Urban Crop Solutions Awarded As Best-In-Class Vertical Farming Solution Provider

August 2021

Urban Crop Solutions has been awarded a ‘Best-in-Class’ award for their production systems by the Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture. They were selected as the winners for the category of ‘systems starting between $250k-$500k’. Each finalist went through a rigorous review process and was evaluated according to several criteria. Emphasis was given to sustainable farms and equipment manufacturers that efficiently use resources such as land, energy, labour and water to produce the highest yields at an affordable price in indoor farm settings.

“The award is definitely a recognition for our team that is continuously working on state-of-the art growing solutions which optimise the sustainability of our industry, whether this is in an existing building or for a greenfield project.” says Maarten Vandecruys, Founder and CTO, Urban Crop Solutions.

“Today we are rewarded with a prize for our approach, but to be successful for our customers, the knowledge of the plant science is as equally important as the engineering part. We keep on striving for a more sustainable impact, not just on the consumption of our natural resources, but also the yield, which positively impacts the financial sustainability” he adds.

"We are enormously proud of the entire team! A team that works together for the future. A team that is there for each other, to give the best of themselves. Looking at our latest realisations, the ModuleX and the FarmLab, and our 24/7 support both technically and biologically, as a team leader you can look forward with a broad smile!" says Jean-Pierre Coene, CEO, Urban Crop Solutions.

Jean-Pierre Coene operating the ModuleX

ABOUT UCS

Urban Crop Solutions is a Belgium based pioneer in the fast-emerging technology of indoor vertical farming. It has developed over the past six years, 220+ plant growth recipes in its research centre in Waregem, Belgium. To date, UCS has delivered over 25 projects in multiple global locations. Their farms are being operated both for commercial and research purposes. Uses range from the production of leafy greens, microgreens and herbs for food retail, service and industrial use, and scientific research across multiple institutions.

Website: www.urbancropsolutions.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/urbancropsolutions
Twitter: www.twitter.com/U_C_Solutions
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/urbancropsolutions

CONTACT

Filip Meeuws – Sales Director, Urban Crop Solutions          
fime@urbancropsolutions.com

Maarten Vandecruys – Co-founder & CTO, Urban Crop Solutions  
maarten.vandecruys@urbancropsolutions.com

Jean-Pierre Coene – CEO, Urban Crop Solutions     
jpco@urbancropsolutions.com

Lead Photo: Maarten Vandecruys in the UCS Research Centre

Certhon Wraps Up 7th Raspberry Trial Successfully

“Raspberry isn’t the first crop that comes to mind when figuring out which crops to grow indoors,” Andrea Huegler, R&D Engineer and Agronomist at Certhon said. “However, we accepted the challenge and decided to go for it as there are a lot of benefits to growing it in a controlled environment.”

After successfully growing strawberries in the Certhon Innovation Centre (CIC), the company has decided to take on another trial of growing fruits indoors. Certhon has been doing lots of research on indoor farming for a long time now. This has allowed them to investigate how to grow more complex crops in a controlled environment without daylight.

Andrea Huegler 

Trial results
The main advantage of growing this crop indoors is having higher yields and consistent quality year-round. Certhon sees great opportunities ahead for the crop, due to its premium status and short shelf life. “It makes it a perfect candidate to be grown indoors.” During this trial, common raspberry cultivars were chosen. Certhon used chilled raspberry canes from a propagator, pollination by bumblebees and top and interlighting was used to flourish the crops. The harvesting period comprises 10 weeks, out of a total cultivation cycle of 21 weeks and is expected to end in July 2021.

Cultivation risks
The research was mainly about investigating the right transition of the vegetative state of the crop to the generative state. Andrea says that balancing the climate and light with energy consumption is the trickiest part here. “Ever since the first raspberry trial we’ve been trying to balance out the reduction of energy use, having an X amount of yield at a great quality and extending the harvesting period. Throughout the trials, we have obtained nearly twice as much yield compared to the traditional Dutch polytunnel producers in the summer,” Andrea notes.

However, raspberry cultivation isn’t without challenges. “One of the risks that could come up is growing grey mold,” explains Andrea. “If nectar isn’t removed well from the flower, the fruit can grow mold or have a grey undertone. However, if you manage your humidity wisely, the incidence is severely reduced. That’s the idea behind the CIC, optimizing growing recipes and eventually expanding the product portfolio because we want to provide a wide selection of product options to our clients.”

Greenhouse application 
The knowledge that is generated in the CIC can also be applied to the cultivation of raspberries in greenhouses. Growing these crops indoors allows Certhon to generate ideal growing conditions and maximum potential for raspberry cultivation. With this knowledge, Certhon generates a blueprint that growers can follow in greenhouse cultivation as well.

Andrea explains, “For instance, the blueprint can be followed when growers want to know when to: provide extra lighting, shading, or adjust the humidity. In this way, ideal growing conditions can be mimicked to achieve the highest quality and yield possible in a greenhouse.”

Cane risk
Another, very important aspect is the quality of the raspberry canes. In order to have good production, your raspberry canes need to be of good quality and pest-free. “This cannot always be guaranteed, '' says Andrea, “since they are propagated outdoors and therefore bound to the pressures of external influences, such as climate. Although we have not tried it ourselves yet, we think the next step is to also propagate raspberry canes in a controlled environment without daylight.” 

For more information:
Andrea Huegler, R&D Engineer and Agronomist 
Certhon
andrea.huegler@certhon.com 
ABC Westland 555
P.O. Box 90
2685 ZH Poeldijk
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 174 22 50 80
www.certhon.com 

Publication date: Mon 7 Jun 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© HortiDaily.com

How Image Data Is Changing Agriculture

Anyone who wants to realize applications in which objects with a wide variety of characteristics – such as vegetables or fruit – are to be reliably recognized, cannot afford to ignore image processing with artificial intelligence.

Article from | IDS Imaging Development Systems

04/27/21

Being able to control processes more easily and design them more efficiently – these requirements also play an important role for agriculture and the food industry. Factors such as increasing demand from consumers, high standards regarding sustainability and security of supply, as well as the need to produce efficiently, come into direct conflict. Connected devices and automation are therefore becoming more and more prevalent in these sectors. Cameras play an important role here. They support from the optimal application of fertilizers to the visual monitoring of products and growth phases to the processing of food. 

A key technology is an artificial intelligence. Organic products with different shapes and colors are difficult to describe in the corset of standardized algorithms with which industrial cameras usually work. Anyone who wants to realize applications in which objects with a wide variety of characteristics – such as vegetables or fruit – are to be reliably recognized, cannot afford to ignore image processing with artificial intelligence. Intelligent vision systems for collecting and analyzing information are also valuable tools when it comes to detecting conditions, making decisions, and triggering follow-up processes. To make the best use of this technology, AI vision systems that are equally flexible, easy to handle, and powerful are required. This is where IDS NXT ocean comes into play. 

View fullsize

IDS NXT ocean (www.ids-nxt.com) is a particularly user-friendly end-to-end solution that allows users to create AI-based image processing applications – even with little previous knowledge. Vision apps help to flexibly control which task the embedded vision system should solve; from simple barcode reading to complex AI-based object detection. Thanks to their compact industrial-grade housing and interfaces such as OPC UA, the intelligent IDS NXT cameras can be easily integrated into factory automation. Image processing takes place directly on the camera and can then be transmitted as a result, for example to a machine control system.

Customers are provided with coordinated workflows and all the necessary tools so that they can easily develop applications on their own. With the IDS-hosted, cloud-based AI training system IDS NXT lighthouse, they can train a neural network with their own images without any prior deep learning knowledge and without having to install any hardware or software. This is remarkable because although automation is a defining topic in the agriculture and food sector, only a few all-in-one packages for embedded vision with deep learning are available. In many cases, this is still project work, with customers building the systems themselves step by step. IDS Imaging Development Systems removes these hurdles so that even companies without dedicated AI specialists can benefit from the current technical state of the art and keep their competitive edge.

For more information and application examples, please visit    

https://en.ids-imaging.com/smart-farming.html.

The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of AgriTechTomorrow

IDS Imaging Development Systems Inc.

IDS is a leading manufacturer of industrial cameras "Made in Germany" with USB or GigE interfaces. Equipped with state-of-the-art CMOS sensors, the extensive camera portfolio ranges from low-cost project cameras to small, powerful models with PoE functionality or robust cameras with housings that fulfill the prerequisites for protection code IP65/67. For quick, easy, and precise 3D machine vision tasks IDS offers the Ensenso series. With the novel vision app-based sensors and cameras of IDS NXT the company opens up a new dimension in image processing. Whether in an industrial or non-industrial setting: IDS cameras and sensors assist companies worldwide in optimizing processes, ensuring quality, driving research, conserving raw materials, and serving people. They provide reliability, efficiency, and flexibility for your application.

Monitoring & Growing, Precision Farming | IDS Imaging Development Systems Inc. | Imaging, machine vision

Vertical Farming: A Solution To Waste And Inefficiency In The Food Supply Chain?

View fullsize

April 12, 2021

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

The global food supply chain is in trouble. The coronavirus pandemic is only the latest crisis to highlight the inefficiencies and spotty reliability of the traditional model for getting food from farm to consumer. Repeated instances of contamination reveal inadequacies in quality control and the tracking of product throughout the supply chain. And environmental concerns are raising serious questions about the impact of large-scale farming on the land, water, and air.

There’s a clear need for alternative methods of food production. One is vertical farming, a system of growing crops in stacked layers, spaced 24 to 36 inches apart, usually in greenhouse environments. Vertical farms can be constructed within any type of confined space, including dedicated buildings, shipping containers and even abandoned mineshafts. The equivalent of 60 acres of produce can be squeezed into a single greenhouse, with layers stacked six levels or more high.

Further advantages of vertical farming include complete protection from weather and crop pests, without the need for pesticides or other chemicals, and drastic reductions in water use. A pound of lettuce that requires 41 gallons of water with conventional farming needs just two gallons with vertical farming — in all, up to 99% less water than field-grown produce.

One such system is in operation outside Boston, Massachusetts by Crop One, which markets its products under the FreshBox Farms brand. In business for eight years, Crop One claims to be the oldest vertical farmer in North America, in terms of continuous commercial production.

Crop One grows a wide variety of leafy produce, including lettuce, arugula, basil, and spinach. From its location in Millis, Massachusetts, it supplies sellers within a radius of approximately 100 miles, with a presence in more than 35 grocery stores in the Northeast, according to chief executive officer Craig Ratajcyzk.

The location was chosen to cut down on the large volumes of produce that are typically shipped into the Boston area from California, Arizona, Texas, and South and Central America. “Those are really long supply chains,” Ratajcyzk says. “Right now, we’re within an hour’s drive of all the markets we serve.” Crop One also sources its seed stock locally, he adds, although he acknowledges the need to diversify supply in order to reduce the risk of supply-chain disruptions.

Indoor farming allows Crop One to grow to produce all year round, Ratajcyzk says. Currently, its output stands at around three tons a day, serving 10 customers in the Boston area and an overseas account that in turn sells to some 20 retailers.

The company has big ambitions to expand its production and marketing reach, and Ratajcyzk sees no problem in scaling up. Currently, he says, “the whole CEA [controlled environmental agriculture] industry represents a small fraction of the global demand market.” But recent storms and cold weather in large portions of the U.S. have highlighted the need for a method of farming that isn’t susceptible to the whims of Mother Nature.

“The industry is growing substantially,” Ratajcyzk declares, with producers increasingly being drawn to a method of farming that dramatically boosts crop yield within a limited space.

The technology can even extend to fruit-bearing trees. “A traditional orange tree maybe 15 or 20 feet,” Ratajcyzk says. “Why not a 10-foot tree producing twice as many oranges?”

The chief downside of vertical farming at the moment is one of cost. The price of an initial building containing the equivalent of a 60-hectare farm has been estimated at $100 million. Expenses include heavy energy consumption for supplemental lighting, temperature and humidity controls, fertilizer, and maintenance of proper carbon dioxide levels.

A Cornell University study from 2014 called vertical farms “pie in the sky,” estimating that a single loaf of bread containing wheat grown in a vertical farm would cost $27. Current economics would therefore appear to limit vertical farming to high-end products, although producers are banking that costs will plummet as the technology catches on. The net environmental advantages should also serve to boost its popularity in the coming years.

Vertical farming is “small, but growing every day,” says Ratajcyzk. “It’s a difficult model to establish, but if you’ve been around for five years-plus, then you have a higher probability of success.” He’s hoping for federal, state, and local support of the fledgling technique.

“I can’t really think of a downside to this industry,” he says.

Lead photo: Photo: Bloomberg

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

By Sian Yates

03/11/2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

US-VIRGINIA: Arlington’s Only Commercial Farm To Expand, Double Production

ARLnow.com

Believe it or not, Arlington County has a working commercial farm.

The farm, which is located in a commercial building along Lee Highway, uses hydroponic technology to grow a variety of edible plants indoors. And it’s about to expand.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced this afternoon that Fresh Impact Farms will be getting a $30,000 grant — half from the state, half from the county — that will help it double production and create six jobs.

Fresh Impact, Arlington County’s only commercial farm, is banking on its restaurant customers ramping up purchases as vaccinated customers flock back to the indoor dining. It also launched a direct-to-consumer Community Supported Agriculture program last year.

County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti hailed the business and its expansion.

“Governor Northam’s award to Fresh Impact Farms, Arlington’s only commercial farm, is an innovative way to celebrate unique uses of technology to help a small business pivot during the pandemic,” de Ferranti said in a statement. “I am thrilled that Fresh Impact Farms is growing and looking to the future of a sustainable food supply.”

More on the company’s expansion, below, from a press release issued by the governor’s office.

Governor Ralph Northam today announced that Fresh Impact Farms will invest $137,500, create six new jobs, and more than double production at its Arlington County indoor facility. Operating since 2018 as Arlington’s only commercial farm, Fresh Impact Farms uses proprietary hydroponic technology to grow a variety of specialty herbs, leafy greens, and edible flowers for sale to customers in the Greater Washington, D.C. metro area.

Like many companies, Fresh Impact Farms has pivoted its business model amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Seizing the opportunity created by more people cooking at home, the company initiated a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program targeting area residents. The CSA program, which focuses on leafy greens and home kitchen-friendly herbs, has grown steadily since its establishment in April 2020 and now includes smaller wholesale clients. Now, with vaccinations underway and the restaurant industry poised to rebound, Fresh Impact Farms is expanding, which will allow the company to resume supplying their restaurant customers, while also meeting new demand through their CSA program.

“Agriculture continues to be a key driver of our economic recovery in both rural and urban areas of our Commonwealth,” said Governor Northam. “Innovative, dynamic businesses like Fresh Impact Farms are demonstrating how exciting new opportunities can grow out of pandemic-related challenges. I congratulate the company on their success and am thrilled to award the first-ever AFID grant to Arlington County to support this expansion.”

This expansion by Fresh Impact Farms will include a second grow room, larger production facility, and an educational hub where, post-pandemic, customers will be able to see how their food is harvested. Over the next three years, the company expects to grow an additional 10,500 pounds of Virginia-grown leafy greens, herbs, and edible flowers for restaurant and CSA customers.

“Agriculture is Virginia’s largest private sector industry and the Commonwealth continues to be on the forefront of emerging agriculture technologies,” said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Bettina Ring. “I am inspired by Fresh Impact Farms’ commitment to not only bringing fresh, local produce to Virginians, but also for its commitment to educate our community about how local food is grown.”

“2020 was undoubtedly one of the hardest years in recent memory for many people and businesses, but I’m heartened by the strength and flexibility the entire Fresh Impact Farms team has shown in our deep pivot to consumers and a CSA model to help us get to the point where we are ready to expand our business,” said Fresh Impact Farms Founder Ryan Pierce. “The support and generosity from the Commonwealth and Arlington County will be valuable as we expand our production and move towards a hybrid model of serving both the needs of restaurants and consumers. As the owner of a local food business, nothing gets me more excited than seeing the community come together in support of local food. The future is bright for urban agriculture and this grant will help us make an even greater impact in our community.”

The Commonwealth is partnering with Arlington County and the Arlington County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) on this project through the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) Fund, which is administered by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS). Governor Northam approved a $15,000 grant from the AFID Fund to secure the project for Virginia, which Arlington County will match with local funds.

“The Arlington County IDA’s match of the Governor’s AFID grant to Fresh Impact Farms represents an important investment in urban agriculture, sustainability, and technology,” said Arlington County IDA Chair Edwin Fountain. “This project will advance the County’s innovative and forward-thinking approach to developing new sectors of economic activity in Arlington.” […]

“Congratulations to Fresh Impact Farms,” said Senator Janet Howell. “This expansion not only supports our local economy, but also has a significant impact promoting healthy families and vibrant communities as a whole.”

“I am delighted Governor Northam has approved a grant from the AFID Fund to deliver this project for the Commonwealth and Arlington County,” said Delegate Richard Sullivan. “Fresh Impact Farms has been a pivotal resource for providing fresh food to the community. This expansion shows a commitment not only to homegrown produce, but to a healthier community and local economy in Arlington.”

New York’s Gotham Greens Plans Solano County Indoor Produce Farm

GARY QUACKENBUSH

FOR THE NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Example of the greenhouse operated by Gotham Greens which announced plans to open in Solano County (Photo courtesy of Gotham Greens)

Gotham Greens Holdings LLC, a firm with indoor agriculture operations across the U.S., Tuesday, announced plans to build a facility next to the University of California, Davis.

The first phase of this 10-acre Solano County facility is expected to open later this year. It will be located on 33.6 acres of agricultural land purchased from the university adjacent to Interstate 80.

The company stated its plans will provide it with the ability to deliver fresh leafy greens, herbs, plant-based dressings, dips and cooking sauces to more retailers, foodservice operators and consumers on the West Coast.

“… We are partnering with one of the highest-ranked agricultural research centers in the world to advance the entire agriculture system,” said Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO of Gotham Greens. “California is responsible for growing one-third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of the nation’s fruit, yet in recent years, issues surrounding drought, food safety and worker welfare have demonstrated the need for continued innovation.”

The greenhouse will generate 60 full-time jobs and provide UC students with the opportunity to learn first-hand how to sustainably grow produce year-round in a safe, clean, climate-controlled environment. The company stated its facilities use 95% less water and 97% less land than conventional farming. Nationwide, Gotham Greens has 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space at five locations staffed by 400 employees.

The UC Division of Agriculture and National Resources and the UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences has entered into a partnership with Gotham Greens to advance research and innovation in the areas of indoor agriculture, greenhouse technology, and urban agriculture to help advance the science, workforce technology, and profitability of indoor agriculture globally.

“We are building a Controlled Environment Agriculture Consortium to support and advance the indoor farming industry, grow more fresh produce on less land and create new jobs for Californians,” said Gabriel Youtsey, the division’s chief innovation officer. “Gotham Greens is an anchoring partner of this research and industry collaboration that we hope will spur innovation, create a new indoor farming workforce and support industry growth.”

Helene Dillard, dean of the college, said, “This partnership will offer our students the chance to learn best practices from leading experts in indoor farming.”

Gotham Greens recently raised $87 million in new equity and debt capital bringing the company’s total financing to $130 million to fuel the next phase of growth.

Founded in 2009 in Brooklyn, New York, Gotham Greens (gothamgreens.com) owns and operates greenhouses in New York, Illinois, Rhode Island, Maryland and Colorado. Its produce is available in more than 40 states and 2,000 retail stores, including Albertsons Companies (Safeway, Jewel-Osco, and Shaw’s), Whole Foods Market, Target, King Soopers, Harris Teeter, and Sprouts.

The company’s products can also be purchased through e-commerce sites including AmazonFresh, FreshDirect and Peapod.
Lead Photo: Gotham Greens

Gotham Greens Goes West To Unlock Next Growth Chapter: ‘The Indoor Environment Is Relatively Unexplored But Offers Fantastic Opportunities’

View fullsize

By Mary Ellen Shoup

02-Mar-2021

View fullsize

Photo Credit: Gotham Greens

Using funding from its recent $87m Series D capital raise, indoor agriculture company Gotham Greens has expanded operations to Northern California – its first West Coast greenhouse location – opening a 10-acre facility, which will bring its total annual production to 40 million heads of lettuce and herbs.

Expanding to Solano, California, where the greenhouse will be co-located with the University of California-Davis (UC Davis), is a significant milestone for the company that has thus far built greenhouses in its home state of New York, Rhode Island, Maryland, Illinois, and Colorado.

“California is a significant contributor to the nation’s produce industry in several ways. Not only is California responsible for growing one-third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of the nation’s fruits, but also it is home to numerous research institutes, industry groups, and suppliers,”​ Gotham Greens​​ co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri told FoodNavigator-USA.

While working to produce hydroponic indoor lettuce on a mass scale for West Coast consumers is a major goal with the new greenhouse facility, Puri added that its partnership with UC Davis will help drive the next wave of innovation in controlled environment agriculture (CEA).

“The location of this new greenhouse uniquely enables opportunities for Gotham Greens to play a greater role in the produce industry as well as collaborate on research and innovation with the University of California system focused on advancing the science, workforce, technology, and profitability of indoor agriculture globally,”​ he said.

'Over time, we’ve increased the use of automated systems'

As the top producing state of lettuce, the California agriculture industry has battled with many issues such as heavy rains and flooding to months-long drought periods that have resulted in supply shortages and price increases.

Indoor agriculture such as the greenhouse hydroponic solution Gotham Greens has brought to market could provide a viable solution to all these issues, it claims.

Gotham Greens grows its greens uses natural sunlight and hydroponic systems which uses 95% less water and 97% less land than conventional farming.

“Over time, we’ve increased the use of automated systems to ensure that temperature, humidity and light levels, as well as air composition, are exactly the right balance,”​ said Puri.

The end product is packaged fresh greens which are beginning to reach cost parity with commoditized field-grown lettuce. A 4.5-ounce package of Gotham Greens Romaine lettuce for example costs $3.49 on average compared to a head of conventional Romain lettuce which retails for $2.28 (in Chicago), according to USDA market price data.

Consumers also have the extra security of knowing that the lettuce they purchased is fresh since the produce traveled a much shorter distance and passed through fewer hands than is typically required for field-grown lettuce, noted Gotham Greens.

View fullsize

Gotham Greens Product Shot_Photo Credit Gotham Greens

Size of the prize

Puri noted that while just a small fraction of the overall lettuce category, the potential addressable market for indoor-grown, packaged leafy greens and herbs in the US and Canada is $15bn.

"While indoor farming currently represents a small portion of the salad and leafy greens market, Gotham Greens is growing +70% year over year and the indoor farming sector is growing more than +50% year over year*, far outpacing the overall category (+15% YoY) as well as the organic segment (+9% YoY),"​ he said.

*Nielsen Total US xAOC Lettuce and Pre Packaged Salads, Dollar Sales, Latest 52 weeks ending 1/23/21

Advantages of greenhouse farming​

Asked whether the company would ever explore a vertical farming model, which in theory could use less land to produce equal amounts of lettuce, Puri noted that its greenhouse method mixed with technology is a more flexible and economic solution.

“Vertical farming is an exciting extension of modern greenhouse farming with many shared principles, but it is still a relatively young industry with open questions around technology and financial sustainability. ​Fully indoor environments that rely on artificial light and HVAC systems can theoretically offer much higher yields and levels of climate control, pest management, and food safety. However, these benefits currently come with significantly higher capital and operating costs,” ​said Puri.

Plant varieties optimized for indoor growing​

The company has proved its system can work at a large scale (Gotham Greens products are available in 40 states and at 2,000 retail stores), but there are many new areas it can explore to further optimize its growing methods.

“One area of particular interest for UC Davis is the breeding of improved crop varieties for indoor agriculture. For several centuries, plant breeders have focused on selecting and breeding crops suited to outdoor conditions, where they have been successful. The indoor environment, in contrast, is relatively unexplored but offers fantastic opportunities to use lights and nutrients to modify plant development, nutritional quality, yield, and shelf-life,”​ said Professor Gail Taylor, chair of the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. ​

“Much remains to be explored over the coming years to ensure safer, cleaner, and more sustainable food.” ​

‘We are interested in the complementary nature of indoor and outdoor agriculture’​

Gabe Youtsey, chief innovation officer, UC Agriculture, and Natural Resources, believes the CEA industry a new and exciting frontier for agriculture.

“New genetics, data-driven intelligent farming, farm automation, energy optimization, and other technologies can all be brought together to create a range of new tasty, healthy, and sustainable food products. We are interested in the complementary nature of indoor and outdoor agriculture, and the opportunity to help expand a local footprint of food production that is less resource-intensive and create a new generation of diverse young farmers,”​ Youtsey told FoodNavigator-USA.

The greenhouse will generate 60 new full-time jobs and create a new type of opportunity for UC Davis students that want to pursue CEA as a career.

Copyright - Unless otherwise stated all contents of this web site are © 2021 - William Reed Business Media Ltd - All Rights Reserved - Full details for the use of materials on this site can be found in the Terms & Conditions

RELATED TAGS: indoor farming, greenhouse farming, Gotham Greens

VIDEO: Signify Celebrates Five Years Anniversary of GrowWise Research Center

Five Years of Feeding Tomorrow’s Cities

Ellis Janssen, Director city farming at Signify explains: “At the GrowWise Center, we believe in vertical farming. Over the past five years, we have helped hundreds of entrepreneurs and pioneers all over the world discover how they can feed tomorrow’s cities and grow plants faster, in a more sustainable way."

Jarno Mooren, Signify's plant specialist vertical farming with tomato crops cultivated at the GrowWise Center

"We work closely with our customers and partners, looking at all aspects of the business case: whatever a grower’s needs are, we can translate them into a dedicated recipe for growth. To achieve this, our team of plant specialists, application engineers and key account managers look at the most important aspects that determine the set-up of a farm so they can give the grower dedicated advice in making the best decisions," Ellis states.

View fullsize

Ellis Jansen, director of city farming at Signify

She adds, "We have learned a lot over the past five years, and as we are evolving our customers are evolving as well. They want the best solutions for their specific needs. At the GrowWise Center, we support them wherever we can. The world continues to change, and we will change along with it. Through this all, and by combining the latest technology, business insights and plant expertise, we can help growers make their business successful and future-proof."

Jarno in between strawberry crops

"At the GrowWise Center, we are proud of all that has been accomplished in vertical farming over the past five years, and we are excited to see where we can take the dreams and ambitions in vertical farming in the future," Ellis notes.

Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify

Daniela Damoiseaux

Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69

E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com

www.philips.com/horti

About Signify

Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 38,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018, and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, Linked In, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.

Babylon Micro-Farms Establishes New Corporate Headquarters In Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, VA (February 2021) Babylon Micro-Farms has chosen Richmond, Virginia as the site for their corporate headquarters, opening a new office and R & D space in historic Scott’s Addition. The move from Charlottesville was driven by the company’s growth and need for a larger talent pool - they had been courted by California and Arizona as an up-and-coming tech company in the indoor ag-tech space. 

The company has developed disruptive technology - a cloud-based platform that operates vertical farms through a mobile phone app that controls all aspects of farming at the touch of a button. The indoor ag-tech industry is projected to grow globally from USD $121.26 billion in 2019 to USD $167.42 billion by 2025, a compound annual growth rate of 5.4% according to the latest report released by Market Data Forecast last week. 

Babylon’s CEO and Co-Founder, Alexander Olesen, commented on the move. “Richmond is the perfect launchpad for our next phase of growth. It has a dynamic business eco-system and gives Babylon the chance to build an even stronger foundation for the future with everything it has to offer.” 

Babylon began hiring locally in Richmond prior to the move, scaling up their operations in preparation for the anticipated increase in sales in 2021. Graham Smith, CTO and Co-Founder of Babylon, said “Our growth has been based on significant R & D we were able to accomplish because of support from The Center for Innovative Technology, the National Science Foundation and investors that understood early on the potential for this technology. Richmond offers a hub where innovation and industry intersect and having our headquarters here will fuel our expansion.” 

The company expects to triple its workforce in the next three years, adding jobs in every department, from assembly to engineering. For more information visit www.babylonmicrofarms.com or contact janet@babymicrofarms.com for interview requests.

Babylon Micro-Farms team, from left to right: Alexander Olesen, CEO and co-founder; Marc Oosterhuis, COO; and Graham Smith, CTO, and co-founder. Courtesy of Babylon Micro Farms

ABOUT BABYLON MICRO-FARMS

At the touch of a button, Babylon Micro-Farms delivers a simple, yet engaging indoor growing experience. Babylon helps senior living communities, hospitals, schools, and hospitality companies showcase their commitment to providing fresh, nutritious produce and sustainability to their residents, employees, and customers.

They have designed a complete on-site farming service that makes growing simple for anyone, thanks to their plug-and-play Micro-Farms and Guided Growing App. Babylon offers the most affordable, efficient, and advanced vertical farming platform available, remotely managed through the cloud with unparalleled customer service. Since their humble beginnings as a social entrepreneur student project, Babylon have attracted investors from Silicon Valley, been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to support their research, patented a groundbreaking technology, and received recognition by Virginia's Governor Northam for their contribution as a technology innovator following their successful application for funding from the Center for Innovative Technology. 

Babylon has designed a software platform to reclaim the decentralized food system of the 21st Century - using modular vertical farms that enables anyone to grow local produce on-site, all year round, indoors. They launched their first products focusing on the health care and senior living markets where our vertical farms provide access to food-as-medicine quality food and a variety of therapeutic activities.  

Website:

https://www.babylonmicrofarms.com/

Press Contact:

Sharon Rettinger

sharon@babylonmicrofarms.com

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

by Jennifer Marston

Image from: Little Leaf Farms

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

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

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

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

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

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

Agritech: Precision Farming With AI, IoT and 5G

Image from: Photo by Mohd Izwan Mohd Nazam/The Edge

For a company that grows and delivers vegetables, Boomgrow Productions Sdn Bhd’s office is nothing like a farm, or even a vertical farm.

Where farms are bedecked with wheelbarrows, spades and hoes, Boomgrow’s floor plan is akin to a co-working space with a communal island table, several cubicles, comfortable armchairs, a cosy hanging rattan chair and a glass-walled conference room in the middle.

At a corner, propped up along a walkway leading to a rectangular chamber fitted with grow lights, are rows of support stilts with hydroponic planters developed in-house and an agricultural technologist perched on a chair, perusing data. “This is where some of the R&D work happens,” says Jay Dasen, co-founder of the agritech start-up.

But there is a larger farm where most of the work behind this high-tech initiative is executed. Located a stone’s throw from the city centre in Ampang is a 40ft repurposed shipping container outfitted with perception technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that mimic the ideal environment to produce more than 50,000kg of vegetables a year.

Stacked in vertical layers, Boomgrow’s vegetables are grown under artificial lights with Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to detect everything from leaf discolouration to nitrate composition. This is coupled with AI and machine learning algorithms.

Boomgrow is the country’s first 5G-connected vertical farm. With the low latency and larger bandwidth technology, the start-up is able to monitor production in real time as well as maintain key para­meters, such as temperature and humidity, to ensure optimal growth conditions.

When Jay and her co-founders, K Muralidesan and Shan Palani, embarked on this initiative six years ago, Boomgrow was nowhere near what it is today.

The three founders got together hoping to do their part in building a more sustainable future. “I’ve spent years advising small and large companies on sustainability, environmental and social governance disclosures. I even embarked on a doctorate in sustainability disclosure and governance,” says Jay.

“But I felt a deep sense of disconnect because while I saw companies evolving in terms of policies, processes and procedures towards sustainability, the people in those organisations were not transforming. Sustainability is almost like this white noise in the background. We know it’s important and we know it needs to be done, but we don’t really know how to integrate it into our lives.

“That disconnect really troubled me. When we started Boomgrow, it wasn’t a linear journey. Boomgrow is something that came out of meaningful conversations and many years of research.”

Shan, on the other hand, was an architect who developed a taste for sustainable designs when he was designing modular structures with minimal impact on their surroundings between regular projects. “It was great doing that kind of work. But I was getting very dissatisfied because the projects were customer-driven, which meant I would end up having debates about trivial stuff such as the colour of wall tiles,” he says.

As for Murali, the impetus to start Boomgrow came from having lived overseas — while working in capital markets and financial services — where quality and nutritious produce was easily available.

Ultimately, they concluded that the best way to work towards their shared sustainability goals was to address the imminent problem of food shortage.

“By 2050, the world’s population is expected to grow to 9.7 billion people, two-thirds of whom will be in Asia-Pacific. Feeding all those people will definitely be a huge challenge,” says Jay. 

“The current agricultural practice is not built for resilience, but efficiency. So, when you think of farming, you think of vast tracts of land located far away from where you live or shop.

“The only way we could reimagine or rethink that was to make sure the food is located closer to consumers, with a hyperlocal strategy that is traceable and transparent, and also free of pesticides.”

Having little experience in growing anything, it took them a while to figure out the best mechanism to achieve their goal. “After we started working on prototypes, we realised that the tropics are not designed for certain types of farming,” says Jay. 

“And then, there is the problem of harmful chemicals and pesticides everywhere, which has become a necessity for farmers to protect their crops because of the unpredictable climate. We went through many iterations … when we started, we used to farm in little boxes, but that didn’t quite work out.”

They explored different methodologies, from hydroponics to aquaponics, and even started growing outdoors. But they lost a lot of crops when a heat wave struck.

That was when they started exploring more effective ways to farm. “How can we protect the farm from terrible torrential rains, plant 365 days a year and keep prices affordable? It took us five years to answer these questions,” says Jay.

Even though farmers all over the world currently produce more than enough food to feed everyone, 820 million people — roughly 11% of the global population — did not have enough to eat in 2018, according to the World Health Organization. Concurrently, food safety and quality concerns are rising, with more consumers opting for organically produced food as well as safe foods, out of fear of harmful synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.

According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, consumer demand for global organic fruit and vegetables was valued at US$19.16 billion in 2019 and is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5% by 2026.

Meanwhile, the precision farming market was estimated to be US$7 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach US$12.8 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 12.7% between 2020 and 2025, states MarketsandMarkets Research Pte Ltd.

Malaysia currently imports RM1 billion worth of leafy vegetables from countries such as Australia, China and Japan. Sourcing good and safe food from local suppliers not only benefits the country from a food security standpoint but also improves Malaysia’s competitive advantage, says Jay.

Unlike organic farming — which is still a soil-based method — tech-enabled precision farming has the advantage of catering for increasing demand and optimum crop production with the limited resources available. Moreover, changing weather patterns due to global warming encourage the adoption of advanced farming technologies to enhance farm productivity and crop yield.

Boomgrow’s model does not require the acres of land that traditional farms need, Jay emphasises. With indoor farms, the company promises a year-round harvest, undisturbed by climate and which uses 95% less water, land and fuel to operate.

Traditional farming is back-breaking labour. But with precision technology, farmers can spend less time on the farm and more on doing other things to develop their business, she says.

Boomgrow has secured more than RM300,000 in funding via technology and innovation grants from SME Corporation Malaysia, PlaTCOM Ventures and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, and is on track to build the country’s largest indoor farms.

Image from: Boomgrow

The company got its chance to showcase the strength of its smart technology when Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) approached it to be a part of the telco’s Smart Agriculture cluster in Langkawi last October.

“5G makes it faster for us to process the multiple data streams that we need because we collect data for machine learning, and then AI helps us to make decisions faster,” Jay explains.

“We manage the farm using machines to study inputs like water and electricity and even measure humidity. All the farm’s produce is lab-tested and we can keep our promise that there are no pesticides, herbicides or any preserving chemicals. We follow the food safety standards set by the EU, where nitrate accumulation in plant tissues is a big issue.”

With TM’s 5G technology and Boomgrow’s patent-pending technology, the latter is able to grow vegetables like the staple Asian greens and highland crops such as butterhead and romaine lettuce as well as kale and mint. While the company is able to grow more than 30 varieties of leafy greens, it has decided to stick to a selection of crops that is most in demand to reduce waste, says Jay.

As it stands, shipping containers are the best fit for the company’s current endeavour as containerised modular farms are the simplest means of bringing better food to local communities. However, it is also developing a blueprint to house farms in buildings, she says.

Since the showcase, Boomgrow has started to supply its crops to various hotels in Langkawi. It rolled out its e-commerce platform last year after the Movement Control Order was imposed. 

“On our website, we promise to deliver the greens within six hours of harvest. But actually, you could get them way earlier. We harvest the morning after the orders come in and the vegetables are delivered on the same day,” says Jay.

Being mindful of Boomgrow’s carbon footprint, orders are organised and scheduled according to consumers’ localities, she points out. “We don’t want our delivery partners zipping everywhere, so we stagger the orders based on where consumers live. 

“For example, all deliveries to Petaling Jaya happen on Thursdays, but the vegetables are harvested that morning. They are not harvested a week before, three days before or the night before. This is what it means to be hyperlocal. We want to deliver produce at its freshest and most nutritious state.”

Plans to expand regionally are also underway, once Boomgrow’s fundraising exercise is complete, says Jay. “Most probably, this will only happen when the Covid-19 pandemic ends.”

To gain the knowledge they have today, the team had to “unlearn” everything they knew and take up new skills to figure what would work best for their business, says Jay. “All this wouldn’t have been possible if we had not experimented with smart cameras to monitor the condition of our produce,” she laughs.

How This Vertical Farm Grows 80,000 Pounds of Produce per Week

Bowery Farming uses technology to prioritize accessibility and sustainability in their produce growing operations

To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process” says chief science officer Henry Sztul. “Our goal is actually to have as few people walking around our plants as possible.”

Bowery Farming is a network of vertical farms working to reengineer the growing process. Using a system of light and watering technology, Bowery is able to use 95 percent less water than a traditional outdoor farm, zero pesticides and chemicals, and grow food that tastes as good as anyone else’s. 

Bowery Farming uses vertical farm-specific seeds that are optimized for flavor instead of insect resistance and durability. Seeds are mechanically pressed into trays of soil, and sent out into growing positions, or racks within the building that have their own lighting and watering systems. Each tray gets its own QR code so that they can be monitored and assigned a customized plan for water and light until they’re ready to be harvested.

Irving Fain, Bowery Farming’s founder and CEO contemplates the prediction from the United Nations that 70 to 80 percent of the world’s population will be living in and around cities in the next 30 years. “Figuring out ‘how do you feed and how do you provide fresh food to urban environments both more efficiently as well as more sustainably?’ is a very important question today, and an even more important question in the years to come.”

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

Image from: The Spoon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Jennifer Marston, The Spoon

Smart Agriculture Startup Bowery Farming Hires A Google Veteran As CTO

BY AARON PRESSMAN

One goal of high-tech indoor farming startup Bowery Farming is to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance its crop yields and reduce costs. So the five-year-old Manhattan-based company has hired Google and Samsung veteran Injong Rhee as its new chief technology officer.

Rhee, who was previously Internet of Things VP at Google and chief technologist at Samsung Mobile, will focus on improving Bowery’s computer-vision system and other sensors that analyze when plants need water and nutrients, while also looking to apply the company’s accumulated historical data to new problems.

View fullsize

Bowery grow room near Baltimore

“Agriculture is sitting at the crux of the world’s most challenging problems like food shortages, climate change, water shortages, a lack of arable space,” Rhee tells Fortune about his decision to join the startup. “These are very challenging problems, and all of these are relevant to what Bowery tackles every day. Any advances we make here lead to a better world.”

There’s also the matter of the kale, Rhee adds.

Bowery so far has focused on growing and selling green leafy vegetables like lettuce, arugula, and kale, though it aims to add other categories of produce soon. “It was an eye-popping experience,” Rhee says of his first time trying Bowery’s kale. “How can it be so sweet and so crunchy. That was amazing.”

The hire comes after a year of accelerated growth at Bowery, with retail sales at outlets like Whole Foods rising 600% and e-commerce sales via Amazon and others increasing fourfold, the company says, while declining to disclose its actual sales or production figures. With two large warehouse-size farms in operation, in New Jersey and Maryland, Bowery is on the verge of opening its third indoor growing center in Bethlehem, Pa. The startup claims its high-tech methods, though more expensive than growing outdoors, create farms that are more than 100 times as productive per square foot as traditional outdoor farms.

“COVID was an accelerator of trends,” Bowery CEO and founder Irving Fain says. The pandemic disrupted food supply chains stretching across the globe, giving an advantage to Bowery, which sells its produce within just a few hundred miles of each farm, he says. “That amplified and accelerated a trend towards simplifying supply chains, and creating a surety of supply.”

But Bowery also faces a host of competitors, from other indoor farming startups like AeroFarms and Gotham Greens, to more traditional ag companies like John Deere and Bayer’s Monsanto, all fueling a movement toward precision farming. If one-quarter of farms worldwide adopted precision agriculture using A.I. and other data-crunching methods by 2030, farmers’ annual expenses would decline by $100 billion, or as much as 4% of the sector’s total expenses, while saving water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a recent study by McKinsey found.

Rhee spent 15 years as a professor of computer science at North Carolina State University, where he helped develop core Internet standards for transporting data at high speeds. He joined Samsung in 2011 where he helped lead a wide range of projects including the Bixby digital assistant, Knox security app, and Samsung Pay mobile payments service. He moved to Google in 2018 as an entrepreneur-in-residence to focus on Internet of Things projects.

Bowery has raised over $170 million in venture capital from a mix of tech figures like Amazon consumer CEO Jeff Wilke and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, well-known restaurateurs such as Tom Colicchio and David Barber, and venture capital firms including Temasek, GV, and General Catalyst.

Bringing The Future To life In Abu Dhabi

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

Image from: Wired

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image from: Madar Farms

Global Challenges, Local Solutions

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

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

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

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

Image from: Agritecture

Nurturing Next-Generation Talent

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

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

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

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

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

Is AppHarvest the Future of Farming?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Advice For New Vertical Farmers: Grower Spotlight on Andrew Worrall

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

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

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

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

How has vertical farming impacted your life?

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

Image from: LettUs Grow

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

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

How much of our food should be grown this way? 

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

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

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

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

Image from: LettUs Grow

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

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

What was the biggest change you encountered in the industry?

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

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

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

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

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

Image from: LettUs Grow

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

This Startup Wants Vertical Farmers To Hire A Robot Gardener

Lucas Ropek

Arugula micro greens are grown at AeroFarms on February 19, 2019, in Newark, New Jersey.

Photo: Photo by Angela Weiss (Getty Images)

In recent years, vertical farming has emerged as a futurist’s solution to the world’s agricultural problems. The growing trend seeks to use controlled environments to boost food production, leveraging indoor labs where temperature, light, and nutrients can be mechanically controlled.

Yet while vertical farms have gained in popularity, they are also still very expensive. When compared to conventional farming, these farms necessitate the purchase of pricey equipment to aid human labor—a fact that, when paired with other economic pressures, has apparently led to an industry “littered with bankruptcies.”

One company hopes to change this dire picture. Enter Watney the robot.

Watney was designed by start-up Seasony. The company, which was featured today at this year’s Alchemist Accelerator’s Demo Day, has sought to make the tech-farming trend more accessible by automating away some of the more difficult labor involved.

Image: Screenshot: Youtube/TV2LORRY

“By automating the production with robotics and remote monitoring, we can lower labor costs and offer solutions for food producers that is economically viable and environmentally sustainable,” the company claims on their website.

Indeed, Watney is designed to augment (and, in many ways, replace) a human labor force—currently one of the biggest expenditures for vertical farms. Essentially an intelligent, automated cart, the robot was designed to “move and transport plant trays” within a farming hub. In techno-jargon, it is an autonomous mobile manipulation robot (AMMR), a type of machine known for moving and manipulating items on its own. It is also equipped with a camera that captures image data and sends it back to farm management software for human analysis. Watney also gathers valuable horticultural data to help farmers optimize yields, said Christopher Weis Thomasen, Seasony’s CEO and Co-Founder, in an email.

From left to right: Erkan Tosti Taskiran, Servet Coskun and Christopher Weis Thomasen.

Photo: Photo from Seasony.

“We are doing for vertical farming what the integration of autonomous mobile robots did to amazon. We are able to decrease the costs of growing food in a vertical farm by alleviating the logistics pains of working from scissor lifts,” said Thomasen.

Thomasen, a mechanical engineer, and his two co-founders electrical engineer Servet Coskun and business specialist Erkan Tosti Taskiran, were inspired to create the business while brainstorming what it would take to sustain life in outer space (Watney the robot is named after Mark Watney, the astronaut in the movie The Martian, who, after being stranded on the Red Planet, fertilizes potatoes with his own poop to survive).

“It quickly evolved to Seasony setting up a vertical farming lab and exploring the technical challenges facing the new industry. Reducing the costs related to labor is key in order to scale vertical farming and make agriculture more sustainable,” Thomasen said.

There is, of course, some debate in the farming community about the social costs incurred through the large-scale displacement of human labor.

Presumably, we will have to wait to see what that cost-saving process looks like. Seasony, which is still getting off the ground, plans to do a pilot trial with the largest vertical farm in Europe in April. It has plans to conduct further testing with several smaller vertical farms, as well, Thomasen said.

Lucas Ropek

Posts Twitter

Staff writer at Gizmodo

VIDEO: Potato Seeds Made Without Soil With Little Help From Peru

Parveen Arora

Potato Technology Centre, (PTC) Shamgarh, in the district in collaboration with Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) in Shimla and International Potato Centre (CIP), Peru, has started producing potato seeds in the air with the help of aeroponic technique.

Scientists show a potato breed at Potato Technology Centre at Shamgarh village in Karnal district. Sayeed Ahmed

In this technique, there is no need for soil and other growing media like coco-peat for production. The scientists say that in aeroponics technique, potato seeds are grown in mist environment. They claim potato seeds grown through this technology are free from soil-borne diseases.

“We have started the process of growing minituber (potato seed) plants with the help of aeroponic technique. It is the latest technique for growing plants and potato seed production in an air or mist environment. There is no need for soil and this technology is free from soil-borne diseases,” said Dr Prem Chand Sindhu, Deputy Director, PTC, Shamgarh.

He maintained that they have established three units which have the capacity to grow 10 lakh minitubers in one crop cycle which is for three months. The scientists claimed that the production of seeds through this technique is much higher than conventional methods.

Dr Manish Sainger, the senior consultant at PTC, said that on an average, 30 minitubers and maximum 50-60 minitubers can be obtained from each plant. He said that through this technique, 7-10 times more minitubers can be obtained in comparison to conventional methods like net-house or open field.

About the technology, Dr Sainger said they planted tissue culture plants in the grow chambers which have pipes and nozzles for mist spray on the roots of the plant. “The roots of the plant hang in the air in the chamber and all the nutrients are provided through the mist, which consists of all the required elements for plant growth and tuberisation, periodically. The upper part of plant remains at the top of the chamber,” he added. He said that the size of minitubers is uniform at 3-4 gm.

Dr Sainger said it is easy to transport minitubers at minimal cost. “These seeds will be given to growers at subsidised rates by the Department of Horticulture. Later, seed growers will cultivate these seeds in the soil for the multiplication of seeds.”