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USA - ALABAMA: Auburn College of Agriculture Using High-Tech Shipping Containers To Grow Produce For Campus Dining
Unique ‘Vertical’ Farms part of Planned 16-Acre Transformation Garden On Campus
High-tech Horticulture
Unique ‘Vertical’ Farms part of Planned 16-Acre Transformation Garden On Campus
June 10, 2021
Josh Woods | College of Agriculture
Recycled shipping containers have gained popularity in recent years, being converted into everything from houses to small stores—but the Auburn University College of Agriculture, in partnership with Campus Dining, is using them as self-contained “vertical” farms to grow produce to serve to students.
In April, the college acquired two Freight Farms shipping containers that have been converted into technologically advanced hydroponic growing stations in which plants grow vertically indoors without soil, getting their nutrition from water and light energy from powerful LEDs.
Now, the farms are producing the first crop of lettuce.
“This is state of the art,” said Desmond Layne, head of the Department of Horticulture. “We're talking growing from seed to fork in four to six weeks, depending on whether it is lettuce, arugula or another vegetable crop that can grow in there. And we can produce 15 times as much per year as we could outside in the same exact spot.”
Associate Professor of Horticulture Daniel Wells taught a vertical farming course this spring and leads operations of the vertical farms.
Wells said the containers are outfitted with a complete climate control system, which includes air conditioning and humidity control. Because they are highly insulated, the system ensures the same climate 365 days a year.
The converted containers also have an elaborate lighting system, giving all the light the plants need from two color LEDs.
“We can do any number of colors of lights,” he said. “But it turns out for photosynthesis, plants use mostly red and blue light. What’s neat about that is you can cut out a lot of the other color spectrum, creating far less heat energy. That's very efficient. It means more of the energy used is turned into light than heat.”
The containers also allow for controlled carbon dioxide levels, which accelerates plant growth.
“Ambient CO2, what you and I are exposed to every day, is about 400 ppm [parts per million],” he said. “And that’s fine, plants can grow there. But if we boost the CO2 to 1,000 ppm, they’ll grow faster. And because we’re containing the CO2, the plants can really use it. And it’s not dangerous for humans at all.”
Wells and Director of Dining and Concessions Glenn Loughridge first initiated a partnership between the College of Agriculture and Campus Dining five years ago through the Auburn Aquaponics Project, which uses hydroponics and aquaculture technologies to provide a system in which nutrient-laden wastewater from fish production is used as a food source for plant growth. Today, fish from this effort are served in dining facilities on the Auburn campus.
The new vertical farms build on that effort.
“We're in the process of finishing a $26 million dining hall in the center of campus,” Loughridge said. “It has always been foremost in my mind that we would have the opportunity to feature produce grown here on campus in that dining hall. In our biggest location, our biggest asset, we want to bring our A-game.
“This is hyper-local, on-campus sourcing,” he added. “Can you imagine being a potential student coming to tour, seeing where these products are grown, and then going to eat there? It’s incredible. We truly believe this elevates our dining experience.”
The converted shipping containers were manufactured by Freight Farms, a Boston-based company operating in 45 states and 28 countries.
“There are a few different companies out there doing this,” Layne said. “But Freight Farms is the most sophisticated. They’re the ones who have both the best product on the market and the largest production of these containers. It’s really a best-case scenario.”
Adam Lenhard, a rising senior majoring in biological agricultural technology management, said Wells’ course has been one of the most influential courses he’s taken at Auburn.
“It has been very helpful, not just in preparation for the arrival of the freights, but also in learning all about new hydroponic technologies and growing techniques,” Lenhard said. “Post-graduation, I plan to continue to work with these types of indoor, LED hydroponic systems. My primary goal after college is to normalize urban hydroponic farming, provide large, consistent yields of fresh vegetables and provide food to those in need who do not have as much access to fresh produce.”
Transformation Garden
The vertical farms are located on the College of Agriculture’s planned 16-acre Transformation Garden on the south end of the university’s campus, near the intersection of Lem Morrison Drive and Duncan Drive. The goal of the garden is to encompass every aspect of plant-based agriculture, including everything from fruits and vegetables to ornamentals to grow crops and more.
The Transformation Garden will showcase new technology and the history of agriculture, as it envelops Auburn’s Old Rotation, a single-acre research plot created in 1896. Continuously since that year, the historic landmark has been the site for testing and advancing transformative ideas that are now commonplace—ideas like crop rotation, cover crops, and low- and no-till farming.
(Written by: Kristen Bowman)
HELP DEVELOP THE TRANSFORMATION GARDEN
To help develop the new Transformation Garden, you can give online or contact Phillip Cowart, College of Agriculture director of development, at poc0001@auburn.edu or 334-844-1198.
Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie’s Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn’s commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.
Latest Newsroom Articles
Square Roots Expands Premium Herbs Range With Fresh And Aromatic Cilantro, Dill, And Parsley Grown In Climate Controlled Local Farms Across The Country
Indoor farming company takes the next step in bringing local, real food to cities using modular farm technology that empowers both farmers and consumers
Indoor farming company takes the next step in bringing local, real food to cities using modular farm technology that empowers both farmers and consumers
May 17, 2021 (New York, NY) — Square Roots, the technology leader in urban indoor farming, is expanding its herb range by introducing three premium fresh offerings - Cilantro, Dill, and Parsley - to complement its widely successful signature Basil. Co-founded by Kimbal Musk, Square Roots’ herbs are grown across the company’s network of cloud-connected and climate-controlled indoor farms in New York and Michigan and are now available in more than 200 retail stores - including Whole Foods Market, Fresh Thyme Market, SpartanNash, and FreshDirect.
“COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of locally grown indoor produce”, said Raji Margolin, EVP of Sales and Marketing at Square Roots. “The habits of at-home cooking and using fresh, local produce are here to stay. Now more than ever, people care about the food they eat, and where it's grown - and our goal is to make sure that fresh and local food is available to consumers year-round. These herbs are just the beginning of our product offerings and we can’t wait to expand into additional categories.”
Square Roots has a strategic partnership with Gordon Food Service (GFS), one of the country’s leading food service providers, to deploy farms across the country together and provide fresh, high-quality, local food to consumers across cities, year-round. Square Roots broke ground on its latest indoor farm in Grand Rapids, Michigan in December 2020 and began planting seeds just three months later, in March 2021. This rapid deployment capability is enabled by the company’s modular farm-tech platform.
“We’re using technology a little differently at Square Roots farms”, said Tobias https://www.igrow.news/igrownews/indoor-ag-science-cafe-may-18th, Co-Founder, and CEO at Square Roots. “Food, farmers, and consumers are all connected at the center of our system. We surround our farmers with data, tools, and insights to help them grow more, better-tasting food with fewer resources. At the same time, with features like our unique Transparency Timeline, we help our consumers understand exactly where their food comes from and who grew it.”
The expanded herb range is available in both the New York City area and the Great Lakes Region.
About Square Roots
Square Roots is the technology leader in urban indoor farming. Its mission is to bring local, fresh, real food to people in cities around the world - setting new standards for transparency and responsibility while empowering the next generation of leaders in agriculture. Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Kimbal Musk and Tobias Peggs, its range of fresh produce is available in more than 200 retail locations around the country including Whole Foods Market, Fresh Thyme Market, SpartanNash, and FreshDirect. Square Roots’ strategic partnership with Gordon Food Service reinforces a larger shared ambition to build commercial scale, climate-controlled indoor farms together across the continent - enabling local food at a global scale, year-round.
For more information, please visit www.squarerootsgrow.com.
USA - ILLINOIS - Tasty, Fresh And Sustainable
There are no animals, roses, or peaches at Wiseacre Farm, a rectangular, 320-square-foot container farm inside a warehouse Sheinfeld rents in an industrial area at 1975 N. Lake Terrace, Glenview
Glenview Man's Hydroponic Farm
Uses Technology To Grow Garden Variety Produce
5/12/2021
By Dave Oberhelman
doberhelman@dailyherald.com
This is not your grandfather's farm.
It's not Aviad Sheinfeld's grandfather's farm, either -- but Wiseacre Farm is a bridge between childhood days spent on grandparents Yechezkel and Hadassah Gluzman's farm in an Israeli moshav and Sheinfeld's modern training.
That combination has resulted in some of the best greens his customers have ever tasted, grown indoors by futuristic, sustainable methods.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
"I don't know if it was a goal. I never thought about becoming a farmer. I was always good with computers, so working with computers was kind of the assumed path," said Sheinfeld, 49, of Glenview.
"I think my childhood experiences on the farm really gave me more of an ingrained appreciation for what it takes to grow food. The thing I remember most is the apple orchards and the peaches my grandparents grew, but they also grew roses and sheep, so also animals."
There are no animals, roses, or peaches at Wiseacre Farm, a rectangular, 320-square-foot container farm inside a warehouse Sheinfeld rents in an industrial area at 1975 N. Lake Terrace, Glenview.
Wiseacre's specialty, available by 10-week subscriptions through www.wiseacre.farm, is leafy greens. A recent delivery included six heads of lettuce of differing varieties. Another package will offer the lettuce plus herbs and other greens -- things like parsley, chives, Thai basil, red-veined sorrel, curly kale with chard.
Sheinfeld sometimes delivers his produce the day it's harvested. Reviews are strong.
"Most of our customers have remarked that they had no idea that lettuce, basil -- fill in the blank, whatever produce -- tastes that way," said Sheinfeld's daughter, Yael, who is finishing her last semester at Northeastern University in Boston, but also handling Wiseacre marketing and communications.
"I think it's hard to understand just how much the taste disappears with travel, with chemicals, herbicides, and pesticides, with just time, honestly, and sitting on a grocery store shelf," she said.
Growing crops indoors in Wiseacre Farm's controlled hydroponic environment eliminates the need for herbicides and pesticides. Serving customers within about a 10-mile radius also lends a neighborly appeal.
"It's not just buying your food from anonymous company X," Aviad said.
His father, Sam, also works on the farm. Yael -- and occasionally Aviad and Kari Sheinfeld's two teenage boys, Rahm and Lev -- are fourth-generation farmhands.
Finalizing financing and incorporation in 2018, in November 2019 Sheinfeld received his container farm from Freight Farms of Boston. He said there's a couple hundred of these repurposed shipping container farms worldwide. When he needs advice he reaches farmers in Alaska, Minnesota, Tennessee, even Tasmania.
The interior includes vertical panels about 10 feet tall in which the plants soak up rays of LED lights embedded into opposing panels. The plant panels can be removed and placed horizontally when the plants are ready for harvesting.
The media is not soil but water, to which nutrients are added automatically, manually controlled by computer. Hydroponic methods are 98% more water-efficient than traditional farming, Yael said. Through recycling irrigation water and capturing the water transpired by the plants, on average the farm uses less than 5 gallons of water a day. On very humid days, the farm will capture more water than it uses.
Nutrients, drip irrigation, temperature, humidity, lighting -- all are computer-controlled.
"As farming goes, it's kind of posh," Aviad Sheinfeld said.
"The thing about this farm is it's very technically advanced, so it kind of marries my initial interest in agriculture and my insatiable appetite for technological gadgets all into one big toy," he said.
He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania and added DePaul University master's degrees in network communications and information security and in computational finance.
First working as a software engineer with Motorola, he veered into stay-at-home dad mode after he and Kari, an attorney, started having children. The couple sent their kids to the Science & Arts Academy in Des Plaines, where Aviad served three years as board chairman. During that time, the academy explored hydroponics as part of the curriculum.
"That's kind of where I caught the bug, so to speak," he said.
No bugs at Wiseacre Farm. There is lots of energy consumption.
"We have lights that are powered by electricity and we use a lot of technology, so that is one resource that we use a lot of," Yael Sheinfeld said.
And still ...
"What's wonderful is, due to our partnership with Arcadia (Power, a renewable energy company out of Washington, D.C.) all of the electricity that we consume now is 100 percent offset with wind-generated, renewable energy. So it sort of allows us to keep that focus, knowing that's the main resource we still need to use, but doing that in a more sustainable way," she said.
For lettuce, from seed to harvest it takes only 8 weeks for the container farm to grow the equivalent of 2 acres of traditional farmland, Aviad said. He plans on about six annual growing cycles.
His first crop came through last March, right at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially targeting restaurants for his produce, he shifted to a farm-to-table model. Customers also can now pick up goods at the farm itself on Saturdays, though preordering is a must. All packages and purchasing options are available at www.wiseacre.farm.
In its short time, Wiseacre Farm has gained acclaim beyond consumer taste buds. It won Silver for innovation in the Glenview Natural Resources Department's 2020 Environmental Sustainability Awards, and on March 28 the farm was featured in a segment of the History channel's "Modern Marvels" series highlighting "The Future of Food."
After a year, Aviad Sheinfeld said the process has become "a little less magical," but he still gets a kick out of it. Imagine what Hadassah and Yechezkel Gluzman might think.
"You put seed in a plug, and even a few days later when it pops out, I'm amazed," Aviad said.
"I do understand it, but I still don't believe how amazing it is that a plant grows out of this little, tiny seed and a few weeks later you have a head of lettuce or arugula."
Lead Photo: Wiseacre Farm owner Aviad Sheinfeld looks over some of the plants grown at his hydroponic farm in Glenview. Brian Hill | Staff Photographer
New Hydroponic Farm, Vittone Farms, Is Welcomed To The Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce With Ribbon Cutting
“What is great about hydroponic growing is that we can serve the local community with safe, nutritional food 365 days a year, additionally local farming removes the extended transportation of produce from the equation
May 12, 2021
Vittone Farms, Inc., a true-agricultural start-up that uses hydroponic farming to grow thousands of plants a month and host of the Smith Mountain Lake (SML) Farmers Market, celebrated the ribbon cutting with the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. As an official member of the region’s growing business community, Vittone Farms looks forward to supporting the local and seasonal community.
10 local businesses attended the ribbon cutting and each attendee was provided with a hydroponic salad lunch created by a local Smith Mountain Lake restaurant, The Landing Restaurant, with salad ingredients provided by Vittone Farms.
The 40-foot farming container uses advanced vertical farming techniques using every inch of space for effective, indoor, all-season, all-weather growing and sits on land once known in the community for the Mayberry Diner & Drive-In. In 2007 the Diner burned down and for the past several years the prominent land remained vacant and unusable. Vittone Farms plans to make this land useful once again through the use of the farm and farmers market, making Vittone Farms a viable member of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. The SML Farmers Market features local growers and producers from within a 100-mile radius of its location in Moneta, VA and for the 2021 season, all members of 4-H, FFA, or any young farmer or producer under the age of 18 is eligible to receive free booth space at the up-and-coming farmers market.
The Vittone Farms team consists of Jeff Vittone, the founder of Vittone Farms and SML Famers Market and a U.S. Air Force Veteran, Jordan Gudely, a lifelong farmer who attained his Argibusiness Management Degree from North Carolina State University gained unique experience with organic fruit and vegetable production from the NC State sweet potato breeding program also has 1.5 years’ experience in different forms of farming works alongside part-time worker Kevin Painchaud, a local high school student, and future Horticultural Science Major at Virginia Tech. The Vittone Farms team is preparing for the farmer’s market season by growing a variety of plants and herbs inside the container farm and will continue to learn how to optimize the unique sustainable farming technique.
Vittone Farms offers a variety of produce derived from organic seeds and pesticide-free nutrients from its initial harvest including: Butter Lettuce, Romaine, Bibb Lettuce, Red and Green Salanova Sweet Crisp, Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, and Radish. Soon, Vittone Farms plans to include Microgreens and eggs from free-range, cage-free, organically fed chickens.
“What is great about hydroponic growing is that we can serve the local community with safe, nutritional food 365 days a year, additionally local farming removes the extended transportation of produce from the equation. When food is shipped over extended distances it loses its quality and nutritional value. We are grateful to be part of this beautiful community and welcomed by the local chamber of commerce. We are honored to make use of a once treasured land by not only growing on the land but inviting others to join us each weekend by selling their local meats, produce, or designs,” adds Jeff Vittone.
Eeden Farms Sees Phenomenal Market Response To Pioneering Concept
Lincoln Deal II, the founder of Eeden Farms, said: “The response has been phenomenal. Most days, we are combing growing and facilitating tours because the interest level is so high among restaurants and hotels
An Eeden Farms worker plants seeds for a sustainable future. (PHOTO: EEDEN FARMS)
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A tech-enabled containerized farming company has seen a “phenomenal” response to its offering, according to its founder, who told Eyewitness News “the demand is definitely there”.
Lincoln Deal II, the founder of Eeden Farms, said: “The response has been phenomenal. Most days, we are combing growing and facilitating tours because the interest level is so high among restaurants and hotels.
Lincoln Deal II.
“A lot of the restaurants and hotels are enamored by how fresh the produce is, that they can get it farm-to-table and it’s Bahamian. The demand is definitely there.”
Eeden Farms, located in the BRON Business Centre, Airport Industrial Park, officially launched back in February.
The company currently utilizes three repurposed shipping containers equivalent to 15 acres of farmland and offers fresh organic produce year-round. Its farm system was created by Boston-based Freight Farms, the world’s leading manufacturer of container farm technology.
Deal defended the containerized farming concept, noting that Eeden Farms is the first company to have Freight Farm’s newest model of containerized farms.
“The technology that we are utilizing has never been used here before,” said Deal.
“We are the pioneers of this technology here in The Bahamas despite what misinformation may put out there. We were the first to receive this model from Freight Farms and they own the patent on this particular technology.”
Caroline Katsiroubas, director of marketing and community relations at Freight Farms, told Eyewitness News: “Eeden Farms represents the first entry of our technology into that region and that market. It began in 2020 but the journey didn’t start there. We have been working with him (Deal) for quite a few years, having first met at a conference in 2016.
“We’re in 32 countries right now. In terms of who our client base is, we have a very diverse kind of network of people who are interested in operating the system and it has infinite applications.”
Tags Always a headline ahead, Bahamas news, ewnews, ewnews.com, Eyewitness News, Eyewitness News Online, Nassau Bahamas, www.ewnews.com
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Lead photo: Eeden Farms. (BIS PHOTO/KRISTAAN INGRAHAM)
Indoor Agtech: An Evolving Landscape of 1,300+ Startups
Our Indoor AgTech Landscape 2021 provides a snapshot of the technology and innovation ecosystem of the indoor food production value chain
March 17, 2021
Editor’s note: Chris Taylor is a senior consultant on The Mixing Bowl team and has spent more than 20 years on global IT strategy and development innovation in manufacturing, design, and healthcare, focussing most recently on indoor agtech.
Michael Rose is a partner at The Mixing Bowl and Better Food Ventures where he brings more than 25 years immersed in new venture creation and innovation as an operating executive and investor across the internet, mobile, restaurant, food tech and agtech sectors.
The Mixing Bowl released its first Indoor AgTech Landscape in September 2019. This is their first update, which you can download here, and their accompanying commentary.
Since the initial release of our Indoor AgTech Landscape in 2019, the compelling benefits of growing food in a controlled indoor environment have continued to garner tremendous attention and investment.
One of the intriguing aspects of indoor agriculture is that it is a microcosm of our food system. Whether within a greenhouse or a sunless (vertical farm) environment, this method of farming spans production to consumption, with many indoor operators marketing their produce to consumers as branded products. As we explore below, the indoor ag value chain reflects a number of the challenges and opportunities confronting our entire food system today: supply chain, safety, sustainability, and labor. Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic rippled through and impacted each aspect of that system, at times magnifying the challenges, and at others, accelerating change and growth.
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Our Indoor AgTech Landscape 2021 provides a snapshot of the technology and innovation ecosystem of the indoor food production value chain. The landscape spans component technology companies and providers of complete growing systems to actual tech-forward indoor farm operators. As before, the landscape is not meant to be exhaustive. While we track more than 1,300 companies in the sector, this landscape represents a subset and serves to highlight innovative players utilizing digital and information technology to enhance and optimize indoor food production at scale.
Supply chain & safety: Where does my food come from?
The pandemic highlighted the shortcomings of the existing supply chain and heightened consumer desires to know where their food comes from, how safely it was processed and packaged, and how far it has travelled to reach them. A key aspect of indoor farming is its built-in potential to respond to these and other challenges of the current food system.
Indoor farmers can locate their operations near distribution centers and consumers, reduce food miles and touch points, potentially deliver consistently fresher produce and reduce food waste, and claim the coveted “local” distinction. The decentralized system can also add resiliency to supply chains overly dependent on exclusive sources and imports.
Growing local has many forms. Greenhouse growers tend to locate their farms outside the metropolitan area while sunless growers may operate in urban centers, such as Sustenir Agriculture in Singapore and Growing Underground in London. Growers like Square Roots co-locate their indoor farms with their partner’s regional distribution centers, and Babylon deploys its micro-farms solution on site at healthcare and senior living facilities and universities. Recently, Infarm announced it was expanding beyond its growing-in-a-grocery store model, to include decentralized deployments of high-capacity “Growing Centers” across a number of cities. Additionally, the value of “growing local” might take on a much larger meaning if your country imports most of its produce from other countries; a number of the Gulf region countries have announced major indoor growing initiatives and projects with AeroFarms, Pure Harvest, and &ever to address the region’s food dependence on other countries.
Organic produce sales jumped to double digit growth in 2020 as consumers are increasingly mindful of the healthiness of their food. The additional safety concerns due to the pandemic only accelerated this trend. While not typically organic, crops produced in the protection of indoor farms are isolated from external sources of contamination and are often grown with few or no pesticides. Human touch points are reduced as supply chains shorten and production facilities become highly automated. Through the CEA Food Safety Coalition, the industry has recently taken steps to establish production standards with a goal to keep consumers safe from foodborne illness.
Indoor farmers market their products as local, fresh, consistent and clean. This story is resonating with consumers as the growers seem to be selling everything they can produce, with many reporting significant sales growth in 2020. The direct connection to consumer concerns is also a key part of their ability to sell their branded products at a premium, which has been critical to financial viability for some growers. This connection can also enable them to collapse the supply chain further, at least at smaller scales, through direct sales and creative business models, e.g., sunless grower Willo allows subscribers to have their own “personal vertical farm plot” and watch their plants grow online.
Sustainability: Is my food part of the problem or part of the solution?
Farming, as with most industries, has been under increasing pressure to operate more sustainably, and indoor growers, with their efficient use of resources, have rightfully incorporated sustainability prominently into their narratives.
We are well aware of the impacts of climate change, including greater variability in weather patterns and growing seasons. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization projects that over the coming decades climate change will cause a decrease in global crop production through traditional farming practices, causing greater food insecurity. Indoor growing, which provides protection from the elements, consistent high yields per land area, and the ability to produce food year-round in diverse locations, including those unsuitable for traditional agriculture, can help mitigate this trend.
Water scarcity is projected to increase globally, presenting a national security issue and serious quality of life concerns. According to the World Bank, 70% of the global freshwater is used for agriculture. Indoor agriculture’s efficient use of water decreases use by more than 90% for the current crops under production. It is also common practice for greenhouses to capture rainwater and reuse drainage as does Agro Care, the Netherlands’ largest greenhouse tomato grower.
On the flip side, energy use, particularly in sunless facilities, is indoor growing’s sustainability challenge. Efficiency will continue to improve, but as recent analysis on indoor soilless farming from The Markets Institute at WWF indicated, there is an industry-wide opportunity to integrate alternative energy sources. Growers recognize this opportunity to decrease impact and improve bottom-line and are already utilizing alternative approaches such as cogeneration, geothermal sources, and waste heat networks. H2Orto tomatoes are grown in greenhouses heated with biogas generated hot water. Gotham Greens’ produce is grown in 100% renewable electricity-powered greenhouses, and Denmark’s Nordic Harvest will be running Europe’s largest indoor farm solely on wind power.
Labor: We’re still hiring!
There are labor challenges and opportunities throughout the food system value chain, and this couldn’t be more acute than on the farm. Farm operators—both in-field and indoor—find it difficult to attract labor for the physically demanding work. Even before the pandemic, the hardening of borders in Europe and the US created a shortage of farmworkers for both field and greenhouse production. In addition, grower and farm manager-level expertise is in short supply, exacerbated by an aging workforce and the rapid addition of new indoor facilities. While operators would like to see more trained candidates coming from university programs, they are also looking to technology and automation to relieve their labor challenges.
Automation of seedling production and post-harvest activities is already well established for most crops in indoor farming. In addition, the short growth cycle and contained habit of leafy greens lends them to mechanization. For example, the fully automated seed-through-harvest leafy green systems from Green Automation and Viscon have been deployed in major greenhouse operations like Pure Green Farms and Mucci. On the sunless side, Urban Crop Solutions has uniquely implemented automation in shipping containers, and Finland’s NetLed has developed a fully automated complete growing system. Note that many of the larger-scale sunless growers have developed their own technology stacks and have designed labor-saving automation into their systems. For example, Fifth Season has robotics deployed throughout the entire production process.
Despite numerous initiatives, the challenging daily crop care tasks and harvesting for certain crops (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and berries) have not yet been automated at scale. However, planned, near-term commercial deployments of de-leafing and harvesting robots offer the promise of significantly altering labor challenges. Software technologies, like those from Nitea and Hortikey address labor management, crop registration, yield prediction, and workflow/process management for the indoor sector and strive to improve operational efficiencies for a smaller workforce.
Technologies that provide, monitor, and control climate, light, water, and nutrients are already deployed in today’s sophisticated indoor growing facilities and are fundamental to maintaining optimal conditions in these complex environments. They also form the base for the next innovation layer, i.e., crop optimization and even autonomous control of the growing environment based on imaging and sensor platforms (like from Ecoation, iUNU, and 30MHz), data analysis, machine learning, digital twins and artificial intelligence. Recent events like the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge have successfully explored the potential of AI to “drive horticultural productivity while reducing resource use and management complexity”. Emerging commercialized autonomous growing innovations, such as the Blue Radix Crop Controller and Priva’s Plantonomy, promise to extend and enhance the reach of available grower expertise, particularly in large and multi-site operations.
Where do we go from here?
Since we created our initial Indoor AgTech Landscape, there has been positive change and reason to be optimistic about the future. But, as with any evolving market and sector of innovation, it can be a bumpy ride. Some believe CEA is not the answer to our food problems because not everything can be economically grown indoors today. We see indoor ag as just one of the approaches that can help fix our food system and it should be applied when it makes sense. For example, tomatoes sold through retail are already more than likely grown in a greenhouse. Expect more crops to be grown indoors more economically with further advancements.
One aspect of our previous landscape was to increase awareness that, despite the fervor surrounding novel sunless farming, greenhouse growing was already well-established. Dutch greenhouse growers have demonstrated the viability of indoor growing with 50-plus years of experience and more acres “under glass than the size of Manhattan.” The recent public offering and $3 billion market cap of Kentucky-based greenhouse grower AppHarvest also clearly raised awareness! Other high-profile and expanding greenhouse growers, including BrightFarms and Gotham Greens, have also attracted large investments.
The question is often asked, “which is the better growing approach, sunless or greenhouse?”. There is no proverbial “silver bullet” for indoor farming. The answer is dictated by location and the problem you are trying to solve. A solution for the urban centers of Singapore, Hong Kong and Mumbai might not be the same as one deployed on the outskirts of Chicago.
Regardless of approach, starting any type of sizable tech-enabled indoor farm is capital intensive. A recent analysis from Agritecture indicates that it can range from $5 to $11 million dollars to build out a three-acre automated farm. Some of the huge, advanced greenhouse projects being built today can exceed $100 million. Given the capital requirements for these indoor farms, some question the opportunity for venture-level returns in the sector and suggest that it is better suited to investors in real assets. Still, more than $600 million was raised by the top 10 financings in 2020 as existing players vie for leadership and expand to underserved locales while a seemingly endless stream of new companies continue to enter the market.
Looking forward, indoor farming needs to address its energy and labor challenges. In particular, the sunless approach has work to do to bring its operating costs in line and achieve widespread profitability. Additionally, to further accelerate growth and the adoption of new technologies in both greenhouse and sunless environments, the sector needs to implement the sharing of data between systems. Waybeyond is one of the companies promoting open systems and APIs to achieve this goal.
As we stated in the beginning of this piece, the indoor ag value chain reflects some of the challenges and opportunities confronting our entire food system today: supply chain, safety, sustainability, and labor. Indoor agriculture has tremendous opportunity. While it is still early for this market sector overall, it can bring more precision and agility to where and how food is grown and distributed.
Warehouse Becoming Vertical Farms — And They’re Feeding New Jersey
New Jersey's vertical farms are transforming agriculture by helping farmers meet growing food demand. New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Doug Fisher said that while conventional farming in outdoor fields remains critical, vertical farming has its advantages because of its efficiency and resistance to pests and thus less need for chemicals
Image from: New Jersey 101.5
New Jersey's vertical farms are transforming agriculture by helping farmers meet growing food demand.
New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Doug Fisher said that while conventional farming in outdoor fields remains critical, vertical farming has its advantages because of its efficiency and resistance to pests and thus less need for chemicals.
Vertical farming is the process of growing food vertically in stacked layers indoors under artificial light and temperature, mainly in buildings. These plants receive the same nutrients and all the elements needed to grow plants for food.
Vertical farms are also versatile. Plants may be growing in containers, in old warehouses, in shipping containers, in abandoned buildings.
"That's one of the great advantages — that we can put agriculture in the midst of many landscapes that have lost their vitality," said Fisher.
ResearchandMarkets.com says the U.S. vertical farming market is projected to reach values of around $3 billion by the year 2024.
The one drawback is that its operational and labor costs make it expensive to get up and running.
Image from: AeroFarms
In the past decade, however, vertical farming has become more popular, creating significant crop yields all over the state.
AeroFarms in Newark is the world's largest indoor vertical farm. The farm converted a 75-year-old 70,000-square-foot steel mill into a vertical farming operation. AeroFarms' key products include Dream Greens, its retail brand of baby and micro-greens, available year-round in several ShopRite supermarkets.
Kula Urban Farm in Asbury Park opened in 2014. Vacant lots are transformed into urban farms and there's a hydroponic greenhouse on site. That produce is sold to local restaurants.
Beyond Organic Growers in Freehold uses no pesticides and all seeds and nutrients are organic. There's a minimum of 12,000 plants growing on 144 vertical towers. On its website, it says the greenhouse utilizes a new growing technique called aeroponics, which involves vertical towers where the plant roots hang in the air while a nutrient solution is delivered with a fine mist. It also boasts that by using this method, plants can grow with less land and water while yielding up to 30% more three times faster than traditional soil farming.
Vertical farms in New Jersey help feed local communities. Many are in urban areas and are a form of urban farming.
Fisher predicts that vertical farms will be operational in stores and supermarkets around the state.
"It's continued to expand. There's going to be many, many ways and almost any area in the state has the opportunity to have a vertical farm," Fisher said.
Advice For New Vertical Farmers: Grower Spotlight on Andrew Worrall
Andrew is LettUs Grow’s Farm Manager, he manages two of our sites across Bristol and has brought a wealth of knowledge into the company through his previous experience in indoor farming roles across the UK including at Grow Up, Raynor Foods & RootLabs. In this three part interview, we explore what it’s been like to move from animal husbandry to indoor farming, the lessons he’s learned along the way, what it’s like working at LettUs Grow and his advice for those new to indoor growing.
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
Mario Saw Container Farming As A Chance To Become His Own Boss
In order to understand the indoor farming industry better, Mario enrolled in an online course of hydroponics which gave him the basics of the farming process
Mario from New Age Provisions Farms left his 9-5 to start his own container farming company. It hasn’t always been easy, but Mario loves his new independent lifestyle.
The team with Freight Farms recently sat down for a chat with what they call an amazing Freight Farmer–Mario Vitalis! Mario’s journey to start farming wasn’t the smoothest, but Mario applied his incredible work effort, perseverance, and general positive attitude towards launching New Age Provisions Farms in August 2020. All the hard work paid off–Mario is already expecting to receive his second Greenery container farm in December 2020!
Be Your Own Boss
Before August, Mario had no experience with farming. He spent the majority of his professional life in the business and corporate world, getting his first taste of freedom when he decided to go into real estate as a side business. That side business showed Mario the huge potential that he could have as an entrepreneur. It was in an effort to expand his real estate business by monetizing empty lots that Mario first stumbled upon container farming.
Originally, Mario was thinking of using the lots for container homes, but the regulations around residential projects were far too complicated. With agriculture, however, Mario found that there was a much greater opportunity. Today, Mario has left his corporate job to pursue farming and real estate full time and he loves it.
“Farming allows me to be my own boss. One thing I’ve always wanted to do is own a business. That is what will set you apart from being a thousandaire to a millionaire.”
In order to understand the indoor farming industry better, Mario enrolled in an online course of hydroponics which gave him the basics of the farming process. He then started doing some research about the available technology, eventually choosing the Freight Farms Greenery as the container farm that was the easiest to use and produced the greatest yields. Mario signed a purchase agreement the same day that he saw the Greenery, knowing that it was the right technology for his plans.
But before he could start, Mario had to overcome a few hurdles.
Container Farm Financing
The first was financing. In August 2019, Mario applied to the USDA Farm Service Agency for a $50,000 loan to put down a deposit for the Greenery, with plans to supplement the rest with a private loan. In spite of providing the Agency with a thorough and well-reasoned business plan and yield projection, he was informed that the application was ‘incomplete’, and in December 2019 was denied without any explanation. Mario was shocked–in his eyes, the application had been bulletproof.
It was only after a great deal of prodding that Mario was able to get some clarity into his denial. Due to a lack of experience with hydroponic container farming, the FSA had re-run all of Mario’s calculations within the scope of traditional linear farming and determined that he could not possibly reach the yields–and therefore the profit that he was projecting. This, plus Mario’s lack of farming experience earned him a denial.
Initially, Mario was devastated. When he turned to his family for support, he received some pivotal words of wisdom from his grandfather: “They don’t want you to own the land. They want you to work the land.” Mario’s grandfather was referring to the huge dearth of Black farmers in America–only 2% of the national farming population–which is a direct result of long-standing discrimination within organizations like the USDA that makes it difficult for minority farmers to receive crucial financing. So Mario decided to fight.
The first step was to appeal the decision. Mario wrote a letter to the USDA requesting an appeal, which the USDA denied by backing the original decision. Mario then appealed again, and this time he went to court against the USDA FSA. In court, Freight Farms was able to support all of Mario’s initial claims about the Greenery’s yield potential, allowing Mario to prove without a doubt that his farm was the right candidate for the loan. The judge ruled in Mario’s favor and shortly thereafter, he received a call from the FSA with an offer for the original $50,000 loan. Mario looked at it all and said:
“I don’t want $50,000… I want $250,000. I want you to pay for the container that I have–plus buy me a new container.”
Farm Site & Zoning
With the fight with the USDA behind him and the money in his pocket, Mario turned his attention into getting his business started. This is where he encountered his next hurdle: zoning. Mario initially intended to put his farms on a property he owned, but then found out that the land was zoned residential. As a piece of agricultural machinery, Mario would need to secure a variance (i.e. an exception) from the municipality–a long and expensive process. This time, instead of fighting, Mario turned his resourcefulness towards his personal network. He reconnected with a friend from high school who owned a used car lot and offered it as a place for Mario to keep his farm.
Farm Business Plan & Customers
Unfortunately, Mario’s trials were not quite over. Just as Mario was finalizing all of his financing and zoning, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, effectively turning Mario’s original business plan on its head. Mario had originally planned to sell to restaurants in the area, but as the local establishments shuttered, he was forced to pivot quickly. He found his footing with an online marketplace called Market Wagon, which aggregates dozens of local farmers and craftsmen on one platform. For the shopper, it’s a simple way to shop from multiple small local businesses on one platform–for the businesses it’s great exposure and easy logistics.
“The Greenery allows you more flexibility, more longevity…it’s fresher, it looks great… and it tastes great! It hits all five senses.”
Since Mario’s first harvest in August, Market Wagon has brought a steady stream of success. In using the platform, he’s been able to fine tune his crop menu to the best sellers (lettuce and basil) and to find the right price point. He’s also able to leverage the Greenery to his advantage, reacting faster to market changes than his competitors. The most recent example was a November 2020 outbreak of E.coli in the romaine lettuce supply–within a week Mario already had romaine seedlings in production.
Plus, the shoppers love Mario’s greens, recognizing it as a superior product that’s worth a higher price point.
“You grow art…
…if [customers] want regular vegetables, [they] can go to a store. What you’re growing here is artisan.”
Hydroponic Cannabis
Mario also grows a variety of experimental crops, including tomatoes, strawberries, and… cannabis! In 2020, Mario became the first Freight Farmer to grow commercial cannabis in our container farms. His growing operations are strictly monitored in accordance with the 2018 Farm Bill, which mandates that his plants have a THC level at or below 0.3%. Mario uses clones to ensure he only gets female (flowering) plants, which grow about 12 inches high at maturity and produce 7-10 grams of flower each.
While the cannabis market is still young in Indianapolis, Mario sees it as a huge business potential as medical and recreational marijuana becomes more common. Although he’s only just starting to experiment with the cannabis crop, he’s excited to use the Greenery’s intricate climate control settings to adjust the taste, smell, color, and potency. He believes this will allow him to stand out in the market as a premium product that is fresher and completely safe from pesticide exposure.
Connecting the past with the future
While there have been challenges along the way, Mario loves his new Freight Farmer lifestyle. His container is a second home–complete with armchairs and a TV–and a symbol of his independence and success in overcoming the odds. With personal mantras like “never give up”, “live life to the fullest”, and “against all odds”, Mario is not only a great inspiration for the future, but also a testimony about how we can overcome our past.
“I’ve always known the city life… but there’s always been a desire to get back to, and discover, my roots.”
Mario speaks candidly about a life and family history full of adversity. He is able to trace his family lineage all the way back to West Africa: his great-great-grandparents were Southern slaves, his great-grandparents were sharecroppers who escaped the south in the 1930s to come to San Francisco. So, in many ways, farming has allowed Mario to reconnect with his past, and to redefine what it means to be a Black farmer for his young daughters and other members of this community.
“Having this type of farm allows me to connect to a history that I have forgotten. I am a descendent of the slaves… this farm enables me to... get back to the type of living where our people once lived off the land.”
As Mario awaits the arrival of his second farm, he’s beyond excited about growing his business. Not only does he see it as a crucial step in developing his own business, but he wants to maximize his impact in his community. With few grocery stores and little access to fresh food, Mario’s neighborhood is one of many food deserts that exist in cities around the country. He hopes to help change the community from within with an infusion of healthy and affordable produce. You can follow along with Mario through his website, Facebook, and Instagram.
For more information:
www.freightfarms.com
US: Boston, Freight Farms Goes To School
Farming is a club activity for the school’s high school students, who can go in during their free time
On local campuses, the repurposed shipping containers aren’t just used for growing food, they’re helping teach valuable lessons about science, social justice, and the humanities
By Andrea Pyenson Globe correspondent,
January 14, 2020
A student harvests lettuce at Rivers School in Weston.
STEPHEN PORTER FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE (CUSTOM CREDIT)
Inside the big white shipping container parked behind a classroom building on the campus of the Rivers School in Weston, it smells like a verdant field on a warm spring day, with a degree of humidity that is completely at odds with the cold, dry air outside.
A variety of lettuces, herbs, and a smattering of other vegetables grow on vertical towers in adjustable rows. The sixth-grade students who maintain the school’s Freight Farm cycle through in groups of four to reap the bounty of work they started at the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year. The first harvest day was in late October.“
They all love to come in here,” says Emily Poland, who teaches eighth-grade science and is the farm director at this independent school for grades 6 through 12. The Freight Farm and related projects are built into the sixth-grade curriculum, incorporating humanities, social justice, and science, among other subjects. Students spend time there once a week planting, cleaning, and harvesting. Farming is a club activity for the school’s high school students, who can go in during their free time.
The Freight Farms container at the Rivers School.
STEPHEN PORTER FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE (CUSTOM CREDIT)
Based in Boston, Freight Farms manufactures technologically advanced hydroponic farming systems. In 320-square-foot, climate-controlled shipping containers, users can grow up to 13,000 plants at a time, vertically, without soil. The company was founded in 2010 by Brad McNamara and Jon Friedman. Several area schools, among them Rivers, Boston Latin School, and Worcester State University, are using the farms to grow food for their own communities, for their neighbors, and as educational tools.
For Poland, managing the farm was a natural extension of her teaching. “I like to create a curriculum. I care about food. I like to be outside,” she says. One of the sixth-graders’ annual activities, which combines academics with community service, is cooking a meal for the Natick Open Door at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. These are hosted every week and attended primarily by seniors. Poland explains that planning the meal incorporates math skills because the students have to scale recipes to feed up to 45 people. And naturally, they use their own greens in the salads.
The students run a farmers market in the spring. And this year they are maintaining a (very micro) CSA, which one parent won in an auction. The school’s chef, Michael Clancy, also gets involved, using the students’ produce in the dining room, and helping them cook with what they grow — so far this year they have made pesto and herb vinaigrette. “Their pride is really amazing,” he says.
Boston Latin, a public exam school for grades seven through 12, acquired its farm in 2013 after students in the Youth Climate Action Network won the $75,000 prize in the Global Green Schools Makeover Competition. Farming is a student-run after-school activity here, under the guidance of eighth-grade history and civics teacher Cate Arnold, whose evident affection for her students appears to be reciprocal.
Though roughly 70 students have signed up as student farmers, there is a smaller core group that farms regularly, with an even smaller leadership team that is trained by Freight Farms. At the beginning of each academic year, the leaders meet to plan what they will grow, who will work to train new students, and organize schedules. They keep track of chores on a whiteboard in the farm.
Addy Krom, a junior, notes of the farm, “You can come in, it’s a whole different environment. All the stress from school [goes] away.” Adds sophomore Azalea Thompson, “This makes locally grown food more accessible to the city.” The students give the food they grow to faculty members, bring some home, and are working to create a CSA. With Arnold’s help, they are also trying to reestablish a more consistent connection to a food pantry in Jamaica Plain, where a former Boston Latin parent, recently deceased, used to deliver their greens.
At Worcester State, Mark Murphy, associate director of dining services, oversees the Freight Farm, which sits outside of Sheehan Hall, the school’s newest dormitory and site of its main cafeteria. Rich Perna, former director of dining, made the decision to purchase the farm five years ago, says Murphy, “to bring hyperlocal produce to the campus.
”Murphy has been responsible for the farm for the last two years. An employee of Chartwells, which has the contract for all of the school’s food services, he grows almost all of the greens for the cafeteria, as well as for alumni catering events, and the salad bar in the food court in the building next door. “I’m learning from trial and error,” he says.
At full capacity, Murphy explains, the farm produces about two acres’ worth of crops. He is constantly looking for different varieties of lettuce that will appeal to the students and is currently “trying to figure out a gourmet mix.” In addition to three varieties of lettuce, he grows kale, rainbow Swiss chard, parsley, and basil. He coordinates with the cafeteria’s cooks, telling them what he is growing so they can plan menus to incorporate the farm’s production.
Though WSU students are not currently working in the farm Murphy says he promotes the fact that most of the greens in the cafeteria are grown right outside the door. And, he says, “We’re trying to get the word out to get students involved.”
Through a partnership with the Worcester Public Schools and its program that helps young adults with differences transition from school to the workforce, Murphy has three part-time helpers/trainees. Once a week three students, who have completed high school with a certificate, come (often with a job coach from the program) to seed, plant, harvest, and clean. Murphy is in the process of hiring one of the students, who has aged out of the program. She “has a lot of passion for the farm,” he says.“I never thought we’d be growing food inside a container,” Murphy says. “I think it may become a necessity someday.”
Andrea Pyenson can be reached at apyenson@gmail.com.
US: Massachusetts - Alum Introduces Brookline To New Farming Techniques
Levine's startup Town to Table utilizes several different hydroponic technologies such as those made by Freight Farms, which allows plants to be grown in winter. Each 40-foot container can produce the equivalent of an acre of conventionally grown crops
GRAPHIC BY NICK CLONEY
Nick Cloney, News Managing Editor
January 14, 2020
Levine's startup Town to Table utilizes several different hydroponic technologies such as those made by Freight Farms, which allows plants to be grown in water. Each 40-foot container can produce the equivalent of an acre of conventionally grown crops.
Massachusetts isn’t exactly known for its farming capabilities. Between its varied terrain, harsh winters, and short growing seasons, many obstacles stand in the way of the state producing much agriculturally. But Jack Levine ‘16 is working to change that.
Levine felt that his experience in high school lacked real-world relevance. Now, his work to introduce innovative and sustainable agricultural techniques to the Brookline community through his startup Town to Table allows him to offer real-world experience to students at the high school.
Starting after Thanksgiving, Town to Table plans to take on up to 10 high school students as interns for the second semester. Student volunteers in the program would gain hands-on experience working in Town to Table’s hydroponic Freight Farm, a shipping crate modified to grow crops in a water-based medium, as opposed to a planting bed made of dirt.
Social Studies teacher and Food Justice Club adviser Roger Grande explained how the key feature of hydroponics – the delivery of nutrients through the water – is beneficial for the growing process.
“The key thing is that no matter how nutrients are being delivered to the plant, as long as they’re getting there, the plant is going to grow. If they are being delivered via water, then it cuts down on the lack of mobility and lack of flexibility that you have to deal with when everything is buried in dirt,” Grande said.
Levine said that the cross-country transportation that most vegetables in Massachusetts undergo reduces their quality, a problem solved by localized agriculture.
“In Massachusetts, 98 percent of our leafy greens come from California or Arizona, so pretty much every time I eat a salad, I think of it being jet-lagged, like how you feel when you get off that plane in California,” Levine said. “We’re offering districts farm-to-plate food. Within 24 hours of when we harvest it, students will be eating it.”
Grande said that one of Levine’s goals is to give students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in an environment unlike any they have encountered before.
“I think he would also like to see this programming be integrated to the Brookline public school system, and for kids to have really interesting opportunities related to learning by doing. That’s authentic learning – it’s not just learning about something, it’s learning by doing that thing,” Grande said.
Levine said he was often a difficult student to teach during his time at the high school due to his lack of engagement with traditional high school subjects.
“Funny enough, I met with Brittany Stevens recently to talk about introducing this program to some of her classes. She asked me if I remember how I used to say every single day, ‘we have to fix the school,’” Levine said. “‘School doesn’t work’ was kind of one of my things since it especially didn’t work for me. I was off the walls. I was a pain in the butt for teachers, I was crazy.”
English teacher Elon Fischer, who taught Levine’s English for Entrepreneurs class during his senior year, said that he showcased an interest in business and charting his own path while still in high school.
“He was a goofball, but he was also very interested in entrepreneurship. By the time he was a senior, he was kind of fed up with school, and was looking to do something a bit more interesting than what BHS offered,” Fischer said. “Jack felt like school was just a big game and he wasn’t very interested in playing it. Great sense of humor, really a smart kid, but he was looking for something different to do.”
Grande said he was impressed with Levine’s vision to expand his business and involve food justice.
Levine said that the goal of any partnership would be to provide students with hands-on experiences that are relevant to their future career paths.
“That’s what we want, to take this and show other students that something like this can capture their attention in a classroom. You know, there’s no right or wrong answer when you’re growing a plant. It’s just a process and it’s a process in which you’re constantly learning. To us, that’s what we should be preparing students to do,” Levine said.
Grande explained that one of the biggest benefits of Town to Table’s services is the autonomy and decision-making power that sustainable, localized agriculture offers.
“At its core, it’s about empowerment: it’s about having more control over our health, our nutrition, and our values. It’s about seeing your place in the world and taking back some of your power from people who are making choices for you,” Grande said. “People should be more focused on being thoughtful about the choices they’re making, or the choices that are being made for them. There are many powerful forces that try to shape those things and steer us into buying what they’re marketing.”
Fischer said that Levine is a great role model for how students can take things they’re passionate about and transform them into careers.
“This is just a great example of what kids can do when they find something that they care about. And I think that the more that we as a school can make these opportunities available to kids, and work hard to spark their interests in things that aren’t directly academic, the better,” Fischer said.
US: Colorado - Students At Mountain Vista High School Were Ready To Start The Year By Getting Their Hands Dirty Via The Agricultural Business Course
For the past two years classes and interns have operated the Mountain Vista Farm, which utilizes a hydroponic growing system called the Leafy Green Machine
By James Conlan / Ag Journal
October 16, 2019
Students at Mountain Vista High School were ready to start the year by getting their hands dirty via the Agricultural Business course taught by David Larsen.
“As part of the program, students are responsible for all aspects of the Mountain View Farms business,” Larsen said.
After being introduced to the different business principles, students are tasked with integrating them into running a successful business. Some of these tasks include marketing, social media/website, communications, graphic design, printed literature, handling of money/accounting, customer service, food safety, and business plan development.
“Agriculturally, they have to figure out all of the elements including environment, nutrient, tech, engineering, and automation to keep the plants alive and healthy for sale,” he said.
For the past two years classes and interns have operated the Mountain Vista Farm, which utilizes a hydroponic growing system called the Leafy Green Machine.
“I think hydroponics is far more sustainable and reliable than traditional farming for the crops we can grow,” he added. “This technology produces absolutely delicious products that are fresh and last multiple times longer than what is sold in stores.”
He said utilizing this machine involves more people in the local production of food, potentially builds community and is a great educational tool for life skills. For students of his Agricultural Business class he said they gain soft skills in terms of being a good employee including punctuality, engagement, responsibility, as well as a good representation of the business to the public.
Another added element to the Leafy Green Machine is the ability of students to use the app Farmhand App.
“When we first started Freight Farms, we considered ourselves a hardware platform – but our views quickly expanded for two reasons,” Freight Farms CEO, Brad McNamara said.
The first reason was when he and co-founder Jon Freidman realized their clients needed a way to stay in contact with their farms remotely. The second reason was that they wanted to address a historical challenge in the farming world. Which they said was the lack of reliable and transferable data between farms to increase overall agricultural efficiencies.
“At the time, there wasn’t a turnkey hub for industrial-scale IoT, few if any climate-control apps for hydroponic indoor growers, nor a sophisticated way to bridge the gap between emerging IoT technology and old programming control language,” he said.
So building from the ground up, he said that they developed an integrated software platform called Farmhand. Which would enable its users to monitor and manage farm components remotely, automate tasks and analyze growing data.
“As IoT technology has evolved over the years, we’ve continuously integrated new updates and advancements to help our customers operate increasingly efficient farms with the touch of a button,” he said.
Consumers of Freight Farms products don’t just include schools, according to McNamara their tech has been used at restaurants, nonprofits, retail establishments, hospitality organizations and corporate employee benefit programs.
“We’ve been focused on taking the most advanced hydroponic technology and making it approachable. Enabling people of varying ages, experience levels, and industries to become successful food growers,” he said.
Freight Farm Gives University of Michigan Fresh Produce, Sustainability Data
The Freight Farm is a 320-square-foot recycled shipping container outfitted with 256 columns that can grow plants ranging from veggies to flowers. Automated humidity and temperature controls, a hydroponic system and hot pink LED lighting control the plants’ growing conditions
By Caroline Skiver
September 9, 2019 MDining
Sitting down to eat a salad you may think your greens traveled in a shipping container, but it might not occur to you they were grown in one. Yet this will soon be the case for people eating at MDining’s cafés and halls.
The Freight Farm is a 320-square-foot recycled shipping container outfitted with 256 columns that can grow plants ranging from veggies to flowers. Automated humidity and temperature controls, a hydroponic system and hot pink LED lighting control the plants’ growing conditions.
The farm sits on the U-M Campus Farm at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. While a Freight Farm typically costs around $75,000, this one is being lent to U-M by LaGrasso Bros. Produce.
The Freight Farm is located at U-M’s Campus Farm at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. (Photo by Aaron Brodkey, MDining)
While the greens produced there will be sold to MDining, the farm also serves a larger purpose as a research project conducted within the Center for Sustainable Systems.
“The project, funded as a catalyst grant by the Graham Sustainability Institute, initially sought to provide evidence-based decision support for institutional buyers (like MDining) who are faced with a barrage of options that may be seen as ‘sustainable,’” says Martin Heller, senior research specialist at CSS.
Yet the researchers had difficulty procuring data on existing Freight Farms, so they decided to generate their own. The energy needed to operate U-M’s Freight Farm — for lights, air conditioning and circulation pumps — will be monitored along with other inputs like water and nutrients. In August, East Carolina University began using the same data collection tool on its Freight Farm to provide more data.
A life-cycle assessment — or LCA — that considers the environmental impact of all stages of a product’s life cycle will be used to compare greens grown in the Freight Farm with those produced by other methods, such as hoophouses at the Campus Farm or those shipped in from states like Arizona or California. The environmental impact of the Freight Farm structure will be factored in as well.
Greens grown close to home may seem like they’re the most sustainable, but Heller said that isn’t always the case.
“It’s easy to assume that the locally grown greens would fare better, but we know from experience with LCAs of food products that, relative to the inputs required for production, transportation may not be a dominant driver of environmental indicators such as energy use and greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
While the results aren’t in on the environmental impact of the Freight Farm, it offers a unique way to grow produce in small spaces.
Jocelyn Marchyok, a master’s degree student working as an MDining sustainability intern who manages the Freight Farm, holds plant seedlings that will be moved to the vertical columns of the farm’s growing area. (Photo by Aaron Brodkey, MDining)
Jocelyn Marchyok, a recent U-M graduate now pursuing her master’s degree at the School for Environment and Sustainability, is working as an MDining sustainability intern to manage the Freight Farm.
Marchyok is filling up one-quarter of the Freight Farm at a time, allowing her to grow around 3,200 heads of lettuce in two months. As seedlings, batches of plants will rest in trays for two weeks before they’re transferred to the vertical columns.
From a sustainability standpoint, one way the farm is unique is in its limited water usage.
“This is a completely hydroponic system, so in terms of water, we’re going to be using a lot less,” Marchyok said.
“The tank by the columns has 135 gallons and the one with the seedlings uses about 35 gallons of water. The water is continuously recycled through so there’s not really any input of water unless I’m cleaning it out, which should be every two or three weeks.”
Marchyok is interested to see the energy usage, as the LED lights are on about 18 hours a day. The lights generate heat, which in turn requires an air conditioning system and dehumidifier. In the winter, a heater may be needed. The LEDs are supposed to be enough to heat the farm, but Marchyok isn’t convinced this will hold true with Michigan winters.
The end goal of the project is to determine the associated energy use per kilogram of salad greens produced and delivered to MDining. While the duration of the project is uncertain, Heller would like to get data from all four seasons to capture seasonal variation.
In the meantime, people eating with MDining can know that their greens are not only coming from less than five miles away, but are contributing to research as well.
Tags: Campus Farm Center for Sustainable Systems Freight Farm Matthaei Botanical Gardens MDining