80 Acres Farms Secures $160 Million In Series B Led by General Atlantic To Accelerate Global Farm Expansion & Product Development

August 9, 2021

HAMILTON, OH / ACCESSWIRE / 80 Acres Farms, the industry-leading vertical farming company, has secured $160 million in additional funding in a round led by General Atlantic and joined by Siemens Financial Services, Inc. (the U.S. financing arm of global technology company Siemens). The company intends to utilize the capital for continued expansion and product development, building from its current footprint of vertical farms that yield a diverse offering of high-quality produce.

The funding round also included Blue Earth (formerly PG Impact Investments) and General Atlantic's Beyond Net Zero team, in addition to participation from existing investors including Barclays and Taurus.

80 Acres Farms' vertical farm systems grow the widest variety of produce commercially sold at scale by any vertical farm to-date, including leafy greens, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and microgreens. The company's breakthrough growing technologies and advanced data analytics capabilities have enabled this industry-leading product breadth, driving over 450% revenue growth since the end of 2020. 80 Acres Farms now services over 600 retail and food service locations, including its recent expansion with Kroger, announced earlier this year to 316 stores in the U.S. Midwest and to the e-commerce channel powered by Kroger - Ocado Solutions' partnership. With farms co-located near customers, 80 Acres Farms' produce travels significantly fewer food miles, shortening the farm-to-table footprint and reducing overall food waste. Growing methods at 80 Acres Farms use 97% less water than traditional farming practices and are powered by renewable energy.

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To date, 80 Acres Farms operates eight indoor farms and is committed to supporting and building high-tech production facilities close to regions where fresh produce is consumed. The company has transformed a former factory in Hamilton, Ohio, to a world-class tomato indoor farm, and in 2020, 80 Acres Farms completed construction on a new, 64,000-square-foot, state-of-the art farm with 10 levels of cultivating space. 80 Acres Farms is currently engaged in identifying new farm locations for additional commercial farms to operate at similar scale.

Shaw Joseph, Managing Director of General Atlantic, said: "80 Acres Farms is building an incredibly exciting vertical farming business that provides high-quality produce through innovative practices. With global food consumption increasing and growing threats impacting supply chains and food security, there is a pressing need for healthy, fresh and local foods that are grown in more sustainable and cost-effective ways. We look forward to working closely with Mike, Tisha and the broader 80 Acres Farms' team as they scale."

Jason Thompson, Vice President of Sustainability and Growth Equity at Siemens Financial Services, said, "We are committed to help scale sustainable vertical farming technology. 80 Acres has demonstrated their ability to build and operate profitable farms, and Siemens is enthusiastic about the opportunity to support its global expansion with both our capital and technical know-how, including our recently established Center of Competence dedicated to supporting companies in realizing their digital transformation."

Kayode Akinola, Head of Private Equity Directs at Blue Earth Capital, said, "We are excited to be partnering with General Atlantic and Siemens to provide growth capital and support to Mike, Tisha and the entire 80 Acres team to help scale their operations within existing and new markets."

Mike Zelkind, CEO of 80 Acres Farms, said: "We are proud of what our team has been able to accomplish and enthusiastic about the road ahead. We are also honored to be supported by such a high caliber group of strategic investors who are enabling us to continue to lead this evolving and fast-growing industry. The investment is a quantum leap for the business to build more farms both nationally and globally.

Tisha Livingston, CEO of Infinite Acres, and Co-founder of 80 Acres Farms, said: "The new investment positions the company as the leading proven and profitable technology provider prepared for rapid expansion. In addition, this enables 80 Acres to focus on their operational expertise and deep research and development capabilities beyond leafy greens."

As part of this funding round, Shaw Joseph will join the 80 Acres Farms board. Eli Aheto, former 80 Acres Farms board member, led BeyondNetZero's contributions to this round. "I am pleased to be able to continue and grow my support of 80 Acres with this contribution from the BeyondNetZero team. 80 Acres has proven a farm design that is poised to reduce food miles, food waste and the resulting negative carbon emissions that exist within our food supply chain," said Eli Aheto.

Barclays acted as sole placement agent to 80 Acres on the capital raise.

About 80 Acres Farms

80 Acres Farms is a vertical farming leader providing customers with the freshest, and most nutritious fruits and vegetables at affordable prices. Utilizing world-class technology and analytics, the Company offers customers a wide variety of pesticide-free food with a longer shelf-life that exceeds the highest standards in food safety. Consumers can find 80 Acres' products of just-picked salads, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, and microgreens at Kroger, Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, Dorothy Lane Markets, Jungle Jim's Markets, and key National Foodservice Distributors including Sysco and US Foods.

Media Contact

Rebecca Haders / rebecca.haders@eafarms.com / +1 513-910-9089

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with more than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 400 growth companies throughout its history. Established in 1980 to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and deliver lasting impact, the firm combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to scale innovative businesses around the world. General Atlantic currently has over $65 billion in assets under management and more than 175 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Stamford. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com

General Atlantic also recently formed its BeyondNetZero (BnZ) team to seek out growth companies delivering innovative climate solutions. BnZ looks to identify entrepreneurs with technologies that enable companies to meet and exceed Net Zero emissions targets, with a focus on de-carbonization, energy efficiency, resource conservation and emissions management.

Media Contacts

Mary Armstrong & Emily Japlon / General Atlantic media@generalatlantic.com

Faustine Rohr-Lacoste / Spendesk faustine@spendesk.com

About Siemens Financial Services

Siemens Financial Services (SFS) - the financing arm of Siemens - provides business-to-business financial solutions. A unique combination of financial expertise, risk management and industry know-how enable SFS to create tailored innovative financial solutions. With these, SFS facilitates growth, creates value, enhances competitiveness and helps customers access new technologies. SFS supports investments with equipment and technology financing and leasing, corporate lending, equity investments and project and structured financing. Trade and receivable financing solutions complete the SFS portfolio. With an international network, SFS is well adapted to country-specific legal requirements and able to provide financial solutions globally. Within Siemens, SFS is an expert adviser for financial risks. Siemens Financial Services has its global headquarters in Munich, Germany, and has around 2,800 employees worldwide. www.siemens.com/finance.

About Blue Earth Capital

Blue Earth Capital is a global investment firm focused on sustainability and impact investing. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, with operations in New York, London, Singapore, Luxembourg and Guernsey, Blue Earth Capital seeks to invest in businesses that address pressing environmental and social challenges, whilst generating market-rate financial returns. Initiated in 2015 by Urs Wietlisbach, one of the founders of Partners Group, and backed by the Wietlisbach Foundation, Blue Earth Capital was incubated and built up with the support of Partners Group.

Media Contacts

Urs Baumann / CEO Blue Earth Capital urs.baumann@blueearth.capital

Geoponica Greens, Indoor Vertical Farm, To Open Facility In Hamilton Twp.

August 4, 2021

Geoponica Greens, an indoor hydroponics vertical farm business based in Chesilhurst, is expanding its existing operations to the historic Mill One warehouse in Hamilton Township this fall, the company announced.

Desmond Hayes, founder and owner of Geoponica Greens, said the company utilizes hydroponics, an agricultural practice of growing plants without soil, using only water and nutrients — while avoiding the use of pesticides or insecticides.

By delivering the nutrients straight to the plants’ roots, this grow method is also able to shorten crop cycles, produce the best flavors and level of nutrition and increase the lifespan of the crop, he said.

“Geoponica Greens is dedicated to changing the way food is both grown and realized through our low-waste model and our hyperlocal interaction within nearby areas,” Hayes said.

“New Jersey is strategically located between New York City and Philadelphia, making it the perfect place to reimagine farming. We are especially excited to reach minority communities, Opportunity Zones and food deserts, and introduce our sustainable methods of agriculture to new areas.”

The new warehouse space will support Geoponica Greens’ efforts to provide fresh microgreens, leafy greens and herbs to the local communities, with plans to hire three to five employees and interns in the first year.

Because the produce will be grown in an indoor farm, it is not subjected to the effects of climate seasonality, so the facility will be able to harvest 2-3 tons of greens per year at full capacity, Hayes said.

Geoponica Greens also plans to create a local Community Supported Agriculture program aimed at bringing a subscription-based model to customers.

A minority business owner, Hayes founded Geoponica Greens in 2014.

Choose New Jersey provided Geoponica Greens with state resources information, economic development connections and site selection assistance and will continue to support the company’s success in New Jersey.

Choose New Jersey CEO Jose Lozano said his group was happy to keep such an innovative company within the state.

“True to our nickname as the Garden State and the most densely populated state in the country, it is no surprise that New Jersey is on the forefront of the urban farm movement,” he said.

“Geoponica Greens is an integral part of that movement, and Choose New Jersey is proud to support their continued growth in our state as they bring agricultural innovation to Hamilton and its surrounding communities.”

Geoponica Greens, an indoor hydroponics vertical farm business based in Chesilhurst, is expanding its existing operations to the historic Mill One warehouse in Hamilton Township this fall, the company announced.

Desmond Hayes, founder and owner of Geoponica Greens, said the company utilizes hydroponics, an agricultural practice of growing plants without soil, using only water and nutrients — while avoiding the use of pesticides or insecticides.

By delivering the nutrients straight to the plants’ roots, this grow method is also able to shorten crop cycles, produce the best flavors and level of nutrition and increase the lifespan of the crop, he said.

“Geoponica Greens is dedicated to changing the way food is both grown and realized through our low-waste model and our hyperlocal interaction within nearby areas,” Hayes said.

“New Jersey is strategically located between New York City and Philadelphia, making it the perfect place to reimagine farming. We are especially excited to reach minority communities, Opportunity Zones and food deserts, and introduce our sustainable methods of agriculture to new areas.”

The new warehouse space will support Geoponica Greens’ efforts to provide fresh microgreens, leafy greens and herbs to the local communities, with plans to hire three to five employees and interns in the first year.

Because the produce will be grown in an indoor farm, it is not subjected to the effects of climate seasonality, so the facility will be able to harvest 2-3 tons of greens per year at full capacity, Hayes said.

Geoponica Greens also plans to create a local Community Supported Agriculture program aimed at bringing a subscription-based model to customers.

About Mill One and Geoponica Greens

The historic Mill One warehouse was once home to notable Atlantic Products Corp. during the World War II era in the Trenton area. The 2,000-square-foot warehouse was selected because of its important features that will support Geoponica Greens’ hydroponics operations. With high ceilings, skylights and exposed brick walls, the impressive existing warehouse is being renovated to become a modern, sustainable space.

A minority business owner, Hayes founded Geoponica Greens in 2014.

Choose New Jersey provided Geoponica Greens with state resources information, economic development connections and site selection assistance and will continue to support the company’s success in New Jersey.

Choose New Jersey CEO Jose Lozano said his group was happy to keep such an innovative company within the state.

“True to our nickname as the Garden State and the most densely populated state in the country, it is no surprise that New Jersey is on the forefront of the urban farm movement,” he said.

“Geoponica Greens is an integral part of that movement, and Choose New Jersey is proud to support their continued growth in our state as they bring agricultural innovation to Hamilton and its surrounding communities.”

Lead Photo: Geoponica greens uses hydroponic techniques to grow produce. - Geoponica Greens

SRUC To Build Vertical Farm

By Michael Barker

August 9, 2021

Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) will be the first higher education institute in Scotland to open a vertical farm for research and education.

The project, which has received a £200,000 grant from the Scottish Government, will be used in key research into plant and crop science, and will also be used by students. SRUC will build the half million-pound facility at its King’s Buildings campus in Edinburgh next year.

The facility will grow nutrient-dense fruit and vegetables that have specific human health qualities. It will also analyse crop yield and growth rates with all resource inputs to compare their carbon footprint to other production systems.

It will operate on renewable energy sources from the national grid, supported by battery technology to manage peaks in energy demand. The project will be going out to tender in the coming weeks.

With only a handful of commercial vertical farms in Scotland, the facility will be important for demonstration and knowledge exchange with farmers, growers and small businesses, giving vital support and promoting innovation, SRUC said.

Mairi Gougeon, cabinet secretary for rural affairs and islands, said: “As we look to produce more fruits and vegetables locally, vertical farming could provide us with a way to make better use of our land. It’s an exciting and innovative field that could bring us real benefits and it is important that we have the skills in Scotland to take advantage of this technology.

“By supporting the industry at an early stage, we can assess these benefits and help to focus our long-term strategy. We will also be reaching out to the wider industry to explore in further detail the opportunities low-carbon vertical farming offers. We will work together to establish the future of vertical farming in Scotland.”

Lead Photo: New facility will grow nutrient-dense fruit and vegetables that have specific human health qualities

Smart Farms: Getting To the Heart of The Matter

August 3, 2021

Take a look behind the scenes of vertical plant automation and find out what it takes to bring a smart farm to life with exciting exploded-view diagrams.

Labour costs account for up to 50% of the market price of vegetables, berries, and herbs. However, just like the tractor that once transformed agriculture, the new technological revolution greatly reduces the need for manual, skilled and specialist labour. Today, the work is done by a team of robots, sensors, artificial intelligence, and a core team of highly skilled professionals who manage hundreds of farms at once using special software. As a result, we witness the “battle for the harvest” moving into the IT domain.

A vertical farm functions as an organism, and its equipment can be compared to human organ systems. Its sensors and senders are the nervous system, its air conditioners and dehumidifiers act as the respiratory system, while the solution supply pipeline represents the circulatory system. We can compare the nutrient mixing unit to the endocrine system, tray conveyors and lifts to muscles. Naturally, this organism has a “brain” — the Growtune IT platform.

The degree to which the brain can accurately and confidently “take control” determines how ready various systems, nodes, and technologies are to operate without human intervention. Below, we describe all of the tech that lies inside a vertical farm. How, where, and at what production stages does the automation work? For this purpose, we’ll leverage the somewhat forgotten “exploded-view diagram” style. This way, we'll be able to show all the devices the farm uses to take care of the plants.

1. Breathing: ventilation and air conditioning

Let’s remember biology classes. Plants use photosynthesis to turn light, water and CO2 into oxygen and energy. By doing so, they can consume far more CO2 than is normally present in the air. Since the farm, like a space station, uses a closed-loop air exchange system, with no air inflow from the street, creating an optimal environment and climate for plants is purely an engineering challenge. This includes purifying, conditioning, and adding some CO2 to the room to allow plants breathe freely and grow intensively.

“People who walk into a vertical farm for the first time notice how nice and clean the air is. That’s no surprise because it doesn’t contain any dust — there’s nowhere dust can appear from in the closed-loop circuit of the farm.

Alexey Novokreshchenko, Head of Automation at iFarm

The farm has multiple air conditioning units. It’s not just a matter of maintaining a certain temperature and humidity. We need to make sure that the climate is as homogeneous as possible throughout the entire arm, including at different heights. So, instead of one super-powerful unit, we install several medium-sized devices. This provides the right air circulation and creates a failure-proof system.

Hydroponic technologies tend to create a lot of moisture, and the farm air typically needs to be dehumidified (iFarm has developed and patented a dehumidification system that allows you to reuse this water to feed your plants). There are times, though, when you need to do the opposite: for example, you may need to humidify the air, especially at the initial stage of starting a farm when you don’t have a lot of plants.

2. Energy: grow lights

Photosynthesis, that is the conversion of light energy into chemical energy, only occurs when there is light. Agronomists call artificial lighting of plants “supplemental lighting”. It may vary from one area of the farm to another, depending on the crop and its cultivation phase. The light control unit creates “day” and “night” conditions for plants. The most frequent setup resembles a nice summer day: 14–16 hours of light and 8–10 hours of darkness. Darkness is crucial: the night is when cellular respiration occurs and other important processes take place.

“The plant depends on the day-and-night schedule. Its structure and maturation phases vary depending on the light cycle. Keep the microgreen sprouts in the dark a little longer, and they'll stretch out but will become coarser. By changing the lighting, you can experiment with taste. For example, if you keep sunflower microgreens in the dark for 10 days and then expose them to the light for a full day, you’ll get long and very sweet sprouts.”

Nikolai Podvigin, Head of the Agrolaboratory at iFarm

Agronomists at pilot farms refine cultivation flow charts. For example, they are currently experimenting with variable brightness to grow pine strawberries: the lamps are equipped with a dimmer so you can gradually add brightness. It seems that the agronomists’ hypothesis holds true — the berry evidently "enjoys" long dawns. Through smooth, incremental changes in lighting, the osmotic pressure in the stem and leaves grows gradually, whereas its surge upon sudden light exposure can have a tissue-damaging effect.

Sometimes you have to focus not only on what the plants need but also on organisational or purely economic factors. For example, the cost of electricity. True, the lamps we manufacture and install in racks are highly energy-efficient: they convert every watt of electricity into 0.6 watts of photosynthetically active radiation (FAR). Still, energy costs make up a large portion of the costs of growing herbs indoors. Automation can (and should) be leveraged to ensure optimal load distribution. If the farm can use a night rate, we change “days” with “nights” and reschedule the supplemental lighting for the nighttime to minimise operating costs.

3. Nutrition: irrigation and nutrient solution supply

The nutrient solution is made from several components stored in individual containers which can easily be replaced. The solution is prepared in the mixing unit, a sophisticated automated system capable of mixing dozens of litres of stock solutions with high precision and in the right proportions.

The nutrient solution is delivered to the roots of the plants through a tube system. Since the specific recipe depends on the type of the plant and its cultivation stage, the system continuously monitors (and sometimes adjusts) the composition of the solution.

“Plants eat and plants drink. We provide them with both by mixing nutrition with water. This water continuously runs through the rack. To create an individual “menu” for each plant type, we divide the farm into different watering areas and install an additional storage tank in each of them. Each area is equipped with an additional set of sensors that dynamically monitor the changes in the solution. In fact, these sensors control whether the plant “ate well” today and whether they have everything they need.”

Alexey Novokreshchenko, Head of Automation at iFarm

The water used for preparing the solution is added to the system after it is properly treated with a reverse osmosis filter. This removes contaminants, such as minerals, heavy metals, bacteria and viruses, leaving the water virtually pure.

4. Well-being: IoT sensors

The purity of the source water, the ratio of nutrients in the solution, its acidity, the brightness of the light, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, temperature, and humidity — you need to control all these things with precision. A large farm can have hundreds of sensors.

Based on sensor measurements, the farm's central processing unit controls the equipment and hardware in real-time, always keeping climatic and biochemical parameters within the limits set by the cultivation flow chart.

If these limits are exceeded, it triggers an alarm and remote technicians are alerted. The algorithm helps identify potential human errors, among other things. For example, it will immediately alert you if a technician incorrectly replaces the cans with the source materials for the solution.

“Plants can be extremely sensitive, some may “dislike” even a one-degree deviation from the usual temperature. We covered the racks with sensors and cameras so we could understand what a crop is sensitive to during cultivation. Now we’ve stabilised the process by defining the optimal number of devices to ensure accurate environment control.

Nikolai Podvigin, Head of the Agrolaboratory at iFarm

5. Analytics: computer processing of Big Data

The “head” of the system is a cloud server. It collates and computes data indirectly from the array of actual measurements collected. For example, it calculates the efficiency of air circulation across the farm based on the data from all of the climatic sensors. What’s even more important is the ability of Growtune, the farm management software platform, to process all of the Big Data collected on the farm.

“The algorithms we use to prepare nutrient solutions are based both on recipes and on the processing of collected data. The outcomes of plant nutrition in previous cycles affect future mixing. The controller monitors the plants’ reaction to “dinner” on the previous day and adjusts the solution accordingly. And, after reviewing the combined data from different farms, we gradually optimise the flow charts.”

Alexey Novokreshchenko, Head of Automation at iFarm

Farms are increasingly using machine vision in their “nervous system”. Images from the cameras installed on the racks are analysed by a neural network trained to determine if the plants are healthy. Technicians can also use this neural network by uploading a picture of plants through a chatbot to gain critical information about its health. Another neural network calculates the dynamics of herbage mass accumulation using the same stationary video cameras or drone cameras.

6. Movement: automation of tray movements

Problems usually dealt with by rare and expensive specialists, agronomists, biochemists, and phytopathologists can be solved using artificial intelligence, special equipment, or remote consultants. But, until recently, there hasn’t been a fully automatic farm where electronics also handle routine manual work, such as moving trays.

In February 2021, iFarm engineers implemented and tested a design prototype of a fully automated vertical farm. It features a conveyor belt that moves trays with pots through the planting, germination, growth, ripening, and cutting areas. The farm can also be equipped with individual robot modules for packaging products and preparing trays for the next cycle.

7. A human helping hand

As with any sophisticated modern equipment, an automated farm has special service message protocols. Naturally, these protocols are intended for a person, such as an employee of a certified service provider. Automatic warnings about errors, worn-out nodes, or the need for consumables to be replaced translate into assignments for replenishment or troubleshooting.

The reports of deviations in the growth of herbs are handled by an iFarm agronomist. The first thing this expert does is double-check that the actual conditions match the ones in the flow chart. They then go through a list of tasks almost identical to the sections of this article. So, what’s happening with the air, climate, energy, and nutrition of the plants on the farm? Do the sensors provide correct data? When suspecting a technical failure, the agronomist connects a service employee to the diagnostic interface with one click. They can also connect to the technician’s camera or AR glasses if the employee is already on site.

“We have several continuous operation circuits, millions of second-by-second measurements, sensors, robots, conveyors, drones, cameras, and neural networks. It seems we’ve automated almost everything we can. The only thing you can’t automate is the R&D process itself. This is why people in the company focus on this process. And this is exactly why we are fighting for strategic investments.”

USA - VIRGINIA - Urban Farm In Newport News Aims To Reduce Food Insecurity. It’s Not A ‘Handout,’ It’s A ‘Hand Up.’

By Sonia Rao

July 20, 2021

NEWPORT NEWS — Judge Graham knelt over a row of bare soil and the occasional yellow marigold, planting seeds. In a little over a month, he hopes, the bed near Zion Baptist Church will be bursting with ripe tomatoes. The tomatoes, and the rest of the food Graham and other volunteers are growing, will go to the surrounding community.

Graham was gardening on a recent Saturday morning in a farm run by Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture, which wants to create a healthy, sustainable food system in the neighborhood. The farm is a partnership between the church and the Newport News-based nonprofit, which is working to reduce food insecurity through farming and educational programming.

On Aug. 14, the farm will open its first farmers market, which will take EBT and SNAP payments.

“The ones that can afford to pay, fine, but I’m not gonna turn anybody away,” said Graham, who helped start the group. “Anybody that shows up is gonna go home with some groceries.”

The area around Zion Baptist is a food desert, said Renee Foster, founder of Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture. It has only one grocery store, a Piggly Wiggly, and many residents are low-income and don’t have transportation to drive elsewhere.

The garden has been around for four years and Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture has managed it for two. All of its workers are volunteers, including high school students, veterans and service members. This year, the farm is expected to grow about 3,500 pounds of produce. Graham and Foster also deliver food to older adults who can’t come out because of health concerns or a lack of transportation.

Graham said the farm is also a teaching garden, so he treats it as a place for visitors and volunteers to get hands-on experience.

On June 25, a group from the Coast Guard came to volunteer. This was the first time Petty Officer 2nd Class Stacey Maine gardened. But by the end of the hour, she was explaining how to weed and cut asparagus.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Stacey Maine weeds a vegetable bed in the urban garden near the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and 21st Street in Newport News. (Kaitlin McKeown/Virginia Media)

Some people drive from Norfolk, Chesapeake or Virginia Beach to volunteer.

On the left of the 34-by-100-foot garden is an orchard of peach, plum, apple, fig, pear, cherry and nectarine trees. Next to the orchard are rows of tomatoes, butternut squash, strawberries, asparagus and radishes, and a garden of herbs with basil, sage, lemongrass and stevia. At the back is a collection of chili, tabasco, habanero and ghost peppers. A sign says “Judge’s ’HOT Pepper Zone’ ” with an image of a skull and crossbones to warn children away. Children, Graham said, often mistake the peppers for strawberries.

Interspersed between the crops are bright pink, purple, red and yellow flowers. They bring in pollinators like bees and hummingbirds, Graham said.

The farm also has more than eight types of sweet potatoes, all donated by Clifton Slade, who owns Slade Farms in Surry. Slade donated 270 slips of sweet potatoes. Other donors include The Virginia Small Farm Resource Center, Tidewater Community College’s horticultural program and the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center. The farm gets the rest of its supplies from Norfolk Feed and Seed or Slade Farms. Everything the garden grows is organic, Graham said.

Foster said she’s excited to start hosting more events now that more people are vaccinated and pandemic restrictions have been lifted. The farm has been having movie nights when children can come to have fun and learn about the garden.

She hopes the market will turn enough of a profit so that she can put more food back into the ground. She’s also raising $10,000 to start a “Drones in Agriculture” program to introduce children to careers in agriculture, science, technology, engineering and math. Children will learn how to code and fly drones, which will be used for agriculture scanning — mapping out the layout of the garden and recording plant health.

Foster hopes eventually to raise enough money to hire a part-time farm manager and create more urban farms across Hampton Roads. She and the other board members of her group work full-time jobs, so managing even one is difficult.

“It takes many, many hands,” she said.

At the end of the day, the goal is to empower food-insecure communities to create and maintain access to healthy food.

“We don’t want to give them a handout,” Graham said. “We want to give them a hand up.”

Lead Photo: Volunteers weed a vegetable bed in a garden on Friday, June 25, 2021, near the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and 21st Street in Newport News, Va. The garden is a partnership between Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture and Zion Baptist Church. (Kaitlin McKeown/Virginia Media)

FI Report Preview: Vertical Farming Concept Experiencing Immense Growth

By Kelly Beaton

July 19, 2021

Vertical farming is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, the evolving form of agriculture has become a multibillion-dollar industry and is expected to reach $12.77 by 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 25%, according to Allied Market Research.

Quite simply, the concept “has gone viral,” said Dr. Dickson Despommier, a professor at Columbia University.

And Despommier should know. After all, he’s credited with conceiving the concept, back in 1999, during an especially spirited Medical Ecology course.

The Food Institute recently interviewed Despommier at length, in advance of its in-depth report on vertical farming, which is set to be published Tuesday (you can eventually download the report here). Here’s some exclusive content from that interview, which discussed numerous aspects of indoor farming, also known as controlled-environment agriculture (or CEA):

HOW WOULD YOU PERSONALLY DEFINE INDOOR FARMING AND VERTICAL FARMING?

Despommier: “Indoor farming includes all indoor farms, including vertical farms, and it also includes greenhouses. The only difference between a vertical farm and a greenhouse is height, because you can’t just set greenhouses on top of each other.

“Vertical farms have grow lights. If you use grow lights … you get more nutritious plants as a result of that, because you can tweak those lights to cause the plants to produce more things that we need, like vitamins.”

IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT’S A KEY BENEFIT PROVIDED BY VERTICAL FARMING?

Despommier: “By manipulating the indoor lighting systems … you can create plants that you could never grow outside. That’s one of the advantages.”

WHICH COUNTRIES ARE EMBRACING VERTICAL FARMING THE MOST?

Despommier: “The country that’s really got the most [vertical farming facilities] is Japan – Japan now has hundreds of vertical farms throughout the country, and they’re doing quite well. Taiwan has about 150, last I heard. Singapore has countrywide demand for locally produced food. The United States has a fair number, I would say in the neighborhood of 100, to 150.

HOW DO YOU ENVISION VERTICAL FARMING GROWING IN THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS?

Despommier: “I think the next issue will be, how can we franchise ourselves into a complete grocery store. And I know companies that are already doing that, so that’s in the wings. And, I think in another 5 years you’re going to see a versatility of crop selection that will force everything else into competition, and therefore [vertical farming] will succeed. That’s in the next 5 to 10 years.”

An Action Plan To Ensure Food Security In Kashmir

By Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat

July 9, 2021

The majority of the farmers in Jammu and Kashmir are officially recognized as marginal farmers because of very small land holdings. The agricultural landholdings in J&K was estimated at 0.55 hectares during the agriculture census 2015-16, but unofficially this is much smaller (around 0.45 hectares ). In Kashmir valley, the size is even smaller. During the 2010-2011 agriculture census, the average size of operational land holdings in India was 1.15 hectares. This figure was lower, at 0.62 hectares in Jammu and Kashmir. Districts in Kashmir valley had even lower landholding sizes than the state as a whole. Kulgam 0.39 hectares Anantnag 0.39 , Shopian 0.56, Pulwama 0.48, Srinagar 0.31, Budgam 0.43, Baramulla 0.51, Ganderbal 0.37, Kupwara 0.51, Bandipora 0.48. These figures again came down during the 2015-16 census. I have written in detail about it in past.

In Kashmir valley, where most farmers own less than an acre of land, any Government policy related to land acquisition, especially for “development projects”, needs to take into account the fragile mountainous environment and climatic conditions as well. At a time when the agricultural land is shrinking day by day and population on rise, what is the future of agriculture in Jammu & Kashmir especially the Kashmir valley?

World population by 2040

The world's overall population is expected to increase by another 2 billion by 2040. Feeding such a large population will be the most challenging task ? Scientific studies show earth has lost one- fourth of its arable lands over the last

50 years only? India has a huge population. Urbanization and industrialization is shrinking its agricultural land. The Vertical farming is the solution to these challenges. This type of farming is an innovative way of maintaining our agricultural practices. In India, vertical farming is mostly polyhouse-based farming. Poly-house farming is a protected way that gives higher productivity and yield of vegetables and fruits across India. Increasing food demand due to a growing population along with ever decreasing arable lands poses one of the greatest challenges for us. Many believe that vertical farming can be the answer to this challenge. It is believed that vertical farming is the future of agriculture. For a place like Kashmir it is indeed the solution to ensure food security in future

What Is Vertical Farming ?

Vertical farming is the practice of producing food on vertically inclined surfaces. Instead of farming vegetables and other foods on a single level, such as in a field or a greenhouse, this method produces foods in vertically stacked layers commonly integrated into other structures like a skyscraper, shipping container or repurposed warehouse. Using Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technology. This modern idea uses indoor farming techniques. The artificial control of temperature, light, humidity, and gases makes producing foods and medicine indoor possible. In many ways, vertical farming is similar to greenhouses where metal reflectors and artificial lighting augment natural sunlight. The primary goal of vertical farming is maximizing crops output in a limited space.

Firstly, the primary goal of vertical farming is producing more foods per square meter. To accomplish this goal, crops are cultivated in stacked layers in a tower life structure. Secondly, a perfect combination of natural and artificial lights is used to maintain the perfect light level in the room. Technologies such as rotating beds are used to improve lighting efficiency. Thirdly, instead of soil, aeroponic, aquaponic or hydroponic growing mediums are used. Peat moss or coconut husks and similar non-soil mediums are very common in vertical farming. Finally, the vertical farming method uses various sustainability features to offset the energy cost of farming. In fact, vertical farming uses 95% less water.

Vertical farming in J&K

As discussed above the agricultural land holding in Jammu & Kashmir is very less. The government is in the process of acquiring more and more agricultural land for highways and transmission lines. More than than 800 acres of highly fertile agriculture land is being acquired for the Srinagar Ring Semi Road project. Budgam alone is loosing more than 600 acres of vegetable, paddy and orchard land (4800 kanals). Right to Fair compensation act which is applicable in J&K post article 370 abrogation is not applied as the 2017 notification has become null and void due to efflux of time. Dozens of villages in Pulwama, Budgam, Srinagar and Ganderbal are affected by the land acquisition process for this project. We already lost a lot of agricultural land during construction of Qazigund – Baramulla railway line. Due to urbanization a lot of paddy fields were converted into housing colonies around Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts. Shopping malls, hospitals, schools have come up on agricultural land. Have we ever thought about our future generation ? Will people in Kashmir valley be able to grow vegetables or paddy in 2050 ? No not at all. What is the solution? Why are our agri –scientists and researchers not coming forward and guiding people on vertical farming?

Advantages of Vertical farming

Vertical farming has a lot of advantages. However, there are some challenges as well. The advantages are listed below :

• Preparation for the Future:
  In the next 30 to 35 years around 70 % of the world population is expected to live in urban areas, and the population growth will demand more food. The efficient use of vertical farming may perhaps play a significant role in facing such challenges.

• Year-Round Crop Production:

The vertical farming ensures to produce more crops from the same square footage of growing area. In fact, 1 acre (8 kanals) of an indoor area offers equivalent production to at least 4-6 acres of outdoor capacity. According to an estimate, a 30-story building with a base area of 5 acres can potentially produce an equivalent of 2,400 acres of conventional horizontal farming. Additionally, year-round crop production is possible in a controlled indoor environment which is completely controlled by vertical farming technologies. This is indeed a very useful technique for a place like Kashmir in view of shrinking farm lands and harsh winter months. Vertical farming allows us to produce crops with 70% to 95% less water than required for normal cultivation.

• Production of Organic Crops:

As crops are produced in a well-controlled indoor environment without the use of chemical pesticides, vertical farming allows us to grow pesticide-free and organic crops. Indoor vertical farming can significantly lessen the occupational hazards associated with traditional farming. Farmers are not exposed to hazards related to heavy farming equipment, diseases like malaria, poisonous chemicals and so on. As it does not disturb animals and trees inland areas, it is good for biodiversity as well

Challenges

• Difficulties with Pollination

Vertical farming takes place in a controlled environment without the presence of insects. As such, the pollination process needs to be done manually, which will be labor intensive and costly.

• Labor Costs

As high as energy costs are in vertical farming, labour costs can be even higher due to their concentration in urban centers where wages are higher, as well as the need for more skilled labor. Automation in vertical farms, however, may lead to the need for fewer workers. Manual pollination may become one of the more labor-intensive functions in vertical farms.

Conclusion

The constant shrinking of agriculture land is a big challenge at global level as discussed above. For a place like Kashmir valley the shrinking of agricultural land due to urbanization and population growth will lead to food crises in future. Vertical farming is the only hope now and our agriculture scientists, universities and research institutions need to shift their focus on vertical farming....

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.

Lead Photo: Why are our agri-scientists not coming forward, and guiding people on vertical farming?

Manage Only The Environment That Matters: The Canopy

July 5, 2021

“We offer a completely integrated product and take all of the guesswork out, whether it relates to chillers, controls, air handling units, adjustable nozzles, etc.,” says Emil Breza, co-founder, president and CEO of AgricUltra Advancements.

AgricUltra is a Canadian company that designs and develops turnkey, multi-layer grow platforms that are engineered to optimize inter-canopy control and management. The company also conducts research and development related to UV lighting.

AgricUltra Advancements was officially incorporated in August 2018 and specializes in four keys areas: controlled environment agriculture, computational fluid dynamics analysis (CFD), systems design & engineering and photobiology. While the company designed its systems for medical cannabis production, AgricUltra believes that its system can be applied to any vertical farm and will be trialing berry production at its new research center and unit.

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Decisions rooted in CFD analysis
As Emil explains, computational fluid dynamics modeling allows the company to accurately model airflow in an existing or proposed grow room. AgricUltra can visualize how heat, humidity and temperature interact to create humidity pockets, temperature stratifications or impeded airflow.

“At AgricUltra, we create a very accurate representation of the physical environment (from room level to canopy level) as well as the environmental setpoints (Temp, RH, CFM, heat inputs, etc) and let the software compute the complex interactions that result. Then we can identify problem areas and come up with viable solutions. That’s the power of CFD analysis. It helps you find mistakes that you can’t otherwise see,” says Emil.

Read the complete article at: Vertical Farm Daily

For more information:
Emil Breza, Co-Founder, President and CEO
AgricUltra Advancements
www.agricultra.com
yanna@agricultra.com

Bucolic Kailash, An Agritech Startup, Brings “Computerized Farms” From The Future!

July 6, 2021

At the futuristic and smart agritech start-up “Bucolic Kailash”, a mission is becoming more real every day; the vision that soon in the very near future, starting and running farms profitably, will be as easy as downloading an app.

Bucolic Kailash researches, manufactures and markets user-friendly life-growing computers. These computers are meant to enable economic and nutritional autonomy for its users. For example, one of the patented life-growing computers at Bucolic testing labs grows as much as Rs. 25 lakh worth of healthy produce annually in just 100 sq ft space with operational expenses of under Rs. 50,000/month for the user. Systems like these can be started with as low as 3 sq ft of space and scaled up with time.

Bucolic Kailash’s Vertical Garden and Vertical Farm System series are made to deliver super intensive and sustainable cultivation that is 100% organic, without soil and achieves more than 90% of water and energy saving. The smart agritech company has developed and acquired multiple patents on products and technologies that have shown promising results in the scope of personal, organized, and organic aquaponics farms. Their hydroponics computers grow up to 84 plants, vegetables, and salads in 1 sq ft. Their mushroom farming computers grow 50 Kgs of mushrooms in 3 sq ft every 45 days. Their fish-farming computer designs yield up to 800 Kgs of shrimps in just 10 sq mt every 150 days. All of this is achieved with IT, IoT and their custom developed life-growing AI. The Systems are engineered by closely working with its early customers and focusing on ease of use, AI & IoT powered automation and distribution. Engineering, Manufacturing, and IT has been the most guiding product shaper for the company’s early success.

Bucolic Kailash has unlocked a huge market for vertical farming, fish farming and hydroponic personal gardens.Their use of technological intervention empowers people to cultivate and harvest every day and in the comfort of their own homes through most efficient and effective ways. The company’s new offering under Vertical Garden system series ‘Tree of Wisdom – Eleganté’ is by far the most groundbreaking vertical hydroponics system the world has ever seen before. The product complies with ISO 9001:2015 for best in grade Quality Management and has been tested to meet the required hydroponics system parameter controls, as well as the state-of-art features. Tree of Wisdom - Eleganté has been doing well since its launch on 11th May 2021 at amazon.in.

The Company was founded by Mr. Utkarsh Sinha in March 2020 and now the company is a community of 18 carefully selected and nurtured members. During our interview with the founder, we found him very engaged and excited about the road ahead. Utkarsh graduated in MCIT-Computing from The University of Melbourne and B. Tech from MIT, Manipal. According to him, having worked with Godrej's R&D, Honeywell Aero HTS, Fagerhult OR Tech teams in India and Australia, helped him manage the company’s departments, processes, and make shipments possible from concept-to-product, even during the pandemic. The company runs its fully functional aquaponic devices manufacturing facility in Manipal on lean manufacturing and quality control principles.

On further talking with the founder, we found that the company’s mission with its life-growing computers is to ultimately enable community empowerment and economic development. The company believes that such life-changing science and technology should be available as user-friendly products. In the founder’s words, “It was a contrasting journey that I took back home to India in 2019 while having employment opportunities from companies in Australia that made me reflect upon my priorities and self-actualization needs. I wish to make communities exchange value through healthy food and money that can make coexistence wholesome.” We believe that Bucolic Kailash is a futuristic company that understands the needs of today's communities and a fast-changing world. They develop and market environmentally friendly agritech computers. The company has raised partial seed-funding after a year of setting up its manufacturing factory and distribution channels and they plan to expand their life-growing computers reach to a wider niche and the tap global market in the next 6 months.

Visit www.bucolic.ltd for more inspiration and information