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AUSTRALIA - VIDEO: Shipping Container Farm Teaching TAFE Students More Than Just Agriculture
Nestled beside a building on a TAFE campus in Toowoomba is an ugly metal shipping container, but it's no ordinary storage shed
August 16, 2021
By Lucy Cooper
Nestled beside a building on a TAFE campus in Toowoomba is an ugly metal shipping container, but it's no ordinary storage shed.
Key points:
TAFE is using a shipping container farm to teach students about alternative farming
All features of the farm are controlled by an app
Agriculture, hospitality, and IT students are using the "grow pod" in their studies
Step inside and it's bursting with greenery.
Packed floor to ceiling with vegetables and herbs like basil, kale, mint and mustard, this state-of-the-art modular farm is changing the future of agriculture, all with the push of a button.
TAFE Queensland school manager Elaine Wallace said the "grow pod" aimed to change students' perspectives on traditional farming.
"Often when people think about agriculture, they think, 'Oh, I don't want to go stand in the sun all day picking vegetables, that's a bit too dirty for my liking," Ms. Wallace said.
"This is just one of those technologies that really enables students to get involved in something different and something up and coming."
Student Kallia Stebbins said when she first saw the vertical farm she was amazed by the technology.
"I didn't realise that you can grow crops like this, compared to just out in the middle of a field," she said.
"Now that I've seen this, it's very cool. I'm very interested to learn more about it."
A farm controlled from the palm of a hand
The container farm is controlled remotely with an app.
To switch the lights on inside, Ms Wallace simply whips out her phone.
"If we have a look at our monitors, it tells us that our irrigation cycle has started up, so we can set the cycle to however long or short we need it," she said.
"It's drip irrigation from the top filter through to the bottom and it's caught in the gutter that is at the bottom.
"We have pumps that will feed nutrients into the water and then, of course, we've got our lights, which are LED lights, and they are also set on a timer, so they are grow lights."
'Absolutely no limits'
It's not just agricultural students reaping the benefits of the multidisciplinary project.
Information technology students studied the app controlling the farm, while electrical students looked at how the farm kept running.
Hospitality and cookery teacher Nev Siebenhausen said his students also gained valuable first-hand experience in paddock to plate catering.
"For our students, it's a great opportunity to obviously shorten up the duration and travel on the product," he said.
"It's great for our guys to see different ways it can be grown."
Mr Siebenhausen said the walk up the hill from the grow pod to the hospitality school reduced carbon miles and cut waste by 70 percent for produce like basil, which had a short lifespan.
Any leftover produce is donated to the food relief charity, Oz Harvest.
Talks are also underway to trial sensory herbs for community service students to study the calming effects on people.
"The possibilities are endless," Ms. Wallace said.
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - CityFarms Is Hiring!
We are in need of another Operations Associate! The job mostly entails running the ongoing operations of the farm
We are in need of another Operations Associate! The job mostly entails running the ongoing operations of the farm.
Things like harvesting, packaging, planting, delivering to stores, and managing the crops.
We are always trying to continuously improve what we do and are hoping to find great people with that same drive.
Our goal is to become the largest food producer in Alaska and we have a long way to go!
We are currently a team of six and are excited to find people who are passionate about the same things we are.
If you are interested, click the button below and message us! We look forward to hearing from you.
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USA: VIDEO: Veteran Finds Peace, Purpose In Unique Kind of Farming
John Miller's routine may seem a bit "scaled-down" compared to his former life as a combat soldier. Miller spends much of his time in a 40-foot-long shipping container converted into a hydroponic farm field. Hydroponics involves growing plants without soil.
KENTUCKY
August 2, 2021
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As John Miller prepared to leave the Air Force, the combat veteran admits he had no idea what he was going to do next.
What You Need To Know
John Miller served 14 years in the Air Force
The Louisville resident is the owner of Falls City Farms
Miller has found peace and purpose in hydroponic farming
In the future, Miller hopes to expand and employ fellow veterans
John Miller's routine may seem a bit "scaled-down" compared to his former life as a combat soldier. Miller spends much of his time in a 40-foot-long shipping container converted into a hydroponic farm field. Hydroponics involves growing plants without soil.
A close-up of Miller's baby kale. (Spectrum News 1/Jonathon Gregg)
“In essence, we sell a lot of things what we would consider baby," Miller explained. Little white turnips is just one crop of many growing inside Falls City Farms. “Right now I’m just pulling off the plug to turnips and then clean up any of the leaves."
The Iraq War combat veteran grows, prunes, packages, and sells a variety of greens to Louisville restaurants, online and at local markets.
“Here is our wasabi arugula, this is one of our fresh herbs, our dill, this would be our romaine trio," Miller said while touring his indoor farm.
Scaled-down? Maybe, but the hydroponic farm has helped Miller overcome what can be a sizable challenge for soldiers adapting to life after service.
“I got into this post-military, trying to find my next thing because I didn’t know what I was going to do when I got out," Miller said.
Miller served 14 years in the Air Force. His wife Amy is still active with 17 years to her credit. In his pursuit to figure out the next chapter of his life, Miller learned about hydroponic farming from a marine veteran in San Diego.
Falls City Farm grows a lot of produce in just 320 square feet. (Spectrum News 1/Jonathon Gregg)
His operation encompasses 320 square feet and boasts 6,600 individual plant spaces. Crops grow thanks to a sophisticated watering system and good-old-fashioned artificial sunlight.
“Because we are in a shipping container, the plants and the crops don’t get any of the big yellow sun outside so we have to create that inside," he said. "So we do LED lighting because it is better from an energy standpoint as well as heat."
Miller has lots of time and enough room to think about his life as a soldier and his new career as a farmer.
“If I am being frank with you, I miss being surrounded by other airmen and folks I used to lead," he said. "But it is calming to be in here with the plants and at the end of the day, that’s one of the reasons I chose this path.”
He was after peace and a purpose, and now his purpose includes bringing other veterans aboard.
“A lot of veterans, as we know, suffer from trying to find that next mission. Hopefully, one day soon be able to bring fellow veterans in here to teach them the art of farming through hydroponics to help them find peace and purpose as well," Miller said.
At first, Falls City Farms may appear to be a small operation, it’s only until you spend time on the inside do you see all the big ideas growing.
“I fell in love with the sense of a day’s accomplishment of work, a sense of comfort of being inside a greenhouse," Miller said.
Crazy Poet Discovers Solution To Vertical Farming Challenges
How on earth are we going to be able to make vertical farming a viable solution without disrupting the cities we live in
August 10, 2021
Lawrence Ip
Facilitating Workforce & Leadership Transformation Through Organisational Governance.
Keep Reading & The House Gets Bulldozed!
Dramatic I know (it's just one of those things). Nope, I won't be making myself homeless as I do actually need a roof over my head. What I also need is to get this crazy idea off my chest before I do actually lose my mind.
You see, I was watching a documentary a while back, about future cities, off the back of a few others that were about farming, global warming and the looming food crisis, and they got me thinking about vertical farming, and the issues the industry sector faces - namely scale.
That was the first thing that struck me.
How on earth are we going to be able to make vertical farming a viable solution without disrupting the cities we live in it, why heck, according to Pew Research world population is pitted to hit 10.9 Billion by 2100, with more and more folks migrating to cities. This begged a flurry of questions such as:
How are we going to feed everyone, and where on earth are we going to put the vertical farms that are supposed to feed them?
Will they really be able to provide the quantity of fruit and vegetables sustainably?
How much will they cost to build?
How much will they cost to run and maintain?
How do we store, pack and deliver the product?
What infrastructure does it require to make it work?
What about the effect on traffic?
What about the load bearing issues of weight on the structure of the farm, the actual building?
How on earth do we face the challenges facing vertical farming?
Don't get me wrong, I see incredible value in vertical farming and it could prove to be the answer to so many of the challenges we face ahead, because as we all know the way in which we produce the food we consume, and waste, is just not sustainable - not in the slightest. The globe's arable land is fast diminishing, and at the current rate the entire globe will be facing starvation soon after 2060 - it's a travesty just waiting to happen (if you haven't watched it yet I can highly recommend watching), Kiss The Ground, it's the documentary that got me started on the quest for answers.
A few weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night, I had an epiphany.
Prior to going to sleep, I asked myself, what is the single most pressing problem you could solve that would provide the best bang for the buck?
When I woke from that sleep the answer came to me, it came down to answering the last question, which fundamentally is a design question.
Having previously watched a documentary series on super-structures, and thinking about logistics and transportation, it dawned on me that it was not a, how on earth question, but rather a let's go to sea proposition.
I jotted down these two words on the trusty notepad I keep bedside...
"... container ships."
That's right, container ships!
Don't be fooled into thinking that what you see is what you get. What you see on the top deck is just part of the picture, container ships have just as much, if not more storage in their lower decks.
It was like WOW! It makes complete and total sense, well at least to me it does. Let's outline the reasons why container ships could be the perfect vertical farm.
Container ships are designed to bare the types of load required in the design of a vertical farm.
You can move container ships around.
Container ships can have desalination plants built in.
They are freaking massive.
They can be even more massive. Fun fact: when the size of a ship is doubled, it increases the surface area by only 25%.
Transportation logistics is a non-issue.
No need to reinvent the wheel. It wouldn't take much to repurpose container ships that have been decommissioned.
Repurposed ships equals no scrap metal.
Access to the energy required to run them is at hand.
Image Credit: Bernd Dittrich - UnSplash.
That pretty much sums it up, and hey, I'm no expert, but yes, I am a poet, and it really doesn't matter whether I'm certifiable or not, I have at the very least put the idea out there. All I ask of you, is that before you send the men with the straightjacket around, that you consider the idea as a viable solution before discarding it. If anything I hope it provides some inspiration, maybe a spark of some out-of-the-box thinking of your own and I sincerely hope you found the read entertaining too. Thank you for making it this far. I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Do you have a crazy vertical farming solution you'd love to get off your chest? Please feel welcomed and leave your thoughts below. Peace ✌
Image Credit: Bailey Mahon - UnSplash.
#verticalfarmingchallenges #arablelandcrisis #foodcrisis #circulareconomy
Lead photo: Image Credit: Torben - UnSplash.
Published by: Lawrence Ip
Crazy Poet Discovers Solution To Vertical Farming Challenges. hashtag#verticalfarming hashtag#containerships hashtag#crazypoettimes hashtag#sustainability hashtag#agriculture hashtag#environment hashtag#innovation hashtag#climatechange hashtag#circulareconomy hashtag#design hashtag#energy hashtag#arablelandcrisis hashtag#foodcrisis hashtag#kisstheground hashtag#verticalfarmingchallenges
Growth Industry: Libertyville Man Plants Urban Farm in Old Shipping Container
The canvas is the side of an old shipping container. Like the mural, which pictures the hands of Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug surrounded by greens, the location of Zach Paronto's urban farm inside the converted container is unexpected.
By Mick Zawislak
July 26, 2021
At the 5.5-mile mark of the North Shore Bike Path, east of Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville, a mural depicting microgreens has emerged as a calling card for a new business.
The canvas is the side of an old shipping container. Like the mural, which pictures the hands of Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug surrounded by greens, the location of Zach Paronto's urban farm inside the converted container is unexpected.
Sheet metal shelves hold racks of tiny plants -- like daikon radishes and tendril peas -- grown hydroponically and in various stages of development. Paronto framed and insulated the interior, ran vents, and installed plumbing and electric to create a sterile, climate-controlled environment to regulate the gourmet garnish crops.
The two-month build-out was a curiosity for some neighbors.
"A lot of people thought I was a homeless guy living out of there," Paronto said.
He launched Achaia Greens in Libertyville early this year to grow and sell microgreens, edible flowers and vegetables. Microgreens are highly nutritional and intensely flavorful seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs used in a variety of ways, from juices and salads to decorative garnishes.
Since its launch, the company has secured six businesses, some with multiple locations, as customers. They include Conscious Cup Coffee Roasters, Mainstreet Social and Timothy O'Toole's restaurants, and Real Clean Paleo, a pre-order meal service. Microgreen mixes also are sold and delivered to residential customers. Everything is harvested and delivered -- usually by bike, weather permitting -- the same day.
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Michael Shipley, managing partner of Conscious Cup, uses Achaia Greens as a sustainable option for tendril peas. The venue has four locations including downtown Libertyville and is planning to open a fifth this fall in Palatine.
"Places like ours are always faced with these decisions to buy something that may be organic, but it's packaged and shipped from across the country or farther," Shipley said.
"When we can make these hyperlocal purchases and still maintain this really high-quality, it's a no-brainer."
Paronto grew up in Gages Lake with a passion for gardening and plants. While maintaining that intense interest in horticulture and native species, he made his living as a tradesman in various capacities.
After an unpaid internship in a microgreen business in Chicago, he founded Achaia Greens in Charleston, South Carolina. Within three years, the business had a local base and was growing, he said. But Charleston never felt like home, so Paronto and his wife, Geddy, moved to Libertyville last summer.
An attempt to launch the business in another Lake County town didn't work out, but Paronto noticed three nearly hidden shipping containers on the property behind the couple's rented home on Route 176 (Park Avenue) and had an idea.
Overgrown by invasive species and filled with scrap metal and debris, the area was a catchall for a neighboring heating and cooling company.
"You couldn't even walk through here," Paronto said.
After seeing his work on the container, Paronto's landlord, who also owns the heating and cooling business, offered him a job with a flexible schedule that allowed him to work on starting Achaia Greens.
Once the area was cleared and outdoor gardens planted, Paronto envisioned a mural to beautify the spot. His cousin, Jenny Gentry, a mural artist from Colorado, finished the piece July 16.
Microgreens are the focus of the mural, but the two hands of Borlaug, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, also are depicted. A microbiologist and plant geneticist, Borlaug developed a high-yield, disease resistant wheat. He put the new strains into extensive production to feed the hungry of the world and is regarded as a central figure in the "green revolution."
The mural shows Borlaug holding a wheat plant in one hand and a microgreen in another, Paronto said. It represents the progression from reliance solely on staple crops, he added.
To start, Paronto connected with Ellen Williams, program and marketing director for the Adler Arts Center, which operates under the auspices of the village.
Williams connected Paronto and the artist with partners at Rust-Oleum to help with paint, prep and materials. Though not a village project, it's part of Adler's plans to create and support public art initiatives, Williams said.
"We hope to continue to help create more public art in this community both on village and private properties," she said.
Paronto plans to expand.
"This is what I want to do for the rest of my life," he said. "There are thousands of varieties (of microgreens). My plan is to keep growing."
Lead Photo: Libertyville resident Zach Paronto's urban farm is in a converted shipping container behind his house. He grows microgreens inside his urban farm and edible flowers and veggies outside for fresh delivery to businesses and other customers. Paul Valade | Staff Photographer
Malaysian, Smart Farm That Grows And Delivers Organic Vegetables
“The pandemic has underscored the urgency of building better food production, including fresh vegetables. Customers are increasingly aware that food choices influence both the health and the health of the planet,” the team concluded
July 15, 2021
7 years. It’s how long the farm lasts with 5G BoomGrow it has existed, but it has not always been so efficient. Founders Jay, Murali, and Shan had initially explored different cultivation methods, from simple hydroponics to aquaponics.
Image Credit: Founders of BoomGrow
“We grew our greens in small boxes. We even tried to grow them outdoors. Nothing worked, ”Jay recalled in an interview with Vulcan Post.
This trial and error lasted for five years until the co-founders discovered AI-driven vertical agriculture. With this method, they realized that they could also grow their greens in a controlled indoor environment that would make harmful chemicals such as pesticides unnecessary.
Finally, they had found it the method that allowed them to properly achieve their goals of producing clean, tasty greens.
Using 95% less resources to get the same performance
“Our systems detect how diverse contributions like the light, the water, and the pH affect the quality and the flavor of our plants. That’s what we call our plant recipes, ”said Shan.
“We then rely on machine learning and data analysis to tailor each entry to the respective plant, producing tastier greens.”
The team says its system equipped with technology is Machine Farm. It is used in all reused BoomGrow shipping containers where crops are grown on modular plant racks.
According to the team, five piles of crops on a 360-square-foot plot can produce a yield that is the equivalent of the traditional harvests of a 1-acre outdoor farm.
With this technology and efficient use of space, they can grow 20 varieties of leafy vegetables and herbs in a residential neighborhood of Ampang.
At the same time, Jay said Machine Farm uses 95% less land, water, and fuel than traditional outdoor farms.
Its technology-based agricultural approach has seen BoomGrow achieve multiple milestones, from being the country’s first 5G showcase farm to receiving benefits from government grants from SME Corp, PlaTCOM Ventures, and MDEC.
One of his most proud moments was the validation of renowned chefs working in 5-star hotels, who placed an order for their greens and have since been loyal followers.
Dedicated to clean processes and products
Clearly, there are already several agents in the precision and vertical farming industry with more union, but few are as gung-ho about clean produce as BoomGrow is.
Cleaning doesn’t just mean pesticide-free vegetables; the team decided that value should be reflected in the overall operation of their business.
Inside a Container / Image Credit: BoomGrow
As a former national athlete, Murali wanted to start BoomGrow because he knew the difference a good diet could make.
Meanwhile, Shan is a trained architect who had developed an interest in sustainable design throughout his career. Fascinated by the way modular structures had minimal impact on their environment, he wanted to explore other avenues for incorporating sustainability into everyday life.
He is the director of innovation at BoomGrow, designing and bringing its plant systems to life. On the other hand, Jay was inspired to co-found BoomGrow after many years in sustainability consulting.
He told Vulcan Post: “Throughout my career, I have had consulting experience for various agricultural and F&B manufacturing companies. This allowed me to evaluate the data around some of the practices, as well as the disconnection that people from these organizations had about sustainability. ”
Bringing the head together led the team to arrive at the current solution that is committed to implementing the 12th Sustainable Development Goal, responsible consumption, and production.
Organic vegetable packages at competitive prices
With all the investment in technology growing their organic greens, it looks like a purchase of them should cost a bomb.
But because they are able to eliminate the need for extensive land located in remote areas and a long cold chain, they can offer their vegetables at a competitive price.
BoomGrow sells 5 to 6 varieties of vegetables depending on the package you want, priced between 45 and 65 RM per package. Free delivery is offered to subscribers of weekly or fortnightly plans. Otherwise, deliveries to the Klang Valley would cost 10 RMS for purchases over 45 RM or 15 RM for those under 45 RMS.
Young Greens Growing on Modular Racks / Image Credit: BoomGrow
Compared to another vegetable delivery service with a subscription model, Plant B, BoomGrow prices are reasonable.
Floor B offers 6 types of vegetables in a box and a two-week subscription would be RM37 / week, while a 4-week subscription would be RM34 / week. Shipping costs are offered at fixed rates of RM6-RM8 depending on where you are in the Klang Valley.
For both BoomGrow and Plant B, people may not be able to choose exactly what goes into their box, but Plant B customers will be informed of the variety they can expect depending on the season and availability. You can also contact the team for exclusions.
On the other hand, BoomGrow clearly lists each variety of vegetables in a package with the assigned weight, so you’ll know exactly what you’ll get. To add, plant B does not claim that its product is organic.
Improve your B2C services during the pandemic
When the pandemic first hit in 2020, BoomGrow saw a sharp drop in overall sales as hotels and restaurants had to cut back on their orders.
Conversely, their e-commerce orders increased as more people subscribed to their vegetable packages.
“The pandemic has underscored the urgency of building better food production, including fresh vegetables. Customers are increasingly aware that food choices influence both the health and the health of the planet,” the team concluded.
They were able to meet this demand thanks to the support of MaGIC, particularly as part of cohort 4 al Global Accelerator Program.
Through it, their technology pipelines became more focused and were able to expand their digital footprints, refine e-commerce offerings, and improve their automation. Now, BoomGrow is preparing a launch of its machine factories outside of Klang Valley to reach more customers.
Outside, they will come face to face with more players in the vegetable delivery space, but perhaps their technology and mission will differentiate them in the long run and attract a segment of customers with whom their mission resonates.
Solar Firm To Convert Shipping Containers To Urban Greenhouses
CEO James DiPrima said: “We also felt that inner city urban areas also needed a way to get fresh fruits and vegetables grown right in their own neighborhood. Reimagining old shipping/cargo containers as the structural framework for our soar technology would greatly reduce the costs of building greenhouses
July 9, 2021
New York, New York, July 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Green Stream Holdings Inc. (OTC PINK: GSFI) (“the Company”) (http://www.GreenRainSolar.com), an emerging leader in the solar utility and finance space, which had previously announced that it would be entering the rapidly growing urban gardening sector with solar greenhouses dedicated primarily to rooftop farming, today announced that it is also moving forward with its previously announced project to convert old shipping/cargo containers into inexpensive greenhouses for urban and inner city neighborhoods.
Last year, on October 6, 2020, the Company previously announced that it had entered into a non-binding agreement with Aoki Group Inc. (“Aoki”) and famed restauranter, Kevin Aoki, who wanted to ship his famous mushrooms to his various sites around the world. The mushrooms would grow inside the container while being shipped to their destination.
Blondie’s specializes in custom urban landscapes including roof decks, terraces, courtyards and entry gardens, and is now utilizing that expertise in designing the irrigation systems for our Cargo container Solar Greenhouses. Blondie’s transforms concept and vision into realized functional design.
Blondie’s is experienced in specifying, installing, renovating and maintaining green wall systems. They are famous for their interior and outside Green Walls.
For more information go to: https://blondiestreehouse.com.
CEO James DiPrima said: “We also felt that inner city urban areas also needed a way to get fresh fruits and vegetables grown right in their own neighborhood. Reimagining old shipping/cargo containers as the structural framework for our soar technology would greatly reduce the costs of building greenhouses. Less room, less labor and less panels was a marriage made in heaven for underserved communities. Communities can get one, ten or 100 containers… whatever amount of land is available… and since each container has a small footprint, there is a lot of flex flexibility for each situation.
Using solar energy has two main benefits: Solar energy systems do not produce air pollutants or carbon dioxide, and Solar energy systems on buildings have minimal effects on the environment… OUR Solar Greenhouses combine the two creating a physical structure that produce electricity, with the ability to capture the sun from many different angles.”
About Green Stream Finance, Inc.
Green Stream Finance, Inc., a solar utility and finance company with satellite offices in Malibu, CA and New York, NY, is focused on exploiting currently unmet markets in the solar energy space, and is currently licensed in California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Colorado, Hawaii, and Canada. The Company’s next-generation solar greenhouses constructed and managed by Green Rain Solar, LLC, a Nevada-based division, utilize proprietary greenhouse technology and trademarked design developed by world-renowned architect Mr. Antony Morali. The Company is currently targeting high-growth solar market segments for its advanced solar greenhouse and advanced solar battery products. The Company has a growing footprint in the significantly underserved solar market in New York City where it is targeting 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of rooftop space for the installation of its solar panels. Green Stream is looking to forge key partnership with major investment groups, brokers, and private investors in order to capitalize on a variety of unique investment opportunities in the commercial solar energy markets. The Company is dedicated to becoming a major player in this critical space. Through its innovative solar product offerings and industry partnerships, the Company is well-positioned to become a significant player in the solar space.
SOURCE: Green Stream Holdings Inc.
Tagged indoor farming
Feel Confident In Starting Your Project With This 3-Part Webinar Series!
Even with effortless, turn-key container farms, there are still questions left unanswered for those interested in getting startedThis three-part webinar series will take you step-by-step through what you need to know before you start, how to select the best business model, and your options for financing the project
Even with effortless, turn-key container farms, there are still questions left unanswered for those interested in getting startedThis three-part webinar series will take you step-by-step through what you need to know before you start, how to select the best business model, and your options for financing the project.
By signing up, you will:
Hear and learn from first-hand experiences
Access knowledge and resources from Growcer and Farm Credit Canada
Break down how to get growing year-round into smaller, digestible steps
If you’re interested in growing food for your community but don’t know where to start or are stuck along the way, sign up for the webinar series today!
Register now for all three sessions:
July 13 - Getting Started
July 27 - Choosing a Business Model
August 10 - Financing your Project
Excited for you to join us,
The Growcer Team
BrightBox Farms’ Gideon Saunders Sees Alaska’s Future For Agriculture In Hydroponics
Nestled next to an otherwise ordinary house on Kodiak is a shipping container. It looks out of place, but the garden in it is even more noticeable
July 8, 2021
Nestled next to an otherwise ordinary house on Kodiak is a shipping container. It looks out of place, but the garden in it is even more noticeable. The growing area of the BrightBox Farm looks like a prop from a movie about space exploration – the vertically oriented hydroponic farm has its own perfect microclimate.
The use of this shipping box has enabled Gideon Saunders to conquer the seasons that otherwise rule Kodiak Gardens.
“There we worked with Freight Farms, who build 40-foot containers, high cubes, 2.50 m high, 2.40 m wide, standard containers, only slightly higher, very insulated, highly insulated R-28. So we agreed with them and picked out a unit and then delivered it to us, ”Saunders said.
Freight Farms made the interior of the shipping container. Inside, there are shelves with lettuce and other greens, interspersed with panels of blindingly bright ultraviolet light. A panel filled with nutrients feeds into a water tank on the back, which in turn feeds drips into the hydroponic system. The air is supplemented by a carbon dioxide tank, which ensures that the plants do not lack for anything.
The container is completely controlled by an app. And it even comes with built-in bluetooth speakers. But for the container, function is more than form – Saunders boasts that he could grow 1,000 heads of lettuce a week in less than 30 hours.
It doesn’t just look futuristic. Saunders believes systems like this will revolutionize agriculture.
“I think it’s the future. I mean, we can get into the politics of agriculture and water rights and freshwater use worldwide, and global warming and all these hot topics – 8 billion, 9 billion, 10 billion people, how do you feed them? The population is growing – how do you become more efficient with your food? Well, when it comes to vegetables and leafy greens and what we do, we use 95% less water than traditional farming. We do not use herbicides, pesticides or insecticides. So no glyphosate, no Miracle Grow. Chemically nothing bad. You can control it. So it’s the future of agriculture, ”Saunders said.
This type of production is not cheap. Saunders says the device costs around $ 100,000 with shipping and handling. But as technological advances inevitably push prices down, it becomes more cost-effective for smallholders to invest in such equipment.
And Saunders says it’s already inexpensive, although its container is complemented by a small homemade addition in its garage. He sells microgreens as a subscription service, in which he provides his subscribers with bags of greens for a monthly fee, and through sales at the local farmers’ market. Even on an island known for its horticultural and merchant shipping challenges, herbivores can enjoy fresh, locally grown produce year round.
Contain Inc Announces Finance Arrangement With Edible Beats For FarmBox Foods Container Farm
The container farm is being built and customized for Edible Beats, and will produce ingredients for all of the EB concepts, Linger, Root Down, Vital Root, El Five, and Ophelais
NEWS PROVIDED BY
July 07, 2021
Contain Inc announces a financing agreement arranged between Edible Beats Restaurant Group & a prominent lender for a FarmBox Foods container farm.
Image courtesy of FarmBox Foods
With the FarmBox Food container, we can grow hyper-local, organic, year-round produce that will be featured at all of our restaurants. We feel this is just the beginning of what we can grow”— Justin Cucci of Edible Beats Restaurant Group
RENO, NV, UNITED STATES, July 7, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Contain Inc is pleased to announce a financing agreement arranged between Edible Beats Restaurant Group and a prominent lender for a controlled-environment container farm, FarmBox Foods. Edible Beats is a locally owned Denver-based restaurant group known for its diverse menus and healthy, plant-based dishes that highlight local and seasonal ingredients. Edible Beats will be able to grow herbs, leafy greens, salad greens, and various produce organically and year-round with the container farm that will be attached to their Vital Root location.
“We have always sought opportunities to be more responsible to the sourcing, growing, and handling of the incredible ingredients that we get,” said Justin Cucci of Edible Beats Restaurant Group. “With the FarmBox Food container, we can grow hyper-local, organic, year-round produce that will be featured at all of our restaurants. We feel this is just the beginning of what we can grow, and we are eager to add the mushroom grow operation in the future”
Image courtesy of Unsplash
Edible Beats purchased the container from FarmBox Foods, a Colorado-based company that builds automated farms that grow gourmet mushrooms, leafy greens, and culinary herbs. To FarmBox, controlled-environment agriculture is the future, and this deal is one of many leading us towards a more decentralized and eco-friendly food system.
“I think we’re going to see a lot more of these types of programs going forward,” said Chris Michlewicz, Chief Public Relations Officer at FarmBox. “Restaurants are realizing that their produce is fresher and has a longer shelf life when they have a container farm on site. It’s a reliable and sustainable source of food, and it’s more eco-friendly because you no longer have to transport food in from elsewhere.”
Image courtesy of Unsplash
Likewise, Contain Inc is thrilled to support Edible Beats as it ventures into indoor ag. “We're delighted to have assisted SemiMojo and FarmBox Foods in this innovative initiative. Contain is always excited to see more fresh food made available to consumers. Customers appreciate freshness and quality produce, year round. Restaurants and container farms make this possible”, said Doug Harding, Head of Leasing & Vendor Relations at Contain Inc. “We are thrilled to have collaborated with Edible Beets and Farm Box Foods on this project. It aligns perfectly with Contain's mission of supporting the controlled environment agriculture industry in its financing needs”.
The container farm is being built and customized for Edible Beats, and will produce ingredients for all of the EB concepts, Linger, Root Down, Vital Root, El Five, and Ophelais.
About Contain Inc
Contain is out to empower the indoor ag industry of tomorrow. Our first and key mission is bringing easier and faster financing to controlled environment agriculture, but we aren't stopping there. We create platforms to move the industry forward, and most importantly, find ways to make indoor ag more accessible to farmers of all stripes.
Contact Contain:
Doug Harding, Leasing & Vendor Relations
doug@contain.ag | 760-330-1199
About Edible Beats
Edible Beats is a locally owned independent restaurant group that operates such diverse concepts as Linger, Root Down, El Five, Ophelais, and Vital Root. “Walking the walk” is important to us and the various aspects of sustainable & local food sourcing, up-cycled design, and authentic Hospitality.
About FarmBox Foods
FarmBox Foods was founded to help provide a sustainable, eco-friendly food source to places where there is a lack of access to farm-fresh produce. The company’s mission is to use container farms to decentralize the food supply chain and empower local communities.
Doug Harding
Contain Inc
doug@contain.ag
Visit us on social media:
Twitter
LinkedIn
USA - WISCONSIN: Kenosha Plan Commission Backs Plans For Indoor Garden Facility Near City Airport
The Plan Commission on Thursday reviewed and advanced a proposed year-round standalone indoor garden facility adjacent to the existing Gordon Food Service distribution plant at 10901 38th St. GFS plans to partner with Square Roots, an organization specializing in urban farming, in the development. A new 8,715-square-foot facility will be used to grow fresh produce, greens, and herbs
DAVE FIDLIN
Kenosha News correspondent
June 27, 2021
A food distributor’s plans for a year-round indoor garden facility on Kenosha’s northwest side moved one step closer to reality, following a city panel’s favorable recommendation.
The Plan Commission on Thursday reviewed and advanced a proposed year-round standalone indoor garden facility adjacent to the existing Gordon Food Service distribution plant at 10901 38th St.
GFS plans to partner with Square Roots, an organization specializing in urban farming, in the development. A new 8,715-square-foot facility will be used to grow fresh produce, greens, and herbs.
Gordon has forged similar partnerships with Square Roots at other distribution centers within the U.S., the first taking place two years ago near the company’s Michigan-based corporate headquarters.
At a Thursday’s meeting, GFS representatives indicated the indoor garden facility would serve a variety of purposes, with about 60 percent of it going toward direct-to-consumer retail sales and the balance toward distribution.
Down the road, company officials have indicated the new operation could have an educational component, such as workshops on how basil is grown. Partnerships with nearby colleges and universities also were discussed as a possibility.
During deliberations, several members of the panel lauded the plans for the site. Commissioner Lydia Spottswood said she viewed Square Roots’ addition as an example of forward-thinking development.
“It seems like a brilliant opportunity for more and more (of this type of development) to happen, given the proximity to Lake Michigan,” Spottswood said. “We’re trying to brand this as a city of innovation, and this is an innovative process.”
Commissioner Charles Bradley said he, too, was pleased with the proposal, though he did weigh in on the proximity of the development, which is near the Kenosha Regional Airport.
“I’m happy, but I am a little surprised by the location,” Bradley said.!
Commissioners also discussed GFS and Square Roots’ planned building materials for the new facility, which include the use of metal shipping containers on a portion of the facility.
According to information commissioners reviewed, the shipping containers will be accessible from inside the building and will include windows cut into the ends of the containers, alongside perforated architectural metal screens along the exposed sidewalls.
The companies’ tentative plans state the shipping containers will be stacked two rows high, 10 containers wide. A portion of the facility also will be constructed with more traditional building materials, including a concrete foundation and exterior walls made of insulated metal.
“This is a really interesting, adaptive reuse,” Spottswood said.
The City Council, which has final say on the proposal, will take up the Plan Commission’s recommendation and could act on it in July.
Meeting in person
Thursday’s Plan Commission meeting was the first time the appointed body gathered in-person, since COVID-19 lockdowns forced an abrupt pivot to virtual meetings in March 2020.
As is the case with all Kenosha municipal meetings, the Plan Commission is reverting back to its pre-pandemic practices.
“I’m very excited about it,” said Ald. David Bogdala, who serves on the Plan Commission. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and I’m glad to see, for the most part, that we’re back to normal.”
Lead photo: A concept rendering of the southeast view of the proposed Square Roots and Gordon Food Service indoor garden facility adjacent to the existing GFS distribution plant at 10901 38th St.
USA - Pennsylvania: Container Farm To Be Delivered To School In Oakmont
CEA Advisors announced today that they have delivered another custom-built 40’ Growtainer® Vertical Farm to the Riverview School District in Oakmont, PA. Unlike other school’s container farms that can only teach one method of production, this farm is specifically designed to teach the students about multiple growing methods
CEA Advisors announced today that they have delivered another custom-built 40’ Growtainer® Vertical Farm to the Riverview School District in Oakmont, PA. Unlike other school’s container farms that can only teach one method of production, this farm is specifically designed to teach the students about multiple growing methods.
The Oakmont Growtainer has three distinct chambers to provide a real hands-on experience for the students, including a classroom/lab/germination area, an LED-lit multi-level soil chamber, and an LED-lit multi-level hydroponic system.
Glenn Behrman, President, and founder of CEA Advisors, a global controlled environment consulting firm and the manufacturer of Growtainers worked with the school’s staff to design a cost-effective system that could provide various levels of a learning experience as well as providing fresh leafy greens for the cafeteria for their students of all ages.
“Due to Corona virus supply chain issues, the school couldn’t wait for our Growracks to arrive from our manufacturing partner in Holland. So we designed and built a custom multi-level racking system for the ebb and flood hydroponic installation including automatic irrigation and water monitoring and dosing.”
The soil side is also a multi-level design with LED lighting and an irrigation system. The climate is independently controlled in each chamber including de-humidification. In the next month or so the entire campus, including the Growtainer will be powered by solar.
For more information:
CEA Advisors LLC
Glenn Behrman, Founder, and President
gb@cea-advisors.com
www.cea-advisors.com
23 June 2021
How To Grow Food In A Concrete Jungle
Building flourishing farms in the heart of cities used to be just a utopian fantasy. Now it's an important step towards developing a smart, diversified food system capable of feeding a growing world population.
Editor’s Note: The vertical farming industry continues to evolve as more operators come online. The diversity of operators and crops being grown will allow for new products to go to market and provide the consumer with fresher choices for their shopping carts. Agritecture’s client, Agricool, is one of many CEA operators leading the way.
BY DALIAH SINGER
Building flourishing farms in the heart of cities used to be just a utopian fantasy. Now it's an important step towards developing a smart, diversified food system capable of feeding a growing world population.
Guillaume Fourdinier has lived in Paris for six years, but he still misses the taste of the fresh cereal grains, beets, carrots, and more that grow on his family's farm in Verton. There, in northern France's countryside, eating locally is a way of life – not simply a trend or a sticker on an apple at the grocery store.
“Local food is everywhere when you are in the countryside. You get fruits and vegetables with better taste, more nutritional value,” he says. “When you are in Paris, what is local food? There is nothing coming from a local farm. I think for quality of life for people living in big cities this is a big problem.”
In 2015, Fourdinier co-founded Agricool, an urban farm that's now comprised of 11 recycled shipping containers on the north side of the city. Eight farmers plant, harvest, pack, and deliver the pesticide-free lettuces, herbs, and strawberries to 60 supermarkets (though Fourdinier expects that number to grow to at least 200 retailers by the end of 2021).
mage sourced from BBC
Urban farms like Agricool are part of a broad collection of metropolitan agricultural efforts including everything from vertical farms to greenhouses to aquaponics to community gardens. The idea of cultivating food in or near cities is not new (see the victory gardens of both world wars, for example), but these ventures have become increasingly popular in recent years as the local food movement strengthens. After the rise of the supermarkets led many people to feel disconnected from food production, consumers are again paying more attention to how and where their food is grown, along with how far ingredients must travel between field and plate.
From Brussels to Nigeria, entrepreneurs and farmers are reimagining what farms are and conceiving innovative technology to help grow food in smaller spaces and in more sustainable ways. They're attempting to fix existing food supply chain concerns, which we've all became intimately familiar with in the past year. Images of picked-over grocery shelves and farmers tossing out produce early in the Covid-19 pandemic broadcast the failures and fragility of our current systems.
By 2050, it's estimated that the global population will balloon to almost 10 billion, and 68% of those people will live in cities. That means we'll have to produce more food than ever before, to feed people who live farther from the rural areas where most crops and animals are cultivated. Bringing production closer to where consumption happens could increase food security, improve our health and lessen the industry's considerable impacts on the planet – if we're able to grow enough nutrient-rich grub, that is.
In the United States, it's estimated that urban and peri-urban farms account for almost 15% of the country's farms. Among them is 80 Acres Farms, a vertical farming operation based in Ohio but which has eight locations in four states, all of which use zero pesticides and require 97% less water consumption compared to traditional farms. (Vertical farming refers to growing crops in vertically stacked layers in a controlled environment, often incorporating soilless techniques.)
Co-founders Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston are trying to push the potential of this multi-billion-dollar industry further. To date, enterprises like theirs have primarily focused on easy-to-grow leafy greens – which won't sustain civilisation on their own – but with advancements in technology Zelkind and Livingston have been able to add more substantial crops like peppers, tomatoes and baby cucumbers. They explain how their farms have incorporated sophisticated technologies in the video below.
80 Acres is a year-round operation that optimises its growing environments based on the plants' genetics, harvests at the peak of ripeness, and relies on a smaller delivery radius to get food to customers within a day of its picking. It's “democratising high-quality food”.
“You can enable people, no matter where they live, to reconnect to the food supply,” Zelkind says.
Image sourced from BBC
Technology has made the duo's goals increasingly achievable – and made indoor farming both more efficient and more affordable. 80 Acres' farms are, on average, 300 to 400 times more productive than field farming, Zelkind says, because the vertical structure creates room for more crops in less space and because the produce grows faster.
At Agricool, which also relies on a tiered growing system, Fourdinier says his containers produce 120 times more sustenance per square meter than in traditional field growing and 15 times more than most greenhouses.
“Ten years ago, this was science fiction,” Zelkind says. “Tomorrow it's going to be so ubiquitous that everybody's going to be doing it and we will think, 'Oh my God, did we really ship our berries 2,000 miles a few years ago?'”
To that end, 80 Acres is commercializing what it's learned through Infinite Acres – a partnership with Netherlands-based horticulture technology firm Priva Holding BV and the UK's online grocery giant Ocado. The project provides the technology, operations help, and necessary infrastructure to help budding farmers and interested municipalities launch their own indoor farms. 80 Acres operates a reference design and demonstration farm in Hamilton, Ohio, that's capable of robotically planting, harvesting, and packaging around 1.5 million pounds (681 tonnes) of leafy greens annually. It proves the “economic feasibility of vertical farming indoors”, Livingston says. “We intend to build a farm like this farm all over the world.”
Which gets to the big question: Can a patchwork of metro area farms actually grow enough to feed future populations?
“To say that it is a solution to all of the ails? No, it's never going to be to me because we don't grow calorie crops in controlled spaces. I think it's a compliment. It can provide resilience on a very local level in that you have multiple [food] sources and you're not relying on just one supply chain,” says Anu Rangarajan, director of the Cornell Small Farms Program, which works to advance the viability of small farms. “It becomes part of a whole platform of food supply.”
In Paris, Agripolis recently opened Nature Urbain Farm on the seventh story of the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. Five gardeners currently tend to the tomatoes, strawberries, eggplant, and even butternut squash growing on the world's largest rooftop farm using a closed-circuit, aeroponics system. The facility is only one-third complete, but there will be room for 20 gardeners to harvest up to 1.1 tons (1,000kg) of 35 varieties of fruit and vegetables every day. This surprising farm on a central Paris rooftop is already bearing fruits.
Image sourced from BBC
Container Farming To Increase Food Security In The Caribbean
As part of our Grow Food Here series, join us for a live conversation with Freight Farmers, Lincoln Deal, and Latesha Gibson from Eeden Farms
Hear How Eeden Farms Is Bringing Fresh,
Local Produce To Their Island.
As part of our Grow Food Here series, join us for a live conversation with Freight Farmers, Lincoln Deal, and Latesha Gibson from Eeden Farms. Throughout the event, we’ll explore how they brought container farming to the Bahamas to reduce the island’s reliance on food imports and serve their local community with the freshest local food available. We’ll also discuss the challenges farmers face in the Bahamas, what they’re currently growing in their three container farms and their plans for the future.
At the end of the event, Lincoln and Latesha will answer your questions through the live q & a
Register Now
Wednesday, July 14th, 2021 12 PM EST
Interested In How To Start Farming?
We take you through the whole journey one step at a time. From finding customers to training to delivery logistics, we’ve got you covered.
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Are you interested in learning more about how to become a Freight Farmer? Contact us for additional information on how to get started today.
Freight Farms And CEO Vanzura Set To Reinvent Container Farming
June 17, 2021
The global pressures exacerbated by COVID-19 and the rippling toll it takes on the international community has made one thing clear: preparedness is everything. The Coronavirus has exposed vulnerabilities in the global health network that no one could have imagined. Food production and distribution must now reset their agendas to prepare for catastrophe.
Freight Farms, a 2011 Agtech company that pioneered hydroponics-based container farming, is committed to preparing the world for the next disaster by reinventing the way we grow food.
“Fill in the blank with the institution, how prepared are you for the emerging trends that are impacting the world,” Freight Farms CEO Rick Vanzura explained. “Sustainability issues, land availability, water availability; those issues obviously preceded COVID-19, but we think there’s going to be a greater sense of urgency around folks expecting us to have an answer and be prepared for these global trends, as opposed to being reactive.”
Vanzura looks to channel his decade of experience as a restaurant executive, growing Wahlburgers from a single restaurant to a $100 million dollar institution, as well as greatly expanding Panera Bread, to redefine food production and distribution as a whole.
Freight Farms uses container-based “vertical farming” to do just that, allowing farmers to produce hundreds of high-quality local crops from a 320 square foot shipping container which automates the farming process for maximum efficiency.
Vanzura plans to expand and distribute these self-contained, sustainable farms to a wide diversity of industry segments. The priority will of course be the global communities that need them the most. “We see the Freight Farm as a perfect fit for countries with food access difficulties, short growing seasons and inherently challenging climates. There’s probably no location where having a hyper-local, highly traceable, always available solution isn’t going to make sense in some way,” he added.
In the name of access to high-quality food, in a sustainable model built to withstand a natural disaster, Freight Farms has now distributed their automated, hydroponic farms to 48 U.S states and across the world to 32 different countries, boasting success and efficiency from the Arctic wilderness, to the desert, and to concrete jungles.
Freight Farms believes that its emphasis on access, preparedness, and sustainability will be more necessary than ever in the wake of COVID-19, as well as global trends of food insecurity and environmental uncertainty. Vanzura explained that the company has already reacted to shifting demands by supporting small-scale farmers as they set up drive-through produce stations to reach customers directly.
Freight Farms CEO Rick Vanzura
“Demand during this time for that hyper-local, fresh product has certainly ramped up,” Vanzura added. “Hopefully, once people get a taste of it, they will understand the difference, and post Covid, our containers will become an industry staple.”
Vanzura sees his role as not only expanding to agriculturally vulnerable countries abroad but also increasing access to high-quality food across institutions in the United States. He wants to specifically target universities and has partnered with foodservice provider Sodexo to ensure local food is available to as many people as possible.
Vanzura says he was forced by his children to move beyond the world of crafting a restaurant chain’s vision and use his knowledge to make the world a better place. Freight Farms, with Vanzura’s leadership, has the ability to change the way we think of farming and change the world.
Freight Farms hopes to combat international uncertainty, face the threats of climate change, and provide people with fresh produce regardless of climatic constraints and difficulties. “Healthy food is a right, not a luxury,” and Freight Farms is helping make this mission statement a reality.
Lead photo: A Freight Farms container has unprecedented environmental control and exceptional ease-of-use to unlock your growing potential.
To learn more about Freight Farms and how they are reinventing container farming, visit their website.
Total Food Service is a monthly B2B foodservice publication and website covering foodservice and hospitality news, industry trends, and exclusive interviews.
USA: MASSACHUSETTS - New Partnership Will Serve Meals For 400 Youth Per Day
Town to Table, a Boston-based container farm company, announced a partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, an organization that accommodates kids in out-of-school-time hours
Town to Table, a Boston-based container farm company, announced a partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, an organization that accommodates kids in out-of-school-time hoursy
Town to Table, a Boston-based container farm company, announced a partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, an organization that accommodates kids in out-of-school-time hours.
"Together, we are operating two Freight Farms that will serve community members, food pantries, non-profits organizations, and the Clubs’ Kids Café Healthy Meals program which provides meals for 400 youth per day and serves more than 100,000 meals annually," said Town to Table on their LinkedIn page.
The farm will also be used as an educational resource to provide hands-on learning experiences for Club members with curricula-focused food systems, food justice, nutrition, and sustainability.
For more information:
Town to Table
https://towntotable.com
Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South
Publication date: Fri 11 Jun 2021
Vertical Roots Opens Third Indoor Hydroponic Container Farm
Vertical Roots, a vertical farming company which grows its leafy greens in repurposed shipping containers year-round, has opened its third indoor farm in Atlanta, Georgia, reducing produce transportation and expanding access to fresh, locally-grown leafy greens.
14-June-2021
By Mary Ellen Shoup
Vertical Roots, a vertical farming company which grows its leafy greens in repurposed shipping containers year-round, has opened its third indoor farm in Atlanta, Georgia, reducing produce transportation and expanding access to fresh, locally-grown leafy greens.
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Source Courtesy of Food Navigator-usa.com
CANADA: The Value of Hyper-Local Produce
At Yellowknife Co-op, produce is grown steps away from the store in a container farm!
The hyper-local food trend is more than just a fad: there’s a reason that hyper-local food is catching on in a big way. If you’re thinking about growing hyper-local food, it’s important to understand the value of the product and its market position.
At Yellowknife Co-op, produce is grown steps away from the store in a container farm!
BUT FIRST, WHAT IS HYPER-LOCAL FOOD?
Where does that ‘local’ head of lettuce you pick up from the grocery store actually come from? The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) defines ‘local food’ as being grown in the province where it’s being sold, or within 50km of the border. But hyper-local food is even more local than being from the same province or being Canadian-grown. It is usually grown within the same town or city, or a short distance from where it’s being sold (sometimes even right behind the store!).
BENEFITS OF HYPER-LOCALLY GROWN FOOD
LOWER FOOD MILES
Hyper-local produce is usually grown within the same town or city, or a short distance from where it’s being sold.
As consumers are becoming more and more aware of the environmental impact of our food choices, the demand to lower food miles is also growing. A food mile can be thought of as the distance that food travels from the grower to the consumer. As a metric, it helps to assess the environmental impact of the foods we consume. A 2012 study showed that on average, 30% of food is imported in Canada, leading to annual emissions of 3.3 million metric tonnes of CO2.
Growing food hyper-locally can result in significantly lower food miles (and as few as zero food miles!) in both urban centres and rural communities. This reduces the carbon footprint of what you eat.
SUSTAINABLY GROWN
Growing hyper-locally in a hydroponic farming system has further benefits. Water in a closed hydroponic system is captured and reused, resulting in 90% less water use, and 95% less land than conventional farming.
TRACEABLE FOOD CHAIN
Growing hyper-local is completely traceable. This means you know exactly what’s going into your product. There are no synthetic pest control products, less risk for E.Coli, and a shorter supply chain to manage.
FRESHER PRODUCE WITH A LONGER SHELF LIFE
Growing food hyper-locally also means fresher produce and a longer shelf-life. Instead of wilting in a truck for hundreds of kilometers, hyper-local produce is shelf-ready immediately. This has a marked effect on the quality, as most produce loses 30 percent of nutrients just three days after harvest.
Life Water Gardens, a container garden project in Norway House Cree Nation, sells locally-grown produce at the Northern Store. Click here to learn more about the project and hear from its growers!
“When you get your hands on the fresh produce and taste it, you know it’s a good thing for your community in general. It’s really easy to get excited and pumped about [this project].” - Ian Maxwell from Norway House.
“When you get your hands on the fresh produce and taste it, you know it’s a good thing for your community. It’s really easy to get excited and pumped about [this project].”
— Ian Maxwell, co-manager of Life Water Gardens
WHERE IS HYPER-LOCAL PRODUCE POSITIONED IN THE MARKET?
For growers, it’s important to keep in mind that hyper-local food isn’t competing with foreign produce that you typically find in grocery stores. Between locally-grown vs imported food, the wholesale price for foreign produce is cheaper than local produce.
Keep in mind that grocery stores buy produce at wholesale prices, which means that they may buy produce from you at a certain cost, and then sell it with a 30% margin added to the price. When you walk into a grocery store and see produce being sold for $4.99, the reality is that the grocery store-bought it for $3.50 and added a mark up to the final price to help cover their costs of operations.
To find price-compatible products for market research in your area, look for products that will match your future products, such as living lettuce, other hydroponic greens, and other hyper-local, organic produce. Growcer greens belong in the hyper-local, value-added produce category.
GETTING STARTED WITH HYPER-LOCAL FOOD
Growing hyper-local food has many benefits: not only is it fresher, healthier, and better for the planet, it can also be a profitable investment for growers. When crafting your financial projections, keep in mind the value of hyper-local produce and where it sits in the market.
Interested in learning more about our hyper-local hydroponic growing systems? Find out more.
Vertical Roots Expands To Atlanta, Partners With Two Wholesalers
The company partnered with two of the leading Southeastern produce suppliers, Collins Brothers Produce BB #:128652 and Phoenix Wholesale Foodservice BB #:134241, to place the farm directly at their facilities
June 11, 2021
CHARLESTON, S.C., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Vertical Roots, the largest hydroponic container farm in the U.S. sustainably growing fresh leafy greens year-round, opened its third indoor farm in Atlanta, Georgia this June.
The company partnered with two of the leading Southeastern produce suppliers, Collins Brothers Produce BB #:128652 and Phoenix Wholesale Foodservice BB #:134241, to place the farm directly at their facilities.
The new Atlanta farm site will eliminate the need for produce transportation to the distributor and allow Vertical Roots lettuce to be delivered to local customers the same day it’s harvested.
Located within the Atlanta State Farmers Market, this is phase one of the company’s Atlanta expansion. With farm production underway, Vertical Roots Georgia Grown™ lettuce will be available in grocery stores in July 2021.
Crisp, sweet, tender, or buttery, Vertical Roots lettuces are nutritious, pesticide-free, and come in a wide variety of flavors, colors, and textures for culinary masterpieces and everyday meals. With long lasting freshness, produce is in the hands of consumers within one to three days of being harvested and has up to a 21-day shelf life.
Vertical Roots’ mission is to revolutionize the ways communities grow, distribute, and consume food. Farming directly at distribution hubs is a part of Vertical Roots’ distinctive strategy to eliminate a massive leg of produce transportation in order to reduce emissions and provide communities with fresh, locally-grown produce.
The new Atlanta farmsite will reduce produce transportation by an estimated 300 miles per delivery and will help meet the company’s retail demand that services thousands of grocery stores across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, as well as restaurants, universities, and schools.
“A large part of our mission is to grow food as close to the point of consumption as possible, and this farmsite accomplishes just that,” said Andrew Hare, co-founder, and general manager of Vertical Roots. “The Collins family are esteemed produce industry leaders for three generations, and we’re ecstatic about the unique grower-supplier partnership that we’ve cultivated.”
David Collins, President of Collins Brothers & Phoenix Wholesale Foodservice, said, “At Collins Brothers and Phoenix Wholesale, we’ve had the privilege to work with dedicated farmers across the country for decades. We’re thrilled to partner with Vertical Roots as they bring an innovative way of farming to the agriculture industry. We look forward to this relationship as we share a like-minded mission in providing our customers with high quality, fresh, local produce.”
Vertical Roots’ state-of-the-art indoor farms are manufactured from upcycled shipping containers at the company’s headquarters in Charleston, SC. The farm containers made their way to Atlanta on June 8, where farmers started seeding and transplanting to produce Vertical Roots lettuce within weeks.
A small footprint with a large output, the new farm will produce half a million heads of lettuce this year. Each 320-square-foot container maximizes the growing space with 3,400 plants per harvest, and up to 17 harvests per year.
Vertical Roots farms operate with the highest globally recognized food safety standards, eliminating the need for pesticides of any kind.
An AmplifiedAg, Inc.® company, Vertical Roots operates farms with proprietary software and technology. The farms don’t rely on soil, use up to 95% less water and grow crops 25% faster, compared to traditional farming methods.
About Vertical Roots:
An AmplifiedAg, Inc. company, Vertical Roots is the country’s largest hydroponic container farm and is revolutionizing the ways communities grow, distribute and consume food. Sustainably-grown indoors and pesticide-free, Vertical Roots leafy greens are fresh, clean, nutritious, and delivered to your local grocery store within one to three days of being harvested. Vertical Roots produce is available at thousands of leading grocery stores in 12 Southeastern states, educational institutions, restaurants, and other food service organizations. Vertical Roots operates farms in Charleston, S.C., Columbia, S.C. and Atlanta, Ga.
Tagged greenhouse, lettuce, vertical farming
How UAE Produce Is Taking Over The Dining Table: 'We Are Growing All This On Our Doorstep'
Local farms are reporting a rise in demand, while Atlantis, The Palm resort has introduced an initiative to put UAE produce on its restaurants' tables
Local farms are reporting a rise in demand, while Atlantis, The Palm resort has introduced an initiative to put UAE produce on its restaurants' tables
Oasis Greens is a hydroponic farm located in the Jebel Ali free Zone. All photos by Antonie Robertson / The National unless otherwise mentioned
The concept of a “farm tour” is not what it once was.
Instead of the smell of open mud and fertilizer that I used to equate with a farm, I’m standing inside a pristine, temperature-controlled room that contains rows of herbs and leafy greens stretching out to the ceiling.
I am at Oasis Greens, one of many hydroponic, vertical farms to have cropped up in Dubai over the past few years. In this high-tech environment, seeds are planted into foam, which is placed in a solution that provides plants with all the nutrients they need, while LED lights overhead mimic the rays of the run.
The process involves no messy soil or pests and, by default, no need for pesticides either, while 90 percent less water is used than required by traditional farms. The result is sustainably grown, organic and local produce – from varieties of lettuce (be it butterheads and icebergs) to kale, rocket, and bok choy.
Why buy UAE-grown fruits and veggies?
Oasis Green hydroponic farm, located in Jebel Ali Free Zone. Antonie Robertson / The National
Whether it’s a hydroponic or traditional farm, there are indisputable benefits of opting for local over imported produce, which is being noticed by both consumers and big brands.
Among the latter is Atlantis, The Palm, which has launched a sustainability initiative titled the Atlantis Atlas Project.
One of the cornerstones of this campaign is a pledge to give diners access to dishes that are made with locally sourced and organic ingredients, grown and harvested in the UAE. Kelly Timmins, director of conservation, education and corporate social responsibility at the hotel, says the reason for this is two-fold.
“One of the key focuses for Atlantis is to look at increasing our use of local suppliers and vendors as part of our commitment to drive the whole local economy."
She says using local produce is better for the environment as it reduces freight and the carbon footprint involved with bringing in goods from across the world.
Plants are grown in foam rather than soil in hydroponic farms like Oasis Greens. Antonie Robertson / The National
“We are trying to see how we can source perishable products responsibly. Sustainability is a journey and to get there we need the involvement of our community,” she explains.
To procure fresh ingredients on a daily basis, Atlantis, The Palm has teamed up with Fresh on Table, which works as a facilitator between UAE farms and consumers. The company, which launched in Dubai in 2019, takes orders from hotels, stores and customers online, and co-ordinates with farms to ensure that the product is harvested, packaged and delivered the next day.
According to commercial manager Garima Gambhir, the company has grown month-on-month, and currently works with more than 1,000 farms, as well as big hotel groups.
Home-grown company Fresh on Table supplies products from farms to consumers. Supplied
“Chefs realise that local produce is just fresher and going to last longer on the shelf, as opposed to something that has, say, been imported from [the Netherlands] and passed through three days of transit before reaching the kitchen,” she says.
The pandemic has also had an invariable role to play in the rising demand for local produce.
“When borders and hotels started closing last year, the supply food chain was disrupted. With distributors unable to fulfil contracts from international suppliers, we were able to pitch in because everything was local, reliable, and could be picked up from a farm and delivered in a few hours,” says Gambhir.
Oasis Greens currently grows varieties of lettuce, leafy greens and microgreens. Antonie Robertson / The National
Local farms have also witnessed a spike in demand over the past year. Nikita Patel, founder of Oasis Greens, says despite the pandemic, business has been good, with a notable rise in online orders.
“Everyone has been at home, cooking. And even though we didn’t have a lot of tourists come in, residents weren’t leaving, either,” she says.
“I think the pandemic made people realise that food security isn’t a theoretical thing. In a lot of countries, people were having issues with grocery items running out, but the UAE did a very good job ensuring that didn’t happen. Over the past year, more companies are looking inwards and seeing how they can source local. We are just riding the wave.”
Hydroponic farms in the UAE
At UNS Hydroponic, custom LED lights mimic the rays of the sun, helping plants grow. Antonie Robertson / The National
Oasis Greens grows approximately 12 to 15 types of herbs and leafy greens, and has started cultivating microgreens. “The aim is to get into fruits and vegetables, too,” says Patel. “We want to grow cherry tomatoes, chillies and more.”
Within the industrial area of Al Quoz, meanwhile, grows one of the largest, most lush indoor vertical farms in the region. UNS Farms is home to 16 varieties of leafy greens and 16 varieties of micro greens across a space of 5,600 square metres.
During a tour, executive director Mehlam Murtaza asks us to dip our feet in a solution to ensure we don’t track any crop-destroying bacteria or germs inside, before explaining how different elements can affect the growth of plants.
“Our LED lights are a custom design with a special spectrum. Each colour actually has a different effect on the crop – they can widen the leaf size, make them longer or have another indirect effect,” he says.
The nutritional value of the plant remains unchanged, though, with a lot depending on the quality of the seeds used. The seed also plays a role in the taste – at USN Farms, I’m given two types of basil leaves, Thai and Italian. Despite the fact that both varieties are grown in the UAE, the Italian version is subtle in taste and smell, while the Thai is sharper.
UNS Farms in Al Quoz is spread over 5,600 square metres. Antonie Robertson / The National
“We have just scratched the surface about what we can do,” says Murtaza. In the future, research and development may be able to further tweak the taste of plants, he adds. "Who knows what's next? Maybe cotton-candy-flavoured herbs."
With a number of perks of buying local, it does beg the question: why haven’t hotels been doing this all along?
Murtaza says it’s only in the past couple of years that vertical farms have developed to deal with the volume they need. Even then, the maintenance and power required to run hydroponic farms means only certain crops can be grown at financially feasible rates.
Locally 'farmed' seafood in the UAE
Fish Farm in Jebel Ali grows organic and regular salmon, sea bass, sea bream, yellow tail kingfish and hammour. Antonie Robertson / The National
Supporting local goes beyond leafy greens. While the UAE is blessed with an abundance of seafood, there is still a reliance on imports.
That's something home-grown company Fish Farm is aiming to change. Launched in 2013, the company identified the most in-demand fish species being imported and sought to change this by growing them within the country. It currently produces organic and regular salmon, sea bass, sea bream, yellowtail kingfish, and hammour.
“It’s all part of building our food security,” says chief executive Bader bin Mubarak. “At the moment, less than 10 percent of the fish is locally acquired. We want to be able to cover the entire UAE market.”
The company plans on doing this with the help of three facilities: a caged farming facility in Dibba, a hatchery in Umm Al Quwain, and a land farming facility in Jebel Ali.
At the facility in Jebel Ali, Mubarak explains how juveniles and eggs were first sourced from different parts of the globe to ensure the right genetics.
“But since then, we have been hatching our own fish eggs,” he says. The Fish Farm was the first establishment in the world to grow Atlantic salmon on land, from eggs, Mubarak says.
Fish Farm has recreated ideal marine conditions for various species of fish. Antonie Robertson / The National
Business development manager Edmund Broad agrees that it is all about growing and harvesting seafood in the most sustainable manner possible.
“One of the biggest problems with the seafood industry is the pressure it puts on wild fish stocks, through commercial hunting using huge nets. We are a substitute for this. By growing fish on land in a controlled and secure environment, we are not taking anything from the sea. We’re leaving the oceans alone.”
The farm has recreated the ideal environments required by fish, many of which stem from cold-water countries, such as Scotland and Iceland. The fish swim in an area with appropriate salinity, currents, temperature, pH level, and even lighting.
“We’ve recreated the ideal marine conditions suitable to each species: the Atlantic for the salmon, the Pacific for the yellowtail kingfish, the Gulf for the hammour and the Mediterranean for the sea bass,” explains Broad.
The farm currently produces 3,000 metric tonnes of fish per year. “By 2030, we want 50 per cent of seafood consumed to be produced within the country,” says Broad.
From farm to table
UAE residents can get a taste of these sustainable and local ingredients in some of the best restaurants in the country. Thanks to its sustainability pledge, nine of Atlantis, The Palm's signature restaurants are serving dishes with ingredients grown and harvested in Dubai.
Locally hand picked mushrooms, pecorino and truffle at Bread Street Kitchen. Courtesy Atlantis, The Palm
Guests can tuck into locally produced burrata from Bread Street Kitchen or an organic salmon carpaccio from Seafire Steakhouse. Hakkasan is offering dim sum with locally handpicked chestnut mushrooms while Nobu has a crispy hand-picked shiitake mushroom truffle salad.
Ronda Locatelli, The Shore, Wavehouse, and White Restaurant are some other restaurants offering dishes with sustainable ingredients.
Seven-day dry-aged organic Atlantic salmon, grown in the UAE, is available at Seafire Steakhouse. Courtesy Atlantis, The Palm
Raymond Wong, chef de cuisine at Seafire Steakhouse, says the difference between imported and local ingredients is staggering.
“As a chef, an import order is always challenging as you need to place it three to four days in advance for your produce to come in time. But with this initiative, we can order just a day in advance from sustainable farms in Dubai and the produce is as fresh as it can be.”
He hopes this will encourage other restaurants and hotels to follow suit. “I think it will bring a lot of awareness. A lot of people don’t even know we are growing all this on our doorstep.”
June 13, 2021 07:48 AM