Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
How Next-Gen Agri-Techniques Could Deliver Multi-Fold Productivity Gains And Combat Hunger In India
We have come across hydroponics, where plants are grown in inert medium like rocks or coir and are fed with nutrient rich water is probably the most well researched method. And there is aquaponics, where fish are reared in water along with plants.
By Dr. Richard Lobo
August 3, 2021
In the early 1700s, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to George Washington, “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit because it will, in the end, contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”
Farming has, over the years, changed the course of human civilisation, and then we took on a high premium on land as a key factor of agricultural production. The quality of soil, its fertility, nurture, and value has been a key social and political conversation over centuries.
Over the ages, advances were recorded through mechanisation, irrigation, and fertilisers, and all revolved around improving land and soil quality. However, the latest advances of today are bringing the centrality of land itself in question.
Yes, we are talking about farming practices and methods that do not use land at all. We have come across hydroponics, where plants are grown in inert medium like rocks or coir and are fed with nutrient rich water is probably the most well researched method. And there is aquaponics, where fish are reared in water along with plants.
However, the most interesting among them is aeroponics – growing of plants in air, with the roots not touching the soil but getting their nutrients and water from a nutrient laden mist that is created around the roots periodically.
This method of agriculture was conceived in order to find a way of growing food in space. While the term was coined by Dutch biologist Frits Warmolt in 1957, it only saw some traction in the mid-eighties when patents were filed and aeroponically food was sold in European markets.
Today Asian countries like Vietnam are adopting aeroponics in a big way for a low cost certified disease-free organic produce.
The global Aeroponics market was valued at $578.70 million in 2018, and is projected to reach $3.53 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 25.60 percent from 2019 to 2026.
While not much data is available for aeroponics in India, we can get an idea from how the hydroponics market in the country is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.53 percent between 2020 and 2027, according to a report by DataM Intelligence.
Less land and scalable agriculture
Aeroponics technique is also known as vertical farming as the crops can be grown in vertically stacked layers in smaller spaces. This gives a huge opportunity for farmers with smaller land holdings to grow crops in enclosed places by taking away the primacy of land and its cyclicality out of the equation. It also allows farming without lower capital investment as much less land is required.
In a predominantly agrarian country like India, aeroponics holds the potential to contribute to the development of the sector and boost production. The technique requires only 10 percent of the area traditional farming needs.
According to NASA, aeroponically grown plants can be harvested three times faster and the yields are more consistent. As nutrients are sprayed onto the plants and roots, and there's plenty of oxygen and other gases in the growing chamber for roots to absorb.
There are a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that can be grown using aeroponics system. Cucumbers, tomatoes, leafy vegetables, pumpkins, gourds, melons, strawberries, and various herbs can be grown with the help of these techniques in closed spaces.
Less water and sustainable farming
Farming in closed spaces has other advantages. Since nutrients are delivered through a mist, water usage is low. Aeroponics uses almost 90 percent less water than in traditional farming. Also, due to the controlled environment and better use of space, aeroponic farms are able to reduce the carbon footprint of food production.
Farming in a confined space gives the farmer control over pest and locust attacks and sudden heat waves.
In a country like India, space is always an issue. There is a constant pressure on agricultural land and its conversion to other uses and we are losing about 3,000 acres of farmland to real estate or industrial development every day. With Aeroponics the discussions around farming can move away from land constraints to focussing more on sustainable farming techniques.
Sustainability will be a key factor in India’s farming future. India may face devastating climate change effects, including killer heat waves and severe floods, in the next 80 years, says a recent study published in the journal 'Earth Systems and Environment'. The effects of climate change are now becoming severe at an alarming rate.
A farming system that uses less water, operates in a controlled environment leading to lesser wastage can be a boon for the cause of sustainability, especially in a populous country like India.
As aeroponics promises to solve multiple problems through its innovative approach to farming and it is time the technology got its due attention.
Developing And Improving Productivity In Vertical Farms
Growing food in our increasingly variable climate is a challenge. Growing crops in a controlled environment provides an alternative approach to conventional farming which is free from the pressures created by extremes and variations in our weather, isolated from pests and allows crop growth at a wider range of latitudes
27-01-2021 | Agritech Tomorrow
Growing food in our increasingly variable climate is a challenge. Growing crops in a controlled environment provides an alternative approach to conventional farming which is free from the pressures created by extremes and variations in our weather, isolated from pests and allows crop growth at a wider range of latitudes.
Vertical farming is a relatively recent development with the first commercial vertical farm being reported as developed in 2012 in Singapore. Grand View Research estimated that the value of the vertical farming market would reach almost US$10 billion by 2025.
Developing indoor vertical farms requires a good understanding of all the requirements each crop plant will need for optimal growth and development. As a relatively new technology, research can have a big impact on how successful these enterprises will be in the longer term with expertise in plant physiology supporting improvements to these systems.
Dr. Antony Dodd’s research into the plant circadian clock had found that optimizing growing conditions to match the clock resulted in plants that contained more chlorophyll, allowing them to convert more of the available light into biomass and grow faster. Experimentally, productivity could be doubled by matching the circadian rhythm to the photoperiod in the growing environment. The capacity to control conditions precisely within a vertical farm means that the environment can be fine-tuned to the requirements of the crop to maximize yield.
In 2019 Dr. Antony Dodd was awarded a Royal Society Short Industry Fellowship to support the development of a collaboration with LettUs Grow. The collaborative team combines expertise in biological science with engineering, with Dr. Dodd’s research group providing expertise on optimal circadian rhythms, light quality, and plant physiology to inform developments in light provision for crop plants in vertical farming systems.
The team, from LettUs Grow, University of Bristol, and the John Innes Centre, have worked together on several projects since the fellowship was first awarded. This has not only enabled them to develop strategies to better analyze the performance of plants within vertical farms, but also to identify the areas of research which would accelerate the development of aeroponics for precision agriculture. And so together they have developed a Roadmap for aeroponics development.
The impacts so far have been:
Awarded a Royal Society Industry Fellowship supported the development of a team to develop improvements to aeroponics technology through the incorporation of circadian biology and plant physiology
· Development of a roadmap to inform on what future research is required to accelerate sustainable growth in vertical farming using aeroponics, reducing operational costs whilst maximizing productivity
· BBSRC funding has supported two studentship schemes to help LettUs Grow improve their processes to optimize lighting regimes for crop growth
Jack Farmer, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of LettUs Grow said: “Vertical farming is an emerging industry with a lot to offer that, alongside both greenhouse and organic agricultural practices, offers a potential pathway towards continuing to meet the worlds demand for nutritious produce without degrading large tracts of agricultural land. In many ways, each of these attempt to move forward from the chemically-driven intensive agricultural practices of the recent decades towards a system that factors-in environmental externalities.
However, if we want to manifest the environmental benefits vertical farming has to offer, we need to maximize productivity and efficiency for growers. We know it is important as a technology provider to collaborate with the best plant scientists to get the most out of our systems – elegant engineering will only take you so far. Internal collaboration between growers, engineers, and scientists is foundational to what we do here, and it’s been a real pleasure to expand that collaboration to include the talented staff at the John Innes Centre.”
LettUs Grow are now developing systems to allow growth of crops which are more technically challenging such as strawberries and tree whips through their award-winning aeroponic system, which is already being used to produce leafy green crops such as salads and herbs.
There are numerous benefits to be gained from growing crops in vertical farms. We are better able to keep out pests and disease reducing the requirement for pesticides, we can maintain an optimum environment for efficient plant growth which speeds up time to harvest and enables more accurate scheduling of crops thereby reducing food waste. Vertical farms can be located close to urban conurbations reducing food miles and year-round production means that we can become less reliant on imports, guaranteeing local food supply chains which in turn can stabilize prices as well as product consistency.
The next steps for further impact from this research will involve tackling the knowledge gaps identified in the roadmap and implementing changes to identify key growing formulae for specific crops which will allow vertical farming businesses to become more productive. This in turn will enable the potential benefits of vertical farming to be fully realized.
Source and Photo Courtesy of Agritech Tomorrow
Could AI-Controlled Vertical Farms Be The Answer To Feeding The Growing Population?
Vertical farms are becoming a trend these past few years in various countries, like in the US, the UK, and Dubai. Vertical farming makes farming possible even with a scarce land area because it is producing food on vertically inclined surfaces instead of a field or greenhouse
Erika P.
Dec 31, 2020
Scientists said that the Earth had lost one-third of its arable lands in the last 40 years. That means, lesser land to grow crops that will provide food for humanity. But these days, vertical farms have slowly become a trend in cities, growing leafy vegetables inside a controlled room.
In the next 30 years, it is estimated that the world's population will grow to 9.7 billion people, which poses many challenges, such as producing food for everyone. Agricultural lands are slowly vanishing in some countries due to industrial development and urbanization that turn rural areas into cities.
Vertical Farming
Vertical farms are becoming a trend these past few years in various countries, like in the US, the UK, and Dubai. Vertical farming makes farming possible even with a scarce land area because it is producing food on vertically inclined surfaces instead of a field or greenhouse.
In vertical farming, produce is vertically stacked in layers commonly integrated into the other structures, such as a skyscraper, shipping container, and repurposed warehouse or night clubs.
This modern idea of indoor farming uses the Controlled Environment Agriculture technology that controls the room's temperature, light, humidity, and gases. Vertical farming is somewhat similar to greenhouses that use metal reflectors and artificial lighting to augment natural sunlight.
Ultimately, vertical farming's primary goal is maximizing crops in a limited space and providing more food for the whole population.
ALSO READ: Dubai's Green Revolution Starts at Its Vertical Farms in the Middle of the Desert
AI-Controlled Vertical Farms Promise A Revolution in Food Production
Nate Storey, who co-founded the San Francisco agricultural-technical startup called Plenty, uses vertical farming to answer the increasing food demands of the growing population.
His company has constructed climate-controlled vertical farms that have drawn over $400 million funding from Soft Bank, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and former Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, TechXplore reported.
His vertical farms only use about two acres, yet it can produce 720 acres worth of fruit and vegetables. He uses AI-controlled robots to control the lighting, temperature, and watering. Meanwhile, LED panels to serve as the sunlight, which means that food is grown 24/7 inside his vertical farms, and water is recycled because the evaporated water is recaptured so that there is no waste.
Plenty's vertical farms are so efficient that it uses 99% less land and 95% less water than conventional farming practices. Also, the rows of hanging plants produce 400 times more food per acre. Indeed, a revolution in food production.
The AI-controlled robots monitor the plant growth and constantly adjust the environmental factors to ensure more efficient and economic output.
Vertical farming looks more promising, especially in times like the pandemic when food production is disrupted. In Dubai, their food supply was not affected so much during the pandemic's early days because of their vertical farms. The San Francisco-based company's approach to farming also plays a similar role in the stability of the food chain.
"Free agriculture from the constraints of weather, seasons, time, distance, pests, natural disasters, and climate," Plenty's website reads.
READ MORE: Hydroponics Farming Is the Next-Gen Food Production Technology
VIDEO: SANANBIO Announces the Availability of its Unmanned Vertical Farming System UPLIFT to Global Growers
“Pour your seeds in the seeder and do nothing but expect fresh veggies to be harvested in a matter of days,” said Zhan Zhuo, co-founder, and CEO of SANANBIO. UPLIFT has been under tests in the last two years and proves to be commercially feasible and ready to be established as turnkey projects for worldwide growers
XIAMEN, CHINA, July 16, 2020--SANANBIO, one of the world’s largest indoor farming technology providers announces the availability of its unmanned vertical farming system, a.k.a. UPLIFT, to growers globally.
“Pour your seeds in the seeder and do nothing but expect fresh veggies to be harvested in a matter of days,” said Zhan Zhuo, co-founder, and CEO of SANANBIO. UPLIFT has been under tests in the last two years and proves to be commercially feasible and ready to be established as turnkey projects for worldwide growers. “It can produce 6-8 tons of fresh leafy greens every day on a farm of only 5,000 sqm. By stacking up layers higher than a traditional vertical farm, we can best utilize the space to increase the yields. With the same farm size, UPLIFT’s productivity is 6 times of a 6-layered vertical farm.
The increased yield means a lowered cost, which in turn makes our produce affordable to more people. We’ve also upgraded our water circulation system so that 60% of the water can be absorbed by plants and the remaining 40% recycled. This fact is especially meaningful for the regions of the world that struggle with water shortages and harsh agricultural conditions.” said Zhan.
UPLIFT uses PlantKeeper, a proprietary indoor farming management system, to control and monitor environmental factors so farm operators can be updated with real-time growing conditions throughout the farm. By using simple and proven robotics and conveyor systems, UPLIFT automates seeding, transplanting, harvesting, plant transporting, and system cleaning, reducing labor intensity to its lowest.
“We’re phasing out manpower to make our produces available for more people. So we can say that UPLIFT is unmanned for humanity,” said Zhan.
About SANANBIO
SANANBIO is a joint-venture by Sanan Optoelectronics, one of the world’s largest LED manufacturers, and the Institute of Botany of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China’s leading institute in plant science. Comprised of LED experts and plant scientists, SANANBIO is able to provide simple indoor farming solutions for global growers. The RADIX, a patented vertical hydroponic system, has been widely endorsed by growers in more than twenty countries.
“We’re phasing out manpower to make our produces available for more people. So we can say that UPLIFT is unmanned for humanity,” said Zhan.
To learn more about UPLIFT, please contact SANANBIO at global@sananbio.com or visit its LinkedIn page https://www.linkedin.com/company/fujiansanansinosciencephotobiotechcoltd.