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Geoponica Greens, Indoor Vertical Farm, To Open Facility In Hamilton Twp.
Geoponica Greens, an indoor hydroponics vertical farm business based in Chesilhurst, is expanding its existing operations to the historic Mill One warehouse in Hamilton Township this fall, the company announced.
August 4, 2021
Geoponica Greens, an indoor hydroponics vertical farm business based in Chesilhurst, is expanding its existing operations to the historic Mill One warehouse in Hamilton Township this fall, the company announced.
Desmond Hayes, founder and owner of Geoponica Greens, said the company utilizes hydroponics, an agricultural practice of growing plants without soil, using only water and nutrients — while avoiding the use of pesticides or insecticides.
By delivering the nutrients straight to the plants’ roots, this grow method is also able to shorten crop cycles, produce the best flavors and level of nutrition and increase the lifespan of the crop, he said.
“Geoponica Greens is dedicated to changing the way food is both grown and realized through our low-waste model and our hyperlocal interaction within nearby areas,” Hayes said.
“New Jersey is strategically located between New York City and Philadelphia, making it the perfect place to reimagine farming. We are especially excited to reach minority communities, Opportunity Zones and food deserts, and introduce our sustainable methods of agriculture to new areas.”
The new warehouse space will support Geoponica Greens’ efforts to provide fresh microgreens, leafy greens and herbs to the local communities, with plans to hire three to five employees and interns in the first year.
Because the produce will be grown in an indoor farm, it is not subjected to the effects of climate seasonality, so the facility will be able to harvest 2-3 tons of greens per year at full capacity, Hayes said.
Geoponica Greens also plans to create a local Community Supported Agriculture program aimed at bringing a subscription-based model to customers.
A minority business owner, Hayes founded Geoponica Greens in 2014.
Choose New Jersey provided Geoponica Greens with state resources information, economic development connections and site selection assistance and will continue to support the company’s success in New Jersey.
Choose New Jersey CEO Jose Lozano said his group was happy to keep such an innovative company within the state.
“True to our nickname as the Garden State and the most densely populated state in the country, it is no surprise that New Jersey is on the forefront of the urban farm movement,” he said.
“Geoponica Greens is an integral part of that movement, and Choose New Jersey is proud to support their continued growth in our state as they bring agricultural innovation to Hamilton and its surrounding communities.”
Geoponica Greens, an indoor hydroponics vertical farm business based in Chesilhurst, is expanding its existing operations to the historic Mill One warehouse in Hamilton Township this fall, the company announced.
Desmond Hayes, founder and owner of Geoponica Greens, said the company utilizes hydroponics, an agricultural practice of growing plants without soil, using only water and nutrients — while avoiding the use of pesticides or insecticides.
By delivering the nutrients straight to the plants’ roots, this grow method is also able to shorten crop cycles, produce the best flavors and level of nutrition and increase the lifespan of the crop, he said.
“Geoponica Greens is dedicated to changing the way food is both grown and realized through our low-waste model and our hyperlocal interaction within nearby areas,” Hayes said.
“New Jersey is strategically located between New York City and Philadelphia, making it the perfect place to reimagine farming. We are especially excited to reach minority communities, Opportunity Zones and food deserts, and introduce our sustainable methods of agriculture to new areas.”
The new warehouse space will support Geoponica Greens’ efforts to provide fresh microgreens, leafy greens and herbs to the local communities, with plans to hire three to five employees and interns in the first year.
Because the produce will be grown in an indoor farm, it is not subjected to the effects of climate seasonality, so the facility will be able to harvest 2-3 tons of greens per year at full capacity, Hayes said.
Geoponica Greens also plans to create a local Community Supported Agriculture program aimed at bringing a subscription-based model to customers.
About Mill One and Geoponica Greens
The historic Mill One warehouse was once home to notable Atlantic Products Corp. during the World War II era in the Trenton area. The 2,000-square-foot warehouse was selected because of its important features that will support Geoponica Greens’ hydroponics operations. With high ceilings, skylights and exposed brick walls, the impressive existing warehouse is being renovated to become a modern, sustainable space.
A minority business owner, Hayes founded Geoponica Greens in 2014.
Choose New Jersey provided Geoponica Greens with state resources information, economic development connections and site selection assistance and will continue to support the company’s success in New Jersey.
Choose New Jersey CEO Jose Lozano said his group was happy to keep such an innovative company within the state.
“True to our nickname as the Garden State and the most densely populated state in the country, it is no surprise that New Jersey is on the forefront of the urban farm movement,” he said.
“Geoponica Greens is an integral part of that movement, and Choose New Jersey is proud to support their continued growth in our state as they bring agricultural innovation to Hamilton and its surrounding communities.”
Lead Photo: Geoponica greens uses hydroponic techniques to grow produce. - Geoponica Greens
5 Ways Vertical Farming Is Improving Nutrition
Vertical farming has taken cities by storm, enabling urbanites to grow produce within their own homes and entrepreneurs to meet the growing demand for fresher and higher quantities of locally-grown produce
August 3, 2021
Vertical farming has taken cities by storm, enabling urbanites to grow produce within their own homes and entrepreneurs to meet the growing demand for fresher and higher quantities of locally-grown produce.
We often hear about vertical farms using water sustainably, 95% less than traditional open field harvesting, to provide superior tasting crops.
But, how is this soilless farming technique impacting human health?
#1: Harvesting On Demand At Peak Freshness
&ever’s Grow Tower; image sourced from &ever
With the power to farm vertically within one’s own home, consumers can now harvest their crops only moments before consumption, resulting in a higher nutritional value, better-tasting greens, and significantly less food waste.
&ever’s Grow Box is a one-stop-shop system for leafy greens and can even be operated by untrained staff, according to &ever. The proprietary technology of the climate cell creates a steady microenvironment to allow plants to grow independently of weather, seasons, and pests, plus the use of “dryponics” helps keep the plants alive until the consumer is ready to harvest.
The key here is the freshness of the crops. Produce no longer has to travel miles and miles through countries or states to get to your kitchen table. This time saved in travel is also nutritional value preserved in the crops. Another benefit is that no artificial preservatives, like wax coatings, are needed to keep the produce consumer-ready.
#2: Growing Under Perfect Conditions
Vertical farms generally use hydroponics or aeroponics to grow their plants in nutrient-enriched water that can be carefully monitored through digital sensors. This degree of control over plant nutrient supply means that the fertilization strategies are designed to match the plant needs for all 14 essential plant nutrients throughout the growth period.
Control mechanisms are also utilized to balance temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels in the grow facility and deliver the optimal combination of these factors for the specific crop or crops being grown. With climatic conditions playing no part in the crop’s success, growers have reliable year-round production of greater quantity and the highest quality.
In this sense, vertical farms are able to spend more time enhancing nutritional value and less time worrying about the success of their harvest. The SKY HIGH program led by Dr. Leo Marcelis of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, is one such program exploring factors that increase crop nutrients.
#3: Tailoring The Development Of Genetic Varieties
Vindara argues that the difference is in the seeds.
By designing seeds specifically for indoor vertical farms - “entirely through analytics, not gene-editing or GMOs” - this company claims to amplify crop yield, appearance, nutrition, and flavor.
Their seed-design system takes a data-driven approach to deliver any kind of genetic variety, tailored to each customer’s needs. According to Vindara, each property is individually editable.
Today’s seeds are still being bred for resistance to disease and pests, designed for long storage and transportation that isn’t as relevant for indoor vertical farming operations. This results in genetic tradeoffs that reduce nutritional value. Vindara removes these limitations that traditional seeds impose by delivering nutrient-dense seeds to growers.
#4: Growing Foods Adapted To Dietary Needs
Alongside fresh and flavorful food, there has been a growing demand and need for foods adapted to specific dietary needs.
Prime Delica, for example, has conducted research with Tamagawa University, CCS, and Signify to determine the optimal light recipe to increase the vitamin levels and nutritional value of lettuce. Dr. Céline Nicole from the Philips Lighting Research team has similarly studied the effects of the daily light integral (DLI) and light quality on the nitrate levels of arugula and spinach, alongside the vitamin C levels of arugula and tomatoes.
Through vertical farming, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has also successfully produced low potassium kale with increased glucosinolate content as a novel dietary option for renal dysfunction patients.
Growing foods with adapted dietary needs could thus make a world of difference in ensuring that we receive greater control over our diets, and allow us to design food-as-medicine alternatives to conventional produce.
#5: Food Safety
In using controlled growing environments, vertical farms are intrinsically free of harmful pesticides. Because of implementing biological controls, there is no need to contaminate crops with potentially toxic chemicals.
According to the CEA Food Safety Coalition, “traditional food safety risk profiles associated with conventional farming include examining the physical hazards and microbial hazards from water use, herbicide, and pesticide use, and impact from animals and animal byproducts. These do not impact CEA growers in the same way, if at all.” Even though the risk of contamination isn’t zero within CEA facilities (as seen in this recent news), CEA-grown produce has a reduced risk of such occurrences.
Compared to traditional field-grown crops, we find that the EPA regulates pesticides individually and not collectively, meaning that the pesticides can have a cumulative toxic loading effect on human health.
Studies have shown that pesticides most impact farmworkers and pesticide applicators with symptoms like nausea, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, dizziness, anxiety, and confusion. This long list of side effects tells us that pesticides are not to be taken lightly. As a result, it’s best to avoid them at all costs. Fortunately, vertical farms help us do precisely this.
Click here for more information.
Source and Photo Courtesy of Agritecture
80 Acres Farms CEO Mike Zelkind Joins CEO Keynote Line-Up For In-Person Indoor Ag-Con In Orlando Oct. 4-5, 2021
80 Acres Farms CEO Mike Zelkind will lead the Day Two CEO Keynote Address for the in-person October 4-5, 2021 edition of Indoor Ag-Con at the Hilton Orlando.
July 23, 2021
80 Acres Farms CEO Mike Zelkind will lead the Day Two CEO Keynote Address for the in-person October 4-5, 2021 edition of Indoor Ag-Con at the Hilton Orlando. Themed “Growing Your Business,” the trade show and conference for indoor |vertical farming | controlled environment agriculture will give attendees the opportunity to explore new resources on the expo floor and hear from Zelkind, other CEOs, thought leaders and industry experts from today’s cutting-edge farms and innovative companies.
“80 Acres has been making headlines this year in a number of areas – from plans to expand its produce offerings to new research initiatives. We are so excited to be returning to our live, in-person format in October and offering a platform for forward-thinking industry leaders like Mike Zelkind to share the indoor farming innovations he and the 80 Acres team are working on,” says Brian Sullivan, co-owner, Indoor Ag-Con LLC.
Scheduled for day two, October 5, 2021, Mike Zelkind’s address will be held from 11:30 am – 12:20 pm. In addition to his CEO role with 80 Acres Farms, Mike is also Board Member of Infinite Acres (est. 2019), a vertical farming leader providing customers with fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables at affordable prices.
Utilizing world-class technology and analytics, 80 Acres Farms offers customers pesticide-free food with a longer shelf-life and the highest food safety standards while using fewer natural resources to produce over 300x more food on less than 1% of the footprint. Winner of Fast Company’s eighth “Most Innovative Company in North America,” 80 Acres was also a finalist for Red Herring’s Top 100 North America award, featured two years in a row on Forbes “Best Start-up List,” and awarded the eleventh spot on the “FoodTech 500” list.
For more than 25 years, Mike has been working with top-tier food companies such as General Mills, Del Monte, Bumble Bee, and ConAgra Foods and top-tier consultancies and start-ups AT Kearney and ICG Commerce, focusing on the food industry. Over the last 15 years, he has worked with Private Equity (such as Oaktree Capital and Bain Capital’s Sankaty) to drive over $2.5B of shareholder value.
In addition to headliner keynote sessions from leaders like Mike Zelkind, other 2021 event highlights include:
ROBUST 2021 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE NOW IN DEVELOPMENT
The 2021 conference will include a full roster of keynote sessions, panel discussions, fireside chats and presentations offering a deep dive into three core tracks – Business & Marketing, Science & Technology and Alternative Crops. Other keynotes will be led by David Rosenberg, CEO, AeroFarms and Sonia Lo, CEO, Sensei Ag.
The extensive educational conference will be joined by other new initiatives and show highlights, including:
NEW LOCATION: HILTON ORLANDO – DISCOUNTED HOTEL RATES, TOO
Indoor Ag-Con’s Hilton Orlando venue makes it the perfect opportunity for a business vacation. Centrally located to all major theme parks and attractions, it is just minutes from the eclectic dining scene and entertainment of International Drive. What’s more, the Hilton Orlando resort sits on more than 26 acres of lush landscaping and tropical inspirations making it a true destination of its own. Indoor Ag-Con has arranged for discounted hotel rates for attendees and exhibitors starting as low as $129/night. Complete details are available on the show website.
EXPANDED EXHIBIT FLOOR & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
The Indoor Ag-Con team is working to bring even more resources for farmers/growers to explore across all sectors – everything from IT, energy, AI and lighting solutions to substrates, vertical farming solutions, business services and much more. Attendees and exhibitors alike will also have even more networking opportunities with daily luncheon sessions and receptions on the show floor.
QUICK FACTS:
WHEN: Monday, October 4 – Tuesday, October 5 , 2021
WHERE: Hilton Orlando, 6001 Destination Pkwy, Orlando, FL 32819
INFO: For information on exhibiting or attending www.indoor.ag or e: suzanne@indoor.ag
ABOUT INDOOR AG-CON LLC
Founded in 2013, Indoor Ag-Con has emerged as the premier trade event for vertical farming | indoor agriculture, the practice of growing crops in indoor systems, using hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic techniques. Its events are crop-agnostic and touch all sectors of the business, covering produce, legal cannabis |hemp, alternate protein and non-food crops. In December 2018, three event industry professionals – Nancy Hallberg, Kris Sieradzki and Brian Sullivan – acquired Indoor Ag-Con LLC, setting the stage for further expansion of the events globally. More information:www.indoor.ag
ABOUT 80 ACRES FARMS
80 Acres Farms is a vertical farming leader providing customers with the freshest and most nutritious fruits and vegetables at affordable prices. Utilizing world-class technology and analytics, the Company offers customers a wide variety of pesticide-free food with a longer shelf life that exceeds the highest food safety standards. More information: www.eafarms.com
SOUTH AFRICA: “The Face of Future Farming” Aeroponic & NFT Systems
Impilo Ponics is a South African based enterprise and was formed 3 yrs ago with a mandate to design various vertical growing towers to meet the ever-increasing demand for sustainable fresh nutritional food security produce especially in rural poverty-stricken areas on the African continent
Impilo Ponics is a South African based enterprise and was formed 3 yrs ago with a mandate to design various vertical growing towers to meet the ever-increasing demand for sustainable fresh nutritional food security produce especially in rural poverty-stricken areas on the African continent, consequently, we identified that our designs are also in demand for Urban based populace by means of individual residential units that allow for space-restricted dwellings Ie residential apartments, townhouse dwellings, underutilized rooftop areas to name a few.
The tower systems are made up of modular panels made from recycled plastic with various additional additives for color and UV stabilization, the unique design of the panels have the advantage of “flat Packing” which allow for compact packaging reducing logistical transportation costs both locally and Internationally, the tower designs allow for a very simple DIY assembly in a very short period of time with minimal effort and no tools involved.
We have two discipline options in the way of Aeroponics ( high pressure misting irrigation 30 >>50 Micron mist) and NFT ( a low pressure spraying irrigation 200 > 250 Micron spray), the modular design allows for additional tower segments to be added as tower height extensions as and when the users want to increase growing capacity for higher yields of the cultivars planted in the towers, we promote “multi planting” in the growing pockets of the tower for example:- Chillis x 3 plants, Basil x 3 plants, Spinach x 3 plants, Peppers x 3 plants, etc, this means that in an 84 pocket tower, for instance, you can plant up to approx. 250 plants vertically in a 1.5m2 footprint area, the system is a soilless growing method that reduces the need for fertile soil as a growing medium and allows the flexibility of dead space utilization.
The Aeroponic system only requires a timer-based irrigation time cycle that drastically reduces both energy and water source consumption - the towers only consume on average 2 litres of nutrient water source per day and the pressure pump energy usage as little as 30 watts per day, this lends itself to utilizing a small affordable solar panel system to run the towers, rainwater collection can also be utilized to sustain the water source, the end result being that we have an “off the grid” solution especially for areas with limited resources.
The NFT solution uses more or less the same amount of both energy & water consumption and again can be utilized into an “off the grid” solution.
The main difference between the two systems is that the Aeroponics generates a highly oxygenated nutrient-based mist that adheres to the root zone and during the ‘rest period between cycles” allows up to 90% of absorption of the Nutrient based nutrient solution, this encourages a shorter maturity of both plant growth and yield.
The NFT system has continual spray irrigation of root zone very much on the hydroponic principle but in a vertical environment instead of a horizontal environment, however, the irrigation cycle can be setup through a programmed timer at prescribed time periods before dehydration of the root zone takes place, all this depends on the cultivar for hydration requirements for example:- lettuce requires regular irrigation where chillis/peppers/tomatoes, etc require less
The tower designs also allow for a very simple conversion from NFT to Aeroponics at the discretion of the end-user.
The Impilo panel system also allows for a multitude of tower sizes and designs to client specifications for example:- we can create square towers, hexagonal towers, Cylindrical towers of any size and height.
Our latest designs are introducing Aeroponic Living walls, horizontal “tuber” aeroponic growing chambers (baby potato yields of up to 20Kgs per m2 surface area on a conservative 100 day growing cycle -comfortably 3 growing cycles per annum).
We also design and manufacture modular greenhouses as a turnkey solution for Micro farming to commercial size operations, budget-related affordability for a new generation of smart farming entrepreneurs, and micro-farming opportunities.
Pure Harvest Smart Farms Adopts Honeywell’s Sustainable Technology
Pioneering controlled environment agriculture (CEA) in the Middle East, Pure Harvest’s mission is to tackle some of the region’s biggest problems using technology to provide agriculture solutions that address food security, water conservation, economic diversification, and sustainability needs
Al Ain farm uses the Solstice zd for climate-controlled system – an ultra-low-global-warming-potential solution – for growth of its produce
By ITP.net Staff Writer
28 Jun 2021
The Al Ain-based Pure Harvest Smart Farms is using Honeywell’s Solstice zd (R-1233zd) ultra-low-global-warming-potential (LGWP) refrigerant to cool its new indoor farm, while reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
The UAE-based company has implemented several high-tech, controlled-environment hybrid growing systems across the Middle East to meet the regional need for fresh fruits and vegetables. However, the Al Ain farm will be the first sustainable initiative to use Honeywell’s solution, which effectively increases energy efficiency when used in chillers, and will assist the farm in reducing its carbon footprint.
Based on hydrofluoro-olefin technology, Solstice zd is non-flammable with a GWP of 1, and offers better capacity and similar efficiency to HCFC R-123 in low-pressure centrifugal chillers to cool large buildings and infrastructure.
“We’ve developed a successful controlled agriculture business that converts natural sunlight to grow fresh produce in abundance, helping us to address regional challenges such as food insecurity and water scarcity, and offer consumers fresher and more sustainable choices,” said Sky Kurtz, CEO and co-founder of Pure Harvest Smart Farms.
“Solstice zd is integral to the continued growth of our sustainable operations and is a practical and economical solution that enables us to meet our long-term goals, and comply with existing and proposed regulations for lower-GWP solutions.”
Amir Naqvi, regional business leader, Middle East, Turkey, and Africa for Honeywell Fluorine Products, added: “Solstice zd is a long-term, environmentally preferable solution for farming in the region, which typically has high energy demands as a result of the hot climate.
“Converting to Solstice zd will not only help Pure Harvest Smart Farms with sustainable practices, but will also help to accelerate the industry’s conversion to alternatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Founded in Abu Dhabi, Pure Harvest Smart Farms is a technology-enabled agribusiness focused on year-round, sustainable production of premium quality fresh fruits and vegetables. As makers of the Middle East’s first commercial-scale, semi-automated high-tech hybrid greenhouse food production system, Pure Harvest leverages innovative growing technologies and horticultural best practices to enable local-for-local production of affordable, sustainably-grown, cleaner than organic and protected by nature, fresh produce anywhere.
Pioneering controlled environment agriculture (CEA) in the Middle East, Pure Harvest’s mission is to tackle some of the region’s biggest problems using technology to provide agriculture solutions that address food security, water conservation, economic diversification, and sustainability needs.
The company’s products are found in some of the most respected and far-reaching retailers in the Middle East, such as Spinneys, Waitrose, and Carrefour, as well as numerous reputable hotels and restaurants in the UAE. The company currently grows 26 commercial varieties of tomatoes, including six that have never before been seen, and six varieties of strawberries.
By early next year, upon completion of the company’s Kuwaiti facility and its expansion into KSA, the product portfolio will broaden even further, to include raspberries, blackberries, additional vine crops and lettuces.
Solstice zd has been adopted by Trane, a leading air-conditioner manufacturer, in its new Series E CenTraVac large capacity centrifugal chillers in the Middle East as well as in Europe’s Channel Tunnel, which has demonstrated annual energy savings of 33% (4.8 GWh).
Honeywell refrigerants are sold worldwide under the Solstice and Genetron brand names for a range of applications, including refrigeration, building and automobile air-conditioning. The company and its suppliers have completed a billion-dollar investment program in research and development, and new capacity based on Honeywell’s hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) technology. Worldwide adoption of Solstice products has resulted in the reduction of more than 200 million metric tons of CO2 to date, equal to eliminating the emissions from more than 42 million cars from the road for a year.
Honeywell recently committed to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035. This commitment builds on the company’s track record of sharply reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of its operations and facilities as well as its decades-long history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals.
Food TechSustainabilityFarmingPure Harvest Smart Farms (Pureharvest.Ae/)Honeywell
VIDEOS: A Made-In-Canada Clean Energy Solution Wins Multiple Awards For Innovation
The Eavor-Loop is a closed system within which a proprietary working fluid is contained and circulated
Eavor’s technology consists of several Patent Pending innovations. The Eavor-Loop is a closed system within which a proprietary working fluid is contained and circulated. The working fluid is not fluid from a reservoir flowing into our wells, it is a fluid added to the closed-loop Eavor-Loop™ to create an efficient radiator, much like a vehicle radiator circulates fluid in a closed-loop to remove heat from a gasoline engine.
Eavor-Loop™ harvests heat from deep in the earth to be used for commercial heating applications (ex: greenhouses or district heating) or to be used to generate electricity using conventional heat to power engines. Eavor-Loop™ is an industrial-scale geothermal system that mitigates many of the issues with traditional geothermal systems, which rely upon using wells to produce brine from a subsurface aquifer.
The closed-loop is the key difference between Eavor-Loop™ and all traditional industrial-scale geothermal systems. Eavor-Loop™ is a buried-pipe system, which acts as a radiator or heat exchanger. It consists of connecting two vertical wells several kilometers deep with many horizontal multilateral wellbores several kilometers long. As these wellbores are sealed, a benign, environmentally friendly, working fluid is added to the closed-loop as a circulating fluid. This working fluid is contained within the system and isolated from the earth in the Eavor-Loop™. The wellbores act as pipes, not wells producing fluid from the earth.
The working fluid naturally circulates without requiring an external pump due to the thermosiphon effect of a hot fluid rising in the outlet well and a cool fluid falling in the inlet well. The working fluid contained in this closed-loop pipe system brings thermal energy to the surface where it is harvested for use in a commercial direct heat application or converted to electricity with a power generation module (heat engine).
Unlike heat pumps (or “geo-exchange”), which convert electricity to heat using very shallow wells, Eavor-Loop generates industrial-scale electricity or produces enough heat for the equivalent of 16,000 homes with a single installation.
An excellent new video by CNBC entitled 'How Geothermal Energy Could Power The Future' features Eavor CEO, John Redfern and several others in the modern geothermal industry such as Catherine Hickson of Geothermal Canada, Tim Latimer of Fervo Energy, Cindy Taff of Sage Geosystems and Joe Scherer of GreenFire Energy.
The video covers topics such as:
- What is Geothermal energy?
- Geothermal startups gain traction
- Major opportunity for oil and gas
- The future of geothermal
"Miles below the Earth’s surface, there’s enough thermal energy to power all of humanity for the foreseeable future. It’s called geothermal energy, and it’s poised to play an increasingly large role as a source of always available, renewable power. Now, there are a number of startups in the geothermal space, working to figure out how to access this heat in difficult-to-reach geographies, at a price point that makes sense. And it’s even gotten the attention of oil and gas industry giants, who are interested in greening their portfolios while sticking to their core competencies - extracting energy resources from deep within the Earth."
Sadarah Partners With iFarm To Advance The Next Generation of Sustainable Vertical Farming in Qatar
A multi-year partnership will optimize indoor growing of leafy greens, strawberries and edible flowers, contributing to the implementation of Qatar’s National Food Security Strategy
Doha (Qatar), Helsinki (Finland), Moscow (Russia) - Sadarah (Qatar), owner of Agrico Organic Farm, and iFarm, a Finland-headquartered AgTech company with operations in Russia, Europe and globally, joined forces to build and collaboratively manage a commercial-scale indoor farm based on iFarm’s latest vertical farming technology in the State of Qatar. The multi-year partnership will optimize the growing of leafy greens, strawberries, and edible flowers and help ensure a steady year-round supply of fresh produce to the tables of Qatari people.
“This partnership brings one of the world’s most advanced vertical farming technologies to our country. Combining Agrico and iFarm’s capability will deliver consumers even more of the freshest produce on the same day,” said Mr Ahmed Hussain Al-Khalaf, Chairman of Sadarah/Agrico. “Strawberries and most lettuce varieties are now 100% imported and in many cases of a low quality and lacking freshness. Once the development is ready we will jointly be delivering the freshest strawberries and lettuces available anywhere in the world.”
The first phase of Sadarah-iFarm partnership involves developing a commercial trial farm at Sadarah’s Agrico Farm in Al Khor, Qatar. This will be the first deployment in the countries of Gulf Cooperation Council of an AI managed vertical farm that uses drones to monitor crop health and manage yields. Thus, combining Agrico's know-how and technology for farming in arid environments with iFarm’s state-of-the-art vertical farming solution will enable to improve the quality of crops and to maximize the yield in one of the world’s harshest environments.
The second phase of the joint project entails commercial distribution of the produce to the local Qatar market and the expansion of the vertical farming technology to other farms in Qatar and its regional neighbours. Both Sadarah and iFarm are focused on delivering the most flavourful, nutritious, fresh leafy greens, strawberries, and edible flowers at any time throughout the year. The partnership will also help Qatar reduce its heavy reliance on food imports and bring the country closer to achieving the goal of reaching a 70% self-sufficiency in food production by 2023, as outlined in Qatar’s National Food Security Strategy.
“Vertical farming is a key to boosting food security in Qatar, where conventional agricultural production is extremely challenging due to the country’s hot and arid climate. We are excited to tap into Agrigo’s long-standing expertise in the region and work together toward helping Qatar achieve its ambitious goals of food independence”, said Kirill Zelenski, CEO of iFarm - Intellectual Farm, OY. “I believe that it's the beginning of a long-term and fruitful collaboration. The role of iFarm won’t be limited to simply supplying equipment and software at the construction phase, but we will help oversee the farm after it’s up and running and provide support to our partners in managing iFarm’s cutting-edge technology.”
Qatar-Russia Investment and Trade Advisory (QRITA) acted as an advisor in establishing the partnership and will continue to work with iFarm and Sadarah to develop their joint venture further.
Oleg Chizh, Managing Director and CEO of QRITA, said: “We are pleased to facilitate the integration of the advanced agricultural technology by iFarm into the food security framework in Qatar and the MENA region, in partnership with Sadarah - one of the leading diversified conglomerates in the region, with a long-standing history in the food and agriculture space. This is consistent with QRITA’s mission to enable impactful cross-border partnerships between the Russia/CIS and GCC regions. We look forward to supporting the partners in launching this pilot project and, hopefully, many subsequent projects. We are honored to contribute to promoting sustainable urban farming in Qatar.”
About Sadarah LLC (Qatar): Established in 2005, Al Sadarah Group has established itself as one of the leading family-owned conglomerates in the region. A business enterprise built around traditional family values and an uncompromising commitment to integrity, premium service, and social responsibility. Al Sadarah Group has created new benchmarks of excellence within its diverse portfolio which has grown to include ventures in F&B, real estate development, education, constructions, engineering, and investment.
Agrico Qatar is a private Qatari Agricultural Development Company that was founded on the principle of sustainable long-term agricultural production with an eye on the National target of achieving food security. AGRICO has achieved this through combining local innovation, international expertise, and the best available technology in the world. Agrico is one of the first and largest organic smart farms in Qatar, with 100,000 sqm of organic greenhouses. Production more than 10,000 ton/year and distribution over 1,400 supermarkets, restaurants, and cafes in Qatar. Using the most cutting-edge locally developed technology and turnkey solution system.
About iFarm — Intellectual Farm, OY (Finland): Established in 2017, iFarm provides innovative technologies for growing fresh greens, berries, and vegetables. iFarm has farms operating and under construction in Europe, Middle East, Russia, and CIS, with a total planting area of more than 30.000 m². iFarm technologies are recognized worldwide: the project is included in the TOP 500 food startups of the world and is a member of the EIT Food Accelerator Network; iFarm also became the best agricultural startup in Europe in The Europas Awards 2020, the winner in the category of the best social impact startup of Nordic Startup Awards 2019. Recently, iFarm received a Solar Impulse Efficient Solution label that certifies environment-friendly technologies that have proven to be profitable and economically viable.
About QRITA (Russia): QR Investment and Trade Advisory is a specialist cross-border advisory and business development firm that supports and facilitates the proactive development of business transactions between the markets of Qatar and Russia, as well as between the broader Gulf and Russia/CIS regions. QRITA is a subsidiary of the Qatari-Russian Center for Cooperation (QRCC).
'Food As Medicine Should Play A Larger Role In Society's Health'
TAMU Urban Farm United (TUFU) is a small-scale farm project based at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and uses vertical aeroponic techniques to demonstrate the benefits of hyperlocal food production. TUFU is located in a 20 ft by 50 ft greenhouse that was built in the 1980’s
Although Lisette Templin has long understood the benefits of healthy living, she immersed herself into local food production after a family illness highlighted the importance of micronutrients and macronutrients in fresh produce. Lisette, an instructional assistant professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Texas A&M, then began her research into local food production. One thing led to another, and Lisette discovered vertical aeroponic gardening and applied for Aggie Green Fund Grants to bring the concept to Texas A&M. Thus, TAMU Urban Farm United was created.
TAMU Urban Farm United (TUFU) is a small-scale farm project based at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and uses vertical aeroponic techniques to demonstrate the benefits of hyperlocal food production. TUFU is located in a 20 ft by 50 ft greenhouse that was built in the 1980’s. The greenhouse is equipped with a wet wall and shade cloth to moderate temperatures on Texas’ 100°F days, instead of keeping the greenhouse around 90°F. The greenhouse is also equipped with a heating system for cooler days.
With respect to TUFU’s vertical aeroponic system, the farm uses Juice Plus+ Tower Garden systems. According to Lisette, producing through vertical aeroponics reduces space and water requirements by 90% when compared to traditional agriculture, while also reducing labor requirements. Tower Gardens are individual aeroponic towers, which allows Lisette and her students to treat each tower as its own microcosm.
Lisette Templin
“Each tower is in its separate microcosm of growing; if one tower is contaminated with something, we can address the issues within that tower and know with certainty that it will not contaminate other towers,” explains Lisette.
The same is true for both pest and nutrient management, as each tower can be managed separately according to the specific crop. However, Lisette mentioned that the major challenge with TUFU’s current set-up is the distribution of light between the top and bottom of the tower. To address this, TUFU is looking to work with lighting companies to create more uniform light conditions along the tower’s length and provide lighting on cloudy days.
TUFU has many goals, all centered on demonstrating the use of sustainable food production methods to improve personal and community health.
Health impact of local food production
Lisette explains urban farming’s benefits first in respect to physical health, with hydroponic farming allowing growers to deliver highly nutritious, fresh products to the immediate local community. Moreover, Lisette believes that “food as medicine” should play a larger role in the health of children and society as a whole.
“Micronutrient- and macronutrient-dense food grown locally can effortlessly replace food that is highly inflammatory to the human body while providing the phytochemicals necessary to health. This way, indoor hydroponic farms can play a pivotal role in transitioning people off of medication from chronic diseases and in strengthening their immune systems,” says Lisette.
Urban farming can also benefit mental and emotional health, the domain in which Lisette specializes. According to Lisette, the food that we eat significantly affects both our physical and emotional heart, which both seem to people increasingly strained throughout society.
“The burden of sickness in the United States is leading to high suicide rates among adults, young adults, and children. I truly believe that bringing the community together to grow food while creating entrepreneurial potential can play a huge role in shifting people’s consciousness towards health and happiness with purpose,” explains Lisette.
The same is true for both pest and nutrient management, as each tower can be managed separately according to the specific crop. However, Lisette mentioned that the major challenge with TUFU’s current set-up is the distribution of light between the top and bottom of the tower. To address this, TUFU is looking to work with lighting companies to create more uniform light conditions along the tower’s length and provide lighting on cloudy days.
TUFU has many goals, all centered on demonstrating the use of sustainable food production methods to improve personal and community health.
Further development ahead for TUFU
Moving forward, the vision is to build a new greenhouse that is 100% off-grid and self-sustaining. Once built, the greenhouse would be two-storied with Tower Gardens on the top floor integrated with a meditation space. The first floor would include a seeding area, commercial kitchen, and community classroom. This, according to Lisette, will allow TUFU to have a greater impact both locally and on a larger scale.
Envisioning a sustainable urban farm model
Lisette’s work with TUFU is centered on her personal vision for sustainable living, which she hopes will drive urban farm models. Her vision includes having a livelihood model that she truly feels good about and that is environmentally sound. On the business side, Lisette explains that she envisions a business large enough to support a growing community and build connections within said community by providing training, creating jobs, and fostering personal growth and spiritual transformation.
For more information:
Lisette Templin, assistant professor Health and Kinesiology
Texas A&M, Texas Urban Farm United
lisettetemplin@tamu.edu
www.agrilifetoday.tamu.edu
Publication date: Thu 6 May 2021
Author: Rose Seguin
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Singapore Shows What Serious Urban Farming Looks Like
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how susceptible countries are to turmoil in the global food supply
MAY 3, 2021
As recently as 1970, nearly one in 10 Singaporeans was engaged in farming or fishing. Now, most of the island is urbanized. The vast majority of apartment complexes in Singapore are public housing, which allows the government to designate their rooftops as agricultural spaces in the public interest.
From what was once Singapore’s largest prison complex — the Queenstown Remand Prison, housing about 1,000 inmates at its peak — an 8,000 square meter urban farm, Edible Garden City (EGC), now bursts with colorful vegetables and fragrant herbs. Co-founded by local resident Bjorn Low in 2012, EGC is one of Singapore’s first urban https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/singapore-shows-what-serious-urban-farming-looks-like initiatives and is located inside the former prison compound. It is one of several efforts in the city-state to strengthen the island’s food security at a grassroots level. “Our goal was and is to encourage more locals to grow their own food and thus help strengthen the city’s food resilience,” says Sarah Rodriguez, EGC’s head of marketing.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how susceptible countries are to turmoil in the global food supply. This is an issue of particular concern to Singapore, which imports almost 90 percent of its food from more than 170 countries. For several years now, the city authorities have been preparing for just such a crisis. The Singapore Food Authority (SFA) launched its ambitious “30 by 30” initiative in 2019, with the objective of producing 30 percent of Singapore’s nutritional needs locally by the year 2030. Supported by a mix of government grants and incentives, 30 by 30 will test the limits of urban food production. At last count in 2019, the city had 220 farms and was meeting 14 percent of its demand for leafy vegetables, 26 percent for eggs, and 10 percent for fish.
Vertical farms feed an island
As recently as 1970, nearly one in 10 Singaporeans was engaged in farming or fishing, either directly or indirectly. Orchards and pig farms dotted the island, and many residents grew fresh vegetables and raised backyard chickens. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, however, most of these occupations disappeared from the rapidly urbanizing city-state. Competing demands for land use led to agriculture being limited to about one percent of the land. Singapore’s food supply grew increasingly reliant on imports.
That began to change about a decade ago amid serious concerns about Singapore’s heavy reliance on imports. In response, the government backed efforts to shore up the nation’s food security with urban farming. In 2014, the authorities announced a SG$63 million (USD$47 million) Agriculture Productivity Fund to support farms in increasing their outputs by using innovative technologies. Over 100 local farms have benefitted so far.
But with COVID-19 threatening to disrupt the city’s imports, the fear that essential food items may not be available became very real. “People have started to resonate with the need for reliable access to food in their own homes and neighborhoods,” says Cuifen Pui, co-founder of the Foodscape Collective, which works with local communities and natural farming practitioners to transform underutilized public spaces into biodiverse edible community gardens. “Many Singaporeans are connecting with the concept of food security at a personal level.”
EGC, which has designed and built over 260 small produce farms for restaurants, hotels, schools and residences in Singapore, also experienced an increased interest in their foodscaping service. “Our foodscaping team saw a 40 percent increase in inquiries from homeowners between April and June last year,” says Rodriguez.
Pre-pandemic, EGC supplied produce to about 60 restaurants in the city and shipped produce weekly to 40 local families that had signed on to their Citizen Box subscription service. When restaurants shut in April last year, EGC quickly converted its restaurant-supplying beds and systems to grow crops for Citizen Box instead. “A bed that was previously used to grow tarragon for restaurants was repurposed to grow something like kang kong (water spinach) that is more suitable for home cooking,” explains Rodriguez. “We were able to supply three times more households through Citizen Box.” EGC uses natural farming methods like composting for soil regeneration and the use of permaculture techniques, to ensure that the impact on the environment is minimal and the soil remains healthy and productive for future generations.
Currently, EGC also grows kale and chard using hydroponics and microgreens in soil, all of it in a climate-controlled, indoor environment. “We strongly believe that there should be a balance between agritech and natural farming,” says Rodriguez. “We prefer to focus on the wide variety of veggies that grow well in our climate.”
EGC’s focus on natural farming is shared by the Foodscape Collective. It’s co-founder Pui had the opportunity to start a community edible garden in 2013, along with her neighbors. More recently, at the invitation of the National Parks Board and The Winstedt School, the Foodscape Collective, together with the local community, is transforming land in two locations using permaculture techniques. “These gardens are multi-functional spaces — to grow edibles, to grow plants for biodiversity, to nature watch, to enhance the soil ecosystem by composting food scraps, or simply just spaces to relax in a busy city,” says Pui.
Edible Garden City, once the largest prison in Singapore, is now an urban farm helping to bolster the city-state’s food security. (Photo courtesy of Edible Garden City)
But with less than one percent of Singapore’s land available for agriculture, 30 by 30 is increasing demand for tech-based solutions that can produce large volumes of food in small spaces. “Technology plays a huge role in Singapore’s food security,” says Prof. Paul Teng, food security expert and Dean of the National Institute of Education International. Rooftop farms like Comcrop — one of the recipients of the government’s SG$30 million (USD$22 million) 30X30 Express grant — and Citiponics are growing greens hydroponically on rooftops.
Since the vast majority of apartment complexes in Singapore are public housing, the government can designate their rooftops as agricultural spaces in the public interest. In 2020, the rooftops of nine multistory car parks in public housing estates were made available for farming by the government.
Other farms like Sustenir are using climate-controlled agriculture to grow their greens entirely indoors. “Singapore will always have to maximize its land and labor productivity for self-production, and this means technology,” says Teng. “It doesn’t make economic sense to produce food in Singapore when there is no comparative advantage, such as with rice and other large area-requiring crops.”
In line with its focus on highly-productive farming, SFA plans to redevelop Lim Chu Kang — an area in the northwest of Singapore covered with traditional farms — into a high-tech agri-cluster, which would triple the output of the area. The redevelopment work is expected to begin in 2024.
Egg production and aquaculture are also being ramped up. Chew’s Agriculture, a household name in Singapore for its farm-fresh eggs, received a 30X30 Express grant to build additional hen houses equipped with technologies to minimize egg breakage and maximize production.
As of 2019, Singapore had 122 sea- and land-based fish farms, with the majority of its offshore fish farms located in the Johor Strait to the north of the island. With these fish farms reaching maximum production levels, potential sites in the southern waters of Singapore are being assessed for suitability and environmental impact. Vertical aquaculture on land is also being viewed as an alternative to increase fish production. Land-based fish farm Apollo Aquaculture recently made news with its upcoming eight-story, state-of-the-art farm.
On the public-facing side, the SFA is encouraging citizens to buy locally farmed food, emphasizing its freshness and nutritive value. A new logo SG Fresh Produce was launched to make all locally grown produce easily identifiable in supermarkets.
As Singapore moves ahead with its 30 by 30 plans, it will still need to import the majority of its food. Not far from Lim Chu Kang is Sungei Kadut, one of Singapore’s oldest industrial estates, which will be redeveloped in a phased manner into an agri-tech innovation hub. “The government is hoping to develop the country into a regional agrifood tech hub for innovations that can offer technology exports to the region,” says Teng. “By helping other producing countries with technologies that can up their production, they will have more for Singapore to import.”
This story was originally published in Reasons to Be Cheerful. It is reprinted here with permission.
Next City is one of few independent news outlets covering urbanism’s efforts to achieve a more equitable city; including how to bring people out of poverty, empower business owners of color, connect us with sustainable technology, center community-based cultural knowledge, house the homeless, and more. Ultimately, it’s about how we care for each other, and we need your support to continue our work.
Anne Pinto Rodrigues is a Netherlands-based freelance journalist, writing on a broad range of topics under social and environmental justice. Her work has been published in The Guardian, The Telegraph, CS Monitor, Yes!, Ensia, and several other international publications.
Lead Photo: (Photo courtesy of Comcrop)
Sustainably Goals Urges Architect To Build A Greenhouse Around Former Fruit Farm
As decided by the municipality of Gooik, visitors can now see the refurbished agricultural buildings enclosed within a greenhouse-like structure, this way learning more about the countryside of Belgium
Is it a greenhouse, is it an educational center, is it a former fruit farm? It is all in one. A former fruit farm in Gooik, Belgium, is now functioning as an educational center. As decided by the municipality of Gooik, visitors can now see the refurbished agricultural buildings enclosed within a greenhouse-like structure, this way learning more about the countryside of Belgium. Architect Jo Taillieu: "We wanted a generous building that could provide the necessary comfort to all users of the center, even in bad weather, and provide an anchor point for exploring the Pajottenland.”
The old farmhouse had been used as an education center already for years, but the project became to big to be run by volunteers completely. That’s why the municipality bought it and realized further expansion plans.
Interwoven
"Paddenbroek is by no means inconspicuous. In the hilly Pajottenland region, landscape, nature, heritage, and culture have been closely interwoven for centuries. Maintaining that balance was one of the major goals," architect Jo Taillieu explains. "The farmstead and especially the outbuildings were in a bad state and unsuitable for achieving the intended objectives. The link with the context was almost non-existent. The first idea - a classic renovation - was discarded, as was a new building, because it was unrealistic and did not meet the task that could be expected of an educational and tourist center. We, therefore, opted for a roof that would cover the farmstead, the historic baking oven, and the space around it."
Photo courtesy Jo Tailleu
Sustainability was one of the main goals of the construction. The dilapidated outbuildings were dismantled and the farmstead and the baking oven incorporated, restored, and insulated with moisture-regulating wood-wool cement boards and loam. Only these rooms and the offices can be heated. Thus, heating costs are sustainably limited to a few cores in the building and not everything needs to be air-conditioned. Inside the unheated greenhouse, therefore, there is an intermediate climate. Visitors are sheltered from rain and wind and can still enjoy the magnificent view of the surroundings. Upstairs are two more multi-purpose rooms that can be used as meeting rooms.
According to Stefan De Clerq, one of the business managers of the greenhouse construction company, the challenge was mostly the size and complexity of the project, as the features of this construction did not allow for a basic model. We created a unique truss and steel construction where each step was carefully monitored. All steel components were produced in our own workshops. This challenge was brought to a successful conclusion by the close cooperation between our draftsmen, our production team, and the external architects. Our own typical aluminum profiles and glass, applied in the roof and wall, also contribute to the elegant appearance of this nevertheless quite robust realization."
The construction of a complex like that of Paddenbroek in a rural area is not obvious and initially met with the necessary reservations, as could be expected. The fact that the municipality was prepared to go along with the story of architect Jo Taillieu and project manager Dries Deleye, therefore, shows vision and insight. Now that the construction is complete, everyone agrees that Gooik has gained a valuable multipurpose center that responds to ecological sustainability and from which the residents can also derive maximum benefit.
Lead photo: Photo courtesy Jo Tailleu
Publication date: Thu 29 Apr 2021
© HortiDaily.com / Contact
Oishii Sees Itself As ‘The Tesla of Vertical Farming.’ Here’s How It’s Cracking CEA Strawberries
“Strawberries are the hardest crop to grow in a vertical system and it’s been every vertical farmer’s dream to grow them. Conquering strawberries allows us to grow into other crops very quickly.”
March 31, 2021
Indoor farming is best known for leafy greens and micro-herbs. But New York’s Oishii is hoping to blaze a new trail and sweeten up the segment.
“A lot of people call strawberries the holy grail of vertical farming,” Oishii founder Hiroki Koga tells AFN. “Strawberries are the hardest crop to grow in a vertical system and it’s been every vertical farmer’s dream to grow them. Conquering strawberries allows us to grow into other crops very quickly.”
The startup announced a $50 million funding round this month led by Mirai Creation Fund, part of Tokyo-based SPARX Group. Additional investors included Sony Innovation Fund — the corporate venture arm of Japanese tech giant Sony — Tokyo-based AI company PKSHA Technology, and San Francisco-based VC Social Starts.
“We’ve had multiple offers from different funds but we ultimately decided to go with SPARX because they have a very strategically aligned mandate. They’re backed by Toyota, one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world [and] vertical farming is the intersection of agriculture and manufacturing,” Koga says.
Although it may seem odd for Toyota to be interested in agrifood tech, the carmaker is working on its Woven City project located at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji. It’s a so-called “living laboratory” where researchers live and work full-time to imagine what future cities may look like through technological innovation.
Koga is no stranger to controlled environment ag (CEA). Six years ago, he was working as a CEA consultant in Japan, helping large corporations enter the space. While Koga views Japan as the birthplace of vertical farming, he moved to the US in 2015 – around the time that the method was becoming popular in the country.
Alongside the allure of being the first to crack indoor strawberry cultivation, Koga sees the fruit as a way to address what he calls the “unit economics problem” in indoor farming. He sees strawberries as providing a very strong revenue and profit model, as well as a crop that can further “democratize” vertical farming.
“In order to democratize it, I wanted to start with something that’s truly impactful — not products that people will buy because they are sustainable — [but] something that is superior compared to what is on the market, and that would completely change people’s experience,” Koga says.
He leveraged his personal network in Japan to collaborate with farmers and research institutions on the details of indoor strawberry cultivation – from seeding all the way to harvesting. It took “countless” iterations to get the formula right, he says.
“There’s probably 20 or 30 different things that you can tweak in a given cycle of the plant. So, let’s say there are five or six different stages of the plant life cycle – if you multiply all of those, there are millions of different combinations,” he explains.
“It’s a matter of tweaking those on a daily basis to figure out what the perfect mix is.”
However, this know-how isn’t what Koga considers to be Oishii’s “secret sauce.” Rather, that’s the bees that the startup’s using handle pollination.
While Koga won’t spill the ‘bees’ about how all this works in Oishii’s context, he claims to have found a way to replicate a natural environment within an indoor vertical farm that convinces the critters they’re outside.
“They live in harmony with our farmers and robots,” is all Koga will add.
The Tesla of vertical farming
With the initial R&D under its belt, Oishii is now turning its focus to consistency and quality of the product. Its current New Jersey facility spans a few tennis courts, Koga says; but its next one will be the size of an American football field. It currently sells direct-to-consumer through its website, and through traditional retail channels like supermarkets.
But its strawberries may be out of some consumers’ grocery budgets, retailing between $15 and $50 per pack depending on the size and the number of fruits. This price point puts Oishii’s berries in the luxury food category – for now, at least.
“If you think about how Tesla started with a Roadster or Nissan started with the LEAF, we like to think we are in the Roadster camp,” Koga says.
“Our current Omakase berry is our Roadster right now, but we already have developed multiple strawberry cultivars that we can produce much more cost-efficiently. Our Model S and Model 3 will be on the market soon,” he says, referring to the latter-day models now being sold by Elon Musk’s company.
Another US vertical farming startup, Plenty, is also trying to solve the strawberry equation. It recently added Driscoll’s to its list of backers and is collaborating with the major berry producer on indoor strawberry cultivation.
Koga welcomes competition in the space, particularly if it means branching beyond leafy greens.
“It’s generally a good thing that people are following in our footsteps and expanding out of the leafy green space. The more berries the better,” he says.
“Ten years ago, we only had Tesla, maybe a few other companies. But Tesla was the one who proved that it can be done, and now there are dozens and dozens of electric car manufacturers. [The electric car] become much more widely available.”
Vertical Farming Gaining Popularity Among Traditional Growers
They see opportunities in using techniques from vertical cultivation, for example in propagation. “It is not just about improving the quality of the young plants, but above all about the controllability of the cultivation, and thus the speed and quality,” says Koen with Mechatronix
'Where in recent years vertical farming enthusiasts have perhaps been mainly qualified as hipsters with a rather expensive hobby, this new branch of horticultural sport is steadily on the rise and traditional growers are also finding their way to the multi-layer installations.'
They see opportunities in using techniques from vertical cultivation, for example in propagation. “It is not just about improving the quality of the young plants, but above all about the controllability of the cultivation, and thus the speed and quality,” says Koen with Mechatronix.
What is the most expensive greenhouse there is? That would be an empty greenhouse, and that is exactly where, according to Koen van Mechatronix, opportunities lie for vertical farming. “In lettuce cultivation you see many nurseries working with fully automated cultivation systems. With mobile gutters, they can use the available space in the greenhouse as efficiently as possible. However, it remains difficult to adjust the speed of the preliminary cultivation to the available space in the pond. By replacing traditional, unexposed or illuminated cultivation with cultivation that is more controllable in a multi-layer system, you can plan much more precisely how many plants to set up. Accurate to the day, you know how many plants are ready to go in,” he says.
The lighting company developed a multi-layer cultivation system together with Meteor Systems: an automated track, including spray booms. In the past quarter, intensive testing was already carried out with a grower who works with floating gutters. “We have 120,000 cuttings up in the test setup. Multi-layered, of course, because otherwise, it would be too expensive in terms of floor space. Now you can grow enough cuttings on a few square meters to fill 1 / 3rd of the garden,” he shows.
The controlled cultivation makes it possible to use the entire cultivation system more intensively, which shortens the payback period and the depreciation period. “You can get more heads of lettuce from your expensive greenhouse,” Koen summarizes. “In addition, you always send exactly the same quality plants to the pond, which also gives you more control over your outgrowth. If you still adhere to the correct lighting strategy, you can start making a perfect prediction on your planning. This wasn't possible before. ”
Further opportunities
In herbs there are also opportunities for hybrid cultivation, where part of the cultivation will takes in an indoor or multi-layer cultivation system and the outgrowth will take place "as usual" in the greenhouse. “In the classic, fast-growing herbs, a full indoor cultivation is soon done, but in the woody herbs it is purely the rooting that takes place in a VF installation,” says Koen. “Total cultivation is too slow for this. Your turnaround time is too long and that makes the investment per m2 too expensive, but rooting often goes perfectly in a VF system.” In the same way, plant breeders use the techniques in part of the propagation, for example, to improve healing after grafting or to speed up cultivation from mother plants. "Ultimately, propagation is about the controllability of a known phase of the propagation."
All in all, this means that there appear to be more and more surprising opportunities for vertical farming, also in Europe. “The first major projects are starting to arrive, although we also see that people here are even less familiar with the possibilities and often depict it as expensive cultivation,” says Koen. “And of course an economic assessment must always be made. It will not be the case that complete crops will be placed indoors here tomorrow - there is always a reason to look at the sun. Where possible we use the sun, and where necessary the lighting. ”
For more information:
Koen Vangorp
MechaTronix
koen@mechatronix-asia.com
www.horti-growlight.com
8 Apr 2021
Expanding Controlled Environment Agriculture Beyond 'The Big 4'
Greenhouses, vertical farms, and hybrid systems (collectively known as controlled environment agriculture or CEA) continue to attract investment at a much greater scale than in previous decades
By PETER TASGAL
March 29, 2021
Greenhouses, vertical farms, and hybrid systems (collectively known as controlled environment agriculture or CEA) continue to attract investment at a much greater scale than in previous decades. In each of the past five years, there have been multiple nine-figure capital raises. Capital has been deployed across farm types:
Large-scale greenhouses (e.g., AppHarvest, Mastronardi Produce),
Regional greenhouses (e.g., Gotham Greens, Bright Farms),
Localized vertical farms (e.g., InFarm – Berlin, Kalera).
Sources of funding have expanded from almost exclusively highly-specialized private equity investors to include public equity, mezzanine debt and even commercial banks. Within these funding sources, the breadth of investors has expanded beyond agriculture-focused investors to more mainstream investors, especially those with an interest in Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing.
More from The Packer: Deep dive on the economics of greenhouse growing
Despite all of the investment, the vast majority of produce grown in CEA’s across North America consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and lettuce, and leafy greens (“The Big 4”). Most of the lettuce and leafy greens are coming from CEA’s in the U.S. In Canada, The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers include 220 members producing tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers on over 3,000 acres of greenhouse.
In my opinion, the next leap for the industry will be expanding the breadth of products. Specifically, focusing on products the taste of which is highly important to the consumer. A strawberry, for example, is a more important purchasing decision to the average consumer compared to lettuce. Lettuce is much more likely to be eaten as part of a salad along with a variety of other ingredients. Today, you can buy at mainstream retail locations a greenhouse-grown strawberry likely grown by Mucci Farms in Ontario or Mastronardi’s Green Empire Farms in New York.
Consumer demand will continue to drive product expansion. Meeting that demand will be possible through further investment in the CEA space. Although investment has been growing, it has not met the levels of other industries where many billions of dollars have been invested on an annual basis. Investment levels in CEA are likely to become far greater over the near future as some of the largest investors in the world are focused on investments that meet and exceed ESG standards.
More from The Packer: On tour with AeroFarms
Efficient vertical farms and greenhouses meet and exceed ESG standards. The farms are closed-loop systems where everything that goes into the farm is contained and recycled. Additionally, as the environment is fully controlled, only the precise amounts of inputs are added so as to limit excess waste. Lastly, a controlled environment allows for plants to grow without chemicals and pesticides.
Combining consumers’ desire for more locally-grown produce throughout all seasons of the year with increased investor appetite should drive great growth across the industry for years to come. I believe the biggest leap will be new and exciting products coming from indoor farms. This will all be enhanced with incremental improvements in product taste, farm efficiency, and additional varieties within The Big 4 and other products to come.
Peter Tasgal is a Boston-area food agriculture consultant focused on controlled environment agriculture.
This Indoor Vertical Farm Relies On Hydroponics To Grow Crops Anywhere During Any Season!
Hydroponic vertical farming is a form of farming that ditches the need for soil, substituting in different root-supporting materials like peat moss or Rockwool, allowing plants to grow in nutrient-rich water
Since 2013, the Green Concept Award has functioned as a platform for networking and been awarded to designers who have made globally sustainable and innovative products. The awards recognize products already on the market or in their conceptual stages that stand out for their design, innovation, and commitment to sustainability. Each year, the Green Concept Award jury members finalize a pre-selection list before awarding the winning product with the year’s title. One of the products on 2021’s pre-selection list is Farmhouse, a hydroponic vertical farm conceptualized by designers at Kingston University’s School of Art.
Hydroponic vertical farming is a form of farming that ditches the need for soil, substituting in different root-supporting materials like peat moss or Rockwool, allowing plants to grow in nutrient-rich water. The five-tiered Farmhouse is stocked with trays that contain all the materials necessary for optimal hydro-plant growth, like filtered, nutrient-infused water, oxygen, and root support.
Additionally, the vertical farm comes equipped with bright lights, either LEDs or HIDs, to replace the natural sunlight outdoors so that each plant can receive special lighting according to its own Daily Light Integral (DLI). Hydroponics is a sustainable farming practice for many reasons, but a significant one might be that by tending to a hydroponic farm, like Farmhouse, crops can be grown anywhere, during any time of the year.
The food we eat on a day-to-day basis travels about 1,500 miles before reaching our plate. While picking produce up at the supermarket seems simple, a lot of pollution takes place behind the scenes, all before hitting the shelves. Delivering produce to grocery stores across the globe requires lots of plastic packaging and plenty more fuel for transportation, increasing levels of microplastic and air pollution in the process. The designers behind Farmhouse aim to cut those unsustainable practices by designing a hydroponic farming solution that can be used in any home, during any season.
Designer: Kingston University (Kingston School of Art)
The five shelves of the Farmhouse contain all the necessary materials required for hydroponic farming.
Outfitted with shelves, Farmhouse grows crops using metal trays that guide the plant’s direction of growth.
A water system, filter, and root-support material all work together to help produce crops through hydroponics.
Without the convenience of natural sunlight, hydroponic farming relies on LEDs and HIDs to feed crops with light.
Thanks to a ribbed glass pane and warm color scheme, Farmhouse can fit into any room.
Coming in denim blue, moss green, rose pink, scarlet red, and blonde yellow – the Farmhouse also comes with a simple frame and intuitive build.
A raised top shelf feeds the plants inside the Farmhouse with plenty of airflow and oxygen.
Lisette Templin, Professor At Texas A&M University - A Pioneering Woman In Agriculture
Lisette Templin is the director and founder of the Texas Urban Farm United (TUFU - TAMU) a startup vertical farm she and a couple of students began in 2019
According to Lenny Geist and Anne Amoury, with Kansas Freedom Farms, one of many pioneering women in agriculture is Lisette Templin, a professor of health and kinesiology at Texas A&M University (TAMU) in College Station, Texas. Lisette Templin is the director and founder of the Texas Urban Farm United (TUFU - TAMU) a startup vertical farm she and a couple of students began in 2019.
As a faculty member overseeing Physical Education, Templin is keenly aware of how food choices and essential daily nutrition are to overall animal and human health.
She and her students received a small grant from the TAMU public health school to go vertical. Templin has a number of hydroponic growing towers in her new venue she and a few co-workers maintain. Some of the all-natural forage is donated to the university’s “12th Can” food bank program to alleviate local hunger...clearly one of Templin’s strongest passions.
Lisette Templin (Photo credits: Texas A&M University)
“Food as medicine must play a more urgent and vital role in the health of our children and the health of our country. Indoor hydroponic farms can play a pivotal role in transitioning people off of medication from chronic diseases as well as strengthen the immune system.
Micro and macronutrient dense food grown locally can effortlessly replace food that is highly inflammatory to the human body while providing the needed phytochemicals that promote health,” she wrote recently. Templin is in the process of applying for grants and financial support in hopes of raising $1 million (USD) to erect a two-story CEA facility that will be home to hydroponic growing operations on the top floor with a kitchen, cafeteria, classrooms, and offices on the ground floor.
Photo credits: Texas A&M Urban Farm United / The Eagle
“Hydroponic food is about the impact of delivering maximum nutrient density to the immediate local community. Hydroponic vertical growing technology's innate potential is its ability to eradicate food deserts across our country,” Templin says. Clearly, she’s a Texas trailblazer with tall towers to tend.
According to Lenny Geist, "we need more like Templin, to improve agriculture and promote environmental stewardship. It behooves the stuffed shirts to follow the determined bunch out on the “north 40” -- the bunch that likes to wear Gucci or Louis Vitton heels just as much as they do Justin or Tony Lama boots."
"They aren’t afraid of hard work, trying new things, and exploring what’s possible even if it means a setback or two along the way," he adds. "Since they see these as learning opportunities to get better and march forward toward their ultimate objectives having gained greater perspectives. Someday, these movers and shakers or any of their sure-to-follow feminine disciples may just give the old, stodgy stuffed shirts the boot. There are lots of reasons to believe this will be for the best."
For more information:
Lisette Templin,
Texas A&M, Texas Urban Farm United
lisettetemplin@tamu.edu
www.agrilifetoday.tamu.edu
29 Mar 2021
Kimbal Musk’s Quest To Start One Million Gardens
The tech veteran and restaurateur (and brother of Elon) has been preaching the ‘real food’ gospel for years — and his newest project may be his most ambitious yet
MARCH 20, 2021
The tech veteran and restaurateur (and brother of Elon) has been preaching the ‘real food’ gospel for years — and his newest project may be his most ambitious yet
By ALEX MORRIS
Million Gardens Movement
On the day he almost died, Kimbal Musk had food on the brain. The internet startup whiz, restaurateur, and younger brother of Tesla’s Elon had just arrived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from a 2010 TED conference where chef Jamie Oliver had spoken about the empowerment that could come from healthy eating. This was something Musk thought about a lot — food’s untapped potential, how he might be a disruptor in the culinary space — but beyond expanding his farm-to-table ethos along with his restaurant empire, Musk hadn’t yet cracked the code. Then he went sailing down a snowy slope on an inner tube going 35 miles an hour and flipped over, snapping his neck. The left side of his body was paralyzed. Doctors told the father of three that he was lucky: Surgery might bring movement back.
“I remember telling myself, ‘It’s all going to be fine,’ and then realizing that tears were streaming down the side of my face,” he says. “I was like, ‘Yeah, OK. I don’t really know what’s going on. I’m just going to, you know, let things go.’”
Musk, 48, eventually made a full recovery, but it involved spending two months on his back, which gave him plenty of time to think about the intersections of food, tech, and philanthropy. Since then, he has launched an initiative to put “learning gardens” in public schools across America (now at 632 schools and counting); courted Generation Z into the farming profession by converting shipping containers into high-tech, data-driven, year-round farms; spoken out vociferously against unethical farming practices and vociferously for the beauty and community of slow food; and this year, on the first day of spring, is kicking off a new campaign with Modern Farmer’s Frank Giustra to create one million at-home gardens in the coming year.
Aimed at reaching low-income families, the Million Gardens Movement was inspired by the pandemic, as both a desire to feel more connected to nature and food insecurity have been at the forefront of so many people’s lives. “We were getting a lot of inquiries about gardening from people that had never gardened before,” says Giustra. “People were looking to garden for a bunch of reasons: to supplement their budget, because there was a lot of financial hardship, to help grow food for other people, or just to cure the boredom that came with the lockdown. To keep people sane, literally keep people sane, they turned to gardening.”
The program offers free garden kits that can be grown indoors or outdoors and will be distributed through schools that Musk’s non-profit, Big Green, has already partnered with. It also offers free curriculum on how to get the garden growing and fresh seeds and materials for the changing growing seasons. “I grew up in the projects when I was young, in what we now call food deserts,” says EVE, one of the many celebrities who have teamed up with the organization to encourage people to pick up a free garden or to donate one. “What I love about this is that it’s not intimidating. Anyone can do this, no matter where you come from, no matter where you live. We are all able to grow something.”
Rolling Stone recently talked with Musk about the Million Gardens Movement, why shipping containers can grow the most perfect basil, and how he is channeling his family’s trademark disruptor drive to change America’s relationship with food.
How did you first get interested in food and then how did that grow into an interest in agricultural innovation?
I’ve always loved food. I started cooking for my family when I was 12, maybe even 11.
What was the first meal you made? Do you remember?
It’s actually funny. My mother is a wonderful person, great dietitian, but because she’s a dietitian, the food we ate was brown bread and yogurt or bean soup. I mean, as a kid, it drove me crazy. So I asked my mom, “If I could cook, could we get something else?” And so I went to the butcher, and I asked them, “How do you roast a chicken?” And he said, “Put it in a really hot oven for one hour.” And I was like, “Oh, how hot is hot?” He was like, “Make it as hot as your oven goes for one hour, and if it starts to burn, then just take it out.” And he gave me the chicken, and that was it. I’ve kept that recipe forever. 450, 500 degrees, one hour. That’s a great straight-up recipe.
And then my mother insisted on a vegetable, so I decided to do French fries, which was my funny way of convincing her that I’m doing a vegetable.
It is a vegetable.
I totally screwed up the French fries. I didn’t heat up the oil ahead of time, and if you don’t do that, the potatoes actually soak in the oil so you’re eating basically a sponge of oil. I made everyone throw up. But the roast chicken was delicious. Everyone loved that. And so I was encouraged to cook more. I cooked for my friends in university. I didn’t have any money, so I figured out how to cook for 40 cents a person. It was a Kraft dinner with weiner sausages. And if someone chipped in an extra dollar, I’d get actually real cheese instead of the powdered cheese.
Anyway, I studied business, and then went down to California to start a company with my brother building maps and door-to-door directions for the internet.
I read that you and your brother were sleeping in your office and showering at the YMCA and that sort of startup lifestyle made you appreciate food.
Yeah, that’s totally right. We only had enough money for rent for either an office or an apartment, so we rented an office. I had a little minibar fridge and put one of those portable cooktops above it, and that was our kitchen. But we also ate at Jack in the Box all the time because it was the only place that was open late. Ugh, 25 years later, I can still remember the items on that menu. It was just really, really not great — a huge inspiration to go focus on real food after that.
And I just did not like the lack of social connection. It’s a work-hard-go-to-sleep-and-work-hard-again culture with not much socializing in the way that I enjoy, which is eating food, eating together over a meal, talking about ideas. I kind of was suffocating a little bit.
It’s a Soylent culture.
Yeah, exactly. They actually want food to be a pill. So I kind of needed to leave. We ended up selling [our company] for a gazillion dollars when I was 27, and I had this sort of opportunity to do whatever I wanted. So I went to New York to enroll at the French Culinary Institute.
Was culinary school as brutal as people make it out to be?
Absolutely brutal. It was Full Metal Jacket, but cooking. They just totally break you down. They make sure you don’t have any faith in your own abilities — within a few months, you’re like, “I am a completely useless fool” — and then after that, they start building you up with the skills they want you to have. It was very, very hard on the ego. I managed to graduate, but I would say 70 percent of the people that start don’t finish — and you pay upfront.
I actually graduated just a few weeks before 9/11 and woke up to the sounds of the plane hitting the building. That’s how close we were. Fourteen days later, I started volunteering to feed the firefighters. We would do 16-hour days, every day — there was never a reason not to work because the alternative is you sit at home during the nightmare after 9/11, where no one was on the streets or anything. I started peeling potatoes and eventually got to the point where I would drive the food down to Ground Zero. The firefighters would come in completely gray in their face and gray in their eyes, covered in dust. And then they’d start eating, and you’d see the color come back in their face, the light in their eyes.
And you worked as a line cook after that?
Yeah, for Hugo Matheson, at his restaurant. He was the chef of a popular restaurant in Boulder, and I just wanted to learn. I was a line cook for $10 an hour for probably 18 months. And loved it. You know, it’s a submarine culture. And you get in there and everything you do in the moment is measured in the moment. It’s very much the opposite of [building] software.
You and Hugo eventually started a restaurant [The Kitchen] that practiced the farm-to-table thing before it was even really a term. Why was it so important to you to have local suppliers and organic methods? At that point, was it mainly about flavor, or was there a bigger ethic behind it?
For sure flavor was the driver. But I think that the thing that I resonated with more was the sense of this concept of community through food. You know, when I was feeding the firefighters, it was all about community. The fishermen would come and give us their fish, so we got the best fish you can imagine. The cooks were all volunteers. We were going through this really tough time. So for me, the community through food was what I loved about it.
[At The Kitchen], we literally had a basic rule to farmers saying we’ll buy whatever you grow. We said that if you can deliver by 4 p.m., then we will get it on the menu that evening.
Oh, wow.
We would get fiddlehead ferns at 4 p.m. and be trying to think, “OK, what can we do with this?” If you turn the food around that quickly, it really does show up in the flavor.
Food that had potentially been in the ground that morning.
Not potentially. Every day was working with the harvest of that day. We had 43 different farmers coming to the back door. It was awesome.
Let’s move ahead to the part of the story, after your accident, when you’re like, “All right, I’ve gotten this new lease on life and now what am I going to do with it?” Obviously, within the food space, there are a lot of choices you could have made. So how did you decide where to go from there?
So when I came out of that hospital, I resigned as CEO of my software company. I told my wife I wanted a divorce. The spiritual message I got was: Work with a way to connect kids to real food, to get kids to understand what real food is. And real food for me is food that you trust to nourish the body, trust to nourish the farmer, trust to nourish the planet. It’s very simple. Processed food would be the opposite of that. There’s no nourishment there. The farmer gets hosed and it’s terrible for the planet. So I [looked into] farm-oriented work and cooking-skills training. Turned out giving kids knives isn’t a good idea.
What? [laughter]
Yeah. Exactly. But the thing that came back to me was the value of a school garden. I actually was pretty frustrated with school gardens. I had been a philanthropic supporter of them for a few years and found them to be expensive, hard to maintain — a passionate parent would put it in, and then their kid would graduate, and it would become this mess in the corner of the schoolyard. So we [created] learning gardens. They’ve got a beautiful Fibonacci sequence layout. They’re made in a factory, but they have a natural look and feel. These are totally food-safe and can go on any school ground. They’re [wheelchair] accessible, easy to teach in, and built into the irrigation system of the school. We go in and we do 100 of them at a time. Pre-COVID we got to almost 700 schools in Denver, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Memphis, L.A.
How did you decide which cities to go into?
I believe this is useful anywhere, but what I found was low-income communities were the areas where you really needed it. Private schools or wealthier schools, they all have gardens — there’s not a private school out there that doesn’t embrace having a school garden. It’s actually the low-income schools that don’t have it. And that is also, coincidentally or not, where the obesity is. And so what I wanted to do is take what existed in private schools and put it into low-income schools and to do it in a way where it would be the most beautiful thing in the school. So instead of that sort of eyesore that was in the backyard, we said, “These have to be right next to the classroom, right next to the playground. You’re not allowed to build a fence around it. And if you don’t want to do that, great, we’ll just find another school. But these are the rules for learning garden.” And because we were doing 100 at a time, the districts would work with us, including maintenance and installation and curriculum and teacher training. Pre-COVID we were teaching almost 350,000 kids every school day.
And are there measurable effects?
Absolutely. Studies show that fifth grade in particular is the most effective grade. If you teach science in fifth grade to a kid, the exact same lesson in the garden versus in the classroom, you will get a 15-point increase on a 100-point score on their test scores.
And then if you teach kids 90 minutes a week in school, which is not hard to do because it’s beautiful and fun to be outside, you’ll double their intake of fruits and vegetables. Now they’re not eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, so the base is low, but you’re still doubling. The way I like to look at it is you’re really not trying to make them eat vegetables all the time — that’s too hard — you just try to change the course of their life by a few degrees; if you can do it by third, fourth, fifth grade, they’re going to be a different adult when they grow up. We’re not here to claim that what we do changes everything. We believe that the cafeteria needs to improve, that we need grocery stores to exist in these food deserts. There are many legs of the stool, but the school garden movement is a critical leg.
Are there any other technological innovations in this space that are really giving you hope?
I think there’s a lot of cool things going on around carbon capture with regenerative farming, because if you do farming correctly, you’ve become a wonderful carbon sink. And there needs to be an economy around it. So what is the value of a carbon credit? They’ve got value for that in Europe, but they haven’t valued it in America. So I think there’s a lot of government policy that needs to work there. But it’s a fascinating area to look at.
It’s interesting, the concept of bringing innovation to agriculture, which is—
So old school! Yeah, it’s fun. I do get frustrated that it doesn’t move fast enough. Then I’m reminded of how big this is and I’ve got my whole life to work on it. So I’m learning to embrace going a little slower. If you are in the software world, it’s more “move fast and break things,” and I think with food, it’s something in between.
Yeah, you don’t want to break the food chain.
No, people need to eat. Exactly.
And I know you’ve been advocating, too, for policies that help farmers shift to organic methods.
Yeah, I’ve been a supporter of that, but I really have pushed my energy now to work with young farmers of any kind. I’m not against organic at all. I love organic. But I’ve kind of said, “You know, we just need young farmers.” Real food doesn’t require it to be organic. If it’s a zucchini that happens to be grown conventionally, I’m still in favor of that.
It’s still a zucchini.
Right. That being said, organic is better. Farmers make more money on it. But it’s really about young farmers getting them into the business.
If you don’t mind, let me take one minute to just talk about [another initiative called] Square Roots. So there was a sort of a turning point in indoor farming technology around 2014, where you could really do quality food. Indoor farming’s been around forever, but the quality was really terrible. It would taste like water. No real flavor. But the technology of lighting really changed in 2014, and so by 2016 we said, “You know, there is a way here.” And what got me going was I really wanted to create this generation of young farmers. I love technology and I love food. And I think that if we bring the two together, we will get young people interested in farming again. And so we started out Square Roots as really a training entity.
And with Square Roots, you’re growing food in shipping containers? There’s no soil?
Yeah, we refine the nutrients [through the water]. We’ve gotten very, very thoughtful about what the nutrients are so that we can re-create as best we can the soil that they would get normally. The shipping containers, what’s beautiful about them is the fact that we can totally control the climate. For example, we have found that Genoa in Italy is where the best basil in the world is grown. It’s four weeks in June that are the best, and actually, 1997 was the best June. And so we re-create the climate of 1997 Genoa, Italy, in each of those containers to create the tastiest basil you can possibly imagine. Using data, we can monitor the growth and how they work. And every square meter of the air in there is exactly the same. That’s why containers are so valuable. Plants factories have to grow basil or cilantro or whatever all in the same climate. We get to grow arugula, basil, parsley, cilantro or whatever each in their own climate. For example, we’ve discovered that mint grows best in the Yucatan Peninsula — superhuman, grows like a weed, delicious. And we re-create that climate.
Square Roots Basil Farm in Brooklyn.
Square Roots
And the shipping containers, the idea for that was, “Let’s use things that we can recycle”?
Well, they are recycled. But no, it wasn’t that. It was actually climate control. They’re actually like refrigerators. We can drop that temperature in there to 40 degrees Fahrenheit for a particular growth cycle. If we have any pests, we don’t use pesticides, we have something called Mojave mode where we turn it into the Mojave Desert for four days. We bring the temperature up to 120 degrees, drop the humidity down to four percent and nothing can survive. That’s how we remove pests. No one else can do that unless you use these kind of containers. So it’s really a technology solution.
You’ve referred to food as being the new Internet. Do you still feel that way?
Oh, my god. Absolutely. It’s showing itself. Food is different to social media and so forth. It takes a long time to build up supply chains, get consistent growing. It’s not as fast-moving, but it is a much bigger business. Software is a $400 billion business. Food is an $18 trillion business. So the opportunity is much, much bigger in food than it is in software.
What are the top two or three things that really bother you about the industrial food system right now?
The processing of food. For some reason back in the ’70s, America just started to idolize processed food. And so what you have is a high-calorie hamburger, for example, that is nutritionally irrelevant. In other words, people were just not thinking about nutrition. And they used laboratories to adjust the flavor, chemicals to adjust the flavor, artificial ingredients. The result was a very high-calorie, highly processed kind of a Frankenstein burger that did please the pallet, but it made you feel awful afterwards.
The other one that is absolutely ludicrous is ethanol. Forty percent of our corn fields are growing ethanol. That’s 25 million acres of land that could be used to grow real food. People keep feeding us bullshit that we need to try and feed the world. We have so much food that we are turning 40 percent of it into ethanol. It takes a gallon of oil to make a gallon of ethanol. So it’s just a total boondoggle for the corn farmers and it’s terrible for the environment. In fact, it’s hilarious: It’s the only thing that both the oil industry and the environmentalists hate. Can you imagine there’s something that those two can agree on? And it’s ethanol.
Why the hell are we doing it?
It’s a subsidy for farmers. We do it because old people vote, and they control the farms, and they would all be devastated right now if the true demand of corn is what they had to deal with. And until a politician has the courage to make those hard decisions, we’re going to be stuck growing ethanol. Now, the good thing is we are all switching to electric cars, so ethanol is going to go away anyway. But for a while, the next five to 10 years, ethanol is going to be a part of what we do.
Let’s talk about the Million Gardens Movement. How did you get the idea that you wanted to do it?
Frank [Giustra] and his team pitched us on joining forces and doing the Million Gardens Movement. And we loved it. We thought it was a great idea. Because of Covid, we had been forced to pivot our model from the learning gardens because we couldn’t really teach people in the gardens anymore. And so we had done this trial of what we call little green gardens, which are round, beautiful sort of beige sacks, and you can come in and pick these up from a local school in your community. You can grow them on a windowsill as long as there’s some light. You can grow them indoors, which enables any city to be able to use them.
Say you get to a million gardens, are there any projections on what the environmental impact of that might be?
What we would be doing with these little green gardens is inspiring people to garden and empowering them to garden. The average garden generates about $600 to $700 worth of food a year. So it provides actual food to your family. You’re having a lower carbon footprint because you’re not shipping food around. It’s great for mental health. Think about Covid and how crazy we all are. This gets you out there. It connects you to your kids. Gardening is such a beautiful thing to do for yourself, for the community, for the environment.
It’s easy to think about what has been lost during this time, but I do like this idea of using COVID as an opportunity for change.
It’s obviously one of the worst things we’ve gone through as a society, but if we do this correctly, if we take this opportunity well, it could be one of the best things that’s happened to society — in a few years, we’ll look back and say, “OK, this was a good way to restart and focus more on climate change, focus more on gardening with your family, being connected to each other.” I think it has a lot of potential, as long as we take that potential and we leverage it. So the Million Gardens Movement is a part of that.
USA VIRGINIA: Regional Board Approves Agreement For AeroFarms To Receive $200,000 Grant
The company plans to build the largest indoor growing facility to date in Cane Creek Centre, a joint industrial park owned by Danville and Pittsylvania County via the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority
January 11, 2021
AeroFarms, the company that announced in December 2019 it would bring 92 jobs to the region and invest $42 million over three years, will get a $200,000 state grant if it meets up to a performance agreement approved Monday by the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority.
The RIFA board unanimously passed a resolution during its meeting Monday to sign a performance agreement with the company for a $200,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Matt Rowe
"They have all intention of moving forward with the project in the near future," said Pittsylvania County Economic Director Matt Rowe. "I think you will see some activity out there soon."
The company plans to build the largest indoor growing facility to date in Cane Creek Centre, a joint industrial park owned by Danville and Pittsylvania County via the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority.
AeroFarms specializes in chemical-free vertical farming and announced in December 2019 that it plans to bring 92 jobs and invest about $42 million in the Dan River Region over three years.
The company must meet the jobs and investment goals before it gets the $200,000 from the state’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, Rowe said during an interview with the Danville Register & Bee Monday afternoon.
"It's guaranteeing to them that if they do those things, they'll get the money," Rowe said. "The company signed the agreement two weeks ago."
The agreement is among the company, Danville, Pittsylvania County, RIFA, and the state.
The Newark, New Jersey-based company's process involves growing such crops as leafy green vegetables in stacks at a rate said to be 390 times more productive than field-grown plants. It uses no soil, sunlight or chemicals and takes place indoors, where the environment is brought to the crops.
AeroFarms co-founder and CEO David Rosenberg points to an illustration of what the company’s vertical farming process looks like at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in December 2019. The company announced then that it was bringing 92 jobs and $42 million in investment to Cane Creek Centre. File photo
Vertical growing uses LED lighting and aeroponic mist on leafy greens in stacks that can reach as high as 40 feet. It mists the greens’ roots with nutrients, water, and oxygen, using 95% less water than field farming and 40% less than hydroponics, according to the company’s website.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Pittsylvania County, Danville, and the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance to secure the project for Virginia.
Incentives for the company include $190,000 in grant money from the Virginia Tobacco Commission, $200,000 from the Governor’s Commonwealth Opportunity Fund, and the $200,000 that's part of the agreement approved by RIFA.
No money will go to the company until it meets its obligations, Rowe said.
Rowe said he was not sure when construction would start on the 150,000-square foot building for AeroFarms.
"Given the COVID situation, I don't want to go on the record for a specific time," Rowe said.
Lead photo: Alina Zolotareva, marketing director and product champion at AeroFarms, offers some of the company’s leafy greens for sampling at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in December 2019. The company announced then that it was bringing 92 jobs and $42 million in investment to the Dan River Region. File photo
Tags Grant Aerofarms Rifa Agreement Matt Rowe Economics Agriculture Commerce
Finance Industry Danville And Pittsylvania County Money Danville
Ready For The Green Revolution? Agrilution Brings The Herb Garden Into The House With The "Plantcube"
The “Plantcube” from Agrilution promises always spring in the kitchen - a fully automated grow cabinet that enables vertical farming even on a small scale
December 20, 2020
The “Plantcube” from Agrilution promises always spring in the kitchen - a fully automated grow cabinet that enables vertical farming even on a small scale. AD spoke with Maximilian Lössl, Co-Founder and CEO, about the first experiments in his parents' cellar, the new features of the 2nd generation “Plantcube” - and about why the basil must never run out in his personal mini-farm.
With your high-tech herb garden in the design closet, you create a closed ecosystem in which it is always spring. What does such a mini vertical farm bring us at home?
As the closed ecosystem mimics the perfect spring conditions every day, herbs, salads and micro-greens grow with a density of up to 30 percent higher nutrients; without any transport routes, cooling chains or plastic waste. The harvest also lands directly on the plate and thus retains the secondary plant substances, vitamins, and minerals that are so important. Thanks to the special light frequency, the controlled climate, and the hydroponic irrigation, optimal ripening conditions exist throughout the year - and without pesticides or seasonal dependencies! Technology and nature go hand in hand.
In 2013, Maximilian Lössl (right) and Philipp Wagner founded “Agrilution” together. (Photo: Agrilution)
You started with the farm-to-table experiments in your parents' basement. How did the idea come about?
The initial spark, the enthusiasm for vertical farming, came from a book by Dr. Dickson Despommier. On the recommendation of the author, I actually went to Den Bosch in the Netherlands to study. But the theory wasn't enough for me, I became impatient and wanted to act. So I took the concept of vertical farming further; the idea of a "mini vertical farm" for your own home was born. Philipp Wagner then came in for the technical implementation. Our friendship goes back to school days, when we played basketball together in a club. We started the experiments in my parents' garage and founded Agrilution together in 2013.
Which salads and herbs exactly grow in the “Plantcube”?
Our portfolio currently includes over 30 different plants - from common kitchen herbs to tatsoi, leaf salads, and mixtures for pesto or stir fry to more unusual microgreens such as bronze fennel and blood sorrel. The selection is based on the needs of the market, but we also want to offer something extraordinary that is not available in the supermarket or organic market. In addition, the speed of growth is decisive so that our customers don't have to wait too long. The harvest time is generally between one and four weeks.
And what needs is the device designed for?
Assuming daily consumption, the capacity ranges from a single person to a small family - depending on how they are planted and planned. Our app provides insight into growth, information about harvesting or maintenance and also enables online orders for new seedbars that carry the seeds.
The target group includes residents of metropolitan areas who still want to harvest fresh, healthy produce. (Photo: The Subdivision)
Doesn't that mean losing some of the feelings of looking after your plants in the field, in the garden or on the balcony?
We do not see ourselves as competition to people who garden on a large scale and want to grow their own plants. We tend to address big city dwellers who do not have a balcony or garden in metropolitan areas, are seasonally restricted due to their location or who simply lack the green thumb. Of course, we are currently focusing on vegetarians, vegans, and flexitarians, but also culinary connoisseurs who are looking for that special aroma. And technology-savvy early adopters who want to equip their smart homes well!
You recently launched the second edition of the “Plantcube”. What exactly has been changed, improved here?
What is new about the optimized “Plantcube”, in addition to its elegant black design, is the revised drawer system, which can now be equipped with nine seed bars on two levels. This offers a much greater variety for the planting, and the new, portion-appropriate seedbars are even more geared towards daily needs, the daily harvest. We have also expanded our plant portfolio and divided it into three categories so that our customers can get a particularly quick overview: Dailies, Essentials, and Chefs. In addition, the substrate of the seed bars is now 100 percent biodegradable thanks to the use of natural materials.
In the living room, the “Plantcube” can also be set to quiet and dark for up to two hours. (Photo: The Subdivision)
There is also a so-called "cinema mode". What can we imagine by that?
The cinema mode is also one of the most recent adjustments - it was created through valuable customer feedback and enables the greenhouse to be set to quiet and dark for up to two hours. Some users position the “Plantcube” as a design statement directly in the living room. Its light can be perceived as annoying when watching a film, for example, which is why we added this option.
Surely you live with a “Plantcube” yourself. What do you like to harvest from there and why?
The “Plantcube” in our private apartment is always well planted. We eat our greens every day. Since I love Asian cuisine, there is always fresh coriander for salads or as a topping for avocado bread. Our regular range also includes Tatsoi and Wasabina leaf mustard - nice and spicy! And don't forget basil! My girlfriend is Italian.
Good harvest! The greens from the new “Chefs Line” from “Agrilution” are beautiful (and) delicious. (Photo: Agrilution)
Are there any cooking recipes specially made with plants from the Plantcube?
We are constantly developing recipes with the greens from the “Plantcube”. Our website provides inspiration, as does the app. We also regularly cook together in our office, which is currently only possible to a limited extent. Otherwise, recommendable creations are always created. We also cooperate with KptnCook and chefs who use the “Plantcube” themselves. My favorite dish is “Asian Pak Choi Stir Fry”, which I modify according to my mood.
How does the lockdown affect interest in your Plantcubes? Fresh green from your own four walls sounds like a tempting option right now!
The paragraph has actually made a leap; because you always have something fresh and healthy in the house, and probably because it is becoming very clear to all of us for the first time that local cultivation cannot always meet the demand for natural products and that we sometimes find ourselves in front of empty vegetable shelves. And otherwise, a more conscious, healthier life is moving more and more into focus.
Over 30 different types of plants can be grown in the “Plantcube”. (Photo: The Subdivision)
University of Arizona CEAC Hydroponic Online Intensive Workshop
Taught by Dr. Stacy Tollefson, this two-day event is perfect for novice growers and will be packed with tons of critical information and research discoveries that UA-CEAC has assembled into their courses and programs for over 20 years
Are you interested in growing tomatoes hydroponically? Join the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center for the Hydroponic Online Intensive Workshop – November 16 & 17 via Zoom.
Taught by Dr. Stacy Tollefson, this two-day event is perfect for novice growers and will be packed with tons of critical information and research discoveries that UA-CEAC has assembled into their courses and programs for over 20 years. You will get access to numerous lecture materials, personal question follow-ups, certificate of completion, and tons of knowledge!
Click Here to Register!
Limited seats are available. For questions, please email arizona.ceac@gmail.com
Tags Online Events Online Classes #agriculture #tomato #greenhouse #tomatoes #hydroponics #controlledenvironment #controlled_environment_ag #indoor_agriculture
Aquaponic Farming Promises Higher Yields For Kundasang Farmers
Under the guidance of the Kinabalu Area Farmers Organisation (PPK), the farmers based in Kampung Desa Aman in Kundasang have gone into aquaponics and hydroponics since December 2019
September 26, 2020
By: Bernama
Green coral lettuce (left) and red coral lettuce thrive when cultivated using the hydroponic or aquaponic technique. Photo courtesy of Muhammad Irwan Maruji.
KOTA KINABALU: In the cool, hilly area of Kundasang in Ranau, about 100 kilometers from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, a small group of young farmers are trying their hand at cultivating vegetables using aquaponic and hydroponic techniques.
Under the guidance of the Kinabalu Area Farmers Organisation (PPK), the farmers based in Kampung Desa Aman in Kundasang have gone into aquaponics and hydroponics since December 2019.
Their ventures are proving to be lucrative and PPK Kinabalu intends to encourage more young farmers to grow vegetables using these modern and more sustainable techniques.
According to PPK Kinabalu general manager Muhammad Irwan Maruji, in aquaponics the whole cultivation process, starting from planting the seedlings until they are ready for harvesting, takes only about three to four weeks. And, he added, vegetables harvested from a 223-square meter block of aquaponic plants can rake in sales of around RM5,600 a month.
“The capital to start an aquaponics venture, including setting up the pond and a 223-sq m block and greenhouse, comes to about RM85,000. The investment, however, is worthwhile when compared to the returns,” he told Bernama, adding that aquaponic farming is suitable for young entrepreneurs who want to get involved in agriculture.
In aquaponic farming, aquaculture (rearing of aquatic animals such as freshwater fish or prawns in tanks) is combined with hydroponics (cultivating plants without soil) in an integrated system where the aquatic waste serves as nutrients for the plants which, in turn, purifies the water in the tank.
Pointing out that vegetable farmers in Kundasang and other parts of Sabah were badly hit during the initial stage of the Movement Control Order, Muhammad Irwan said under the federal government’s Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Plan (Prihatin), each PPK in Sabah was allocated RM100,000 to RM200,000 to revitalise the agricultural sector.
“We are grateful for the allocation as it will be very helpful to the farmers and agro entrepreneurs here,” he said, adding that PPK Kinabalu plans to use the funds to start an additional hydroponic venture involving the local farmers, as well as introduce maize cultivation and a hanging fertigation system next month.
He said courses on aquaponic and hydroponic farming will be conducted starting early next month, following which he hopes to rope in at least 20 young farmers a year to pursue aquaponic and hydroponic ventures.
“PPK Kinabalu also plans to expand the market for their vegetable produce to the outside of Sabah,” he added.
Elaborating on PPK Kinabalu’s aquaponics venture with local farmers on a 2.83-hectare site in Kampung Desa Aman, Muhammad Irwan said vegetables such as red coral lettuce, green coral lettuce, mustard plant, and celery are being cultivated as they are suitable for aquaponic farming. As for the aquatic component, ikan tilapia and ikan keli are being reared.
“Aquaponic vegetables are chemical-free as no other fertilizer is used with the exception of the fish waste.
“For this farming technique, we need not use much water and the plants mature faster and yield higher quality produce,” he said, adding that they also plan to sell the ikan tilapia once they mature.
“So, eventually this project will enable us to ‘kill two birds with one stone’.”
Sabah State Farmers Organisation (PPN) acting general manager Mohd Sabri Jalaludin, meanwhile, said with the allocation his agency received under Prihatin, they plan to implement a cattle fattening project which is expected to have a positive impact on the state’s economic cycle.
He said Sabah PPN has expertise in the livestock industry as it has been involved in it for over 10 years. For the new project, the agency plans to buy 40 head of cattle from cattle rearers within the state in a bid to support local businesses.
Under the first phase of the project, expected to kick off next month, the cows will be fed palm kernel cake or palm kernel expeller, wheat husk, and soy residue to fatten them. Once they attain a minimum weight of 320 kilograms each, they will be sold at RM4,000 to RM5,000 each.
Mohd Sabri added that in view of the project’s potential to contribute to the growth of the state’s Gross Domestic Product, they plan to increase the cattle to 320 heads by 2021.