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New Technology To Speed Discovery of Sustainable Crop Solutions For Farmers
Terramera announced the launch of six custom, state-of-the-art plant growth chambers. Many crop protection products fail in the field because labs and greenhouses do not accurately replicate real-world conditions
Terramera announced the launch of six custom, state-of-the-art plant growth chambers. Many crop protection products fail in the field because labs and greenhouses do not accurately replicate real-world conditions. Each chamber offers precise control over temperature (ranging from 5 to 40 degrees Celsius), humidity, and light to simulate many possible field conditions, from cool nights and morning mists to desert and subtropical conditions, and will be outfitted with a Terramera-built automation system for end-to-end integration.
Automation will enable experiments to run entirely without human intervention including watering, spraying, nutrient dosing, and imaging of the plants throughout their lifecycle, dramatically accelerating data collection for product performance and increasing accuracy with Terramera’s industry-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) platform.
“Customized growth chambers allow us to simulate weather to study disease and insect infestations with integrated treatment and imaging systems in one automated system -- replicated six times for parallel studies,” said Annett Rozek, Terramera Chief Scientific Officer. “This is as close as we can get to real-world conditions in a research environment and will deliver solutions as rapidly and efficiently as possible.”
The new growth chambers bring Terramera’s total to 12 and are part of a larger technological scale-up for the company, which also brought a new liquid handling robot on board. Terramera’s own machine learning (ML) model named the robot, “Enzing,” which is integrated into Terramera’s fully automated in-vitro screening and data analysis pipeline. The robot has already enabled Terramera’s largest in-vitro screening project yet, testing the company’s Actigate library against numerous plant disease pathogens.
“This marks an exciting milestone for Terramera and a step-change in the industry by adding a new, essential capacity,” said Karn Manhas, Terramera Founder, and CEO. “Simulated environment studies are the missing link between controlled environments like the lab or greenhouse and field trials since many products fail because lab and greenhouse conditions are too different from the outside world on a farm. This technology increases our throughput, allowing us to predict outcomes more accurately, allowing us to quickly scale our knowledge and technologies to make farming healthier, more sustainable and productive while turning back the clock on climate change.”
For more information:
Terramera
www.terramera.com
4 Dec 2020
Self-Sustainable Planter + Composter For Indoor Gardening
The planter features a companion app, which treats gardening as a game, showing the stages of plant growth as “levels” for your real-life veggies. If you were a teen in the late 2000s, you might remember the popular Facebook game, Farmville? Imagine that concept but in real life
02-12-2020 09:13 | Yanko Design
To reduce their environmental impact, my parents have started composting their food waste. Great idea, but there are two small problems with their set-up: one, my parents aren’t gardeners, so the resulting manure is usually scattered on empty soil beds (which the weeds appreciate), and two, the composter lives in the backyard, which means they keep a plastic container on the back porch for their discarded orange peels and wilted salad (not the prettiest sight). Overall, the composter is not living up to its full potential, because it doesn’t suit my parents’ lifestyle.
Segue to the Sustainable Family Farm, a miniature composter and planter that is best suited for indoor life. When I saw this design, my first thought was Ah-hah, the perfect Christmas gift for my parents … in theory, since it hasn’t entered the market yet. A mini-composter isn’t a novel idea; in fact, you can make your own with a plastic jug, soil, and some worms. However, the Sustainable Family Farm sets itself apart in two ways: first, by integrating seamlessly into the household regardless of the members’ gardening/composting experience, second, by making gardening into a fun experience for the family.
The product accomplishes this first point by utilizing all the food waste in the household without requiring a lot of additional effort. All you have to do is dump your compostable scraps into the plant incubator and monitor your veggies’ growth. The amount of maintenance that goes into the gardening depends on the seeds you choose — and there plenty of low maintenance options, like basil or cilantro. The Sustainable Family Farm accomplishes its second goal, making gardening a fun activity with the power of smartphones. The planter features a companion app, which treats gardening as a game, showing the stages of plant growth as “levels” for your real-life veggies. If you were a teen in the late 2000s, you might remember the popular Facebook game, Farmville? Imagine that concept but in real life. Or, you know … regular farming. (Jeez, I’ve exposed myself as a phone-addicted city-dweller.)
The Sustainable Family Farm, I think, is one of the most accessible urban planter concepts I’ve seen. Its low maintenance process makes it as easy as possible for anyone to grow herbs or small vegetables. You just need to buy the seeds and worms to get started – the circle of life takes care of the rest.
This concept won the European Product Design Award in “Home Interior Products/Household Appliances” and “Design for Society/Design for Sustainability.” An earlier version of this design was also featured on Yanko Design.
Designer: Chaozhi Lin
Click here for more information.
Photo Courtesy of Yanko Design
Introducing Our New Website!
We can bring farms to almost any space, including your home and office! Check out our new Home Farm and Office Farm offerings showcased on our website. You can also find out about how we started out and keep up to date with our blogs and events!
Due to the lockdown we've wound down farm operations for the time being, but we've been using the time to work on a number of exciting developments. 🥁 One of those is a new and improved website, which you can a first look at here!
We can bring farms to almost any space, including your home and office! Check out our new Home Farm and Office Farm offerings showcased on our website. You can also find out about how we started out and keep up to date with our blogs and events!
Click here to explore our new site.
New Viking Professional Micro Green And Herb Growing Cabinet In Select Markets
Viking Range, LLC, a leader in kitchen technology, is pleased to announce the rollout of a new Viking Professional Micro Green & Herb Growing Cabinet. The 24” under counter unit allows consumers to grow herbs and micro greens 365 days a year.
The unit includes two growing trays, two 4” propagation domes, two hydroponic growing mats, pH and TDS calibration solutions, measuring syringe, sifter, hydrogen peroxide and a 20 gallon tub.
A fully contained ecosystem is ideal for growing herbs and micro greens. The cabinet is equipped with high output T5 growing lights to replicate the sun’s rays and get the best growth possible. The light is distributed evenly with diffuser panels. The system also features a filter with a water pump for irrigation. It can be manually filled or connected with city water and drain.
The digital system is fully automated for light, watering and air circulation for optimal growth. It comes with 39 preprogrammed cycles for the most common greens, plus it is fully programmable for custom cycles.
Each zone in the unit accommodates one 10”x20” growing flat. Users can simply sow their seeds in the flats using traditional soil or hydroponic media. Cover the trays with the unit’s humidity domes and place them in the cabinet. Next, set the growing cycle for your particular plants and when the seeds begin to sprout, the humidity domes should be removed. Grow until the herbs are ready to harvest, depending on the variety of plant, this cycle could be as little as seven days.
The herb grower is compact and installs under countertops in any space. It also features removable growing drawers on easy gliding rollers with drainage holes in the rear for ebb and flow irrigation. The double pane tempered glass allows easy viewing.
The innovative Viking Micro Green & Herb Growing Cabinet is now available at select authorized Viking dealers in the Chicago metro area and the state of California.
Viking Range, LLC originated ultra-premium commercial-type appliances for the home, creating a whole new category of home appliances. Committed to innovative product design, unrivaled performance and peerless quality, Viking is headquartered in Greenwood, Mississippi, and is a subsidiary of The Middleby Corporation, a long-time leader in commercial kitchen technology. Viking appliances are recognized globally as the foremost brand in the high-end appliance industry and are sold through a network of premium appliance distributors and dealers worldwide.
For additional product information, to locate a Viking dealer in your area, or to request a quote, please visit www.vikingrange.com. VIKING is a registered trademark of Viking Range, LLC.