Your Quick Guide To Grow Room Controllers

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March 5, 2021

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What is a Grow Room Controller?  

A grow room controller brings together all the moving parts of your cultivation facility and allows you to automate your operation. With a grow room controller, you can monitor and control your climate, lighting, irrigation, fertigation, and track your crop’s success to adjust and improve each cycle. These control systems can connect to existing equipment or come with their own set of sensors to track your environment, and adjust according to your set parameters, ultimately saving you time and money.   

Grow room controllers integrate with existing systems, or can be purchased with sensors and equipment for larger operations. Some systems need only a few sensors and an application for your phone or computer, while others require larger computing and monitoring devices. Which option you choose will largely depend on the size of your greenhouse or indoor growing operation.   

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Being able to monitor and control your indoor or greenhouse facility is crucial for consistent and desired results. These systems are a huge benefit to all crop types, including cannabis, and can be adjusted to fit your cultivation style and desired outcomes. Not only will you be able to more accurately track and monitor your crop’s progress, but you can then take that learning and replicate it or improve upon it for your next growth cycle. 

The Benefits   

Grow room controllers offer you complete control and oversight of your crop. Any environmental aspect that you wish to control can be monitored and adjusted with a grow room control system. More advanced systems offer automation for your whole system, allowing you to pull yourself out of the weeds (pun intended) of trying to control everything manually. Grow room controllers are also scalable, especially if you purchase a setup with that in mind, allowing you to expand your facility but keep the same environmental parameters and automation.   

All greenhouse and indoor growers know that having control over your environment is crucial to achieving desired results. This means monitoring and adjusting your lighting, climate, irrigation, and fertigation to ensure consistency, which can be time-consuming. A greenhouse control system does the monitoring and adjusting for you, ensuring all of the environmental controls work together and are adjusted accurately.   

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With advanced control systems, you can program light preferences for your greenhouse, so if light falls below a certain threshold your lights will adjust and will turn off if it exceeds that threshold. Indoor growing can also benefit from lighting such as timers and spectrum controls. Hydroponic sensors in your medium can tell you if you need to increase or decrease water durations. Ultimately being as efficient as possible with water and electricity, which is both environmentally and economically beneficial.  

This monitoring and automation are incredibly cost-effective in the long run for your greenhouse or indoor facility. The more automation you have, the less labor you need to support your cultivation, and labor is one of the most, if not the most costly aspect of a cultivation facility. Grow room and greenhouse control systems can also schedule timers and alarms for preventative maintenance so that your equipment can receive proper downtime, preventing blowouts and loss of productivity.   

How to Select a Grow Room Controller  

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Figure 1 from GroAdvisor Webinar 

The above worksheet is an example of how you can select the right grow room controller for your needs. While many focus on cost, it’s also important to take into account which system will integrate with and enhance your facility the most. Take stock of your equipment and current manual system to ensure that your new grow room controller will add value to your operation.   

Finding a grow room controller that is right for your facility will help you realize your fullest growth potential. Once you have compared and found a system that can accommodate the environmental controls you’d like to track and automate, all that’s left is the installation. Once the grow room controller is installed and your parameters are set you will no longer have to manually adjust your elements, saving time and labor, which ultimately saves money. 

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.

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.”

Fifth Season Takes Vertical Farming to a Whole New Level

Image from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette

Fifth Season’s verdant baby spinach screams farm fresh even though it’s grown nowhere near traditional farmland. The sweet and slightly crunchy greens are grown in a Braddock warehouse on racks stacked 30 feet high. Located just a stone’s throw from U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works Edgar Thomson Plant, it is urban farming at its core.

What makes the vertical farming operation especially unique is that it is automated and robots call the shots. About 40 to 60 machines are involved in every step of the life of the spinach and other leafy greens, from planting the seed to providing nutrients to the final packing.

Fifth Season does employ local “farm workers” to assist the robots in seeding, harvesting, packaging, quality assurance and control using computer software, but there is no human touch involved through it all.

“The first time someone ever touches the spinach leaf with a finger is when the package is opened,” says Grant Vandenbussche, chief category officer.

Co-founded by brothers Austin and Brac Webb and Austin Lawrence, Fifth Season started a year ago. Within months it was rolling out its baby spinach, leafy greens and salad kits.

“We wanted a name that represents what we are doing,” says Austin Webb, 32, who also is the CEO. “It is a call to the fact we have created an entirely new season. It is 24/7, 365 with the technology we have built.”

None of them planned to become modern farmers, says the Carnegie Mellon University grad, but they turned to vertical farming because it was an efficient, economically sustainable way to solve land and water woes.

Image from: thespoon.tech

‘Fields’ of Greens

Fifth Season grows an equivalent production of 200 acres in 25,000 square feet of grow space. Its “fields” are stacked on top of one another in vertical shelves. When you add up all that surface area of grow space, it is more like 126,000 square feet.

“We also quickly turn crops at the farm,” Mr. Vandenbussche says.

While spinach takes about 40 days to grow outdoors and can be harvested only twice during its peak season, it takes the crop only three or four weeks to grow in the controlled environment and is harvested 19 times. Once the plants are harvested, a new cycle of reseeding begins with fresh media, seeds and nutrients.

“That’s why we get so much more productivity,” he says. “We are immediately reseeding our ‘land.’”

This controlled environment yields quality produce because it is always peak season at Fifth Season, says Chris Cerveny, who heads the Grow R&D division. Greens are grown in the same conditions year-round, getting the exact amount of nutrients and water they need. Because pests and airborne toxins also are kept at bay, crops can be produced without pesticides.

All that TLC comes through in the slightly curled baby spinach, which is sweet and not grassy. The leaf doesn’t wilt or get slimy or lose its slight crunch even after two weeks of refrigeration.

A lot of thought was given even for the curl, which gives the spinach a stronger volume, making it look full and bountiful. The curl also makes the spinach more forkable unlike its flat-leaf counterpart that is hard to stab on a plate.

Other leafy greens such as kale, mustard, Chinese cabbage, green tatsoi and purple pac choi are featured in two blends — Bridge City and Three Rivers. Fifth Season plans to roll out its Romaine lettuce in spring.

The greens also are found in four types of salad kits — Sweet Grains (blended greens, quinoa, chickpeas, corn, feta and poppy seed dressing), Crunchy Sesame (blended greens, farro, sesame sticks, dried cranberries and ginger-mandarin dressing), Toasted Tuscan (spinach, lentils, sun-dried tomatoes, bagel chips and vinaigrette), and Spiced Southwest (blended greens, black beans, pepitas, cotija cheese, corn-salsa sticks and chipotle ranch dressing) — which are available online and in Giant Eagle stores. A fifth salad kit is in the works and is being called “a shakeup of one of the most classic salads.”

While machines are a big part of what Fifth Season does, it seeks to keep human connection alive. It recently launched a recipe blog for those who have an appetite for cooking and writing, The Green Room is devoted to cataloging personal memories, dream meals and recipes via short stories.

Fifth Season also has partnered with the Penguins and is providing greens for the team’s pregame meals for the 2020-21 season.

“We want people in Pittsburgh to be able to eat the exact same delicious blend of greens that Sidney Crosby and company are eating,” Mr. Webb says. “We want people to know that there’s a new way to grow food and to eat and experience it.”

Image from: Next Pittsburgh

It’s All Under Control

Everything from seeding to packaging is done in four rooms. The process starts in the seeding and processing room, where seeds and growing media are placed inside black planter-like boxes called inserts. Each has a unique code that’s traced by a software system. The inserts go on white trays that pass through a photo station, feeding information to the computer system, and then glide into the bio dome.

There are two rooms in the bio dome, each with a grow space of 12,500 square feet. They’re lit up with a pinkish-purplish glow from high-efficiency LED light bulbs that mimic the different seasons of the year.

“They are positioned over the plants at different heights depending on stage of growth,” Mr. Cerveny says. “This is partly how we can provide consistently ideal growing conditions.”

As the plants grow, they are moved by a robot to optimize their growth cycle. Full-grown crops are transferred to the harvesting room by another robot.

“Harvesting is where it becomes like a Willy Wonka factory,” Mr. Vandenbussche says.

Long rows of trays filled with tiny plants are sent on a conveyor system to a station where workers inspect them for quality with surgical tools. After inspection, the plants are harvested by a robot and then immediately ride up a tall conveyor to be packaged and sealed in a 34- to 36-degree room so they remain fresh.

“Every crop we grow gets evaluated for maximum flavor, volume, crunch and color,” he says.

The plants’ intense, dark color is controlled by LED light bulbs, which are dialed up or down to get the correct hue. Although they never see the sun, the greens don’t get into a funk as humans might.

“What humans see in terms of light and how chlorophyll responds during photosynthesis are two different things,” Mr. Cerveny says. “Plants really only need red and blue light to grow effectively. We include some additional colors to help bring out other quality aspects of our crops, but providing the full sunlight spectrum is effectively a waste of energy, especially indoors.

“To the human eye, it looks like the plants live in a land of purple and pink lights, but they are perfectly happy there.”

Even though the environment is controlled and the software system is constantly updated, no two plants are exactly the same. Some fight for light more than others. Some might fail the quality control test and end up in a compost waste facility if their flavor is off or their color is not right.

“That is what is so amazing. We have more control than any other farmer, and yet we have limitations. Every seed is different,” Mr. Vandenbussche says. “They are plants. They are real living organisms.”

Warehouse Becoming Vertical Farms — And They’re Feeding New Jersey

Image from: New Jersey 101.5

New Jersey's vertical farms are transforming agriculture by helping farmers meet growing food demand.

New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Doug Fisher said that while conventional farming in outdoor fields remains critical, vertical farming has its advantages because of its efficiency and resistance to pests and thus less need for chemicals.

Vertical farming is the process of growing food vertically in stacked layers indoors under artificial light and temperature, mainly in buildings. These plants receive the same nutrients and all the elements needed to grow plants for food.

Vertical farms are also versatile. Plants may be growing in containers, in old warehouses, in shipping containers, in abandoned buildings.

"That's one of the great advantages — that we can put agriculture in the midst of many landscapes that have lost their vitality," said Fisher.

ResearchandMarkets.com says the U.S. vertical farming market is projected to reach values of around $3 billion by the year 2024.

The one drawback is that its operational and labor costs make it expensive to get up and running.

Image from: AeroFarms

In the past decade, however, vertical farming has become more popular, creating significant crop yields all over the state.

AeroFarms in Newark is the world's largest indoor vertical farm. The farm converted a 75-year-old 70,000-square-foot steel mill into a vertical farming operation. AeroFarms' key products include Dream Greens, its retail brand of baby and micro-greens, available year-round in several ShopRite supermarkets.

Kula Urban Farm in Asbury Park opened in 2014. Vacant lots are transformed into urban farms and there's a hydroponic greenhouse on site. That produce is sold to local restaurants.

Beyond Organic Growers in Freehold uses no pesticides and all seeds and nutrients are organic. There's a minimum of 12,000 plants growing on 144 vertical towers. On its website, it says the greenhouse utilizes a new growing technique called aeroponics, which involves vertical towers where the plant roots hang in the air while a nutrient solution is delivered with a fine mist. It also boasts that by using this method, plants can grow with less land and water while yielding up to 30% more three times faster than traditional soil farming.

Vertical farms in New Jersey help feed local communities. Many are in urban areas and are a form of urban farming.

Fisher predicts that vertical farms will be operational in stores and supermarkets around the state.

"It's continued to expand. There's going to be many, many ways and almost any area in the state has the opportunity to have a vertical farm," Fisher said.

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.

Growing Crops In Cities Will Put An End To Food Waste

Coronavirus showed how vulnerable our global food supply chains are, but growing closer to home could also solve our waste problem

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By ELLEN MACARTHUR

23 December 2020

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, empty supermarket shelves prompted people to ask – sometimes for the first time – where their food comes from. In 2021 we will see more food in cities provided by producers who are less vulnerable to the disruptions of long supply chains we experienced during 2020.

The pandemic caused consumers around the world to turn to smaller, local, and regional food providers that could secure access to food during lockdowns. In the UK, the Farmers to Feed Us digital platform created new ways for small-scale food producers to provide fresh produce directly to consumers. Sales of food from community-supported agriculture (CSA), where consumers subscribe to receive in-season harvests from groups of UK farmers, increased by 111 percent from February to April, with this trend also being apparent in the US and China. The 105-acre Eatwell Farm in California saw such a big spike in demand that it had to cease new subscriptions – and the waiting list is still growing. These demonstrate how producers can provide consumers with food security and, in return, how consumers have supported their businesses.

At the same time, accessing food hasn’t been easy for everyone. Countless people around the world have been forced to turn to food donations. Meanwhile, when restaurants, schools, and workplaces closed, food producers were hit with a lack of demand that saw tonnes of edible food go to waste. As income for smaller farmers was supported by consumer demand, a decline in business from food-service providers has made their futures uncertain. With the food system’s vulnerabilities exposed, the question has become: how can we better connect communities and food producers to make sure we are more resilient to future shocks? In 2021, the relationship between food and our cities will be drastically reimagined to answer this question.

Half of the world’s population currently live in cities and, by 2050, 80 percent of the world’s food will be eaten in densely populated urban environments. But, as cities strive to become more resilient, they will become much more than centres of consumption. To become stronger in the face of unplanned disruptions, our cities, and their surrounding areas will increasingly supply food and make use of valuable nutrients, creating thriving local, regional, and international food networks. This will be a pivotal step towards a circular economy for food, in which nothing becomes waste, everything has value, and the way we produce food regenerates natural ecosystems.

Increasing the amount of food grown in and around cities will also help to secure supply to residents without access to CSA schemes in nearby fields. Singapore, for example, imports a large proportion of its food, with only one percent of its land being dedicated to agriculture. When the country’s food supply chain was disrupted during its coronavirus outbreak, consumers in Singapore turned to urban farms and the government began to identify unused spaces in its cities for agricultural development. Similar developments to produce food locally will also be seen elsewhere in 2021. In Detroit, plans for a CSA program are currently being shaped, while in France, the remaining two-thirds of Europe’s largest urban farm, Nature Urbaine, will be planted in Paris, while 50 plots in Nantes that once grew flowers will provide vegetables for 1,000 households in need.

Food producers will also adopt regenerative practices, which focus on outcomes such as healthy soil and carbon capture that tackles climate change, to build resilience into their operations. And cities will have a key role to play in this.

In the current food system, when food flows into cities, organic waste is created in the form of discarded produce, by-products, and sewage. This waste is full of nutrients that can be used to grow new food and create biomaterials, but in today’s system, it is more likely to end up in landfills or go untreated. However, there are more viable – and greener – alternatives. In Italy, paper is already being made from pasta by-products, while orange peels, grape skins, and excess milk are being turned into fabrics. In the UK, London has committed to ensuring that by 2026 no biodegradable or recyclable waste will be sent to landfill.

This shift will not only be driven by a need to address waste and pollution. As we look to recover from the economic shock of Covid-19, our analysis has shown there is an economic opportunity worth $700 billion (£538 billion) for cities to reduce edible food waste and use by-products. Less than two percent of organic waste in cities is currently returned to the soil, yet the more organic matter that’s within soil, the more water it can hold and retain, making crops resilient to disturbances such as droughts and floods. This applies whether food is grown in the city, its peri-urban surroundings, or on rural farmland.

As part of the European Green Deal, the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy is aiming to reduce use of synthetic fertilisers by at least 20 per cent and triple the amount of land farmed organically by 2030, as well as promising legally binding targets to reduce food waste. To meet these targets, cities will be expanding their organic waste collection schemes in 2021 and ensuring it is used effectively, putting it back on the land as a replacement for synthetic fertilisers, using it as compost to build organic matter in soil and to feed livestock.

These kinds of initiative will give cities a surer footing for the future. In 2021, we will begin to build a resilient circular economy for food.

Ellen MacArthur is founder and chair of trustees of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Lead photo: Bertand Aznar

The Next (Vertical) Level of Farming

Victoria Dmitruczyk

04-23-20

If you’ve ever seen a farm, you know it looks something like this:

So cute. So inefficient, but cute.

These are normal farms. There’s nothing special about them. This is what we’re used to.

That’s not necessarily a good thing.

These farms typically use pesticides (which means the crops we get aren’t as nutrient-rich as they should be), are at risk from all weather conditions, take up SO much land, and uses 70% of the world’s water supply.

Not so ideal now. What if there was a way we could change that?

Meet your new best friend: Vertical Farming

In a nutshell:

Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. It takes in controlled environment agriculture, and soilless farming techniques like hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics to produce nutritious yields of food.

Plenty’s Vertical Farm

Physical Layout

The main goal of vertical farming is to produce more food per square metre, hence, why everything grows upwards ⬆️.

Vertical Farm Structures

Now, one of the great things about vertical farming is that it’s pretty dang versatile. There are two main kinds of farms:

Above Ground Vertical Farms

The majority of vertical farms right now take place above ground. They’re generally more convenient to build. This could mean taking place in warehouses, greenhouses, the list continues. That doesn’t mean they’re boring though:

• Abandoned buildings are becoming increasingly popular as a spot to host vertical farms. ‘The Plant’ is a farm in Chicago that was transformed from an old meatpacking facility.

• ‘Vertical Harvest’ built a three-story hydroponic greenhouse next to a parking lot, which aims to grow 100,000 lbs of produce annually.

• ‘Lokal’, by IKEA’s Space10 innovation lab, is making miniature vertical farms where you can grow crops out of your own kitchen!! The greens grow three times faster in Lokal than in traditional gardens.

Recycled shipping containers are also becoming a popular option for hosting vertical farms (See Square Roots down below 😉) .

These containers combine smart climate control and LED lighting, monitoring systems, and vertical hydroponics to get an efficient farm that is able to produce a high yield of produce per square food.

Freight Farms is also a company changing the vertical farming shipping container game

But wait… It gets better 🤩.

By stacking the shipping containers, we can save EVEN MORE space and achieve an EVEN HIGHER yield per square foot.

Underground Vertical Farms (Deep Farms)

As the name suggests, underground and deep farms are vertical farms, simply built underground, taking place in refurbished underground tunnels or even abandoned mine shafts (Say what?!! 🤯)

Growing Underground is said to be the world’s first underground farm. The produce is grown in a World War II bomb shelter 33 meters under Clapham, London.

Temperature and humidity underground are usually consistent and mild, and so, deep farms require less energy for heating. They can also use groundwater (which is nearby) to further reduce the cost of water supply.

When you combine all of these qualities together with automated harvesting programs, you get a fully self-sufficient farm that’s able to produce 7–9x more food than conventional farms above ground with the same amount of area used!!! 🤯

Lighting

🔑 Having good lighting is key to having a good vertical farm.

In order to get this to be perfect, combinations of natural and artificial lights are used to maintain optimal light levels while technologies such as rotating beds improve lighting efficiency.

Most vertical farms use blue and red LED lights. But, it’s not just for the sake of looking futuristic.

Crop One Holdings — A Vertical Farm start-up out of San Francisco uses smart LED lighting to grow nutritious plants for Dubai’s United Airlines ✈️

The white light of sunlight that plants receive in conventional farms emits wavelengths of the visible light spectrum. However, plants don’t need all. of these wavelengths.

Studies have shown that plants respond best to the blue and red wavelengths. The evolutionary reason behind this is that millions of years ago, plants only grew in the ocean. These wavelengths were able to penetrate the water most efficiently, and plants have grown to like this 🌊.

This means that traditional lights give plants unnecessary light spectra, and waste energy in turn. LED lighting isn’t like that. It gives the option of targeted wavelengths, meaning they’re able to emit solely the red and blue spectra. This is where we see that pink hue come from.

Process

Instead of soil, hydroponic, aeroponic, aquaponic, or growing mediums are used. Peat moss or coconut husks and similar non-soil mediums are very common in vertical farming.

Point being, vertical farming using membranes over the soil to grow plants. This helps eliminate the work that goes into maintaining good soil and ensures quality.

Notice how there’s no soil here 🧐

Controlled-Environment Agriculture (CEA) is what allows vertical farming to be used year round. It controls factors like air, temperature, light, water, humidity, carbon dioxide, and plant nutrition to extend the growing season and crop yield.

Current Vertical Farms Changing the Game

Square Roots

Apparently, Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk, is revolutionizing vertical farming 🤩 (Oh… and he’s also a cowboy 🤠)

His company, Square Roots is a vertical farming facility that is hosted in shipping containers.

Inside one of the containers

This not only makes the possibility of urban farming more feasible (and less transportation means we maintain the maximum amount of nutrients & have everything remain fresh!!), but it also makes it super versatile.

After all, it’s not that difficult to move a shipping container, while moving a whole traditional farm is well, more difficult…

Plenty

Plenty is a vertical farming startup that aims to make plants that taste so good, you’ll want to eat them over everything else.

Their facilities are HUGE, producing, well, plenty of food.

20 foot tall walls of Arugula. Need I say more?

Its farm in San Francisco can produce 1 million pounds of produce per year, while the farm being built in Compton will be a 95,000 square foot facility, also producing millions of pounds of food.

Even though it seems like this would leave a massive environmental footprint, it not only uses 1% to 5% of the water used to grow comparable crops on a traditional farm but also uses a fraction of the land. Not to mention, it’s all being run in a 100% renewable facility powered by a combination of wind and solar energy.

Farm.One

Rare Produce + Convenience = Farm.One

Farm.One is a New York underground vertical farm that grows rare produce for Michelin star restaurants, while being directly underneath them.

Farm.One’s main facility TriBeCa, under Atera, a two Michelin star restaurant.

They produce 500 different microgreens, edible flowers, and rare herbs year-round. This helps bring otherwise pretty inaccessible ingredients closer to home, all while maintaining freshness (#quality).

Why Vertical Farming?

Vertical Farming sounds scary to invest in. After all, why leap from the conventional system that you know has worked for years, to this, a whole new approach? But, there are many advantages:

• By 2050, 80% of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas, while food isn’t as accessible as we’ve grown used to it being. With this increased demand for food, not only from the actual growing population but from the population condensation means that vertical farming could make food easier-to-access.

• Vertical farming allows us to produce more crops from the same square footage of growing area. In fact, 1 acre of an indoor area offers equivalent production to at least 4–6 acres of outdoor capacity, and this can still get monumentally higher. A facility in Japan is able to grow 100x more crops than the traditional farm.

• We have a limited amount of fresh water on Earth, and conventional farming uses 70% of it. Vertical farming allows us to produce crops with 70–95 percent less water than traditional systems.

• Crops in fields are vulnerable to storms, bugs, and other disasters, all things which are increasing as a result of climate change. Vertical Farms are protected from all of these things.

• Since there are no bugs, vertical farming doesn’t require pesticides either. Special lighting provides the growth of nutritious, organic, pesticide-free crops.

• Big equipment is controlled by robotics, and farmers don’t have to worry about receiving sicknesses or getting injured from machinery like on conventional farms.

Okay… that sounds great, but what are the downsides?

Now, vertical farming isn’t perfect, and there are definitely some downsides, the majority of them economical.

• Vertical farming requires SUPER high amounts of energy. A hydroponic farm growing lettuce in Arizona would require 15,000 kJ of energy per kilogram of lettuce produced while a traditional outdoor lettuce farm in Arizona only requires 1100 kJ of energy per kilogram of lettuce grown.

• Vertical farms have yet to overcome high upfront start-up costs. The initial building costs can exceed $100 million, for a 60-hectare vertical farm. This means it could take around approx. 6–7 years to pay back the start-up cost.

• Vertical farming takes place in a controlled environment without the presence of insects, which means they don’t need pesticides. However, because of this, the pollination process needs to be done manually, which will be labor-intensive and costly.

Vertical farms have their weak spots, but, they also have so much potential. This is the future of farming.

With a growing population, and challenges like space flight on the rise, we’re going to need to invest in farming systems that are efficient and versatile, and this is precisely what vertical farming is.

It’s already making an impact, and it’s not long before it completely revolutionizes the way we approach our food.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Vertical farming is the process of growing food in vertically stacked layers. This allows more food per square meter to be grown.

• Key components like Controlled Environment Agriculture and LED lighting make farms yield nutritious crops year round, regardless of outdoor weather conditions.

• There are many vertical farming initiatives out there right now, which firms such as Square Roots, Farm.One, and Plenty changing the game.

• Vertical farming has many advantages, such as being adaptive to a growing population, eliminating pesticides, and being available whenever, locally.

• The biggest barriers to vertical farming right now are associated with large, upfront, energy costs.

👋 Hey! If you liked my article and would like to read more of my work, feel free to follow me on Medium! I’m also always thankful to hear feedback so, if you would like to get in contact with me (I don’t bite, shoot me a message!), connect with me on LinkedIn!

WRITTEN BY: Victoria Dmitruczyk

Tags: Vertical Farming Agtech Farming Agriculture Innovation

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Pure Harvest Smart Farms, How To Grow Local In The Middle East ?

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03.11.20

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Pure Harvest Smart Farms is a tech company that tries to disrupt the agricultural market in the UAE by tackling the problem of food security.

In the UAE where the climate is arid and very hot most of the time of the year, growing local and fresh vegetables can be a challenge or even impossible. There are imports from other countries to secure fresh vegetable supply year-round, but due to the air freight, the products aren’t fresh and are expensive. An issue that Pure Harvest farm tries to address by bringing the best of agriculture technology to develop fresh and locally grown tomatoes in the UAE. Today the company has raised $100 million to expand its production, and start growing in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. We met Sky Kurtz, its CEO, and Co-Founder.

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What is controlled environment agriculture and why is it so important in the UAE today?

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is the strategy taken by Pure Harvest to tackle the issue of food security. This means we engage in CEA with hybrid growing solutions that provide precise climate and environmental controls to deliver quality fresh produce. Pure Harvest’s CEA ensures increased productivity and reduced waste (including water, energy, time, and transport). The UAE is the perfect starting point for us to expand our agritech solutions into other import-reliant regions. There is a huge amount of sun energy waiting to be harnessed!

In which aspects is Pure Harvest disrupting the industry compared to other traditional greenhouses?

The UAE’s arid climate is the right laboratory for the conditions needed for this kind of project and as a result, Pure Harvest is now entering the world stage as a tech-agricultural business tackling the problem of food security. Some other vertical farming countries in the world such as the United States, Holland, France are looking at similar solutions but don’t have the right conditions or a laboratory. The gap between traditional greenhouse countries and import countries has been bridged, this is particularly relevant given the risk of long term import reliance exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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What kind of technologies do you use to grow fresh vegetables in the hostile climate of the UAE?

Pure Harvest integrates world-leading Dutch greenhouse growing technologies together with our proprietary climate management systems. Pure Harvest seeks to leverage innovative semi-closed growing technology (with overpressure climate control and mechanical cooling) in order to pioneer year-round production of affordable, premium quality fresh produce.

What kind of crops do you grow in your greenhouses today?

We are currently growing 26 varieties of tomatoes and 6 varieties of strawberries. We are creating new markets, not just displacing existing commercial import markets. There are over 400 commercial varieties of tomato, and Pure Harvest is proud to grow six that have never before been seen. We’re aiming to be able to produce anything which already grows under a Mediterranean climate in any variety.

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Last April, you secured a multi-stage investment commitment valued at over USD 100 million with Wafra Investment company. Which kind of developments do you expect for the company?

This year, the company entered into a first-of-its-kind retailer-integration partnership with The Sultan Centre (TSC) in Kuwait, creating a ‘farm center’ that will include edutainment, a retail farmers’ market, and an integrated café. We are completely committed to supporting public initiatives focused on improved food security, water conservation, skilled job creation, and economic diversification. Through constant engagement with governments, schools, and research institutions, we believe that together, we can lead the Middle East into the next generation of sustainable agriculture.

SEE ALSO A French-Tunisian startup changes the future of sustainable agriculture with insect proteins

3 November 2020

• ##tech #Agriculture #Middle-East

VIDEO: Featured Project: Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm #2 at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building No. 3

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Linda Velazquez 

September 28, 2020

65,000 sf. Greenroof

Greenroofs.com Featured Project September 28, 2020

We’re replaying Brooklyn Grange’s second rooftop farm at Brooklyn Navy Yard to recognize their hard work and commitment to sustainable urban agriculture through these trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic. It would be great for Aramis and me to visit again soon!

They’re currently booking small groups for private tours, and offering workshops along with other events. With information that is up to date as of September 2020, Brooklyn Grange states there “is no need to register in advance to visit our weekend open houses and markets; just follow the directions we link to below and come on by during the hours listed!” Brooklyn Grange’s sister organization is City Growers, a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization founded in 2011 by Brooklyn Grange. You can also book a variety of workshops and youth educational visit through City Growers. Continued success!

Image: rooflite

Excerpt from Greenroofs.com Project Profile:

Brooklyn Grange is a privately owned and sustainably operated enterprise, and the U.S.’s leading soil-based rooftop farming and intensive greenroofing business. Community-oriented, they host weekly open houses in season and feel the green space contributes to the overall health and quality of life, bringing people together through green business and around good food with their wholesale, retail, and CSA members.

Their goal is to put more farms on roofs throughout New York and beyond, and grow more food, train and employ more farmers.

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Image: © Anastasia Cole Plakias/Brooklyn Grange

Brooklyn Grange’s second farm, located atop Building No. 3 at the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard, is a massive 65,000 square foot roof towering twelve stories over the East River.

Most of the financing was granted by the Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Infrastructure Stormwater Management Initiative, and Farm #2 manages over one million gallons of stormwater each year. Installed in 2012, the farm is covered in 10-12″ of rooflite Intensive Ag blend, rooflite drain granular drainage layer, and the Carlisle Roof Garden system by Carlisle SynTec Systems.

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Image: rooflite

Image: rooflite

Brooklyn Grange’s second farm increased the business’ annual yield to 50,000 pounds of fresh produce between their two locations and created many new green jobs. (Update: as of 2019 the yield has increased to 80,000+ of pounds of fresh produce between three locations.) The farm cultivates row crops such as leafy greens, aromatic herbs, heirloom tomatoes and peppers April through November.

Brooklyn Grange sows cover crops, such as clover and oats in winter months to prevent soil erosion and replenish vital nutrients. The Brooklyn Navy Yard farm is also home to many of the 30+ hives comprising Brooklyn Grange’s Apiary.

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Image: © Anastasia Cole Plakias/Brooklyn Grange courtesy Brooklyn Grange

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They also host a robust events program here, with guests participating in yoga sessions or just enjoying a cocktail and some canapés overlooking the skyline at sunset. Brooklyn Grange partners with numerous non-profit and community organizations to extend the positive impact of the farm, including City Growers, a non-profit education program based on their rooftop farms.

Brooklyn Grange’s Rooftop Farm #2 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is a win-win-win, reducing stormwater runoff, creating local jobs, and providing access to fresh produce for the community.

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Image: Laura Messersmith of Goldfinch and Scout

Year: 2012
Owner: Lessor – Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Building Type: Commercial
Type: Intensive
System: Single Source Provider
Size: 65,000 sq.ft.
Slope: 1%
Access: Accessible, By Appointment

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Image: Kerry Ross, GRP

Credits:

CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER:
BEN FLANNER, BROOKLYN GRANGE

GREENROOF SYSTEM:
CARLISLE SYNTEC SYSTEMS

GROWING MEDIA:
ROOFLITE®

DRAINAGE:
ROOFLITE®

GREEN ROOF OVERBURDEN DESIGN:
ELIZABETH KENNEDY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS (EKLA)

GREEN ROOF OVERBURDEN DESIGN:
DILIP KHALE, ARCHITECT, PC

ROOFING CONTRACTOR:
MARFI CONTRACTING CORP

ROOFLITE BLENDER:
LAUREL VALLEY SOILS

GROWING MEDIA PNEUMATIC PLACEMENT / INSTALLATION:
DOWNES FOREST PRODUCTS

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Image: Kerry Ross, GRP

See the Project Profile

See the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm #2 at Brooklyn Navy Yard project profile to view ALL of the Photos and Additional Information about this particular project in the Greenroofs.com Projects Database.

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The Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm #2 at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building No. 3. Photo © Courtesy of Brooklyn Grange.

Did we miss your contribution? Please let us know to add you to the Project Profile.

Would you like one of your projects to be featured on Greenroofs.com? Read how, and remember we have to have a profile first! Submit Your Project Profile.

Love the Earth, Plant a Roof (or Wall)!

By Linda S. Velazquez, ASLA, LEED AP, GRP
Greenroofs.com Publisher & Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summits Host

Watch #VirtualSummit2019 Speaker Videos and EXPO and Speaker Q&A Videos on demand through 2020 with FREE Registration!

BIODIVERSITY, GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, GREEN ROOFS, STORMWATER MANAGEMENT, URBAN AG

How Hydroponic Farming Can Bring You Produce That Aren’t Locally Grown……With No Soil Needed

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by John Legaspi

September 24, 2020

When we think of farming or planting, the basic ideas that come to mind are digging up soil, dumping in seeds, sprinkling it with some water, and letting the power of nature turn the seed into a plant. Of course, humans take part in the process. But looking at the big picture, the soil plays the most crucial role in growing plants and vegetables. It’s going to be their cradle and, for some, their longtime home. Its quality and location will determine the life of a seedling and affect the fruits it will bear. After all, as soil scientist, Charles E. Kellogs said, “all life depends upon the soil… There can be no life without soil and no soil without life.”

But what if the soil is taken out of that picture? Now that is what we call hydroponics. Thanks to the advancements made in science and agriculture, we can now manage to cultivate crops without soil. Derived from Greek terms hydro (water) and pono (work), hydroponics literally means “working water” as plants are grown in water beds, with liquid solution feeding them the minerals and nutrients they need. 

This method of horticulture may sound like a recent breakthrough, but studies about soilless farming dates back to the 1600s with works of English philosopher Francis Bacon and geologist John Woodward. According to a 1981 article in The New York Times, since nutrients are brought right to the roots, plants do not have to branch out and fight for food. Unlike farming on soil, hydroponics allows plants to be placed closer together as nutrients are equally distributed.

In the Philippines, many have adopted the hydroponic way of farming, as it offers vegetables that are safe from soil-related disease and typhoon damages. 

For business owners Kevin and Kristine Co, hydroponics has also paved a way for a more eco-friendly process of bringing produce to the table. Their brand Herbivore Philippines not only provides vegetables that are free from pesticides and other harmful chemicals, it gives produce that can’t be grown locally.

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The couple chats with Manila Bulletin Lifestyle and details the benefits Filipinos can get from hydroponic farming, its sustainable impact, and how their work has been during the pandemic.

How long has Herbivore PH been operating?

Kevin: Herbivore has been operating for a little over a year now. It took us nine months to construct and set the system up. Kristine is a big proponent of clean and healthy living. The idea started during a casual dinner conversation with some friends. It was about the difficulty of sourcing good quality produce and how anybody can easily claim and label themselves as “organic,” “farm fresh,” and the like. We spoke about how there was a lack of customer education on how fruits and vegetables are being grown.

For example, did you know that fruits and vegetables sold in supermarkets in developed countries have Price Look-Up codes to help customers distinguish how the produce are grown? This can be conventionally-grown (most probably with pesticides and chemicals in nutrient-depleted soil), genetically modified (unnatural and has been known to cause various diseases), or certified organic. The desire to grow top-notch, truly “clean” produce is what fueled us to bring this idea to life. We even have our produce tested to make sure that we are completely pesticide and chemical-free. 

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What is the advantage of using hydroponics compared to other indoor gardening?

Kristine: Some hydroponic farms are not temperature-controlled, hence the quality of the veggies aren’t that great. With our system we can give the plants optimum temperature, light, and nutrients to give them the best possible opportunity to reach their full potential, making better and more consistent quality produce. They are like spoiled babies. By having a completely controlled environment, we could grow produce that are typically imported—our contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of having to keep importing these vegetables. 

How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Kristine: The pandemic shifted our business to be more retail-focused because of the increased demand from retail customers. We saw a significant drop in our wholesale business as many restaurants’ operations substantially decreased during the lockdown. 

‘By having a completely controlled environment, we could grow produce that are typically imported—our contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of having to keep importing these vegetables.’

What are the imported vegetables you cultivate?

Kristine: We currently grow a handful of produce that has to be imported. Some examples include garland chrysanthemum, domiao, sangchoi (Chinese lettuce), wawachoi (Chinese cabbage) and even for those that can be grown locally like mizuna, kale, arugula, watercress, etc. Our produce is far superior than what you can normally get in the market. 

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How important is sustainability for the brand?

Kristine: Of course, sustainability of the brand is important so we can carry out our ethos which is to provide our market with the freshest and healthiest vegetables without sacrificing social responsibility. We are constantly trying to improve our system to work toward this.  

Podcast + Story: The Power of Urban Farming

Can cities grow a lot more of their own food? Should they? The creators of the Gastropod podcast investigate.

BY CYNTHIA GRABER AND NICOLA TWILLEY

CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE STAFF

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In March, as the United States began to lock down, shoppers met an unfamiliar and disturbing sight: empty shelves where bags of flour, jugs of milk, and packages of chicken breasts used to be. These shortages, combined with the “Groundhog Day”-like experience of being home day in, day out, for months on end, inspired a wave of gardening novices to try growing vegetables at home — and we at Gastropod, the podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history, wanted to join in. To our dismay, we discovered that some of the plants we’d hoped to grow had long since sold out, like bags of flour before them, in what has been hailed as the great COVID-19 Victory Garden comeback.

This sudden, shared urge to grow food in the middle of America’s cities intrigued us — enough to make an episode on urban agriculture, featured above. As the creators of a food podcast, we’re well aware of the harms caused by the intensive, industrial system of agriculture that feeds America, from the food miles racked up by the average spinach leaf to the underpaid farmworkers who harvest it. Could the solution to these problems lie in diversifying where food is grown? Advocates claim that urban agriculture, which has been expanding in many ways in recent years, yields healthier diets, environmental benefits, and a host of more intangible outcomes, from beautification to food sovereignty. We couldn’t help but wonder: Might this spontaneous efflorescence of COVID Victory Gardens be part of a genuine shift, as America’s city-dwellers begin to feed themselves?

And, more importantly, is urban agriculture really the panacea our food system needs?

History provides some clues. The World War II Victory Gardens to which today’s COVID gardens have been compared were far from the first American urban garden movement. In the 1890s, faced with hunger and rioting following a stock market panic, Detroit’s mayor Hazen S. Pingree offered vacant lots to the city’s poor to grow food — a popular scheme that became known as the Potato Patch Plan. A few decades later, the Liberty Gardens effort of World War I urged newly urbanized Americans to grow vegetables to support the war.

But neither of these initiatives compared to Victory Gardens, the largest and most popular home gardening effort in the country’s history. Encouraged to pick up shovels and hoes by ubiquitous advertising campaigns, horticultural classes at city halls, and the patriotic urge to save commercial canned food for the troops, more than two-thirds of Americans planted seeds in windowsill pots, backyard patches, city parks, corporate factory campuses, and alongside railways.

The results were impressive: an estimated 43 percent of all the produce that Americans consumed in 1943 came from Victory Gardens. Not self-sufficiency, certainly, but enough to make a huge difference in the country’s food supply. Yet, as soon as the war ended, “whoosh!” said Anastasia Day, a historian of the movement. “They disappeared almost overnight.” Out of the hundreds of thousands of Victory Gardens that sprang up during the war years, only two remain, the oldest of which still occupies seven acres on Boston’s Fenway.

This makes more sense, Day told us, if you look at how those gardening efforts were framed. Contemporary discussions about urban farms position them as an alternative foodway, one that offers a stronger connection to nature, the possibility of regional self-sufficiency, and eco-friendly, organic produce. By contrast, Day told us that Victory Gardens were promoted as temporary replacement food factories for the war effort, in language that mimicked the country’s obsession with science and industry. And so, once the immediate need passed, home gardeners were happy to hand off the business of growing food to companies that could farm more efficiently. Many Victory Gardeners traded their urban veggie patches for the post-war era’s suburban lawns and white picket fences.

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JAMEL MOSELY: Leah Penniman, farm manager, and co-director at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, N.Y.

Urban gardening and farming largely fell out of favor over the next decades, and as it did, Americans missed out on its many benefits, said Leah Penniman, farm manager and co-director at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, N.Y., and author of “Farming While Black.” Those benefits include, but extend well beyond, the joy of biting into a sun-warmed tomato. “It’s also the opportunity to get exercise, to be outside and feel connected to the earth, to have a meaningful activity, to engage with your loved ones,” she said.

Penniman told us that many African Americans who moved to northern cities during the Great Migration did try to grow food, and some succeeded, despite a lack of access to land and credit, as well as other obstacles created by systemic racism. Plenty of others, however, shied away from gardening. “For many people, there’s this visceral reaction to land, because land got mixed up with the oppression that took place on the land,” she said. “But to have a garden on your own terms, to grow food for your community that you find delicious — this is the process of healing from that trauma.”

According to Raychel Santo, a Johns Hopkins researcher and co-author of a recent analysis of urban agriculture, the evidence for such socio-cultural benefits from urban agriculture is overwhelming. Based on the more than 200 studies she reviewed, these benefits included getting to know neighbors, meeting people from different backgrounds, and being involved in something productive. “But they’re hard to quantify in numbers,” Santo told us.

The result is that, while anyone who has volunteered at a community garden or coaxed baby seedlings out of the ground understands the power of growing food, urban gardens are often seen as fuzzy, feel-good projects, rather than being taken seriously as an alternative mode of food production. Still, at least one health benefit can be quantified: Santo told us that studies have shown that city-dwellers who participate in some form of urban farming eat more vegetables. History offers support for this finding: During World War II, Americans consumed more produce then they have eaten before or since — at least in part because of the success of Victory Gardens. Given that only one in 10 Americans currently eats enough vegetables to meet federal regulations — and thus reduce their risk for many leading causes of illness and death, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes — the potential health benefits of expanding urban agriculture are significant.

Good for you, but good for the planet?

The environmental benefits of growing food in cities seem like they should be easier to pin down. Certainly, Santo said, like most urban green spaces, farms and vegetable gardens boost biodiversity, improve rainwater drainage, filter air pollution, and reduce the urban heat island effect. They also offer another tangible good, albeit one that can be challenging to implement: the opportunity to turn food scraps into compost and thus close the loop on some of the city’s waste.

Logic dictates that eating locally grown produce would also reduce emissions from food miles — but evidence for that has thus far been spotty. One widely cited analysis, published in 2008 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon, found that transportation accounted for only 11 percent of food’s carbon footprint. The authors used this finding to conclude that eating less meat and dairy was substantially more climate-friendly than eating local — but their analysis failed to take into account the greenhouse gas emissions associated with refrigerated warehouses and food spoilage. “There’s a lot of debate in this area,” Santo said. “I would say the literature is not very clear.”

Neil Mattson, professor of horticulture at Cornell University, is halfway through a three-year project that aims to tease out these nuances, at least when it comes to growing leafy greens in northern U.S. cities year-round versus shipping them from California. Lettuce is usually a seasonal harvest in community gardens, but, in recent years, there’s been increasing interest — and investment — in more high-tech urban farms. Some of these facilities are greenhouses, but others, often called “vertical farms,” resemble automated food factories, with rows of baby greens growing under glowing LEDs and in perfectly calibrated climactic conditions inside skyscrapers and tunnels from London to Tokyo.

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SALWAN GEORGESA worker harvests basil inside a Gotham Greens facility in New York City.

This is where the promise of urban farming meets its most significant challenge: replicating the sun. When it comes to more traditional greenhouses, Mattson’s research shows that the energy needed to provide optimal heat and humidity levels is similar to the transportation energy of trucking lettuce across the country, making their carbon footprint at least comparable. (He is still working on a full life-cycle analysis that includes everything from the embodied cost of the glass and steel used in greenhouse construction to the emissions from transport refrigeration units.)

But those fully controlled vertical farms so beloved by techies, architects, and VC-funded entrepreneurs? Mattson has found providing sufficient electric light for photosynthesis and controlling the humidity sucks up twice the energy of growing lettuce in California and shipping it across the country. Until we get significantly more energy from renewable resources or invent dramatically more efficient lighting, even the most advanced vertical farms aren’t necessarily more sustainable than California’s Imperial Valley.

That said, both vertical farms and heated greenhouses do use significantly less water than California farms — 10 times less water, according to Mattson — and, as the West becomes more arid, water will likely become a limiting factor. In the future, Mattson says, climate-controlled urban farms of all sorts may well look like increasingly attractive options. They might be priced out of real estate in downtown Boston or New York, but traveling just an hour or two out of the city can connect growers to much cheaper places for indoor agriculture.

Mattson pointed out that our current food system is extremely centralized, meaning that the majority of produce is grown in a relatively small area. If drought, floods, or an E. coli outbreak hit, supermarket shelves are left empty across the nation. “Producing some proportion of our food in cities could make for a more robust system,” he said.

Self-sufficiency

Critics argue that we only get about 10 percent of our calories from vegetables and fruits, and so cities can neither feed themselves nor transform the country’s farming systems. Even the most passionate urban agriculture advocates, such as Keep Growing Detroit’s Tepfirah Rushdan, don’t imagine that cities will grow and process all their own grains. But could cities at least grow the vegetables they need? Here the data look promising. Rushdan told us that Keep Growing Detroit’s goal is food sovereignty, meaning that more than half the produce consumed in the city is grown there. Though that’s not yet reality — the organization says the results of their last produce weigh-in shows the city growing around 5 to 10 percent of what’s eaten — a Michigan State University study demonstrates that the city could theoretically supply nearly two-thirds of the demand. Similarly, researchers in New England have mapped out how the region could produce up to half of its vegetables in urban and suburban plots by 2060.

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ERIN CLARK FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Kevin Washington, 14, waters plants at the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative in Detroit. The farm has taken over three acres of vacant lots and turned them into a green oasis of fruit trees, vegetables, and a sensory garden. Solely run by volunteers, the farm gives back all of the produce to the community for free.

Elsewhere, researchers have calculated that empty land in Cleveland could provide half the city’s fresh vegetables, and if commercial rooftops and a small amount of residential land were added, up to 100 percent — plus 94 percent of the city’s eggs and chickens. This spring, a study showed that Sheffield, England, has sufficient vacant land to grow enough fruits and vegetables to feed all its residents. Of course, urban farming will look different in different cities: In Boston, it might include city farms along the lines of the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm in Mattapan, as well as high-tech greenhouses on the outskirts of the city, such as Little Leaf Farms a half-hour away. There’ll be rooftop beehives, like those on top of the Lenox Hotel, and community plots in the South End. New York City’s expensive real estate might push much urban farming to the periphery; Detroit, where 17 percent of the city is considered vacant, is perfectly situated to expand internally.

Finally, though we agree with critics that putting your hands in the dirt won’t solve all the problems of the industrial agricultural system, we believe it could help, by connecting people to their food. “We do have to do both,” Rushdan told us. “We have to make time to focus on local production, and then we have to make time to address the larger systematic issues.”

The urban gardeners we spoke with hope that COVID-19 gardens won’t just be a temporary fad, but will, as Penniman put it, trigger “an awakening as to the type of structural changes that we need to make to have an equitable, just, and sustainable food system.”

After all, as Anastasia Day pointed out, World War II’s Victory Gardens may have vanished practically overnight, but the children who grew up tending them turned into adults who celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970.

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley are journalists who host the Gastropod podcast, which explores the science and history of food.

VIDEO: IGS Intelligent System Design – FTS Finds Out More

Tom Zöllner

July 6, 2020

IGS has, as a company, focused from the outset on automation, intelligent system design, and the energy equation of CEA vertical farming. This has garnered them a reputation as one of the leading and most innovative companies in the industry. We took some time to have a chat with them and find out a bit more about how this all works in practice.

FTS: Hello and thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Can you briefly introduce IGS, its history as well as its outlook?

IGS:   IGS was founded in 2013 bringing together decades of farming and engineering experience with a vision to revolutionize the indoor growing market. The two founders, farmer Henry Aykroyd and our CTO Dave Scott had an appetite for innovation and realized that there were significant gaps in the provision of scalable technology for the sector. 

Henry knew how to grow and understood the challenges which faced traditional farming: Dave knew how to manage automation and power controls in an industrial environment. The opportunity to bring greater climate control to a growing environment was significant. The ability to manage power consumption was revolutionary. The simplicity of its implementation and use is pivotal. 

We opened our first vertical farm demonstrator in Scotland in 2018. Artificial intelligence determines optimal nutritional input and the exact combination or ‘recipes’ of weather: lighting, watering, and ventilation. Data is collected continuously and machine learning used to make iterative adjustments, all of which is monitored through a web-based app. The whole Intelligent Growth platform is IOT-enabled to automate system control and management. Our degree of control is so fine that each 6m2 growth tray has its own microclimate. Technical simplicity is at the heart of our mechanical design.

Our commitment to innovation has continued apace and we have evolved the applications of our technology beyond agriculture to create solutions for a wide variety of indoor environments, developing the Intelligent Grid platform.

The Intelligent Grid uses the same IOT-enabled power and controls platform to manage and monitor lights, sensors, cameras, and communications for complete climate control and reporting. It too has a very simple, clean, and elegant design for application in any commercial building, greenhouse or livestock shed. In contrast to the vertical farm, we use our same core technology through the Intelligent Grid to create whole-space macroclimates.

Both IGS demonstrators are based at the James Hutton Institute, a world-renowned crop, and plant science research facility. IGS and the Hutton collaborate closely to help advance the understanding of plant science for indoor growing. 

Until 2018 IGS had invested approximately £7m in R&D to ensure that its platforms offered the greatest levels of control and achieved levels of economic viability, scale, and minimal environmental impact compared to other systems on the market. In 2019 IGS raised £7 million in institutional capital to enter production and take its systems to global markets. We continue to invest over £1m per annum in R&D.

FTS: You have recently shared news of two reseller partnerships – one in the Middle East and one in the UK and Italy with TEP Renewables. Can you tell us briefly a bit more about them? 

IGS: We have been talking to International Real Estate Partners (IREP), the international facilities management firm for some time in the Middle East, and we’re really pleased to recently sign this referral agreement which is specifically focused on indoor vertical farming for the UAE and Saudi Arabian markets.

We also have an opportunity to extend into Asian markets in the future. It gives us a greater capacity to service the Middle East market and secure and deploy vertical farming platforms across the region. IREP’s presence in this market is well established with many existing customers across agriculture, retail, and construction and it is a very positive development for both companies we believe.

The agreement with TEP Renewables is an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) or a reseller-type partnership if we identify customers who would like to operate solar-powered vertical farms in Italy or the United Kingdom that we will work with them.

FTS: Fantastic! In the end, any vertical farm (indeed any farm!) is only as environmentally sustainable as its energy equations. But it is also only as financially sustainable as its energy cost. You have focused quite intensely on this energy cost question. As we see this dramatic collapse of fossil fuel energy production return on investment, it seems that NOW is the time to have renewable energy options on hand for CEA.  Do you believe that renewable energy can be cost-competitive – both in terms of installation, sustainable life-cycle and with regard to the price of the final product for the consumer?   

IGS: We consider a variety of power distribution and supply methods. Renewables can have considerable benefits from an environmental perspective and also specific to grants and other financial support for utilizing renewable energy resources.   

The “virtual power plant”  capabilities of our systems indicate strong Demand Side Response (DSR) potential. We can manipulate our growth cycles to respond to power availability and respond to inherent instabilities in power networks. This is already having an influence on our engagement in circular energy projects to utilize spare energy for growing and allows for more renewable power sources to be adopted.

FTS: Labor cost is the other biggest outlay for any vertical farm. You have invested heavily in automation. Is the trade-off of increased capital expenditure for automation worth the reduction in operational expenditure for labor, in your experience? 

IGS: Absolutely. Driving down the farm gate price is the ultimate goal and while labor costs vary from region to region, we believe that this investment in the automation (and indeed the associated patents) within our growing operations is imperative and differentiates our systems considerably.

FTS: You’ve set about designing modular and intelligent systems. Such a bespoke system offers advantages of course, as we’ve seen above.  But it can also present challenges if it cannot be integrated with other equipment and systems later. Do you future-proof your systems to be able to accommodate such updates and integrations over time? 

IGS: We have thought about this from the outset, and our systems are designed in a plug and play model, rather than being bespoke as such. Scalability is paramount for our customers and this has been a consideration throughout our R&D development.  Rather than using proprietary systems for processes such as sowing and harvesting, we use off-the-shelf equipment and components. This means we can keep startup and maintenance costs down by providing items with which farmers are already familiar. If a section of the vertical farming system needs to be replaced or upgraded, such as a water filter, a lighting panel or a tray, it can be done with almost no interruption. 

However, what is also imperative to think about in terms of future proofing, and a hugely important part of our approach, is how we work so closely with the science community to better understand plant light interactions. The level of control we have designed into our hardware systems allows us to flex and adapt as we need to deploy the most up to date plant light information through our software development, which is continuously evolving. 

The approach of our software development has also involved maximising security of our systems and ensuring simplicity of operation. This will be continuously updated, but with seamless integration for our customers. 

FTS: Along with FTS, you’ve joined a number of other associations and similar collaborative groups. Why is this important to you as a company, and how do you balance the proprietary needs of your company against this desire to cooperate?

IGS:  Collaboration and cooperation across this sector is essential. Our vision is that sustainable change will only be delivered not only when we collaborate, but when we are all open and honest about the limitations, as well as the opportunities for this sector.  We want to work alongside technology vendors with complementary products, and with growers and producers, supported by science and greater understanding of growing plants indoors, all backed by far-sighted investors.

We firmly believe that through innovation, collaboration and investment we can create an economically and environmentally sustainable global indoor food industry.

FTS: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us today. We wish you every success and look forward to working with you in the future.

IGS: Thanks very much indeed. We look forward very much to be part of Farmtech Society as we all move forward in the development and innovation of agricultural technology.

For IGS

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David Farquhar

CEO

VIDEO: Farm On A Paris Rooftop: Urban Farm Aims To Be Europe’s Largest

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22/06/2020

Text by: FRANCE | Video by: Sam BALL

The first phase of a vast urban farming project in Paris is now under way following a two-month delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Set on a Paris rooftop, the farm is set to grow over the next two years to become the largest urban farm in Europe.

The farm, on a rooftop of the Paris Exhibition Centre in the south-west of the city, currently covers an area of 4,000m², but those behind the project plan to expand the agricultural space to 14,000m² by 2022.

They hope to be able produce around 1,000kg of fruit and vegetables every day in high season thanks to a team of around 20 farmers while providing a global model for sustainable farming where produce is grown locally and according to the seasons. “The goal is to locally supply healthy, pesticide-free products to local businesses, company restaurants, and to farming associations in a nearby area, ” Agripolis president Pascal Hardy told AFP.

Along with commercial farming, locals are able to rent space on the rooftop to grow their own fruit and veg, while visitors can sample the produce at an on-site restaurant.

The farm is part of what appears to be a growing trend in the French capital to produce and consume food locally, with a number of urban farming projects springing up around the city in recent years, while Paris City Hall has committed to creating 30 hectares of urban farming space in the city in 2020.

“The real trend today is towards quality local products, more so than organic,” said Hardy. “We’re at the top of the organic wave, but we’re on the way down, and the challenge now is to be able to show how the products were generated and also to show that they don’t come from the other side of the planet, like beans from Kenya, for example, or from deep in Spain with farming practices that are not very virtuous.”

Localization is Seeding Innovative Produce Supply Chains

A Key Theme of These changes is Localization – An Increasing Reliance on Local Growers to Supply Produce To Retail Outlets.

By Chris Mejia Argueta, Alexis H. Bateman, & Ken Cottrill · June 12, 2020

Editor’s Note: Chris Mejia Argueta is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and directs the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab. Alexis H. Bateman is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and directs MIT Sustainable Supply Chains. Ken Cottrill is the Editorial Director at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.

The COVID-19 crisis is shining a light on the vulnerabilities of food supply chains, as well as opportunities to develop inventive ways to deliver fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables from farm to table.

A key theme of these changes is localization – an increasing reliance on local growers to supply produce to retail outlets. The movement has gained momentum as a result of shifting consumer buying preferences and the need to make food supply chains resilient to a wide array of risks.

What is localization?

From a global perspective, localization can mean reorienting supply chains towards suppliers in specific countries or regions in any market. In this article, we focus on the localization of fruit and vegetable supply chains in the United States.

There are several definitions of what constitutes a “local” food supply in the US. The United States Department of Agriculture maintains that although “local” connotates short geographic distance between producer and consumer, there is no consensus on what products meet the definition. A government definition assumes that a product can be considered locally or regionally produced if it is less than 400 miles from its origin or within the state in which it was produced. A consumer survey carried out by the research firm Nielsen found that most buyers classify products across various food categories made 50 miles or less from the store, as local.

Local sources of produce are not confined to farms or small-size plots of land; They also include specialist operations such as high-tech commercial greenhouses and urban gardens. The enterprises sell directly to consumers or to retail customers such as supermarkets.

The size of the market for local food is unclear. From an industry standpoint, research from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimates that direct-to-consumer food sales account for about 3% of the total US agricultural production value. Up to one-half of the produce industry relies on sales to supermarkets and other chain stores, and the remainder serves foodservice companies (e.g., restaurants) and large consumers of produce such as schools and other institutions.

Pre-pandemic drivers

The localization movement was gathering steam in produce markets before the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the drivers is the need to make produce supply chains more resilient to disruptions, like market volatility and labor shortages. Local sourcing avoids the risks associated with shipping perishable product long distances from growers to consumers. Also, shorter supply chains are more flexible, require fewer product touches and intermediaries, reduce wastage, and minimize potentially costly and delay-prone cross-border movements. There are cost advantages as well, mainly in the form of reduced transportation and warehousing costs.

Localization is finding support among consumers. Trust in food crops grown on distant, large-scale factory farms has declined as consumer interest in the safety and origins of food products has increased. Another component of this trend is the increased demand for sustainable products. For example, research by The Center for Food Integrity suggests that concepts such as “food miles” are becoming more relevant to consumers, as they place more value on shorter, more carbon-efficient supply chains.

The localization movement also aligns with the need to provide underserved communities with sources of fresh, nutritious food. One way to combat the spread of so-called food deserts – communities where access to fresh fruit and vegetables is limited – is to connect these communities with local growers.

These forces drive demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables and increase the premium that consumers are willing to pay for “locally produced” and “farm to table” product labels.

Coronavirus-related market shifts

Today, the COVID-19 crisis is reinforcing many of these market changes by illuminating weaknesses in produce supply chains. The pandemic shuttered restaurants and other places where large numbers of people congregate such as schools – effectively depriving fruit and vegetable producers of a primary market.

An obvious response was to pivot to other customers, notably supermarkets and other retail outlets. However, these are different channels with distinct specifications for product packaging and unit sizes. Reorienting supply chains geared to foodservice and institutional buyers towards customers in the retail business proved extremely challenging. To solve this issue, some farmers turned to selling their produce directly to the consumer, highlighting the value of locally produced foods as a source of revenue for farmers during supply chain disruptions. Some farmers may never go back to the original model.

The pandemic also exacerbated the labor shortages that plague growers in agricultural regions of the US. Restrictions on migrant workers crimped the supply of labor before the pandemic. The coronavirus’s health threat made it even more difficult to recruit the workers that growers need to harvest and pack food crops.

While localization does not address all pandemic-related supply chain issues, it does promote the flexibility, agility, and resilience needed to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19 disruptions. This is one reason why the pandemic has underscored the advantages of local sourcing, especially for perishable products such as fruit and vegetables.

Moreover, preference for neighborhood markets may grow beyond food deserts. A recent study from mathematician Elena Polozova indicates that buying in corner stores is less risky than in big retail formats.

Innovations hone local models

The localization movement also benefits from a number of supply chain innovations in the agricultural industry. Here are some notable examples.

Local supply programs. As NPR reported recently, the movement known as community-supported agriculture (CSA) is experiencing growth in various parts of the country. Members of CSA programs typically commit to buying regular deliveries of fresh produce from local growers. The coronavirus pandemic has raised the profile of CSAs for the reasons described above, although the model is mainly growing in wealthy communities. 

Veggie box models. The so-called veggie box model is an evolution of the CSA movement. In this variation, groups of farmers create boxes of produce items in accordance with consumer preferences. 

Commercial veggie box models such as HelloFresh are expanding, and provide a new buying channel for fresh produce. However, they do not offer the variety and quantity that most customer segments need. In addition, these services are configured for middle-to-high income population segments and assume that there is enough last-mile delivery capacity to perform dozens of deliveries effectively. However, the capacity is not always available, a problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.

Dr. Chris Mejia, Dr. Lars Sanches, along with master’s students Jamal Taylor and Luiz Barreto from the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab have collaborated with colleagues from Tufts University, and the City of Somerville, MA, to explore the veggie box model, in underserved communities. The options under review use neighborhood markets as pickup points for veggie boxes, analyze the impact of ride-sharing systems, and extend the impact of grocery delivery models in the city. Despite its complex design, the researchers found that the veggie-box model can support a local economy, decrease food insecurity, and address shortages of healthy food items. However, neighborhood market owners or managers need to widen the choice of produce, promote the veggie box service to the appropriate customers, and allocate space to store the boxes of produce.

A future article in this series on food supply chains will give a detailed account of the veggie box research described above.

Innovative growing models. Growers are harnessing novel agricultural methods such as hydroponics, advanced sensing, and information technologies to develop alternatives to traditional farms. An example is BrightFarms, a company that grows produce sustainably in high-tech, hydroponic greenhouses located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Virginia. The greenhouses typically supply local supermarkets. In January 2020, the company opened a 280,000 sq. ft facility in Selinsgrove, PA, that can deliver over 2 million pounds of fresh, local produce year-round in PA and the PA-NJ-DE tri-state area. It has partnered with local supermarkets, including the Giant chain.

Urban and Container Farms. Small urban farms that sell to retail, food service, or restaurants have also become increasingly common with open fields, rooftops, brownfields, and other open spaces being utilized in cities to grow fresh fruits and vegetables. Urban farms that serve public demand reduce product transit and storage needs and increase food freshness in most cases.

Container farms use shipping containers to create self-contained growing environments for fresh produce, often in urban settings. One example is FreightFarms, which provides the container and set up that enable people to grow produce anywhere in the world.

Diversity programs. Traditional farmer’s markets allow residents to shop for a variety of produce items at specific locations in city locations at weekly times. However, these markets may not cater to the fruit and vegetable needs of ethnically diverse communities. World Farmers Organization in Massachusetts is implementing an innovative strategy to support culturally diverse farmers who grow their preferred products in small parcels and connect them to retail outlets. Some of these outlets are located in neighborhood markets. 

Small growers, big potential?

While the localization of fruit and vegetable supply chains is attracting interest, most conventional, large-scale growing operations are not under threat.

Not all food crops are viable candidates for small, local suppliers. Moreover, the competitive advantages of localization are subject to tradeoffs between economies of scale, the capital cost of growing facilities, and transportation costs. Also, more emphasis on locally grown produce increases the importance of supply chain transparency. Consumers who buy local produce want to be reassured that their purchases are sourced locally, and this will require relevant sourcing information at the point of sale.  The availability of investment funds also influences the commercial success of localization – a factor that could become more critical while the US economy remains mired in recession.

Still, consumers switching to local growers pre-COVID, in combination with the changes wrought by the pandemic, are creating a significant market for locally sourced produce that poses new supply chain challenges and opportunities. Researchers across MIT CTL are working on research projects to better understand this trend.