Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
"I Can See Hydroponics Becoming Bigger, From Commercial Use To Homes"
A University of British Columbia student design team is developing a fully autonomous agricultural robot, driven by their belief that Canada can lead the world in sustainable farming.
A University of British Columbia student design team is developing a fully autonomous agricultural robot, driven by their belief that Canada can lead the world in sustainable farming.
The UBC AgroBot aims to precisely exterminate weeds and fertilize crops as well as record data from a farmer’s operation. The team has grown from four to 40 plus students with backgrounds in various engineering disciplines and many with no prior exposure to agriculture.
The AgroBot project involves four teams of students. The chassis team designs the mechanical body, structure and driving system. The extermination team works on the mechanics and chemical design to target weeds. The navigation team develops the autonomous software to navigate crop rows and the image recognition team uses machine learning technology to allow the robot to identify crops and weeds.
“To sustainably produce enough food for the world, there is an urgent need for innovation in the field of agriculture,” says Wendie Wu, AgroBot team member. “Engineering students are drawn by the technologies we see working in other industries and they’re eager to apply them in agriculture and help operations be as sustainable as possible.”
The UBC team was the only Canadian university design team planning to attend the AgGrowBot Challenge hosted by Indiana’s Purdue University last May, however the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the AgroBot team from attending. Still, their success has been noticed at UBC where they were granted official engineering design team status and have received financial support from various organizations, including Farm Credit Canada (FCC).
“Agriculture continues to be one of the most innovative and agile industries in Canada, says FCC marketing vice president Fred Wall. “In order to feed a growing world population, we need to focus on sustainability and technology. FCC applauds the UBC AgroBot students for seeing the opportunity to apply their skills in agriculture and make a real difference for the food sector.”
The interest and success of the AgroBot project has UBC supporting an aquaponics project as well, dubbed AgroPonics. It involves applying similar machine learning, image recognition and automation technologies to building an autonomous indoor garden system that is functional without soil.
Team member Seline Choe is motivated about what agritech can do for agriculture and food in Canada. “The agritech industry is growing fast. I see the opportunity to use more image recognition and data collection for the benefit of everyone. There are a lot of companies in the research phase and we can be a part of the talent pipeline that will evolve those technologies,” Seline adds. “I can see hydroponics becoming bigger, from commercial use to homes, it can be a more efficient way to grow food by optimizing growing conditions. We need to come up with new ways to support the world’s population with the food it needs.”
The UBC students are continuing to work on both the AgroBot and AgroPonics projects. They hope to implement their products on local farms and on the university campus in the near future.
For more information:
Farm Credit Canada
www.fcc-fac.ca
28 Oct 2020
Hydroponics For Beginners 101: The Basics
When broken up into two words -hydro and -ponics, it translates to “water” and “labor.” The Greek definitions of these words essentially translates to “working water.”
Hydroponics is a growing method for beginners and experts alike. This innovative farming system provides users with more controlled environments to grow their crops all-year-round. In this article, you will learn about hydroponics for beginners, and we’ll cover the basics to get you started.
What is hydroponics anyways?
When broken up into two words -hydro and -ponics, it translates to “water” and “labor.” The Greek definitions of these words essentially translates to “working water.” The reason for this is because hydroponics is a method used to grow crops without using soil. Through hydroponic systems, plants can grow by using nutrients in water instead.
What are the benefits of hydroponics?
There are various reasons why farmers are starting to adopt hydroponics as a means of growing crops.
1. Crops grow at a faster rate
Hydroponic plants tend to grow at a faster rate ranging from 30 to 50% faster than plants grown in traditional soil methods. This happens because hydroponically grown plants do not have to spend time searching for nutrients in the soil since it is provided several times throughout the day using hydroponic systems. With its saved energy, these plants can focus on growing into healthier plants.
2. Greater Yields
Since hydroponic plants can get the nutrients they need at all times, the plants don’t need to have large roots. With smaller roots, these plants don’t require as much room as traditional soil-grown plants, so farmers can plant more of these plants side-by-side, thus producing greater yields.
3. Hygienic Way of Growing
Since hydroponic plants are grown indoors, they’re free from the pests that soil typically attracts. This helps prevent disease and promotes hygiene.
4. Can Grow All Year Round
Hydroponic systems allow users to grow plants all-year-round. These automated systems are controlled by timers and computers, which helps growers to grow food no matter the season.
How do hydroponic systems work?
Hydroponics was created to take out the uncertainty aligned with growing plants in traditional farming methods. Hydroponic systems give users more control over the plant’s environment and nutrient sources to ensure it can grow without being interfered with by natural disasters, lack of nutrients, or pests. Knowing this, it makes sense as to why hydroponic systems work to give a plant what it needs.
Even though the soil is not in the equation, a growing medium is still used in hydroponics. Some mediums include perlite, sand, and Rockwool. These mediums get nutrients in the water and provide oxygen for the plant’s roots.
Want to learn more about hydroponics for beginners?
Now that you have a basic understanding of hydroponic systems, it’s time for you to learn more about this modern way of farming. We at the Nick Greens Grow Team use our knowledge and expertise to inform our readers about the innovations in farming. Want to learn more about hydroponics for beginners? Make sure to subscribe to our blog and YouTube channel for weekly updates! We also are teaching a microgreen class where you can learn more about microgreens and hydroponics for beginners.
Sign up for our microgreens class here.
#hydroponicsforbeginners #hydroponicforbeginners #startinghydroponics #startinghydroponic #hydroponics #hydroponic #hydroponicsfarming #hydroponicsgrowing #hydroponicfarming #hydroponicgrowing #usinghydroponics #hydroponicssetup #hydroponicsetup #hydroponicssystem #hydroponicsystem #hydroponicsfarmer #hydroponicfarmer
Hydroponics – The Pros And Cons of Growing In Soilless Medium
Hydroponics is the practice of growing food with no soil involved. Hydroponic operations may bring food to places where it would be difficult to obtain. It may also assist in the flaws of our current food system
Posted by: Alejandro Gutierrez
Hydroponics is the practice of growing food with no soil involved. Hydroponic operations may bring food to places where it would be difficult to obtain. It may also assist in the flaws of our current food system.
In 2018, the CDC and the FDA issued two safety alerts for Romaine Lettuce in seven months. Consumers across the United States were urged to avoid Romaine lettuce because of E. coli infection concerns. It took weeks for the FDA to announce that the agency found the source of the contamination. The advisory prompted many food stores, including Whole Foods to remove all Romaine lettuce from their shelves.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay;
Situations like these are scary for consumers. And not surprisingly, they’re also angry. People are frustrated about how little they know about the source of fresh produce they buy at grocery stores. Urban farming ventures are taking advantage of concerns about the safety of fresh food. Food miles also become relevant. Consumers desire to avoid fresh food that may have been grown with unfavorable conditions. In some cases, pesticide drift from near farms also poses a threat.
Hydroponics offers an answer and a solution to all these concerns. And it presents an opportunity for healthy and eco-conscious people to gain control over the source of their fresh food.
Photo by Harits Mustya Pratama on Unsplash
Let’s look at the pros and cons of hydroponics. We’ll look at the advantages and disadvantages that apply to urban farming companies catering to local consumers. Followed by those to home gardeners who are involved in hydroponics on a vastly smaller scale.
The Pros and Cons of Hydroponics for Urban Farms
Advantages
In many cities, urban farms bring business to abandoned buildings and decaying neighborhoods. Their presence benefits the area and encourages the restoration of unused and abandoned buildings.
Urban farms create jobs in areas with limited or non-existent job opportunities.
Hydroponic growing offers training opportunities for young people in the community, providing skills they can be used in later life.
Community growing brings fresh food to “food deserts,” eliminating the excuse that area residents had for not eating healthier foods.
Growing hydroponically within the city gives people access to locally grown food that doesn’t have to travel so far.
Food grown on urban farms is picked at the peak of freshness, so it’s higher in nutrition.
Urban farms lower the carbon footprint of food production. Because they use so water efficiently, hydroponic systems are far eco-friendlier. And the food doesn’t have to travel as far. The use of LED lights increases the energy-efficiency of hydroponic systems.
Government officials have instant access to information about hydroponic produce and its path from the controlled environment to the consumer.
Consumers have the assurance that there won’t be any problems with bacterial contamination. They can trust the source of the produce they buy.
Access to high-quality fresh, locally grown produce means that they don’t have to buy more than they can use. This ensures they’re not wasting food or throwing money away.
Hydroponics eliminates the need to use chemical pesticides and insecticides
Photo by Nolan Issac on Unsplash
Photo by Fitleaf
Empty/Abandoned warehouse has the potential for Hydroponic Growing
Disadvantages
Urban agriculture doesn’t solve the problems of gang violence and crime in low-income neighborhoods but it’s a great start.
Businesses that want to establish urban farms in big cities have to go through lengthy applications. From the business license to the zoning permit, it may be a tedious process.
An urban agriculture venture isn’t likely to bring lots of jobs to the community in the short run. It is not until it establishes itself that results come in the long-run.
It will take time for the company to create the conditions for growing conditions. Assembling a hydroponic system that can handle large scale food production will also require some effort.
The company will need to consider transportation and parking needs for the employees. There may be concerns regarding parking for workers; having an impact on the parking situation for people who live in the neighborhood. However, a good solution with be biking
There may be a high cost of installing a backup power system (like generators). This is necessary because the damage of potential power failures would inflict significant losses.
Pros and Cons of Hydroponics for Home Growers
Positive Benefits of Hydroponic Gardening at Home
Hydroponics brings plants into the home, and the presence of plants improves air quality and overall health.
Hydroponics encourages people to take an interest in the origin of their food. It also gives them insight on what it takes to bring it to their tables.
Individuals who have hydroponics systems in their homes have access to better quality, fresher, and more nutritious food.
When you have a hydroponic system at home, you’re able to pick fresh produce just before using it. There is then less chance that fresh vegetables will sit in your refrigerator because you forget about them.
Because you can pick fresh food when you need it, you’ll cut the cost of your weekly grocery bills. The money you save from buying fewer groceries can go towards clearing debts or in savings.
You’ll get a tremendous and invaluable sense of satisfaction from being able to be more self-sufficient.
Since you’re buying the seeds for your hydroponics system, you can be certain of their origin.
You can plant and harvest fruits and vegetables grown at your own standard. You are free of paying the premium that is standard for food products that bear the “certified organic” label. This label usually carries the charge to the consumer.
Negatives of Hydroponic Gardening at Home
The cost of purchasing equipment. Regardless of whether you buy kits like the Tower Garden, or buy the components to build your own. While building a system isn’t cheap, the process is educational and fun.
Unless you buy a kit that provides instructions, you’ll have a harder time assembling your system and getting it started.
If you buy a kit, you’ll eventually need to purchase replacement parts, additional accessories, and supplemental nutrients. You should factor these things into the total cost of buying and operating a hydroponics system at home.
No matter how energy-efficient your system manufacturer claims it is, there will be an extra load on your electrical system. A hydroponic system will increase your utility bill throughout the year. With this issue, eco-friendly alternatives arise, such as solar panels which should be implemented if possible.
Unless you buy a system that is fully automated, you’ll have to constantly monitor nutrient and water levels. You may also have to turn the lights on or off. Don’t expect to have a productive hydroponic garden unless you’re willing to put the effort in. Checking your plants every day is a must. Observing them will ensure that their growing conditions are acceptable.
Failing to add water when the reservoir needs it, may burn your motor out, and you may weaken or kill the plants. That would be a significant financial setback.
A power failure will alter the growing conditions in your hydroponic unit. An extended power failure will deprive your plants of light, water, and oxygen. That’s a recipe for their death.
Hydroponics is no different from traditional gardening in that you get what you put into it. Some of the most significant advantages include being able to grow what you want and when you want to grow it, not being tied to traditional gardening seasons, and not having to do as much maintenance as you would if you tried to grow your food in the ground. A well-maintained hydroponic garden will give you access to healthy and nutritious food at any time. You’ll never have to rush to the grocery store for something because you don’t have it on hand.
Photo by Fitleaf
VIDEO: Home Hydroponics: Tech Trend Or The New Victory Garden?
Home gardening is experiencing a renaissance spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic. Facing anxiety surrounding food security and the need for hobbies during quarantine, close to 20% of Americans have reported taking up gardening as a result of the pandemic. Seed sales have soared to unprecedented level
Jun 30, 2020
Rob Girling Contributor
Co-Founder of Artefact, a purpose-driven strategy, and design company dedicated to responsible design. I am a designer passionate about mitigating the negative impact of technology and maximizing the positive.
Home gardening is experiencing a renaissance spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic. Facing anxiety surrounding food security and the need for hobbies during quarantine, close to 20% of Americans have reported taking up gardening as a result of the pandemic. Seed sales have soared to unprecedented levels.
An indoor vertical hydroponic system by Gardyn. COURTESY OF GARDYN.
As Covid-19 highlights, the precarious supply chain that supports our modern lifestyles and the benefit of more self-sufficiency, hydroponics – a method of growing plants without traditional soil, using water-based, nutrient-dense solutions – is emerging as the latest trend in smart home devices. Advances in hydroponic food-growing technology and LED lighting have reached a point where smart devices can take some of the labor, land, and expertise of traditional gardening out of the equation. Make no mistake that “real” gardening requires deep knowledge and effort to yield nutritional and emotional benefits; however, technology can now help laypeople experiment with growing fresh, nutritious food in their homes.
While home hydroponic systems are more effective, easy to use, and aesthetically pleasing than ever, there is a long way to go before the promise of sustainable, accessible food for all comes to fruition. Who wins and who loses in the smart food ecosystem and just how sustainable are these services? Let’s look at the design of three leading home hydroponics systems and the broader impact of such “smart growing”.
Home Hydroponics Leading the Pack
Gardyn, Rotofarm and Click & Grow are three of the leading “smart growing” entrants that promise attractive, no-hassle, indoor hydroponic systems.
The Gardyn system consists of three vertical artificial “stems” where up to 30 plants can grow at once. These stems are rooted in a sturdy, oval-shaped base reservoir where water, pumps and electronics are discretely hidden under a wooden lid. Two vertical aluminum bars hide the latest-generation LED lights that focus their attention on the plants and dissipate heat effectively. Gardyn comes with an AI assistant app that monitors and manages temperature, humidity, and light.
The most sculptural of the leading home hydroponic systems, the Bace Rotofarm is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous object with a supporting app component. Using a rotating circular drum, it slowly turns up to eight plants around an LED hub, compressing 5.5 feet of growing space into just 15 inches and eliminating gravitational penalty to help plants grow faster. Despite winning several design awards for its science-fiction-turned-reality aspiration, the Rotofarm will not launch until 2021 and its price remains a mystery.
A more economical home hydroponics system comes in the form of the Click & Grow Smart Garden. With three- and nine-plant growing options, the Click & Grow design concept looks vaguely like a carrying basket with an end-to-end handle that cleverly hides LED lights. Click & Grow is unique in its scaled design, allowing customers to stack Smart Gardens together to create a compact food growing system. Like the others, the system has a companion app to track growing schedules and help troubleshoot.
Improving Access to Produce, at a Cost
There is great opportunity for home hydroponics to improve education and access to healthy produce for those who live in food deserts or do not have access to nutritious food. Yet, so far, smart growing systems target tech-savvy, mostly affluent people living in high-density urban communities.
No matter the brand, existing home hydroponics systems command a hefty price tag. The Click & Grow system ranges from $99 for three plants to $599 for a 27-plant system, while the Gardyn kit starts at $799 with a monthly fee of $69 for 240 seed plants. Each plant might produce up to five yields before it needs replacing – that’s a lot of money for leafy greens, fresh herbs, and a handful of fruit.
These products make big claims about sustainability, healthy living, and a reliable food ecosystem, but don’t provide sufficient practical value for communities who could benefit the most from home hydroponics. One hopes that the pricing of these new systems reflects the enormous startup costs of building their business. Perhaps subsequent generations and scale can reduce the unit costs, like what has occurred in the electric vehicles market.
Lowering Environmental Impact
Dirt, when combined with growing chemicals, is responsible for significant water pollution in traditional farming. Rather than using soil, most home hydroponics systems call for compostable refill cubes similar to espresso pods. Each cube includes seeds planted in the company’s patented “growing medium” – in other words, artificial soil consisting of natural materials designed to hold water and nutrients more efficiently than regular dirt. Unlike espresso pods, these cubes are made from compostable corn-based plastic that can be thrown in the yard waste.
Gardyn's compostable "yCubes" are made up of rockwool and corn. COURTESY OF GARDYN.
The essential trade-off with indoor hydroponics is foregoing the free light-bulb in the sky: the sun. Depending on the amount of natural light available in a home, an LED hydroponic system uses significant electricity that adds to energy consumption and utility bills.
Nevertheless, growing food through hydroponics reduces reliance on industrial agro-farming with its heavy reliance on chemicals, fresh water, and the transportation infrastructure needed to get from production to table.
A Victory Garden Redux
Smart growing and home hydroponics is an exciting new trend in consumer hardware. While early entrants to the market feel more proof-of-concept than robust products or services, I predict that this category of products will improve quickly and become commonplace in homes of all types, expanding into other types of gardening and food production beyond leafy greens alone.
Although smart gardens may not yet be as impactful as the victory gardens that produced nearly 40% of vegetables in the US during World War II, there is significant opportunity for home hydroponics reduce dependence on an easily disrupted global food infrastructure while also easing individual environmental impact and increasing access to fresh, healthy produce.
I am a designer passionate about mitigating the negative impact of technology and maximizing the positive. I co-founded Artefact, a purpose-driven strategy and design company dedicated to responsible design. I have worked across the tech industry in various leadership roles at IDEO, Apple, Sony, and Microsoft. I also co-founded the SAAS resource management software 10000ft, acquired by Smartsheet in 2019
I am a designer passionate about mitigating the negative impact of technology and maximizing the positive. I co-founded Artefact, a purpose-driven strategy and design company dedicated to responsible design. I have worked across the tech industry in various leadership roles at IDEO, Apple, Sony, and Microsoft. I also co-founded the SAAS resource management software 10000ft, acquired by Smartsheet in 2019
Rob Girling