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Judge Rules In Favor of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Certification of Organic Hydroponic Producers
The decision is a major victory for producers and consumers working together to make organics more accessible and the supply more resilient
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA March 19, 2021 – The Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO) is ecstatic with the ruling issued today by the U.S. District Court in San Francisco that affirms the legality of U.S. Department of Agriculture certification of organic hydroponic operations. Lee Frankel, executive director of the CSO, stated, “Our membership believes that everyone deserves organic.
The decision is a major victory for producers and consumers working together to make organics more accessible and the supply more resilient. The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased demand for fresh organic vegetables and fruits as consumers look to healthy foods to bolster their immune systems and protect their family’s health.
The court preserves historically important supplies of berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms, leafy greens, herbs, sprouts and microgreens that are frequently grown using containers or other hydroponic organic systems. In addition, the lawsuit threatened the nursery industry that provides many of the seedlings used by organic growers planting both in open fields as well as greenhouses.”
The court in its written opinion stated that “USDA’s ongoing certification of hydroponic systems that comply with all applicable regulations is firmly planted in OFPA.”
Frankel was pleased that the court ruling clearly affirmed the legitimacy of hydroponic and container production systems under the Organic Foods Production Act that established the USDA National Organic Program. In addition, the ruling also confirmed that USDA was fully within its rights to reject the petition to ban the certification of operations and correctly followed procedures in its handling of the petition.
“We look forward to the organic industry coming together in the wake of this court decision to help strengthen the organic community, continue to enhance the cycling and recycling of natural resources and promote ecological balance,” continued Frankel. “We are eternally grateful to the teams at USDA and the Department of Justice in effectively defending the work of the National Organic Program.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Lee Frankel, Executive Director
info@coalitionforsustainableorganics.org
619-587-4341
BONAFIDE Will Continue To Develop It's Concept On Decentralized Agriculture And Food Supply Systems
The trend for decentralization is growing all the time and we trust that agricultural policies will follow suit to support local farmers and a new generation of young entrepreneurs that find their ideology in creating new markets
Over the last 6 years, we have seen technology advance to facilitate urban vertical farming embracing entrepreneurial opportunities, the supply of fresh food daily, and secure cultural kitchens requirements for raw materials anytime anywhere.
At the same time conflicts, natural resource competition, and climate change have had adverse effects on food security that local production using new technology can alleviate.
The trend for decentralization is growing all the time and we trust that agricultural policies will follow suit to support local farmers and a new generation of young entrepreneurs that find their ideology in creating new markets.
thomas.tapio@gmail.com
Thomas Tapio (LION) • Consultant (retired)
Strasbourg 27th February 2021, 🇫🇷🇪🇺
Urban Farming In New Zealand
Urban farming is pretty much what it says on the can. Growing or producing food in a heavily populated area. One doesn’t have to be a business owner growing a product to sell to be an urban farmer. Anyone with a bit of area and a Kiwi can-do attitude can be an urban farmer
While New Zealand is renowned the world over for its farming systems, with world-class food and fibre being exported daily, it’s a little-known fact that Urban farming is starting to take off as well.
Urban farming is pretty much what it says on the can. Growing or producing food in a heavily populated area. One doesn’t have to be a business owner growing a product to sell to be an urban farmer. Anyone with a bit of area and a Kiwi can-do attitude can be an urban farmer.
Now more than ever, consumers are wanting to know where their food comes from, the story behind its provenance, and the story of the people producing it. Food security (especially in the future) and climate change are other big factors in our communities today. This poses significant opportunities (and equal challenges) for traditional farmers and growers who farm on large scales; but it also poses some opportunities for urbanites.
While the term urban farming and community garden tend to be used interchangeably in NZ, the essence is still the same; producing food in your own backyard. NZ is home to a number of urban farming groups like the Urban Farmers Alliance ( a national group), Farm Next Door (Taranaki region) to name a few.
While each have their own set of values and purpose, they all have the same key messages. Building local and national food security, using regenerative farming practices and the bringing together of communities. Climate change resilience is a key motivator for all, which is why many urban farms work on regenerative and organic principles.
In partnership with Massey University, Farm Next Door was awarded a $100,000 grant to fund research into the benefits and barriers to ‘hyperlocal community agriculture’. Many involved in urban farming in NZ say that urban farming could provide part of the solution for the vulnerabilities that exist within NZ’s current food system, including the reduction of productive land to residential areas. The idea of urban farms being dotted throughout the country complete with roadside honesty boxes is the goal for many, making food available to entire communities for affordable prices.
Regenerative approach
For many urban farmers, the regenerative approach is key to the whole system. Working with regenerative agriculture principles within an urban context. While there is still a lot of debate on a national level about the details of regenerative farming, with a lot of people calling for more research to be done on the claimed efficiencies of the system, in a general sense, the principles are simple, and mimic natural ecosystems. Working with the environment. Sun, water, soil, biodiversity and social make up the five key principles of regenerative agriculture. Soil in particular plays a large role in carbon holding and nutrient cycling, a growing topic of importance in traditional agriculture in NZ.
So it makes sense that those interested in urban farming would follow the regenerative route. After all the values align almost perfectly.
Community and people-centered model
This model increases food resilience by introducing more diversity into the system. Many stress that urban farms aren’t a replacement for larger scale producers, quite the opposite. By expanding and strengthening the local ‘food ecosystem’ will only support the nation’s export markets and add to their marketing story.
Telling their story aside, urban farms are also a unique way of educating locals about food production and passing on growing knowledge to the next generation. Increasingly people are becoming aware of the big separation we have between paddock and plate. This issue is why there are numerous initiatives in the traditional agriculture industry to get people out on farms. Open Farms NZ is one such initiative which invites farms from across the country, be them dairy, horticulture, beef or so on, to open up their farm gates for a day for locals to visit, learn and get back to their grass roots. Urban farming, in a way, is doing that, but on a smaller scale.
NZ is working on putting its own data together around the influence of urban farms on employment rates, but it’s thought that the data from the US (which suggests that urban farms focusing on local and regional markets employ four times as many FTE staff than farms not engaged in local markets), could hold somewhat true, if not to quite the same extent.
Kiwi’s are renowned for supporting independent and local brands which further supports the urban farming model.
Education
A key component of many of the urban farming groups is collaborative learning and education. Unlike many industries, each urban farm isn’t necessarily viewed as a competitor, rather an ally to work with. The more the merrier – so they say.
With a variety of educational resources on carbon, soil, regenerative practices, organic practices, composting, data collection, and more, wanna-be urban farmers have a plethora of tools available.
Organic Market Garden – Auckland
OMG is a collaboration between a number of local businesses which was first set up to show the huge potential of underutilized inner-city spaces to the benefit of the local community.
Locals can purchase a three-month subscription for fresh produce or volunteer in the garden. While being a productive garden that feeds the community, OMG is also about educating people and ‘creating a regenerative food system for Auckland’. Working off a community supported agriculture (CSA) model, they thrive off being part of the community and are working at getting market gardens all across Auckland city.
Freeman Farms – Taranaki
Situated in urban Taranaki, the Freeman family grows over 25 types of fruit and vegetables plus honey and eggs. The farm is part of Farm Next Door and Urban Farmers Alliance and makes a decent living off of the farm.
Kaicycle – Wellington
First established in 2015 Kaicycle is an urban farming and community composting project. It was first started to provide produce to a local smoothie business but has grown to selling to local restaurants. They are also trialing a CSA model.
It runs an ‘ebike-powered food waste collection and composting service’ which services 125 households and businesses. That compost then goes onto the farm to help build soil quality creating a nutrient cycle.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLJUWMPsS7p/
Cultivate- Christchurch
This urban farm functions in conjunction with a local youth programme. Over 25 young people so far have been supported into more positive outcomes (with education, employment and housing) through Cultivate with the aim of helping 12 young people every year. The farm supplies local hospitality businesses.
The above are just a sampling of the urban farms dotted around the country, with interest growing all the time. With NZ’s recent Climate Change Commission report out, it’s likely that more and more urbanites will follow the path of veteran urban farmers in a bid to do their part. Plus, growing food is good for the mind, body and soul.
Vertical farming in NZ – growing up, not out.
Vertical farming, along with urban farming, has become a popular reply to the question of land loss to urban development and population growth.
Vertical farms have popped up in a number of major urban centers. In high rises, derelict buildings and abandoned warehouses, this form of growing crops is reportedly helping to reduce carbon emissions and maximising unused spaces in cities. While similar to urban farms, vertical farms take it one step further. It’s a win win for many cities around the world, like China, that have a high monopoly on space and land use.
Under the system, layer after layer of crops are grown in trays, with mostly everything used being recycled for the next round of growing. The practice often incorporates controlled-environment agriculture to maximise crop yields. The aim of vertical farming in general is to conserve land area, control climatic conditions and maximise unused space. Some overseas believe its a great way of navigating the adverse effects of weather.
But in NZ, with their large focus on outdoor, pastoral farming, is there a need for it? Some say yes, others say no. NZ has some unique features to it, including high levels of sunshine hours and generally good growing conditions.
While it could be a great way for inner-city dwellers to get their green thumb, industry bodies like Horticulture NZ say it wouldn’t work. The problem is more that of current land-use vs land-use suitability. Not to mention the investment needed for start-up costs and urban development issues. Of the few vertical farms around, it’s suggested that all have been started up with investors or government funding, with it taking many years for the business to stand on its own legs.
Over the last 20 years, the amount of land available to grow fruit and vegetables in NZ has decreased, while the demand has gone up, and this gap is forecast to get larger. This change in supply and demand prompted many to suggest that vertical farming could offer a solution.
Vertical farming requires the replacement of natural, solar energy to be replaced with artificial lighting, most commonly LED lights, which are cool to the touch and are easier to control or hydroponic lamps. This alone led to the conclusion that the cost of lighting and temperature control would be too expensive, making it an unviable economic option. The limited number of crops able to be grown vertically (mainly leafy greens and herbs) wouldn’t fill the gap that’s required by the industry – that is, things like potatoes, rice and corn that are staples for millions.
While it perhaps wouldn’t fit the bill for supporting export demands, there is still the possibility, if economically viable, it could help fill local demand.
There aren’t many vertical farms around in NZ, but the ones that are around are trying to provide proof of concept.
Shoots microgreens
NZ’s very first vertical farm had humble beginnings housed in a former nightclub. The company started its journey in 2018 growing tiny crops mainly for restaurants with some sold through large supermarket chains. Microgreens are intense flavoured first shoots and leaves and are a popular garnish for meals and cocktails.
It’s thought that microgreens can contain up to 100 times more nutrients than fully-grown plants.
The company got investment to install special LED grow lights which conserve around 45% in electricity over hydroponic lamps. The lights are customistables and can be adjusted to optimise the growth of specific varieties of microgreens. They don’t produce heat so vertical layers can be done with no fear of heat damaging plants.
In 2020 the business kicked off a first-of-its-kind system by launching an in-store growing stand complete with automated LED lighting and watering technology in a supermarket. The system allows customers to see the growing of the produce in real time and purchase.
The idea behind the system was to ensure people were taking home produce that was fresh as possible. The business hopes more supermarkets will get on board with the system.
The supporters of vertical farming say that, like urban farms, the idea is not to replace existing horticultural systems, but create new opportunities in the form of retails and tourist experiences, add value, enhance education and provide hyperlocal plant production for affordable prices.
In major cities like Auckland, it can take hours to get out to farms to pick your own produce from the paddock. As the nation’s housing crisis seems to keep increasing, much of the country’s most productive horticultural and agricultural land is being snapped up and subdivided for residential and lifestyle block builds.
Aside from bringing food production closer to home, the social aspect of vertical farming, and urban farming for that matter, is that it offers opportunities to develop new careers in agriculture. Vertical farming in particular requires a complex knit of disciplines like computers, agronomy, economics, biosecurity, design, marketing – the works.
So, is there a future for vertical farming in NZ? Depends who you talk to. With the success of businesses like Microgreens, there’s a very strong argument for yes. However the economics of it, as they currently stand, might delay others in getting onboard the vertical train.
Categories: Urban Farming
Tagged: new zealand, urban farming
Swegreen’s New In-Store Farming Service Will Be Scandinavia’s Biggest
Swegreen's innovative in-store service will make the Ica Maxi megamarket in Linköping, located in Mid-Sweden, the first of all Sweden’s megamarkets to offer fresh herbs and salad grown from seed to finished plant inside the store
March 01, 2021
Swegreen’s board member Pierre Mohlin meets up with Milleriine Axelsson who will be responsible for the in-store growing unit from Ica Maxi’s side.
Swegreen launches ‘NextGen’ of super-efficient in-store vertical farming service when Ica Maxi megastore in Linköping puts the company’s Farming-as-a-Service growing unit for leafy greens right at the entrance of the store. The new vertical farm will be Scandinavia’s largest in-store cultivation.
Swegreen's innovative in-store service will make the Ica Maxi megamarket in Linköping, located in Mid-Sweden, the first of all Sweden’s megamarkets to offer fresh herbs and salad grown from seed to finished plant inside the store. Every day, several hundred fresh leafy vegetables can be harvested for the store's customers.
- It won’t get more locally produced than this, says Ica Maxi Linköping's CEO Tomas Lundvall.
The actual cultivation facility, which takes place in the middle of the store entrance, will have glass walls from floor to ceiling. This, together with an eye-catching light from the plants' LED system, will leave a clear mark on the entrance to the store when the installation is ready later this spring.
- We have chosen a central place for cultivation to really clarify our commitment to a greener and more climate-smart food production. The cultivation will be a destination in itself for our customers, and once they get the opportunity to taste these crops, many will understand what fantastic quality such a cultivation system offers, says Tomas Lundvall CEO and owner of the megamarket.
- Our salad and our herbs will simply be the smartest greens in town, he adds.
The new in-store plant is based on hydroponic cultivation technology. Nutrition comes directly from the water, which can be recycled. The system can also recover energy, carbon dioxide and nutrients. Behind the innovation is the all-Swedish technology company Swegreen, which has developed both the cultivation room itself and the AI-based control system which, via a cloud service, controls and optimizes the environment in the cultivation.
- We are very proud to work with the team for Ica Maxi in Linköping for this installation, their commitment to hyper-local and climate-smart produced food shows that this is a megastore at the forefront, says Swegreen's CEO Andreas Dahlin.
- Ordinary vegetables sold in Swedish supermarkets have traveled an average of 3,000 kilometers, while these crops have not been transported at all. Of course, it gives better taste, better consistency and durability - and also better nutritional value, he continues.
The new in-store service will start delivering leafy greens in May, and it will then be able to supply the megastore with different kinds of herbs such as coriander, dill, and parsley, and also lettuce and cabbage. The crops will also be used for in-house production in the store's own kitchen, and in future, there will be the possibility of more types of vegetables.
Swegreen is an all-Swedish ESG AgTech company combining advanced technology with data and plant science to efficient produce high quality and climate smart leafy greens in urban environment. Swegreen offers a prescription based growing service called Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS). With it, any supermarket or restaurant owner can supply their customers with fresh, nutritious, well-tasting and hyper-locally produced leafy greens all year. See more at www.swegreen.com
ICA Maxi Stormarknad Linköping was established in 1993 as one of the ICA Groups first Maxi megamarkets in Sweden. It’s the largest of its kind in the region and one of the largest ICA-stores all categories. The total sales area is 8,000 sqm and it employs around 300 persons. See more at: www.ica.se/butiker/maxi/linkoping/maxi-ica-stormarknad-linkoping-8900/start/
The Future of Farming Is Inside This Bomb Shelter
The farm is known as Growing Underground (GU), and it’s located 108 feet below the main street in Clapham, a south London suburb
Ten Stories Underneath London,
Thousands of Plants Are growing
BY ROB KEMP
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATE PETERS
NOV 12, 2020
Deep beneath the streets of London, in a complex of bomb shelters left abandoned since World War II, something is growing. Thousands of green sprouts burst from their hydroponic trays, stretching toward glowing pink lights that line the arched ceilings. These plants, along with tens of thousands of other salad crops, are being grown from seed without soil or sunlight, in tunnels transformed into a high-tech commercial farm.
The farm is known as Growing Underground (GU), and it’s located 108 feet below the main street in Clapham, a south London suburb. Every year, in 6,000 square feet of old bomb shelter, more than 100 tons of pea shoots, garlic chives, cilantro, broccoli, wasabi mustard, arugula, fennel, red mustard, pink stem radishes, watercress, sunflower shoots, and salad leaves are sown, grown, and prepared for dispatch.
London’s unique move toward re-localizing agriculture—feeding its growing population while cutting the environmental impact of producing and transporting crops—is the brain-child of entrepreneur Richard Ballard and his business partner Steve Dring.
The tunnels consist of two portions - a larger upper level, where growing and processing takes place, and a smaller lower level, shown here, which is used for storage. KATE PETERS
“The United Nations predicts that we need 70 percent more food by 2050,” says Ballard. “But how are we going to achieve this when only 10 percent of the Earth’s surface is suitable for agriculture and we use a third of that to grow livestock feed?”
Ballard’s journey to becoming a pioneering subterranean farmer is an unusual one. After his ethical garden furniture business went bust in 2008, he moved closer to his old friend, Dring, and the pair would regularly sit in the pub and discuss ideas for start-ups. Both men were intrigued by the idea of vertical farming as an efficient way to feed people, especially in urban areas.
These farms are not susceptible to weather, and crops can be protected from food contamination and grown without herbicides and pesticides. Transport costs are minimal, harvesting is often automated, and much of the water used to grow crops can be recycled.
But the question of how to build it in a city where living space is at such a high premium presented their first major challenge.
At that time, London’s Crossrail line was in its construction stages. The excavations for the 73-mile-long high-speed railway across the city regularly featured on the TV news—especially as secrets to the city’s past were being unearthed, including plague pits, Roman artifacts, and unexploded World War II bombs. It led Ballard and Dring to consider going underground.
Cilantro sprouts under the pink growing lights. KATE PETERS
They worked with the management company for the city’s underground railway network, Transport for London (TfL), to find the Clapham site. “As long as we weren’t building an underground nightclub, they were happy for us to trial a small farm to see if a tunnel could work as a growing environment,” Dring says.
A crowdfunded campaign raised more than $900,000 to develop the site. After a successful trial in one small section of the shelters, Ballard and Dring negotiated a nearly 20-year lease from TfL and began operating in 2015.
The entrance to GU is within an unassuming brick office at street level. In here sit four of the site’s seven aboveground staff; they work at computers taking orders from retailers and arranging deliveries. It’s also the spot where visitors are asked to remove any jewelry and sign a consent form confirming that they are in good health, have never carried typhoid, and are not bringing any nuts onto the site.
From there, it’s a trip into a cramped elevator with barely enough room for two people. It descends slowly, 10 stories belowground, to where visitors step out into a tunnel of whitewashed corrugated arches that contrast brightly with the eerie elevator shaft. Through a row of rubber strips hanging from a tunnel entrance, the kind you see in an industrial refrigerator, a bright pink light glows. Coupled with a sound of hard-core punk music coming from another passageway, this farm has the feel of the illicit nightclub their landlords had feared.
The working farm currently occupies an eighth of its potential 45,000 square feet of growing space. The entire site is two parallel tunnels, each 1,640 feet in length. Built at the height of the Blitz between 1940 and 1942 and capable of accommodating 8,000 people, the space was already connected to electricity and the London water supply before Growing Underground moved in.
Pea shoots are planted in the recycled growing medium. KATE PETERS
Belowground the next set of safety precautions sees visitors putting on white rubber boots, disposable hair nets, another net to cover any facial hair, and white lab coats.
“It’s a controlled environment. We don’t need pesticides but we can’t afford contamination,” says Jess Moseley, GU’s operations coordinator and tour guide. “We ask visitors to remove their jewelry to prevent any possibility of any foreign body contamination. We don’t want tiny gemstones in our salad.” Visitors wash their hands thoroughly with soap and use an alcohol-based sanitizer on them, and then are free to enter the farm.
Moseley works alongside a team of growers, all wearing the same hair net and rubber boots combo. Four of them, dressed in blue, stand in a line at polished-metal weighing scales picking bunches of harvested herbs and packing them for distribution.
“There are 16 production staff and two growers who organize the sowing,” Moseley explains, as the electronic scales beep and another box of fresh herbs is sealed and stacked. These micro greens are the intensely flavored early stages of plants that are usually harvested later in their life cycle. They’re especially popular with restaurants that serve dishes with very little on the plate. “We switched pea shoots to tendril pea shoots, which are frillier, because the chefs prefer them,” says Moseley.
The trays in the foreground hold crops that are ready for the harvest, while those under the lights are still growing. KATE PETERS
Most of GU’s crops are micro herbs—there are only two larger crops, pea shoots and sunflower shoots. Most full-size produce such as carrots or bok choy could be grown here, but they take too long to grow to make them profitable. However, more research into alternative lighting spectrums may make these a possibility, says GU operations manager Alex Hamilton-Jones.
"OUR PEA SHOOTS CAN BE HARVESTED UP TO 60 TIMES IN A YEAR. OUTDOORS YOU GET THREE OR FOUR HARVESTS A YEAR; IN A GREENHOUSE, AROUND 30."
“Larger crops require a change to the growing equipment, like the height of the stacks and light intensity,” Moseley says. “This is going to be a part of the next iteration of the farm.”
Within its short existence, Growing Underground’s team has expanded its variety and reduced turnaround time on crops. That’s due in no small part to a number of technological innovations that optimize growing conditions on the farm.
“Our pea shoots can be harvested up to 60 times in a year,” Ballard says. “Outdoors you get three or four harvests of those in a year; in a greenhouse, around 30.”
To help plants grow quickly, the correct lights are key. Ballard and Dring tried seven different LEDs during their R&D and found that the system they settled on—spectrum AP673L LEDs from Valoya of Finland—produced the best yield and greatest flavors.
These LEDs utilize a red:far-red (R:Fr) spectrum ratio that targets the red and far-red light-absorbing photoreceptors on the plant leaf. The light resembles sunlight at its peak level, which delays the flowering of herbs and allows the plant to focus its energy into fast biomass development.
The result is a compact, intensely flavored product grown in a short time in conditions that not only suit the plant but meet the needs of the growers, too. “The cycle for growing coriander has gone from 21 to 14 days,” explains Riley Anderson, the site’s team leader. “Some plants can be harvested after just six days in the growing tunnel, which beats anything a farm aboveground can achieve consistently through the year.” They toyed with duller tones than the vivid pink that now illuminates the growing tunnel, but found that the reduction in visibility meant having to lift each plant tray out off of its bench to do quality checks. It slowed the process and didn’t enhance the crop.
Jess Moseley, GU’s operations coordinator and tour guide, checks on some of the crops. KATE PETERS
“We wanted to source the lowest energy-consuming lighting system we could find,” explains Ballard. “The LEDs do not use the same amount of energy nor do they create the high direct heat that conventional (high-pressure sodium) lights do, which means we’re able to grow the plants in shelves closer together.”
The power comes from Good Energy, which only uses renewable sources. “As it’s a closed-loop system of farming, anything that’s added—nutrients or fertilizers—stays within the circuit,” says Ballard. The only farm waste—the substrate recycled carpet leftover from harvesting the herbs—is sent to SELCHP, a waste-to-energy converter in southeast London. “Zero carbon output has been the Key Performance Indicator we chose to work to from the very start because any business starting today needs to think about its impact on the environment,” says Ballard.
This 700-recipe cookbook will have you eating every last bit of your bounty. This is an actual problem at our house. Cooking everything takes creativity.
In addition to high-tech lighting, there are several other adaptations that allow plants in the tunnels to grow so quickly. It starts when the seeds are sown, without the aid of conventional soil: Workers place two-inch-thick rectangular growing mats—called Growfelt and made from pulped floor carpet—into shallow trays. The mats are sprinkled with seeds by hand.
Once sown, the seed trays are stacked onto carts and left in a dark section of the same tunnel for propagation. For a short time, they sit in complete darkness, covered with plastic wrap. This “fools” the seeds into thinking they’re beneath the earth. This is where germination begins. Within a day or two, the seed shoots appear. By the fourth day, the trays are transferred to shelves known as benches under the banks of LEDs in the crop-growing tunnel.
Garlic chive seeds are sewn into the recycled carpet seed bed. KATE PETERS
There’s no music playing in the growing area—workers seldom spend much time in here, as the plants are doing all the work on their own. Instead, the only noise in this long, flamingo-pink chamber is the whirring of the axial fans dangling from the ceiling. Although the fans help keep the farm at a settled temperature of around 59°F, the plants beneath the glare of the LEDs feel the warmth of up to 77°F.
“There’s a slight variance throughout the farm,” says Anderson. “We place the crops strategically to optimize growth. Our radishes prefer to be right at the front of the farm, where it is coolest. Our most robust crop, the pea shoot, grows well wherever it is positioned within the farm.”
On either side of the tunnel are trays bristling with herbs at different stages of growth. In each tray, a handwritten sign identifies the type of crop, along with a P date of propagation, an L for the day it was put under the lights (when transferred to the farm from propagation), and B for the bench the tray is assigned to.
The warming glow provides “sunlight” for 18 hours a day. Rain comes in the form of hydroponics. A faucet fills each tray of plants with a water-and-nutrient mix five times a day. The roots in the trays grow down through the matting to absorb the mix and then water is filtered through tanks beneath the benches. “We use 70 percent less water than conventional field farming,” says Moseley.
The garlic chive crop is harvested and ready for packing. KATE PETERS
The night before a harvest, workers put the plants on carts in the middle of the farm, which has the best airflow, Anderson says. That dries them overnight to the point of being packable without them breaking down quicker.
CROPS HERE CAN BE HARVESTED, PACKED, DELIVERED, AND SERVED ON A PLATE ALL WITHIN FOUR HOURS.
To harvest, fresh herbs are sliced from their roots, shaken off of the matting that served as their soil bed, and placed into a blue bowl. From there the crop is weighed and packed into transparent tubs made from rPET—recycled plastic—and labeled with the GU logo and contents.
Above each growing bench is a round, yellow sensor the size of a large coin that records temperature, humidity, and illumination, and sends the data to the University of Cambridge’s engineering department. The results are fed back to GU, which compares them with the crop yields to determine which conditions are working best for growth.
“We monitor yields every day when we cut,” says Ballard. “A platform with machine learning capability collects the data from all the sensors and alerts you to any anomalies. It gives us access to the sort of technology being used in big agricultural projects, but that would be too expensive for us to put together.”
Crops here can be harvested, packed, delivered, and served on a plate all within four hours. The reduced time spent in transit means GU products have a longer shelf life than those grown outside of the capital. As a result, they’re sold in some of the U.K.’s major food retailers and wholesalers.
A number of renowned London chefs use GU produce, too, including Michelin-starred Michel Roux Jr. He not only uses their herbs in his dishes at Le Gavroche, a French restaurant in the Mayfair area of London, but he also came on board as a founding supporter. He describes the shoots and leaves that it provides as “mind-blowingly good.”
For distribution to smaller restaurants, GU goes underground as well. “We send our delivery guys off with all these bags of orders onto the subway trains,” says Anderson. “Food that’s been grown in a Tube tunnel is delivered through one as well, further reducing the carbon footprint.”
Tours of the tunnels take place outside of the production cycle, with chefs, students, and potential investors visiting during the week and members of the public shown around on Saturday afternoons. “We’ve had farmers from Scotland, mainland Europe, and as far as America come and visit us,” adds Anderson. In the past five years that the farm has been operating, technology has improved a lot—more efficient LED lighting, water recycling, and air management systems, Anderson says. “But the principle of what we’re doing is remarkably simple, giving crops the nutrients they need and a medium to grow in.”
Ballard is now busy sourcing funding to expand farther into the tunnels while investigating sites for other controlled-environment farms in other parts of the world and in different structures.
“When we started, the plan was to produce a supply for London,” Ballard says. “But as the retailers have taken an interest, we’re now looking to serve their distribution centers beyond the M25 [London’s encircling motorway].”
As GU grows, it looks to similar farms for inspiration. In South Korea, subterranean vegetable farms are cropping up at underground stations on the Seoul metro, thanks to a start-up called Farm8, while in Tokyo, abandoned utility tunnels built to service a skyscraper city that never materialized have also been converted into GU-style farms. In Hamburg, Germany, a vertical farm called &ever uses methods similar to GU’s to harvest salad crop using just 5,920 square feet of indoor growing space. Producing an equivalent yield outdoors would require 161,458 square feet of open field.
Increasingly crowded cities are getting imaginative when it comes to farmland. “But these farms don’t have to be underground at all,” says Ballard. “It can be in an abandoned factory or disused warehouse aboveground. The model is simply redundant space.” Even so, with at least six more abandoned tunnels beneath London alone, GU’s subterranean farm may not be the only game of its type in town, or underneath it, for much longer.
VIDEO: Geothermal Energy For Greenhouse Application
Mariska Dreschler with GreenTech did an interview with Marit Brommer, passionate about geothermal energy and the Executive Director of the International Geothermal Association
Mariska Dreschler with GreenTech did an interview with Marit Brommer, passionate about geothermal energy and the Executive Director of the International Geothermal Association. In the interview, they talked about:
Why is geothermal energy a logical source for greenhouses
The sustainability factors of sustainable energies such as geothermal usage
What are the goals and missions of the IGA
The misconceptions about geothermal energy
The consequences of energy transition from gas and oil to sustainable energies
What are the basic necessities to implement and apply geothermal energy?
Examples of best practices of geothermal energy in greenhouses
For more information:
GreenTech
www.greentech.nl
Publication date: Fri 25 Sep 2020
US: Pennsylvania - Indoor Aquaponics Farm To Bring Jobs (Plus Fresh Fish And Veggies) To Duquesne
Pittsburgh isn’t exactly known for its seafood. Not having a sea nearby slows us down a bit in that regard. This could change (well, no, we’re not getting a sea) if all goes according to plan for a new aquaponics farm in Duquesne.
Aquaponics farm. Rendering courtesy of In City Farms.
November 13, 2019
Pittsburgh isn’t exactly known for its seafood. Not having a sea nearby slows us down a bit in that regard.
This could change (well, no, we’re not getting a sea) if all goes according to plan for a new aquaponics farm in Duquesne.
“I’ve raised fish since I was a 12-year-old kid,” explains entrepreneur Glenn Ford, the Minnesota-based founder of In City Farms. What attracted Ford to aquaponics was the need for a different kind of food system that can reliably provide food in the year 2050 and beyond — no small challenge, given the potential impacts of climate change.
Ford plans to open his new indoor farm on vacant industrial land within Duquesne’s riverfront, and he expects to employ 130 people in the first phase. The second phase will employ 100 more, and a third phase is being planned.
In City’s building will be 180,000 square feet, and cost $30 million for the first phase.
“It’s going through permitting now,” says Ford. “We estimate that we’ll have this thing started in the spring.”
Here’s how it works: Aquaponics begins with raising edible fish (the Duquesne farm will likely include trout and Arctic char) in indoor pools. The fish are then sold commercially, and the waste stream from the water then fertilizes vegetables that are also grown indoors.
“Essentially, it takes the nutrient stream from fish and runs it through a biological filter which has a bunch of positive bacteria in it, much like the soil has,” Ford says. In the process, he explains, the bacteria eat away all the ammonia and turn it into nitrates that plants can consume.
Aquaponics farm in Duquesne. Rendering courtesy of In City Farms.
“There is a balance between the amount of fish you can raise and the plants that can be supported,” he says. “It’s a mathematical and scientific loop.”
Growing plants indoors under optimal conditions gives the region a source of produce all year long, beyond the typical outdoor growing season. Traditionally, restaurants that want to source ingredients locally have few options in the winter.
“We are predominantly focused on the wholesale trade,” Ford says. “But we’ll also sell to restaurants directly if they come to us with requests for things they can’t find in the market.”
Ideally, he says, the plants will be consumed within 20 or 30 miles from where they’re grown, lowering the carbon footprint.
The former Duquesne Steel Works site was chosen because it fits a profile of a community that industry has largely left behind. In City Farms has also purchased land in five other cities, says Ford.
“I come from inner cities and so do several of the people on my management team,” says Ford. “We’re looking at ways to give back. We’ll hire as many people as we can to fill those jobs from the community. There’s a pretty high percentage that can come from directly from Duquesne.”
The jobs will start at about $35,000 for entry-level and will include management positions.
Aquaponics farm in Duquesne. Rendering courtesy of In City Farms.
This is just one part of an effort called Food21, which imagines creating a thriving economy based around food in the region. It could involve creating jobs through food production and logistics.
The jobs aren’t the byproduct of this venture — they’re the whole point: “This is a catalyst to use food to employ people and give them jobs,” says Ford.
“Obviously we have to run a successful business to keep employing people and keep the business growing,” he says. “In order to do that, products have to be produced that have market value at market rates. But it’s really an opportunity to look at the resources that are present inside a community, and to figure out how to turn those resources into opportunities.”
This isn’t the only high-tech non-traditional farm startup in the Mon Valley. Braddock has a robotic vertical farm in the works from tech firm Fifth Season.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
City Design editor
Michael Machosky is a writer and journalist with 18 years of experience writing about everything from development news, food and film to art, travel, books and music. He lives in Greenfield with his wife, Shaunna, and 8-year old son.
Early History of Indoor Agriculture & Associated Technology Development
This month’s Indoor Ag Science Café was about the history and current technology status of indoor farming. The beginning seems to be in Syracuse, NY, where General Electric developed an indoor hydroponic farm funded by DoD in 1973
By urbanagnews
October 17, 2019
By Dr. Cary Mitchell (Purdue University)
This month’s Indoor Ag Science Café was about the history and current technology status of indoor farming. The beginning seems to be in Syracuse, NY, where General Electric developed an indoor hydroponic farm funded by DoD in 1973. Then there was a large commercial indoor farm for leafy greens in Dekalb, IL, owned by General Mills, which was closed in the 1990s. The longest survived may be the one in Japan (TS Farm by Kewpie Co.) where they use HID lamps and aeroponics since 1989. Most significant technological improvements are two ways – one in lighting and another in rack/shelving systems. Dr. Mitchell also introduced the contributions that NASA indoor farming studies made over the past 30+ years, as one of the contributors in the space.
Indoor Ag Science Café is supported by the USDA SCRI grant program and designed to create a precompetitive communication platform among scientists and indoor farming professionals. The Café presentations are available from YouTube channel. Contact Chieri Kubota at the Ohio State University (Kubota.10@osu.edu) to be a Café member to participate.
Resource Innovation Institute To Host Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions Conference
As California policymakers develop codes for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), Resource Innovation Institute (RII) will convene the inaugural Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions (IAES) Conference, connecting policymakers, utility program managers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, researchers, manufacturers, cultivators and investors to shape the future of energy policies and utility programs for CEA
SAN DIEGO, CA, October 2019 – As California policymakers develop codes for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), Resource Innovation Institute (RII) will convene the inaugural Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions (IAES) Conference, connecting policymakers, utility program managers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, researchers, manufacturers, cultivators and investors to shape the future of energy policies and utility programs for CEA.
The IAES Conference will be held at the San Diego La Jolla Marriott on February 24-26, 2020.
Expanding on RII’s mission to advance resource efficiency in the rapidly expanding indoor agriculture sector, this first-of-its-kind event arrives at a critical moment in time for controlled environment agriculture.
The urban and vertical farming sector is scaling rapidly for crops of all kinds, accelerated by cannabis legalization across North America. Urban areas and food deserts are looking at indoor farming as a way to access locally grown produce. As a result, the carbon and energy implications of indoor controlled environments are becoming more impactful.
Drawing from the experiences of early models, this conference will explore energy solutions for indoor agriculture without focusing on any one crop.
Conference attendees will access educational sessions presented by experts in the field, connect with leaders in the industry and discuss cutting-edge policies and technologies. IAES will elevate innovative solutions related to energy access, efficiency and sustainability and shape the future of indoor agriculture.
“We have the opportunity to take the lessons learned from initial government, utility and non-profit responses addressing the energy and carbon impacts of regulated cannabis and apply them to the broader world of controlled environment agriculture,” said Derek Smith, Executive Director of RII. “These learnings will inform controlled environment agriculture broadly. This is precisely why we are hosting the Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions conference. And we look forward to convening top stakeholders to join the dialogue.”
Registration can be secured via
https://www.iaesconference.com/registration
About Resource Innovation Institute
Resource Innovation Institute (RII) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance resource efficiency to create a better cannabis future. Founded in 2016 in Portland, OR, USA, RII’s Board of Directors includes the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a former Energy Policy Advisor to two Oregon governors, a former board member of the US Green Building Council and leading cannabis industry players.
The organization has unique expertise on data, policy, and education related to cannabis energy use. Its Cannabis PowerScore benchmarking survey is backed by the world’s largest dataset on cannabis energy use. RII’s Technical Advisory Council is the leading multi-disciplinary body assessing the environmental impacts and best practices associated with cultivation resource issues. In 2018, RII advised the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the establishment of the world’s first cannabis energy regulations, and it is now advising other governments. RII’s Efficient Yields cultivation workshops are the only grower-led, non-commercial venues for the exchange of resource-efficient cultivation best practices.
RII is funded by utilities, foundations, governments, and the cannabis supply chain.
Center of Excellence For Indoor Agriculture Announces Launch of Networking and Marketplace Web Site
The goal of the Center is to accelerate growth and innovation in the industry through leadership, knowledge sharing, marketplace exchange, investment, programs and services, training, R&D, and advocacy.
Media, PA – Sept 24, 2019 – After leading a year-long study of two hundred indoor agriculture stakeholders that confirmed the need for a Center of Excellence, Eric W. Stein, Ph.D., co-founder and Executive Director is pleased to announce the launch of phase one of the Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture, which includes a membership-based networking platform and marketplace exchange web site that brings together 21st century farmers, entrepreneurs, technologists, suppliers, communities, universities, and government. The Center’s new features are available at indooragcenter.org
The goal of the Center is to accelerate growth and innovation in the industry through leadership, knowledge sharing, marketplace exchange, investment, programs and services, training, R&D, and advocacy. Phase two of its development includes raising capital and building a COE headquarters and technology demo facility in the greater Philadelphia area.
The Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture offers free Individual membership as well as paid Business and Institutional (e.g., university, non-profit, government) annual memberships based on size. Membership benefits include access to the following:
• Social Networking Platform
• Communities of Practice
• The COE Indoor Agriculture Supplier Marketplace
• Discounts on Products, Services, and Events
• Access to Partner Programs for Energy Savings and Job Search
• Access to an evolving library of Best Practices, Cases, Research, and Testing
• Promotion of Products and Brands
All indoor agriculture stakeholders are encouraged to join and discounts on memberships are available through the end of 2019.
“We are really excited to launch the new web site,” according to Eric W. Stein, Ph.D., co-founder and Executive Director of the Center of Excellence. “The site offers an opportunity to create a highly networked community for indoor agriculture that is available to the members throughout the year. We expect it will help investors find farms to invest in, help growers find the products and services they need, highlight key conferences and events, and develop a knowledge base of best practices, solutions, cases, and research. We invite all types of indoor growers to participate regardless of technology or product type; e.g., from greenhouses to plant factories and from leafy greens to mushrooms.”
According to Michael Guttman, co-founder and Director of Sustainable Development for Kennett Township, “The recent launch of the Indoor Agriculture Center of Excellence marks a turning point in the industry’s history. From now on there will be a comprehensive one-stop platform that provides news, education, social networking, and e-commerce for the whole industry - vertical farms, greenhouses, and mushroom farms, as well as facilities builders, equipment manufacturers, and a wide variety of service providers. The possibilities are endless.”
The Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture anticipates building its presence in the greater Philadelphia area, which affords proximity to the “Mushroom Capital” of the U.S. in Southern Chester County, PA as well as Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, Washington, DC and New York. The area boasts advanced cold storage, packaging and distribution, a green-tech workforce, proximity to universities and schools, access to large consumer markets, and availability of land, capital and intellectual capital.
About Indoor Agriculture
Indoor agriculture is a means of growing produce and leafy greens indoors under controlled environmental conditions employing advances in lighting, automation and information management. Nearly $500 million dollars of venture capital has gone into the industry in the past five years (e.g., Hortidaily, 12/4/2017; Forbes 4/5/19). Indoor Ag is predicted to be a multi-billion-dollar industry that alters the way food is grown.
About Eric W. Stein, Ph.D.
Dr. Eric W. Stein is an Associate Professor of Business at Penn State and CEO of Barisoft Consulting Group. Dr. Stein has a Ph.D. in Managerial Science from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Physics from Amherst College. He has published numerous books, articles and academic papers in business. He has served as an advisor to municipalities including Kennett Township and the City of Philadelphia as well as advised businesses interested in setting up indoor farms. Dr. Stein has spoken at conferences including Indoor Ag-Con and FreshTech, and run workshops for the USDA on indoor farming. Dr. Stein designed and operates an indoor vertical farm (e3garden) to conduct applied research on the economics of indoor farms.
About Michael Guttman
Mr. Guttman is Director of Sustainable Development for Kennett Township (PA) and co-founder of the Center. He has been a visionary in the field of indoor agriculture by highlighting the contributions of mushroom farming to indoor agriculture. Mr. Guttman has spoken at several indoor farming conferences including FreshTech, Indoor Ag-Con, and Agtech NYC.
Media Contact Information:
Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture
info@indooragcenter.org
Anne H. Stein 484-416-5580
###
Resource Innovation Institute To Host Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions Conference
As California policymakers develop codes for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), Resource Innovation Institute (RII) will convene the inaugural Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions (IAES) Conference, connecting policymakers, utility program managers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, researchers, manufacturers, cultivators and investors to shape the future of energy policies and utility programs for CEA. The IAES Conference will be held at the San Diego La Jolla Marriott on February 24-26, 2020.
SAN DIEGO, CA – As California policymakers develop codes for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), Resource Innovation Institute (RII) will convene the inaugural Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions (IAES) Conference, connecting policymakers, utility program managers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, researchers, manufacturers, cultivators and investors to shape the future of energy policies and utility programs for CEA. The IAES Conference will be held at the San Diego La Jolla Marriott on February 24-26, 2020.
Expanding on RII’s mission to advance resource efficiency in the rapidly expanding indoor agriculture sector, this first-of-its-kind event arrives at a critical moment in time for controlled environment agriculture. Cannabis legalization is accelerating across North America, and the urban and vertical farming sector is scaling rapidly for crops of all kinds. As a result, the carbon and energy implications of indoor controlled environments are becoming more impactful. Drawing from the experiences of early models adopted by cannabis cultivators, this conference will explore energy solutions for indoor agriculture without focusing on any one crop.
Conference attendees will access educational sessions presented by experts in the field, connect with leaders in the industry and discuss cutting-edge policies and technologies. IAES will elevate innovative solutions related to energy access, efficiency and sustainability and shape the future of indoor agriculture.
“We have the opportunity to take the lessons learned from initial government, utility and non-profit responses addressing the energy and carbon impacts of regulated cannabis and apply them to the broader world of controlled environment agriculture,” said Derek Smith, Executive Director of RII. “As the highest margin crop among a set of leafy greens and small vegetables, cannabis cultivation is driving billions of dollars of privately funded R&D into efficient lighting, automation, and greenhouse design. These learnings will inform controlled environment agriculture broadly. Just as non-cannabis CEA learnings will inform cannabis. This is precisely why we are hosting the Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions conference. And we look forward to convening top stakeholders to join the dialogue.”
Registration can be secured via https://www.iaesconference.com/registration.
About Resource Innovation Institute
Resource Innovation Institute (RII) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance resource efficiency to create a better cannabis future. Founded in 2016 in Portland, OR, USA, RII’s Board of Directors includes the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a former Energy Policy Advisor to two Oregon governors, a former board member of the US Green Building Council and leading cannabis industry players.
The organization has unique expertise on data, policy, and education related to cannabis energy use. Its Cannabis PowerScore benchmarking survey is backed by the world’s largest dataset on cannabis energy use. RII’s Technical Advisory Council is the leading multi-disciplinary body assessing the environmental impacts and best practices associated with cultivation resource issues. In 2018, RII advised the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the establishment of the world’s first cannabis energy regulations, and it is now advising other governments. RII’s Efficient Yields cultivation workshops are the only grower-led, non-commercial venues for the exchange of resource-efficient cultivation best practices.
RII is funded by utilities, foundations, governments, and the cannabis supply chain.
Visit our website at ResourceInnovation.org. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Early History of Indoor Agriculture & Associated Technology Development
This month’s Indoor Ag Science Café was about the history and current technology status of indoor farming. The beginning seems to be in Syracuse, NY, where General Electric developed an indoor hydroponic farm funded by DoD in 1973
By urbanagnews
October 17, 2019
By Dr. Cary Mitchell (Purdue University)
This month’s Indoor Ag Science Café was about the history and current technology status of indoor farming. The beginning seems to be in Syracuse, NY, where General Electric developed an indoor hydroponic farm funded by DoD in 1973. Then there was a large commercial indoor farm for leafy greens in Dekalb, IL, owned by General Mills, which was closed in the 1990s. The longest survived may be the one in Japan (TS Farm by Kewpie Co.) where they use HID lamps and aeroponics since 1989. Most significant technological improvements are two ways – one in lighting and another in rack/shelving systems. Dr. Mitchell also introduced the contributions that NASA indoor farming studies made over the past 30+ years, as one of the contributors in the space.
Indoor Ag Science Café is supported by the USDA SCRI grant program and designed to create a precompetitive communication platform among scientists and indoor farming professionals. The Café presentations are available from the YouTube channel. Contact Chieri Kubota at the Ohio State University (Kubota.10@osu.edu) to be a Café member to participate.
Building A 2.76M Square Foot Sustainable Greenhouse In Job Starved Appalachia
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released a report highlighting the alarming effect climate change and the rise in global temperatures are having on fertile soil—and on the world's ability to produce enough food to feed the planet's growing population
Anne Field Contributor Entrepreneur
AppHarvest facility rendering | APPHARVEST
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released a report highlighting the alarming effect climate change and the rise in global temperatures are having on fertile soil—and on the world's ability to produce enough food to feed the planet's growing population. There’s also an increasing depletion of the global water supply.
Jonathan Webb, founder of two-year-old startup AppHarvest, thinks his company can help address those urgent crises. Specifically, he plans to produce more food with less water using massive controlled-environment, sustainable greenhouses. In the process, Webb, a native of Kentucky who also worked in renewable energy, also hopes to help revive the struggling Appalachian economy.
“There are technical solutions to many of these problems,” says Webb. “But much of it is a matter of execution at scale and at a rapid pace.”
His plan: build a 2.76 million-square-foot controlled-environment agricultural facility on 60-acres in Morehead, Kentucky, using hydroponic growing techniques, which rely on a nutrient solution, instead of the usual soil. As a result, according to Webb, it will be able to grow pesticide-free tomatoes and cucumbers year-round using 90% less water than traditional farming—and do so in the middle of coal country. Water will come from rainwater kept in a retention pool and there will be circular irrigation systems. The whole project takes its inspiration from the Netherlands, which is a top exporter of tomatoes, potatoes and onions, among other food, thanks to its pioneering work in climate-controlled agriculture.
The facility is also in a strategically-situated location that’s within a day’s drive of 70% of the U.S. population, according to the company. That should slash the amount of gas used in transportation compared to imports trucked across the country to the East Coast, while supplying markets with fresher produce. The company is working with distribution partner Mastronardi Produce.
In job-starved Appalachia, where one in four residents live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the facility also could provide a boost to the economy. While AppHarvest is buying components from the Netherlands, Webb estimates that the project will create 285 full-time positions, plus 100 construction jobs. The company will also work with local universities to add job training classes.
Webb recently closed an $82 million all-cash deal with Equilibrium Capital to build its greenhouse. Plus, it raised more money in a Series A round led by Value Act Spring Fund and joined by existing investor Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.
The mega-greenhouse is projected to be up and running by mid-2020. As for building similar facilities in other parts of the country, Webb says he wants to see that happen, but by different parties. “We’re in Appalachia,” he says. “But I hope other people will be building throughout the country.”
I'm an award-winning journalist with a particular interest in for-profit social enterprise, as well as entrepreneurship and small business in general. I've covered those areas for many many places, including The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Crain's New York Business, Inc. and Business Insider. As an entrepreneurial journalist--ie, a freelancer--I work from my home office in Pelham, NY.
Grow Light Global Market Estimated To Reach USD 5.80 Billion By 2022
The Grow Light Market is growing at the rapid pace; mainly due to the increasing government initiatives to adopt technologies. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, Globally, the market for Grow Light is expected to gain prominence over the forecast period.
Business, Economy, Finances, Banking & Insurance
Press release from: Market Research Future
Global Grow Light Market, By Technology (LED, High Intensity Discharge, Fluorescent Lighting), By Installation (New Installation, Retrofit), By Application (Indoor Framing, Commercial Greenhouse, Vertical Framing) - Forecast 2022
Grow Light Global Market – Overview
The Grow Light Market is growing at the rapid pace; mainly due to the increasing government initiatives to adopt technologies. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, Globally, the market for Grow Light is expected to gain prominence over the forecast period. The market is forecasted to witness a thriving growth by 2022, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the anticipated period. Globally the Grow Light Market is expected to reach 5.80 Billion by 2022 at CAGR of more than ~13% from 2016 to 2022.
The key drivers contributing to the growth of the grow light market are growth in the indoor farming, government initiatives to adopt technologies such as LED, growing demand for energy efficiency, long lasting ‘Grow technology’ and environmentally safe products. Also, the demand for these products is increasing in countries such as Netherlands where supplemental lighting is required throughout the year.
However, low awareness among consumers, high cost of capital are the factors hindering the growth of the overall growth of the market. Whereas, high reliability, low power consumption, high commercial greenhouse practices are also propelling the growth of the grow light market.
Grow light is an electric light rather an artificial source of light which is designed to stimulate plant growth by emitting an electromagnetic spectrum for photosynthesis. Grow light is widely used in applications where natural light is not available or where supplemental light required. It is basically a type of electronic lamp designed to accelerate plant growth by electronic magnetic spectrum.
Plant factories support farming practices that are not dependent on the climate. Food factories produce organic vegetables. With the land available for farming depleting quickly, new types of farming are evolving.
Double Ended HPS lights are typically used in large commercial greenhouse or large indoor commercial gardening applications where high ceilings require more powerful lights to reach the plants. DE HPS lights are ideal for flowering and fruit production.
UV Light Bulbs are beneficial for plants. UV light activates a plant’s defence mechanisms. UV causes plants to produce oils, antioxidant vitamins and flavonoids to protect themselves from the damaging effects of UV. These compounds produce the vibrant colours, smells and tastes of your plants. If the light source does not produce UV, the colour, smell and taste of the produce gets changed effectively.
LED specialized grow lights. LED specialized grow lights offer homogenous light distribution. Light distribution at precisely the right wavelengths is made possible. LED light sources offer light distribution for good photosynthetic response. Vendors are able to stimulate plant growth. Flora series LEDs provide accelerated photosynthesis and energy savings.
Grow lamps are used in a wide variety of applications, including Home hobbyist, Agricultural universities, Educational programs, Plant physiological research, Biotechnology, Pharmacology, Greenhouses and Plant factories.
Grow Light Market - Competitive Analysis
Characterized by the presence of several major well-established players, the global Market of Grow Light appears to be highly competitive. Well established players incorporate acquisition, collaboration, partnership, expansion, and technology launch in order to gain competitive advantage in this market and to maintain their market position. Strategic partnerships between Key players support the growth and expansion plans of the key players during the forecast period. The Key players operating in the market compete based on product & technology launch, reputation and services. Well established players invest heavily in the R&D to develop products with the adept technologies that are completely on a different level compared to their competition, unrivalled design and features.
Key Players
• Osram LichtAG (Germany)
• General Electric Company (U.S.)
• Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan)
• LumiGrow, Inc. (U.S.)
• Gavita Holland B.V. (Netherlands)
• Hortilux Schreder B.V. (Netherlands)
• Sunlight Supply, Inc. (U.S.)
• Heliospectra AB (Sweden)
• Royal Philips (Netherlands)
• Platinum LED Lights LLC (U.S.)
The Global Grow Light Market is segmented in to 4 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;
Segmentation By Technology : Comprises LED, High Intensity Discharge, Fluorescent Lighting and other.
Segmentation By Installation : Comprises New Installation, Retrofit.
Segmentation By Application : Comprises Indoor Framing, Commercial Greenhouse, Vertical Framing, Landscaping and other.
Segmentation By Regions : Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and
Rest of the World.
Out of these applications, vertical farming accounted for the largest market share because it allows the growing of more number of plants within a single enclosed structure, with the usage of artificial lightings and these can be produce fruits and vegetables throughout the year, within urban areas. Grow light is an electric light rather an artificial source of light which is designed to stimulate plant growth by emitting an electromagnetic spectrum for photosynthesis. Grow light is widely used in applications where natural light is not available or where supplemental light required. It is basically a type of electronic lamp designed to accelerate plant growth by electronic magnetic spectrum.
The key drivers contributing to the growth of the grow light market are growth in the indoor farming, government initiatives to adopt technologies such as LED, growing demand for energy efficiency, long lasting grow technology and environmentally safe products. Also, the demand for these products is increasing in countries such as Netherlands where supplemental lighting is required throughout the year.
Grow Light Global Market – Regional Analysis
Geographically, Europe accounted for the largest market share in the global grow light market, whereas Asia-Pacific is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period. Europe accounted for the largest market share, because Netherlands is a leading exporter of horticultural produce which increases the usage of commercial greenhouse. Also, the concept of vertical farming is gaining popularity in this region.
Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period, majorly due to increasing awareness about the benefits of this technology.
Living Greens Farm Becomes One of The Largest Indoor Farms In The World
FARIBAULT, MINN. – With the opening of a new grow room, Living Greens Farm, a vertical, indoor aeroponic farm that provides year-round fresh salads, microgreens and herbs, is set to become the largest vertical plane aeroponic farm in the world on February 22, 2019. This brings their farming operation to 60,000 square feet – allowing Living Greens to offer produce that’s better for you and the environment. Unlike most produce, Living Greens Farm never uses pesticides, herbicides or GMOs – delivering the highest standards in food safety. Because Living Greens’ products are fresher, they contain more vitamins and nutrients than conventional produce.
While aeroponics has been around for decades, Living Greens Farm has discovered a way to successfully transition and improve this technology for commercial production. Aeroponics is the practice of suspending a plant’s roots in the air and spraying them with a nutrient-rich solution, instead of burying them in soil. Living Greens Farms’ patented vertical plane design allows one acre to produce the equivalent of hundreds of conventional acres.
A high-tech computer system manages the plants growing conditions for variables such as light, temperature, humidity and CO2 to grow year-round produce. Overall, Living Greens Farms’ system uses 200 times less land and 95 percent less water than traditional growing methods. While other vertical aeroponic farms are larger in square footage, Living Greens Farms’ vertical plane design is the first of its kind and is more efficient than other aeroponic growing methods which decreases labor by up to 60 percent.
“Our patented growing technology has changed the game of aeroponics, within one year our new farm will save 24 million gallons of water and several hundred thousand miles of shipping – saving over 35,000 gallons of diesel and nearly a million pounds of CO2 emissions,” said Dana Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Living Greens Farm. “With our third grow room, Living Greens Farm will nearly triple its capacity, move into major market segments and position the company for even stronger growth in 2019. The expansion places Living Greens as the world’s largest vertical plane aeroponic farm in the world.”
Living Greens Farm’s new grow room will allow an expansion of their consumer product line into new states including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota by February 2019.
ABOUT LIVING GREENS FARM
Headquartered in Minnesota, Living Greens Farm is the world’s largest vertical plane aeroponic farm. Living Greens Farm produce requires 95 water and 99 percent less land to grow year-round and all products are grown without pesticides or GMOs. Living Greens Farm has a full product line that includes salads, microgreens and herbs available throughout the Midwest. For more information, please visit http://www.livinggreensfarm.com
Westland Promofilm 2019
Pioneering solutions to meet global challenges.
Westland is a dynamic municipality. In this relatively small area of just 9 000 hectares, we come up with pioneering solutions to global challenges. We produce high quality food products, flowers and plants, sustainably and innovatively, to improve the well-being and welfare of people all over the world.
The Westland area is the world’s main greenhouse horticulture cluster. Over the last 120 years, Westland has become the international hotspot when it comes to growing indoor crops. As early as 1918, Westland growers started planting indoors to extend the growing season of their tomato crop. The development and exchange of knowledge make innovation possible.
An unparalleled cluster of greenhouse horticulture companies and related industries. Importers, exporters, packaging and repackaging companies, growers, breeders, R&D, suppliers, transporters and warehouses, and many more. A cluster like this concentrated in such a small area is found nowhere else in the world. With the opening of the World Horti Center, the region now has a campus where the business community, education and government can come together.
The international innovation hub is also the main innovation centre of the international greenhouse horticulture sector, where business, research, demonstration, teaching and education converge. It is also where local and international greenhouse companies innovate and do business. Westland’s geographical location is unique. Situated close to Schiphol and the Port of Rotterdam, our logistics hub can reach 500 million European customers within 24 hours.
Our mentality is our defining feature: we work hard and efficiently, while always looking for ways to create synergy through partnerships. Many companies have chosen to establish their business in Westland. www.westlandhortibusiness.com
The Effect Of Light Leaks On A Sealed Growroom
Kent Gruetzmacher | January 4, 2019
Takeaway: Light leaks in your sealed growroom can be disastrous for some kinds of plants. They can also be a sign that more than just light is getting in, including pests and other environmental variables.
When planning and setting up indoor gardens, growers spend time and money in the creation of environments where plant species thrive. For sealed growrooms, this process represents a careful balancing act between temperature, humidity, light, and CO2. However, once an indoor grow is operational, these synthetic environments create challenges for growers that are non-existent in the natural world. The reaction of indoor plants to light leaks during dark periods (nighttime) presents one of these unusual phenomena.
Certain species of plants are subject to photoperiodism, in which the varying duration of light cycles between day and night cause plants to enter new phases of growth. To illustrate, uninterrupted 12-hour periods of darkness (nighttime) causes some plant species to start flowering. This process occurs when a hormone called photochrome reacts to sunlight intensity and durations, directing plants towards the different phases of growth.
If a sealed growroom is not 100 percent dark during the nighttime period, photoperiodism cycles can be interrupted, causing photochrome imbalances as related to specific plant processes. These hormonal imbalances can have negative and sometimes detrimental effects on an indoor harvest.
For those looking to avoid issues with light leaks in their sealed growrooms, consider the following points.
Inconsistencies and Stress
Indoor gardeners should always strive for consistency in their growroom environments. Most crops perform best in stable environments, and bountiful harvests are the result of constant environmental balance—including stable lighting intervals—during both vegetative growth and flowering. A common misconception amongst indoor growers is that light leaks during the vegetative growth phase won’t disrupt crop growth. However, any irregularities in lighting patterns can stress plants out. Along this line of thought, all environmental stressors inhibit essential plant functions, such as nutrient uptake, and retard growth.
Light leaks can also prove troublesome regarding photochrome levels in plants, as unexpected or irregular doses of light can alter stable hormonal conversion processes. During flowering phases, excess light during dark periods can push photochrome activity to the point of converting a plant back into vegetative growth.
(Check out Three Considerations to Make When Designing Growroom Lighting.)
Hermaphrodites
One of the most widely known negative side effects of growroom light seepage has to do with the transformation of female plants into hermaphrodites. For those looking to grow seed-free flowering plant varietals, hermaphrodites can prove devastating for a crop. This is because male flowers on a single plant can pollinate an entire growroom and greatly devalue a harvest.
Expert horticulturists agree that certain plant species turn hermaphrodite as a result of environmental stressors, and light leaks are notorious for being associated with this phenomenon. However, it should be noted that the occasional beam of light on a garden from a headlamp won’t cause plants to “herm.” While indoor growers should strive to avoid any disruptions in regular light cycles, it takes rather consistent light exposure to force a plant into hermaphrodite growth. These sorts of leaks come from constant sources, such as under doorways and walls, that occur on a daily basis.
Light Leaks Mean Other Leaks
Indoor growers can be assured that if their sealed growroom is leaking light, it has issues with other leaks. Seasoned cultivators go to great lengths to ensure that their sealed gardens are functioning at their best when it comes to atmosphere, temperature, and sterility. All these contingencies are compromised with an improperly sealed growroom.
If leakage issues arise, growers, sacrifice the total environmental control that is so essential in sealed room growing. With this issue comes potential problems with maintaining ideal, static levels of temperature, humidity, and CO2. Moreover, as sealed rooms are wholly dependent upon CO2 injection technology, the regular loss of CO2 to leaks is financially burdensome and operationally threatening.
If light leaks can penetrate the confines of a sealed garden, so can airborne pathogens. As such, it is virtually impossible to fully sterilize an indoor grow if bugs and spores (of powdery mildew and botrytis) can continuously access the grow space via leaks.
Locating Light Leaks
Many indoor growers don’t know that their rooms have light leaks until it is too late, and the problem expresses itself by way of hermaphrodites and seeded flowers. As a result, it’s a good idea for cultivators to regularly check their growrooms to make sure they are 100 percent dark during the nighttime period.
To inspect an indoor garden for light leaks, it’s best to enter the grow with a green light when the primary lights are off. Once situated in the garden, turn off the green light and sit still for a while to let your eyes adjust to the blackness. At this point, it should be easy to canvass the walls and ceilings of the room and discern any potential points of light leak trouble. Also, this inspection process should be done during various parts of the day, as different angles of sunlight outside can cause light leaks during isolated time frames.
Gardeners should also be advised that control panels on grow equipment, such as atmospheric controllers and AC units, often give off light. This light is usually red or green and is residual from the digital readout. As such, it is recommended that growers cover up these light sources with electrical tape or some sort of removable opaque material.
Compared to any other form of controlled environment agriculture, sealed room growing provides the most mastery over environmental factors. However, these growrooms present novel challenges of their own, as seen with the issues surrounding light leaks. For the conscientious gardener, regular inspections of one’s garden should alleviate any light leak problems. All things considered, this knowledge will provide a better platform for troubleshooting on the macro-level moving forward.
(For info on new lighting technologies, check out You Light Up My Leaf: New Lighting Technologies for Growrooms.)
Written by Kent Gruetzmacher
Kent Gruetzmacher is a California-based freelance writer and the west coast director of business development at Mac & Fulton Executive Search and Consulting, an employment recruiting firm dedicated to the indoor gardening and hydroponics industries. He is interested in utilizing his Master of Arts in humanities to explore the many cultural and business facets of this emerging industry by way of his entrepreneurial projects.
Demonstration Polyhouse Showcases The Future of Closed Cultivation In India
On 18th of January 2019 the partners of FoodTechIndia being Future Consumer Limited, Broekman Logistics, Rijk Zwaan, TNO, Larive International and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands have inaugurated a demonstration polyhouse of 1 acre in Tumkur, Karnataka, India.
India Food Park - Demonstration Polyhouse FoodTechIndia
The aim of the demonstration polyhouse, built at the India Food Park in Tumkur is to showcase the future of closed cultivation in India. In the polyhouse vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum and eggplant are being grown in a temperature-controlled environment. High quality seeds, biological crop protection and technology and knowledge from the Netherlands are being used and implemented to reduce the usage of pesticides and fertilizers, improve the yield and produce better, safe and higher quality vegetable products.
Demonstration Polyhouse Tumkur
With the demonstration polyhouse, the FoodTechIndia partners want to show the farmers in Karnataka the benefits of growing crops in a controlled environment and train them on closed cultivation practices. Demonstrations and trainings in the greenhouse will take place the upcoming three years until April 2022.
Demonstration Polyhouse Tukmkur
Facility for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Food Security
The Dutch Government is supporting the FoodTechIndia project and partners via the Facility for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Food Security (FDOV). The FDOV facility aims to contribute to the achievement of various sustainable development goals in developing countries. It encourages the establishment of Public-Private Partnerships for joint initiatives of private sector development for food security. The FDOV facility focuses on a/multiple of the following goals:
Reducing malnutrition;
Promoting growth in the agricultural and fisheries sector;
Creating sustainable and ecologically sound food chains;
Creating better labour conditions and efficient working procedures;
Causing an increase in private investments.
FoodTechIndia
FoodTechIndia (FTI) is a public-private initiative combining the strengths of Dutch agro-food companies, knowledge institutes, governmental agencies and their Indian counterparts to reduce food wastage in India through the establishment of an improved supply and cold chain. The objective of FTI is to reduce food wastage in India through the implementation of an integrated supply and cold chain infrastructure for fruits and vegetables in the state of Karnataka. Furthermore, the project focuses on enabling sustainable inclusive economic growth amongst local small-scale farmers.
For more information:
Larive International
info@larive.com
www.larive.com
Publication date : 1/21/2019
Indoor Ag-Con Asia, Enterprise Singapore Announce 2019 Indoor Ag-Ignite Winners
Three Startups Take Top Prizes at Indoor Agriculture Pitch Competition Held During 4th Annual Indoor Ag-Con Asia Event
SINGAPORE, SG (JANUARY 22, 2019) – Indoor agriculture startups Biteback, Farmers Cut and Growers Agritech, LLC won top honors at the Indoor Ag-Ignite competition finals held during Indoor Ag-Con Asia, the premier event covering the technology of growing crops in indoor systems using hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic techniques, January 15-16, 2019 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Designed to support entrepreneurs and find the most innovative new ideas globally in the fast-growing indoor agriculture industry, the competition was co-hosted by Indoor Ag-Con and its lead sponsor, Enterprise Singapore.
Enterprise Singapore awarded a Startup SG Grant of S$50,000 to each winning team, including: (1) S$25,000 non-dilutive cash grant which can be utilized to accelerate commercialization efforts; (2)a further S$25,000 which can be converted into equity shares at the next round of fundraising.
Each winning team will also receive substrates and technical advice from Indoor Ag-Con Asia sponsor and exhibitor, Smithers-Oasis. The company's global expertise of the plant and flower business stretches from propagation to presentation --offering Indoor Ag-Ignite winners the chance to tap into a wealth of industry insight and knowledge.
Pictured (L-R) -Indoor Ag-Ignite Judges Sarai Kemp, Trendlines Agtech; Michael Dean, AgFunder; Isabelle Decitre, ID Capital; Indoor Ag-Ignite Winners Mark Korzilius, Farmers Cut; Ser Yong Quek, Grower Agritech; Daniel Reigler, Biteback; and Edwin Chow, Enterprise Singapore
“New technologies and approaches are transforming indoor agriculture at a rapid clip and we want to do everything we can to help emerging entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market,” said Indoor Ag-Con Founder Nicola Kerslake. “This was our 2nd annual competition and we were especially pleased to see how interest has grown as evidenced by the number of entrants. Most important, we were thrilled to partner once again with Enterprise Singapore to unearth each of these incredibly promising startups."
“The agility and high-risk appetite of agri-food tech startups put them in the driver’s seat of disruptive technologies. Indoor Ag-Con Asia is a great place for these companies to connect with global agriculture experts, researchers and investors – for knowledge exchange and co-innovation opportunities. Enterprise Singapore is pleased to continue our support for Indoor Ag-Con Asia and Indoor Ag-Ignite in building a network of like-minded entrepreneurs who aspire to transform Asia’s agriculture landscape,” added Ms. Kee Ai Nah, Executive Director of Lifestyle & Consumer Cluster, Enterprise Singapore.
The Indoor Ag-Ignite competition was open to any team or company of under 40 employees developing or deploying innovative technologies for the indoor agriculture industry. Applicants were able to make their pitches via video chat for the initial round of the competition. Five finalists -- AlgaHealth, Biteback, Farmers Cut GmbH, Grower Agritech LLP, Growflux --received stipends towards travel to Singapore to participate in the finals. The judging panel included Michael Dean, AgFunder; Isabelle Decitre, ID Capital; Sarai Kemp, Trendlines Agtech and Edwin Chow, Enterprise Singapore
Indoor Ag-Ignite 2019 Competition winners are:
BITEBACK -- Biteback is an Insect Bio-refinery company aiming to meet an increasing global demand for palm oil by creating a healthier and more sustainable alternative with 40 times more yield per ha. Biteback has developed a processing technology that allows extraction of more than 90% of fats from insect body mass which is refined into various functional ingredient like cooking oil, butter, fatty alcohol, and bioenergy.
FARMERS CUT GMBH -- Farmers Cut has started tackling the challenge of year round local food production by designing a sustainable system impervious to outdoor environmental conditions resulting in pesticide free, nutrient rich greens. The Farmers Cut vision is to provide local, healthy, fresh, pesticide-free produce to the urban population all year round
GROWER AGRITECH LLP – Specializing in the cultivation of high-value crops, Grower Agritech is a Singapore incorporated company with its management, agritech science team and executives from Singapore and Thailand. The company’s flagship project – Truffle Vertical Farm (TVF) – is a revolutionary technology to cultivate in- vitro, truffles species, indoors.
Indoor Ag-Con returns to Las Vegas from May 22-23, 2019 for its 7th Annual Indoor Ag-Con. which will be held at the Red Rock Resort & Conference Center. For more information visit www.indoor.ag
ABOUT INDOOR AG-CON
Indoor Ag-Con was founded by Newbean Capital in 2013, and has since grown to the premier event in indoor agriculture, the practice of growing crops, raising fish and insects in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic techniques. Its events are tech-focused and crop-agnostic, covering produce, legal cannabis, alternate protein and non-food crops. It hosts events in Las Vegas, Singapore and the US East Coast. In December 2018, three event industry professionals – Nancy Hallberg, Kris Sieradzki and Brian Sullivan – purchased Indoor Ag-Con LLC from Newbean Capital, so setting the stage for further expansion of the events globally. More information -- www.indoor.ag
ABOUT ENTERPRISE SINGAPORE
Enterprise Singapore is the government agency championing enterprise development. Its vision for Singapore is a vibrant economy with globally competitive Singapore enterprises. International Enterprise Singapore and SPRING came together on 1 April 2018 as a single agency to form Enterprise Singapore. The mission is to grow stronger Singapore companies by building capabilities and accessing global opportunities, thereby creating good jobs for Singaporeans. Enterprise Singapore works with committed companies to build capabilities, innovate and internationalize. The agency also also supports the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading and startups. As the national standards and accreditation body Enterprise Singapore continues to build trust in Singapore’s products and services through quality and standards. More information -- www.enterprisesg.gov.sg
A Farm Is Coming To Downtown Shreveport. For Real
Tiana Kennell, Shreveport Times Published August 21, 2018
Hydroponic gardening is good business. BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff
Hydroponics uses water, LED lights and nutrients, but no soil, to grow plants.
Catching a bus to a market miles away from home and then hauling armfuls of groceries back may not be the ideal shopping scenario. But it’s a reality many residents in downtown Shreveport and other “food desert” communities live every day.
Michael Billings, a resident of downtown Shreveport, realized he lives in a food desert — an urban neighborhood lacking affordable, fresh and quality food. Many of his neighbors are older, physically unable to travel or have limited modes of transportation, he said.
He plans to lighten the load for his neighbors by bringing fresh produce to their doorstep within minutes through his business, Cotton St. Farms.
Billings is flipping a vacant building in downtown Shreveport — once used as a mechanic’s shop and computer server office — to open an indoor hydroponic farm.
Cotton St. Farms will take urban farming to the next level by using a soil-less gardening technique to grow the leafy greens and herbs in an environmentally friendly, controlled environment.
Billings talked to The Shreveport Times to explain hydroponics and how it will help downtown residents and other local communities acquire fresh, quality produce.
Why found Cotton St. Farms?
Billings is a member of the family that owns and operates DixieMaze Farms in rural north Caddo Parish. He and his father discussed alternative farming methods, prompted in part by the lack of fresh produce in his downtown Shreveport neighborhood.
That led to hydroponic farming. Through hydroponics, he would bring the farm to the “food desert.”
Cotton St. Farms will partner with local farms, beekeepers and others to sell and deliver fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and more.
“We’ll be growing leafy greens and herbs, some vegetables, and we work with local farmers to provide produce for delivery or pickup downtown,” Billings said.
Cotton St. Farms' first day of operation has not yet been announced. Consumers may stay up to date on the farm's progress at cottonstfarms.com.
Cotton St. Farms will grow herbs and vegetables, as well as partner with local farms, beekeepers and other businesses to supply fresh produce and more. (Photo: Tiana Kennell/The Times)
What is hydroponic farming?
The U.S. Agriculture Department defines hydroponics as “growing plants in a nutrient solution root medium.” No soil is used.
“You’ve seen them in five-gallon buckets with rocks," Billings said. "Our (way) is vertical and has a foam material in it."
In his method, Billings will suspend plant roots in a medium that allows both air and nutrient-rich water to circulate.
"They’re never drowned, but they constantly have just the right amount of oxygen, water, nutrients and that allows us to grow it soil-less.”
Is hydroponic farming new?
Billings researched how other urban communities are using hydroponics to improve access to food sources. In Detroit, he found some urban farmers use vacant manufacturing warehouses for hydroponic farming.
“We are not inventing, in any means, hydroponic farming,” Billings said. “They’re popping up all over the nation."
Seedlings will be used to begin the soil-less farming process at Cotton St. Farms. (Photo: Tiana Kennell/The Times)
How does growth begin?
Planting and growing begins with seedlings placed into starter cubes that are then put into trays like muffin tins — without soil. Water is pulled into the cubes. When the plants are tall enough, they are placed in hydroponic channels between two long, metal trays that then are locked onto a vertical tower. Under grow-lights, the seedlings grow horizontally. Then the plants are harvested.
Cotton St. Farms will grow vegetables and herbs from vertical towers in its indoor hydroponics farm in downtown Shreveport. (Photo: Tiana Kennell/The Times)
"If you imagine library stacks, (the towers) will be eight feet tall and six to eight feet long," Billings said. "We’re going to build our own equipment. They’ll be double-sided and the lights will be suspended on a rail system with two of them traveling back and forth."
Specialized lighting equipment will help create the ideal growing environment for vegetables and herb. (Photo: Tiana Kennell/The Times)
Is it environmentally friendly?
The grow lamps use LED lights and the farm will be highly water efficient, Billings said. The only water loss is in evaporation and plant consumption.
"Our carbon footprint is super low," he said. "It’s artificial sun, but the same spectrum. We’re allowing the vegetables to get everything they need to grow super-fast but develop on their own."
Successful growth will come by controlling and monitoring all elements of the growth process.
"It’s a closed system. Every seven to 10 days we flush the system so we don’t have fungus built into it, but it’s clean, pure water," Billings said. "We have sensors that will detect the nutrient level and electrical levels of the water — if water becomes too murky or too filled with nutrients. We create the perfect growing environment."
What will be grown?
“Off the bat, we’ll be growing kale, spinach, lettuce, lots of cooking herbs, micro greens, alfalfa, beans, edible flowers and possibly some mushrooms,” Billings said. “Once we’re up and going, we’ll extend that to heritage tomatoes, some really cool cucumbers.”
What won’t be grown?
“A lot of the traditional produce isn’t really cost-efficient to grow indoors because you have such a big plant and then you have one ear of corn. One square foot is one ear of corn, and I can’t sell two ears of corn for very much," Billings said.
"Depending on how it’s set up and the efficiency of the vegetable, it kind of limits you. You can grow almost anything hydroponically, but you don’t really want to on a commercial level.”
Does hydroponic produce taste the same as traditionally grown produce?
“It’s absolutely delicious — big, full-bodied plants. They’ve grown with the exact amount of nutrients, the exact amount of water, the perfect light spectrum," Billings said. "It's a reason why plants grow in certain times of the year — because they require certain spectrums of light. We put all that and make a perfect growing environment."
Hydroponics is a natural way of farming without the fungicides, herbicides and pesticides, Billings said, which creates "a very clean environment."
"Grocery stores pick the tomato green because it has to live for a week before it gets to the grocery store," he said. "And before it goes to the grocery store it’s bombarded with chemicals to ripen it. Then they put it on the shelf."
Billings said garden vegetables taste better they're naturally ripened.
"It takes time to build the minerals and vitamins inside vegetables and leafy greens. If you shorten that process, you don’t get all of it and that’s where the taste is."
How fresh are your ingredients compared to a big grocery store's?
Products are picked within 24 hours so they’re fresh for customers, Billings said.
"You go to the grocery store and that little container of herbs is $4. Those herbs have been sitting there a couple of weeks," Billing said. "Imagine getting herbs that were cut an hour before you got it. If you want to cook with rosemary, oregano, basil — it was living minutes before you put it in your spaghetti sauce. You’ll taste the difference.”
How will cost compare to grocery stores?
Products will be available for purchase at the downtown store or available for delivery through On The Go Delivery and Waitr.
The prices will be comparable to those at Whole Foods Market, Billings said, but slightly higher than those at Walmart.
How sustainable is hydroponic farming?
"If I’m able to sell everything we grow, it comes out to about $1 million in sales a year out of this location — not $1 million in profit," Billings said.
The idea behind urban farming is not needing 100 acres or more to produce fresh fruits and vegetables, he said. The hydroponics farm will have a smaller production rate, so Billings plans to work in tandem with other local farms.
"We will never replace traditional farmers," he said.
Michael Billings is the CEO of Cotton St. Farms, a hydroponics grow house to begin operation in downtown Shreveport. (Photo: Tiana Kennell/The Times)