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Infarm Appoints Crop Genetics Specialist
Berlin-based urban farming specialist Infarm has appointed plant geneticist Pádraic Flood to lead its crop genetics team and help adapt various staple crops for vertical farming.
By Fred Searle
August 4, 2021
Berlin-based urban farming specialist Infarm has appointed plant geneticist Pádraic Flood to lead its crop genetics team and help adapt various staple crops for vertical farming.
A former research scientist at Wageningen University and the renowned Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Flood will spearhead Infarm’s ongoing efforts to improve the quality, flavour and freshness of its vertically farmed produce.
Flood has a PhD from Wageningen in natural genetic variation in plant photosynthesis, and over the past decade he has used genetics to understand a range of key scientific questions ranging from photosynthesis to how plants adapt to extreme environments.
At Infarm he will lead the development of a breeding programme to adapt grains, legumes and other staple crops for vertical farming.
The company said the aim of the programme is to help return the land currently devoted to these staples to nature and biodiversity, while trying to have a positive impact on both people and the planet through more sustainable agriculture.
Infarm was founded in Berlin in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and brothers Erez and Guy Galonska.
With a multinational team of more than 1,000 people globally, the vertical farming business has partnered with more than 30 major food retailers around the world.
To date, it has deployed more than 1,300 ‘in-store ‘farms’ as well as large-scale Growing Centres, producing various herbs, micro greens and leafy greens.
It claims to have saved more than 60 million litres of water and 60,000 square metres of land when compared with conventional production.
Lead Photo: Pádraic Flood will lead development of breeding programme to adapt grains, legumes and other staple crops for vertical farming
SPAIN: HPGen™ Improves Crop Yields, Reduces Irrigation System Maintenance In Almeria Greenhouse
HPNow addresses growing global challenges in clean water and sanitation through its range of on-site, autonomous, safe and sustainable hydrogen peroxide generation solutions
Located in the highly productive greenhouse area in the Almeria region in southern Spain, a greenhouse grower with cucumbers in winter and watermelons in summer ran into some irrigation issues: the soil in the region is dry, the climate warm and the operators use organic fertilizers. The plants are grown in the typical Almeria sandy soil (enarenado) and are irrigated with a modern drip irrigation system using pressure compensating non-leakage drippers.
When HPNow’s precision irrigation and agronomy experts assessed the site, it was clear that clogging of drippers leads to non-uniform irrigation and insufficient water and fertilizer delivery to part of the crop. To mitigate this, farm personnel were going through the drippers frequently to “unclog”, a manual process highly costly in man-hours.
Organic matter
Soil quality was also analyzed and the amount of organic matter in the soil, a critical parameter for the healthy growth of the plants, was very low at 0.33%. This is due to poor dissolution of organic matter fertilizers in water, which further exacerbates dripper clogging and decreases crop productivity. To overcome these issues, an HPGen™ system was installed and integrated with the drip irrigation system. The HPGen™ was installed in the irrigation room and set to automatically fill a buffer tank with Peroxide UltraPure™. Dosing was done through a proportional dosing pump, which is both simple and effective.
Improved yields
After a season of cucumber crop with HPGen™, yields were compared to previous seasons. The results with HPGen™ were of 17 kg/m2, a record for this grower, substantially higher than the average for the past 5 years of 12 kg/m2. In addition, the grower observed the quality of the fruit improved, and the fruit could remain on the plant longer, allowing for optimization in harvesting depending on market prices.
The improvement in >40% in production is explained by two factors:
· Better irrigation uniformity: After two weeks of installing the HPGen™ all drippers showed a uniform water flow, which allows for an optimal distribution of water and fertilizer throughout the field.
· Increase of soil organic content, which increased by a factor of 10 (from 0.33 to 4 %), which contributed to improving plant nutrition.
Both factors are due to the high oxidizing power of the Peroxide UltraPure™ generated by the HPGen™ system, which oxidizes organic matter in the irrigation system and makes it available to the crop. This results in better health and vigor of the plants, and in an improvement in yields.
About HPNow
HPNow addresses growing global challenges in clean water and sanitation through its range of on-site, autonomous, safe and sustainable hydrogen peroxide generation solutions. Headquartered in Copenhagen, and with representation across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, they address their clients’ water treatment needs in market segments ranging from agriculture and aquaculture, to industrial and drinking water treatment. HPNow is a technology and market leader in on-site generation of hydrogen peroxide and is continuously striving to further advance its technology and products in order to meet growing market needs and rising global demand.
Stay in the loop by following HPNow on LinkedIn and Facebook.
VIDEO: Potato Seeds Made Without Soil With Little Help From Peru
Scientists say that in aeroponics technique, potato seeds are grown in mist environment. Potato seeds grown through this technology are free from soil-borne diseases. Potato Technology Centre has established three units which have the capacity to grow 10 lakh minitubers
Parveen Arora
Potato Technology Centre, (PTC) Shamgarh, in the district in collaboration with Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) in Shimla and International Potato Centre (CIP), Peru, has started producing potato seeds in the air with the help of aeroponic technique.
Scientists show a potato breed at Potato Technology Centre at Shamgarh village in Karnal district. Sayeed Ahmed
In this technique, there is no need for soil and other growing media like coco-peat for production. The scientists say that in aeroponics technique, potato seeds are grown in mist environment. They claim potato seeds grown through this technology are free from soil-borne diseases.
“We have started the process of growing minituber (potato seed) plants with the help of aeroponic technique. It is the latest technique for growing plants and potato seed production in an air or mist environment. There is no need for soil and this technology is free from soil-borne diseases,” said Dr Prem Chand Sindhu, Deputy Director, PTC, Shamgarh.
He maintained that they have established three units which have the capacity to grow 10 lakh minitubers in one crop cycle which is for three months. The scientists claimed that the production of seeds through this technique is much higher than conventional methods.
Dr Manish Sainger, the senior consultant at PTC, said that on an average, 30 minitubers and maximum 50-60 minitubers can be obtained from each plant. He said that through this technique, 7-10 times more minitubers can be obtained in comparison to conventional methods like net-house or open field.
About the technology, Dr Sainger said they planted tissue culture plants in the grow chambers which have pipes and nozzles for mist spray on the roots of the plant. “The roots of the plant hang in the air in the chamber and all the nutrients are provided through the mist, which consists of all the required elements for plant growth and tuberisation, periodically. The upper part of plant remains at the top of the chamber,” he added. He said that the size of minitubers is uniform at 3-4 gm.
Dr Sainger said it is easy to transport minitubers at minimal cost. “These seeds will be given to growers at subsidised rates by the Department of Horticulture. Later, seed growers will cultivate these seeds in the soil for the multiplication of seeds.”
CHAP Launches CropMonitor Pro – A New Digital Service For Predicting Crop Pest and Disease Risks
CHAP is delighted to announce the launch of a new digital service – Crop Monitor Pro. It is designed to help growers and agronomists predict the likelihood of pest and disease outbreaks on their farm
CHAP is delighted to announce the launch of a new digital service – Crop Monitor Pro. It is designed to help growers and agronomists predict the likelihood of pest and disease outbreaks on their farm.
CropMonitor Pro extends the DEFRA funded, long-standing regional risk evaluation service (Crop Monitor) which was first launched in 2003 by Fera Science Limited (Fera). CropMonitor Pro is a significant advancement on that service by providing field-level risk prediction for a range of pests and diseases affecting winter wheat, winter oilseed rape, and potatoes.
The CropMonitor Pro decision support service is a collaboration between CHAP and Fera and has been in development since 2017. It has been funded by IUK as part of the UK Agri-tech Strategy.
Analytical tools are becoming increasingly popular for growers. Retailers, agrochemical companies, and government are all looking to better predict the risk of pest and disease outbreaks to mitigate against supply chain shortages, predict sales, and encourage environmental stewardship. For the grower, a better understanding of the level of pest and disease risk can ensure pesticides are only applied when required. This will not only offer immediate savings on both chemical applications and operational expenditure but will also reduce the threat of resistance against an increasingly limited arsenal of available crop protection products.
CropMonitor Pro estimates infection risk by analyzing the complex relationship between weather, crop growth stage, management practices, and disease or pest characteristics. It uses a simple traffic light system to show crop susceptibility and suggests optimum times to spray – and when to avoid spraying – for up to four days ahead with up to 85% accuracy.
The system benefits from almost 20 years of historical winter wheat disease data: models which could be validated against this dataset were shown to have a false negative rate of less than 15%. CHAP CEO Fraser Black said: “Developing tools to support the sustainable use of pesticides is critical not only to improve the bottom line of our growers but also to protect our environment and halt the rapid rise of pesticide resistance emerging in the UK. CropMonitor Pro will deliver real financial benefits to growers and agronomists while also protecting the environment.”
Fera CEO Dr. Andrew Swift said: “After several years of development work, we are excited to launch the CropMonitor Pro service with CHAP. It is our hope that CropMonitor Pro becomes a vital tool for the industry to improve profitability while helping to protect our natural ecosystems.”
The system launched on 14th September for growers and agronomists and will be available directly through www.cropmonitor.co.uk on a subscription basis.*
About Crop Health and Protection (CHAP)
Crop Health and Protection (CHAP), funded by Innovate UK, is one of four UK Agri-Tech Centres. CHAP’s vision is for the UK to be a global leader in the development of applied Agri-Technologies, to help secure our future by nourishing a growing population sustainably while delivering economic, environmental, and health benefits to society.
CHAP acts as a unique, independent nexus between the UK government, researchers, and industry, building innovation networks to identify and accelerate the development of cutting-edge solutions to drive incremental, transformative, and disruptive changes in sustainable crop productivity.
Website: chap-solutions.co.uk/
For further information about the project contact:
Chris Delf: chris.delf@chap-solutions.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7732 684 786
Twitter: @CHAP_Enquiries
Fera Science Limited, formerly the Food and Environment Research Agency, is a joint private/public sector venture between Capita plc and Defra. Using original thinking applied to support sustainable global food security our vision is to support our partners to respond to the challenges ahead through original thinking and world-class science. Fera is a leading supplier of scientific solutions, evidence, and advice across the agri-food supply chain. Employing more than 350 scientists, Fera analyses over 90,000 samples and publishes over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers per year. It turns expertise and innovation into ways to support and develop a sustainable food chain, a healthy natural environment, and to protect the global community from biological and chemical risks.
Website: fera.co.uk
For further information about the project contact:
Judith Turner: Judith.turner@fera.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1904 462200
A Method To Monitor Indoor Crop Health No Matter What Planet You're On
A user-friendly, cost-effective protocol to use SI-NDVI imaging for early, remote detection of plant stress.
PUBLIC RELEASE: 17-DEC-2018
BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
IMAGE: SINGLE-IMAGE NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX (SI-NDVI) ANALYSIS ENABLES EARLY DETECTION OF PLANT RESPONSE TO STRESS, PRIOR TO WHITE LIGHT-VISIBLE DETECTION. SI-NDVI IMAGES OF ARABIDOPSIS PLANTS SHOW RESPONSE TO SALT STRESS... view more
CREDIT: NICOLE S. BEISEL, JORDAN B. CALLAHAM, NATASHA J. SNG, DYLAN J. TAYLOR, ANNA-LISA PAUL, AND ROBERT J. FERL. 2018. UTILIZATION OF SINGLE-IMAGE NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX (SI-NDVI) FOR EARLY PLANT...
As the world urbanizes and technologies such as LED grow lights bring down costs, indoor farming is becoming an increasingly important part of the food supply. Eventually, indoor farming techniques could help humans maintain a healthy diet in space. However, because of the completely closed systems in which indoor crops are grown, imbalances in soil nutrients, salinity, temperature, and other factors must be caught quickly to avoid losing a whole crop. In work published in a recent issue of Applications in Plant Sciences, Dr. Robert Ferl and colleagues at the University of Florida Space Plants Lab developed a light-based tool to assess plant health quickly, accurately, and inexpensively.
Not surprisingly for work coming from the Space Plants Lab, this study was conducted with an eye toward extraterrestrial farming. "Imagine a greenhouse being robotically maintained on Mars," said Dr. Ferl, corresponding author on the study. "The only data we can get back from that greenhouse is electronic. No sample return. Under those conditions it becomes really beneficial to derive as much data as possible from the photons that are coming off the leaves of plants." These photons make distinctive light signatures that can tell quite a bit about how a plant is doing, when analyzed using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).
The NDVI is a widely used metric of plant health and photosynthetic rate that was originally developed for satellite-based monitoring of plant growth. This metric compares the plants' absorption of different spectra of light; healthy plants give off an identifiable light signature, absorbing light in the photosynthetically active region of light spectra, and reflecting near-infrared light. "[NDVI] proved to be an interesting starting point for the project simply because there is a large dataset and collective understanding that underpins the idea of using different spectral components to understand plant health," said Dr. Ferl. They adapted single-image NDVI (SI-NDVI), a low-cost version of this analysis, to see if it would be practical for monitoring crop health in indoor farming conditions.
Dr. Ferl and colleagues assessed the efficacy of this monitoring technique by exposing two different plants (arugula and the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana) to two different stressors (salinity and a high-concentration ammonium nitrate treatment) that create distinctive and well-understood stress responses. "Using these well-controlled stresses that have a well-defined biochemical basis for their responses is allowing us to probe the root causes of NDVI difference detections of stress or health responses," said Dr. Ferl. They were able to detect stress signatures from both treatments well before stress was visible to the naked eye, proving the utility of these techniques as early monitoring systems that can be deployed remotely and relatively inexpensively.
While these authors were primarily motivated by an interest in growing plants in space, the monitoring technique they developed could prove useful here on earth for indoor farmers looking to catch problems in the grow room quickly. "Single-image NDVI offers the opportunity to derive spectral character from a single RGB image. This keeps costs down," said Dr. Ferl. "It also opens the door to a large community of citizen scientists and applications developers that are interested in using SI-NDVI concepts commercially." This means that this method could be adapted to monitor a variety of crops grown under indoor conditions, which could mean less expensive, healthier salad greens on your table, whether that table be here or on Mars.
Tackling the Food Crisis with a Borderless Collaboration
At Omron, opportunities to engage with new challenges are abundant
After graduating from university in London, Kassim Okara joined the largest specialist distributor of control and automation products in the UK, where he worked on numerous large-scale projects. He decided to leave however, to join Omron Electronics as field sales engineer in 2015, as he had always felt that he wanted to contribute to society from a business development standpoint.
At Omron, opportunities to engage with new challenges are abundant; the varying projects involve not only control equipment but also healthcare and mobility as well as initiatives to actively employ disabled persons.
At that time, Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) had begun working on automated vertical farming to optimize crop production. Based at the James Hutton Institute in Scotland a leading crop science and research institute, the opportunity to collaborate was one of the key considerations in this location. To advance the efforts to practical application level, IGS needed an automation solutions provider.
In search of a suitable provider, IGS found Omron. In addition to its solutions, Omron's commitment to social responsibility attracted them into collaboration.
With the addition of Omron's automation technology to the expertise and knowledge of the two organizations, the first-ever UK project for automated vertical farming using IoT was initiated. Kassim was assigned as project leader on Omron's side. His passion for his work increased by the day as he deepened his understanding of his partners' enthusiasm toward the project.
In the beginning, developing an understanding of the project was particularly challenging, as it was unprecedented so that previous case studies could not be found. Despite this, Kassim took on the project, led by his determination to respond to social needs through business.
Publication date : 10/29/2018
Idrologica Proposes New Anti-Hail/Anti-Bugs System
V5: Anti-Hail System That Prevents Ice Accumulation
Increasingly devastating weather phenomena are now threatening even the anti-hail/anti-bug nets. Often, heavy hailstorms damage not only the nets but also break the poles. To avoid this, the European patented V5 system is a type of anti-hail cover characterized by an innovative ice discharge method which prevents the formation of dangerous build-ups on the nets.
Looking at the net's profile, you can notice two different slopes: the first one is relatively flat, while the second one has a strong slope so to make a funnel.
The technician continued, “Therefore, the net has great flexibility. In the case of a hailstorm, the slope increases thus immediately discharging the ice. The two net-cloths are tied in two parts: through an elastic between the intermediate supports, and through plaques between the external supports”. Eventually, the net looks like a triangle pointing downwards, where the hail is collected and discharged. It is also possible to close the net so to isolate it from the Asian bug.
“The Idrologica company proposes, develops and installs farming plants and machinery, for private and public gardens and for industries and large sports facilities. We contribute to the improvement of the agricultural and agri-food productions and to the increase of green areas. This is thanks to the experience of our specialised human resources who are capable to constantly support in specific technical matters”.
Info
Idrologica srl
via Soldata, 1
48018 Faenza (RA) - Italy
Mark Servadei
Technical office
Tel.: +39 0545 906274
Tel.: +39 333 9365933
Email: impiantistica@idrologica.it
Web: www.idrologica.it
Truss Support Tape For Strawberry Tabletops Gutter System
NALTSEN is a specialists in high quality technical textiles and associated products for horticulture, agriculture, landscape, amenity and outdoor advertising.
NALTSEN truss support tape is manufactured from a tough, durable, non-fray material and is used for tabletops gutter growing systems in greenhouse or tunnel. It has a number of unique qualities below.
Helping to protect your crops
The advantages of NALTSEN truss support tape for tabletops gutter growing systems :
* No sharp and rough edges
* UV treated
* Water and wind flow through
* High strength and ripstop
* No kinking and breaking
The strength of this vented tape has been tested under varied conditions and it has proved to withstand cold and heat without breakdown. Some growers have installed this vented tape, leaving it out in the field throughout the winter, and it is now entering its fourth year without breakages occurring.
The vent holes allow pesticides and fungicides to penetrate through the tape removing the hiding place for pests and disease. The vent holes also allow the air to flow through the truss tape helping to prevent too much tug from the wind and allowing the tape to dry hence further preventing disease. When under tension the tape forms a gentle curve providing the perfect support for the trusses helping to prevent kinking and breaking allowing an uninterrupted supply of nutrients through each truss.
HEBEI NALTSEN TRADING CO., LTD.
Add: No.9-1-1105, Phase 2, Jinzeyuan,
Fuxing district, Handan City, Hebei Province
Email: jasen@naltsen.com
http://naltsen.en.aftrade.com/
Tel: +86 186 17576096