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ZipGrow Expands To New Facility, Inks Deal With Sodexo
ZipGrow has expanded its footprint, moving from leased premises to its own building at the corner of Cumberland and Seventh Street
April 9, 2021
By Bob Peters
Cornwall Ontario – ZipGrow has expanded its footprint, moving from leased premises to its own building at the corner of Cumberland and Seventh Street.
The new building more than doubles the amount of space available to the manufacturer of the world’s most installed vertical hydroponic equipment.
“Demand for our products continues to soar,” says Eric Lang, President of ZipGrow. “The new building allows us to be more efficient while at the same time giving us room to grow in the future.”
Growth is on the menu at ZipGrow, with the company launching an innovative partnership with Sodexo to introduce sustainable growing systems to facilities throughout Canada and the United States.
“Having been installed throughout the world over the past decade, our system enables growers, both big and small, to access fresh produce no matter where they are located”, explains Mr. Lang. “We are excited to move ahead with this new partnership with Sodexo. Together we will be able to introduce sustainable food to Sodexo locations throughout North America.”
ZipGrow technology is a patented system that utilizes both hydroponic growing systems and vertical planes to maximize production volume within a small footprint. Primarily growing leafy greens such as lettuce and kale, along with herbs and small fruiting crops such as strawberries, ZipGrow systems will be installed in Sodexo locations including educational institutions, conference facilities, and corporate food service centers.
“This new partnership with ZipGrow not only enables us to reduce our carbon emissions of distance traveled for food source, onsite food waste, and packaging requirements, but also to introduce innovative technology to our facilities and team members”, said Normand St-Gelais, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Sodexo Canada.
About ZipGrow
ZipGrow is an international leader in indoor, vertical farming technology. The company’s flagship product, the ZipGrow Tower, is a core component of many of the world’s most innovative farms; from indoor hydroponic warehouses to vertical aquaponic greenhouses and high-density container farms.
Categorized in: Business, Community, Environment, General, News
Micro Lab Farms Offers The Fastest, Most Efficient Pathway to Cultivate Cannabis
The company’s modular automated micro-farms can be fitted for
cultivation, drying, cloning or custom uses
Corona, CA – June 6, 2019 – Micro Lab Farms, a premier provider of fully automated turnkey systems for rapid production of legal cannabis, announced that it is offering four different units designed for specific applications.
The Micro Lab “FlowerPod” is designed for cannabis cultivation, and is an affordable, scalable, efficient and automated system that allows a grower to be quickly up and running. The Pod features a soil-based platform and proprietary air and water filtration, along with complete environmental control. The Pod outperforms other methods of cultivation, and return on investment can be achieved in as little as 6 to 9 months.
The “ClonePod” is the perfect solution to ensure consistent growth and exact replicas of favored plants and preferred cannabinoid profiles. As a sealed eco-system, worries about plant cross pollination and contamination are eliminated. The ClonePod offers an economical and consistent method to reproduce plants in a clean, contaminant-free environment.
The “DryingPod” provides the perfect space for finishing a harvest in a humidity-controlled environment. With a clean, temperature controlled room, growers are now able to dry and cure with a precision never before available.
The “CustomPod” is designed with a grower’s specific needs in mind. The team of botanists and scientists at Micro Lab Farms can develop the perfect environment for any particular crop, or to meet any goal.
The GrowPods allow cultivation to take place year-round, any place and any time, and have been shown to produce higher yields with greater consistency than other methods of cultivation.
GrowPods are environmentally friendly, use less water, and eliminate pathogens and pesticides.
Micro Lab Farms offers financing options with a minimum down payment. With reduced labor costs and no TI’s or construction needed, Micro Lab Farms provides a quick and cost-effective method to help a business get established and rapidly start growing.
To learn more about the GrowPods from Micro Lab Farms, call: 800-320-0761, or visit: www.microlabfarms.com
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Twitter: @MicroLabFarms
Micro Lab Farms Adds Kyle Kushman to Board as Company Expands in Cannabis Industry
The company’s modular indoor farms allow growers, entrepreneurs and investors to enter or expand in the legal cannabis industry through a variety of options
Corona, CA – May 29, 2019 – Micro Lab Farms, a premier provider of fully automated turnkey systems for rapid production of legal cannabis, announced that noted cultivator, Kyle Kushman, has joined the company’s Advisory Board. Kushman is an internationally renowned legal cannabis cultivator who has earned 13 Cannabis Cups Awards.
Micro Lab Farms has made it possible for farmers, businesses, entrepreneurs and investors to enter or expand in the legal cannabis industry with its “GrowPod” cultivation systems.
GrowPods are modular, indoor micro-farms that utilize a clean, controlled environment to grow robust, fast-turn, healthy crops. The system uses state-of-the-art air and water filtration, proprietary pathogen-free living soils, and automation controls that together provides a highly advanced environment that outperforms other methods of cultivation.
The system eliminates pathogens, contaminants, pesticides and chemicals, and gives growers the ability to harvest clean crops with fast harvest times.
The system can be easily transported, allowing cultivation to take place virtually anywhere.
The GrowPod system from Micro Lab Farms is ideal for growers that want to keep genetics separated, add new strains, expand their operation, or enter the market.
Kushman says that Micro Lab Farms is providing several pathways to get involved in the legal cannabis industry.
“An existing business or farmer can have a Pod shipped to their location and it can be up and running in just days,” he said. “Or for a more hands-off approach, an investor or entrepreneur can have Pods delivered to the new California Cultivation Complex and have the entire process managed by our world-class experts.”
Further details on the California Cultivation Complex are available upon request.
For information on Micro Lab Farms, call: 800-320-0761, or visit: www.microlabfarms.com
Connect:
Website: www.microlabfarms.com
Facebook: facebook.com/MicroLabFarms
Twitter: @MicroLabFarms
Seedo Promises First Automated, Containerized Cannabis Farm In Israel
Seedo, the high-tech firm known for its fully-automated grow device for medical cannabis, has announced a plan to develop “the first fully automated, commercial-scale, pesticide-free containerized cannabis farm in Israel,” saying it will be partnering with Kibbutz Dan in northern Israel to do so.
The agro-tech firm from Israel last month began supplying its intelligent automated hydroponic system technology in home-grow units to customers in California.
Now, the company says its AI-powered, turnkey systems enable anyone -from average consumers to large-scale producers – to grow without prior experience or ample space.
“We are entering a new era of growing where demand for pesticide-free products will only continue to increase,” Seedo CEO Zohar Levy said in a statement this week.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Kibbutz Dan to provide a business model with governments that the world can look to. We’ve built our commercial-scale system to reflect our philosophy that technology can provide precise and reliable results without sacrificing yield,” Levy said.
The need for clean growing environments is growing, especially as legal cannabis markets around the world expand. A prevalence of pesticides, solvents, and bacteria present in the current supply chain pose a threat to consumer safety, especially for patients that are increasingly dependent on medical cannabis for treatment of a variety of illnesses.
Seedo says its revolutionary technology can control the purity of the crop to meet strict standards set by pharmaceutical and beverage companies looking to supply clean and consistent products to the market.
Its proven technology, originally developed for home-grow devices, is now being applied towards containers for commercial scale.
Each container features maximum daylight illumination, built-in carbon filters, automated air conditioning, and a smart post-harvest drying system that allows farmers to minimize cultivation costs and provide high-quality food with extended shelf life, according to a company statement.
Seedo. Via Seedo’s website
Levy tells NoCamels that Seedo’s team of experts have more than “15 years of experience in container farming in the vegetables and herbs sector.”
By taking the guesswork out of the cultivation process, communities will be able to grow both native and non-native products with less labor, energy and water than before. The airtight, stackable containers will allow cultivators to optimize land-use and reduce the environmental footprint of their farming operations.
Within 36 months of operation, the Seedo project is estimated to produce a minimum of 14 tons of dry cannabis bud, generating an estimated revenue of $24 million dollars, according to a press statement.
Of course, Seedo is not the only company to offer containerized cannabis farming. There are at least a dozen indoor container farming systems globally, offering growers climate-controlled temperature, precise airflow, water, light, and nutrients.
Medical cannabis. Photo by Eyal Basson,/The Israeli Health Ministry
One such company is BH Synergy Group. The company has 15 container systems already up and running in Canada and the US, and is planning on bringing the system to Israel.
BH Synergy Group mixes automation with manual labor.
“I believe in both systems (manual and automated). However, the higher quality tending of plants is always going to be, in my opinion, from manual labor,” Adam Shuster, CEO BH Synergy Israel and USA, tells NoCamels.
“The automatic systems are for heavy lifting, the robot is lifting pots that weigh 25-50 pounds, so for that you definitely want a robotic system. When it comes to tending the plants and the bud and making sure that you get maximum quality THC and CBD levels consistently month after month, you need qualified manual labor.”
Shuster likens the proper gardening care needed for marijuana plants to bonsai trees or orchid flowers.
“People take care of bonsai trees and orchid plants very meticulously. In return, they get a meditative pleasure from this care and ensure a quality bonsai tree or orchid plant. It gives beauty and value. With the cannabis, you want the medical value of CBD and THC levels on the same specific strain. For that you need human touch,” says Shuster.
A screenshot from Seedo’s promotional video announcing a containerized cannabis farm in northern Israel, March 2019.
But Levy tells NoCamels that his firm’s automatic system “can ensure high-quality yields and no [ill] effect on the plants because [Seedo] can provide the plant with the ultimate conditions it needs to grow healthily without being affected by the environment or by workers.”
With Israel’s recent approval of medical cannabis exports, the world’s requests for blue-and-white cannabis bud are expected to rise.
Levy tells NoCamels that Israel’s tech prowess is accepted in the canna field as well.
“Seedo’s headquarters are based in Israel because we believe the Israeli employees are very innovative and creative, the Israeli mind is known to think out of the box. This availability gives us the advantage on the market,” says Levy. “The Seedo team has the availability to create new standardization in the agro-tech sector.”
Viva Sarah Press is a journalist and speaker. She writes and talks about the creativity and innovation taking place in Israel and beyond. www.vivaspress.com