Vertically Grown Salads And Fresh Herbs In Føtex And Bilka Across Denmark

Danske Nordic Harvest has worked at high pressure to get one of the world's largest vertical farms, fitted with the ground-breaking technology, ready for production for Danish consumers, and now the products are landing on Danish shelves for the first time: "The products from Nordic Harvest are unique in taste and quality. They are made without the use of pesticides, with an approx. 250 times less water consumption and through completely optimal land use.

We have believed in Nordic Harvest's innovative products for several years and are pleased that it has now become a reality," says Stephan Bruhn, category director at Salling Group, and continues: "We know that consumers are interested in the green transition, food security, and goods without chemicals, and we are convinced that sustainable products in this form will be a hit. That's why we also go out and launch in all føtex and Bilka's for a start."

With the agreement, Nordic Harvest will deliver almost three tonnes of salads and herbs a week to the Salling Group. At the same time, the plan is to test new products in Salling Group's chains on an ongoing basis.

On Nordic Harvest's vertical farm in Taastrup, the crops are grown on floors, which utilizes space. On 14 floors, the salads and herbs are grown in water in a closed and controlled environment that gives the plants the optimal conditions for growth, taste and nutritional content."

From harvest until they are in the package in the fridge, it takes about 10 minutes. From seeds to supermarkets, they have never been in contact with soil, human hands, bacteria, fungal spores or pests. And they, therefore, do not need to be rinsed, either when packed or before being used at home at the dining table. So there is nothing along the way that degrades the plant, and therefore the products have an impressive shelf life that minimizes food waste.

"We could not have found a better launch partner than Salling Group. Our common values around sustainable production and their skilled sense of taste and quality have meant that we have had a fantastic dialogue and a good collaboration from our very beginning. I am looking forward to seeing how Danish consumers receive our products," says Anders Riemann, CEO of Nordic Harvest.

The prices of Nordic Harvest products will be at the same level as similar organic products. All the products from Nordic Harvest are delivered cut and in boxes that do not crush the leaves, and which can also be easily closed again if you do not use it all at once. The packaging is made from 100 percent recyclable recycled plastic.

Source: https://via.ritzau.dk/

Photo source: Dreamstime.com 

Publication date: Fri 30 Apr 2021

GreenFactory Emirates: The Largest Indoor Farm In The World To Be Developed In Abu Dhabi

Barendrecht (The Netherlands) and Abu Dhabi (UAE)
September 22, 2020

A joint venture between GrowGroup IFS from Barendrecht (The Netherlands) and RainMakers Capital Investment LLC from Abu Dhabi (UAE) will build the largest indoor farm in the world in the desert of Abu Dhabi. The GreenFactory Emirates will produce 10,000 tons of fresh produce per year on a plot of 17.5 hectares and a cultivation area of 160,000 square meters.

GreenFactory Emirates will develop an innovative indoor farming with the world's most advanced indoor growing system from The Netherlands. It is a combination of vertical and flat farming and solves the normal cultivation restrictions due to extreme climates in regions as the UAE. The facility will involve numerous leading agro-technological companies in its construction as best of breed for each component will be sourced through top-tier Dutch companies. It is now possible to cultivate high-quality vegetables 100% pesticide-free, all year round and anywhere on the planet: “Quality of Holland – Local Grown.” From seeding, harvesting, processing to "ready to eat" products will take place under one roof.

The joint venture also plans to build other indoor farms in other regions of the world where extreme climates are a challenge to normal cultivation.

Water, Co2, and waste

The GreenFactory will be saving 95% of water consumption as opposed to standard methods of cultivation as well as reducing its Co2 footprint up to 40%. By growing fresh produce locally, GreenFactory Emirates will also contribute to reducing waste in various other areas. Its contribution to slowly reducing reliance on fresh foods imports will in turn reduce waste of produce occurring during the transport process while reducing logistical traffic.

Research and development

GreenFactory Emirates will include a built-in research and development component that will help ramp up the production beyond the 56 current varieties of lettuces, leafy greens, herbs, and kale. It will also optimize its production by collecting real-time data to inform future global expansion of indoor farming. With confirmed partnerships with GAAS Wageningen and Delphy in The Netherlands, GreenFactory will benefit from live feedback provided by some of the best students and Academia in the field.

Food security

Food security is high on the UAE’s agenda. The country aims to be number 1 on the Global Food Security Index by 2051. In 2019, the UAE ranked on the 21st place on the Index, jumping an impressive 10 places from number 31 in 2018. Boosting local production and creating an enabling environment for agri-tech is a top priority for the government. The UAE strives to become a knowledge hub with regards to food production in heat, high humidity, and high salinity soil. The private sector (supermarket chains and the hospitality industry) has also set ambitious targets for itself in order to sell more local produce.

Partnership

The partnership between GrowGroup and rainMKRS is initiated and a result of an introduction made by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in the United Arab Emirates and the Monarch Group which has played an instrumental role in seeking opportunities and nurturing relationships.

Expo 2020 Dubai

The total project amounting to 650M AED (150M EURO) is planned in different phases in 3 years. Phase 1 will be operational before Expo 2020 Dubai in October 2021, so GreenFactory Emirates can show the world its innovations. A kick-off for more similar projects and innovations worldwide.

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GrowGroup IFS

GrowGroup IFS (Innovative Farming Solutions), founded by CEO John Breedveld in Barendrecht in The Netherlands, is specialized in developing indoor farming based on the most advanced Dutch innovative farming solutions, especially in regions where normal cultivation is restricted by extreme climate and or limited space.

rainMKRS Capital Investment LLC

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With offices in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Montreal (Canada), rainMKRS is an entrepreneurial catalyst co-founded by a group of Emirati and Canadian entrepreneurs. Led by Mohamed Jouan Al-Dhaheri, Sultan Al-Nassour, Sebastien Leblond, and Jonathan Mérineau Gosselin, rainMKRS brings together the world’s most impactful companies and projects in the food and agriculture sector and UAE’s economic, educational, and investment stakeholders. rainMKRS’ objective is to help bridge the gap between these stakeholders in order to accelerate the progress on critical and strategic components in support of the UAE desire to achieve food security.

GreenFactory Emirates is its first of many initiatives in the field.

IGS Signs Significant Export Deal With Jungle To Supply French Retail Market

Scottish Technology to Create One of

Europe’s Largest Vertical Farms 

Edinburgh, Scotland – 17 September 2020 - Indoor agritech specialist IGS has today announced a significant export deal with experienced French urban agriculturalists, Jungle. The multi-million-pound deal will introduce IGS indoor growing platforms to Jungle’s operations, initially outside Paris, to grow a variety of crops to supply major French retailers.

The first growth towers will be in production by early 2021, scaling incrementally to a minimum of 17 towers by the end of 2021. Jungle will grow a range of herbs and salads to supply select retailers across France. The company will utilize the patented IGS plug-and-play vertical farming platform to widen its portfolio and produce new varieties through an ongoing program of crop trials.

Jungle’s indoor growing operations will also develop a variety of botanicals to provide natural ingredients to a world-leading flavor and fragrance business.

Jungle’s ethos is focused on sustainable food production, with superior quality of crops grown through a more efficient model, re-localizing the supply chain, considerably reducing waste and using no chemicals. With extensive experience in the indoor growing space, the company has achieved recognition in the highly competitive retail market in France for the quality of its produce.

To increase the scale of production sustainably, while maintaining its commitment to high-quality, delicious, and pesticide-free produce, the company conducted an extensive search to identify the best technology partner.

After a thorough and competitive review of the market, IGS was selected as the most economically viable and environmentally friendly system capable of meeting Jungle’s requirements to reach the industrial scale required by its customers. IGS offers its customers a highly controllable platform, designed to maximize productivity whilst minimizing energy and water consumption.

When completed, the nine-meter-high growth towers will be housed alongside a 1,500 m2 service area on Jungle’s site outside Paris. This will provide approximately 5,200 m2 of growing space, producing up to 425 tonnes per annum when fully operational, making it one of the largest vertical farms in Europe.

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IGS CEO, David Farquhar, commented: “In recent months, global markets have been challenged considerably and export agreements have become more difficult to fulfill. The announcement of this deal is an exciting one not just for IGS, but also for the UK’s Agri-tech sector as we showcase our international capability to support economic recovery post-coronavirus. The Jungle team has a strong reputation for excellence and sustainability both of its produce and approach.

“Jungle needs a reliable, productized system that can meet its ambitious growth plans in France and beyond and IGS has proven to be exactly that, following a rigorous selection process. This deal is proof that our unwavering commitment to innovative, practical design, based on a deep understanding of delivering optimum growing conditions, is what customers want. The deployment of the system for Jungle begins immediately and I am encouraged by how well our teams are collaborating as we move forward together.”

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Gilles Dreyfus, CEO of Jungle commented: “This partnership agreement is a significant step forward for Jungle and our ability to deliver at scale for our customers. We have established Jungle as a grower of superior produce with major French retailers and have plans to build on this reputation as we look at operations in other regions. We are proud to be innovators in our sector and it is important that we find people and organizations that share this same vision.

“We undertook a very serious assessment of the market and IGS was a clear leader in our eyes. What we can offer our customers through the partnership with IGS puts us at a different level in terms of scale, flexibility, and potential to expand and develop our produce portfolio. The IGS approach, both with the technology and the team, is such that we feel completely aligned and able to work collaboratively now and into the future.”

IGS has received recognition from the Scottish Government for the exciting export opportunities it is bringing to the Scottish market. Trade Minister Ivan McKee MSP said: “This significant contract underlines IGS’ standing as a global leader in agricultural innovation which will help everyone farm more sustainably. IGS’ growth has been driven by a focus on quality, innovation and scientific expertise and shows what Scottish companies can achieve with the right support in place.

“International exports have a central role to play in our economic recovery from COVID-19. The Scottish Government has set an ambitious target of increasing the value of exports from 20 percent to 25 percent of GDP by the end of the decade and I look forward to IGS helping us achieve that goal.”

In addition, Scottish Enterprise which has worked closely with IGS since 2018, welcomes this strategic export announcement. Neil Francis, International Trade Director at Scottish Enterprise, said: “We congratulate IGS on securing this export deal, which will ensure the company’s innovative technology is delivered to a global marketplace.

“Scottish Enterprise has worked closely with IGS over the past couple of years, both through our investment arm, the Scottish Investment Bank, and Scottish Development International.  We look forward to continuing support IGS as it demonstrates its capabilities in the agritech sector.     

“International trade will be key to Scotland’s economic recovery and help deliver the future, sustainable growth we all want to see.  Working with our partners, Scottish Enterprise will continue to do all we can to support companies access overseas markets.

Ends

 Notes to editors:

For more information: please contact Kate Forster, IGS on kate@intelligentgrowthsolutions.com or call +44 7787 534 999 or Gilles Dreyfus, Jungle on gdreyfus@jungle.bio.

About IGS:

Founded in 2013, IGS brought together decades of farming and engineering experience to create an agritech business with a vision to revolutionize the indoor growing market. Its commitment to innovation has continued apace and it has evolved the applications of its technology beyond agriculture to create solutions for a wide variety of indoor environments which enhance life for plants and people alike.

IGS launched its first vertical farming demonstration facility in August 2018.

For more information visit www.intelligentgrowthsolutions.com or connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Jungle:

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Jungle originated in Portugal in 2016 and maintains a Research and Development facility in Lisbon. It identified strong demand from the retail market in France and opened operations there in 2019. Further European operations are under consideration as the demand for healthy, sustainable and locally-sourced produce increases.

Netled Partners Up With Agritech Start-Up Vertigo Farms – A Focus On New Kinds of Vertical Farming Applications

26th August 2020 by johannak

Netled and a Polish agritech start-up Vertigo Farms have announced a new technology partnership. Vertigo Farms will use Netled’s Vera® vertical farming technology in its indoor growing projects. The collaboration has already started, and the goal is to have the first plants growing at the beginning of 2021.

Vertigo Farms is the first publicly known European actor to produce natural extracts from plants grown indoors. Mainly herbs are grown and processed in a sustainable manner with no use of chemicals, all-year-round, regardless of weather conditions.

“At Vertigo Farms, we believe that vertical farming serves the future not only for direct consumption purposes, but it may also serve as base for highest quality natural extracts for food, cosmetics and pharma industries”, comments Dawid Drzewiecki, the CEO of Vertigo Farms.

The company works with research laboratories and universities to develop methods for optimal conditions and nutrition of plants to boost their growth. Each type of plant requires a different approach. For start, the company will experiment with Safflower, Lovage, and Opium poppy, but there will be more species along the way.

Niko Kivioja, CEO of Netled, comments the newly formed partnership: “Vertigo Farms has a very interesting approach to produce natural extracts. Netled is proud to be Vertigo’s technology partner. In addition to this, our crop specialist team is especially excited to have insight into the new, more exotic plants growing in a vertical farming environment. Globally, we see massive opportunities to produce crops which have very high-quality standards in vertical farms, alongside the more common leafy greens.”

The mission of Vertigo Farms is to process and deliver the highest quality natural ingredients with the use of state-of-the-art solutions. Thus, the goal is a great fit with Netled, as the company aims to provide the best technology, expertise, and guidance for vertical farming projects and actors all around the globe.

Read more about Netled’s Vera® Vertical Farm: https://netled.fi/vertical-farming-vera/ 

Read more about Vertigo Farms: http://vertigofarms.eu/

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Filed Under: NewsTagged With: indoor farming, indoor farming technology, indoor growing, sustainable growing, vertical farm, vertical farming, vertical farming expertise, vertical farming technique, vertical farming technology

USA (CA) - Iron Ox Raises $20 Million To Grow Robotic Greenhouse Operations

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Khari Johnson @kharijohnson

September 9, 2020

Robotics farming company Iron Ox today announced the close of a $20 million funding round. The funding will be used to open additional robotic growing facilities in California and other parts of the U.S., according to company co-founder and CEO Brandon Alexander. The funding will also be used to hire additional machine learning and robotics experts as well as growers and scientists who work with plants.

“We’re now competing on price with field farms, but we think we can do even better and take this to more people,” he said.

Iron Ox employs a 1,000-pound mobile transport system roughly the size of a car to move trays of growing vegetables and tend to plants using a robotic grasper while computer vision systems monitor the plant growth cycle. The semi-autonomous system still relies on humans for a part of its seeding, pruning, and inspection process, Alexander said, but the goal is for Iron Ox to someday be fully autonomous.

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While startups like Bowery practice indoor vertical farming in urban facilities near New York and Baltimore, Iron Ox has turned its focus toward greenhouse farming since the company was founded in 2015 as a way to lower energy costs. Earlier this year, Iron Ox opened its first greenhouse, a 10,000-square foot facility in Gilroy, California, the company’s second location. Iron Ox currently provides produce to 15 Whole Foods stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Though Gilroy is known as the garlic capital of the world, Iron Ox does not currently grow any garlic. Instead, the company focuses on leafy green vegetables like lettuce and some herbs.

Alexander said Iron Ox’s biggest challenge is how to use data collected by sensors to train AI systems that produce higher yields at lower costs.

“I would say in agriculture as a whole it’s not just collecting data, it’s not just taking an image, but it’s actually how do you include that data into the decision making process?” Alexander said. “I would say that is the biggest challenge in ag is how do you respond to these each individual plants and the variety and all these little variables.”

The $20 million funding round was led by Pathbreak Ventures with participation from Crosslink Capital, Amplify Partners, Eniac Ventures, R7 Partners, Tuesday Ventures, and At One Ventures. Iron Ox is based in San Carlos, California. The company currently has 30 employees and has raised $45 million to date.

Field farming today is still the most efficient way to grow produce. However, concern about shrinking field yields and instability due to climate change has spurred interest in indoor farming. In 2018, international teams from companies like Microsoft and Tencent competed against each other to find out who could grow the highest yield of cucumbers inside a greenhouse using AI and automation. (Spoiler: The Microsoft team won.)

In other AI and agriculture news, last month the startup iFarm raised $4 million for its AI-driven urban farming solution, and in June the startup Burro began rolling out its autonomous farm robot in southern California to assist in grape harvesting.

Image credits: Iron Ox

Latest ZipGrow Inc. Product Introduces Vertical Indoor Farming To New Growers

September 9, 2020

 ONTARIO, CA - Controlled Environmental Agriculture (CEA) is currently undergoing an upturn in public interest as the general population begins to appreciate the importance of locally produced food from sustainable sources. ZipGrow Inc.’s new product offering, the Introduction to Commercial Growing package, is designed to make commercial growing more accessible to farmers and businesses wanting to get into the CEA industry.

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“As interest grows in improving food security, we wanted to make commercial growing more accessible to newcomers to the hydroponics world”, explains Eric Lang, President of ZipGrow Inc. “This new package is an accessible, and affordable entry-level product for anyone interested in testing out if controlled environmental agriculture is right for them.”

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The new product package includes a discounted set of everything you need to get started, including 90 patented 8’ ZipGrow™ Towers, steel ZipRacks, LED growing lights, a seedling area, a comprehensive plumbing system, and an automatic doser from Atom Controllers. This package is not only all-inclusive, but also modular to be able to expand as the operation grows.

“This package can set someone up to produce up to 100 pounds of leafy greens or herbs such as lettuce or basil each week, and is a great way to test a pilot system in your local community”, adds Lang. “Since the start of COVID-19 we have seen interest in sustainable food sources skyrocket, and this is one way we are trying to encourage more people to see if hydroponic farming is right for them.”

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 The Introduction to Commercial Growing package has a flat rate shipping option for all locations within Canada and the continental United States, with shipping to other locations available at custom rates. The package will be fully installed on-site, with costs varying dependent on location. ZipGrow team members will work with customers to ensure the product is the right fit for them and ensure all training and ongoing education needs are fulfilled.

ZipGrow Inc. is an international leader in indoor, vertical farming technology. Our flagship product, the ZipGrow™ Tower, is a core component of many of the world’s most innovative farms; from indoor hydroponic warehouses to vertical aquaponic greenhouses and high-density container farms.

For more information contact Gina Scandrett at hello@zipgrow.com or at 1-855-ZIPGROW.

INDIA: Indoor Farming: From Vertical Trays To Your Table Within Hours, How Veggie, Salad Market Has Gone Hyperlocal

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Kirti Pandey

Sep 04, 2020

As climate change worsens due to long-haul transportation as one of the factors, going hyperlocal on production and supply makes indoor farming a lucrative business. What are the dynamics involved? Check here.

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Call it indoor farming, Hydroponics or vertical farming, this green nursery method is gaining popularity | Photo Credit: iStock Images

The lack of space in urban locales, people's preference for fresh vegetables that have not been tossed and battered in transit through wholesale markets, and some bit of out-of-the-box thinking has helped create businesses based on an indoor green revolution within Delhi.

A Times of India report brings one face-to-face with a number of nouveau farmers who have made thriving businesses by nursing their newly developed green fingers.

These new-age farmers are growing romaine lettuce, oak leaves, mint, kale, basil, etc in their vertical plants in urban localities like Lajpat Nagar in Delhi, etc.

Not convinced how one can grow vegetables in crowded, chaotic market areas, the TOI journalist confesses he went to the plants to verify. 

Himanshu Aggarwal of 9Growers showed around his farm on the second floor of a building that houses a bank and an electronics store on floors below. His hydroponic farm houses shelves and shelves of microgreens, herbs, and leafy vegetables growing in rows of white, laboratory-like ambiance.

The indoor green revolution of soil-less farming:

There are Petri dishes that hold plants, there is artificial light and the setup has its humidity and temperature monitored and strictly controlled. This soil-less farming is called hydroponic (sustained on water and nutrients) farming, not a new idea at all, but one that is now being widely adopted.

TOI also mentions a visit to farmingV2, a hydroponic farm being run by Rohit Nagdewani in the National Capital Region. Nagdewani says that the need to follow social distancing and to get clean veggies - a demand of the precautions against the coronavirus pandemic has made people appreciate this form of produce more. People want vegetables and salads that are hyperlocal, fresh, and not loaded with pesticides or fertilizers.

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What is Hydroponic farming?

Hydroponics is the art of gardening without soil. The word originates from the Latin word meaning “working water.” Instead of using soil, water is deployed to provide nutrients, hydration, and oxygen to plant life. One can grow anything from watermelons to jalapeños to orchids under the careful regimen of hydroponics. It requires very little space, 90 to 95% less water than traditional agriculture, and helps grow a garden full of fruits and flowers in half the time. 

Hydroponics helps the cultivation of plants in a manner such that the yield reflects rapid growth, stronger yields, and superior quality. 

When nutrients are dissolved in soil-less water beds, they can be applied directly to the plant’s root system by flooding, misting, or immersion. Since no soil is used, there are no pests and therefore no insecticide/pesticide is required. Grown in an environment that is controlled in terms of water at the plants' roots, moisture in the air, humidity in the air, ambient light (same spectrum as of sunlight) etc, the food thus grown is cleaner in physical, chemical, and biological nature.

AI-based Indoor farming will support traditional farming:

The global population is predicted to reach 9.7 billion by the year 2050 and to feed everyone, it’s estimated that global food production will need to increase by up to 70% in the next 30 years. This method will decentralize supply chains and give more business to local suppliers, thereby cutting fuel costs and carbon emissions that long-haul transportation creates.

The indoor farming technology market was valued at $23.75 billion in 2016 and is projected to reach $40.25 billion by 2022, as per a report in The Forbes. Indoor green farms may be an idea whose time has come.

The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way represent those of Times Network.

What Is Hydroponic Farming?

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.

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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.

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Environment Plant Climate

How VeggiTech Contributes To UAE's Agenda To build Food And Water Security

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VeggiTech farm - Image Credit: Supplied

VeggiTech's Produce Utilizes Less Than 10 Percent

of The Water Used In Traditional Farms

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August 31, 2020

VeggiTech is an agrotech company with the sole aim of disrupting the agriculture industry. VeggiTech focuses on addressing the key challenges of traditional farming – soil, temperature, and water through its design of protected hydroponics and grow lights-assisted hydroponics. We have chosen the challenging conditions of the UAE to demonstrate the positive use of agro-technology to create sustainable farms aligned to the UAE’s vision of food security.

In the last 18 months, VeggiTech has built and is operating over 30 hectares of farms with protected hydroponics. It is in the process of going live with 4,500 sq meters of indoor vertical farms that employ grow light-assisted hydroponics. We produced over 1.6million kilograms of produce last year and this year (including the summer months), we are delighted to produce over 1.9million kilograms with over 500+ tones of organic produce from our farms between August 2020 and July 2021.

VeggiTech's produce utilizes less than 10 percent of the water used in traditional farms and is pesticide-free. In addition, we have deployed technology for complete food transparency through QR codes that give complete visibility of the growing process of the vegetable produced in our farms.

VeggiTech's current operations  and plans in H1 2021

VeggiTech is in the business of offering farming as a service, where it builds and operates digital smart farms that are sustainable and environmentally-friendly for our customers. With a team of over 160+ professionals; and one of the strongest agronomy and engineering teams in the region, we are poised for growth over the next 3 – 5 years.

In the first half of 2020, despite the COVID–19 circumstances we have signed contracts for 13,000 sq.ft. grow area of indoor vertical farms, and are building protected hydroponic farms of 80,000 sqft. You will experience buying live produce from our indoor vertical farm installations in all Sharjah Co-operative Society stores soon with the first one going live in Al Rahmaniya Mall, Sharjah, next month.

We opened our Helsinki, Finland, offices in March 2020; joined the Association of Vertical Farming (AVF) headquartered in Munich, Germany, where we have been invited to play a lead role in creating industry standards for Indoor Vertical farms world-wide.

VeggiTech was invited by the Ministry of Education and Food and Water Security Office to host a webinar series “Grow Your Food” for students in the Youth Summer Camps across July and August 2020. We live-streamed the informative sessions from our farms providing insights on achieving food security through technology. The audience was segregated into three batches of 6 – 10-year-olds; 10 – 14-year-olds and 14 – 18-year-olds.

We are currently in advanced discussions with private investors and government organizations in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi on large scale projects to make UAE food secure with good quality local food.

Sustainable Communities

VeggiTech has recently signed up for designing and developing sustainable grow areas with major players that specialize in developing sustainable communities in UAE. This exciting development underlines our vision of bringing “grow” spaces close to our “living” spaces.

Sustainable agro - Economic model

Dubai SME, the agency of Dubai Economy, mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, collaborated with VeggiTech through their Innovation Accelerator program and commissioned it to install an Indoor Vertical farm in their Business Village campus in Deira Dubai (scheduled to go live in Q4 2020). This set-up would showcase the circular farm-to-fork economic model with the Indoor Vertical farm (IVF), growing green leafy, herbs, and microgreens, and these are converted into end consumer produce in the form of farm-fresh salads / curated recipe packages.

Food security

We are upbeat on the current pipeline of projects (10M+ sqft of farms - protected hydroponics; 200,000+ sqft of Indoor vertical farms) to be signed in Q3 / Q4 2020 and these would start producing over 25million kgs of produce every year from 2021 - 2022. The optimal use of land assets combined with the reduction in water resources and pesticide-free crops are an ideal example of using technology to align with UAE’s food security goals.

Social impact

While the COVID – 19 circumstances are charting unprecedented scenarios across our lives; we, as the local farmers, were privileged to work with Sharjah Charity Association, Shurooq, The Noodle House, and Dubai Police to support our heroes, our frontline healthcare workers, and families, with over 20 tons of our farm fresh vegetables delivered contactless. 

VeggiTech is privileged to play its role in this journey.

Source Courtesy of Gulf News

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Urban Farming: Four Reasons It Should Flourish Post-Pandemic

Since lockdown, public interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home has soared. Seed packets are flying off shelves and allotment waiting lists are swelling, with one council receiving a 300% increase in applications. Fear of food shortages will have motivated some, but others with more time on their hands at home will have been tempted by the chance to relieve stress doing a wholesome family activity.

The seeds of enthusiasm for home-grown food may have been sown, but sustaining this is essential. Urban farming has much to offer in the wake of the pandemic. It could help communities boost the resilience of their fresh fruit and vegetable supplies, improve the health of residents and help them lead more sustainable lifestyles.

Here are four reasons why food growing should become a perennial feature in our gardens, towns and cities after COVID-19.

1. Growing greener towns and cities

More than half of the global population lives in urban areas, and this is expected to rise to 68% by 2050. For the UK, this is even higher – nine out of 10 people are expected to live in towns and cities by this time.

Weaving food growing into the fabric of urban life could bring greenery and wildlife closer to home. The COVID-19 lockdown helped reawaken interest in growing at home, but one in eight UK households have no access to a garden. Thankfully, the opportunities for urban farming extend beyond these: rooftops, walls – and even underground spaces, such as abandoned tunnels or air raid shelters, offer a range of options for expanding food production in cities while creatively redeveloping the urban environment.

Edible rooftops, walls, and verges can also help reduce flood risk, provide natural cooling for buildings and streets, and help reduce air pollution.

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Paris hosts the largest urban rooftop farm in Europe. EPA-EFE/Mohammed Badra

2. Resilient food supplies

Diversifying where and how we grow our food helps spread the risk of disruption to food supplies.

The UK’s reliance on imports has been growing in recent decades. Currently, 84% of fruit and 46% of vegetables consumed in the UK are imported. Brexit and COVID-19 could threaten the steady supply, while the problems created by climate change, such as water scarcity, risk disrupting imports of food from abroad.

Growing fruit and vegetables in towns and cities would help resist these shocks. The harvest labour shortages seen during the pandemic might not have been felt as keenly if urban farms were growing food right where people live.

Vertical and underground crops are more resilient to extreme weather or pests, indoor growing environments are easier to control than those in the field, and temperature and humidity is more stable underground. The high start-up costs and energy bills for this type of farming has meant that indoor farms currently produce a small number of high-value crops, such as leafy greens and herbs. But as the technology matures, the diversity of produce grown indoors will expand.

À lire aussi : Vertical farms offer a bright future for hungry cities

3. Healthier lives

Getting out into nature and gardening can improve your mental health and physical fitness. Our research suggests that getting involved in urban food growing, or just being exposed to it in our daily lives, may also lead to healthier diets.

Urban growers may be driven to make healthier food choices for a whole range of reasons. They have greater access to fresh fruit and vegetables and getting outdoors and into nature can help reduce stress, making people less likely to make unhealthy food choices. Our study suggested that urban food growing can also help change attitudes towards food, so that people place more value in produce that’s sustainable, healthy, and ethically sourced.

4. Healthier ecosystems

While urbanization is regarded as one of the biggest threats to biodiversity, growing food in towns and cities has been shown to boost the abundance and diversity of wildlife, as well as protect their habitats.

A recent study found that community gardens and allotments act as hotspots for pollinating insects, because they tend to contain a diverse range of fruiting and native plants.

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Vegetables, like this courgette, can produce flowers for pollinators to enjoy. Natakim/Shutterstock

If designed and implemented properly, allotments and community gardens can really benefit biodiversity. Not only should barren spaces be converted into green and productive plots, it’s also important that there are connections between these environments to help wildlife move between them.

Canals and cycle paths can act as these wildlife corridors. As we begin to diversify the spaces used to grow food, particularly those on our rooftops and underground, an exciting challenge will be finding novel ways of connecting them for wildlife. Green bridges have been shown to help wildlife cross busy roads – perhaps similar crossings could link rooftop gardens.

All these reasons and more should compel us to scale up food production in towns in cities. COVID-19 has given us cause to reevaluate how important local urban green spaces are to us, and what we want from our high streets, parks, and pavements. Judging by the garden center sales, allotment lists, and social media, many people have decided they want more fruit and veggies in those spaces. The opportunity is there for urban planners and developers to consider what bringing farming to urban landscapes could offer.

Lead photo: Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock

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Déclaration d’intérêts

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Dan Evans

Senior Research Associate in Physical Geography, Lancaster University

Does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Jess Davies

Chair Professor in Sustainability, Lancaster University

Receives funding from the UK Research and Innovation Council and the European Commission. The research described here was funded under the Global Food Security’s ‘Resilience of the UK Food System Programme’, with support from BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, and The Scottish Government (BB/S01425X/1).

USA: VIRGINIA - Hull Street Indoor Urban Farm Launches Sales In September

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BY MARY SCOTT HARDAWAY

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Trevor Ferguson is now accepting orders from his Hull Street indoor hydroponic farm, Nouveau Farms. Scott Elmquist

While most farmers fight daily against the peccadilloes of ever-abrasive Mother Nature, Trevor Ferguson battles only market demands and water flow inside his hydroponic urban farm.

In 2016, Ferguson started his tech-driven farming business Nouveau Farms in the quiet of his basement. An engineer by day, Ferguson says he began researching how to grow his own food after he realized that imported, out-of-season produce was not what he wanted to feed his family. 

Once the left-brained Ferguson started learning about hydroponics, he was hooked. For those unfamiliar with the ’ponic world, this type of horticulture forgoes soil and instead uses mineral nutrient solutions, light, oxygen and filtered, freshwater to grow plants as much as 50% faster than those grown in the great outdoors.

“When you start eating those greens and those herbs, you can taste the difference,” Ferguson says. “It sort of changed my whole perspective.”

Ferguson started with an eight-tower wall garden, growing microgreens, salad greens, and herbs like mint, chive, and basil. “I’m originally from the Bahamas and we had fruit trees in the backyard,” Ferguson says. “I would go and get mangoes right off the tree, so that’s where that connection comes from.” 

While still working his 9 to 5 as a natural gas infrastructure development manager, Ferguson carved out time for hydroponic training courses, moving his small underground operation into his garage. He started the commercial rollout of Nouveau Farms in January. As of Tuesday, Sept. 1, you can order your microgreens and mint directly from Ferguson’s 800-square-foot Hull Street indoor farm. 

“I surely hope this turns into a full-time thing,” Ferguson says. “I am building this for the long run, making long-term investments. People who go into farming know it isn’t to get rich quick, I won’t become a millionaire.”

Ferguson says when the business launched at the beginning of 2020, the goal was to provide major suppliers with bulk orders. “That sort of bottomed out for us.” Like the rest of the world operating during the pandemic, he readjusted his business model. And, a bit serendipitously, Ferguson says he likes this initial direct-to-consumer approach better. 

“People have been so disconnected from their food for such a long time,” he says. “The pandemic has made people realize how important it is to have food security.” Ferguson wishes he were “further ahead” in his rollout plan, simply so he could meet the needs of the people in his community. “One of the things I’m hyper-focused on is that whatever we grow and supply, we need to be cost-competitive.” 

So while his salad greens will damn sure be more flavorful than the imported grocery store stuff that’s grown primarily for hardiness, Ferguson isn’t going to charge people an exorbitant price. “If you’re buying a bag of red romaine from me, it will be the same price as any place else,” he assures. 

The Hull Street farm is currently catering to individual consumers and pledges that all produce is harvested within 24 hours of delivery. Customers can place orders online (nouveaufarms.com) Sundays-Fridays, with free deliveries to those within 15 miles on Saturdays.

In addition to the Hull Street business, Ferguson also has his sights set on a truly halcyon, pastoral dream: a sprawling farmhouse located on 7 acres in Varina, situated amongst a vineyard, strawberry patches, and a space allotted to weekend farmers markets. 

Only seven minutes from Richmond’s city center, Nouveau Farms & Vineyard consists of three abutting lots, with the farmhouse to the far left, the middle lot devoted to grape-growing, and the far lot serving as an active farm open to the public. A huge undertaking, yes, but Ferguson is ready for the challenge. 

“The Varina farm is going to be strawberry heaven,” Ferguson laughs. He says that one impetus to grow his own food was to create the best berries for his daughter. “We would go to the grocery store and she loves strawberries and we would buy them on a weekly basis, but it was really hit or miss.” 

The Nouveau Farms berries will all be hits, with Ferguson using “a bit of hydroponics” plus traditional farming methods to grow his fruits de terre. “We won’t be in the soil – we will use a hybrid version of soil with a mix of peat moss, plus good drainage. And we’ll be feeding nutrients straight to the berries.” 

Ferguson says he will be experimenting with a couple of different berry varieties and will solicit help from the public to choose which berry is best — he’s hoping the farm will be able to institute weekend pick-your-own days for families, too. 

By 2022, Ferguson plans to have weekend farmers’ markets in addition to events and weddings – the backdrop is a bridal dream. “We’ll have smoothies made of our fresh fruit, people can enjoy a glass of wine and play cornhole,” Ferguson muses.

He can see it now: a weekend reset on the farm before heading back into the city for the daily grind. Now all he needs are some mango trees. 

Follow Nouveau Farms on Instagram for updates about produce, purchasing, and when the farm will be ready for strawberry picking. 

Is Vertical Farming The Future of Herb Cultivation?

Berjelle van Namen, Van Namen Specialties

Berjelle van Namen’s roots lie primarily in mushroom cultivation. His father, Johan, has a farm on the banks of the Maas river in the Netherlands. Yet, a few years ago, Berjelle decided to add herb cultivation. Not in a greenhouse or in full soil; in a converted mushroom cultivation cell.

The room is illuminated with violet-colored LED bulbs, and the containers holding the herbs are stacked, one atop the other. This can clearly be considered vertical farming. This concept is gaining increasing popularity among farmers - especially those who grow herbs, leafy and micro vegetables, and edible flowers.

There have even recently been trials with soft fruit. It’s been standard practice in the mushroom world for some time now. Hence the relationship between Van Namen mushrooms and the herbs of Van Namen Specialties.

For Berjelle, it started as an experiment. He encountered this cultivation method during his internship in Finland. There, at Robbe’s Little Garden, they grow lettuce, herbs, and micro vegetables in this way. According to Berjelle, vertical farming offers numerous advantages over traditional herb cultivation.

Vertical farming’s advantages

“With vertical farming, I can plant a herb, and can be sure it'll ready to sell in five weeks,” says Berjelle. “You also have certainty about your product’s quality. That’s because the product is optimally controlled. The plant grows evenly, thanks to the LED lighting, so it tastes better too."

"It satisfies clients, who are increasingly demanding just-in-time delivery of products like herbs. Of course, we mustn’t forget the sustainable character of this cultivation method. Especially since farming like this uses very little gas and no pesticides. We’re looking for ways to be highly energy-efficient too.”

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There was a demand for herbs

Berjelle now grows about 12 kinds of herbs and has added a second cell. “In this way, we can vary cultivation conditions like using different temperatures," explains van Namen. "Basil is our top seller. It’s a popular herb that sells well. It’s followed by herbs such as parsley and mint.”

Berjelles sells his herbs under the company’s own brand, Pika Surprisa, and Esperanto for ‘spicy surprises’. Still, Berjelle points out that it’s mainly enjoyable to cultivate and experiment with these herbs. “It’s not quite profitable yet. To achieve this, you’d have to seriously consider scaling up and adding rooms."

"You’d also have to see if you want to grow only one variety. We chose to grow herbs mainly because of the increasing demand for year-round delivery and consistent quality. Vertical farming guarantees this. You can also be relatively lazy with your purchases. You know what you’ll get on the day you want it."

"From the cultivation side, there aren’t as many operational issues either. Although you always have to deal with that. The only thing is, it doesn’t save labor; hands are still needed in that cell,” admits Berjelle.

Herb sales differ from those of mushrooms. “We’ve attracted many new clients who really only buy herbs, and we’ve noticed fewer clients buying both. We keep these two products separate. That’s why the herbs fall under Van Namen Specialties. For example, we export mushrooms to countries like Germany and the UK, but not yet our herbs. Perhaps we will in the future.”

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For the coming months, Van Namen’s main goal is to make it through the corona crisis successfully. “The mushroom market was very volatile in these unusual times. It’s slowly recovering, but it still has a long way to go. There aren’t any major developments planned for the rest of the year, either. Now, it's mostly a matter of serving our clients well,” Berjelle concludes.

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More information:
Van Namen Specialties

www.vannamenspecialties.nl

Berjelle van Namen
berjelle@vannamenspecialties.nl  

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Publication date: Thu 27 Aug 2020
Author: Thom Dobbelaar
© FreshPlaza.com

Micro-Naps For Plants: Flicking The Lights On And Off Can Save Energy Without Hurting Indoor Agriculture Harvests

A nighttime arrival at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport flies you over the bright pink glow of vegetable production greenhouses. Growing crops under artificial light is gaining momentum, particularly in regions where produce prices can be high during seasons when sunlight is sparse.

The Netherlands is just one country that has rapidly adopted controlled-environment agriculture, where high-value specialty crops like herbs, fancy lettuces and tomatoes are produced in year-round illuminated greenhouses. Advocates suggest these completely enclosed buildings – or plant factories – could be a way to repurpose urban space, decrease food miles and provide local produce to city dwellers.

One of the central problems of this process is the high monetary cost of providing artificial light, usually via a combination of red and blue light-emitting diodes. Energy costs sometimes exceed 25% of the operational outlay. How can growers, particularly in the developing world, compete when the sun is free? Higher energy use also translates to more carbon emissions, rather than the decreased carbon footprint sustainably farmed plants can provide.

I’ve studied how light affects plant growth and development for over 30 years. I recently found myself wondering: Rather than growing plants under a repeating cycle of one day of light and one night of darkness, what if the same daylight was split into pulses lasting only hours, minutes or seconds?

Short bursts of light and dark

So my colleagues and I designed an experiment. We’d apply the normal amount of light in total, just break it up over different chunks of time.

Of course plants depend on light for photosynthesis, the process that in nature uses the sun’s energy to merge carbon dioxide and water into sugars that fuel plant metabolism. Light also directs growth and development through its signals about day and night, and monkeying with that information stream might have disastrous results.

That’s because breaking something good into smaller bits sometimes creates new problems. Imagine how happy you’d be to receive a US$100 bill – but not as thrilled with the equivalent 10,000 pennies. We suspected a plant’s internal clock wouldn’t accept the same luminous currency when broken into smaller denominations.

And that’s exactly what we demonstrated in our experiments. Kale, turnip or beet seedlings exposed to cycles of 12 hours of light, 12 hours dark for four days grew normally, accumulating pigments and growing larger. When we decreased the frequency of light-dark cycles to 6 hours, 3 hours, 1 hour or 30 minutes, the plants revolted. We delivered the same amount of light, just applied in different-sized chunks, and the seedlings did not appreciate the treatment.

The same amount of light applied in shorter intervals over the day caused plants to grow more like they were in darkness. We suspect the light pulses conflicted with a plant’s internal clock, and the seedlings had no idea what time of day it was. Stems stretched taller in an attempt to find more light, and processes like pigment production were put on hold.

But when we applied light in much, much shorter bursts, something remarkable happened. Plants grown under five-second on/off cycles appeared to be almost identical to those grown under the normal light/dark period. It’s almost like the internal clock can’t get started properly when sunrise comes every five seconds, so the plants don’t seem to mind a day that is a few seconds long.

Just as we prepared to publish, undergraduate collaborator Paul Kusuma found that our discovery was not so novel. We soon realized we’d actually rediscovered something already known for 88 years. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture saw this same phenomenon in 1931 when they grew plants under light pulses of various durations. Their work in mature plants matches what we observed in seedlings with remarkable similarity.

A 1931 study by Garner and Allard tracked the growth of Yellow Cosmos flowers under light pulses of various durations. J. Agri. Res. 42: National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture., CC BY-ND

Not only was all of this a retread of an old idea, but pulses of light do not save any energy. Five seconds on and off uses the same amount of energy as the lights being on for 12 hours; the lights are still on for half the day.

But what would happen if we extended the dark period? Five seconds on. Six seconds off. Or 10 seconds off. Or 20 seconds off. Maybe 80 seconds off? They didn’t try that in 1931.

Building in extra downtime

It turns out that the plants don’t mind a little downtime. After applying light for five seconds to activate photosynthesis and biological processes like pigment accumulation, we turned the light off for 10, or sometimes 20 seconds. Under these extended dark periods, the seedlings grew just as well as they had when the light and dark periods were equal. If this could be done on the scale of an indoor farm, it might translate to a significant energy savings, at least 30% and maybe more.

Recent yet-to-be published work in our lab has shown that the same concept works in leaf lettuces; they also don’t mind an extended dark time between pulses. In some cases, the lettuces are green instead of purple and have larger leaves. That means a grower can produce a diversity of products, and with higher marketable product weight, by turning the lights off.

One variety of lettuce grew purple when given a 10-second dark period. They look similar to those grown with a five-second dark period, yet use 33% less energy. Extending the dark period to 20 seconds yielded green plants with more biomass. J. Feng, K. Folta

Learning that plants can be grown under bursts of light rather than continuous illumination provides a way to potentially trim the expensive energy budget of indoor agriculture. More fresh vegetables could be grown with less energy, making the process more sustainable. My colleagues and I think this innovation could ultimately help drive new business and feed more people – and do so with less environmental impact.

July 22, 2019 6.58am EDT Updated July 22, 2019 2.40pm EDT

This article was updated with a corrected legend on the photograph of the plants grown in 1931.

Farming Goes Vertical

06-08-2020   |    This is money

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Top of the agenda for many big firms across Britain and the world in recent years is to find ways to help reduce their environmental footprint and become more sustainable. This has been driven by consumer demand for change and warnings over irreversible damage by large companies, who can make small improvements to help that add up. One such way is vertical farming and it has seen one middle-class supermarket favourite get involved in some stores.

·       Vertical farming works by growing fruits and veg in vertically stacked layers 

·       Claims it can significantly reduce environmental damage  

·       M&S Simply Food is one of the latest UK retailers to introduce vertical farming 

Marks and Spencer is the latest UK retailer to adopt vertical farming into its stores, with a selection of herbs now freshly grown and harvested in stores across London for shoppers to buy.

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Vertical farming works by growing fruits and vegetables in vertically stacked layers inside

It has partnered with Infarm, a fast-growing vertical farming firm based in Berlin, that also now operates in other supermarket chains across Europe.

Ocado has also invested £17million in vertical farming while John Lewis plans to grow salads in store in the future in a partnership with LettUs Grow. 

Aside from Marks and Spencer, Infarm has recently partnered with the online sustainable supermarket Farmdrop, which stocks a selection of herbs and salad leaves. 

It added it will be announcing some new retailers it has teamed up with in the next few months. 

Inform also works with a number of chefs in Europe, some of whom have installed farms into their restaurants so they can access the herbs at the freshest point, whenever they want.

In the UK, it supplies produce to Zala Grill in Camden Lock, but it doesn't have a farm in the restaurant.

Meanwhile, in Germany, Infarm currently has eight restaurants with farms including the Michelin starred Sky Kitchen at Vienna House Andel's. 

How does it work? 

Vertical farming works by growing vegetables in stacked layers that takes place in a controlled environment, often without the use of soil and instead the use of light energy.  

Emmanuel Evita, global communications director at Infarm, said: 'Our approach allows us to be climate independent and grow under any conditions, despite changing climate, extreme weather, or disasters which normally interfere with food production and distribution.

'Our vertical farms can be installed directly in any urban space, which is where the majority of the global population will live in the next few decades.'

Compared to conventional farming methods, Infarm argues that vertical farming uses less space, less water, and less transportation. 

Its plants are also all locally-grown and free of chemical pesticides, making them better for both consumers and the planet.

When the food comes to harvest, it's just one person in store, moving the produce about a meter from the growing with no machinery, storage or long-distance haulage. 

Infarm's hubs are used to initiate the growth seeds. 

Once these seeds have developed to a certain maturity, they are delivered to the in-store farms at retailers, to complete their growth cycle and be offered to the consumer.

The hubs grow seeds across more than 65 combinations of herbs, microgreens and leafy greens and also deliver special varieties, like Peruvian Mint or Wasabi Rucola, directly to chefs for use that day.  

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The fruit and vegetables growing in vertical farming takes place in a controlled environment

One reason vertical farming can help reduce the ecological waste associated with traditional industrial farming, according to Infarm, is that it uses 95 percent less water and 75 percent less fertiliser. 

It also uses no chemical pesticides, no genetically modified seeds and says it is able to save 14 litres of water per kilogram of produce.

Evita said: 'Growing fresh produce creates a huge environmental burden on our planet. 

'People want to eat the same foods at all times of the year, and this, combined with lengthy transportation routes, and overtaxed soil take a heavy toll not just on the environment but also on the taste and nutrition of what we eat.'

He believes that more retailers are now interested in vertical farming due to the current climate uncertainty.

However, vertical farming is not the cheapest resource out there and has been predicted by some agriculture experts to be three to five times more expensive than traditional farming.

But Infarm says that the product they provide is worth the extra money, especially with the benefits it brings to the environment. 

Retailers set the price for the produce Infarm provides in-store with M&S currently charging £1.20 for herbs. 

It said the price does not tend to be significantly higher than their other produce offerings. 

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Vertical farming helps reduce the ecological waste associated with industrial farming

Evita added: 'We find that in recent years, investors from around the globe have been drawn to innovation that addresses the need for sustainable solutions to the challenges that affect our planet.

'Certainly, these are challenges that many countries and regions are dealing with now, and they are becoming increasingly urgent for all of us.' 

Coronavirus has also posed many problems to the vertical farming industry, including the need to implement social distancing measures at hubs, although Infarm said it has been able to keep growing during this period. 

It added that the global pandemic has seen increased interest from both investors and consumers in the industry with Infarm clients experiencing a 222 percent sales growth in the second quarter of this year.

This means the business has more than doubled its employees since June last year. 

The future of vertical farming definitely looks bright. Infarm started just under a decade ago and since then, it has grown to more than 900 farms in supermarkets and distribution centres all around the world, allowing it to harvest over 250,000 plants a month and growing.

It is now expanding from just Europe to the United States with Kroger and Canada with Sobeys as well as recently announcing plans to enter Japan and build the first vertical farming network in Asia through a new partnership with Konikuniya. 

Source: This is money

Photo Courtesy of Infarm

Kuwait JV Opens Large-Scale Indoor Vertical Farm

August 16, 2020

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&Ever Middle East, a joint venture between Kuwait’s NOX Management and German company &ever, in partnership with German engineering companies SAP and Viessmann,  has opened the first commercial indoor vertical farm in the Middle East.

Kuwait, a country that previously relied on European and overseas imports for most of their leafy greens and herbs, can now locally grow up to 250 varieties of greens and herbs using dryponics technology. 

The facility, with approximately 3,000 sq m growing (or farming) space, has a daily output capacity of up to 550 kg of salad, and herbs.  The products are available in all leading retailers and co-operatives under the brand name &ever Kuwait.  

The farm produces high-quality and sustainable crops indoors, which increase the nutritional quality and decrease environmental impact. The cutting-edge vertical farming method uses 90 percent less water compared to traditional farming, 60 percent less fertilizer, and zero pesticides. Using a sustainable “farm to fork” model, the technology is able to preserve the plants’ nutritional value until the produce reaches the customer, said the statement.

“Previously, Kuwait’s restaurants imported all of our greens and herbs, mainly from Europe,” said Faisal AlMeshal, Director of Strategy and Business Development, NOX Management. “Our JV with &ever and the partnership with SAP and Viessmann on this indoor farm is enabling the local farming supply chain to save on costs and logistics, to minimize waste, and to make a better choice for the planet. Our customers have enhanced experiences with tastier and fresher produce.”

This knowledge exchange complements Germany and Kuwait’s trade ties. Bilateral trade is €1.3 billion, and Germany’s private sector invests €14.6 billion in Kuwait, according to Germany’s Federal Foreign Office.

Germany and Kuwait are strong partners not only in politics but also in business, said Stefan Möbs, German Ambassador to Kuwait, who recently participated in a virtual media roundtable about the farm’s success hosted by the German Business Council Kuwait. 

“I welcome the innovative business idea of German company &ever specifically here in Kuwait. Both countries are seeking new ways in difficult times. Even better to work together!”

Climatized rooms

The farm has partnered with Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions to develop highly efficient climatized rooms which are used in its indoor vertical farm. The technology is 40% more energy-efficient than other indoor vertical farming systems when it comes to energy use for climatization, said the statement. 

&ever built its operating system, &ever Cloud, using the SAP Business Technology Platform -- SAP HANA in-memory platform and SAP Cloud Platform. Farmers can monitor, analyze, and adjust hundreds of data points on plant health, airflow, light, carbon dioxide levels, humidity, and temperature in real-time. 

“Technology is the foundation for transforming customer experiences in restaurants and agricultural production in Kuwait, and for fostering diversified economic growth and sustainable agriculture worldwide,” said Andy Froemmel, Managing Director, SAP Kuwait. “Digitally transforming Kuwait’s agricultural sector supports New Kuwait 2035 goals, and helps to foster the local innovation economy and job creation.”

&ever is ready for global roll-out 

Building on the global deployment capabilities of its key partners, &ever will scale its operations quickly and globally. “Our vision is to bring better tasting greens with high nutritional value to more and more people,” says Mark Korzilius, Founder of &ever. “We have an interesting pipeline of opportunities around the globe,” adds Dr Henner Schwarz, CEO of &ever. “We hope to be able to travel internationally again soon to get our next farms live as quickly as possible.” 

The German Business Council Kuwait is a non-profit organization and business platform, founded in 2005, in order to promote and cultivate relations between German-speaking individuals and companies with their counterparts from the host country and the region. - TradeArabia News Service

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Swegreen Vertical Farm Goes In-Store in Gothenburg, Sweden

Swegreen's first automated farming unit takes place at ICA Focus in Gothenburg

Swegreen inks contract with ICA Focus in Gothenburg, to become the exclusive producer of hyper-locally grown vegetables via an automated cultivation system inside the store itself. The agreement is based on Swegreen's subscription-based Farming-as-a-Service, which gives food retailers and restaurants the opportunity to offer their customers fresh crops all year round – harvested directly on-site or in-store.

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From left: Andreas Dahlin, CEO at Swegreen. Elsa Adlersson, ICA Focus' responsible for the In-Store greenhouse. Marcus Petersson, chairman at Swegreen.

The contract between Swegreen and ICA Focus concludes that the Gothenburg-based store will be the first in Sweden to offer its customers hyper-locally produced greens grown from seed to fully-grown size inside a store itself. The cultivation facility, which is provided by the Swedish startup company Swegreen, is based on so-called hydroponic cultivation technology that is both resource-efficient and climate-smart. The technical solution also includes the company's special lighting and nutrient recipe, air conditioning system for control of heat, humidity, and CO2 content plus a complete digital monitoring – as well as a data-driven intelligent system for optimization of all cultivation processes.

Through Swegreen's subscription-based business model, Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS), the cooperation between the parties is based on a long-term commitment where Swegreen ensures efficient production at agreed volumes and quality.

-  Our FaaS model means that every store and restaurant owner can offer hyper-local, fresh and high-quality crops that are fantastically nutritious and tasty – at very competitive prices, says Swegreen's CEO, Andreas Dahlin.

-  We are very proud and happy to start this collaboration with ICA Focus. It is a store that has the will to be at the forefront, and we think there are going to be many who desire to follow their footsteps.

ICA Focus is located in the Gårda district in central Gothenburg, just a stone’s throw away from the famous amusement park, Liseberg, and the Swedish Exhibition and WTC. A flagship store that always has a large assortment of environmental-friendly products.

-  Our customers have demanded more locally produced and sustainable greens in our assortment – and it will not be more local and greener than this! Says Daniel Åkerhage, Store Manager at ICA Focus.

-  Now we look forward to our first on-site harvest, which we expect to take place later this month.

At full capacity, it is possible to deliver and harvest around 300 units of fresh salad heads and herbs per day in the cultivation facility in the ICA Focus store.

With hydroponic cultivation technology, where the crops grow without soil with lighting from special LED lamps, it is possible to grow vegetables in an urban environment – and thus produce food very close to the consumer. It also removes unnecessary, expensive, and climate-damaging transportations. In addition, the crops do not need to be sprayed by pesticides or herbicides – they are ready to be eaten directly off the growing system. Up to 95% of the irrigation water is reused via the recycling system. Nutrients are also recycled, while the plants receive carbon dioxide through a filtered air intake from the store itself.

Swegreen has developed the cultivation module to be able to create integrated plant environments together with partners in the food and restaurant sector. Therefore, Swegreen has developed a cloud-based control- and monitoring system to make production easy to manage. Through data collection of current factors in the cultivation environment, the system can continuously refine and further optimize the cultivation processes by the use of artificial intelligence.

For more information contact:

Andreas Dahlin, CEO of Swegreen, +46 70-924 00 32, andreas.dahlin@swegreen.se

Daniel Åkerhage, store manager ICA Focus, +46 76-117 16 20, daniel@icafocus.se 

Swegreen is a Swedish FoodTech company that combines advanced technology, data science, and agricultural knowledge to be able to efficiently produce high-quality and climate-smart crops in an urban environment. The company offers a subscription-based cultivation service called Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS). It gives food retailers and restaurants the opportunity to offer their customers hyper-locally produced, fresh, nutritious, and tasty greens all year round. www.swegreen.com

ICA Focus is a unique grocery store that has been a rendezvous place for food-loving Gothenburgers for over 25 years. With an assortment of over 35,000 items, you have about twice as much to choose from as in an ordinary ICA store. ICA Focus also has its own bakery, charcuterie and restaurant. The store also has one of Gothenburg's best fish delicate retailers, Fisk i Focus. ICA Focus is located in Focushuset, Gårda, in central Gothenburg.

https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/swegreen-ab/news/swegreens-first-automated-farming-unit-takes-place-at-ica-focus-in-gothenburg-408602

Infarm, The New Generation of Farm

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Labeled as the new generation of farmers, German startup Infarm farms everywhere—in supermarkets, restaurants, bars and warehouses (Credit: Infarm)

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by Melanie Epp

August 11, 2020

Infarm was founded in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and brothers Erez and Guy Galonska. They built the world’s largest in-store farm in Metro’s flagship store in Paris. 

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

Labeled as the new generation of farm, German startup Infarm farms everywhere—in supermarkets, restaurants, bars, and warehouses—lowering the carbon print by cutting out millions of miles between the farm and the final consumer.

It all started when two people from Israel came to Berlin and couldn’t find their typical herbs—and couldn’t understand why, when they tried, the herbs wouldn’t grow in Berlin. They picked up the idea of vertical farming and a hydroponic method of farming to create their farming system which resembles a giant glass-door fridge. They understood, then, that people would no longer need to import herbs from distant countries because they could be grown on-site, explained Key Account Manager at Infarm Jakob Peter

“We can grow herbs throughout the year at the same price. We’re focusing on cities for our pilot projects, but we’ll go into rural areas and plan on producing 1000 farms in the next years.”

The startup always looks for places in need before deciding where they should implement their idea in order to fill in the gaps. They’ve already put their farm in restaurants, including Good Bank Restaurant in Berlin, with several other projects underway. They’re currently operating more than 50 farms across Berlin in supermarket aisles, restaurants kitchens, and distribution warehouses.

The company has deployed operational farms in Copenhagen, London, and Seattle. One thousand in-store farms are being rolled out in Germany alone. Infarm is expanding to other European markets every day, partnering with leading supermarket chains, and planning its North America expansion program. For co-founder Osnat Michaeli,

“Recognizing the requirements of our customers, we have recently launched a new product: the DC farm, a ‘Seed to Package’  production facility tailored to the needs of retail chains’ distribution centers.”

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Courtesy of Infarm

How the Farm Functions

The farms are connected to the internet and information is exchanged via the cloud. So they can “communicate with all the farms” no matter where they are. This hyper-connected solution is all about urban precision farming.

It’s 2m² with several levels and can produce 1,200 herbs per month (per farm), or 800 heads of lettuce at 800 grams each. It’s a modular system and can have both herbs and lettuce. It can be placed in offices, dead space, storage facilities and idle buildings.

The farm allows exact monitoring of light, climate, pH value of water, etc. and can be tailored depending on the type of produce. The company ensures transportability and availability of herbs and lettuce via the information stored in the cloud, attributing the system the title “harvest on demand”. Infarm generates transparency for end-users and can initiate discussion between family members when they see the farm. But the product has to be good for this concept to work.

“A fancy vertical farm with the best LED lighting system would be useless if the end result equalled bad produce.”

Its hydroponic system uses 90% less water than conventional farming and only needs water replacement twice a month for hygiene purposes. No pesticides are needed and the product can be taken directly from the farm, so it’s convenient. Herbs are always delivered with the roots and must be placed in water to remain fresh and good for two days. The door of the farm is always locked and only trained InFarm employees can open the door for hygiene reasons.

“We offer a service. We don’t sell a farm. We own the farm and you pay a monthly rent. We harvest for you. Our technicians come when there are issues with the farm.”

As each member thinks like a farmer, having a background in farming, they define themselves as a farming business. They even produced all the technical products involved in the farming system themselves.

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Courtesy of Infarm

Retailers willingly welcome the concept as it provides a larger variety for clients, and an added bonus is that retailers can set their own prices.

After introducing the concept of in-store farming to the world from Metro Cash & Carry in Berlin, Infarm and Metro partnered again. In 2018, they inaugurated the world’s largest in-store farm in Metro’s flagship store Paris. The 80 m2 vertical farm produces approximately 4 tonnes of premium quality herbs, leafy greens, and microgreens annually. Metro will become completely self-sufficient in its herb production with its own in-store farm.

This urban farming solution of in-store farming impacts the environment in a positive way: It reduces CO2 simply by cutting down the supply chain, avoiding major transportations from various countries. The startup is currently in contact with universities to do research on how much CO2 they’re reducing compared to the typical supply chain.

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Basil at Metro

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Farming Goes Vertical - The New Supermarket Trend For Growing Herbs In-Store

The new supermarket trend for growing herbs in-store could help the environment - how does it work?

• Vertical farming works by growing fruits and veg in vertically stacked layers 

• Claims it can significantly reduce environmental damage  

• M&S Simply Food is one of the latest UK retailers to introduce vertical farming 

By GRACE GAUSDEN FOR THIS IS MONEY 

4 August 2020 

Top of the agenda for many big firms across Britain and the world in recent years is to find ways to help reduce their environmental footprint and become more sustainable.

This has been driven by consumer demand for change and warnings over irreversible damage by large companies, who can make small improvements to help that add up.

One such way is vertical farming and it has seen one middle-class supermarket favorite get involved at some stores.

Marks and Spencer is the latest UK retailer to adopt vertical farming into its stores, with a selection of herbs now freshly grown and harvested in stores across London for shoppers to buy.

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Vertical farming works by growing fruits and vegetables in vertically stacked layers inside

It has partnered with Infarm, a fast-growing vertical farming firm based in Berlin, that also now operates in other supermarket chains across Europe.

Ocado has also invested £17million in vertical farming while John Lewis plans to grow salads in store in the future in a partnership with LettUs Grow. 

Aside from Marks and Spencer, Infarm has recently partnered with the online sustainable supermarket Farmdrop, which stocks a selection of herbs and salad leaves. 

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These 4 Reasons Tell Us Why It’s Time To Shift To Indoor Farming

By Ecochirp Foundation in Environment

6th August 2020

Traditionally, agriculture was done on large open farms, having a large dependence on external environmental factors. In recent times, there is a new vertical emerging in agriculture, giving promising results i.e., Indoor farming or vertical farming. Particular challenges that were faced in conventional cultivation techniques have been resolved with indoor agriculture. Though growing indoors can never be a replacement for outdoor agriculture, it can certainly help in growing certain vegetables, herbs, microgreens, and more. 

Let’s have a comparative study of indoor growing vs. outdoor growing.

Weather Dependence

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Traditional outdoor growing is largely dependent on weather conditions. Only seasonal crops can be grown. Weather conditions can be the biggest nightmares for farmers as things like thunderstorms, floods, droughts can damage crops overnight. By growing indoors, we eliminate our dependence on the weather. Instead, growers can control the climate inside the indoor growing system creating the ideal environment for maximum outputs. Using a wide range of sensors, indoor growers can check their plants at all times. 

Pesticides And Herbicides Requirement

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Do you also wear a mask while consuming those??

The crops are more prone to pests and other animal damage as they are exposed to the outer environment. We recently saw the locust attack that happened; it devastated large areas of crops. We saw how fast they traveled and farmers couldn’t take measures in time. They had to spray large amounts of pesticides to protect the remaining crops that eventually went into our systems. The pesticides and chemical fertilizers used are a root cause of major ailments like cancers, immune disorders, infertility, and cardiovascular diseases. 

Indoor grown edibles need fewer chemical additives to grow well. Being indoors, they are not prone to pests. Also, the environment is controlled; therefore, there is no need for pesticides or herbicides. Therefore, the vegetables are pure. 

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About 70% of the world’s freshwater goes to agriculture. And with increasing populations, this water requirement is expected to go up by 15% by 2050. This is a thing we should be afraid of, as the freshwater resources are declining. If things keep going in the same way, there is a possibility that we might not be able to keep up with the requirements. Taking the case of indoor growing, techniques such as hydroponics take up to 90-95% less water. They use a closed-loop system, where there is no wastage, and resources are optimally utilized. 

 The Nutritional Content Of Edibles

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The current agriculture system is centralized. Therefore, fruits and vegetables have to travel thousands of miles before they reach us. In the meanwhile, they lose a considerable amount of nutritional content. For example, spinach loses about 50-90% of its vitamin C within 24 hours of being harvested, which means the vegetables and fruits we eat at our homes in cities is not as nutritional as it should be.

In the case of indoor growing, which is generally done in cities near our homes, transportation time is less than 5-6 hours. Therefore, they are fresh and highly nutritious. 

Pre And Post-Harvest Losses

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About 40% of the world’s food is wasted due to the pre and post-harvest losses. Pre-harvest losses occur before harvesting begins, and may be due to insects, weeds, and rusts. Post-harvest losses occur between harvest and the moment of human consumption. Fruits and vegetables are perishable products and tend to get spoiled or degraded with time and unfavorable factors. Indoor growing has very low wastage as they rarely get diseases; they are near to cities and therefore, have lower transportation times. The edibles are consumed soon after they are harvested. 

This comparison is just a brief glimpse of how growing indoors is more beneficial as compared to conventional growing. However, this article does not mean that indoor growing can replace proper farming. Outdoor farming can not be eliminated but can be decentralized, and with the help of indoor growing techniques, we can revolutionize the current agriculture system for the better. 

About the author: Palak Kumar is an insatiably curious Mechanical Engineering student, passionate about flying, clouds, literature, and plants, working towards revolutionizing Indoor Vertical Growing.

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Hydroponic Propagation: A Webinar Event You Don’t Want to Miss

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On August 12, 2020, we will be a part of a free, informative event to cover hydroponic propagation for seedlings.

This free ​webinar​ will cover the best in class techniques and methodologies to use to yield results, technology advances, how to create and deliver environmental recipes, and more! We’ll be partnering with other experts who will talk about all there is to know with hydroponic seedling propagation. Still, want to know more about hydroponic propagation? We’ll help you understand more in this article.

The 3 Life Stages for Seedlings

Before we can describe hydroponic seedling propagation, you’ll need to know about the plant’s life stages first. Since hydroponic plants don't require soil, seeds have to get their nutrients through other methods. When it comes to seeds, there are 3 life stages that you’ll need to pay attention to in order to have successful yields. The three stages are:

• Germination​: This occurs when a seedling goes from a dormant state to an active one. The radicle breaks out from the outer shell and becomes a root. However, this usually happens during warm and moist conditions, which is why it’s essential to take note of the temperature when growing seedlings. Once you can see the plant expelling from the seed, it’s time to move them to the propagation system.

• Propagation​: This stage is when the seedlings start to grow roots and true leaves. The propagation stage ends when the roots have nearly fully developed. Once you notice this, you can begin the transplant process.

• Transplant​: During this stage, you will move the young seedlings into your growing system to watch them reach their full growth.

The Importance of Temperature

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One of the main driving forces to your plant’s growth success can boil down to temperature. Depending on the plant you’re growing, you’ll need to ensure that the correct environmental conditions are met per crop type. This boils down to if you’re planting warm or cool weather plants.

Warm Weather Plants: Basil, oregano, thyme. Typical herbs and fruiting crops such as tomatoes, and peppers.

Cool Weather Plants: Lettuce, Kale, Swiss Chard, Spinach, tomatoes, and other greens.

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Tips for Hydroponic Propagation Success

In this section, we’re going to discuss a few tips you can use to ensure propagation success.

• Do not overexpose your plants to heat. This is because seedlings are especially vulnerable and sensitive to heat. It’s best to keep in mind that seedlings shouldn’t be overexposed to anything from nutrients to pesticides to fertilizers.

• Don’t keep your media too wet. This can lead to damping off which can invite various molds and fungi to form, leading to a loss in stem structure.

• Give your plants nutrients after you notice the first set of true leaves. Around this stage, the plant will need more external nutrients from things like soil or synthetic fertilizers. It’s best to use the same nutrient mix you’d use during your grow out, just make sure to dilute way more.

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Hydroponic seedling propagation is an easy task once you learn the in’s and out’s of your plants. We at the Nick Greens Grow Team strive to educate everyone on the benefits of growing microgreens and plants right from your house. Sign up for the Indoor Ag Conversation free ​webinar​ to learn more about hydroponic propagation success. We look forward to seeing you there!

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