of newspapers and periodicals since 1984.
Stem Cultivation's v2 Stem Box Achieves Production Milestone
STEM Cultivation, Inc. has emerged from stealth today to announce a breakthrough in growing efficiency with its patent-pending STEM Box v2
Las Vegas, December 12, 2019 - STEM Cultivation’s vertical hydroponic agri-tech platform enables leading Nevada cannabis brand to bring new products to market faster, and for less cost, compared to traditional indoor growing methods.
STEM Cultivation, Inc. has emerged from stealth today to announce a breakthrough in growing efficiency with its patent-pending STEM Box v2. The STEM Box is a leap forward with respect to lowering cost, space, operational, and energy requirements and offers commercial operators of any size a faster and more sustainable path to profitability over current methods of indoor cultivation.
“We shipped a STEM Box kit to our partner’s facility and assembled it into a fully-operational hydroponic grow room, isolated and environmentally-perfect, and ten weeks later it produced a cartoonish amount of high-quality cannabis,” said Kyle Moffitt, CEO of STEM Cultivation.
In a recent harvest, the STEM Box v2 yielded 91.9 pounds of dry flower in only 230 ft² of real estate, a 600%+ gain in production efficiency compared to an average harvest using traditional indoor cultivation methods in the same space. Moreover, the STEM Box achieved some of the highest efficiency metrics ever recorded, including:
Grams/ft² 181.4
Grams/watt 2.56
Pounds/light 3.83
Moffitt continues, “STEM Boxes are to commercial growers what Amazon Web Services is to computing: they both offer an easy way for businesses to quickly and incrementally scale capacity and help bake predictability and risk management into operations without requiring a large upfront investment. They allow independent operators of any size to punch well above their weight against larger competitors in cost and quality.”
Working in partnership with an award-winning cultivation and processing company based in Reno, NV, STEM Cultivation demonstrated a STEM Box’s ability to increase production without disrupting existing operations. STEM Boxes allow the client to expand their reach in the notoriously competitive Nevada market by producing more of their best-selling items for a fraction of their current cost.
Moffitt concludes, “We’ve applied lessons learned from the first-generation of indoor farming and made a next-generation solution that provides our clients with a fundamental market advantage within weeks of switching on. The STEM Box offers the fastest way to transition from cannabis growing to cannabis manufacturing.”
To learn more about STEM Cultivation or the STEM Box, visit www.stemcultivation.com or email info@stemcultivation.com to schedule a consultation.
What Is Hydronic Cooling?
“As Surna’s projects have become larger and more complex, we have added several products to our fan coil product family to meet the climate control needs of our customers”
Boulder, Colorado, August 27, 2019 — Surna Inc. (OTCQB: SRNA) introduces a full line of purpose- built fan coil products providing a wide range of choices for both ducted and ductless applications for small to large commercial indoor cannabis cultivation facilities.
“As Surna’s projects have become larger and more complex, we have added several products to our fan coil product family to meet the climate control needs of our customers”. These new products are part of our strategy to enhance our position as a trusted climate control advisor to our customers and offer more products and services to meet their specific requirements,” said Troy Rippe, Surna’s Director of Engineering and R&D.
The introduction of the IsoStreamTM product family allows Surna to serve:
Ductless environments where climate control systems circulate water, not air.
Ducted environments that provide economical solutions while still serving multiple grow
rooms.
Surna provides efficient and economical environmental control systems across a larger array of indoor cannabis cultivation facilities. Our new, whisper quiet fan coil units use electronically commutated motors to optimize airflow while specialized chilled water modulating valves are used to fine-tune for minimizing energy consumption.
If you want to learn more about our full line of Surna IsoStreamTM fan coils, please contact us at
www.surna.com
About Surna
Surna Inc. (www.surna.com) designs, engineers and manufactures application-specific environmental control and air sanitation systems for commercial, state- and provincial-regulated indoor cannabis cultivation facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Our engineering and technical team provides energy and water efficient solutions that allow growers to meet the unique demands of a cannabis cultivation environment through precise temperature, humidity, and process controls and to satisfy the evolving code and regulatory requirements being imposed at the state, provincial and local level.
A Flower Grower Recently Contacted Green Living Company Inc. Regarding Cooling Rates of the Flower Before Fresh Dispensed or Secondary Processed
A small carbon footprint with a ‘ton’ of daily freezing output! Canna-Freeze is being introduced at the CannaGrow Expo 8/17 and 8/18
One Pallet Cannabis Freezer v 4-3 | © FR Weeth 2019
Fresh Frozen Cannabis
One Pallet Vacuum Cooler/Freezer System Canna-Freeze
will Vacuum Freeze; 750 LB of Flower Bud
from Ambient to -15ºF <45 minutes.
A small carbon footprint with a ‘ton’ of daily freezing output!
Canna-Freeze is being introduced at the CannaGrow Expo 8/17 and 8/18.
Contact Kimberly: glckimberly@gmail.com
My focus is designing and manufacturing cold chain material handling systems for chilling and freezing. I have partners with off the shelf solutions or can design to fit your needs.
Our goal;
Energy and Labor Reduction with
An Increase in Productivity.
Gregory Smith
gregory.smith@heinen.biz
Cell (863) 581-7279
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Capacity: 750 lb field product
Target Performance: Ambient temp product to -15* F < 45 minutes
Room ID: Materials:
Door: Vacuum:
Temperature: Refrigeration: Control:
Minimum 54” wide x minimum 56” deep x 102” tall
Stainless Steel, Food Grade Interior
Mechanical Structure all sandblasted and epoxy painted mild steel Single Hinged Door with Stainless Steel Interior
211 ACFM, 12Hp, 15 amps 460v/3p/60h
0.3 micron 99.97% efficiency oil mist and smoke exhaust filter Automated dynamic temperature/pressure control
48,000 BTUH @ 95*F/25*F, 13.3 amps 460v/3p/60h
PLC, HMI, recipe functions, valve control, and freeze protect
Is Vertical Growing The Future of Cannabis?
In the food sector, vertical growing companies like Plenty, Aerofarms, Gotham Greens, and many more, are revolutionizing agriculture. But in the cannabis industry, which practically invented sunless growing, there has been notably less activity
(Daniel Berman for Leafly)
August 2, 2019
Indoor cannabis grows are expensive operations. Given the real estate costs, massive energy bills, and significant staffing requirements, it’s crucial to find a way to increase profits. Maximizing your grow space is one way to do this and that could mean vertical growing—the practice of producing plants in vertically stacked layers or vertically inclined surfaces.
In the food sector, vertical growing companies like Plenty, Aerofarms, Gotham Greens, and many more, are revolutionizing agriculture. But in the cannabis industry, which practically invented sunless growing, there has been notably less activity.
This is partly because high-pressure sodium lights (HPS), one of the most common lights used to grow cannabis for decades, run so hot that plants have to be many feet away to stay unharmed.
How to Top Cannabis Plants for Bigger Yields
But LEDs run at much lower temperatures, so you can install them inches from the plant canopy. Their decreasing price and increasing ability to equal or exceed HPS yields are making LEDs the standard, finally opening the door to vertical growing for cannabis.
“The main catalyst behind cannabis cultivation going vertical is the improved performance of LED lighting,” says Thomas Rogers, LED engineer of Exact Lux. “Cannabis growers are approaching us wanting the most powerful multi-tier or ‘vertical farm’ lighting systems possible.”
Two Types of Vertical Farming
Stacked vertical (left) and true vertical (right) cannabis grows with LEDs. (Sean Walling/Leafly)
Stacked Vertical
The most common method of vertical farming is a stacked vertical setup—levels of plant racks with LED lights above each rack. Plants are topped and defoliated to keep them short and bud-heavy.
Growers even stack in the flower stage, despite plants being large and top-heavy.
True Vertical
With true vertical growing, plants grow out the side of a column, and water and nutrients drip down from the top—see these examples from ZipGrowand Tower Garden.
Within the column, a hybrid method combines nutrient film technique (NFT), where nutrient water is passed directly over the roots, and aeroponics, a soilless grow method where roots hang in the air.
How to Prune Cannabis Plants for Maximum Yields
Pros and Cons of Vertical Growing
So why don’t all cannabis operations grow vertically, especially in this competitive new industry? Here we’ll look at some of the benefits and drawbacks.
Environmental Conditions Get Complex
Maintaining optimum temperature, humidity, and air circulation is tough for all cannabis grows. But in vertical growing there is even more variability in macro and micro environmental conditions because there are more plants, making control more difficult.
Because of this atmospheric variability, Hugh Gaasch, engineer at STEM Cultivation, recommends sensors to detect data points like moisture changes. “Shockingly, the majority of commercial growers I’ve seen to date use a single temperature/humidity sensor to monitor a room, even large spaces, over 20,000 feet.”
Grow Room Humidity Control: 5 Tips for Indoor Growers
In contrast, STEM Cultivation uses one temperature sensor per 100 cubic feet. STEM collects data on: temperature, humidity, air pressure, CO2 levels, lighting levels, lighting power (kW) and energy (kWh), system air circulation rates, localized air circulation, VOC (volatile organic compounds), and HVAC power and energy, to name a few.
Mike Zartarian, from Zartarian Engineering, builds circulation systems for vegetable and cannabis growers. To decrease chances of mold and fungi, he says: “I recommend systems that push air right in between the racks above the plants, usually with small ducts that take air from the edges of the room to the center of the racks.”
Expensive to Set Up and Maintain
Although vertical growing of any kind will increase yield by maximizing space, when you add up the increased energy usage from more artificial lighting, an upgraded climate control system, the extra infrastructure required (ladders, racks, sensors, and more), and paying high-skilled agro-technicians, it is very costly for many.
Zartarian says: “It’s by no means impossible, but the jury is very much out on whether it’s cost effective long-term. If veggie growers prove it to be a dominant technique, I would expect to see more experimentation on the cannabis side.”
How to Train Your Cannabis Plants for Better Yields and Potency
As it is, licensed operators he works with are struggling to meet demand and prefer to stick to more traditional techniques they know will produce.
Dangerous Conditions
Vertically grown cannabis needs a lot of hands-on attention during the flowering cycle as compared to, say, vertical lettuce crops which are more set-and-forget. The height of a plant must be closely controlled, which requires grow technicians to get up on step stools or scaffolding to reach into the plant canopy. These high-tier tasks may not be OSHA-compliant.
Certain Cultivars Work Better Than Others
The most successful cultivars for vertical growing are short, have big buds, and fewer leaves, so less defoliation is necessary. But if you’re a confident defoliator, the diversity of cultivars you can grow will broaden.
Arthur Brownsey, cannabis cultivation consultant at Four Trees, thinks most strains can grow vertically. “If you have a tight production schedule, group like-cultivars together, and plan accordingly, there are no restrictions to what you can grow.”
Factors That Impact Your Cannabis Strain: Part 3, Growing Techniques
Agro-engineer Aja Atwood of Trella sees value in vertical growing, but the limited cultivars it serves made her determined to find another option. “There is a wide variety of strains out there that prefer longer vegetation periods and have a taller growth structure. In order to diversify, you need to train or trellis those taller varieties to stay within the space.”
To allow for vertical growing with a diversity of strains, she and her partner Andres Chamorro invented a grow unit, TrellaGro LST, that trains plants to grow horizontally. Each unit is vertically stackable and equipped with LED lights that follow it as it grows sideways, allowing for taller strains and less energy use.
Stay Tuned
In these early days, vertical growing has yet to revolutionize the industry, and some operations, focused on supplying a high-demand market, are sticking with traditional growing methods.
However, most operations already know the price of cannabis will likely drop as competition grows. In that climate, the future of cannabis could move up, not out.
Christine Giraud, a freelance writer in Boston, has been writing about cannabis for publications like The Boston Globe, Overture Global Magazine, Dig Boston, Civilized, Her(b) Life, and Foottraffik.
Seedo Ramps Up Manufacturing For Its Hydroponic Farm In A Box
April 15, 2019
Indoor farming company Seedo announced it will manufacture more than 1,800 of its indoor grow boxes in Q2 of 2019.
Seedo’s device is a self-contained, airtight box that looks like a mini-fridge and automates the process of growing herbs and vegetables hydroponically. The device pairs with a smartphone app that lets users choose a grow plan or create their own, control and modify the environment in the box, and receive notifications about plant health, harvest times, and any unexpected issues. You can also lock or unlock the fridge door with the app, a feature that seems handy for households with curious pets or small children.
The device will fit inside most homes, clocking in at 40 inches tall and 24.4 inches wide. It has space to grow up to five different plant types at one time. With the aid of the app, users can adjust environmental factors based on what’s being grown. For example, tomatoes require a lot of light and fairly dry conditions for ideal growing, so Seedo users can adjust the “weather” inside the box to get those conditions. Meanwhile, a patent-pending lighting system self-adjusts based on the growth stage of the plants.
Most interesting about Seedo is the types of plants the company says you can grow with the device. The website lists the usual herbs and lettuces most at-home vertical farms can grow, as well as some heartier options: strawberries, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and zucchini. You can also grow flowers, edible or otherwise.
The Israel-based company has also filed a new patent that will cover the AI and data analytic algorithms of its agricultural database. According to the press release, these algorithms are built to increase yield, improve nutrient delivery to the plants, and detect issues in real time.
Right now, you can pre-order a Seedo for $2,400. That cost includes the box itself, various filters (water, air), nutrients to get started, and access to the app (iOS and Android). Actual seeds are not included.
That’s considerably more expensive than some other options available for purchase or pre-order: the Herbert farm by Ponix systems is selling for around $553 USD. SproutsIO, which is expected to ship in Q3 of 2019, is going for $799. And the Farmstand, courtesy of Zooey Deschanel’s new startup Lettuce Grow, ranges from $399 to $469 for the farm itself and $49 to $69 for a monthly subscription that includes seeds.
Seedo’s customer base is currently made up of at-home growers and some commercial partners. The company recently announced a partnership with Kibbutz Dan, with whom it will create a fully automated, commercial-scale cannabis farm in Israel. Previously, Seedo had established a medical cannabis farm in Moshav Brosh, Israel. Seedo raised a $4 million post-IPO equity round in April.
Seedo expects to start shipping machines in August 2019. It’s currently available for pre-order in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.
Cannabis Tech Topics Connected Kitchen Foodtech Modern Farmer Smart Garden