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1200% Increase In Production At ENOGROW In Times of A Pandemic!
One step closer to food sovereignty in New Brunswick Canada. 1200% increase in production at ENOGROW in times of a pandemic!
July 11, 2021
One step closer to food sovereignty in New Brunswick Canada. 1200% increase in production at ENOGROW in times of a pandemic!
Thanks to an equipment investment upgrade valued at nearly $250,000. ENOGROW, an indoor vertical hydroponic farm, located in Saint-Léolin NB, will see a production increase of leafy vegetables from 7,500 to
nearly 100,000 heads grown per year by the end of 2021. Due to the owners Chantal and Daniel Ratté hard work, perseverance and imagination, this amazing production surge occurs after less than 18 months of operation and in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.
Cultivation in a controlled environment takes place inside the former Le Maillon school, a 2280sqm building on 4 acres of land 12 month a year! ENOGROW currently offers their products to grocery stores, restaurants and on-site to the local population. With the above upgrades, along with a new refrigerated truck, the company will expand its customer’s network to Miramichi and Campbellton areas, and soon to southern New Brunswick as well.
Due to climate change, supply issues and the ever-growing demand for fresh local produce, this indoor hydroponic farm takes NB residents one step closer to food sovereignty year long!
This innovative indoor hydroponic farm grows nearly 20 different products year round, including 4 kinds of lettuce, various herbs and microgreens from organic seeds. All of this healthy produce is grown without soil, pesticides, herbicides or chemical residue, using 90% less water in only 10% of the space required by conventional cultivation.
The company is already working on their new goal for 2022, with expectations of 200,000 heads produced, a step closer to the final goal of 750,000 heads annually by 2025. This would create nearly 20 permanent jobs and serve New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland with fresh and local leafy vegetables 12 months per year.
This is quite a challenge for Chantal and Daniel, whose company began their operations in November 2019, less than 3 months before the start of the pandemic. They work almost 80 hours a week. “We never thought
we had the ability to work this hard, especially me at 62 years old, says Dan. Advice to anyone thinking of beginning this kind of agricultural that request a high production volume to be profitable. This is real farm work, and it is year round, Dan explains!
The final commissioning of the new equipment is scheduled for end of July.
Daniel Ratté Pres.
Enogrow Inc.
916 Boul. Saint-Joseph,
Saint-Léolin, NB E8N 2P8
danielr@enogrow.com
Off: 506-604-4400 Cell:506-720-2007 FB: Enogrow
FRANÇAIS
06 Juillet 2021
Plus près de la souveraineté alimentaire au NB. Augmentation de 1200% de la production de légumes à feuilles chez Enogrow en temps de pandémie!
Grace à un investissement en équipements d’une valeur de près de $250,000, la ferme hydroponique verticale intérieure ENOGROW de Saint-Léolin verra sa production de légumes à feuilles passer de 7500
à près de 100,000 têtes cultivées par année d’ici la fin de 2021. C’est grâce au travail acharné, persévérance et imagination, des deux propriétaires Chantal et Daniel Ratté que cette incroyable augmentation de production se produit après moins de 18 mois d'exploitation et au milieu d'une pandémie mondiale.
Dû au changement climatique, problèmes en approvisionnement et ses coûts, ainsi qu’à la forte demande en produits frais local sans cesse grandissante, cette ferme hydroponique intérieure permet aux résidents du NB de franchir un pas de plus vers la souveraineté alimentaire.
La culture sous environnement contrôlée, se fait à l’intérieur de l’ancienne école Le Maillon, un bâtiment de 2280mc sur 4 acres. Ils offrent présentement leurs produits aux marchés d'alimentation, restaurants et sur place pour la population locale. Par cet ajout d’équipement et d’un camion réfrigéré, l’entreprise peux maintenant étendre son réseau de clients vers Miramichi et Campbellton et bientôt le sud du nouveau Brunswick.
La ferme hydroponique intérieure d’avant garde cultive près de 20 produits différents, dont 4 sortes de laitue incluant la romaine, fines herbes et micro-pousses à partir de graine graines organiques, sans terre, insecticides, herbicides ou résidus de produits chimique, en utilisant 90% moins d'eau en utilisant seulement 10% de l’espace requis par la culture conventionnelle et ce 12 mois par année!.
L'entreprise travaille déjà sur leur nouvel objectif pour 2022 qui devrait être près des 200,000 têtes produites en route vers son but final de 750,000 produites annuellement d'ici 2025. Ceci créera près de 20 emploies permanents et pourra servir le Nouveau Brunswick, Ile du Prince Edward, la Nouvelle-Écosse et Terre neuve en légumes à feuilles frais et local.
C’est tout un défi à relever pour Chantal et Daniel dont l’entreprise a démarré ses opérations en novembre 2019, soit moins de 3 moins de mois avant le début de la pandémie. Ils y travaillent près de 80 heures par semaine. ‘’ On ne pensait jamais avoir à travailler autant spécialement moi à 62 ans. C’est un pensez y bien avant, pour ceux et celles qui désirent se lancer dans ce genre d’agriculture qui demande un haut volume pour atteindre la rentabilité. C’est un travail de ferme mais à longueur d’année explique t-il!
La mise en service des nouveaux équipements est prévue fin juillet.
Daniel Ratté Prés.
Enogrow Inc.
916 Boul. Saint-Joseph,
Saint-Léolin, NB E8N 2P8
danielr@enogrow.com
Off: 506-604-4400 Cell:506-720-2007 FB: Enogrow
AeroFarms CEO Rosenberg Kicks Off Indoor Ag-Con 2021 Keynote Address
“We are thrilled to have an industry leader like David Rosenberg join us as we kick off our return to the live event format,” says Brian Sullivan, co-owner, Indoor Ag-Con LLC
Rosenberg Headlines Full Roster of Keynotes, Panels, Networking & Expo Floor Innovations For In-Person October 4-5, 2021 Edition In Orlando
MAY 6, 2021 -- AeroFarms CEO David Rosenberg will lead the opening morning keynote address for the 8th annual edition of Indoor Ag-Con, scheduled for October 4-5, 2021 at the Hilton Orlando, Florida.
Themed “Growing Your Business,” the premier trade show and conference for the indoor |vertical farming industry will give attendees the opportunity to explore new resources on the expo floor and hear from Rosenberg, other CEOs, thought leaders and industry experts from today’s cutting-edge farms and other innovative companies.
“We are thrilled to have an industry leader like David Rosenberg join us as we kick off our return to the live event format,” says Brian Sullivan, co-owner, Indoor Ag-Con LLC along with other event industry veterans Nancy Hallberg and Kris Sieradzki. “We look forward to gathering with our industry colleagues again and are working hard to bring the best possible combination of networking, education and exhibition opportunities together in Orlando.”
Scheduled for opening morning, October 4, Rosenberg’s address will be held from 8:30 am – 9:20 am. Rosenberg co-founded and leads AeroFarms. AeroFarms has been leading the way for indoor vertical farming and championing transformational innovation for agriculture overall. On a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity, AeroFarms is a Certified B Corp Company with global headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, United States. Named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company three years in a row and one of TIME's Best Inventions, AeroFarms patented, award-winning indoor vertical farming technology provides the perfect conditions for healthy plants to thrive, taking agriculture to a new level of precision, food safety, and productivity while using up to 95% less water and no pesticides vs. traditional field farming. Grown for flavor first, AeroFarms enables local production to safely grow flavorful baby greens and microgreens all year round.
ROBUST 2021 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE NOW IN DEVELOPMENT
In addition to Rosenberg’s keynote, look for additional announcements coming soon on other CEO keynote presentations planned for the October event. The 2021 conference will also include a full roster of panel discussions, fireside chats and presentations offering a deep dive into three core tracks – Business & Marketing, Science & Technology and Alternative Crops.
In addition to the extensive educational component, attendees will find more new initiatives and show highlights to explore, including:
NEW LOCATION: HILTON ORLANDO – DISCOUNTED HOTEL RATES, TOO
Indoor Ag-Con’s Hilton Orlando venue makes it the perfect opportunity for a business vacation. Centrally located to all major theme parks and attractions, it is just minutes from the eclectic dining scene and entertainment of International Drive. What’s more, the Hilton Orlando resort sits on more than 26 acres of lush landscaping and tropical inspirations making it a true destination of its own. Indoor Ag-Con has arranged for discounted hotel rates for attendees and exhibitors starting as low as $129/night. Complete details are available on the show website.
NEW ASSOCIATION ALLIANCES
Indoor Ag-Con is also forging new alliances with other events, industry associations/groups that will play an integral role in its marketing outreach and conference programming. Look for partnership announcements coming soon.
EXPANDED EXHIBIT FLOOR & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
The Indoor Ag-Con team is working to bring even more resources for farmers/growers to explore across all sectors – everything from IT, energy, AI and lighting solutions to substrates, vertical farming solutions, business services and much more. Attendees and exhibitors alike will also have even more networking opportunities with daily luncheon sessions and receptions on the show floor.
QUICK FACTS:
WHEN: Monday, October 4 – Tuesday, October 5
WHERE: Hilton Orlando, 6001 Destination Pkwy, Orlando, FL 32819
INFO: For information on exhibiting or attending visit www.indoor.ag
ABOUT INDOOR AG-CON LLC
Founded in 2013, Indoor Ag-Con has emerged as the premier trade event for vertical farming | indoor agriculture, the practice of growing crops in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic techniques. Its events are crop-agnostic and touch all sectors of the business, covering produce, legal cannabis |hemp, alternate protein, and non-food crops. In December 2018, three event industry professionals – Nancy Hallberg, Kris Sieradzki, and Brian Sullivan – acquired Indoor Ag-Con LLC, setting the stage for further expansion of the events globally. More information: https://indoor.ag
Lisette Templin, Professor At Texas A&M University - A Pioneering Woman In Agriculture
Lisette Templin is the director and founder of the Texas Urban Farm United (TUFU - TAMU) a startup vertical farm she and a couple of students began in 2019
According to Lenny Geist and Anne Amoury, with Kansas Freedom Farms, one of many pioneering women in agriculture is Lisette Templin, a professor of health and kinesiology at Texas A&M University (TAMU) in College Station, Texas. Lisette Templin is the director and founder of the Texas Urban Farm United (TUFU - TAMU) a startup vertical farm she and a couple of students began in 2019.
As a faculty member overseeing Physical Education, Templin is keenly aware of how food choices and essential daily nutrition are to overall animal and human health.
She and her students received a small grant from the TAMU public health school to go vertical. Templin has a number of hydroponic growing towers in her new venue she and a few co-workers maintain. Some of the all-natural forage is donated to the university’s “12th Can” food bank program to alleviate local hunger...clearly one of Templin’s strongest passions.
Lisette Templin (Photo credits: Texas A&M University)
“Food as medicine must play a more urgent and vital role in the health of our children and the health of our country. Indoor hydroponic farms can play a pivotal role in transitioning people off of medication from chronic diseases as well as strengthen the immune system.
Micro and macronutrient dense food grown locally can effortlessly replace food that is highly inflammatory to the human body while providing the needed phytochemicals that promote health,” she wrote recently. Templin is in the process of applying for grants and financial support in hopes of raising $1 million (USD) to erect a two-story CEA facility that will be home to hydroponic growing operations on the top floor with a kitchen, cafeteria, classrooms, and offices on the ground floor.
Photo credits: Texas A&M Urban Farm United / The Eagle
“Hydroponic food is about the impact of delivering maximum nutrient density to the immediate local community. Hydroponic vertical growing technology's innate potential is its ability to eradicate food deserts across our country,” Templin says. Clearly, she’s a Texas trailblazer with tall towers to tend.
According to Lenny Geist, "we need more like Templin, to improve agriculture and promote environmental stewardship. It behooves the stuffed shirts to follow the determined bunch out on the “north 40” -- the bunch that likes to wear Gucci or Louis Vitton heels just as much as they do Justin or Tony Lama boots."
"They aren’t afraid of hard work, trying new things, and exploring what’s possible even if it means a setback or two along the way," he adds. "Since they see these as learning opportunities to get better and march forward toward their ultimate objectives having gained greater perspectives. Someday, these movers and shakers or any of their sure-to-follow feminine disciples may just give the old, stodgy stuffed shirts the boot. There are lots of reasons to believe this will be for the best."
For more information:
Lisette Templin,
Texas A&M, Texas Urban Farm United
lisettetemplin@tamu.edu
www.agrilifetoday.tamu.edu
29 Mar 2021
Polygreens Podcast Episode: 17 - Nicola Kerslake - Contain Inc.
Nicola Kerslake founded Contain Inc, a fintech platform for indoor agriculture, that aids indoor farmers in finding lease funding for their projects
Nicola Kerslake founded Contain Inc, a fintech platform for indoor agriculture, that aids indoor farmers in finding lease funding for their projects. They're backed by Techstars' Farm to Fork program, funded by Cargill and Ecolab.
Latest Episode
For Vertical Farms To Succeed, Sensors Must Take Center Stage
Vertical farming—the process of cultivating produce in stacked, indoor shelves, rather than side-by-side in fields—is a fast-growing industry (pardon the pun)
February 19, 2021
Vertical farming—the process of cultivating produce in stacked, indoor shelves, rather than side-by-side in fields—is a fast-growing industry (pardon the pun). Since it was conjured (or revived, depending who you ask) in a 1999 Columbia University lecture, the technology has grown into a global industry set to be worth $13.5 billion by 2030.
Companies like Plenty, Bowery Farms, and Infarm have innovated vertical farming with a dazzling array of modular, IoT-connected smart devices, which can improve plant “recipes” (the insider term for creating better, more nutritious food) and ramp efficiency alongside vast improvements on water and land usage.
Berlin’s Infarm, for example, claims to have saved over 10m gallons of water and 500,000 square feet of land across its 1,200 farming units, installed in supermarkets in restaurants).
But it is scale and efficiency that proves vertical farming’s bete noir. Leafy greens—low on energy demands and relatively high in price—constitute the lion’s share of output. High-energy food like cereals and potatoes, essential to human survival, remain firmly within the wheelhouse of traditional farms, which already occupy 40% of livable land on Earth, and one of our biggest environmental threats.
“What’s really needed, and that will come with time, is a humanitarian aspect to (vertical farming), which addresses food crises and starvation issues in, say, sub-Saharan Africa where farmers have to put up with horrible things like invasion of locusts,” says Dickson Despommier, the professor who popularized the medium 22 years ago. “Locusts would have a very difficult time invading a vertical farm.”
To feed the world, however, vertical farms need better lights. LED technology has already skyrocketed since its mainstream rollout in the 1960s. “Haitz’s Law” dictates that LED light increases by a factor of 20 and cost drops by a factor of ten every decade.
“The direction is clear: the prices have gone down, the efficiencies have gone up, and I see that continuing,” says Lars Aikala, CEO of Valoya, a leading supplier of LED lights to the vertical farming industry.
But things are getting more complex. Nowadays companies like Valoya can tinker with light spectra to increase growth rates in certain plants while reducing energy costs. “When we started in 2009 this field was pretty much untouched,” says Aikala.
Experts expect Haitz’s Law to tail off in the coming years, as technology becomes smaller, compacter and tougher to scale up. Rather, the next big leaps in LED technology will come via smart sensors, which will help lights replicate night and day, isolate spectra and better tailor themselves to plants’ preferred sunlight.
“If growers want to replicate seasons all year round they have to replicate and control all these parameters in a very narrow window, so plants can survive and grow in a healthy state all year round,” says Fei Jia, technical solutions manager at Heliospectra. “LED lighting allows this because of a high photon efficiency.
“Smart farming is the trend in lighting.”
An added bonus is that around 95% of an LED light is recyclable, helping vertical farmers persuade the public they’re not just a flash in the pan. When sensor technology can lower costs enough to produce carbs and other vital produce, their companies can finally claim to be solving a part of a food crisis that is leaving almost a billion people without adequate access to nutrition each year.
“We’re just at the starting point of (LED) technology, so the price will go down but conversion is going to go up to create more power with less energy,” says Infarm co-founder Erez Galonska. “Now we’re standing on 50-60%, and with the next generation of technology, we easily improve the LEDs. It’s already improved so we’re more energy-efficient already.”
FILED UNDER: CLEAN TECH, CONSUMER, FEATURES, SOFTWARE, STARTUPS, TOP STORY
Vertical Field Has Signed A ‘Multi-Million Dollar’ Deal With Rami Levy Supermarkets To Offer Customers Fresh Produce Picked From Vertical Farms
The startup creates unique vertical plant installations made up of separate blocks of plants that can be rearranged at will
You’ve got kale: Grocery chain to sell salad leaves, herbs grown on ‘green wall’
12-13-20
Israeli startup Vertical Field has signed an accord with one of Israel’s largest supermarket chains to provide its stores with vertical farm installations, enabling customers to buy freshly grown produce such as lettuce and parsley.
Vertical Field, formerly called GreenWall Israel, said on Sunday that the “multi-million dollar agreement” with Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing 2006, a low-cost supermarket chain, will see the vertical farms installed at locations over the course of five years. The deal will enable the chain to sell produce grown locally, in Vertical Field’s proprietary soil-based container technology.
The startup creates unique vertical plant installations made up of separate blocks of plants that can be rearranged at will. This green wall of vegetation is suitable for growing vegetables in stores, offices and apartment buildings, or anywhere in urban areas, which have little space but many walls.
Produce grows vertically on the container’s walls, and according to the firm, minimizes both water consumption and use of soil. The plants are initially grown on tabletops and then planted into walls, where the soil is held via a special method.
The produce sold is grown in a sterile indoor environment without chemical pesticides or fertilizers, the statement said, and in controlled conditions, ensuring product consistency and yield throughout the year with no seasonality or weather effects.
An example of a vertical garden at the Vertical Field (formerly called GreenWall) greenhouse during a tour on March 23, 2016. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)
Vertical gardens are part of a worldwide trend looking for ways to marry technology and agriculture in an attempt to feed an ever-expanding global population.
The deal with Rami Levy was signed after a successful pilot was held with the supermarket chain, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
The crops, which include lettuce, basil, parsley, kale, and mint, will be sold daily, directly to clients after harvest, “at competitive prices,” the statement added.
The walls will be in containers stationed outdoors, on the premises of the supermarkets. Customers will be able to buy the produce on the spot from a seller who will pick the produce from the container and hand it over, with payment happening on the spot.
Customers will also have the option of purchasing the produce with the soil bedding that it was grown in, “allowing the customers to enjoy all the nutritional benefits of a freshly harvested crop and a longer shelf life,” the statement said.
Lettuce and parsley grown by Vertical Field (Courtesy)
The containers are already stationed at Rami Levy stores in Bnei Brak, Ashdod, and Modiin, a spokeswoman for Vertical Field said.
The “vertical farm” was developed at the company’s research headquarters in Ra’anana, Israel.
“The portable urban farm that we have developed is designed to be located in indoor and outdoor spaces at supermarkets, restaurants, shopping malls, rooftops, and other on-premise locations,” said Guy Elitzur, the CEO of Vertical Field. “Over the past year, we conducted a number of successful pilot projects, and installed vertical farms adjacent to supermarkets and restaurants in the United States and Israel.”
This is the first supermarket chain that with the startup has reached an agreement, a spokeswoman said.
“Our customers bought Vertical Field’s produce during the pilot, and returned to purchase more,” said Yafit Attias Levy, VP Marketing at Rami Levy, said in a statement. “Therefore, we have decided to expand the partnership with Vertical Field to additional branches of the supermarket, and to offer fresh, high-quality, and pesticide-free produce in a way that increases shelf-life for our customers.”
Vertical Field was founded by Guy Barness in 2006.
Lead photo: A Vertical Field container stationed at the Tel Aviv port (Courtesy)
US: 17 Things You'll See In Every Grocery Store in 2021, According To Experts
2020 rocked the grocery store scene as we know it. Here are the new changes you can expect to stick around
2020 rocked the grocery store scene as we know it. Here are the new changes you can expect to stick around.
JANUARY 1, 2021
FACT CHECKED BY FAYE BRENNAN
Although we wish things in the grocery store like empty shelves, plexiglass shields, and capacity limits could stay behind in 2020 as we begin the new year, the coronavirus and its effects are still ravaging how we shop for food. Masks will still be required for a while, and senior shopping hours, Clorox disinfecting wipe shortages, and even social distancing are here to stay.
There are some intriguing supermarket changes to look forward to, though, says the Supermarket Guru, Phil Lempert. For over 25 years, he has been an author, speaker, and analyst on grocery store consumer behavior, marketing trends, new products, and more. We spoke with him and gathered other data to prepare you for what grocery stores will look like in 2021. (And before your next trip, check out the 100 Easiest Recipes You Can Make so you can add the ingredients to your list.)
VIDEO: Click Here: Grocery Store Tricks of the Trade
1 - Less Delivery Options
Courtesy of Walmart
Grocery delivery saw a huge increase in popularity this year because it is safer than shopping in-store. Chains updated their websites, apps, and click and collect services (like pickup lockers!). Some grocers even added pickup for the very first time.
Lempert believes this trend is temporary because some people simply prefer picking their own items, even if going inside the grocery store is considered to be more dangerous. With that said, the various types of grocery delivery options may be reduced.
For more on how to stay safe should you decide to go to your local supermarket, here are 10 Grocery Store Safety Tips From a Health Expert.
2 - More Robots
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Meatpacking plants saw the number of coronavirus cases among workers skyrocket in 2020. Over 10,000 Tyson employees tested positive between March and July. Smithfield was fined thousands of dollars for outbreaks at its meatpacking plants, and other companies like Hormel, Cargill, National Beef, and more also saw employees get sick. Lempert believes this will pave the way for robots to have larger jobs in these types of facilities. But, you may also potentially see more robots working inside your local grocery store.
3 - Reservation Slots For Shopping Times
Expect to approach grocery shopping like going to a restaurant: You'll go to a reservation making website, then pick your preferred time to shop. Next, Lempert predicts that you'll be asked to select any non-produce grocery store items ("the stove-top stuffing, the Heinz ketchup," Lempert says) that you'll need during your trip so that those can be retrieved, bagged, and ready for you once you arrive for your reservation. At that point, you can peruse the produce aisles, then checkout.
All of this, of course, will be in an effort to reduce crowding and encourage social distancing. (Related: The Worst Grocery Stores of 2020.)
4 - New Grocery Store Sites
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Because of the previous prediction, Lempert says grocery store websites are going to be significantly more detailed than they are now. "The data that's on most retailer's websites is horrible and outdated," he says. "The ingredients are typically wrong. The nutritional information is wrong. The product gets updated probably about once every nine months. That's not right."
One way some grocery chains are already using their platforms to help inspire change is by highlighting minority-owned food brands inside their stores.
5 - Less Space
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Another huge change you can expect? A new layout! "The size of your grocery store will likely be cut in half, Lempert says. "The back half of the store will be fully robotic, and those robots will now be picking the items that you ordered online."
The front of the store will be all the fresh items you can shop for yourself, as well as the baker, butcher, and produce sales associates whom you can still ask for help. But this way, "You're going to be able to pick all those fresh foods that you want, and you're going to have a much better shopping experience," Lempert says.
6 - Less Time In-Store
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Because of his new prediction about the way we will shop, customers will spend a lot less time inside shopping, Lempert says. One trip will consist of about 10 minutes picking out fresh produce and deli items, grabbing the bags of items from the center of the store that the robots packed up for you, and simply checking out.
Before 2020, Lempert thought it would take about three to five years for this change to happen, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, he says it will only take six or seven months.
In the meantime, know that More Grocery Shoppers are Making These Dangerous Mistakes, Survey Finds.
7 - More Comfort Foods
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Kroger also released its predictions for what's in store for 2021, and one trend is the continued rise of comfort foods. Things like quick-cook risotto, white cheddar macaroni and cheese, and even brown butter truffle ice cream will be on shelves for you and your family. This trend dominated 2020, too. But as you shop, keep in mind The Shocking Side Effect of Eating Comfort Food.
8 - More Fresh And Prepared Foods
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Convenience is key, especially during—and after—a pandemic. "We're buying frozen foods and more convenient offerings," Lempert says. "And if you look at the prepared foods offerings in the supermarket—the freshly prepared ones—they're going through the roof because people just want to microwave or put food in the oven."
That said, here are 12 Frozen Dinners to Always Leave on Grocery Store Shelves.
9 - Fewer Items To Choose From
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Some of your favorite companies have downsized this year. Coca-Cola announced it's discontinuing 200 drink brands, Kraft-Heinz is cutting 20% of its products, and quite a few more are cutting down. Even if products return ever so slightly to normal production, the way factories are built now doesn't quite allow for safety measures to be implemented (that Lempert believes are here to stay).
For more, here are All of the Beloved Grocery Items That Are Secretly Being Discontinued.
10 - More Sustainable Products And Transparency
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For the products that do make it to grocery store shelves in 2021, transparency about their ingredients and where they were grown or made will be important. Lempert says companies want to keep sustainability in mind with their products, and that will be reflected because, now, "we really don't have a choice" about whether or not to care about the environment. For more on this prediction, here are 20 Ways to Be More Sustainable When It Comes to Food.
11 - More Immune-Supporting Foods
Debra Millet/Shutterstock
Thanks to the influx of safety rules and regulations COVID-19 gave us, the experts at Kroger believe foods that help keep us healthy and support the immune and digestive system will see more popularity in 2021. On your next trip to one of the grocery store chain's almost 3,000 stores, look out for products like almond butter, organic sparkling kefir water, caffeinated water, and even elderberry gummies. (Related: The 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now.)
12 - More Self-Driving Trucks
Walmart started to test driverless trucks in Arkansas in 2019, and so far, those vehicles have driven more than 70,000 miles on their own (but with a safety driver inside), the grocery store chain says. Now, the initiative is moving to Louisiana.
Lempert believes this trend will expand next year because of the increased importance of sustainability, the cost, and much more. But, it's not just driverless grocery chain trucks you may see out and about: Walmart is also testing drone delivery.
13 - Fewer CBD Food Products
All the CBD items you saw sprouting up in your local supermarket this year may not have the same luck in 2021, Lempert says. This is because these products aren't regulated, so the amount of CBD in them ranges based on the manufacturer. Lempert does believe they will come back, though, once the government gets involved and forces companies to show the total CBD percentage and other information on labels. (Related: What Happens to Your Body on CBD.)
14 - Cleaner Ingredients In Alternative Meats
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The number of meat alternative products that entered the market in 2020 has given shoppers tons of options. But, new options will contain a few other things besides just plant-based protein. "What we're really seeing is flexitarianism will be much more important," Lempert says. "It's not about extremes; being all-vegan or an omnivore."
This means you may see blended meat options, featuring both mushrooms and beef or cauliflower and pork. Until then, here are 33 Easy Plant-Based Recipes Even Carnivores Will Love.
15 - More ItemsFrom Restaurant Chains
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"I think we're going to see a lot more restaurant-supermarket partnerships," Lempert says of grocery stores in 2021. "Prepackaged foods made fresh from the restaurant and delivered to the supermarket on a daily basis."
This is a win-win for both—especially as the restaurant industry continues to struggle because of the pandemic.
16 - A Bigger Emphasis On Health
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Right now, the most super of supermarkets, aka Walmart, is starting to healthcare workers in New Mexico, with plans distribute one of the FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines to supply it at over 5,000 stores and pharmacies across the country. The Supermarket Guru says Walmart will continue to promote and grow the health clinics in their stores.
(Related: 8 Ways to Shop Safely at Walmart Right Now.)
17 - More Indoor And Verticle Farming
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You may not see these in your local grocery store, but they may be popping up just down the street thanks to now-empty office buildings that can be converted into indoor farms. "That's the perfect place to put in vertical farms because you can serve the population closer," says Lempert. "Produce also grows three times faster because it's in a controlled environment. Right now, most indoor farming is either tomatoes or leafy greens. But that's about to change."
Agrify Seeks $25 Million IPO For Indoor Agriculture Growth Plan
The firm develops products and related services for the indoor agriculture market
Written by: Donovan Jones Marketplace
Author of IPO Edge.
Dec. 28, 2020
Summary
Agrify has filed to raise $25 million in an IPO.
The firm sells proprietary products and software to the indoor vertical farming market.
AGFY has grown quickly from a very small revenue base and the industry has promising growth prospects.
Quick Take
Agrify (AGFY) has filed to raise $25 million in an IPO of its common stock, according to an S-1 registration statement.
The firm develops products and related services for the indoor agriculture market.
AGFY is a still tiny firm growing topline revenue quickly while operating in a promising industry.
I’ll provide an update when we learn more about the IPO from management.
Company & Technology
Burlington, Massachusetts-based Agrify was founded to provide proprietary hardware and software to enhance the efficiency of indoor agriculture operations.
Management is headed by CEO Raymond Change, who has been with the firm since 2019 and was previously the founder of GigaMedia (GIGM).
Below is a brief overview video of a vertical farming operation:
To read the full article, please click here.
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AppHarvest Plants First Tomato Crop With Harvest Expected In Grocery Stores Early Next Year
The Morehead facility spans 2.76 million square feet, the equivalent of 45 football fields. It’s the first of a series of indoor farms designed to redefine American agriculture by growing non-GMO, chemical pesticide-free fruits and vegetables using 100% recycled rainwater at locations closer to the people eating them
AppHarvest today announced it has planted its first tomato crop at the company’s high-tech controlled environment agriculture facility in Morehead, Ky. The crop is scheduled to be harvested and available at leading U.S. grocery stores in early 2021.
The Morehead facility spans 2.76 million square feet, the equivalent of 45 football fields. It’s the first of a series of indoor farms designed to redefine American agriculture by growing non-GMO, chemical pesticide-free fruits and vegetables using 100% recycled rainwater at locations closer to the people eating them. From its base in Appalachia, AppHarvest can reach nearly 70% of Americans in less than a day’s drive. The company and its mission represent a stark change to the existing American food system, which is increasingly reliant on imports.
The Morehead facility
“Today is an important milestone for AppHarvest as we seek to build a more resilient American food system from within Appalachia,” said AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb. “Our team has built one of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced indoor farms, which means AppHarvest’s tomatoes soon will be on store shelves and in American homes. This is just the first step for us. To transform agriculture in America, we need to do this on a large scale, and we’re already taking steps to do just that with construction underway on two more facilities totaling about 75 acres of growing space.”
AppHarvest’s tomatoes are scheduled to be in grocery stores in the first quarter of 2021, and the company reaffirms its expectations to begin recognizing revenues at that time.
AppHarvest chose tomatoes as its first crop because more than 60% of America’s fresh tomatoes were imported in 2019, an increase of almost 50% over the past decade. By growing closer to where people eat, AppHarvest’s tomatoes will be picked at peak ripeness and delivered quickly to grocers. AppHarvest is providing Americans with tomatoes that are locally grown using only recycled rainwater and no chemical pesticides. AppHarvest’s worker-first philosophy also promotes fair labor practices.
In addition to the Morehead, Ky., facility, AppHarvest is already building two additional high-tech controlled environment agriculture indoor farms. The first will be comparable in size to the company’s flagship operation in Morehead, Ky., and is located outside Richmond, Ky. The third, located in Berea, Ky., will be 15 acres and grow leafy greens. Why leafy greens? American production is concentrated in Arizona and California, which combine to produce 90% of U.S.-grown leafy greens. These states are in the midst of a decades-long drought and are consuming precious water resources. By contrast, Central Appalachia, where AppHarvest is investing in building controlled environment agriculture facilities, has an abundance of rain, so much so that the facilities can be operated on 100% recycled rainwater.
Educational Indoor Controlled Environment Facility
How else is AppHarvest different from traditional agriculture companies?
AppHarvest puts the planet and people first as a Public Benefit Corporation and has also been certified as a B Corp by the nonprofit B Lab. The company is one of only 3,600 certified B Corps and will become one of just a dozen publicly traded public benefit corporations upon the completion of its business combination with publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company Novus Capital Corporation (Nasdaq: NOVS). The B Corp certification process analyzed
AppHarvest’s commitment to forward-thinking initiatives across community, customers, environment, governance, and workers.
The company’s controlled environment agriculture facilities are designed to reduce water usage by 90% due to unique circular irrigation systems connected with large-scale rainwater retention ponds. The closed-loop system runs entirely off 100% recycled rainwater and is designed to eliminate harmful agricultural runoff, which contributes to toxic algae blooms.
Strong relationships with leading AgTech universities and companies in the Netherlands position AppHarvest as a leading applied technology agriculture company. The Netherlands has developed a significant high-tech greenhouse industry, becoming the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter despite having a landmass roughly equal in size to Eastern Kentucky. Earlier this year, AppHarvest led a landmark 17-organization agreement uniting Dutch and Kentucky governments, universities, and private companies, with all committing to building America’s AgTech capital from within Appalachia.
In just over two years, AppHarvest has attracted more than $150 million in investment into Central Appalachia and announced on September 29, 2020, its entry into a definitive agreement for a business combination with publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company Novus Capital Corporation (Nasdaq: NOVS). The combination, which is expected to close late in the fourth quarter of 2020 or early in the first quarter of 2021, is expected to provide $475 million of gross proceeds to the company, including $375 million from a fully committed common stock PIPE at $10.00 per share anchored by existing and new investors – including Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Inclusive Capital, and Novus Capital Corporation. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will be named AppHarvest and is expected to remain listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol APPH.
AppHarvest’s investors include Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Inclusive Capital Partners, Equilibrium, Narya Capital, Lupa Systems, Breyer Capital, and Endeavor Catalyst. Endeavor selected AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb as an Endeavor Entrepreneur in 2019.
Board members include food icon Martha Stewart, Narya Capital Co-Founder, and Partner JD Vance, Impossible Foods Chief Financial Officer David Lee, and impact investor Jeff Ubben.
About AppHarvest
AppHarvest is an applied technology company building some of the world’s largest indoor farms in Appalachia. The Company combines conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology and is addressing key issues including improving access for all to nutritious food, farming more sustainably, building a home-grown food supply, and increasing investment in Appalachia. The Company’s 60-acre Morehead, KY facility is among the largest indoor farms in the U.S.
For more information, visit https://www.appharvest.com/.
A Healthy Hydroponics Ecosystem
“I believe the current pandemic has provided us the opportunity to completely reimagine the global food system,” says Tony Hunter, a global food futurist
October 28, 2020
How New Ways of Growing Can Help
The UAE Achieve Food Security
A little under two years ago, Mariam Hareb Almheiri, UAE Minister of State for Food Security, made a presentation to the country’s leadership. The National Strategy for Food Security aims to take the UAE to top spot in the Global Food Security Index by 2021; enable sustainable food production through technological means; improve nutrition; and reduce waste. One of the technologies that can help turn this national strategy into reality is hydroponics.
Rethinking the food system
“I believe the current pandemic has provided us the opportunity to completely reimagine the global food system,” says Tony Hunter, a global food futurist. “Countries should look to ensuring domestic manufacture of basic foodstuffs for their own populations.” Hunter, who gave a talk on the potential silver linings of the pandemic for the global food industry in a Gulfood webinar earlier this year, believes hydroponics may be a promising method of ensuring a country can supply some of its own fresh produce at a time when Covid-19 has rendered international supply chains vulnerable.
Paresh Purushothaman, Managing Director at Greenoponics, says, “There is a lot of support in the local community for developing farms that use water-conserving methods such as hydroponics.” His company, which specialises in hydroponic and other soil-free agricultural technologies, serves both retail customers – primarily homes and offices – and commercial clients, who use slightly larger systems to grow their own produce.
Hydroponics at home
It’s easier than you think to set up a mini hydroponics system in your home – so long as you have a good grasp of its principles and a bit of patience, explains Purushothaman. “All you need is one free square metre to get started. A small system using a technology called deep water culture is the easiest way to start. You can grow leafy greens including basil, parsley, coriander, various varieties of spinach and rocket leaves.”
Greenoponics’ smallest system, Ezee, can grow all of these, and can fit 16 plants at once. Slightly more ambitious home gardeners can opt for the bigger Eva, which can grow up to 20 plants at once – including cucumbers and tomatoes – using a nutrient film technique. A staple for both salads and cooking, these fruits take about 35 to 40 days to mature, and one plant can provide multiple harvests.
New technologies
Meanwhile, The Sustainable City in Dubai is home to special controlled-environment domes that fuse fish farming and urban farming – a term referred to as aquaponics. “We have advocated urban farming since day one not only in response to the UAE’s food security strategy but also as a lifestyle,” explains Karim El-Jisr, Chief Sustainability Officer - Social. “Urban farming can assume many shapes and sizes, including aquaponics, which combines conventional aquaculture (better known as fish farming) with hydroponics (soilless farming).
“Whereas indoor farming tends to focus hydroponics for the production of leafy greens and vegetables, we wanted to explore aquaponics as a way to produce animal protein within a community. We currently operate an aquaponic system that produces fish and fodder such as alfalfa. Aquaponics is about nutrient cycling, whereby fish waste becomes a source of nutrients for the plants, which help maintain water quality for the fish,” he says.
El-Jisr says the pandemic has highlighted the need to prioritise local supply chains, and urban farming is simply a great opportunity to create value for society while protecting the environment. “Food security is about improving the availability of and access to healthy and essential foods, including fibre and protein. The benefits of urban farming, including hydroponics, is that we can produce a lot of food in small spaces, and save a lot of water.”
While he says hydroponics can increase yields over conventional farming by a factor of 12 while reducing per-crop unit of water consumption by up to 95 per cent, he does concede that one of the challenges of indoor farming is the energy requirements of recreating a plant’s natural environment.
Purushothaman points out to the increasing affordability of LED lighting and automation solutions as key to the medium-term growth of indoor farms. “Automation can set the release of nutrients and water circulation to a timer, while ensuring the oxygen content, PH levels and electrical conductivity of the water are at their optimal levels – all factors that determine a plant’s growth.”
Besides energy consumption, both El-Jisr and Hunter highlight the cost competitiveness of hydroponic produce – compared to conventionally farmed imported produce – as a key challenge to hydroponics becoming more mainstream. However, Hunter cites the lowering cost of technology as a means of redressing the balance, while El-Jisr says, “With time, through innovation, indoor farming will overcome these challenges.” With technology, believes Hunter, “Countries no longer need to be bound by the tyrannies of arable land and fresh water or be at the mercy of the agricultural and political policies of other countries.”
Lead photo: A mini hydroponics system at homeImage Credit: Supplied
Important Tips For Designing A Hydroponic Production Facility
Growers should always choose a properly sized and engineered system. The reality is that the budget will drive many of the growers’ decisions
Why Do You Keep Saying Buffer Capacity?
For anyone that has called me to discuss the design of their new vertical farm or greenhouse, they have probably grown quickly tired of me using the term buffer capacity. But, of everything I have learned over the past 25 years, the understanding of “buffer capacity” might possibly be the most important. It makes your production system easier to manage, more predictable and more stable. All traits that can be found in all successful farming and commercial horticulture production facilities. (You might remember my recent article on simplicity, well this goes right back to that.)
Let’s start by agreeing that I am not properly using the term buffer capacity which is normally defined as the moles of an acid or base necessary to change the pH of a solution by 1, divided by the pH change and the volume of buffer in liters; it is a unitless number. A buffer resists changes in pH due to the addition of an acid or base though consumption of the buffer.
Now let us focus on how we can manipulate that definition to fit the needs of designing a greenhouse or an indoor farm. When referring to buffer capacity in our production environment we are referring to our system’s ability to keep key elements (temperature, humidity, wind, nutrients, light, CO2, oxygen, water) from fluctuating unless we as the grower determine that we want it to and have the ability to manipulate these key variables while keeping the others in balance.
The ability to keep key elements from fluctuating unless the grower determines that the variables should be adjusted to produce a crop response. Adjustments should be met with the abilities to keep all other elements in balance.
For this article I am going to use (3) examples of how designing “buffer capacity” into your farm will lead to better production and more consistency.
Greenhouse Structure.
For those starting to investigate different greenhouse types and designs or for those that have already gone through the process, I think we can all agree that the choices are limitless, and for the most part the look of the greenhouse has not changed much of the years with one major exception. They have gotten much taller. Taller greenhouses provide a more uniform, stable and ultimately superior growing environment for the crop. During hot weather (as an example), the additional space creates a buffer that avoids trapping heat and humid air around the plants.
Water holding tanks and nutrient solutions reservoirs
For beginning growers this is the area where the right decisions might provide the biggest advantages. Experienced growers may choose to size their systems differently depending on their budget, crop and space but one thing is for sure, they will make sure that they have ample water availability as well as on demand storage to respond to changing crop needs.
Larger tanks and reservoirs (as compared to the amount of plants in the system) have a considerable buffer before they will run out or need to be dumped. The most obvious benefit is that of ensuring the tanks don’t run dry and cause extensive damage to the pump(s) or loss of crops and production. The most important benefit might be a properly sized system’s ability to keep the nutrient solution from having big erratic swings in EC and pH.
Substrates
Hydroponic substrates provide an (additional) reservoir for water, a place for plants to take up nutrients, an area for the plant to develop a sufficient root system as well as location for gaseous exchanges. A good grower will consider all the other decisions that he or she has made in building the greenhouse and designing the irrigation system then decide how much buffer capacity their substrate needs to provide. If the buffer capacity of the irrigation system is limited, the grower may choose to use more substrate with a higher water holding capacity so the total system is more durable on hot summer days. If the grower has a tremendous amount of confidence in their access to water, the responsiveness of their irrigation system and their ability to fix the system if they have problems then the grower might choose a substrate that they can steer thereby providing them more control in the greenhouse.
Growers should always choose a properly sized and engineered system. The reality is that the budget will drive many of the growers’ decisions. Understanding buffer capacity in the system will allow growers to get the most out of their investment while still focusing on consistent and uniformed crop production.
To continue the conversation, email us and schedule some time with either Chris Higgins or our newest grower consultant Tyler Baras (aka The Farmer Tyler.)
Next article. Can indoor farming be profitable?. Simple answer: of course. Complexed answer it all depends.
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Tagged GreenhouseHydroponic Production SystemsHydroponicsVertical Farming
Purdue Study Addresses Environmental, Economic Impacts of Hydroponic, Aquaponics Systems
Hydroponics and aquaponics offer promise for growing produce and raising fish. But some may be wary of entering the industries because of perceptions about high capital and operational costs and environmental impacts
October 22, 2020
Story by Brian Wallheimer
Hydroponics and aquaponics offer promise for growing produce and raising fish. But some may be wary of entering the industries because of perceptions about high capital and operational costs and environmental impacts.
Purdue University scientists compared the environmental performances of both systems and calculated their economic efficiencies in Indiana. Their findings, published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, inform those interested in entering hydroponic or aquaponic industries on how to get the most for their investment with the least environmental footprint.
Hydroponics and aquaponics are soilless systems. Hydroponic plants are grown in water containing chemical fertilizers as nutrients. Aquaponics adds the raising of fish and uses fish waste to replace chemical fertilizers. These indoor operations come with upfront capital costs and require use of significant amounts of energy for lighting, heating and water pumping, as well as fish feed and fertilizers.
For one month, graduate students Peng Chen and Gaotian Zhu raised six vegetables in a hydroponic system and those same vegetables with tilapia in an aquaponic system. Experiments were conducted in the lab of Hye-Ji Kim, a Purdue assistant professor of horticulture and landscape architecture, and in collaboration with Paul Brown, a Purdue professor of forestry and natural resources. Jen-Yi Huang, a Purdue assistant professor of food science and the leader of the project, worked with the students to conduct a life cycle assessment using the data they collected.
Purdue University researchers conducted a life cycle assessment of hydroponic and aquaponic growing systems in Indiana to measure their environmental and economic impacts. (Photo provided by Peng Chen)
The researchers found that the aquaponic system led to 45 percent less environmental impact when considering fossil fuel use, global warming, water acidification and eutrophication created by resources used as well as waste and emissions released. Twice as much food is grown in the aquaponic systems with little added environmental cost.
“The aquaponic system is more environmentally friendly when you look at the total environmental footprint per US dollar of economic value of the products,” Huang said. “But that is based on using Indiana’s current energy mix. If we consider using more renewable energy sources, things start to change.”
Indiana currently gets almost 60 percent of its energy from coal-fired power plants, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, with about one-third coming from natural gas. The less electricity hydroponic and aquaponic growers source from fossil fuels, the more environmentally friendly their operations become.
Chen said that changing the mix and getting one-third of power from coal, natural gas and wind would reduce the environmental impacts of hydroponics by up to 48 percent. If an operation sourced its electricity solely from wind energy, hydroponic operations would be considered slightly more environmentally friendly than aquaponics.
“By using wind energy, which is largely produced in Indiana, farmers can reduce their environmental footprint enough to make these two systems essentially equal in terms of the economic output gained for the environmental cost,” Chen said. “By choosing more plant-based fish feed, the environmental impacts can be further reduced in aquaponic systems.”
How An Indoor Farm Is Redefining Local
Bowery is an indoor, vertical farming company. Walking into its Nottingham Farm feels a bit like stepping into the greenest library you could imagine
Washington D.C. sits at the intersection of some of the best farming areas in the country. According to the 2017 United States Census of Agriculture, there are over 53,000 farms in Pennsylvania plus another 40,000+ farms in Virginia. Yet, for all of the area’s agrarian prowess, you may not have seen a farm quite like this.
Standing in front of Bowery Farming’s newest farm, located just outside of Baltimore in Nottingham, you could easily mistake it for a shipping warehouse. But, like most good things, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
Bowery is an indoor, vertical farming company. Walking into its Nottingham Farm feels a bit like stepping into the greenest library you could imagine. Rows and rows of fresh lettuces and herbs stretch towards the ceiling, where they’re nourished under LEDs and a constant, carefully controlled amount of filtered water and essential nutrients.
Bowery’s pesticide-free, Protected Produce is also restoring the Nottingham area to its farming roots. From the 1940s to the late 1970s, this land was largely agricultural. Since then, it has been cleared and developed. But today, Bowery has repurposed an industrial area back into a fully operational farm that employs local Modern Farmers who keep the Mid-Atlantic region nourished with fresh produce year-round.
So why grow indoors anyway? After all, traditional farms have been growing food across the country as long as anyone can remember. Growing produce indoors has a few distinct advantages.
First, Bowery’s indoor farms use less finite resources like water and land. Filtered water that’s not taken up by the plants is recycled, refiltered, and fed back to the plants. Bowery’s farms also take up less space. Because of their vertically stacked design, they can grow 100x more food on the same square footage as a traditional farm.
Indoors, crops are also exempt from seasons. Rain, sleet, or snow, Bowery’s greens grow every day, all year long. And, because their farm is located right outside of the cities they serve, their fresh produce reaches local retailers within days of harvest.
Lastly (but to our taste buds, most importantly), Bowery selects non-GMO seeds for flavor attributes, unlike outdoor growers that are usually looking for options that can withstand a range of weather conditions or pests. Bowery removes the uncontrollable variables found in the field, giving plants the seasonal conditions they crave indoors so they can grow up to be the best expression of themselves.
Want to try it for yourself? Support local and find Bowery Farming near you here.
UA-CEAC Online Hydroponic Tomato Intensive Workshop
Are you interested in growing tomatoes hydroponically? Join the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center for the Hydroponic Online Intensive Workshop - November 16th& 17th via Zoom
The University of Arizona Controlled Environment
Agriculture Center Is hosting Its First-Ever
Hydroponic Tomato Online Intensive Workshop
On November 16th and 17th
Are you interested in growing tomatoes hydroponically? Join the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center for the Hydroponic Online Intensive Workshop - November 16th& 17th via Zoom.
Taught by Dr. Stacy Tollefson, this two-day event is perfect for novice growers and will be packed with tons of critical information and research discoveries that UA-CEAC has assembled into their courses and programs for over 20 years.
You will get access to numerous lecture materials, personal question follow-ups, certificate of completion, and tons of knowledge!
Click Here To Register!
Limited seats are available
For questions, please email arizona.ceac@gmail.com
Reminder RSVP - Indoor Ag Science Cafe October 20th 11 AM Eastern Time
Learning critical control point for hydroponic food safety - "Hydroponic Crops How can you produce safe vegetables?"
October Indoor Science Cafe
October 20th Tuesday 11 AM Eastern Time
If you already signed up, thank you!
Learning critical control point
for hydroponic food safety
"Hydroponic Crops
How can you produce safe vegetables?"
by
Dr. Sanja Ilic (The Ohio State University)
Please sign up so that you will receive Zoom link info.
Indoor Ag Science Cafe is an open discussion forum, organized by Chieri Kubota (OSU), Erik Runkle (MSU), and Cary Mitchell (Purdue U.) supported by USDA SCRI grants.
Sign Up Here
Rooftop Greenhouses Take Urban Farming To New Heights In Quebec
Lufa claims this latest site, opened this summer, becomes the world's largest rooftop greenhouse
BY EMMA JACOBS (FREELANCE REPORTER/PRODUCER) , IN MONTREAL
Lauren Rathmell co-founded the company Lufa, whose latest rooftop greenhouse opened in Saint-Laurent, QC earlier this year. Photo courtesy: Lufa.
October 8, 2020 — Cherry tomato plants tower over Lauren Rathmell’s head in the latest greenhouse built by the company she co-founded, called Lufa.
"We train everything vertically so that we can keep these plants a lot longer than a typical garden tomato plant," she explains. "We're in the probably 15 to 20-foot-long plant range now. They're really high."
Emma Jacobs Rooftop greenhouses take urban farming to new heights in Quebec
Their height makes it hard to tell that the greenhouse encloses a space the size of three football fields — all dedicated to growing varieties of tomatoes and eggplants.
It’s also four stories off the ground, on the roof of a former Sears warehouse not far from Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport.
Greenhouse-grown produce is a relatively small but growing part of agriculture in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
Lufa claims this latest site, opened this summer, becomes the world's largest rooftop greenhouse.
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"Once everything's picked and ready, it's going to go down right to our warehouse below us and packed into tomorrow - early tomorrow morning, into the baskets for the day," says Rathmell. The baskets containing the items customers' order online get delivered around the Montreal area and as far away as Quebec City in the company's electric delivery vehicles.
"We forecast really accurately and we try to pick just what's needed for that day's baskets. It's better for taste, it's better for quality, and it means no waste in the end as well," she says.
Lufa's latest 163,000 square foot greenhouse is located on top of a former Sears warehouse in Saint-Laurent, QC. Photo courtesy: Lufa.
Rathmell, originally from Vermont, founded Lufa with her husband to try and eliminate the environmental footprint associated with shipping produce across the continent. Lufa is named for a Lebanese cucumber. Rathmell’s husband is Lebanese. They call their customers "lufavores."
While greenhouses use a lot of energy, especially up north, Rathmell says putting them on a rooftop cuts winter energy use in half.
"We benefit by just passively receiving the heat that's coming from that building below, rather than being on a cold ground level in wintertime," she said. The greenhouse also creates an insulating bubble over the building below. The former Sears building now also contains other offices and warehousing.
Lufa established what was then the world’s first commercial rooftop greenhouse back in 2011.
With its latest, the company now operates four sites in the greater Montreal area, which have year-round growing seasons. Building on a rooftop does come with extra costs but Rathmell says energy savings and proximity to consumers help to offset them.
At the start of the pandemic, those customers doubled virtually overnight. People looking to order groceries for delivery signed up at rates that took the company by surprise.
"Within a week or two we had gotten a waitlist in place, first time ever we've never had a waitlist before, but we couldn't keep up," Rathmell recalls.
The company had to reorganize its greenhouses and warehouses for safety while also increasing the density of plants in its greenhouses. But Rathmell says it was a useful test for their business, which she’d like to expand someday to other cities, potentially in the northeastern United States.
Eggplants grow in the Saint-Laurent rooftop greenhouse. Photo courtesy: Lufa.
She’s also interested in expanding the range of crops.
"We do have two banana trees at one of our greenhouses as well," she says. "You can basically grow anything in a greenhouse. Is it worth growing in a greenhouse? Maybe not. But yeah, the bananas, I think they took like a year and a half, but we did get bananas.
So Quebec’s probably not the next banana capital, but certainly, a good place to experiment with greenhouse farming in cold climes.
Related Topics
montreal · environment · quebec · canada · agriculture
Largest Indoor Farm In The World To Be Developed In Abu Dhabi
The GreenFactory Emirates will produce 10,000 tons of fresh produce per year on a cultivation area of 160,000 square meters. It combines vertical and flat farming and solves the normal cultivation restrictions due to extreme climates in regions as the UAE
A Joint Venture Between GrowGroup IFS And RainMKRS Capital
Investment Announced The Construction of A 17,5 ha
Indoor Farm In The Desert of Abu Dhabi
2 October 2020
The GreenFactory Emirates will be the biggest indoor farm in the world. The farm uses 95 percent less water compared to conventional outdoor farming.
Vertical and flat farming
The GreenFactory Emirates will produce 10,000 tons of fresh produce per year on a cultivation area of 160,000 square meters. It combines vertical and flat farming and solves the normal cultivation restrictions due to extreme climates in regions as the UAE.
The total project amounting to 150 million euros is planned in different phases for the next 3 years.
Initiators CEO John Breedveld of GrowGroup and chairman Mohamed Jouan Salem Al Dhaheri of rainMKRS.
Extreme low water use
Compared to standard farming methods, the farm uses very little water. According to GrowGroup director John Breedveld the water use will be even lower than for conventional greenhouse cultivations.
‘The water scarcity made us decide to reuse the condensate water. In countries where water is less scarce, this is often considered to be too expensive. We expect to realize a water use of only 2 liter per kilogram produced food.'
The extremely low water use also helps the farm to achieve a low carbon footprint. Breedveld: ‘As we use so little water, we can get it from an inland freshwater source. Therefore we don't need to use freshwater that is produced by desalination of seawater. This is a very common water source in Abu Dhabi but it has a higher carbon footprint.’
‘It helps us to reduce the farmer’s CO2 footprint up to 40 percent compared to conventional outdoor production’, added Breedveld.
Mariam Hareb Almheiri, UAE Minister of State for Food Security.
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.
Commenting on the announcement, Mariam Hareb Almheiri, Minister of State for Food Security said: ‘The UAE is applying concerted efforts to improve its domestic production of food, with agricultural technology having a hugely important role to play.‘
‘In fact, key targets of the government’s National Food Security strategy are to generate a 30 percent yield improvement from technology-enabled production. Indoor farms such as GreenFactory Emirates are instrumental in helping us reach these goals’, stated minister Hareb Almheiri.
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.
Partnership
The partnership between GrowGroup and rainMKRS is 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.
The joint venture announced the construction of more indoor farms in other regions of the world where extreme climates are a challenge to normal cultivation.
This news item is based on content originally published on the websites of Grow Group IFS, Rainmkrs Capital, and Emirates News Agency.
Lead photo: Impression of the 26 football field large indoor farm that will be built in Abu Dhabi.
Housing And Food Services, Along With The Student Organization OUr Earth, Have Joined Together To Bring The Leafy Green Machine To Campus.
Environmental sensors balance temperature, humidity and CO2 levels to ensure a perfect growing environment
Freight Farms
Housing and Food Services, along with the student organization OUr Earth, have joined together to bring the Leafy Green Machine to campus.
Housed in an upcycled shipping container, it is the first hydroponic farm at a Big 12 university. Produce grown is served in on-campus dining locations.
Happy, Healthy Plants
Environmental sensors balance temperature, humidity and CO2 levels to ensure a perfect growing environment. A nutrient-rich water solution is distributed directly to the roots of the produce from a closed-loop hydroponic system.
Boys And Girls Clubs of Metro South Awarded Food Security Infrastructure Grant
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South was awarded a grant of $128,960 by the Baker-Polito Administration in partnership with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as part of the commonwealth’s $36 million Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program on Aug. 18
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South was awarded a grant of $128,960 by the Baker-Polito Administration in partnership with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as part of the commonwealth’s $36 million Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program on Aug. 18.
In a concerted effort to address food insecurities in their service area, BGCMS will be using the grant to purchase and operate a Freight Farms Greenery container farm on their Camp Riverside property located at 388 Harvey St., Taunton. The Greenery is a fully functioning, self-contained hydroponic farm housed in a shipping container that allows for plants to grow vertically indoors year-round without soil or direct sunlight. The Greenery will be able to support over 13,000 plants at once.
BGCMS intends to use this produce to support their Kids Café Healthy Meals program which provides hot, healthy dinners to every child who attends the Brockton and Taunton Clubhouse each weeknight. The clubs’ Kids Café program feeds more than 400 youth per day and serves more than 100,000 healthy meals annually. In addition to meal service, the clubs will utilize the Greenery to teach members about nutrition, agriculture and how to keep eating healthy foods at home.
“Our goal is to also build upon existing partnerships with local community organizations and other nonprofits that are working to tackle food insecurity — like homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and food pantries in our region — to support their efforts to feed the hungry and feed them nutritious food,” said Monica Lombardo, vice president of advancement at Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South.
In March, BGCMS jumped into action to adapt its Kids Café meals program into an open grab and go dinner program for youth from 0 to 18 years old in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 18, meals have been served in a socially distanced fashion at both the Brockton and Taunton Clubhouses every weeknight between 4:30 and 6 p.m. The community response to the grab and go meals program inspired BGCMS to think critically about the clubs’ ongoing role in supporting food security in the region as its afterschool, weekend and summer programs are key social supports for economically vulnerable families.
“Increasing access to fresh, local food is critical to ensure the health and wellbeing of all commonwealth families,” said Gov. Charlie Baker about the grants being offered. “Through this grant program, we are helping residents and businesses who’ve been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic while making investments in building a strong and equitable local food system for Massachusetts that is prepared for the future.”
To support BGCMS and their mission or to learn more about their Kids Café healthy meals program, visit https://bgcmetrosouth.org.
Posted Aug 25, 2020 at 4:44 PM
Updated Aug 25, 2020 at 4:44 PM
