Aquaponics In The Heart of Zurich

They produce greens, but they travel to work by streetcar and don't need to put on weatherproof clothing. That's because Umami employees will harvest vegetables and herbs already in the early growth stages, as so-called microgreens. And they do so in a largely self-built facility, on the 4th floor of an office building in Zurich's Kreis 4 district.

Full-time producers instead of restaurant operators
In the beginning, the three friends Manuel Vock, Robin Bertschinger and Denis Weinberg wanted to open a restaurant. They wanted to produce half of the products themselves. At the same time, Manuel Vock was researching aquaponics systems for his bachelor's thesis. He introduced the principle to his friends, and the team began building a prototype set-up in a former archive in 2016.

That was the end of their restaurant plan and at the same time the beginning of completely self-produced food. The guys grew several varieties of microgreens and sold them to restaurateurs who were excited to have a regional product. "Up to that point, microgreens from the Netherlands were the only alternative," says Luca Grandjean, who joined the team of Umamigos (as Umami employees call themselves) in 2019.

The aquapinic facility / Image: Umami

Microgreens
Microgreens, unlike sprouts, grow on a substrate or in soil, require light and nutrients, and are consumed without roots. They are vegetables or spice plants that are harvested immediately after their cotyledons develop. As a result, microgreens contain a high concentration of vitamins and trace elements. The small plants are used as nutritional supplements and can add sweetness and spice to different dishes.

Fish excrement as fertilizer
Regionality is not the only plus of the little plants. Umami grows the microgreens in a cycle based on nature; the only input is fish feed. But even this is actually food waste and, additionally, insects that Umami produces via scraps.

African cichlids (tilapias) and other fish species swim in various tanks, and their excretions enrich the water with nitrogen and other micronutrients. The enriched water flows into the system to the tray on which the microgreens thrive.

These are sown on a hemp-based substrate and positioned in hard trays so that their roots can touch the water, absorbing the nutrients. The water, now purified by the plants, flows back to the fish, who recharge it. Thanks to this recirculation system, only about 1% of the water needs to be replaced with fresh drinking water each month. "That's about two bathtubs full of water. Just what is lost to evaporation," Grandjean says.

Aquaponics
Aquaponics refers to a process in food production that combines raising fish in aquaculture and cultivating crops in hydroponics. There are various combinations, such as the cultivation of tomatoes and the production of tilapias, as described in this article.

Not just fish and microgreens are part of the 'ecosystem', as the Umamigos like to call their jungle. Mussels, shrimp, snails, algae and many other plants also contribute to the Umami ecosystem. "We are copying nature. Yet we have learnt that the more players there are in the cycle, the better the system works," says Luca Grandjean. This might seem to be a contradiction, but he explains: "If there are just two actors in the system and something happens to one of them, the system is quickly unbalanced."

Nomen est omen
Their most important element, he says, is Zurich's tap water; it sets the pace. "We have no soil percolation, 95% less water loss than conventional agricultural systems," Grandjean says.

Environmentally-friendly production, free of chemicals, strikes a chord with consumers. Above all, however, the products have to taste right, says Luca Grandjean. It's no coincidence that the three friends named their startup Umami when they founded it in 2015. The Japanese word means tasty or spicy, and is one of the five basic tastes, alongside sweet, sour, bitter and salty.

"The glutamate found in meat, for example, tastes umami," Grandjean explains. He adds: "The microgreens are very palatable and don't contain glutamate, but our fish do." He is referring to the license to sell fish that the Umamigos recently obtained.

For more information: https://www.eat-umami.ch/  

“I’m Opting For Localized Franchised Farming”

“In the States, the food system is so inefficient both in the way it’s produced, at a massive scale and in terms of quality,” says Natalie Radu. "The problem is that consumers are left in the dark. They don’t know what pesticide is used on the food they’re eating. GM foods are not labeled. Let aside the waste this industry has.” Natalie says that many don’t have access to healthy food. When walking around in the Bronx for instance, on the lookout for a grocery store, it’s so much easier to buy a pack of soda for half the price of fresh produce. 

‘Localized franchised farming’
“McDonald's is known for real estate. If only we could do a Wholefoods / McDonalds franchise where customers could walk in and snip off lettuce, directly available to consumers. I’m opting for localized franchised farming. I have been trying to figure out a location in terms of real estate, but, from the perspective of a small business, New Jersey and New York prices are very high. I would have to start out in a place that’s cheaper on average. However, I would definitely apply for grants to fund the initial infrastructure for the farms." 

Natalie Radu in action on her channel

Natalie has her passion for writing and her engineering study to her advantage when starting a farm. “I think because of this intersection I will be able to work with the science and also have the ability to convey that science. I can make the lettuce we’ll be growing feel personal for someone that’s in their own house, miles away or even across the world. That’s the biggest thing, you have to get people excited about vertical farming, at least as excited as you are. However, when it comes down to engineering I’m going to need some help.”

“My family immigrated from Moldova to the US around the collapse of the Soviet Union,” says Natalie. “My grandparents used to grow several fruits in the backyards and my affection for farming started right about there, it’s in my blood.” Natalie, an 18-year-old engineering student has been determined to run her own farm in the future. It all started with finding a proper research topic, which turned into her biggest passion nowadays. 

As Natalie’s based in New Jersey, she is surrounded by several vertical farms. She wanted to pass by some farms near her to visit and stumbled upon Good Feeling Farms. Eventually, Natalie was able to do an internship at Good Feeling Farms to get a better understanding of every aspect of a vertical farm, from seeding to growing to harvesting. Good Feeling Farms is a New Jersey-based wholesale micro greenery that specializes in microgreens and hydro lettuce. The farm is run by a team of three, taking care of the cultivation and harvesting process. 

Inside Good Feeling Farms' growing facility

Ever since her internship, Natalie is determined to run her own farm in the future. She currently runs a YouTube channel, where she experiments with indoor hydroponics. She recently spoke at a local TEDx event about the inefficacies in traditional food production and distribution systems. 

Natalie says: “I’ve tried many growing conditions for plants and I think you can grow them under many different conditions. You have to work with your circumstances. Ideally, your indoor garden would be sustainable. The growth mediums could be sanitized and reused to lessen waste. Besides being water-efficient, vertical farming really shines in the areas of automation and data science. The ability to collect and analyze plant data constantly and instantly modify environmental factors has massive potential for produce cultivation as we know it.” 

For more information:
Natalie Radu
natlydrad@gmail.com    

Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com

Vertical Farming Takes Root In Taiwan

BY JULES QUARTLY

Exposed root system for hydroponically grown plants at YesHealth's iFarm in Taoyuan. Photo: Jules Quartly

After becoming a world leader in semiconductors and other electronic products, Taiwan is now looking to smart agriculture as its next vine to climb. The island aims to supply much of the world’s fruit and vegetables within the next 30 years.

This might seem rather unlikely until you consider that the future of farming is not land and labor but factories and robots. Furthermore, Taiwan already possesses in abundance the tools that tomorrow’s smart farmers will use, including solar and advanced light technology, chemicals, gene editing, drones, smart sensors, software, algorithms, data mining, and big data.

Many of these technologies are being put to use in a glittering new 14-story vertical farm at Copenhagen Markets in Denmark’s capital. The first phase of construction of the 7,000-square-meter facility finished in early December. It is one of Europe’s biggest and most efficient vertical farms and was built using a blueprint of patented technologies from Taiwan’s YesHealth Group.

The result of a partnership between YesHealth and Danish agritech startup Nordic Harvest, the farm looks like a fancy warehouse from the outside. The interior is fitted with rows upon rows and columns upon columns of trays containing leafy greens, growing under an intense battery of more than 20,000 smart LED lights. The plants are tended by engineers in lab coats and guided by software that processes over 5,000 individual data points to optimize plant health.

Rows of fresh produce grown under batteries of LED lights at iFarm. Photo: Jules Quartly

The LEDs provide variable spectrum light for 100 different kinds of plants, nanobubble hydroponics oxygenate the roots and inhibit bacterial growth, and liquid microbial fertilizers derived from oyster shells, brown sugar, and soy milk provide essential nutrients for plants and soil. Even the music played to the plants is science-infused, with classical or light jazz music ranging between 115 and 250 Hertz seeming to work best.

Production at the new vertical farm is set to begin in the new year and will scale up to around 3,000 kilograms of leafy vegetables per day by the end of 2021, equating to approximately 1,000 tons of greens annually. Crucially, unlike most farms, these figures are close to guaranteed since production is not at the mercy of climate, the weather, pests and disease, pesticide residue, nitrate levels, or hundreds of other variables that affect traditional farming. 

According to Jesper Hansen, YesHealth Group’s Chief Communications Officer, the partnership with Nordic Harvest has been a productive one so far. It took just five months to install the farm and all the produce is pre-sold to ensure the operation is profitable by Q3 of 2021.

“This collaboration is just the start of a long-term journey together,” Hansen said in an email from Denmark. He notes that the two partners plan to expand to other Scandinavian countries over the next several years.

Hansen credits Taiwan for its efficient development of the technology and know-how to reproduce vertical farms all over the world and calls the Danish development “a crucial milestone in our international expansion.” He adds that the company is eyeing new partners in Europe, Asia, and the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) region.

YesHealth is the brainchild of serial tech entrepreneur Winston Tsai, who started an LCD screen company at age 21. His “eureka moment” came after being diagnosed with liver cancer and partly linking his illness to pollution in foods. After recovering, he made it his mission to produce affordable, pesticide-free produce by harnessing the power of technology.

He founded YesHealth Agri-Biotechnology Co. Ltd. in 2011 and six years later established YesHealth iFarm in Taoyuan’s Luzhu District. The iFarm cultivates an ever-expanding range of leafy vegetables and herbs in a 2,500-square-meter warehouse factory. It produces 1,500 kilograms of leafy greens per day, a yield which the company says is 100 times more efficient than a traditional farm using the same space and requires only 10% as much water. In addition, YesHealth has a farm in China’s Shenzhen, which harvests up to 2,500 kilograms per day.

A tour of iFarm is well worth a visit and introduces the wide variety of plants grown there. Photo: Jules Quartly

YesHealth’s products are sold to major retailers both in Taiwan and abroad, including restaurants, hotels, and airports. Its stated aim is to supply a total of 7,000 kilograms of leafy greens per day worldwide in 2021.

Diners enjoy a meal at iFarm’s restaurant, which overlooks the vertical farm. Photo: Jules Quartly

Having sampled the produce at the iFarm, I can confirm the arugula grown there is as tasty as any I have tried, while the lettuce and leguminous alfalfa is a perfectly clean, green, and crunchy eating experience – the result, I was informed, of an optimal growing environment and harvesting at exactly the right time.

A plate of salad featuring leafy greens grown at the iFarm site. Photo: Jules Quartly

In a sense, it’s back to the future for Taiwan, which had a largely agricultural economy up until the 1950s. Agriculture was one of the pillars supporting the nation’s economic miracle after World War II. With the help of mechanization and productivity gains, agricultural production at that time contributed around a third of Taiwan’s GDP.

In more recent times it has accounted for just 1.8-1.9% of GDP. That greatly reduced figure, which includes animal husbandry, fishing, and forestry, is not due to a decline in agricultural output per se, so much as the growth in manufacturing and the emergence of a pervasive service sector.

Taiwan has a wide range of rich, often volcanic soils that are exceptionally fertile, along with a subtropical climate that provides plentiful sun and rain. It is known as the “Fruit Kingdom” because of the quality of its fruit, with dozens of varieties ranging from bananas and papayas to wax apples and guavas. More than 100 kinds of vegetables grow all year round.

On the other hand, Taiwan’s mainly mountainous geography means just 25% of the land is suitable for farming. Meanwhile, climate change is affecting agricultural production by increasing summer temperatures and making rainfall more unpredictable. At the same time, considerable soil erosion, acidification, contamination by chemicals and heavy metals, and strong pesticide use have diminished soil quality over the last 50 years.

Furthermore, the proportion of Taiwanese involved in farming has rapidly declined, from 37% of the population in the early 1970s to the current 15% or less, according to the Yearbook of the Republic of China. Not only is the farming population declining, but it’s also ageing as well.

Those factors may not pose as much of an issue, however, since the old model of agriculture is being disrupted so dramatically that even economies of scale are being upended. Given the large size and advanced technology of the U.S., it may come as no surprise that it is the world’s biggest exporter of food as measured by value. Second on the list, however, is the Netherlands, which has just 0.045% the area of the U.S.

According to a National Geographic report in September 2017, the Netherlands’ achievement can be attributed to the work coming out of Wageningen University & Research, 80 kilometres from Amsterdam in the heart of Food Valley – the world’s agricultural equivalent of Silicon Valley in California. The university strives to come up with ways to increase yields and sustainability, and then to disseminate that knowledge.  

New generation

With its strong background in information technology, Taiwan is in a good position to follow that example. The island manufactures everything required for what is known as precision agriculture, a farming management concept that uses IT to collect data from multiple sources as a means of increasing crop yields and boosting profitability. Taiwan is thus the ideal place for putting together prototypes relatively quickly and cheaply.

YesHealth, for example, makes its own LED lights through a local contractor rather than relying on a major manufacturer like Philips, which means it’s nimbler in terms of bringing focused, new tech to the market – and reaping the dividends. According to the company’s Program Manager, Dennis Jan, Taoyuan’s iFarm has the sixth generation LED lighting, while new iterations that are increasingly productive and energy-efficient are being rolled out on an almost annual basis.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) recognized some time ago the need for a precision approach to farming. In 2016, it developed the “Smart Agriculture 4.0 Program,” which was passed by the legislature a year later.

COA realized that the nation’s “calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate is relatively low” and that “shortages in food supplies and escalations in food prices” will inevitably occur as the world’s population expands from 7.5 billion to an expected 10.5 billion by 2050. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that in order to meet the needs of all these additional people, about 70% more food needs to be produced. Gains achieved in improving crop yields have plateaued and are unlikely to rise again without a complete transformation of the agricultural landscape through the introduction of city farms, vertical farming, and the application of information technology.

In a written response to Taiwan Business TOPICS, COA commented: “With the rapid development of sensing technology, smart machinery devices, IoT, and big data analysis, smart agriculture has been growing in various fields.

“For example, it can monitor and control the production environment automatically to keep animals and crops in the best condition,” COA said. “It can predict harvesting dates and yields through data analysis and make adjustments to maintain a balance of production and marketing, and it can use smart automated machinery in agricultural operation to significantly reduce the labor burden.” Such uses, says the Council, “make agriculture more competitive.”

Fruitful results

Besides fruit orchards, other sectors that COA has included within Agriculture 4.0 include seedlings, mushrooms, rice, aquaculture, poultry, livestock, and offshore fisheries.

COA cites Taiwan Lettuce Village as an enterprise that has benefited from precision farming. The company halved fertilizer use but improved harvest efficiency 1.5 times by introducing a fertilization recommendation system, a harvesting date and yield prediction system, synchronous fertilizing technology, and transplanter and harvester technology.

According to COA the application of precision farming increased yield prediction accuracy by 5% and prevented 350 metric tons of overstocking. In addition, plant disease and pest control were improved through the use of a cloud-based system and machine learning algorithm. “The results were very fruitful,” COA concluded.

Agriculture 4.0 doesn’t just apply to the growing of produce; it also looks at the storage, transport, and export of goods. As an example, COA points to a relatively new fruit hybrid that was originally developed in Israel in the late 1960s. The atemoya – or pineapple sugar apple (鳳梨釋迦), as it is known in Taiwan – is a heart-shaped fruit with green, scaly skin. A cross between wax apples and the cherimoya (often referred to as Buddha’s head fruit locally), it has become synonymous with Taiwan and export success, much like the kiwi fruit and New Zealand.

Previously, 90% of the country’s atemoya exports went to China because it is so close. Later, the Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station introduced a frozen whole-fruit technique that enables 95% of thawed fruit to have a “consistent ripening texture and dramatically improved the raw material quality.”

The technique involves a quick freeze to -40° Celsius, which inhibits bacteria, allowing the whole fruit to be transported at a fairly standard -18°C. After thawing, it can meet the rigorous food safety standards of Japan and South Korea.

Traditional farmers may harbor concerns about agriculture becoming a primarily manufacturing process, taking place under artificial light. However, Kevin Lin, Head of Business Development at YesHealth, insists that what the company is doing is still agriculture.

“This is nature; we are just optimizing it,” he says. “Sustainability is at the forefront of what we do, and our focus now is on ensuring the energy costs of vertical farming – such as heating and lights – are lowered and the source is sustainable.”

In this way, Lin says, Taiwan can produce cheap, healthy, and environmentally friendly food that can help feed the world, even as the global population approaches the staggering 10.5 billion mark.

The Mexican Tec Graduates Who Are Using Vertical Farming To Eradicate Hunger

Vertical farms use 90% less water than traditional agriculture and can meet the challenge of feeding more than 9 billion people

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Por Susan Irais

January 11, 2021

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Not all fruit and vegetables can be grown using this technique, but a great variety can. (Photo: Courtesy of Verde Karma Fresh)

Every night, seven million people go to bed hungry in Mexico. It is estimated that the coronavirus pandemic will cause that figure to increase. According to the latest report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 130 million people will be affected by chronic hunger worldwide by the end of 2020.

Unfortunately for Mexico, the traditional agricultural industry uses a lot of resources and wastes a large amount of what it takes from the land.

For example, 34% of total production ends up in landfills due to inefficiencies during processing, storage, and transportation. What’s more, 40 billion liters of water are wasted annually due to poor irrigation.

“Fresh” products travel 300 to 1,000 kilometers and have already lost 45% of their nutritional value by the time they hit the shelves. But there is a complementary option for agriculture: vertical gardens.

Vertical Farming

“Vertical farming –in controlled environments– is a method of growing in vertically stacked layers, optimizing growing conditions and soil-less cultivation techniques, such as hydroponics,” says Leo Lobato Kelly, CEO of Verde Karma Fresh, a vertical farming company from Monterrey, Nuevo León.

The modern concept of vertical farming was proposed in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, Professor of Public and Environmental Health at Columbia University in the United States.

Due to climate change, this method has become a real alternative for countries like Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and now, Mexico.

Karma Verde Fresh (KVF) has spent the last five years developing farming systems and growing a variety of vegetables, sprouts, and seedlings in Monterrey, Nuevo León. “This has been achieved through an association with two universities and Tec graduate agronomists, using natural substrates, in this case: tezontle (volcanic rock). This substrate can be washed without contaminating the soil. By substituting mineral products, you allow fields to regenerate themselves, which is highly beneficial to the soil,” says the CEO of Karma Verde Fresh.

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Not all fruit and vegetables can be grown using this technique, but a great variety can be (Photo: courtesy of Karma Verde Fresh).

Vertical farming systems use 90% less water and 95% less space than traditional farming and are 100% herbicide and pesticide-free. “Our crops can be adapted to any space, which allows us to be closer to the consumer, reduce our carbon footprint, and promote local purchases that are fresher,” says Leo Lobato.

Vertical farms keep crops fresh for longer, so they don’t lose any nutrients, using state-of-the-art LEDs that are extremely energy efficient. Energy can also be generated from renewable sources and this creates job opportunities.

Traditional Agriculture Plus Vertical Farming

“Vertical farming is another option within the agricultural industry, though it is intended as a way of complementing rather than replacing traditional agriculture,” adds Tagino Lobato from KVF.

Not all fruit and vegetables can be grown using this technique, but a great variety can be, “enough to have a balanced diet,” according to Leo Lobato.

For example, KVF produces lettuce, microgreens (mustard), Ballerina lettuce, Alexandria lettuce, peas, beetroot, large-eared lettuce, radish, Italian lettuce, and sunflowers, as well as others such as astro arugula, rocket arugula, spinach, coriander, chard, strawberries, and tomato seedlings.

Vertical farms are very beneficial. For example, they use 90% less water than traditional agriculture and they can be built anywhere, which means many spaces could be repurposed. (Infographic: Karma Verde Fresh)

This type of initiative hopes to feed the 150 million people who will be living in Mexico by 2050, of whom approximately will be in 80% urban areas, according to FAO estimates.

Karma Verde Fresh saw a great entrepreneurial opportunity in vertical technology. “We need this in all communities because we all need to eat better without damaging the planet. Vertical farming in a controlled environment has many possibilities. We can take it to schools or food bank centers,” says the co-founder of Verde Karma Fresh.

The company wants to make this innovation in agriculture available to everyone, so they are looking to make the technology accessible. For example, “we already have one of these vertical farms in Dr. Adriana Elizondo’s house in the Linda Vista neighborhood of Guadalupe in Monterrey. She’s farming with this prototype from her bedroom,” says Leo.

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Karma Verde Fresh has two versions of the growing system: one for crops (KVF-AG6) and one for seedlings (KVF-AG10). (Photo: Karma Verde Fresh)

Mexico, The Land of Opportunity

The Lobato technology has already made deals with 20 international universities to take their equipment and establish laboratories. “By involving universities, we are hoping to find Mexican ingenuity that will produce better technology and create more employment opportunities in all Spanish-speaking countries,” he says.

KVF doesn’t just want to sell the technology but also to lower the costs by using Mexican technology. Sources of financing are being set up for all of the entrepreneurs who wish to take vertical farms to different levels.

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The end product from vertical farms promotes local purchases that are more nutritious (Photo: Courtesy)

ETIQUETAS EXATEC entrepreneurship vertical farming vertical farmsvertical produce

Most Americans Have Roundup in Their Bodies. Researchers Say One Week of Eating Organic Can Help

Photo courtesy of Scott Warman, Unsplash.

One week of eating organic can dramatically reduce pesticide levels in the body, according to a recent study conducted by the Health Research Institute, Commonweal Institute, and Friends of the Earth. 

The group of researchers tracked the pesticide levels of four families across the United States. They took measurements after six days on a non-organic diet and again after six days on an organic diet.

The study, and a companion study published last year, found 16 different kinds of pesticides and chemicals in every participant. But after six days of organic eating, these compounds decreased an average of 60.5 percent—and some as much as 95 percent. Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup and the most used pesticide in the world, dropped an average of 70 percent.

A study by agricultural economist Charles Benbrook finds that the use of glyphosate has spiked 15-fold globally since genetically modified, “Roundup Ready” crops were introduced in 1996. The percentage of Americans with traceable levels of glyphosate in their bodies rose from 12 percent in 1972 to 70 percent by 2014, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego. 

Glyphosate exposure has been associated with a wide range of health problems. Researchers have flagged glyphosate as a probable carcinogen, and the chemical has been linked to kidney disease, reproductive issues, DNA damage, hormone and digestion disruptions, fatty liver disease, and more.

The recent study poses organic eating as a straightforward way to avoid glyphosate. But the authors also recognize that organic food isn’t always accessible. 

To improve the availability of organic foods in the United States, the team calls for top-down policy changes—like stricter regulations on pesticide use, more federal research into the effects of pesticides, and aid for farmers as they transition to organic farming.

“Our federal pesticide policy system is broken, and we need people shouting about that,” Dr. Kendra Klein, a co-author of the study and Senior Staff Scientist at Friends of the Earth, tells Food Tank. “Companies like Bayer, Syngenta, and Dow are spending millions lobbying, and they’re also spending tens of millions of dollars to shape the narrative and perpetuate myths, like the myth that we need pesticides to feed the world.”

Klein points out that just 1 percent of U.S. federal agricultural research dollars go towards ecological farming, and pesticide regulations are few and far between. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has loosened some pesticide restrictions in recent years. Between 1993 and 2008, the EPA raised the threshold for glyphosate residues on oats from 0.1 ppm to 30 ppm.

Larry Bohlen, Chief Operating Officer at HRI Labs and another co-author of the study, also emphasizes a lack of resources for farmers who want to transition to organic farming. He explains that universities and government training programs have taught farmers how to use pesticides for decades. “If they placed models of successful organic farming side-by-side with the synthetic chemical models, farmers would have choices instead of just one option,” Bohlen tells Food Tank.

Stringent pesticide regulations might seem like a lofty goal in the U.S., says Klein, but change is already underway abroad. Earlier this year, the European Union announced plans to halve the use of “high risk” pesticides by 2030 and make at least 25 percent of farmland organic.

To spur change in the U.S., Bohlen urges consumers to vote with their wallets, if they’re able. “Each person’s purchase is a small vote that, when considered collectively, sends a signal back to the grocer and the farmer about what type of food is desired. It’s your purchase that has one of the biggest effects on land, farmer, and consumer health.”

Content like this article is only possible because of Food Tank members. Please join today and get exclusive member benefits at FoodTank.com/Join.

Vera Vertical Farming Technology Introduced in Finland’s Largest Retail Group

Netled And Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa Sign A New Long-Term Cooperation Agreement

In the photo: Ville Jylhä, COO of Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa

Netled has entered into a significant long-term cooperation agreement with Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa, a regional operator of S-Group, the largest retail chain in Finland.

Netled’s Vera Instore Premium Growing Cabinets, offering a range of herbs and salads, will now be a regular feature in Prisma retail stores in the Pirkanmaa area. Herbs and some of the leafy greens are grown in-store in the cabinets, and are harvested directly off the shelf. The growing conditions are fully automated and controlled remotely.

The newly opened Prisma Pirkkala is Finland’s first hypermarket to launch the new Vera Instore Cabinets. In addition, Netled will deliver to the hypermarket salads and herbs grown on its own vertical farm nearby, thereby allowing customers to get same-day harvested herbs and salads all year round.

”With this newly formed collaboration we can offer consumers fresh, ultra-locally produced products and at the same time introduce them to vertical farming as a method of ecological, urban farming”, says Ville Jylhä, COO of Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa.

S-Group is a customer-owned Finnish network of companies in the retail and service sectors, with more than 1 800 outlets in Finland. The group offers services in areas such as, supermarket trade, department store, and speciality store trade. As the largest retail group in Finland, S-Group’s main focus is also on sustainable food and innovative ways it can offer healthy and responsibly produced food to its customers.

Netled Ltd. is Finland’s leading provider of turn-key vertical farming systems and innovative greenhouse lighting solutions.

”As the leading vertical farming technology provider in Finland, we have developed an extensive range of products for all segments of vertical farming. Instore growing systems are a rapid-growth segment, and our cutting-edge Vera technology puts us at the forefront of the instore space”, says Niko Kivioja, CEO of Netled Ltd.

“The agreement with Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa is just the latest proof of concept, and is also a clear signal to potential customers, investors and other global partners that Vera technology is a game changer.”

  18th December 2020 by johannak

More information:

Niko Kivioja

CEO, Netled Ltd

+358 50 360 8121

niko.kivioja@netled.fi

Robert Brooks, Investor Relations and Communications Manager

+358 50 484 0003

robert.brooks@netled.fi

Here's Even More Evidence That Plant Protein Is Better For You Than Animal Protein

Sorry, steak fans.

By Sara Chodosh

It’d be great if a burger-a-day diet was healthy. Don’t get me wrong—it’s not the worst. You’ve got protein in there and hopefully some veggies on top (and on the side), and even some fiber from the roll (you used whole grain, right?).

Unfortunately, study after study shows that meat as a protein source just isn't that healthy. It's far better to get that necessary protein from plants. Generally speaking, diets heavy on plant matter tend to be healthier. One recent study found that those eating the most fruit-and-veg-dense diets had a 31 percent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a roughly 20 percent lower risk of overall mortality than those eating animal-focused diets. That study didn't look specifically at protein, but participants consumed the other main animal-sourced food group, dairy, at about equal rates no matter what, so ultimately this comes down to replacing meat with alternative protein sources.

And yes, these associations are correlations, not causations. But there are some legitimate reasons that plant-based protein sources like beans are a healthier alternative to bacon. The researchers aren’t saying you can’t or shouldn’t indulge in a thick Delmonico or a flame-grilled cheeseburger. Rather that you should enjoy them in moderation. Generally, research shows that less animal meat—most especially red meat—is better than more, in terms of long term health. You don’t have to love tofu, either (it’s not the best plant-based protein anyway), as long as you strive to eat more of your protein from the ground and less from animals.

Here’s a deeper dive into why:

Plant protein has more nutrients and fiber (though not all of the amino acids)

Animal meat is known for its many nutrients. If you eat a variety of animal meats (light and dark, not just beef, as well as various organs), you can take in all the amino acids you need to manufacture your own bodily proteins plus vitamins like B12, niacin, thiamine, B5, B6, B7, and vitamins A and K.

But here's the thing: If you swap all that animal protein for an equally diverse diet of plant-based proteins like nuts, seeds, and beans, you are no worse off. That's because these foods are also packed full of a similar spectrum of nutrients. The biggest difference is vitamin B12, which most plants cannot produce on their own. You can get B12 from edible seaweed and in fortified cereals, though the easiest way is through supplementation or by eating animal products.

Given their equal vitamin profile, Andrea Giancoli, a registered dietitian in California says plant-based proteins are far healthier than their meat counterparts. That’s because, pound-for-pound, they pack more nutrients into fewer calories. They also have one thing that animal proteins completely lack: fiber. (Except for things like tofu, which is processed, Giancoli notes.) Let’s not forget the fiber. Fiber aids in digestion promotes a healthy gut microbiome and is strongly associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk.

People who eat plant proteins in part have healthier habits

Meta-analyses that compared people who eat animal versus plant proteins consistently find that, even after adjusting for other influential factors like socioeconomic class, weight, and exercise habits, those who eat plants tend to live longer, healthier lives. They tend to have less cardiovascular disease and fewer cancer cases, though especially the cancer association tends to drop away once other factors have been controlled for. Despite all that controlling, though, there's still an association with living a longer life with fewer heart problems. There are almost certainly some small factors contributing to the association. People who eat plant proteins may see their doctor more regularly and thus get better preventive care. Maybe they tend to live in quieter, less polluted places.

Since correlations still exist between eating plant proteins and overall health, even after controlling for other factors, meta-analyses have generally concluded that lifestyle factors alone can't account for the correlation. One recent such analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that "Substitution of plant protein for animal protein, especially from processed red meat, may confer a substantial health benefit" and advised that policies promote plant proteins.

Meat has more saturated fats

Another reason that steak isn’t great for you: the fat that often accompanies it. Fat is part of why steaks and burgers are delicious—it adds mouthfeel and flavor. But it also tends to clog up your heart. “[With plant proteins] you get less saturated fat and no cholesterol,” Giancoli explains, “so you’re getting that benefit as well.”

Saturated fats are those that are solid at room temperature and tend to contribute to cardiovascular disease (though not as much as trans fats) because it drives up your total cholesterol levels. That may, in the long run, tip the scales towards the LDL (low-density lipid) side, which is what clogs up arteries. Foods like nuts, avocados, and fish have far less saturated fats than red and other dark meats. As such, they are dubbed healthy fats.

Processed, red meat is carcinogenic, and grilled meat may be too

You probably heard about the massive World Health Organization (WHO) report a few years ago proclaiming that processed, red meats were carcinogenic. Colorectal cancer in particular has been associated with eating red meat, and so have pancreatic and prostate cancer. Processed meats, like bacon and sausage, also contribute to colorectal cancer. Even grilled meat is known to have some carcinogenic compounds in it (those black char marks are where they mostly lie); seared meat has a similar effect.

In the grand scheme of cancer, meat isn't the biggest player. Recent estimates by the Global Burden of Disease Project, a subset of the WHO, put the number of annual cancer cases from red meat at 50,000. That's compared to 200,000 from air pollution, 600,000 from alcohol, and one million from tobacco. But it's not nothing.

If we’re taking an exclusively long-range, zoomed-out, big picture view it’s fairly undeniable that getting your protein from plants would be healthier overall. But dietitians like Giancoli are also adamant about one other important thing: Food should be enjoyable. We shouldn’t spend our lives gorging only on ice cream and pizza, but if you love burgers you should have them. Not every night—just sometimes. The key to a successful diet, as many dietitians will tell you, is balance and moderation. And beans.

Lead Photo: Yum, looks like a brain! Pixabay

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Kellogg Agrees To Stop Marketing Sugary Cereals As “Healthy”

$31 Million Settlement In A California Lawsuit Will Force Kellogg To

Significantly Change Its Marketing.

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October 24th, 2019

by Sam Bloch

Kellogg, one of the county’s top cereal companies, has agreed to stop using misleading terms such as “healthy,” “nutritious,” and “wholesome” to promote products like Frosted Mini-Wheats.

On Monday, the Battle Creek, Michigan-based corporation, officially known as The Kellogg Company, entered into a settlement agreement with a class of five plaintiffs in California and New York, who alleged Kellogg used deceptive health and wellness claims to market high-sugar cereals and breakfast bars.

The settlement, which was granted preliminary approval by a federal court judge in the Northern District of California, requires the company to stop using a handful of familiar phrases, and pay over $20 million to members of the public who claim they were victims of false advertising. The parties agreed to settle after three years of litigation and just a few months away from trial.

Kellogg isn’t the first company to suffer this fate. Health claims are lightly regulated. Almost anything, even Spam, can be “natural.” Increasingly, consumer advocates and class action suits are pushing back on these nebulous claims in court—and winning. (Kellogg declined to comment for this article.)

Stephen Hadley, a resident of Monterey, California, sued Kellogg on August 29, 2016, claiming it misrepresented Raisin Bran, Frosted Mini-Wheats and Smart Start cereals, as well as Nutri-Grain breakfast bars, as “healthy,” “nutritious” or “wholesome,” and packaged the products to suggest they promoted bodily health, disease prevention, and weight loss.

Raisin Bran was marketed as “the deliciously heart-healthy way to start your day,” even though it contained 18 grams of added sugar per serving—which represents almost 40 percent of its calories.

The company did this, Hadley alleges, by highlighting certain product ingredients—like fiber, whole grains, and “real fruit”—and using misleading language.

One such example: Hadley alleged that Frosted Mini-Wheats and Smart Start cereals were promoted as “lightly sweetened,” even though the products contain as much as 19 grams of added sugar per serving. That far exceeds the daily sugar intake recommended by the American Heart Association.

Similarly, Raisin Bran was marketed as “the deliciously heart healthy way to start your day,” even though it contained 18 grams of added sugar per serving—which represents almost 40 percent of its calories.

“Contrary to Kellogg’s representations,” Hadley alleged, the regular consumption of those cereals is “likely to contribute to cardiovascular and metabolic disease, thereby harming health.” 

Raisin Bran drew particular ire in Hadley’s complaint—he alleged that a Kellogg website claimed the cereal was healthier than a meal of salad, multi-grain toast, and blueberries because it contained more fiber.

He also accused Kellogg of “deceptively suggesting” that Nutri-Grain bars were healthier than other cereal bars they didn’t have high-fructose corn syrup—even as Kellogg used the sweetener in other foods, with the “constituent parts merely separated in the ingredient list.”

Hadley combined his case with a similar complaint filed on behalf of four plaintiffs in New York earlier this year.

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Kellogg

Going forward, Kellogg can no longer market Mini-Wheats as “nutritious,” as it does on its website currently

Under the settlement, a number of familiar phrases will disappear from the foods named in the lawsuit: Raisin Bran, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Smart Start, Crunchy Nut, and Krave cereals, and Nutri-Grain bars.

The company can no longer advertise certain products, where added sugars represent at least 10 percent of calories, as “healthy.” Nor can it promote them with phrases like “start with a healthy spoonful” or “invest in your health.” The company can only use the word, which is infamously nebulous, in connection with a claim about a specific nutrient.

Nor will they be marketed as “wholesome,” “nutritious,” or “beneficial.” Those terms can only be used to describe a specific nutrient or ingredient—in a phrase like “contains nutritious whole grain wheat.”

Furthermore, Frosted Mini-Wheats and Smart Start will no longer be “lightly sweetened,” and Smart Start won’t be “heart-healthy.” That phrase will be banished to the bottom and reverse sides of Raisin Bran cereal boxes.

Besides these marketing changes, Kellogg will have to pay millions to a class of consumers—anyone who bought those products since August 29, 2012. According to the settlement, which also includes $11 million in injunctive relief, consumers can receive as much as $20 in vouchers to buy Kellogg’s products, and $10 in cash, per person. Under the deal, the company will set aside about $12 million in cash and over $8 million in vouchers. It won’t be handed out until early next year.

CULTURE, HEALTH, HOME FEATURE, NEWS, POLICY HEALTHY KELLOGGS LABELING MINI-WHEATS

US (NJ): Mobile Greenhouse Gives Residents Education In Healthy Eating

RWJBarnabas Health’s Wellness on Wheels van is traveling around New Jersey, equipping everyone from kids to seniors with knowledge about nutrition, gardening and how healthy foods like fruits and vegetables affect their health. In a country where millions of people don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, it’s an important service.

Onboard the mobile greenhouse and cooking school is a registered dietitian, whose guests on one particular day included the students of Barringer High School. They were tasked with carrying fresh romaine lettuce from the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center’s Hydroponic Greenhouse to the van, where it was prepped, cooked and eventually eaten.

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Source: NJTV News (Lauren Wanko)