Emerging Needs In Vertical Farming And Cannabis Cultivation
15 January 2021
Jacco Strating
Yves Bélanger of Montel Inc. believes that COVID-19 has only increased the need to grow locally and inside cities. He speaks about why the development of vertical farming will continue considerably in the coming years.
The development of vertical farming will continue considerably in the coming years, according to Montel Inc.. With the company’s Vertical Farming Systems Montel expects a very high volume of new projects in both food and cannabis. “COVID-19 has only increased the need to grow locally and inside cities”, says Yves Bélanger, VP Sales Vertical Farming Market International.
Established in 1924, Montel pioneered high-density mobile storage systems providing cost-efficient storage solutions using less space and established a global network of authorized Montel distributors. Montel's achievements include some of the most prestigious projects in North America and around the world. “Prior to becoming North America's leading manufacturer of mobile systems, we had acquired nearly 40 years' experience in the electrical industry, including extensive involvement in the construction of generating stations and power grids for major world-leading hydroelectricity plants. This explains our expertise and the exceptional quality of our electrical mobile systems”, says Bélanger.
Inventive ways to feed the world
Before the crisis, it was already accepted as a general consensus that we are facing a complex challenge: we will need inventive ways to feed to growing population but the potential and land availability for cultivation has almost reached its maximum capacity. Also rising before the crisis was the global trend of growing locally due to a variety of factors or needs: in regions in which climate is a challenge, in remote areas, where there is water or soil rarity, aiming at lowering the carbon footprint, increasing product short shelf life, cutting down on transportation, etc. “In the long term, we feel that the current crisis will accelerate tremendously and definitely crystallize the need to grow locally and/or inside cities and the need to grow in a controlled cleanroom environment which will result in a higher demand for our product and a growth in our sector”, says Bélanger. “With its mobile carriages, the Greenrak Integrated Vertical Indoor Farming Solution is the ideal response to the current situation allowing both to increase yield while reducing the required surface by eliminating space wasting.
Customers increasingly have groceries delivered directly to their homes seems to be also an underlying trend rising from this crisis and in the long term, this may also play a role in creating a higher demand for our high-density cold storage solutions.”
Montel’s Greenrak and Grow&Roll systems were developed specifically for growing applications. Greenrak mobile system is lightweight, rust-resistant, and simple in design which allows for easy installation, use, and maintenance. Grow&Roll mobile system is the heavy-duty version of Greenrak and can withstand a weight of 3630 kg. Growrak was engineered to free up space between frames at each level providing plenty of clearance for better airflow, ventilation system ducts, lighting fixtures, and enough spacing for oversize trays to pass through between frames.
High yield hydroponic vertical farms
“Given the fact that Montel's Vertical Farming systems have been implemented in numerous indoor high yield hydroponic vertical farms that utilize cleanroom technologies and automation as well as many medical or recreational cannabis facilities around the world, we feel our expertise will benefit this growing sector. We are expecting a very high volume of projects that will require Integrated Vertical Farming Solutions. Our experience and knowledge allows us to rapidly assist the emerging needs in vertical farming and medical or recreational cannabis cultivation. By extension, we also foresee an increasing demand in the Cannabis Dispensaries market for our Light-duty drawer cabinet. We also expect a possible higher demand for our High-Density Cold Storage Solutions for the grocery delivery market and Buy Online, Pickup In-Store (BOPIS) market.”
Tags: Vegetables, Medicinal cannabis