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IGrow PreOwned 3/5/21 IGrow PreOwned 3/5/21

Climate Corps America: The Urban Farms Transforming How America’s Most Vulnerable Communities Eat

Urban farms not only promote healthy eating but have the ability to transform industrial cities.

Louise Boyle

The microwave plays a significantly more important role to urban farming in Baltimore than you might first imagine.

“Our butternut squash comes from a seed which makes it little and easily microwaveable,” Gwen Kokes, food and farm programme director at Civic Works, told The Independent. “For our [customers] this is really important as it might be too expensive to turn on the gas to cook or the oven might not be working.”

The squash, along with a range of produce, is grown at Real Food Farm, one branch of Civic Works urban service corps program in Maryland’s largest city.

The farm started about a decade ago and spans eight acres in northeast Baltimore with four fields, more than 100 fruit trees, a greenhouse for seedlings, and eight “hoop houses” which, for the uninitiated, are a sort of passive greenhouse with crops planted directly in the soil but sheltered by heavy-duty plastic sheets stretched over frames.

The farm produces 5,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables each year to be sold for reduced cost at farmers’ markets in low-income neighbourhoods across Baltimore. A mobile market, operating out of a box truck, also visits all 12 senior centres in the city.

“In total, we distribute about 100,000 pounds of food every year,” says Ms Kokes. “We buy from other urban farms in a 50-mile radius, prioritising Black-owned farms. Sometimes we have donations from Hungry Harvest, a programme to reduce food waste from grocery stores, and we’ve been adding pantry and hygiene items so that it’s more of a one-stop shop.”

Civic Works is part of AmeriCorps, the federal agency for service and volunteering programmes in the US. To tackle the climate crisis, President Biden has called for “reinvigorating and repurposing” the agency into a so-called “Civilian Climate Corps” to provide jobs while ramping up clean energy and sustainability to “heal our public lands and make us less vulnerable to wildfires and floods”.

“Biden’s plan could be huge for us,” Ms Kokes said. “I think it can grow exponentially. There’s plenty of demand for these jobs.”

The non-profit also runs programmes to mentor students, fix up abandoned houses and makes homes safer for seniors by doing minor DIY like adding handrails and ramps.

AmeriCorps estimates that its existing network – 25,000 participants in about 130 programmes – could be scaled up to 500,000 young people and veterans over the next five years.

Around 19 million people in the US live in “food deserts”. The term is believed to have been coined in Scotland in the early 1990s by a public housing resident, referring to areas where healthy, fresh options are scarce and packaged and fast food has proliferated.

The term is now seen as having negative connotations, implying that “low healthy food access is a naturally occurring phenomenon, rather than the result of underlying structural inequities”, according to a 2018 study by John Hopkins. (Baltimore residents told researchers they preferred the term “Healthy Food Priority Areas”.)

Researchers also point to the systemic racism at the heart of Americans’ access to food. It’s difficult to improve diet and health, for example, if prices for nutritious food are far beyond your budget, and there’s no public transport to take you stores.

“The fact that predominantly black neighbourhoods, on average, have fewer stores and poorer quality [food] compared to their white counterparts means something,” Ashanté M. Reese, professor of sociology and anthropology at Spelman College who studies race and food inequity, told HuffPost .

Baltimore is one of America’s poorest cities. In 22 of the city’s 668 Census tracts, at least 40 per cent of residents live below the poverty line. Even before Covid, the unemployment rate in the poorest neighbourhoods hovered above 15 per cent, triple that of wealthier areas.

Lack of access to healthy food in Baltimore is one layer of racial inequality that has plagued the city since the early 20th century, when deliberate policies were put in place to separate the city’s white and Black residents.

In the city’s Greenmount East neighbourhood the average life expectancy is around 66 years while four miles away in the wealthier Roland Park, the average life expectancy is 84 years, according to Kaiser Health News.

That’s where organisations like Real Food Farm step in. Those who are unemployed or on low-incomes and using government nutrition assistance programmes get double the value for their dollar if it’s spent at the farmers’ market, for example.

Urban farms not only promote healthy eating but have the ability to transform industrial cities.

“Motor City” Detroit, once the backbone of the car industry, has suffered a well-documented decline since its mid-20th century heyday. But its industrial wastelands have been transformed by urban farming with at least 1,400 farms and gardens in the city. In Pittsburgh, Hilltop Urban Farm is set to become the largest urban farm in the country. Baltimore has around 17 urban farms and upwards of 75 community gardens that grow food, according to Baltimore magazine.

Civic Works’ role on the frontline of food insecurity meant that its teams were well-positioned to adapt during the Covid pandemic, delivering boxes of fresh produce and basic necessities to the most vulnerable at no cost. They also worked with public bodies and local charities to deliver donations.

“During lockdown, Baltimore City public school system had to get rid of those little cartons of milk really fast. We have thousands of customers so we focused on getting those out to them,” Ms Kokes said.

From March through the end of July, the programme’s teams ran a free programme delivering boxes of produce, meals and hygiene kits to about 1,000 households a week. They went on to launch a discounted local produce programme, delivering boxes with about $15-$20 of food for $5 with free delivery, mostly to seniors.

Urban farms will play a role in mitigating how climate change impacts urban areas. Cities are often several degrees hotter than rural areas due to the “urban heat island effect” caused by dark-coloured roads and buildings. Increasing vegetation cover can help curb rising temperatures.

Urban farms can also lower the risk of flooding during heavy downpours and help retain water in dry areas, according to a paper in the journal Earth’s Future.

Research in 2018 from Arizona State University and Google found that urban agriculture could save the energy equivalent of 9 million home air conditioning units and produce up to 180m tonnes of food globally. Along with supplying almost the entire recommended consumption of vegetables for city dwellers, it would cut food waste and reduce emissions from transportation of produce, the study found.

Maryland is among the states most vulnerable to climate change, facing both rising sea levels and heightened storm intensity. Government data predicts that Maryland’s sizeable farming community could suffer costly losses during extreme droughts and heat waves.

Ms Kokes says that more extreme and unpredictable weather has impacted their operations in recent years.

“With day-to-day farming, we have to get ‘swamp ready’,” she said. “2018 was the worst for Maryland farmers as the rain was astronomical. We took a huge hit. It was very humbling because we had to reckon with our limitations, and partner with others to be a reliable source of food.

“Irregular weather patterns especially in the spring make it really difficult to know when to plant. We’ve [also] had early frost in October. Our farmer Stewart is a very smart, science-oriented guy and thankfully, there’s resources that we can lean on to translate this unpredictability into clear language.”

Around 3,000 students from kindergarten to high school have visited Real Food Farm over the years to learn about agriculture. Separately, programmes like Future Harvest are preparing the farmers of the future. But it’s important that Real Food Farm’s mission stays relevant to the communities they are in, Ms Kokes said.

“Environmentalism, from our perspective and our work, has to be people-focused,” she said. “We’re not talking about weather patterns when people are hungry and just want affordable produce in their neighbourhood.”

IGrow PreOwned 3/2/21 IGrow PreOwned 3/2/21

GoodLeaf Farms Launches Aggressive Expansion Plans

GoodLeaf will bring its innovative and proprietary controlled-environment agriculture technology to more Canadian markets over the coming year

NEWS PROVIDED BY

GoodLeaf Farms

McCain invests in a national network of vertical farms to bring tasty, local food to Canadians

GUELPH, ON, - With the closure of a successful new funding round, GoodLeaf Farms is embarking on an aggressive growth and expansion plan to build a national network of vertical farms that will bring fresh, delicious, nutritious and locally grown leafy greens to Canadians across the country.

Backed by a sizeable investment from McCain Foods Limited — which has increased its total investment in GoodLeaf to more than $65 million — GoodLeaf will bring its innovative and proprietary controlled-environment agriculture technology to more Canadian markets over the coming year, providing more Canadian consumers with year-round local food that is typically imported from the Southern United States or Mexico.

"From our start in Truro to our first commercial farm in Guelph, GoodLeaf has built a strong foundation for future growth," says Barry Murchie, Chief Executive Officer of GoodLeaf. "We want to be a global leader in vertical farming. Our first step to accomplishing that is ensuring we have a strong footprint in Canada, giving Canadians access to top quality, nutrient-dense, sustainably grown and pesticide-free leafy greens 365 days a year."

GoodLeaf opened its first commercial vertical farm in Guelph, Ont., in the fall of 2019. By the end of 2021, GoodLeaf is planning two more indoor vertical farms — one to serve the grocery and foodservice networks in Eastern Canada, and one for Western Canada.

The exact locations will be announced shortly.

"It is our intention to build farms that support the Canadian grocery store network, foodservice industry and consumers," says Mr Murchie. "We want to change what people are eating by providing a fresh, healthy and local alternative that, until now, hasn't been available in Canada. We are driving a new way to grow food, with disruptive technology that brings consumers leafy greens from their own backyard. This is a fundamental game-changer."

GoodLeaf's vertical farm grows to produce on hydroponic trays stacked in multiple horizontal levels. A proprietary system of specialized LED lights is engineered to emulate the spring sun, giving plants the light they crave to maximize photosynthesis. The indoor controlled environment is almost clinical, meaning there are no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides used. It is also immune to weather extremes, such as summer droughts or late spring frosts that can be lethal to crops.

Furthermore, having a local source of year-round food is vital to Canada's food security and sovereignty, concerns that were in the spotlight at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as shoppers were faced with rapidly dwindling supplies on grocery store shelves.

At its 45,000-square-foot Guelph farm, every day GoodLeaf is harvesting microgreens (Spicy Mustard Medley, Asian Blend, Micro Arugula, Micro Radish and Pea Shoots) and baby greens (Ontario Baby Kale, Ontario Baby Arugula and Ontario Spring Mix) for Ontario grocery stores, ensuring a local supply of fresh, nutrient-dense leafy greens all year long.

GoodLeaf produce is exceptional in a salad, as a topping for burgers and sandwiches, as a kick of nutrients in a smoothie or as an ingredient to elevate your favourite dish.

Follow GoodLeaf Farms on Instagram @goodleaffarms and Like it on Facebook at /GoodLeafFarms.

About GoodLeaf Farms:

With a passion for delicious, nutrient-rich greens, GoodLeaf was founded in Truro, NS, in 2011. Using innovative technology and leveraging multi-level vertical farming, GoodLeaf has created a controlled and efficient indoor farm that can grow fresh produce anywhere in the world, 365 days of the year. The system combines innovations in LED lighting with leading-edge hydroponic techniques to produce sustainable, safe, pesticide-free, nutrient-dense leafy greens. GoodLeaf has ongoing R&D Programs in collaboration with the University of Guelph, Dalhousie University and Acadia University.

Learn more at goodleaffarms.com.

About McCain Foods (Canada)

McCain Foods (Canada) is the Canadian division of McCain Foods Limited, an international leader in the frozen food industry. McCain Foods is the world's largest manufacturer of frozen potato specialities, and also produces other quality products such as appetizers, vegetables and desserts that can be found in restaurants and retail stores in more than 160 countries around the world. In Canada, the company has eight production facilities with approximately 2,400 employees and, in addition to its famous French fries and potato specialities, makes frozen desserts, snacks and appetizers.

SOURCE GoodLeaf Farms

For further information: Michelle Hann, Senior Consultant, Digital and Communications, Enterprise Canada, mhann@enterprisecanada.com, 613-716-2118

IGrow PreOwned 1/28/21 IGrow PreOwned 1/28/21

Vertical Farming Takes Root In Taiwan

Taiwan is uniquely placed to benefit from the application of information technology to agriculture, enabling it to help provide food for an expanding global population.

BY JULES QUARTLY

*Exposed root system for hydroponically grown plants at YesHealth's iFarm in Taoyuan. Photo: Jules Quartly*

After becoming a world leader in semiconductors and other electronic products, Taiwan is now looking to smart agriculture as its next vine to climb. The island aims to supply much of the world’s fruit and vegetables within the next 30 years.

This might seem rather unlikely until you consider that the future of farming is not land and labor but factories and robots. Furthermore, Taiwan already possesses in abundance the tools that tomorrow’s smart farmers will use, including solar and advanced light technology, chemicals, gene editing, drones, smart sensors, software, algorithms, data mining, and big data.

Many of these technologies are being put to use in a glittering new 14-story vertical farm at Copenhagen Markets in Denmark’s capital. The first phase of construction of the 7,000-square-meter facility finished in early December. It is one of Europe’s biggest and most efficient vertical farms and was built using a blueprint of patented technologies from Taiwan’s YesHealth Group.

The result of a partnership between YesHealth and Danish agritech startup Nordic Harvest, the farm looks like a fancy warehouse from the outside. The interior is fitted with rows upon rows and columns upon columns of trays containing leafy greens, growing under an intense battery of more than 20,000 smart LED lights. The plants are tended by engineers in lab coats and guided by software that processes over 5,000 individual data points to optimize plant health.

*Rows of fresh produce grown under batteries of LED lights at iFarm. Photo: Jules Quartly*

The LEDs provide variable spectrum light for 100 different kinds of plants, nanobubble hydroponics oxygenate the roots and inhibit bacterial growth, and liquid microbial fertilizers derived from oyster shells, brown sugar, and soy milk provide essential nutrients for plants and soil. Even the music played to the plants is science-infused, with classical or light jazz music ranging between 115 and 250 Hertz seeming to work best.

Production at the new vertical farm is set to begin in the new year and will scale up to around 3,000 kilograms of leafy vegetables per day by the end of 2021, equating to approximately 1,000 tons of greens annually. Crucially, unlike most farms, these figures are close to guaranteed since production is not at the mercy of climate, the weather, pests and disease, pesticide residue, nitrate levels, or hundreds of other variables that affect traditional farming.

According to Jesper Hansen, YesHealth Group’s Chief Communications Officer, the partnership with Nordic Harvest has been a productive one so far. It took just five months to install the farm and all the produce is pre-sold to ensure the operation is profitable by Q3 of 2021.

“This collaboration is just the start of a long-term journey together,” Hansen said in an email from Denmark. He notes that the two partners plan to expand to other Scandinavian countries over the next several years.

Hansen credits Taiwan for its efficient development of the technology and know-how to reproduce vertical farms all over the world and calls the Danish development “a crucial milestone in our international expansion.” He adds that the company is eyeing new partners in Europe, Asia, and the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) region.

YesHealth is the brainchild of serial tech entrepreneur Winston Tsai, who started an LCD screen company at age 21. His “eureka moment” came after being diagnosed with liver cancer and partly linking his illness to pollution in foods. After recovering, he made it his mission to produce affordable, pesticide-free produce by harnessing the power of technology.

He founded YesHealth Agri-Biotechnology Co. Ltd. in 2011 and six years later established YesHealth iFarm in Taoyuan’s Luzhu District. The iFarm cultivates an ever-expanding range of leafy vegetables and herbs in a 2,500-square-meter warehouse factory. It produces 1,500 kilograms of leafy greens per day, a yield which the company says is 100 times more efficient than a traditional farm using the same space and requires only 10% as much water. In addition, YesHealth has a farm in China’s Shenzhen, which harvests up to 2,500 kilograms per day.

*A tour of iFarm is well worth a visit and introduces the wide variety of plants grown there. Photo: Jules Quartly*

YesHealth’s products are sold to major retailers both in Taiwan and abroad, including restaurants, hotels, and airports. Its stated aim is to supply a total of 7,000 kilograms of leafy greens per day worldwide in 2021.

*Diners enjoy a meal at iFarm’s restaurant, which overlooks the vertical farm. Photo: Jules Quartly*

Having sampled the produce at the iFarm, I can confirm the arugula grown there is as tasty as any I have tried, while the lettuce and leguminous alfalfa is a perfectly clean, green, and crunchy eating experience – the result, I was informed, of an optimal growing environment and harvesting at exactly the right time.

*A plate of salad featuring leafy greens grown at the iFarm site. Photo: Jules Quartly*

In a sense, it’s back to the future for Taiwan, which had a largely agricultural economy up until the 1950s. Agriculture was one of the pillars supporting the nation’s economic miracle after World War II. With the help of mechanization and productivity gains, agricultural production at that time contributed around a third of Taiwan’s GDP.

In more recent times it has accounted for just 1.8-1.9% of GDP. That greatly reduced figure, which includes animal husbandry, fishing, and forestry, is not due to a decline in agricultural output per se, so much as the growth in manufacturing and the emergence of a pervasive service sector.

Taiwan has a wide range of rich, often volcanic soils that are exceptionally fertile, along with a subtropical climate that provides plentiful sun and rain. It is known as the “Fruit Kingdom” because of the quality of its fruit, with dozens of varieties ranging from bananas and papayas to wax apples and guavas. More than 100 kinds of vegetables grow all year round.

On the other hand, Taiwan’s mainly mountainous geography means just 25% of the land is suitable for farming. Meanwhile, climate change is affecting agricultural production by increasing summer temperatures and making rainfall more unpredictable. At the same time, considerable soil erosion, acidification, contamination by chemicals and heavy metals, and strong pesticide use have diminished soil quality over the last 50 years.

Furthermore, the proportion of Taiwanese involved in farming has rapidly declined, from 37% of the population in the early 1970s to the current 15% or less, according to the Yearbook of the Republic of China. Not only is the farming population declining, but it’s also ageing as well.

Those factors may not pose as much of an issue, however, since the old model of agriculture is being disrupted so dramatically that even economies of scale are being upended. Given the large size and advanced technology of the U.S., it may come as no surprise that it is the world’s biggest exporter of food as measured by value. Second on the list, however, is the Netherlands, which has just 0.045% the area of the U.S.

According to a National Geographic report in September 2017, the Netherlands’ achievement can be attributed to the work coming out of Wageningen University & Research, 80 kilometres from Amsterdam in the heart of Food Valley – the world’s agricultural equivalent of Silicon Valley in California. The university strives to come up with ways to increase yields and sustainability, and then to disseminate that knowledge.

New generation

With its strong background in information technology, Taiwan is in a good position to follow that example. The island manufactures everything required for what is known as precision agriculture, a farming management concept that uses IT to collect data from multiple sources as a means of increasing crop yields and boosting profitability. Taiwan is thus the ideal place for putting together prototypes relatively quickly and cheaply.

YesHealth, for example, makes its own LED lights through a local contractor rather than relying on a major manufacturer like Philips, which means it’s nimbler in terms of bringing focused, new tech to the market – and reaping the dividends. According to the company’s Program Manager, Dennis Jan, Taoyuan’s iFarm has the sixth generation LED lighting, while new iterations that are increasingly productive and energy-efficient are being rolled out on an almost annual basis.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) recognized some time ago the need for a precision approach to farming. In 2016, it developed the “Smart Agriculture 4.0 Program,” which was passed by the legislature a year later.

COA realized that the nation’s “calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate is relatively low” and that “shortages in food supplies and escalations in food prices” will inevitably occur as the world’s population expands from 7.5 billion to an expected 10.5 billion by 2050.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that in order to meet the needs of all these additional people, about 70% more food needs to be produced. Gains achieved in improving crop yields have plateaued and are unlikely to rise again without a complete transformation of the agricultural landscape through the introduction of city farms, vertical farming, and the application of information technology.

In a written response to Taiwan Business TOPICS, COA commented: “With the rapid development of sensing technology, smart machinery devices, IoT, and big data analysis, smart agriculture has been growing in various fields.

“For example, it can monitor and control the production environment automatically to keep animals and crops in the best condition,” COA said. “It can predict harvesting dates and yields through data analysis and make adjustments to maintain a balance of production and marketing, and it can use smart automated machinery in agricultural operation to significantly reduce the labor burden.” Such uses, says the Council, “make agriculture more competitive.”

Fruitful results

Besides fruit orchards, other sectors that COA has included within Agriculture 4.0 include seedlings, mushrooms, rice, aquaculture, poultry, livestock, and offshore fisheries.

COA cites Taiwan Lettuce Village as an enterprise that has benefited from precision farming. The company halved fertilizer use but improved harvest efficiency 1.5 times by introducing a fertilization recommendation system, a harvesting date and yield prediction system, synchronous fertilizing technology, and transplanter and harvester technology.

According to COA the application of precision farming increased yield prediction accuracy by 5% and prevented 350 metric tons of overstocking. In addition, plant disease and pest control were improved through the use of a cloud-based system and machine learning algorithm. “The results were very fruitful,” COA concluded.

Agriculture 4.0 doesn’t just apply to the growing of produce; it also looks at the storage, transport, and export of goods. As an example, COA points to a relatively new fruit hybrid that was originally developed in Israel in the late 1960s. The atemoya – or pineapple sugar apple (鳳梨釋迦), as it is known in Taiwan – is a heart-shaped fruit with green, scaly skin. A cross between wax apples and the cherimoya (often referred to as Buddha’s head fruit locally), it has become synonymous with Taiwan and export success, much like the kiwi fruit and New Zealand.

Previously, 90% of the country’s atemoya exports went to China because it is so close. Later, the Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station introduced a frozen whole-fruit technique that enables 95% of thawed fruit to have a “consistent ripening texture and dramatically improved the raw material quality.”

The technique involves a quick freeze to -40° Celsius, which inhibits bacteria, allowing the whole fruit to be transported at a fairly standard -18°C. After thawing, it can meet the rigorous food safety standards of Japan and South Korea.

Traditional farmers may harbor concerns about agriculture becoming a primarily manufacturing process, taking place under artificial light. However, Kevin Lin, Head of Business Development at YesHealth, insists that what the company is doing is still agriculture.

“This is nature; we are just optimizing it,” he says. “Sustainability is at the forefront of what we do, and our focus now is on ensuring the energy costs of vertical farming – such as heating and lights – are lowered and the source is sustainable.”

In this way, Lin says, Taiwan can produce cheap, healthy, and environmentally friendly food that can help feed the world, even as the global population approaches the staggering 10.5 billion mark.

IGrow PreOwned 9/18/20 IGrow PreOwned 9/18/20

A Thai University Leads The Way In Organic Urban Agriculture

The 7,000sqm rooftop garden at Thammasat University is the largest such green space in Asia

By Darunee Sukanan

September 14, 2020

It was on a sunny afternoon recently that teachers and students from Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand, set about harvesting organically grown rice.

They gathered on a rooftop urban farm in a bustling metropolis where skyscrapers dominate the landscape. As in many busy capitals, Bangkok is covered in unhealthy exhaust fumes and green spaces are scarce, apart from small city parks.

That is why the rooftop farm project Thammasat University, one of the country’s leading institutions, can point the way forward in greening this sprawling city, which was known in times past as the Venice of Asia thanks to its numerous canals that then still crisscrossed the landscape.

The 7,000sqm rooftop garden at Thammasat University is the largest such green space in Asia. Its design mimics scenic rice terraces on northern Thai hillsides so that rainwater used for growing crops can be absorbed and stored, which means that the farm can function with maximum water efficiency.

“We tend to make a distinction between buildings and green spaces but green spaces can be part of building designs in cities like Bangkok, which has few green spaces,” said Kotchakorn Voraakhom, chief executive and founder of Landprocess, an urban design firm.

The Thai university’s rooftop garden serves several purposes, one of which is the cultivation of chemicals-free crops, including organic rice. The project seeks to help wean Thai farmers off pesticides and insecticides in a country where such chemicals remain widely in use in agriculture.

The intensive use of chemicals at farms across Thailand is posing serious environmental concerns. From 2009 to 2018, Thailand imported vast quantities of agricultural chemicals, such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides each year. In 2018 alone, more than 156,000 tons of such chemicals were brought into the country.

That same year more than 6,000 locals fell severely ill from exposure to hazardous chemicals and nearly 3,000 people were sickened from exposure to insecticides, according to health officials.

A goal of the sprawling rooftop farm at Thammasat University is to popularize chemicals-free produce like vegetables. And it is not only students and university staff who can grow organic crops: anyone who wishes to grow organic crops is welcome to join. People are invited to grow crops for themselves or else sell them to the university’s kitchens.

Towards the aim of setting up a chemical-free food system, the university is planning to set up an organic canteen and an organic market in the area.

Sustainable Housing

IGrow PreOwned 9/17/20 IGrow PreOwned 9/17/20

Smart Acres CEO On The Latest Addition To The Hydroponic Vertical Farming Industry In Abu Dhabi

The launch of Smart Acres, the UAE’s latest addition to the hydroponic vertical farming industry, this week means that a line of the freshest, most nutrient-dense greens for UAE residents and businesses alike is now being produced in containers on the Armed Forces Officers Club in Abu Dhabi, with the aim to expand across the UAE

September 13th, 2020

Smart Acres is here with lettuce at the helm. In an exclusive interview with Abu Dhabi World, Smart Acres CEO Abdulla al Kaabi reveals what this means to Abu Dhabi and the farming community on the whole.

If you love healthy produce, and who doesn’t, then this news is going to please you and your tastebuds no end. The only drawback at the moment is they’re not for sale in supermarkets just yet, but it won’t be long before they are.

So we headed over to the St. Regis Abu Dhabi to meet Smart Acres CEO Abdulla al Kaabi to find out more.

Tell us about your background?

I am from a tech and farm background. My father has a passion for farming and gardening; he’s very strict about anybody who messes around with his garden or farm. My father has a few farms across the UAE, where he grows crops and dates. When he heard that I was pursuing a project in the agriculture sector he got excited and actually gifted me a farm, which I am grateful for and will keep. However, Smart Acres, rather than the farm my father gifted me, is an urban farm.

How was Smart Acres first developed?

Smart Acres was founded in 2017 and local testing began in July 2019. Smart Acres was developed by a team of experts, including myself, Director Sean Lee, and Lead Project Manager, Aphisith Phongsavanh with the aim of improving food security within the United Arab Emirates and developing the country’s farming capabilities, providing a solution to potential socioeconomic threats such as pandemics and climate limitations the Middle East currently endures.

Tell us more

We planted lettuce and after a few harvests, we decided to expand from two containers to eight containers. From the two insulated containers, the yield was 3.5 tons annually, which was our proof of concept. For the proof of concept, our target weight for each lettuce head was 140g. However, we have reached an average of 200g per head. I don’t think any other vertical farm here reached that quality or weight in terms of vegetables at this size.

How would you describe Smart Acres?

It is a one-of-a-kind agriculture system that is designed to produce some of the highest yields of crops within the UAE’s vertical farming industry while introducing a new future for clean foods and allowing both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C ) sectors to locally sourced produce.

Tell us about the containers

Techno advancements mean we were able to implement the Internet of Things for operations, which helps us to monitor the entire farm in terms of humidity, temperature, and even the nutrients that go inside the plants. Now we have our expansion plan from eight to 78 containers, which eventually will produce more than 140 tons of produce annually. We are currently in talks with private and public entities in terms of the expansion. We are also planning to have a research and development center in order to start growing our own potato seeds in a controlled environment.

Will Smart Acres just be growing lettuce?

In our current eight containers, we grow four types of lettuce; Lolo rosso , green glace, oakleaf Batavia, but we are able to grow 30 types of lettuce. Currently, we are testing new methods to improve the quality and weight of the existing lettuce. The results of last month’s test resulted in lettuce whose individual heads weighed more than 200 grams on average. However, we aim to grow more than just lettuce. We have plans to eventually grow baby spinach, mature spinach, and baby arugula. Smart Acres’ vision is to expand to meet the demand of popular produce in the region such as strawberries, and, as I previously mentioned, a shift and emphasis on cultivating potato seeds.

Where can we buy your smart lettuces?

We are now supplying restaurants and hotels for free to get ourselves known, and we have had great feedback from them. We have also partnered with several restaurants and cafes around the country including Inked and Fae Cafe, and have plans to have our produce in the kitchen of dozens of other F&B outlets. The recent initiative by HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), stating that all major grocery stores in the capital must allocate space for local produce mean we are perfectly poised to enter local supermarkets. We have had lots of offers from Abu Dhabi Holding and other government entities that are members in the food security committee to buy our whole produce. Currently, we are focused on our actual produce itself, in terms of quality, weight.

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Posted in Features, Food, Life, News

Tagged agriculture system Abu Dhabi, CEO Abdulla al Kaabi, Clean foods UAE, food security UAE, SMART ACRES Abu Dhabi, st regis abu dhabi, UAE Climate Change Risks and Resilience, UAE farms, UAE’s vertical farming industry, vertical farming Abu Dhabi

IGrow PreOwned 8/31/20 IGrow PreOwned 8/31/20

What Are The Pros And Cons of Hydroponics?

Hydroponics is a type of aquaculture that uses nutrients and water to grow plants without soil. It is an increasingly popular growing method in urban areas and regions with extreme climates

AUGUST 28, 2020

Hydroponics is a type of aquaculture that uses nutrients and water to grow plants without soil. It is an increasingly popular growing method in urban areas and regions with extreme climates. There are many benefits to hydroponics as an alternative form of agriculture, including fewer chemicals, higher yields and greater water efficiency.

However, hydroponics is not a perfect solution. The initial setup is expensive, and the whole growing system is heavily dependent on access to electricity and a clean water source. Here are just a few pros and cons of hydroponics.

Pros

The benefits of hydroponics are myriad and include:

1. More Water Efficient

Growing plants can require a lot of water, and conventional agriculture is historically wasteful of this resource. For example, a single walnut requires almost 5 gallons of water, and an orange uses nearly 14 gallons. Globally, over 70% of freshwater is used for agriculture.

Compared to traditional growing methods, hydroponic systems are much more water-efficient. Growing in a climate-controlled environment allows cultivators to use the exact amount of water required for healthy plants, without any waste. Overall, hydroponics utilizes 10 times less water than conventional agriculture.

2. Higher Yields

Since crops are grown in a climate-controlled environment, hydroponic farmers are not limited by extreme weather or annual rainfall, resulting in higher crop yields. There’s more control over the setup of the system, and crops aren’t limited to a specific growing season.

Additionally, when comparing vegetables grown in soil, hydroponics can sometimes grow plants at up to 16 times higher density. Hydroponics allows growers to do this without using significantly more nutrients or other inputs.

3. Less Space

Some crops require a lot of space, and many conventional forms of agriculture are inefficient when it comes to using land. For example, row crops like soybeans and corn take up most of the arable land in the United States, but the harvest is used mostly for livestock and processed food, not human consumption.

In contrast, hydroponic systems focus on cultivating fruits and vegetables, providing nutrient-dense food for consumers without taking up significant amounts of space. Additionally, researchers at NASA are studying how to incorporate hydroponic systems for longer-duration space missions by providing the right balance of light, carbon dioxide, and water.

4. Community Resilience

Many cities have significant food deserts, and access to quality and affordable items is significantly limited. Urban hydroponic systems enable communities to cultivate their own crops, increasing food security for vulnerable populations.

While hydroponics requires significant operational costs, there is also some proof that it may be a possible solution for countries that struggle with food insecurity or need back-up options during months of extreme drought.

For example, in the United States, many agricultural enterprises grow food in one region but ship it to another for consumption. Many rural communities struggle with access to healthy produce because of this. Hydroponics may help foster community resilience by setting up an accessible system.

5. Fewer Chemicals

Many advocates of hydroponic systems stress that hydroponics reduces the need for synthetic chemicals. Since plants are most often grown in greenhouses with strictly controlled environmental inputs, pest pressure is almost nonexistent. Considering the detrimental impact of pesticides on the environment, using fewer chemicals is a huge advantage for hydroponics compared to traditional growing systems.

However, there is an ongoing debate regarding how to qualify hydroponic crops, and whether they are eligible for organic certification. According to the USDA, this refers to the care and maintenance of soil without chemicals. Since hydroponics do not use earth, many traditional organic growers feel that they are not eligible. Regardless of how crops are labeled, the fact that hydroponics uses fewer chemicals is a definitive advantage compared to conventional agriculture.

Cons

Despite the many positives, hydroponics also has some challenges to overcome.

1. Technology Reliance

Hydroponics is a high-tech process. Most commercial operations utilize specialized equipment that regulates water temperature, as well as acidity and nutrient density. Because plants are cultivated in a completely climate-controlled environment, there is a significant reliance on technology. Hydroponics is considerably more high-tech than other growing methods, and there is an opportunity in agtech to improve yields and decrease inputs. However, the amount of tech also makes it cost-prohibitive for beginning growers.

2. Initial Investment

The hydroponics market is expected to grow from $9 billion to $16 billion in the next five years, so there is certainly an opportunity for investors to consider vertical farming as a viable operation. In traditional agriculture, is it hard for new and beginning farmers to get started, as many face difficulties with land access and infrastructure investments.

However, getting into hydroponics is not necessarily any easier or cheaper. Despite a growing market, the initial investment in hydroponic systems is steep, especially on a commercial scale. For this reason, many of the largest growers are established agriculture corporations that already have capital in place. The initial investment limits profitable hydroponic operations to a few large farms, making it tricky for smaller growers to enter the market.

3. Organic Debate

As mentioned above, there is an ongoing debate in the farming community about whether hydroponic produce can be labeled organic according to USDA standards. Without a clear definition of the nutrient profile of hydroponics, nor stringent guidelines on which fertilizers or chemicals are permissible, many consumers remain cautious about hydroponic produce. This affects the industry’s success, as many consumers don’t know how crops are grown or what’s added to the water.

Without a clear definition from the USDA, there remains some question over self-labeling of hydroponic crops as organic when synthetic chemicals may still be added.

4. Equipment Requirements

While a home gardener can easily utilize some plastic bottles and storage containers to build a small hydroponic system, commercial farmers have significant equipment requirements. In addition to the initial costs of setup for infrastructure, there are also necessary and costly machines to consider. Pumps, tanks, and other controls can be expensive, not to mention electricity and access to filtered water.

5. Waterborne Diseases

While hydroponic systems may reduce or eliminate pest pressure, certain waterborne diseases are more prevalent in hydroponically grown produce. The most common ones affect the plant’s root structure, such as Pythium, which includes several water mold species.

Proper hygiene and cleaning practices can reduce the risk of plant disease, but it is often impossible to avoid completely. Because of this likelihood, many hydroponic growers incorporate bio fungicides to prevent breakouts.

Soil-Free Growing

Hydroponic growing can increase crop yields while reducing water usage. The benefits of hydroponics are significant, and the industry is expected to grow astronomically in the next five years. However, there are also some disadvantages to growing hydroponically. Improving access to infrastructure and making technology more accessible will enable more beginning growers to enter the market.

IGrow PreOwned 8/26/20 IGrow PreOwned 8/26/20

Cities Are Turning To Rooftop Farming

With green initiatives popping up, the benefits of rooftop farms are becoming worldly-recognized. We spoke with Thomas Schneider, co-founder and director of Rooftop Roots in Washington DC and Michelle Hong of Rooftop Republic, based in Hong Kong, China to know how to create and run a rooftop garden or farm

by Erin Tallman

August 24, 2020

With green initiatives popping up, the benefits of rooftop farms are becoming worldly-recognized. We spoke with Thomas Schneider, co-founder and director of Rooftop Roots in Washington DC and Michelle Hong of Rooftop Republic, based in Hong Kong, China to know how to create and run a rooftop garden or farm.

Hong Kongers and city-dwellers are increasingly concerned about the food they put on their dinner tables, According to Michelle Hong of Rooftop Republic, people are increasingly demanding food that is safe, healthy and sustainably produced. With green initiatives popping up, the benefits of rooftop farms are becoming worldly-recognized. One prime advantage is locality— reducing transport mileage equates to lowering emissions, but there’s more to it than a couple of miles here and there.

When bare roofs receive more heat than they emit, they increase emissions and greenhouse gases. Rooftop farms are also helping to cool buildings as they defer this “heat island” effect. The greenery of rooftop farms absorb CO2 and release oxygen, so buildings don’t diffuse as much heat—a good thing since the United Nations confirms our planet is warming much faster than we think.

There’s more still. Rooftop farming can offer low-income families a new source of revenue and better access to quality products—in the US, only 7% of low-income families eat the proper amount of fruits and vegetables, according to a report done by CBS This Morning.

The Rooftop Society

Rooftop Republic (Credit: Ann Woo for Let It Grow.)

Both the Rooftop Roots and Rooftop Republic were born from the realization that there was untapped potential in the city and that there was a real rupture between people and their food sources, health and community.

Rooftop Republic provides services to help install, maintain, learn and understand how to grow gardens on the top of the buildings. Some of the gardens act as a platform for corporate employee engagement or for students to immerse themselves in the educational experience of growing their own food. Through these actions, they’re taking a step forward to reconnect people to food explains Michelle Hong,

“Only by addressing this disconnection—this broken relationship—will we be able to change people’s mindsets and behavior and help them make more informed decisions about their food.”

Rooftop Roots was also created with the intention of rekindling this disconnect through providing economic, environmental and social justice. Their ambition is to generate jobs, offer a new source for fruits and vegetables, and establish a community for food deserts.

Choosing the Right Location

Thomas-Schneider-the-founder-and-executive-director-of-Rooftop-Roots-in-one-of-his-gardens..jpg

Thomas Schneider, the founder and executive director of Rooftop Roots, in one of his gardens. (Keith Lane/for The Washington Post)

Although the benefits are shiny on paper, Schneider reminds us that it’s not easy:

“Rooftop gardens are not going to end world hunger, weather conditions and temperature swings that occur high up render farming a lot more difficult than ground farms. Plants tend to prefer the earth.”

One can’t forget that rooftop farms are on roofs, literally vulnerable to strong winds on structures that need to be secure and have fundamental integrity. In the Hong Kong context, the first thing to consider when starting the urban farming revolution is to identify a good location that has easy access to water, explained Hong.

“Most herbs/veggies require a minimum of 4 to 5 hours of direct sunlight. No matter what containers you use, the bigger the better. The more space you give to your plants the easier they will find it to develop their root systems, to find nutrients in the soil, etc.”

Rooftop Republic is embarking on training more urban farmers of the future, and with the growing demand for urban agriculture, the company is optimistic that the potential of urban farming in creating employment/vocational opportunities, can be huge.

Immeasurable Benefits

**Rooftop herb, vegetable and fruit garden by Rooftop Republic. Photo by Matthieu Millet**

Rooftop farming doesn’t require that one purchases land for farming. Underutilized spaces such as rooftops, terraces or even ground surfaces can be re-utilized and re-valued. Although difficult at times, the perks of building community and giving others’ access to natural processes at work are priceless, Schneider maintained. When people begin to understand the tough work involved, a stronger sense of respect for food develops. Hong emphasized:

“People who grow their own food are likely to understand the processes of nature on agriculture, and are more likely to accept ‘imperfect’ produce, as well as be more conscious to treat food purchases with care. We are aiming to change the concept that food is something that we only engage with at the supermarket.”

Rooftop farms and gardens are being implemented to provide greenery and produce just as much as they’re learning experimentations. Today there still aren’t enormous amounts of data concerning the success or results of rooftop projects, which is why Rooftop Roots took it into their hands to initiate a pilot project in 2016 in collaboration with the University of the District of Columbia, in order to establish the best methods and plants for maximum production.

With the intent to improve food scarcity and help other urban growers, the project focuses on the testing of 6 varieties of both strawberries and tomatoes, because as Schneider put it,

“Tomatoes are the gateway drug to gardening.”

In other words: tomatoes are the plant one usually starts out with. Tomatoes are also exceptionally nutrient-dense and somewhat temperamental, so they are an interesting fruit to work with.

Although the teams have been working on this for about 2 years, results are still not definitive and the farmers are not in a position to report their findings. Yet, they can say that tomatoes are definitely not easy on rooftops.

Lead photo: Credit: Rooftop Republic

(This article was first published in our sister publication AgriExpo)

AGRICULTURE FARM FARMING

IGrow PreOwned 8/25/20 IGrow PreOwned 8/25/20

MAURITIUS: Promotion of Entrepreneurship In Green And Sustainable Agri-Business Activities

A training course in Hydroponics Crop Production and Greenhouse Management, aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship in green and sustainable agri-business activities among co-operative planters, was launched

Date: August 20, 2020

Domain: Agriculture and Food Security
Persona: Business; Citizen; Non-Citizen; Government

GIS – 20 August 2020: A training course in Hydroponics Crop Production and Greenhouse Management, aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship in green and sustainable agri-business activities among co-operative planters, was launched, today, at the National Cooperative College (NCC), in Terre Rouge. Some 75 co-operative planters and unemployed persons are participating.

The course, which covers both theoretical and practical aspects of hydroponics, is being offered jointly by the NCC, the University of Mauritius (UoM), and the Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (FAREI).

In his address, the Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs, and Cooperatives, Soomilduth Bholah, recalled that the course is in line with Government’s policy to drive agricultural innovation and promote sustainable agriculture and food production. The training, he said, focuses on providing essential basic knowledge and practical skills pertaining to crop production.

The Minister also lauded the benefits of hydroponics farming which are namely: water conservation, use of fewer chemicals, space-saving, faster growth, nutrient control, bigger yields, no soil erosion, and healthier plants.

This emerging sector, Mr. Bholah indicated, is aligned with initiatives promoting the protection of the environment and of public health, food safety, and entrepreneurship. He also highlighted that hydroponics farming requires less pesticides and herbicides, resulting therefore in healthier food for consumption.

The Hydroponics course

This part-time course is of a 30-hour duration and will be conducted once weekly at the NCC. Practical sessions will be held at the Mapou Model Farm and the UoM Labs.

The topics being covered include: introduction to agriculture and hydroponics, greenhouse models and structures, fertigation and nutrient solution preparation, management of greenhouse environment, pre/post-cyclone management practices, troubleshooting, choice of varieties of crop, seedling production, cultural practices, pest and disease management, and harvest and post-harvest practices.

It is recalled that financing plans for hydroponics are available at FAREI and the Development Bank of Mauritius.

Government Information Service, Prime Minister’s Office, Level 6, New Government Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius. Email: gis@govmu.org Website: http://gis.govmu.org Mobile App: Search Gov

IGrow PreOwned 8/25/20 IGrow PreOwned 8/25/20

Smart Acres CEO on The launch of The UAE’s Latest Vertical Smart Farm

August 24th, 2020

Smart Acres Is Here With Lettuce At The Helm. In An Exclusive Interview With Abu Dhabi World, Smart Acres CEO Abdulla al Kaabi Reveals What This Means To Abu Dhabi And The Farming Community On The Whole.

If you love healthy produce, and who doesn’t, then this news is going to please you and your tastebuds no end. The only draw back at the moment is they’re not for sale in supermarkets just yet, but it won’t be long before they are.

So we headed over to the St. Regis Abu Dhabi to meet Smart Acres CEO Abdulla al Kaabi to find out more.