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“The Future of Agriculture”: Goochland Tech Students Get New Vertical Farms While Demand Grows At Area Food Banks
"Meredith Thomas said this kind of farming is more environmentally sustainable — it uses no soil, no pesticides and roughly 90 percent less water. She added this kind of farming is more environmentally sustainable — it uses no soil, no pesticides and roughly 90 percent less water. The nutrients and PH are controlled by sensors that check the water every single morning, and add nutrients, or PH balancing solution, or even water,” Thomas said."
GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Farm to table has a whole new meaning.
“It’s literally grown, sometimes even harvested and consumed in the same room,” said Meredith Thomas with Babylon Micro-Farms.
Vertical Farming is one of the fastest growing trends in food production. Some call it the future of agriculture. Now, students at Goochland Tech will get the chance to learn all about it while their local community reaps the benefits.
In a new partnership between GoochlandCares and Goochland Tech, two new vertical farms have been installed at the high school. According to Babylon Micro-farms, the Charlottesville company who made the farms and installed them in early August, “a single micro-farm takes up only 15 square feet but has the productive capacity around 2,000 square feet.”
The farms are active year-round and all aspects of farming are controlled by a cell phone app.
“It’s a hydroponic farm designed to take the green thumb out of growing,” Thomas said.
She added this kind of farming is more environmentally sustainable — it uses no soil, no pesticides and roughly 90 percent less water.
“The nutrients and PH are controlled by sensors that check the water every single morning, and add nutrients, or PH balancing solution, or even water,” Thomas said.
Students will be taught about vertical farming while also supplying food to the pantry at GoochlandCares, which distributes food to neighbors in need.
“The pantry will receive both nutritious, locally grown fresh produce year-round and dishes prepared by the students with the harvests from the farms,” said Janet Matthews with Babylon Micro-Farms.
8News has witnessed long lines outside of food banks in our area for months. In Chesterfield on Friday, cars filled two lanes for over half a mile leading up to the Chesterfield Food Bank. That kind of backup has been seen on Ironbridge Road every weekend for the past several months.
Before COVID-19 spread around the world, the Chesterfield Food Bank was helping anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 people a month. Now, they say nearly 30,000 people utilize the food bank’s distribution programs each month — with 200 to 400 volunteers offering their help every week.
Chesterfield Food Bank averaging a million meals per month during the pandemic, triples in donations
“The recent COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the weak links in our country’s food distribution system, affecting everyone especially those who are most vulnerable. We hope that this partnership will be a model for many other food pantries to have a reliable in-house resource to provide fresh food,” said Sally Graham, Executive Director of Goochland Cares.
On Wednesday, the food pantry’s manager, Terri Ebright, said her team is “ecstatic” about the food that will be coming in. She said the demand for food has also grown at her pantry during the pandemic. “Our clients are relying on us even more.”
Goochland Tech Culinary Arts instructor David Booth said the new farms are a big deal for students.
“Right now I’ve got five different lettuces in there that I know half my students have never seen or tasted before,” he said. “It’s one of those things you don’t even really have to design a lesson plan around,”
“I just see it as a boundless opportunity. I really do,” Booth said.
You can learn more about how vertical farming works here.
By Alex Thorson
Posted: Sep 16, 2020 / 09:01 PM EDT - Updated: Sep 16, 2020 / 09:19 PM EDT
Hydro Farms Raises Fresh Funds and Releases New Products
With roots in the Egyptian hydroponic farming sector since 2012, Hydro Farms is one of the first to implement hydroponic planting in Egypt.
by WAYA Staff - Aug 31, 2020
With roots in the Egyptian hydroponic farming sector since 2012, Hydro Farms is one of the first to implement hydroponic planting in Egypt. Hydro Farms started working to revolutionize the farming industry in Egypt and bring clean, quality products to the market, farm-to-table. Hydro Farms recently raised funds from angel investors in Egypt and the Gulf region which contributed to the next phase of the brand’s expansion plan after years of evolving Hydro Farms’ products through extensive research and development.
The team behind Hydro Farms not only strives for excellence within their own products but also shares its years of expertise with more than 10 Egyptian farms and it has greatly aided in improving their product quality and overall team performance. Hydro Farms is currently growing 30+ varieties of produce that are unique in the market which is more inclined to growing leafy greens.
Now more than ever, Egypt and the whole world needs to divert their farming methods in order to become more eco-friendly especially when it comes to water consumption; hydroponically grown crops use 90% less water compared to traditional methods as well as a great shrink in land size and growing more food with higher quality and much fewer resources.
Hydro Farms is planning to play a bigger role in the community. With a special focus on educational events that start with school trips to enlighten children about the importance of sustainable farming, participation in wellness retreats to encourage people to grow their own produce at home, and farm trips to reveal the level of technology currently achieved by Hydro Farms.
“We started this 8 years ago, now it’s time to take it to the next level!” says Adel El Shentenawy, Hydro Farms’founder; “we’re an exceptional start-up with a combined experience of 8 years and an incredible amount of passion and hard work put into the company has helped us pull through and thrive in the toughest and most challenging times for a company or a startup”.
As a first milestone in the large scale expansion plan, Hydro Farms will be releasing PERET; an exclusive range of fresh produce never seen before in Egypt at Gourmet “A premium quality grocery store franchise”.
The range will be featuring an array of colorful heirloom tomatoes that used to be imported for very high prices like the San Marzano, Choco-Mato, or Chocolate Tomatoes and Golden Sweet as well as a new range of exotic peppers and chili peppers with a promise of more exciting varieties. This release is a planned buildup to a nationwide release. Hydro Farms is aiming to expand the territory of their market to reach the shelves of international grocery stores as it offers a year-long variety of fresh produce that is made with the highest standards and attention to detail. By moving outside of Egypt Hydro Farms is hoping to bring back Egyptian agriculture brands to their peak of glory.
Localization is Seeding Innovative Produce Supply Chains
The COVID-19 crisis is shining a light on the vulnerabilities of food supply chains, as well as opportunities to develop inventive ways to deliver fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables from farm to table
A Key Theme of These changes is Localization – An Increasing Reliance on Local Growers to Supply Produce To Retail Outlets.
By Chris Mejia Argueta, Alexis H. Bateman, & Ken Cottrill · June 12, 2020
Editor’s Note: Chris Mejia Argueta is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and directs the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab. Alexis H. Bateman is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and directs MIT Sustainable Supply Chains. Ken Cottrill is the Editorial Director at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.
The COVID-19 crisis is shining a light on the vulnerabilities of food supply chains, as well as opportunities to develop inventive ways to deliver fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables from farm to table.
A key theme of these changes is localization – an increasing reliance on local growers to supply produce to retail outlets. The movement has gained momentum as a result of shifting consumer buying preferences and the need to make food supply chains resilient to a wide array of risks.
What is localization?
From a global perspective, localization can mean reorienting supply chains towards suppliers in specific countries or regions in any market. In this article, we focus on the localization of fruit and vegetable supply chains in the United States.
There are several definitions of what constitutes a “local” food supply in the US. The United States Department of Agriculture maintains that although “local” connotates short geographic distance between producer and consumer, there is no consensus on what products meet the definition. A government definition assumes that a product can be considered locally or regionally produced if it is less than 400 miles from its origin or within the state in which it was produced. A consumer survey carried out by the research firm Nielsen found that most buyers classify products across various food categories made 50 miles or less from the store, as local.
Local sources of produce are not confined to farms or small-size plots of land; They also include specialist operations such as high-tech commercial greenhouses and urban gardens. The enterprises sell directly to consumers or to retail customers such as supermarkets.
The size of the market for local food is unclear. From an industry standpoint, research from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimates that direct-to-consumer food sales account for about 3% of the total US agricultural production value. Up to one-half of the produce industry relies on sales to supermarkets and other chain stores, and the remainder serves foodservice companies (e.g., restaurants) and large consumers of produce such as schools and other institutions.
Pre-pandemic drivers
The localization movement was gathering steam in produce markets before the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the drivers is the need to make produce supply chains more resilient to disruptions, like market volatility and labor shortages. Local sourcing avoids the risks associated with shipping perishable product long distances from growers to consumers. Also, shorter supply chains are more flexible, require fewer product touches and intermediaries, reduce wastage, and minimize potentially costly and delay-prone cross-border movements. There are cost advantages as well, mainly in the form of reduced transportation and warehousing costs.
Localization is finding support among consumers. Trust in food crops grown on distant, large-scale factory farms has declined as consumer interest in the safety and origins of food products has increased. Another component of this trend is the increased demand for sustainable products. For example, research by The Center for Food Integrity suggests that concepts such as “food miles” are becoming more relevant to consumers, as they place more value on shorter, more carbon-efficient supply chains.
The localization movement also aligns with the need to provide underserved communities with sources of fresh, nutritious food. One way to combat the spread of so-called food deserts – communities where access to fresh fruit and vegetables is limited – is to connect these communities with local growers.
These forces drive demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables and increase the premium that consumers are willing to pay for “locally produced” and “farm to table” product labels.
Coronavirus-related market shifts
Today, the COVID-19 crisis is reinforcing many of these market changes by illuminating weaknesses in produce supply chains. The pandemic shuttered restaurants and other places where large numbers of people congregate such as schools – effectively depriving fruit and vegetable producers of a primary market.
An obvious response was to pivot to other customers, notably supermarkets and other retail outlets. However, these are different channels with distinct specifications for product packaging and unit sizes. Reorienting supply chains geared to foodservice and institutional buyers towards customers in the retail business proved extremely challenging. To solve this issue, some farmers turned to selling their produce directly to the consumer, highlighting the value of locally produced foods as a source of revenue for farmers during supply chain disruptions. Some farmers may never go back to the original model.
The pandemic also exacerbated the labor shortages that plague growers in agricultural regions of the US. Restrictions on migrant workers crimped the supply of labor before the pandemic. The coronavirus’s health threat made it even more difficult to recruit the workers that growers need to harvest and pack food crops.
While localization does not address all pandemic-related supply chain issues, it does promote the flexibility, agility, and resilience needed to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19 disruptions. This is one reason why the pandemic has underscored the advantages of local sourcing, especially for perishable products such as fruit and vegetables.
Moreover, preference for neighborhood markets may grow beyond food deserts. A recent study from mathematician Elena Polozova indicates that buying in corner stores is less risky than in big retail formats.
Innovations hone local models
The localization movement also benefits from a number of supply chain innovations in the agricultural industry. Here are some notable examples.
Local supply programs. As NPR reported recently, the movement known as community-supported agriculture (CSA) is experiencing growth in various parts of the country. Members of CSA programs typically commit to buying regular deliveries of fresh produce from local growers. The coronavirus pandemic has raised the profile of CSAs for the reasons described above, although the model is mainly growing in wealthy communities.
Veggie box models. The so-called veggie box model is an evolution of the CSA movement. In this variation, groups of farmers create boxes of produce items in accordance with consumer preferences.
Commercial veggie box models such as HelloFresh are expanding, and provide a new buying channel for fresh produce. However, they do not offer the variety and quantity that most customer segments need. In addition, these services are configured for middle-to-high income population segments and assume that there is enough last-mile delivery capacity to perform dozens of deliveries effectively. However, the capacity is not always available, a problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.
Dr. Chris Mejia, Dr. Lars Sanches, along with master’s students Jamal Taylor and Luiz Barreto from the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab have collaborated with colleagues from Tufts University, and the City of Somerville, MA, to explore the veggie box model, in underserved communities. The options under review use neighborhood markets as pickup points for veggie boxes, analyze the impact of ride-sharing systems, and extend the impact of grocery delivery models in the city. Despite its complex design, the researchers found that the veggie-box model can support a local economy, decrease food insecurity, and address shortages of healthy food items. However, neighborhood market owners or managers need to widen the choice of produce, promote the veggie box service to the appropriate customers, and allocate space to store the boxes of produce.
A future article in this series on food supply chains will give a detailed account of the veggie box research described above.
Innovative growing models. Growers are harnessing novel agricultural methods such as hydroponics, advanced sensing, and information technologies to develop alternatives to traditional farms. An example is BrightFarms, a company that grows produce sustainably in high-tech, hydroponic greenhouses located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Virginia. The greenhouses typically supply local supermarkets. In January 2020, the company opened a 280,000 sq. ft facility in Selinsgrove, PA, that can deliver over 2 million pounds of fresh, local produce year-round in PA and the PA-NJ-DE tri-state area. It has partnered with local supermarkets, including the Giant chain.
Urban and Container Farms. Small urban farms that sell to retail, food service, or restaurants have also become increasingly common with open fields, rooftops, brownfields, and other open spaces being utilized in cities to grow fresh fruits and vegetables. Urban farms that serve public demand reduce product transit and storage needs and increase food freshness in most cases.
Container farms use shipping containers to create self-contained growing environments for fresh produce, often in urban settings. One example is FreightFarms, which provides the container and set up that enable people to grow produce anywhere in the world.
Diversity programs. Traditional farmer’s markets allow residents to shop for a variety of produce items at specific locations in city locations at weekly times. However, these markets may not cater to the fruit and vegetable needs of ethnically diverse communities. World Farmers Organization in Massachusetts is implementing an innovative strategy to support culturally diverse farmers who grow their preferred products in small parcels and connect them to retail outlets. Some of these outlets are located in neighborhood markets.
Small growers, big potential?
While the localization of fruit and vegetable supply chains is attracting interest, most conventional, large-scale growing operations are not under threat.
Not all food crops are viable candidates for small, local suppliers. Moreover, the competitive advantages of localization are subject to tradeoffs between economies of scale, the capital cost of growing facilities, and transportation costs. Also, more emphasis on locally grown produce increases the importance of supply chain transparency. Consumers who buy local produce want to be reassured that their purchases are sourced locally, and this will require relevant sourcing information at the point of sale. The availability of investment funds also influences the commercial success of localization – a factor that could become more critical while the US economy remains mired in recession.
Still, consumers switching to local growers pre-COVID, in combination with the changes wrought by the pandemic, are creating a significant market for locally sourced produce that poses new supply chain challenges and opportunities. Researchers across MIT CTL are working on research projects to better understand this trend.
Wisconsin, Meet The Green Bay Woman Who’s Opening The Nation’s First Urban Snail Farm
McDonald, 65, has spent the last four years researching and getting permits for her business, Cupid's Arrow Escargot LLC. She's submitted her initial permits to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug and Administration
Sandy McDonald Says Americans Can Learn To Love Homegrown Escargot
By Rob Mentzer
December 30, 2019
People have been eating snails for thousands of years.
"They're healthy," said Sandy McDonald — low in fat, high in cholesterol. "They have amino acids, Omega-3 fatty acids, niacin, iron, vitamin D complexes, magnesium. I could go on and on."
Their taste, McDonald says, is rich and earthy, like a mushroom.
Despite all these selling points, it's pretty likely that escargot, as cooked snails are known, isn't part of your regular dinner rotation.
McDonald would like to change that.
Sandy McDonald. Courtesy of Sandy McDonald
McDonald, 65, has spent the last four years researching and getting permits for her business, Cupid's Arrow Escargot LLC. She's submitted her initial permits to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug and Administration. She's got a space near Green Bay's Titletown district, approved by the city for use as a site of heliciculture, which means raising snails.
She's set to become the first snail farmer in the Midwest, and the first in the nation to do it in an indoor, urban environment.
McDonald sees Cupid's Arrow as connected with the farm-to-table movement and the movement toward local food. Most of the snails served as escargot at American restaurants are imported, and it's illegal to import live snails, which means American diners are getting a less-fresh canned version. McDonald plans to sell snails to chefs around the Midwest for escargot and to harvest snail slime for use by the cosmetics industry. Over time, she hopes to sell snail eggs, too, that can be served as escargot caviar.
The reason for the government's strict controls on snail imports and cultivation is because snails are an invasive species that can harm natural ecosystems. One variety, the giant African snail, is banned from the U.S. in any form, and will be seized and removed by the government if found.
Cupid’s Arrow Escargot will be constructed with required security measures that keep the snails or their eggs from getting out of the building. The pens are escape-proof. The USDA requires the dirt to be processed before it’s disposed of, but McDonald hopes to use vermicomposting to avoid having to dispose of much at all.
It will be "a complete ecosystem," McDonald said. "They'll be born, raised and processed in the same building."
Snails need a consistent temperature of 68 to 70 degrees. They need moisture, so the pens will have humidifiers. They eat grains (McDonald hopes to get some of the byproducts of nearby Titletown Brewing such as spent hops and barley) as well as fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers.
McDonald plans to start with a purchase of 2,000 snails from an Irish snail farm. As long as the conditions are right, she says, they won't require a whole lot of tending.
"They just kind of do their own thing," she said.
The history behind snail-eating is no joke. Pliny the Elder, the ancient Roman historian, describes heliciculture in the first century as having been "brought to such a pitch of perfection" as to produce "fattened periwinkles" that were "quite an object of gastronomy."
Today, escargot is best known as part of French cuisine, though it's also eaten across Europe and in Morocco. In the U.S., the two certified snail farms are in Long Island, New York, and Quilcene, Washington. (She'll be buying her starter snails from Washington's Little Gray Farms.)
McDonald's application to the city of Green Bay says she'll be the only employee at first, but it's possible that she'll hire other snail-minders as the business grows.
She acknowledges that it's taken a long time to get the business up and running — a metaphor about a particular animal's pace of travel comes to mind. But it feels good to be this close to launching. Cupid's Arrow Escargot will begin operations in the spring.
In the long run, McDonald says, it's even possible that escargot could become not the sole province of fancy foodie culture, but something more mainstream.
"I'd like to hook up with a good chef," McDonald said. "Why can't there be, you know, snail poppers? (We can) bring this food into the United States."
Note: An earlier version of this story misstated McDonald's progress on getting federal permits. She has submitted her application.
Rooftop Farm-to-Table Food Part of Javits Expansion
The new venture will source food from a working farm being built on the roof as part of the center’s massive expansion. Brooklyn Grange will manage the farm and work with the Cultivated culinary team
by REW July 19, 2019
The 1.2 million Javits Center expansion is expected to be complete next year.
The Javits Center is launching a new hospitality brand aimed at offering a locally grown and celebrated food and beverage operation to exhibitors and visitors.
The new venture will source food from a working farm being built on the roof as part of the center’s massive expansion.
The New York Convention Center Operating Corporation (NYCCOC), which operates the Javits Center, has joined with Levy Convention Centers and CxRA to launch the brand called Cultivated.
NYCCOC president Alan Steel believes Cultivated will redefine hospitality at the Javits Center undergoes 1.2 million square foot set to be completed in 2021.
The 1.2-million-square-foot addition has been designed by tvsdesign at a cost of nearly $1.5 billion. It will increase the total area of the facility to 3.3 million square feet and add an extra 22,000 s/f to what is already the largest green roof in New York City.
In collaboration with a design/build team led by Lendlease (US) Construction LMB Inc. and Turner Construction, the project features 90,000 s/f of permanent exhibit space, to be combined with current exhibit space, which will create an approximately 500,000 s/f exhibition hall.
In addition, the expansion will include 45,000 s/f of meeting room space, a 55,000 s/f ballroom, and a green roof terrace and pavilion accommodating 1,500 people for outdoor events.
As an urban convention center, the team is also creating an on-site truck marshaling facility with room for more than 230 event and exhibit related trucks and 27 new loading docks out of the public view.
The new Cultivated hospitality venture will focus on sustainability and community and use of state-of-the-art technology to create “an inspirational culinary experience that captures the vibrancy and vitality of the greatest city in the world.”
As well as the rooftop pavilion and outdoor space, the expansion will include additional kitchens, multiple food preparation stations and loading docks, all designed to transform the on-site catering experience.
Andy Lansing, president and CEO of Levy. “We’re rolling up our sleeves and working closely with the restaurants, purveyors, farms, and community organizations that define New York’s culinary scene. Anyone who visits Javits Center should leave feeling like they experienced the best the city and state have to offer.”
All event managers, exhibitors and attendees at the Javits Center will now be served by the Cultivated team.
New menus and a new microsite are dedicated to advanced and on-site catering services and a leadership team at Cultivated will leverage local resources and producer partnerships to showcase New York offerings.
The Javits Center will offer coffee roasted by El Dorado Coffee Roasters, based in the Maspeth section of Queens and sustainable beer made by re-using bread made on-site in partnership with a local brewery.
There will be a line of products infused with honey harvested from the Javits Center’s rooftop bee hives; and straws will be scrapped as the center introduces 100 percent compostable serviceware
Cultivated will also play a role in the success of a one-acre rooftop working farm being constructed as part of the expansion project.
When completed, the farm is expected to produce up to 40,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables, which will be directed to the convention center’s kitchens where Cultivated staff will create a true roof-to-table experience for customers throughout the year.
Brooklyn Grange will manage the farm and work with the Cultivated culinary team.
Vertical Farming, Blockchain And The Circular Economy Are Bringing ‘Farm to Table’ Into The 21st Century
Your groceries are getting a 21st-century reboot thanks to a new research centre focused on the future of food.
Australia’s population is forecast to hit 30 million by 2029 and reach almost 50 million – double the current population – by 2066. That’s a lot of mouths to feed, and with most of this growth concentrated in cities, the question needs to be asked: how can food production keep pace?
A new Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has received funding to the tune of $35 million to help answer that question over the course of the next decade.
The new CRC will focus on advanced food manufacturing, as well as how the sector can be more sustainable as Australia’s population continues to grow.
A cornucopia of challenges
Modern food production faces problems on many fronts. Growing populations demand increased output. Meanwhile, fewer people are choosing a life on the land, and climate change will create obstacles, some of which are hard to predict.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said the new Future Food Systems CRC is designed to help Australia stay on the front foot in this area by bringing industry and research together.
“What we have to do is make sure we are looking towards the future and we’re clear what the issues are that we need to address,” she said at the launch event at UNSW.
These challenges include boosting the productivity of regional and peri-urban food systems, making it easier for innovators to bring their prototypes to market, and managing farm-to-table supply chains with extreme accuracy.
The CRC will initially work with regional stakeholders in six ‘food hubs’ to apply the latest innovations in advanced manufacturing, logistics and food science to farms, greenhouse complexes, factories and freight.
Besides putting food on local tables, streamlining food systems and making them more sustainable would place Australia in a good position to become the breadbasket of Asia.
“If I look at food in particular, we have almost half of the world’s population directly north of us … Australia is ideally located to play a key role in this area,” Andrews said.
Agriculture 2.0
This investment comes with opportunities for engineers who are interested in the intersection of food and technology. From genetic engineering to robotics, there are myriad forms this research can take. UNSW Engineering Dean Professor Mark Hoffman said this will be achieved through partnerships between engineers, technologists and primary producers.
“This CRC will move Australia into a new era of high-technology food production, transforming one of our most important industries and reinforcing our place as a major world food producer,” Hoffman said.
Plans are already in place for developing high-tech agrifood precincts in Liverpool, NSW, and Peel, WA. The Liverpool precinct will be developed in parallel with the new Aerotropolis in western Sydney. Developing these precincts includes providing design and circular economy solutions for water and energy use.
The Future Food Systems CRC website states it will partner with major growers and technology entrepreneurs to develop indoor and vertical farming facilities to increase the amount of food production taking place near existing infrastructure. Developing indoor urban agriculture could be worth up to $395 billion globally by 2030, according to a Food Innovation Australia report.
Circular economy solutions like water recycling, renewable energy and water management will facilitate this. Blockchain platforms and automation will also make an appearance as the CRC works with freight and logistics providers to get goods from A to B.
Queensland University of Technology’s Professor Doug Baker, who is also involved in the project, said there needs to be more integration between planning policy, design and infrastructure, and high-tech growing facilities around transport hubs.
“It’s about being smarter with agriculture and infrastructure, and integrating technology and robotics into that,” he said.
He said an example of a well-integrated future food system was automated, vertical-farming greenhouses located near airports or ports so crops could be picked, packed and shipped with minimal fuss.
Dr Chris Lehnert, a robotics researcher at the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, sees enormous potential for robotics and automation in future food systems, particularly indoor protected cropping.
“The future potential of robotics in indoor protected cropping will be their ability to intelligently sense, think and act in order to reduce production costs and maximise output value in terms of crop yield and quality,” he said.
To further build this capability, the CRC will support 60 PhD students and train future generations interested in using technology to create more sustainable food production systems.
This funding, which will be doled out over the next decade, is on top of $149.6 million the CRC has previously received from more than 60 industry partners interested in this work.
Rachael is the digital editor for create. She loves having a job that lets her go down rabbit holes, ask interesting people (hopefully) interesting questions, and indulge her need to know why things are they way they are and how they got that way.
Tags: AGRICULTURE AGTECH AUTOMATION CIRCULAR ECONO MYFOOD ENGINEERING MANUFACTURING RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ROBOTICS SUPPLY CHAINS SUSTAINABILITY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
‘Farm-To-Table’ Shouldn’t Only Be For Rich White People
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Farm-to-table, if we reframe it, should be a term that better acknowledges the efforts of everyone in the process. Moreover, it should mean that we acknowledge and work to repair the varied, multigenerational, and systemic forms of oppression that directly impact the millions of people who labor to bring food from farms to tables.
MIKE BLAKE / REUTERS
Carlo Petrini’s Slow Food and Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse are often credited as the originators of the farm-to-table movement in America. Some of the most notable names who have written about and championed it are Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, Dan Barber, Wes Jackson and Barbara Kingsolver. They’ve all done significant work to advance the idea that food sourced directly from farms makes a difference. They’ve inspired many, myself (a cookbook author) included, and today the term is ubiquitous in restaurants and kitchens across the country.
They’re also all white. That’s a problem. It means that the concept and execution of farm-to-table ideas and values are predominately centered on white voices even though so much of the food in this country, from the production of it to the preparation of it, has always and continues to depend on the labor of people of color.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Farm-to-table, if we reframe it, should be a term that better acknowledges the efforts of everyone in the process. Moreover, it should mean that we acknowledge and work to repair the varied, multigenerational, and systemic forms of oppression that directly impact the millions of people who labor to bring food from farms to tables.
To start at the farm, know that 96 percent of rural landowners are white. The five largest landowners in America, all white, own more rural land than all black Americans combined. Land ownership, and the support systems to navigate and maintain it, is vital to a more just food system. The more varied the group of people that own land, the more those with power will be aware of and able to address issues that affect everyone who works the land. Initiatives like Black Urban Growers, the lawyer-slash-organizer Jillian Hinshaw, and the interactive map Reparations for Black-Indigenous Farmers are all working to shift the balance.
When we say farm-to-table, we often leave out the toil of everyone in the ‘to.’
And what about everyone who works on the farms? In 2017 the annual median income for agricultural workers was $23,730. This number is already staggeringly low, but keep in mind it doesn’t account for undocumented workers and it includes a range of jobs with varying incomes. According to a 2010 report by Southern Poverty Law Center, the average personal income for female crop workers was $11,250 (compared with $16,250 for male crop workers). Moreover, the industry is rife with wage theft. In a survey of 51 poultry processing plants, the U.S. Department of Labor found that all of them hadn’t paid employees for all of the hours they worked.
Agricultural workers also risk dangerous working conditions, including exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals. They, especially immigrant women, also regularly face sexual harassment and abuse at work. In a 2014 study, a farmworker from Salinas, California, made reference to “the field de calzon (field of panties) because so many supervisors take women there to rape them.” And if a worker seeks justice, she or he will rarely find that the legal system protects them.
JUSTIN SULLIVAN VIA GETTY IMAGES
Too often when we say farm-to-table, we leave out the toil of everyone in the “to.” The same ugly cocktail of racial, economic, and gender discrimination that takes place on farms is mirrored in food processing factories and restaurant kitchens all over America. Risks for workers relying on tips and minimum-wage salaries to make ends meet range from health and safety hazards at poultry processing plants to rampant sexual harassment. Just look at the names that have made headlines in the past few months. Workplace abuse can also come from the very customers that employees serve.
And the tables themselves? They’re just as economically inaccessible as the farms the food came from in the first place. The “farm-to-table” label often sends clear signals about price points and aesthetics. A quick scroll through the 1.4 million Instagram posts marked #farmtotable are primarily of white people with gardens or at nice restaurants. When we say “farm-to-table,” it seems that we are saying the term belongs to wealthy white people with access to tables laden with abundant produce. This means we are leaving out so many and so much.
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So what do we do? How do we dismantle the term and reframe it to be more inclusive and equitable?
People’s Kitchen Collective, a group in Oakland, California, has devoted the last year to a series called “From the Farm to the Kitchen to the Table to the Streets,” working specifically to redefine what farm-to-table can mean. Co-founded by Saqib Keval, Jocelyn Jackson, and Sita Bhaumik, the collective aims to show how we can reframe the phrase to keep the whole journey from farm to table in mind while simultaneously honoring and creating space for people of color at each step. “We crave spaces that deliberately center our voices and experiences. As people of color, our lives are shaped by displacement, migration, loss of land, and access to resources. In the absence of land, we create space by eating in public,” reads the organization’s website.
I have been personally so inspired by their work that I asked them to contribute to my last book, Feed the Resistance, and to participate in an event for it.
SANA JAVERI KADRI
Peoples Kitchen Collective meal in Oakland, California. April 1, 2017.
In April 2017, they hosted a community meal where they asked participants to explore how farming has been a way to create place despite displacement ― how cultivating land means having some ownership over it. In August, they went from the farm to the kitchen and asked participants to share stories of kitchen remedies for illness, trauma, and separation. And in February, they invited people affected by xenophobic immigration policies to come to the table for a meal in remembrance of the signing of the executive order mandating the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. They produced a resource guide to accompany the meal, a way to extend the work past the table.
On Sunday, their largest meal yet will take place in the West Oakland neighborhood, a way to push farm-to-table from private spaces to a large, very public one. The setting will span a city block and the group will provide a free meal for 500 participants.
People’s Kitchen Collective recognizes that cooking is one of the surest ways to create and sustain community. And their work shows us how we can make the term less centered on white experiences and more grounded in food justice.
We can all be part of this reframing, whether we’re communicating to our representatives that we need the 2018 Farm Bill to include considerate provisions for small farms and for everyone eligible for SNAP benefits, making conscious decisions about which farms we source our food from, or considering whose tables we sit at and who we invite to sit at our own.
Let’s go from farm to table ― and beyond.
Julia Turshen is the author of Feed the Resistance, Small Victories, and the forthcoming Now & Again. She is also the founder of Equity at The Table, an inclusive digital directory of women/non-binary individuals in food.
Georgia State Gets Southface’s Fulcrum Award For Hydroponic Farm
Georgia State Gets Southface’s Fulcrum Award For Hydroponic Farm
MARCH 13, 2018
ATLANTA—Georgia State University received a Fulcrum Award at Southface’s Greenprints conference March 12-14 in recognition of its hydroponic farm’s excellence in sustainable design, construction, planning, and advocacy.
“We proudly recognize the Leafy Green Machine, which truly exemplifies innovative, scalable and equitable sustainability,” said Andrea Pinabell, president of Southface. “Groundbreaking projects like this help us move further toward a future that is resilient and regenerative.”
Fulcrum Award winners demonstrate excellence in three categories that contribute to a sustainable future: regenerative economy, responsible resource use and social equity through a healthy built environment for all. To select winners, Southface convened an independent panel of eight jurors with expertise in sustainability across a wide range of sectors.
“We are honored to be recognized along with such reputable organizations for a Southface Fulcrum Award as the Leafy Green Machine is a stellar example of the benefits of a living-learning laboratory in higher education. Not only are we able to provide farm-to-table produce for dining operations, but our students receive hands-on training and research opportunities in urban agriculture,” said Jennifer Asman, sustainability initiatives program manager. “In the future, we hope to not only expand urban farming opportunities at the university but to share our success and find ways to replicate throughout the community and beyond.”
The Leafy Green Machine, funded by student sustainability fees, is a one-acre farm fashioned out of an upcycled shipping container produced by the Boston-based company Freight Farms.
Inside the futuristic farm is a series of environmental sensors measuring climate conditions that communicate with the in-farm controller to maintain optimal 365-days-per-year growing conditions. The windowless farm is also equipped with more than 125 LED lighting strips that mimic the sun’s natural light via growth-optimized blue and red hues.
After three weeks in the seedling station, the plants are transplanted into vertical hydroponic growing towers where emitters drip nutrient-rich water down the vertical grow tower using only 10 gallons of water daily to grow more than 4,500 plants. The water that isn’t consumed by the plant flows out the bottom of the tower and is then recirculated back to the water tank.
Since its implementation in July 2016, PantherDining grows about 500 heads of lettuce per week, harvesting Green Leaf, Butterhead lettuce, wasabi arugula, basil, thyme and Swiss Chard with no pesticides, bugs or soil. The produce is served at PantherDining’s catering events, retail outlets, and dining halls, giving patrons the ultimate farm-to-table dining experience.
Other 2018 Fulcrum Award winners include: Live Thrive Atlanta’s Center for Hard to Recycle Materials and The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design. The Len Foote Hike Inn received a Lifetime Achievement Award honoring it's 19thyear protecting Georgia’s natural resources and teaching guests about sustainability’s value.
Media Contact: Nicole Galonczyk
Public Relations Specialist
PantherDining - 404-210-0761 - ngalonczyk@gsu.edu
Ikea’s Teaching You How to Use a Hydroponic Vertical Farm
Ikea’s Teaching You How to Use a Hydroponic Vertical Farm
IKEA‘s innovation lab Space10 created a pop-up hydroponic vertical farm during this year’s London Design Festival. The space was created to showcase Space10’s Lokal project, where microgreens are grown indoors, locally and vertically, aims to provide a space-saving and sustainable way for people to grow their own food, as well as testing how Londoners felt about food grown hydroponically and, more importantly, whether they liked the taste of the microgreens.
Local Produce
February 19, 2018 | by LAUREN TOLAN
Do you know where your “local” fruits and vegetables come from? Co-owner of Buckingham Farms, TJ Cannamela, talks about the importance of knowing when and where your crops are coming from, and also how they were treated. He strives to grow fresh vegetables, year round, without the use of pesticides or other chemicals. One way to do this is through the use of hydroponics, which cuts water usage down by 80%, results in quicker plant growth, and eliminates the need for pesticides.
Cannamela advises people to be cautious and ask questions when buying from local markets. He acknowledges a few businesses in the area that stay true to the way many of us perceive the terms “local” and “fresh”. Which to many of us, means having been picked this morning. The state recognizes the term “local” to be in reference to a 250 mile radius around your business. How would you define it?