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CALS Researchers Imagine Future of Urban Farming
Making the case for urban agriculture, Cornell researchers have presented a vision for greener cities and a more equitable future for farmers
March 26, 2021
By Rory Sheppard
Making the case for urban agriculture, Cornell researchers have presented a vision for greener cities and a more equitable future for farmers.
The Cornell Small Farms Program, housed in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is responsible for a body of research that advocates for the development of viable small farms throughout New York State.
Cornell Small Farms continues to advocate for urban agriculture through emerging projects such as Urban Ag, which focuses on highlighting the considerations farmers need to make to farms in urban environments and cites examples of successful urban farming.
As part of the program’s mission to ensure a future of rural and urban agriculture through research and educational opportunities, Director of the Cornell Small Farms Program, Dr. Anusuya Rangarajan and Urban Agriculture Specialist of the Cornell Small Farms Program, Molly Riordan published “The Promise of Urban Agriculture” in 2019.
The authors argue in the report that urban farms have the potential to become commercially viable, adding that up to now, much of the existing research has focused on the impact of urban agriculture on social indicators, such as community development and educational attainment.
According to Riordan, the make of a viable urban farm depends on factors such as the laws and regulations of a municipality, the availability and affordability of land, and opportunities available for season extension.
To produce a more comprehensive picture of the future of urban agriculture, Rangarajan and Riordan started by collecting data, speaking to an active network of growers.
“Every time we spoke with someone, we asked, ‘Who else should we speak with about commercial farming in cities?’” Riordan said in an email. “Inevitably that led us to more conversations that broadened and deepened our understanding. We spoke with over 160 individuals in the course of the study.”
Since publication, the multiple findings and recommendations of the report have started to take effect. Partnering with Rooted, an urban agriculture training organization, Cornell Small Farms has been working to introduce training for urban farmers to help improve commercial viability.
Riordan said that the farms, specifically those in controlled environments, have been known to generate considerable finances and interest from venture capital, alongside the development of more technology-focused urban farms. Likewise, technical assistance, research, and training will be essential in increasing the number of urban farms in the coming years.
As the researchers envisioned the future of urban agriculture, they were acutely aware of the concerns that still impact the field. One of the major challenges for urban farmers is, despite the typically smaller nature of the farms, urban land access.
“Knowing that urban growers struggle for access to land, especially Black, Indigenous, immigrant and other farmers of color, institutions can do more to lift up their voices and put the weight and the funding of the
Lead photo: Ben Parker/Sun Senior Photographer -
Housed in CALS, the Cornell Small Farms Program seeks to build more diverse, equitable, and sustainable food systems.
Saudi Farmer Has Built The Region’s First Vertical Farm
“My aim is to make sure we truly become self-sufficient,” he said.
The Saudi farmer Omar Al-Jundi even he is not related to farming by degree. But that is exactly where the industrial engineer found his calling, when he built the region’s first vertical farm in the heart of Dubai. Born in Egypt to Saudi parents, Al-Jundi spent his early years in Alkhobar due to his father’s engineering firm.
The family moved to Jeddah when he was 12 years old. His last two years of schooling were spent at Bahrain School in Manama. “I wanted to graduate with an American high school diploma,” Al-Jundi said. “At the time, as a Saudi, you couldn’t attend private foreign schools.” Upon graduation, he left the region to study industrial engineering, followed by an MBA at the University of Miami in Florida. Although his father is an engineer and his mother an architect, Al Jundi delved into the world of banking for two and a half years when he moved back to Jeddah upon graduating.
“I then shifted to the hospitality industry, opened the first lounge in Jeddah along with other restaurants with my friends, and ended up selling my share and joining my father’s company,” he said. “You learn that you’re better off doing something on your own than having partners because you end up changing directions.”
After 10 years of “paying his dues” in the family business, he felt compelled to change directions. “As an Arab, you’re always closely tied to the family,” he said. “We’re blessed my father started a business and there’s a place for us in that business, but luckily, my younger brother was a lot more interested in it — I always felt my calling was somewhere else.”
In search of his true passion, he started his journey as an entrepreneur. The field he specialized in had yet to be determined. “I felt that there was a meaning for something else,” Al-Jundi said. “I was free and my family was very supportive.”
Countless research and books later, he became intrigued by the tech space, admitting he believed he would start the next Amazon. “That didn’t follow through,” he said. “Then I thought it would be in mining, but I always looked for something that was away from my comfort zone such as engineering, contracting, real estate and consulting. Just something different. It was a process.”
The young Saudi had reached a point in his life where he felt the need to do something impactful, something which added true value to the region. Eventually, two of his friends introduced him to the concept of modern farming. “I visited some orange farms in Egypt and I was in exploration research mode,” he said. “I enjoyed seeing nature — you’re a lot more relaxed. Here, when you go in and see the plants growing every day, there’s definitely a connection, because you’re seeing the end product, you’re feeling it, and I connect to them.”
The more research he immersed himself in, the more driven his interest became. At the time, the Saudi Government was focused on addressing food security and self-sufficiency. “It’s always been a big topic,” he said. “When you fly out of Riyadh, you find these big circular green spots as they’re trying to green and farm the desert, which was successful, but on the other hand, it depleted our water resources.” According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, agriculture represents around 70 per cent of water consumption in most of the GCC countries. But Al-Jundi did not give up on the thought.
After moving to Dubai in 2014, he learned about King Abdullah’s Initiative for Saudi Agricultural Investment Abroad. Half the capital needed for agricultural projects was offered to Saudis who invested in a list of 31 countries abroad to purchase land, set up a project and export the food back to the Kingdom. It gave him an idea to start his own vertical farm. “I knew it was a big topic,” he said. “I’d never heard we could grow food with no soil. I thought it was intriguing and fascinating. It was enough for me to know there was something there to explore it further.”
With more than 90 per cent of the region’s land unsuitable for agriculture, Al-Jundi set out to find a solution. He spent the following 12 weeks taking courses in aquaponics, aquaculture, hydroponics and horticulture in California and the Netherlands. He even spent time working in a cucumber greenhouse at the Delphy facility in Holland, where he acquired valuable experience in the field. “It was really professional and a great learning experience,” he said. “That’s when I knew what I wanted to do. And I knew I had to completely immerse myself in it.”
The team of Badia Farms, which he founded in Al Quoz in December last year, consists of 12 people, all of whom have experience in farming. “It took 18 months to get it up and running because we didn’t work with any technical partner,” Al-Jundi said. “I knew I was in it for the long haul, so I worked with different growers and learned.”
The 850-square-meter facility includes a “fertigation” room, which fertilizes and irrigates the 18 varieties of crops he currently grows. Gourmet seeds, some of them hybrids, such as lemon basil, cinnamon kale, wasabi, green radish, mustard, micro kale, edible flowers and cinnamon basil, are flown in from the United Kingdom and the United States every three months — from 50 to 300 kilograms at a time. The farm plans on introducing as many as 26 varieties, including sunflowers.
The seeds are placed on a type of mat made of recycled carpet that is food-certified. LED lights flood the room in a pink atmosphere, with each UV light containing a certain spectrum that is beneficial for the plants.
In the tank room, feed and water is scheduled through a computer-based on the crop, with a unique nutrient recipe for each type, including potassium, calcium, magnesium, and ammonium. UV and concentrated oxygen are also able to kill any potential bacteria or pathogens in recycled water. Once the seeds sprout, they are moved to the five stacks in the vertical farm. Four dehumidifiers regulate the humidity in the air, providing each on average with 70 litres of water a day. The eco-system created by Badia Farms uses 90 percent less water than open-field farming and recycles its water up to nine times.
“We’re using hydroponics,” Al- Jundi said. “The biggest advantage is that we do not spray pesticides, which are messing up our health. In fact, we extensively use stickers to attract insects away from the crops.” Different levels of lighting are provided for each stage of the plants before they are sent out as they were grown. “They’re intense in flavor and it’s the freshest you can get that way,” he said. “My personal favourite is chocolate mint.” With 60 clients so far, serving hotels, restaurants, and cafes, the model is a first for the region, which made it challenging to set up. “All the ones abroad are designed for different climatic conditions so none of them are applicable here, where there is extreme humidity and high temperatures,” he said. “And to convince a chef to give you his time, when you don’t have the track record, was a big challenge. I wasn’t a known farmer yet.”
The system’s structure was manufactured in Riyadh, with a plan to set up the next facility by 2020 in Jeddah. Until then, the plan is to cater to Saudi as well as the UAE. “Dubai is a good testing ground and Saudi’s vision now is to support our type of sustainable growing and ecological farms, so it’s perfectly in line with what we want to do,” Al-Jundi said. “The government is now delegated to move into sustainable growing and find viable solutions to address self-sufficiency, so it’s not a slogan anymore: it’s the real deal.”
He hopes to develop similar projects across the Kingdom in the future. “My aim is to make sure we truly become self-sufficient,” he said. “Vertical farming is one solution but it’s not the full one — the ideal solution lies in all models of modern farming. What’s close to my heart is giving people healthy food while preserving our resources, and I believe the new generations of Saudis are ambitious and want to evolve our country. We were just waiting for the opportunity and it has finally come.”
Source: Arab News
10 Ways Square Roots’ Farm-Tech Platform Empowers The Next Generation of Farmers
Square Roots’ scalable “farmer-first” platform brings fresh, healthy food to urban areas all year-round, while simultaneously training future generations of farmers to maintain sustainability in the future.
Square Roots is building a distributed network of indoor, modular farms, farmed by a new generation of farmers, to grow local food for people in cities all over the world. Here’s why it’s working.
Square Roots Super Farms are scalable, resilient and smart, and can be built fast. (Image: Via Chicago Architects + Diseñadores)
Square Roots’ scalable “farmer-first” platform brings fresh, healthy food to urban areas year-round, while simultaneously training future generations of farmers. With production farms in Brooklyn, New York, and Grand Rapids, Michigan (with more to come in 2020!), Square Roots has a mission to bring local, real food to people in cities across the world while empowering the next generation of leaders in urban farming.
Whether we’re in the farms tweaking CO2 levels, or in a board meeting plotting a pathway for what the company looks like in 2050, every decision we make is guided to help us achieve our mission faster, smarter, and with as much impact as possible.
Choices we’ve made around our technology platform are a good illustration of that. Our platform needs to bring fresh, healthy food to urban areas year-round, consistently, sustainability, and on any continent in the world. At the same time, it must also be a welcoming environment, conducive to training future generations of farmers to be productive, fast.
Central to our platform is the decision we made very early in the company’s life to build a distributed network of modular Climate Containers, as opposed to following the plant factory template.
Inside a Square Roots Climate Container, data-empowered farmers work with optimum growing conditions, all year round.
There are a lot of smart people in this industry, many with different visions for the optimum architecture and model for indoor farming (e.g. plant factories). But all working hard to bring better food to market — which, given our wider vision to bring real food to everyone, is wonderful to see. The more of us working on the real food revolution the better — and we want all of these systems to flourish. But here are 10 reasons why we think container farming rocks:
1. Speed to Market
Today we can enter a new market and open a Square Roots “Super Farm” — with 25 Climate Containers, cold storage, biosecurity infrastructure, and everything else you need to run a food-safe farm at scale — in less than three months, like we did in partnership with Gordon Food Service last Fall. That time period is only coming down. In comparison, building a plant factory can cost tens of millions of dollars, as well as take years to construct. We want to get real food to more people, and fast!
2. Easy to Scale
To meet increasing market demand, we simply add Climate Containers to any existing deployment. This means just-in-time capital deployment, and also just-in-time technology deployment. This is really important in an industry where the technology is improving fast. You don’t want to spend years and millions to open a big farm full of old tech that immediately needs a refresh.
3. Climate Control
I was an early investor in Chicago’s Farmed Here, one of the first and largest plant factories in the US. There, I saw first-hand how much the team struggled to control the climate in a building that size. Plants don’t like it when you get it wrong. And neither do landlords — the humidity can wreak havoc with the underlying infrastructure. In our programmable Climate Containers, each one built inside a 320 square foot shipping container, optimum conditions for a variety of crops can easily be maintained. The perfect climate for each variety can be seamlessly replicated — in any market — to ensure consistent quality every time, at every harvest.
Alyssa Patton, Square Roots Next-Gen Farmer, harvesting fresh, local basil inside a Climate Container in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
4. Diversity of Products
Multiple containers on our Super Farms allow for multiple climates, which lets us grow multiple crops at the same time to satisfy local market demands. For example, basil requires a completely different climate than chives to grow well, so it’s practically impossible to grow these two products together in a way that tastes good if you have a giant farm with one mono climate. The ability to grow multiple quality SKUs is particularly important in the retail market, where product variety is key to getting shelf real estate. Having multiple climates also means we can tackle many niches in any local market (e.g. using one container on a Super Farm to grow something exotic like Shiso or Mustard Greens), giving us a lot of business flexibility while keeping things interesting for our teams of farmers.
5. Sustainable Systems
As with most hydroponic growers, Square Roots uses zero pesticides, and 90% less water than outdoor farms. We can also be clever about energy usage. For example, we make it “daytime” in the farm by turning on our grow lights overnight when there is excess energy in the grid, and the cost per kilowatt-hour is lower. However, if for some reason we need to be in the farms during “daytime,” we can put a Climate Container into “harvest mode” — which dims the lights, and configures the climate to be optimum conditions for people at work — before seamlessly switching back to plant growing mode once we’re done.
6. Location
Our modular architecture means we can be very creative in repurposing existing city infrastructure when we look for locations to build a farm. We can pop up on an empty parking lot like we did in Brooklyn, New York, or build a campus on the headquarters of a major distribution company like we did with Gordon Food Service, or even build into a new development. This flexibility means we can build our Super Farms literally in the same zip code as the end consumer. This means fresher and tastier products for the customer, fewer food miles (most industrial food is shipped in from the other side of the world!), and less food waste. It also helps to get consumers more connected to their food and the people who grow it — they can simply jump on a subway or in their car, and come visit one of our farms!
7. Food Safety and System Resilience
All indoor farms need to be prepared for bad things to happen. While there is way less risk in a controlled environment versus an outdoor farm, it’s inevitable that you will get some sort of pest outbreak, powdery mildew, or some other issue at some point while you’re managing a complex ecosystem full of living, breathing plants. If that ever should happen in one of our Climate Containers, we can quickly shut it down and reboot that single node while the rest of the network keeps going strong. I’ve seen this happen in a plant factory, with one big mono climate, and you lose all your crops.
8. Faster Learning
Our farms are cloud-connected, and we collect millions of data points that we analyze to determine how changes in certain environmental parameters can impact factors like yield, taste, and texture of the final product. More climates in more containers means more feedback loops, which means faster learning. To systematize this learning, we’ve built The Square Roots Farmer Toolbelt — a software which is now the OS for the whole company as we all learn faster together.
9. The Network Gets Smarter as it Scales
Square Roots’ cloud-connected farms and data-empowered farmers learn from each other, enabling us to replicate success from one location to another, seamlessly. Working with Gordon Food Service to build farms across their network of distribution centers and retail stores brings us closer to the vision of a distributed network of indoor farms, bringing local, real food to people in cities across the world—while empowering thousands of next-gen leaders in urban farming through our unique training program.
10. Sense of Responsibility
Perhaps this is unique to Square Roots and our Next-Gen Farmer Training Program, but because we grow in modular Climate Containers, we’re able to give all our young farmers a personalized understanding of their individual impact on the overall business. The Square Roots Farmer Toolbelt provides day-to-day instructions on a per-farmer and per-crop basis, as well as a means for data capture, and real time analysis of both plant health and business metrics. All this information is accessible from the tablets that everyone on our farm team carries everyday. This system also ensures that we track every aspect of production — who does what, when, and how, from seed to sales. This is a goldmine of data, that not only helps us improve operations, but also implicitly provides traceability. In December 2018, we started exposing this data to consumers in the form of our Transparency Timeline. On every package of Square Roots produce, you can simply scan a QR code and get a complete story of where your food comes from — seed to shelf.
Simply scan the QR code on every Square Roots package to see where your food comes from.
Our Super Farm platform is exciting in terms of scalability, resilience, and efficiency, and it’s a really wonderful environment for our farmers to farm in. For urban consumers it means local farmers growing your food with love — which is why it tastes absolutely delicious. And technology enables us to grow a ton of food in a very small area, in ways that make a lot of business sense too. It’s a classic example of “doing well by doing good”.
It has been an exciting journey to our Super Farm platform. When we launched Square Roots back in 2016, we were very focused on figuring out the Farmer Training Program model — as we knew that farmers bring love to the food, the program would create enormous impact over time, and it would also be a long term engine of growth. So we partnered with a number of 3rd parties who could provide parts of the growing system for us, while we got the training program right. (In many ways, that was like Tesla sourcing our chassis from Lotus for the first Roadster). After that initial phase, and finding out what the urban farming world needs — i.e. higher quality yields with much lower costs to drive scalable unit economics, and ultra-high standards of biosecurity to support operations that are first class in food safety—we have developed our own technology specifically tailored to our model. This enables us to grow local food at incredible scale in ways that make sense for people, planet, and profits.
Our partnership with Gordon Food Service was announced at the end of March 2019, and our first co-located farm opened just six months later in Grand Rapids, Michigan — marking our next step of bringing local food to people in cities all across North America while training thousands of future farmers. Which, in a neat and circular way, brings us right back to the mission statement we started this post with.
Of course, we still have lots of work to do and we have a lot of exciting announcements coming this year as we grow! And, we’re always looking to talk with great people — from hardware and software engineers to farmers and plant scientists. So feel free to check our website and get in touch.
This article was originally published on the Indoor Ag-Con blog by Kimbal Musk on March 4, 2020.
Published by Dani Kliegerman for iGrow News
2-Acre Vertical Farm Run By AI And Robots Out-Produces 720-Acre Flat Farm
A San Fransisco start-up is changing the vertical farming industry by utilizing robots to ensure optimal product quality
Plenty is an ag-tech startup in San Francisco, co-founded by Nate Storey, that is reinventing farms and farming. Storey, who is also the company’s chief science officer, says the future of farms is vertical and indoors because that way, the food can grow anywhere in the world, year-round; and the future of farms employ robots and AI to continually improve the quality of growth for fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Plenty does all these things and uses 95% less water and 99% less land because of it.
In recent years, farmers on flat farms have been using new tools for making farming better or easier. They’re using drones and robots to improve crop maintenance, while artificial intelligence is also on the rise, with over 1,600 startups and total investments reaching tens of billions of dollars. Plenty is one of those startups. However, flat farms still use a lot of water and land, while a Plenty vertical farm can produce the same quantity of fruits and vegetables as a 720-acre flat farm, but on only 2 acres!
Storey said:
“Vertical farming exists because we want to grow the world’s capacity for fresh fruits and vegetables, and we know it’s necessary.”
Plenty’s climate-controlled indoor farm has rows of plants growing vertically, hung from the ceiling. There are sun-mimicking LED lights shining on them, robots that move them around, and artificial intelligence (AI) managing all the variables of water, temperature, and light, and continually learning and optimizing how to grow bigger, faster, better crops. These futuristic features ensure every plant grows perfectly year-round. The conditions are so good that the farm produces 400 times more food per acre than an outdoor flat farm.
Storey said:
“400X greater yield per acre of ground is not just an incremental improvement, and using almost two orders of magnitude less water is also critical in a time of increasing environmental stress and climate uncertainty. All of these are truly game-changers, but they’re not the only goals.”
Another perk of vertical farming is locally produced food. The fruits and vegetables aren’t grown 1,000 miles away or more from a city; instead, at a warehouse nearby. Meaning, many transportation miles are eliminated, which is useful for reducing millions of tons of yearly CO2 emissions and prices for consumers. Imported fruits and vegetables are more expensive, so society’s most impoverished are at an extreme nutritional disadvantage. Vertical farms could solve this problem.
Storey said:
“Supply-chain breakdowns resulting from COVID-19 and natural disruptions like this year’s California wildfires demonstrate the need for a predictable and durable supply of products can only come from vertical farming.”
(Credit: Reuters)
Plenty’s farms grow non-GMO crops and don’t use herbicides or pesticides. They recycle all water used, even capturing the evaporated water in the air. The flagship farm in San Francisco is using 100% renewable energy too.
Furthermore, all the packaging is 100% recyclable, made of recycled plastic, and specially designed to keep the food fresh longer to reduce food waste.
Storey told Forbes:
“The future will be quite remarkable. And I think the size of the global fresh fruit and vegetable industry will be multiples of what it is today.”
Plenty has already received $400 million in investment capital from SoftBank, former Google chairman Eric Schmidt, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. It’s also struck a deal with Albertsons stores in California to supply 430 stores with fresh produce.
Ideally, the company will branch out, opening vertical farms across the country and beyond. There can never be too many places graced by better food growing with a less environmental cost.
Here’s a TechFirst podcast about the story behind Plenty:
Published by Dani Kliegerman for iGrow.News
Belgian Lettuce Grower De Glastuin Achieves Increased Production And Faster Growth Cycles Thanks To A Full LED Solution From Signify
Belgian farmers are using LED lights in an innovative way to enhance lettuce production
December 17, 2020
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Since the introduction of Philips GreenPower LED Toplighting Compact from Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, many vegetable, fruit and horticulture growers have made the choice to fully equip their greenhouses with LEDs. By combining this LED lighting with the GrowWise Control System, it is possible to both control and dim the light, giving growers a high degree of flexibility. This solution has now also found its way into lettuce growing; De Glastuin in Belgium opted for 100% LED grow lights from Signify.
Each type of lettuce requires a different amount of light. Heat is also a limiting factor when growing lettuce. As a result, in many periods it is not possible to illuminate the crops because too much heat accumulates in the greenhouse. Thanks to LED lighting, which emits less heat, it is possible to light the crop for longer hours, resulting in a increased production and faster growth cycles. The combination with the GrowWise Control System also allows the lighting to be dimmed. For example, to keep the light intensity the same on sunny days while maintaining light uniformity or to prevent climate fluctuations.
This summer, lettuce grower De Glastuin expanded its existing 1.75 hectare greenhouse with HPS lighting by 0.75 hectares. In this new part of the greenhouse, Philips GreenPower LED Toplighting Compact is installed together with the GrowWise Control System. The modules in the new part of the LED greenhouse have an output of 1800 µmol/s and require only 520 W (3.5 µmol/J). They provide a light level of 90 µmol/s/m². De Glastuin is pleased with the high quality and longer shelf life of the lettuce."With Toplighting Compact in combination with the GrowWise Control System, we can automatically adjust the amount of LED light to the amount of daylight at any given moment. As a result, there are fewer fluctuations in light intensity during the day. The lighting is much more efficient, dimmable and it offers us flexibility by allowing us to provide less light at any time," says Wouter de Bruyn, business manager at De Glastuin.
"De Glastuin's choice of Signify reinforces our conviction that we have chosen the right approach to make it easier for growers to switch to LED," says Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture LED Solutions at Signify.
The first Toplighting Compact was introduced in 2019 as a 1-on-1 replacement of HPS lighting to enable an easy transition to LED. The Toplighting Compact can be mounted on an existing HPS connection. This saves time and money during installation. In new greenhouses, installation is even easier thanks to easy-to-install brackets. The universal design of this system gives growers the possibility to fully equip their greenhouse with LED lights or to change their current set-up into a hybrid system with LED and HPS lighting. Signify's Compact range is also equipped with optics with normal and wide beam angles. The wide beam angle is ideal for growers looking for optimal light distribution or for lower greenhouses, for example. For crops where a greater distance between the plant and the grow light is possible, the normal beam is a better option.
More information about the Philips Horticulture LED solutions from Signify is available on the website.
For further information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the global market leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. In 2019, we achieved sales of EUR 6.2 billion with approximately 37,000 employees in more than 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for better lives and a more sustainable world. We achieved CO2 neutrality by 2020 and have been on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index since our IPO in 2016. We were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Signify news can be found in the Newsroom, on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
What Is Hydroponic Farming?
It is the process of growing crops with nutrient-rich water kept in contact with the plant roots without using soil. This process is touted to significantly reduce the risk of wastage and pollution that can harm the produce and cause diseases, making it popular to health-conscious consumers
Kemkar wants to make a difference through urban farming by introducing the technique of hydroponic farming to all so that they have access to grow their own vegetables at home.
Manjula Ramakrishnan, Gulf Today
The science of urban farming has become hugely popular in recent times and hydroponics is leading the way in this green revolution. Jui Kemkar, a passionate young entrepreneur with a quest to make a difference through urban farming co-founded Waves Enterprises with a vision to introduce the technique of hydroponic farming to all, such that they have access to grow their own vegetables at home.
“From residential balcony gardening, community farming, or indoor/outdoor commercial farming, hydroponic farming methods prove to be beneficial for all. Residential enthusiasts of hydroponics can grow herbs, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, cumbers, and even small plants or flowers in the comfort of their own homes,” explains Jui.
Jui’s impressive repertoire of work comprises humanitarian work in rural, urban farming projects in India and empowerment of women. It was when she moved from India to Dubai that she chose to promote hydroponic farming in order that healthy food supplies can either be grown by families in their own homes or produced by companies and supplied at affordable rates in the UAE.
Jui talks about her conviction that the future of farming lies in hydroponics.
What is hydroponic farming?
It is the process of growing crops with nutrient-rich water kept in contact with the plant roots without using soil. This process is touted to significantly reduce the risk of wastage and pollution that can harm the produce and cause diseases, making it popular to health-conscious consumers. This method saves up to 70 percent of water while allowing for a longer growing season and avoiding harmful chemicals.
Jui Kemkar, co-founder of Waves Enterprises.
How suitable is this for Middle East consumers?
The extreme climatic conditions and limited agricultural land availability in the Middle East makes hydroponic farming an excellent agro-solution as it increases farming capability. The absence of soil in the growing process makes it conducive for this method of growth to be used in an indoor or outdoor setting.
Can you explain the actual process behind this?
Plant growth happens through a combination of water, sunlight, carbon dioxide, and mineral nutrients. In traditional farming, these nutrients are derived from the soil. Through photosynthesis, plants transform light energy into chemical energy to form sugars that allow them to grow and sustain themselves. This is the basic premise behind hydroponics where all the elements required for plant growth are the same as with traditional soil-based gardening but only taking away the soil requirements, hence making it convenient to perform the farming process anywhere within a controlled environment.
What are the advantages of this kind of farming?
For one, plants can grow both indoor and outdoor and there is growth observed throughout the year. There is complete control over the nutrient balance with a proven technology that ensures high yield. Research shows that growth is faster with hydroponics and 70 percent less water is consumed in the farming process. No harmful contents enter the plant, as no soil or fertilizer or other harmful chemicals are used. The overall economy of a nation will benefit by promoting local farming and reducing the import of vegetables from other countries.
How affordable is this type of farming?
Residential setups are affordable and can be customized to individual budgets; however, commercial farms can be expensive depending on the extent of growth required. But despite the heavy investments for commercial set-ups, profits of up to 60 percent or more are visible in a short period of time. Profits will vary and depend largely on the type of crop cultivated. For example, due to low operational costs, green leafy vegetables yield more profits.
What kind of environment protection does this offer?
As global warming becomes a bigger issue for the world, there is a constant need for better ways to cut down on CO2 emissions to help the environment thrive. Perhaps one of the greatest ways countries can cut back on harmful greenhouse gasses is through examining how they produce and distribute their food supply. Hydroponic growing has numerous possibilities to produce larger, better-tasting vegetables. This method of growth uses less land, 70 percent less water, and minimum to no use of pesticides or herbicides.
Due to controlled growing environment, growth is possible in all types of climatic conditions. Dry and arid climates are not conducive to the growth of berries, bananas, and citrus fruits; however, one country was able to successfully adopt the hydroponic growing process on a large scale. The produce was grown in 40ft large containers and transported to consumer markets for sale.
What is the future of hydroponic farming?
Hydroponics is the fastest growing sector of agriculture, and it could very well dominate food production in the future. As population increases and agricultural land declines due to poor land management, people will turn to new technologies like hydroponics and vertical farming to create additional channels of crop production.
Future of Food Summit
For the first time, EatingWell and the International Food Information Council Foundation are bringing together thought leaders across academia, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and the media to discuss the Future of Food and how our food system needs to change for the better
For the first time, EatingWell and the International Food Information Council Foundation are bringing together thought leaders across academia, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and the media to discuss the Future of Food and how our food system needs to change for the better.
Panel Topics
Sustainable Food Production
Our Protein Obsession
Innovations in Nutrition and Health
The Consumer Experience
With panel members representing GE Appliances, National Cattleman's Beef Association, North Carolina State University, Perdue, Perfect Day and more!
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PANEL TOPICS
9:00 – 9:30 AM
OPENING REMARKS JOSEPH CLAYTON, CEO, IFIC
Joseph Clayton is Chief Executive Officer of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) and IFIC Foundation. He joined IFIC in 2016. Clayton previously served as Interim President of the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), the trade association representing the public policy and regulatory interests of the frozen food and beverage industry. Prior to AFFI, he served as Executive Vice President at Golin International and CEO of Widmeyer Communications. He began his career in the U.S. Senate, where he worked on the legislative staff of former Illinois Senator Alan Dixon (D-IL). A graduate of the University of Illinois, Clayton serves on the Advisory Board of Illinois in Washington.
OPENING REMARKS JESSIE PRICE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, EATINGWELL
Editor-in-chief of EatingWell since 2013, Jessie Price oversees the editorial content across all media platforms including the magazine, books and brand extensions. After graduating from Williams College, Jessie cooked in restaurants in California and Colorado and worked in advertising in San Francisco. She began testing recipes for EatingWell when she moved to Vermont in 2003 and soon after joined the team full time. She has worked on more than a dozen EatingWell cookbooks and is the author of the James Beard Award-winning The Simple Art of EatingWell. Jessie has represented EatingWell across national and local media, appearing on NBC’s Today show, TV Land’s Best Night In and video news network Cheddar, among others. Under her leadership, the magazine has been named Publication of the Year twice by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), in 2016 and 2019 (and was a finalist in 2017 and 2018).
9:30 – 10:45 AM
KEYNOTE ALI BOUZARI, PH.D.
Ali Bouzari is a culinary scientist, author and educator. He is co-founder of Pilot R&D, a culinary research and development company, and Render, a new food company that collaborates with the best restaurant chefs in the country to reinvent the way food lovers eat. As a chef with a Ph.D. in food biochemistry, Ali has helped to lead the charge in changing the way we think about cooking by teaching and developing curriculum at top universities, and collaborating with the country’s most innovative restaurants, including State Bird Provisions, Eleven Madison Park, and the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group.
10:45 AM – 12:00 PM
The Consumer Experience–Shopping, Cooking & Restaurants
Are robots going to be stirring the pots on our stoves? Will grocery store produce departments be stocked straight from vertical farms on their roofs? How will concerns for sustainability, health and social justice reshape both fast-casual and high-end dining? This panel will tap into the changes that will revolutionize how we interact with food every day.
MODERATOR
Jessie Price, Editor-in-Chief, EatingWell
PANELISTS
Chris Bissig, Director Industrial Design, GE
Maisie Ganzler, Chief Strategy & Brand Officer, Bon Appetit Management Co.
Hunter Lewis, Editor-in-Chief, Food & Wine
Mario Ferruzzi, Ph.D., Professor of Food Science & Nutrition, NC State, Plants for Human Health Institute
1:00 – 2:15 PM
Sustainable Food Production
Precision technology, gene editing, vertical farming, regenerative practices and other innovations are helping growers be more productive, use fewer natural resources, sequester carbon, reduce waste and improve soil health. How can we harness technologies like these to make our food system more resilient and healthy in the years to come?
MODERATOR
Dave Kurns, Editor-in-Chief, Successful Farming
PANELISTS
Jason Rowntree, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Animal Science, Michigan State University
Bruce Stewart-Brown, D.V.M., SVP of Food Safety, Quality and Live Production, Perdue
Mark Guiltinan, Ph.D., Professor of Plant Molecular Biology, Penn State University
Marc Oshima, Co-Founder, AeroFarms
2:30 – 3:45 PM
Plants to Animals: Where Is Our Protein Obsession Headed?
Americans love to focus on the health benefits of protein, but we’re worried about its impact on the environment. What’s a thoughtful eater to do? Stick with meat, go lab-grown, turn to plant-based alternatives? The options are evolving by the day, especially with help from an influx of investment capital.
MODERATOR
Sophie Egan, MPH, Author & Director of Health and Sustainability Leadership, Strategic Initiatives Group, The Culinary Institute of America
PANELISTS
Ephi Eyal, CEO, Hinoman USA
Katharine Richards, Senior Director of Marketing, Perfect Day
Renske Lynde, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Food System 6
Jennie Schmidt, M.S., R.D., “The Foodie Farmer”
Sara Place, Ph.D., Senior Director of Sustainable Beef Production, National Cattleman’s Beef Association
3:45 – 5:00 PM
Innovations in Nutrition & Health
What will be the biggest influences on dietary and nutrition science in the next ten years? In 2020 the USDA will release the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which help drive food and nutrition policy. What are we likely to see there? Probably small incremental changes. But promising emergent fields including personalized nutrition, microbiome research and sugar replacement alternatives are likely to shake up what we eat to feel our best.
MODERATOR
Lisa Valente, M.S., R.D., Digital Nutrition & News Editor, EatingWell
PANELISTS
Anna Maria Siega-Riz, Ph.D., IFIC Foundation Trustee
Rachel Sanders, CEO, Rootine Vitamins
Megan Meyer, Ph.D., Director of Science Communication IFIC Foundation
Dipnath Baidyaroy, Ph.D., Director of Strategic Alliances, Codexis
Allison Kuhn, Director of Nutrition, Kroger Health