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Airgarden Uses NASA-Designed Technology To Give Sustainable Produce An Easy Win
Airgarden, Australia’s very first vertical soilless gardening system, is making use of the technology for the benefit of anyone obsessed with sustainable design – or for those who just want access to more home-grown produce, faster
Does Your Home Benefit From The Use
of Astronaut Technology?
No. Let’s Change That, Shall We?
Airgarden, Australia’s very first vertical soilless gardening system, is making use of the technology for the benefit of anyone obsessed with sustainable design – or for those who just want access to more home-grown produce, faster.
The game-changing gardening system is said to sprout 5 times more home-grown produce, 3 times faster, with 95% percent water. What’s more, is that the Airgarden takes up 1sqm of space so your petite inner-city apartment is no excuse to not get your green thumb on.
“The idea stemmed from wanting to grow fresh produce that was good for us, and the environment while living in the inner city,” said co-founder Prue Bauer, who started Airgarden with her brother Tom. “We were sick of throwing out so much of what we bought and wanted quality produce that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. More and more people are thinking about what they are putting in their bodies and the cost of organic food was unsustainable long term, so we knew there has to be a better solution.”
NASA-developed aeroponics technology – which has been approved by horticulturalists – is typically used to grow plants in space. Tom and Prue wisely repurposed that to allow anyone to grow their own urban farms with no digging, weeding, or watering required.
Even if the game-changing potential for giving life to your inner-city apartment doesn’t win you over. The money-saving potential surely will. With Airgarden, budding home-gardeners can sprout up to 150 different types of fruits and vegetables to feed a family of four each week. That is a significant cut to the weekly grocery run, and an easy way to incorporate more lush, leafy greens in your diet.
Airgarden is already being picked up in some sustainably-minded restaurants across Australia, including Halcyon House’s Paper Daisy restaurant, Manly Boathouse, and Wild Canary. Undoubtedly that list is going to be growing in no time, especially given as it’s a way for a restaurant to grow their own on-site garden without actually having the space (or rooftop) to do so.
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How VeggiTech Contributes To UAE's Agenda To build Food And Water Security
VeggiTech's produce utilizes less than 10 percent of the water used in traditional farms
VeggiTech farm - Image Credit: Supplied
VeggiTech's Produce Utilizes Less Than 10 Percent
of The Water Used In Traditional Farms
August 31, 2020
VeggiTech is an agrotech company with the sole aim of disrupting the agriculture industry. VeggiTech focuses on addressing the key challenges of traditional farming – soil, temperature, and water through its design of protected hydroponics and grow lights-assisted hydroponics. We have chosen the challenging conditions of the UAE to demonstrate the positive use of agro-technology to create sustainable farms aligned to the UAE’s vision of food security.
In the last 18 months, VeggiTech has built and is operating over 30 hectares of farms with protected hydroponics. It is in the process of going live with 4,500 sq meters of indoor vertical farms that employ grow light-assisted hydroponics. We produced over 1.6million kilograms of produce last year and this year (including the summer months), we are delighted to produce over 1.9million kilograms with over 500+ tones of organic produce from our farms between August 2020 and July 2021.
VeggiTech's produce utilizes less than 10 percent of the water used in traditional farms and is pesticide-free. In addition, we have deployed technology for complete food transparency through QR codes that give complete visibility of the growing process of the vegetable produced in our farms.
VeggiTech's current operations and plans in H1 2021
VeggiTech is in the business of offering farming as a service, where it builds and operates digital smart farms that are sustainable and environmentally-friendly for our customers. With a team of over 160+ professionals; and one of the strongest agronomy and engineering teams in the region, we are poised for growth over the next 3 – 5 years.
In the first half of 2020, despite the COVID–19 circumstances we have signed contracts for 13,000 sq.ft. grow area of indoor vertical farms, and are building protected hydroponic farms of 80,000 sqft. You will experience buying live produce from our indoor vertical farm installations in all Sharjah Co-operative Society stores soon with the first one going live in Al Rahmaniya Mall, Sharjah, next month.
We opened our Helsinki, Finland, offices in March 2020; joined the Association of Vertical Farming (AVF) headquartered in Munich, Germany, where we have been invited to play a lead role in creating industry standards for Indoor Vertical farms world-wide.
VeggiTech was invited by the Ministry of Education and Food and Water Security Office to host a webinar series “Grow Your Food” for students in the Youth Summer Camps across July and August 2020. We live-streamed the informative sessions from our farms providing insights on achieving food security through technology. The audience was segregated into three batches of 6 – 10-year-olds; 10 – 14-year-olds and 14 – 18-year-olds.
We are currently in advanced discussions with private investors and government organizations in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi on large scale projects to make UAE food secure with good quality local food.
Sustainable Communities
VeggiTech has recently signed up for designing and developing sustainable grow areas with major players that specialize in developing sustainable communities in UAE. This exciting development underlines our vision of bringing “grow” spaces close to our “living” spaces.
Sustainable agro - Economic model
Dubai SME, the agency of Dubai Economy, mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, collaborated with VeggiTech through their Innovation Accelerator program and commissioned it to install an Indoor Vertical farm in their Business Village campus in Deira Dubai (scheduled to go live in Q4 2020). This set-up would showcase the circular farm-to-fork economic model with the Indoor Vertical farm (IVF), growing green leafy, herbs, and microgreens, and these are converted into end consumer produce in the form of farm-fresh salads / curated recipe packages.
Food security
We are upbeat on the current pipeline of projects (10M+ sqft of farms - protected hydroponics; 200,000+ sqft of Indoor vertical farms) to be signed in Q3 / Q4 2020 and these would start producing over 25million kgs of produce every year from 2021 - 2022. The optimal use of land assets combined with the reduction in water resources and pesticide-free crops are an ideal example of using technology to align with UAE’s food security goals.
Social impact
While the COVID – 19 circumstances are charting unprecedented scenarios across our lives; we, as the local farmers, were privileged to work with Sharjah Charity Association, Shurooq, The Noodle House, and Dubai Police to support our heroes, our frontline healthcare workers, and families, with over 20 tons of our farm fresh vegetables delivered contactless.
VeggiTech is privileged to play its role in this journey.
Source Courtesy of Gulf News
MAURITIUS: Promotion of Entrepreneurship In Green And Sustainable Agri-Business Activities
A training course in Hydroponics Crop Production and Greenhouse Management, aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship in green and sustainable agri-business activities among co-operative planters, was launched
Date: August 20, 2020
Domain: Agriculture and Food Security
Persona: Business; Citizen; Non-Citizen; Government
GIS – 20 August 2020: A training course in Hydroponics Crop Production and Greenhouse Management, aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship in green and sustainable agri-business activities among co-operative planters, was launched, today, at the National Cooperative College (NCC), in Terre Rouge. Some 75 co-operative planters and unemployed persons are participating.
The course, which covers both theoretical and practical aspects of hydroponics, is being offered jointly by the NCC, the University of Mauritius (UoM), and the Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (FAREI).
In his address, the Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs, and Cooperatives, Soomilduth Bholah, recalled that the course is in line with Government’s policy to drive agricultural innovation and promote sustainable agriculture and food production. The training, he said, focuses on providing essential basic knowledge and practical skills pertaining to crop production.
The Minister also lauded the benefits of hydroponics farming which are namely: water conservation, use of fewer chemicals, space-saving, faster growth, nutrient control, bigger yields, no soil erosion, and healthier plants.
This emerging sector, Mr. Bholah indicated, is aligned with initiatives promoting the protection of the environment and of public health, food safety, and entrepreneurship. He also highlighted that hydroponics farming requires less pesticides and herbicides, resulting therefore in healthier food for consumption.
The Hydroponics course
This part-time course is of a 30-hour duration and will be conducted once weekly at the NCC. Practical sessions will be held at the Mapou Model Farm and the UoM Labs.
The topics being covered include: introduction to agriculture and hydroponics, greenhouse models and structures, fertigation and nutrient solution preparation, management of greenhouse environment, pre/post-cyclone management practices, troubleshooting, choice of varieties of crop, seedling production, cultural practices, pest and disease management, and harvest and post-harvest practices.
It is recalled that financing plans for hydroponics are available at FAREI and the Development Bank of Mauritius.
Government Information Service, Prime Minister’s Office, Level 6, New Government Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius. Email: gis@govmu.org Website: http://gis.govmu.org Mobile App: Search Gov
Is The Future of Wheat Farming Inside And Up?
Researchers see big potential in indoor vertical wheat farms. Scientists say wheat yields could be exponentially larger in indoor, vertical venues
August 15, 2020
Researchers see big potential in indoor vertical wheat farms.
Scientists say wheat yields could be exponentially larger in indoor, vertical venues.
Future wheat farmers might ditch their rolling fields for indoor facilities filled with bright lights, multi-storied structures, and automated airflow. In recent years, indoor vertical farms have been commonly used to grow vegetables such as lettuce, kale, and microgreens. But little research has looked at how they might be used to grow staple crops until now.
A new study by scientists at the University of Florida compares the yields of growing wheat in a field with those of the crop grown in an indoor vertical farming. This method consists of growing food on sky-high stacked layers in shipping containers, tunnels, and warehouses using LED bulbs and hydroponic systems. The study, which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that farmers can grow exponentially more wheat using indoor vertical farming than through the same amount of ground space in a field.
Using a crop simulation tool, researchers found that a 10-floor vertical farm, covering one hectare of ground space and operating under optimal conditions, was able to generate about 600 more times the yield than the average amount produced on one hectare of farmland. When they plugged in conditions for a 100-floor farm, the yield produced was 6,000 times more.
A section of a vertical wheat farm growing 10 layers of the crop from seeds to harvest. Credit: Gregory Kiss, Senthold Asseng, and Paul P.G. Gauthier
Scientists say that this method could be particularly useful for feeding the world’s growing population, which is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050. According to the FAO, wheat is the most widely grown crop in the world, representing 20 percent of people’s daily protein and food calories. And in recent years, experts say global production has not satisfied demand, triggering price instability and unrest.
Senthold Asseng, the lead author of the study and a professor of crop systems modeling, says indoor vertical farming will also deter farmers from clearing forests for agriculture. He adds that hydroponic methods use 90 percent less water and that housing crops indoors also eliminates the need for using herbicides or pesticides linked to environmental issues and human health risks.
“There is opportunity to grow huge crops and at the same time address the issue of environmental degradation,” Asseng says. “We need to nurture our environment because it’s the only environment we have.”
Despite the potential of growing wheat indoors, Asseng says there are barriers that will likely prevent many wheat farmers from choosing to use the method. These include the energy costs associated with powering an indoor facility.
But Asseng says the environmental benefit of indoor vertical farming could attract governments that are already subsidizing conventional agriculture to put some funding towards growing staple foods indoors.
“Many countries spend a lot of money on agriculture subsidies to keep agriculture production going. It might not always be the right way to consider the economics if it comes down to survival and stability,” he says. “Here is a new way of doing agriculture that will be really good for the environment.”
Lead photo: by Martin Mecnarowski on Shutterstock