Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Agtech Attracts Celebrities
Food and farming are attracting celebrity investment including from Meghan Markle, Oprah, and Katy Perry to name a few
January 3, 2021
Amy Wu Contributor
I report and write about food, farms, and farm tech.
Food and farming are attracting celebrity investment including from Meghan Markle, Oprah, and Katy Perry to name a few.
While food and farming are increasingly in the limelight in part driven by the pandemic. COVID-19 has catapulted food and farming to the forefront of the minds of ordinary folks who have had first-hand experiences related to food shortage, food supply, and food safety surfaced.
Now the sector has piqued the interest of investors too including celebrities.
In 2020 there was a steady stream of investments in a sector that has traditionally struggled to attract investors especially venture capitalists who seek fast returns.
Agtech has seen robust investment in recent years. Growers are increasingly seeking solutions for challenges including a severe labor shortage and water and land management issues, and open to adopting innovations that increase yield and efficiency.
A growing number of investors are also banking on companies that support sustainability and promote conservation. In 2020, venture capitalists invested $4 billion in startups in the agtech space, according to Crunchbase a research company. This is up significantly from the $2.8 billion that venture capital investors placed in agtech startups across the globe in 2019.
Little surprise that public figures are jumping on the bandwagon too.
“Celebrities have access to tech thought leaders and see what they are excited about and want to be in on the new trend,” says Jaleh Daie an entrepreneur and seed investor with a focus on agtech. Daie observes that the agrifood tech sector is climbing and has yet to see its peak.
Pam Marrone, the founder of Marrone Bio Innovations and investor in agtech start-ups, notes: “More than ever, consumers care about how their food is produced and processed. Celebrities are tuned into this trend and see that they can help shift us along to a more transparent and sustainable food system that reduces food waste and improves people’s health.”
Below are a few high profile investments by household personalities in 2020:
Meghan Markle invested in Clevr Brands a Santa Barbara, California-based company that specializes in instant oat milk latte. The company, led by CEO and founder Hannah Mendoza, asserts that its products are green-friendly and ethically sourced.
Meghan Markle (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
Oprah Winfrey and Katy Perry invested in Apeel Sciences a California-based foodtech company that produces coasting for fruit that is edible. Among her various properties, Winfrey also owns and lives on a farm.
Perry, Serena Williams, and Jay-Z invested in Impossible Foods a company in Redwood City, California that develops plant-based substitutes in lieu of meat.
Finally, tech magnates Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft, and Eric Schmidt the former CEO of Google have been expanding their investment in agtech. In 2020 Microsoft announced that it had launched Azure, a suite of tch tools and resources to help agtech start-ups in India. The Schmidt Family Foundation made food and agriculture one of the four areas of investment.
A visitor takes a picture of vegetables growing under artificial light on a Grow Stack vertical farm at the 2019 RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London on May 20, 2019. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)
Coming in 2021
Marrone forecasts that agtech and food tech will continue gaining momentum in 2021 when it comes to interest and investment. Consumers are becoming more focused on eating healthier and interested in where their food comes from. On a global scale, there is a growing interest in food supply chain transparency through blockchain technology.
Vertical farms and indoor agriculture, plant-based protein substitutes, and companies tackling food waste attract significant attention.
“There is a burgeoning startup ecosystem of B2B agbio and agtech companies getting funded that are focusing on tackling the problems and inefficiencies of chemical fertilizers and pesticides,” Marrone says.
I am award-winning writer and documentary filmmaker for the women’s ag and agtech movement, and previously covered agriculture for The Californian in Salinas, Calif. I am also the founder of From Farms to Incubators, an online platform that profiles minority women entrepreneurs in agtech and includes an award-winning documentary that has screened at SXSW and Techonomy. I have over 24 years of experience working as an investigative journalist including at Time magazine, the USA Today Network, and The Deal. I earned my master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Lead photo: FUJI CITY, JAPAN - A worker inspects lettuce plants at the hi-tech Innovatus farm. Sensors collect information on all the factors that affect the development of plants. (Photo by Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The Science of Sananbio - Research and Development
Led by a team of 38 scientists and another 100 R&D professionals, Sananbio is investing heavily in the science that is sustainable, local, and fresh indoor food and crop production. With deep expertise in photobiology, plant nutrition, and plant cultivation techniques, we are at the forefront of sustainable indoor agriculture.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Led by a team of 38 scientists and another 100 R&D professionals, Sananbio is investing heavily in the science that is sustainable, local, and fresh indoor food and crop production. With deep expertise in photobiology, plant nutrition, and plant cultivation techniques, we are at the forefront of sustainable indoor agriculture.
PHOTOBIOLOGY/SPECTRAL RESEARCH
Photobiology is an evolving area of science that studies the interactions of light on living organisms. One of Sananbio’s core focuses is the optimization of lighting spectrum’s that allow plants to thrive at all stages of growth. Through the latest’s developments in LED lighting technology in conjunction with years of scientific research, Sananbio is working to understand the synergy that exists between artificial light and plants. Our unique spectra has been trialed on a multitude of cultivars and our results have shown that by optimizing the spectrum based off of the cultivar we are able to increase nutritional value, drive unique genetic expression, increase active naturally occurring chemical compounds, and shorten flowering times.
PLANT NUTRITION
Sananbio’s team of elite plant scientist’s have worked tirelessly to develop proprietary nutrient blends that support a wide array of cultivars at different life stages of growth while growing in a controlled environment setting. With so much of our food today lacking proper nutritional value, our team is working to understand the most effective way grow nutritionally dense food sustainably in a indoor vertical farm. This cutting-edge science will lead to breakthroughs in the way we grow our food, how and when it is consumed, how it is transported to ensure maximum nutritional value.
VERTICAL FARM DESIGN and SUPPORT EQUIPMENT RESEARCH
With a team of scientists, senior designers, engineers, and product developers solely dedicated to understanding building the eco-systems that support thriving vertical farms, Sananbio is positioned at the fore-front of the science of vertical farming design and plant factory operations. We are focused on providing a holistic solution that allows us to partner with our clients from the ideation phase to the execution of their indoor vertical farm. Our research has given way to various patents in areas of plant growth illumination, hydroponic cultivation equipment, and accessories/equipment for industrial plant production. Great grow technology and equipment is just one aspect that must be taken in to account when venturing in to indoor vertical farming. Know before you grow.
THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND SANANBIO
INNOVATION AT OUR CORE
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT THAT IS DRIVING INNOVATION IN LED LIGHTING
Manufacturing Capacity
Sanan Opto-electronics, a sister company of Sananbio, is the world’s largest LED chip manufacturer accounting for 20% of the global chip production capacity. Sanan Group, our parent company, has built the infrastructure that allows Sananbio to capitalize upon cutting-edge technology development while providing the production capacity to support global market adoption of our technologies in the Ag-Tech space.
Vertical Integration
The vertical integration of the Sanan Group gives Sananbio a massive competitive advantage by allowing us to control our supply chain. This insight and perspective gives us unmatched flexibility in to our production capacity, global reach, and technological know-how. The diversity of industries we support gives us the versatility to respond to rapidly evolving markets as consumer demands shift.
Research and Development
A subset of the semiconductor industry, LED technology is incredibly research and development intensive sector and Sanan Opto is a global leader in this space. With 470 PhD’s and 502 engineers from all over the world, Sanan Opto possess the largest talent pool in the world dedicated to active research into LED technology.
Living Greens Farm Hires New CEO
George Pastrana brings 30 years of successfully managing iconic consumer brands
George Pastrana Brings 30 Years of Successfully
Managing Iconic Consumer Brands
Source: Living Greens Farm
July 15, 2020
Living Greens Farm CEO George Pastrana
New president, CEO, and board member George Pastrana joins Living Greens Farm, one of the largest indoor aeroponic farms in the U.S.
FARIBAULT, Minn., July 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire – Living Greens Farm (LGF), one of the largest vertical, indoor aeroponic farms in the United States, which provides year-round fresh salad greens, exclusive bagged salad kits, microgreens, and herbs, announces the arrival of George Pastrana as its new president, chief executive officer, and board member.
Pastrana is a commercial leader with a successful record of managing iconic consumer brands for innovation and profitable growth at leading, growth-oriented, market-driven companies. His marketing and operational experience includes Fortune 100 multinational companies as well as smaller entrepreneurial organizations, where he was successful in growing sales, profit, and market share.
Pastrana will reside in Minneapolis and will bring nearly 30 years of commercial and innovation leadership at consumer-packaged goods companies to contribute to LGF’s success in the coming years. He will be leading a talented, experienced team of leaders to establish LGF as a premier brand in the fast-growing bagged and clam-shelled salads and salad kits industry. He also has plans for LGF’s national rapid expansion.
“I am excited about the opportunity to lead LGF’s passionate coworkers as we embark on scaling up our proven, breakthrough aeroponic farming system and to provide our healthy, nutritious, and flavorful greens and herbs to customers with discerning eating habits nationwide,” says Pastrana. “LGF’s patented aeroponic farming systems are a cost-effective way to deliver flavorful, better-than-organic farm fresh greens and herbs. We have a proven model, and we are ready for national expansion with a talented team of leaders.”
Prior to joining LGF, Pastrana was president and COO of Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware. He holds a biomedical engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Cornell University's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, and he completed the advanced management program at INSEAD Business School.
ABOUT LIVING GREENS FARM
Living Greens Farm (LGF) operates one of the largest indoor aeroponic farms in the United States. Aeroponics and specifically LGF’s proprietary grow systems, have been described as the next generation of ag-tech and a solution to the world’s food challenges.
Headquartered in Minnesota, Living Greens Farm is Earth-friendly using 95 percent less water and 98 percent less land compared to traditional farming and can grow safely, consistently, and locally year-round. All products are considered better than organic because they’re grown in a controlled environment without the use of pesticides, herbicides or other harsh chemicals and are non-GMO. Living Greens Farm has a full product line that includes bagged and clamshell salad greens, premium microgreens, and delicious herbs available to customers throughout the Midwest.
For more information, please visit http://www.livinggreensfarm.com.
Indoor Vertical Farming is The Future Says Irish Agritech Start-Up
Farmony says Ireland can become self-sufficient in leafy greens, herbs and microgreens thanks to its approach to vertical farming
Farmony Says Ireland Can Become Self-Sufficient in Leafy Greens, Herbs, and Microgreens Thanks to its Approach to Vertical Farming
Jun 25, 2020
Olive Keogh
Farmony co-founders Rodrigo Andrade, Dan O’Brien, and John Paul Prior
Animals grazing peacefully in the fields and serried rows of crops stretching far into the distance are what usually come to mind when we think about farming. It’s a pastoral image deeply embedded by tradition and worlds away from how they do things at the agritech start-up Farmony, which builds high output, controlled environment vertical farms to produce leafy greens and herbs.
On a Farmony farm, the crops are grown indoors on multiple layers of tiered shelving. The method is ideally suited to growing salad leaves and microgreens and a unit can produce in 55sq m (592sq ft) what would normally occupy five acres if conventionally farmed. It also only uses about 5 percent of the water required by traditional growing methods and a unit can be operational 365 days a year.“Vertical farming is not new. In fact, it’s been around forever. Just look at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or rock faces or the seashore with plants growing, irrigated and fed by water,” says Farmony co-founder John Paul Prior.
So, in the strictest sense, vertical farming isn’t new but its commercialization is. The first large-scale commercial application only came on stream in Singapore in 2012 and Farmony is joining this nascent industry at a time when it is increasingly seen as part of the answer to sustainably and economically feeding the world’s growing population.
What makes Farmony’s approach innovative is twofold. Firstly, it has designed its system to support multiple crops requiring different growing conditions. Secondly, it has put everything a grower needs together in one turnkey package. “In a nutshell, we build customized, controlled environment vertical farms and use our own hardware and software operating system to improve growing efficiencies,” says Prior, who set up Farmony with co-founders Daniel O’Brien and Rodrigo Andrade in November 2018.
The idea for Farmony was O’Brien’s and he spent about 18 months developing the concept before bringing Prior (a friend from college with a marketing background) and business graduate Andrade (a former colleague at the Kerry group) on board. O’Brien’s background is in agriculture and economics and he had seen the start of commercial vertical farms in Asia and the Far East while working abroad.
The Farmony growing units are modular and can be built to any size
Modular units
Potential customers for Farmony include existing and would-be farmers, schools, colleges, community enterprises, and even individuals with €1,500 to spare who can produce a steady supply of fresh greens from a mini-unit in their own home. Anywhere there’s free space is a potential site and controlled farming environments have been created around the world in many unusual places: from tunnels and disused air raid shelters to vacant car parks.
The growing units are modular so farms can be built to any size. A fully kitted out facility, roughly the size of two 40ft (12m) containers joined together, would cost in the region of €86,000. “We land the farm in someone’s yard or put it together in an available outbuilding – such as an unused mushroom house – hook it up to the [existing] power and water supply and they are ready to start growing,” Prior says.“Growers have no problems with weather or seasonality and don’t have to worry about levels of watering or plant nutrition as this is all controlled for them. With our system it’s not the growing that’s the issue. It’s the selling. They need to have thought out their route to market for the volume they’re planning to produce because if they go for microgreens they’d have crops ready for harvesting every 7-10 days. But if they went for something like basil it’s between 21 and 25 days to harvest so it’s less labor-intensive.”With their shiny growing trays, distinctive LED lighting, and humans dressed in white coats with gloves and hair coverings, a Farmony unit looks more like a plant factory than a farm. However, high levels of hygiene mean the growing environment can be kept pesticide-free. It’s all very quiet and even a little bit eerie as the low labor requirement means people are thin on the ground. Making everything as automated as possible was a priority for the company so the labor input for a 20-module unit would be 25-30 hours a week between seeding, transplanting, harvesting, and cleaning.
Farm dashboard
While the uniform rows of little green plants are the visible manifestation of the Farmony method, they are just one side of the story. The other is the intelligent monitoring system that’s whirring away in the background and measuring all the key metrics, providing minute-by-minute detail about the crops as they grow so environmental tweaks can be made as needed.
Each grower has an individual farm dashboard that gives them updates on their crops and offers advice on things like workflow planning. The dashboard can also be used to reorder raw materials such as seeds and growing mats.
Farmony’s units can be remotely controlled from anywhere in the world from any network. This is different to most smart technology farm systems that require the user to be closer to home. The company’s platform is open source and can be used over GSM phone networks and any wifi or internet connection. Customers can choose to operate alone with just back-up support from Farmony or they can become part of the interconnected Farmony “family”, which among other things uses aggregated data from growers to help them further improve growing efficiencies and gain insights into crop behavior.“
In Ireland alone we import around €300 million in fresh produce that we could be growing here given the right conditions,” Prior says. “With our solution this produce could be grown locally all year round, creating jobs and reducing food miles. There is no reason why Ireland can’t become self-sufficient in leafy greens, herbs and microgreens.”Investment in the business has been about €250,000 so far with support coming from the Department of Agriculture, Fingal Local Enterprise Office, and Teagasc. e
Farmony will make its money from selling hardware and from monthly SaaS subscriptions based on farm size with over-the-air updates and tiered reporting levels available.
In May, Farmony signed a European distribution agreement with the US-based Sananbio, a vertical farming technology company that makes growing modules and horticultural lighting. The plan is for Farmony to start selling its solution across Europe using Sananbio’s equipment and it has already opened a satellite office in Poland to kick-start the process. The company expects to have about five farms up in running in Ireland by the end of the year and already has one in the US with another to follow and one about to come on stream in the UK.
Madar Farms Receives Investment As Part of Abu Dhabi Investment Office's Drive To Accelerate The Growth of The Emirate's Ag-Tech Industry
The investment is part of ADIO’s AED 1 billion AgTech Incentive Programme to accelerate the growth of the emirate’s burgeoning AgTech ecosystem and promote innovation in desert agriculture that is locally relevant and globally exportable
Abu Dhabi, Monday 13 April 2020
UAE-based AgTech company, Madar Farms has partnered with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to support the operation of the world’s first commercial-scale indoor tomato farm using only LED lights and a new research facility to help in accelerating the AgTech industry in the UAE and the region.
The investment is part of ADIO’s AED 1 billion AgTech Incentive Programme to accelerate the growth of the emirate’s burgeoning AgTech ecosystem and promote innovation in desert agriculture that is locally relevant and globally exportable.
It will be used towards developing the world’s first commercial-scale indoor tomato farm that will use only LED lighting to grow. The facility is currently under construction at Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) and set to open by the end of this year.
The facility will also see Madar Farms triple the quantity of its microgreens and grow a wider variety of products, increasing its operations in developing local food for local consumption.
The investment will also support a new Research and Development (R&D) facility that will enable Madar Farms to quantify production output measured against environmental inputs (water and electricity). Currently, Madar Farms has an established R&D facility at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
Madar Farms is one of four AgTech innovators to receive investment from ADIO in the latest award of financial packages from its AgTech Incentive Programme, established under the Abu Dhabi Government’s Ghadan 21 accelerator program. ADIO will invest AED 367 million (USD 100 million) in total in four AgTech companies building facilities in Abu Dhabi as part of this round.
Since launching in 2017, Madar Farms has been leading a new agriculture revolution by using advanced methods to grow local high-quality fresh produce with cutting-edge farming technologies on its hydroponic-vertical systems.
As well as providing a holistic approach to sustainability, Madar Farms also works with the wider industry and education authorities to support the UAE government’s National Food Security Strategy 2051 that aims to solve the region’s food problems and provide enough nutritious food all-year-round.
Abdulaziz AlMulla, CEO and co-founder of Madar Farms, said: “It is a privilege to be recognized by ADIO for our efforts in tackling food and water security challenges in the UAE and the region and turning the Late Sheikh Zayed vision into reality. This shows that we are going in the right direction and with food sustainability becoming more important, we are more determined to build on this achievement.
“This investment will enable us to significantly scale up our operations in the UAE as well as put the skills and knowledge we have gained over the last three years into researching long-term, sustainable solutions for complex food security challenges in the region.
“As well as strengthening our position as a key player in the UAE’s AgTech industry, our ambition is to be leading a new agricultural revolution in different countries in the GCC region and this investment is a step forward to helping us achieve this.”
H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, said: “We are proud to partner with Madar Farms to support the continued commercialization of its innovative AgTech solutions in Abu Dhabi. The investment will enable Madar Farms to scale up its capabilities and contribute to expanding the supply of sustainable, quality local food in the region. AgTech is a priority sector for the Abu Dhabi Government, and Madar Farms will be a key player in the growth of the ecosystem over the coming years.”
About Madar Farms
Madar Farms is a local company providing a holistic approach to sustainability to help tackle food and water security challenges in the region.
With offices in Dubai and a research and development center in Abu Dhabi, Madar Farms offers products and services that help drive responsible sourcing, environmental ownership, and social impact. This purpose-driven offering is underpinned by the application of innovative AgTech.
Madar Farms also operates the Sustainable Futures program, a hands-on, localized, easy-to-integrate sustainability curriculum that uses food to explore a wide range of topics across the sustainability agenda. This school program is designed to empower the next generation with the awareness, knowledge, skills, and behaviors to create a sustainable future for us all.
Keep up to date with the latest news and events from Madar Farms on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook