Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
2021 Virtual Plant Lighting Short Course
In each sequential module, attendees will use interactive tools to define their specific lighting requirements, hear from industry experts about available horticultural lighting systems, and learn how to compare different lighting strategies
Now Open For Registration!
Working in partnership, GLASE, OptimIA, and LAMP are excited to announce the first annual Plant Lighting Short Course! This 6-week modular short course is designed to provide participants the opportunity to learn about all aspects related to the selection, implementation, and benefits of plant lighting systems.
In each sequential module, attendees will use interactive tools to define their specific lighting requirements, hear from industry experts about available horticultural lighting systems, and learn how to compare different lighting strategies. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped to make informed decisions about the best options to meet their lighting needs.
More Info & Registration
Media Partners
Recordings Now Available
Optimizing Resource Use Efficiency in CEA Systems - July Webinar
New CEA Research Programs in the U.S. - June Webinar
GLASE Webinar Series
This short presentation will cover the history of research on photosynthetic responses to light spectrum, recent work on the importance of far-red photons, and a discussion of the implication of (not) extending the definition of PAR
The photosynthetic activity of far-red photons was discovered 70 years ago, but has largely been ignored since then. Recent research has drawn new attention to the importance of far-red photons.
This short presentation will cover the history of research on photosynthetic responses to light spectrum, recent work on the importance of far-red photons, and a discussion of the implication of (not) extending the definition of PAR. There will be ample time for discussion following the presentation.
Register Here - August 26 • 2-3 p.m. EST
Two New Hirers For Horticultural Lighting Specialist
Vertically Urban is excited to welcome Jon Potter and Phoebe Sutton to the team. The two recruits have been bought on board to meet the brand's growth objectives and further improve its scientifically based development process
Vertically Urban, the Leeds-based manufacturer of LED solutions, has welcomed two new specialists to its growing team.
Vertically Urban is excited to welcome Jon Potter and Phoebe Sutton to the team. The two recruits have been bought on board to meet the brand's growth objectives and further improve its scientifically based development process.
Jon joins as Business Development Director, with a wealth of LED lighting and controls knowledge gained from his time with Philip's Lighting and the Aurora group.
In his new role, Jon will be helping to grow the Vertically Urban brand working directly with growers, partners, and system integrators to bring horticultural lighting solutions into several application areas.
Phoebe enters the newly-created position of Plant Biologist, bringing a plethora of research experience in plant photobiology. She has a specific interest in integrating her research and expertise into the vertical farming industry.
Currently, Phoebe is completing a Ph.D. in the optimization of LED lighting regimes to increase the phytonutrient content in hydroponically grown herbaceous crops. In the new role, she will be managing the brand's onsite laboratories to ensure the optimum formula for LED grow lights.
Andrew Littler, CEO of Vertically Urban, says:
"We are thrilled to have both Jon and Phoebe on the team. Following our successful Seedrs campaign last year, we set some ambitious growth plans to help us meet the fluctuation in industry demand for sustainable, efficient LED horticultural lighting solutions. We pride ourselves on our standard and bespoke products, which we scientifically fine-tuned to specific crop requirements. With Phoebe in place, we are certain to improve our formulas further, and with Jon growing our customer bases, tapping into new markets, we are sure to hit our targets."
ENDS
About Vertically Urban
Vertically Urban is a specialist horticultural lighting manufacturer based in Leeds. It designs and manufactures its products in the United Kingdom using the highest photon yielding LEDs available. The Leeds-based factory has full manufacturing capabilities. Using its bio-science know-how, they aim to light the farms of the future by providing efficient LED lighting solutions that are easy to install and set up.
Philly Start-Up GrowFlux Tweaks Lighting For Growing Indoor Agriculture Industry
The University City company has received a $250,000 grant to conduct research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.
The University City company has received a $250,000 grant to conduct research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.
GrowFlux offer technology and software to control lighting for indoor farms. Shown here is Second Chances Farm in Wilmington, an early customer. GrowFlux
07-12-21
Crops in greenhouses — an increasingly popular way to supply year-round fresh greens and other produce to places with cold winters — are most productive when they receive the right amount of light at the right time.
But there’s a downside. Greenhouses are energy hogs and typically generate more gasses than traditional field agriculture because of their lighting and heating needs. Those are terrible characteristics for a burgeoning industry at a time of growing concern over global warming.
GrowFlux, a Philadelphia agricultural technology start-up that is trying to make the industry more efficient, won a $250,000 grant last week from the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator for research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado. The aim is to reduce energy consumption in greenhouses by fine-tuning the amount of artificial light that crops receive.
GrowFlux sells sensors that measure the amount of light, carbon dioxide, temperature, and humidity in indoor farms.GrowFlux
Simple timers are traditionally used to turn lights on and off in greenhouses, said Eric Eisele, GrowFlux’s chief executive, and cofounder. “They’re not dialing in the light in accordance with when the crop is actually using light most efficiently,” he said. “It results in a fair bit of energy that’s wasted.”
The GrowFlux system — to be further developed with the help of researchers at NREL and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis — measures the natural light available and then adjusts the artificial light to add more when needed.
GrowFlux estimates that it can cut energy use by 20% to 30%.
While the grant, funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation, involves GrowFlux’s lighting controls, the University City company has a broader target with sensors that monitor carbon dioxide levels, humidity, temperature, and other factors that determine how well plants grow.
“They were one of the very first companies that were trying to essentially make farms like ours smart farms by using technology,” said Ajit Mathew George, founder and managing partner at Second Chances Farm in Wilmington, an indoor vertical farm that employs formerly incarcerated individuals.
“You don’t think of indoor vertical farms as being a place where technology plays an important part,” said George, who uses a GrowFlux app on his phone to monitor Second Chances Farm. “It does, and the more it does, the better our production is.”
Investor interest in indoor agriculture surged last year, with $929 million going into 41 deals in the United States, according to PitchBook Data Inc. That’s twice the amount invested the year before. Most of the money went into producers rather than into makers of components and technology like GrowFlux.
Eisele, 35, and Alexander Roscoe, chief technology officer, founded GrowFlux in 2017. Both are Drexel University graduates.
Eisele’s background is in interior lighting for humans. He worked for seven years in the research group at KieranTimberlake, a Philadelphia architecture firm. Rosco, 36, worked at Comcast on the build-out of national internet architecture.
GrowFlux’s first products, launched in 2018, were horticultural lights with built-in wireless technology. “The lighting space got very competitive in horticulture due to legalization of cannabis,” Eisele said.
The start-up, which now employs four, was competing with “the likes of Philips and General Electric and Osram,” Eisele said. GrowFlux dropped its lights in 2019 but kept developing its controllers.
Eisele and Roscoe declined to disclose their annual revenue but said they have raised close to $2 million from investors. The company has products in more than 100 farms, including indoor cannabis producers and greenhouses growing food like tomatoes and strawberries. The products are also used overseas, in Iceland and in an indoor vertical farm in Singapore that grows strawberries, Eisele said.
Trish Cozart, NREL’s program manager for the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator, which in the past has worked with companies involved in traditional farming, said that over the next 30 years, global food production will have to increase by 60% to meet demand. NREL is part of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“It might not be possible to meet that demand through field-grown agriculture. Indoor agriculture is going to play a part. We don’t know how big of a part,” she said. But because indoor agriculture consumes so much energy, “we want to figure out how to combat that using innovative companies,” Cozart said.
Published July 12, 2021
I write about the business side of health care and the nonprofit sector.
VIDEO: Signify Expands LED Installation At Walters Gardens With Philips GreenPower LED Toplighting Compact
“It was a really easy decision to go with the Philips LED toplighting compact”, says Aren Philips, finishing lead grower at Walters Gardens. “The tops are fuller, the roots are more active, we are able to finish our hostas product 1 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule.”
July 6, 2021
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, is supplying Walters Gardens with the Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact to expand their existing lighting installation. Walters Gardens is a market leader in the ornamental industry from Zeeland, Michigan, in the United States.
They first trialed Philips GreenPower LED toplighting in 2014 - one of the first growers in North America to install Philips horticulture LED grow lights over ornamental crops, with the aim to jump-start their spring perennial production.
As a result of the trial’s success, Walter’s Gardens partnered with Signify again, when expanding their lighted growing areas in 2019 - 2020, with the Philips GreenPower toplighting compact.
“It was a really easy decision to go with the Philips LED toplighting compact”, says Aren Philips, finishing lead grower at Walters Gardens. “The tops are fuller, the roots are more active, we are able to finish our hostas product 1 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule.”
Together with the high efficacy of the toplighting compact, and the easy 1:1 replacement of the HPS, leading to a great ROI, Walters Gardens knew the expansion would pay off.
Learn more about the Philips LED grow lights for floriculture here.
--- END ---
For more information:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
Email: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 37,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
Signify Announces New Philips Horticulture LED Partner Hortipar
“We are excited to be a partner of Signify and offer the range of Philips GreenPower LED grow lights to our customers”, said Aad van Ruijven, director at Hortipar
June 28, 2021
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, has signed a partnership agreement with Hortipar, an expert in realizing lighting projects for the horticultural sector worldwide. Hortipar is based in ‘s Gravenzande, the Netherlands, and operates mainly in North America, Canada, Eastern Europe, and the Netherlands.
Hortipar will now add Philips GreenPower LED grow lights to their global portfolio. Focussing on quality, flexibility, knowledge, and expertise, Hortipar offers their customers a complete solution for their greenhouse from the beginning till the end of a lighting project. With their independent advisors and team of dedicated experts, Signify is proud to add Hortipar to the global partnership network of Philips Horticulture LED.
“We are excited to be a partner of Signify and offer the range of Philips GreenPower LED grow lights to our customers”, said Aad van Ruijven, director at Hortipar. “Sustainability and innovation are of great value to us and to our network. Our customers expect the highest quality, and that we offer them the full package for their lighting installation, together with high-end advice and project management. The expertise of the team at Signify and their Philips GreenPower LED grow lights fit perfectly within these expectations and in our ambitions for the future.”
“Adding Hortipar to our global network of certified Philips Horticulture LED partners is something we are proud of”, said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Signify. “According to our estimates, about 30% of the world’s greenhouse surface will be lit by 2025, and LED technology will light more than half of that surface. Therefore, we are continuously pursuing further development of our Horti LED partnerships worldwide, and Hortipar is a valuable addition.”
Signify continues to expand its Horticulture partner network, further demonstrating its commitment to lead the horticulture industry as the innovative LED lighting systems provider for greenhouses and indoor farming.
--- END ---
For further information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
www.philips.com/horti
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 37,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
Why Does Energy Efficiency Matter When Selecting LED Grow Lights?
Learn the 3 things to consider when choosing energy-efficient lighting in your greenhouse or vertical farm.
Before we get started, let’s set some ground rules for this article.
1. I want to believe that everyone wants to do what’s right for the planet as long as they think their business can afford it, so we will not focus on energy efficiency and its impact on sustainability.
2. In this article I will not post the name of suppliers or the price of the lights. The price of the light will definitely impact people’s decisions and will vary widely based on the volume of lights being purchased and the supplier providing it.
3. This article is not about light quality or light spectrum. To look for information on spectrum please read this article: Why I Still Believe in Red/Blue LED Grow Lights
4. This article is written with commercial greenhouse produce growers in mind, but we do include a model which shows high output led grow lights running for long hours per day which could imply a greenhouse cannabis crop.
5. We are fully aware that when you change the amount of energy going into the light as well as the type of electric light (HPS vs LED) one is using, it will have an impact on the climate in the growing/production area. Factors like heat and relative humidity would need to be taken into consideration if one was taking a holistic approach to energy savings on the farm.
6. All lights have different output (measured in PPF.) In this article we are going to make the assumption that a grower is using the same amount of fixtures per acre regardless of output. For simplicity we are also going to assume that the grower is running the lights for the same amount of time. We are fully aware that this will have an impact on the potential yield of the crop.
7. All greenhouses can require a different amount of lights per acre to achieve the target light intensities. I am using an average of the amount of lights per acre. Height of the greenhouse, width of the bays, placement of walkways, crop layout, crop density, as well as many other variables will impact the exact number of lights per acre.
__________
There is a growing amount of discussion around the environmental sustainability of a greenhouse or a vertical farm. Much of this discussion is being driven by two or three big energy hogs inside these production facilities. This includes the grow lights and climate management equipment like heaters and cooling units.
We all know that LED grow lights are more efficient than the older HPS lights that growers have used for decades, but do we know just exactly how to measure that? And do we understand how that will have a direct impact on not only energy savings but the operational cost at the farm? For those growing in a greenhouse, understanding these numbers during dark winter months can have a huge impact on electricity bills.
3 FOCUS POINTS
1. Start by understanding the amount of light you need.
Urban Ag News recommends going to websites like Suntracker or the ESRI DLI maps site. These websites allow anyone to determine the historical DLI monthly averages for their individual locations. For this example I am going to use the area where my grandparents farm is located in southwestern Michigan. As one can see this is an area of the United States that has very dark winters.
2. Work with a trusted advisor or extension specialist to determine the amount of hours your crop needs to grow consistently year round. Remember not all crops have the same light requirements and some crops have very specific photoperiods which can determine the amount of hours one can light their crops. Use all of this information to see when you will need supplemental light and how much light you will need to supplement with.
For this example I am going to use 1 acre of greenhouse tomatoes in a glass greenhouse located in southwestern Michigan.
3. Now let’s calculate how much it’s going to cost you to run the grow lights for the estimated hours you and your advisor determined were needed per year to get the desired yields.
a) To provide a baseline, we started with traditional 1000w HPS lights which are highlighted in yellow.
b) Then we chose six different LED grow light fixtures. Because the light spectrum has an impact on how efficiently the lights run, we chose three broad spectrum fixtures and three that are red and blue only.
c) Since HPS is the baseline, the final column labeled “savings” shows how much the total savings per year one would achieve when replacing traditional HPS with the latest LED grow light technology.
d) We made a few important assumptions in this example. First, the cost per kwh is around the USA national average of $0.09/kwh. Second, the same amount of grow lights would be used even though there would be some relative differences in umols/m2/s measurements for two of the samples. We decided not to change them because that would have an impact on uniformity (the even spread of the light over one’s entire crop) and associated capital cost not addressed in this article.
IMPORTANT NOTES!
It’s important to remember the 7 assumptions made at the beginning of this article and that lights are not equal. This chart only compares ppf (output) and w (watts). We elected to account for the difference in output by changing the amount of hours we estimated you would need to run the lights. Another way to look at this would be to remember the Golden Rule of Light in which 1% increase in light is equal to 1% increase in yield.
Running these simple calculations will show you why you need to look at energy efficient lighting and in general the importance of researching energy efficient equipment in general. What these calculations do not show is the quality of some fixtures over others. Buyers must always be aware of the value of warranties, ease of returns, durability and quality of product plus accuracy of your vendor to create detailed information on the best way to use and install fixtures. We understand that this topic is intimidating for most, but this is a major purchase for your farm. Make sure to take the time to learn the math and do your homework before purchasing.
Diving into these calculations will also highlight how much energy will be required to grow a wide variety of crops consistently with uniformed yields year round in climates with low light. Hopefully in articles to come we can discuss what this means for our environment and how we might develop additional ways to lower that ecological footprint.
For help in calculating the energy efficiency of grow lights you are considering, please email us and we will connect you with professionals capable of helping you make an informed decision.
Chris Higgins is the founder of Urban Ag News, as well as General Manager and co-Owner of Hort Americas, LLC a wholesale supply company focused on all aspects of the horticultural industries. With over 20 years of commercial horticulture industry experience, Chris is dedicated to the horticulture and niche agriculture industries and is inspired by the current opportunities for continued innovation in the field of controlled environment agriculture. Message him here.
Tagged GreenhouseGreenhouse TechnologyIndoor Ag TechnologyTechnologyVertical Farming
Research Signify And Fragaria Innova Into Growing Strawberries With LED Bears Fruits
“Extra growth light is needed to realize sufficient yield and quality in winter”, according to plant specialist Peer Hermans, who conducts the research on behalf of Signify
June 15, 2021
· Provides better steering of the plants
· Optimizes winter growth
· Helps growers realize a stabile production pattern with high yield and good quality strawberries
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, has worked together with Fragaria Innova to develop specific light recipes for strawberries, resulting in a steady production pattern with high yield, and good quality strawberries in wintertime. The joint research over the past year helps to further optimize the winter production of the so-called ‘June bearers’, a strawberry cultivar known for relatively short peaks in production.
Within Fragaria Innova, progressive strawberry growers commit themselves, together with external partners, to innovation surrounding the themes of growing under light and plant health. For growing under light, Fragaria Innova and market leader Signify conduct a multi-year program with participating growers/propagators. At one of the production companies, a special compartment has also been equipped with separate climate control, this enables the testing of several growth- and light strategies for multiple cultivars under full LED. One of the main goals of the research is realizing a (more) stable production pattern during wintertime.
Current winter productions usually take place with June bearers with a short production period of 8 to 10 weeks, after which a new planting in another section takes over production to create a stable, flat production. Unlit cultivation dominates before- and after the winter production.
“Extra growth light is needed to realize sufficient yield and quality in winter”, according to plant specialist Peer Hermans, who conducts the research on behalf of Signify. “The trials have shown that you can influence the plant build-up somewhat with specific light recipes, for which LED is ideally suited.” By accurately tuning the light intensity and spectrum offered to the developmental stage of the plant, you can optimize the leaf surface and stretching of the flower trusses and leaf stalks. A better plant build-up can benefit the production. The idea is to raise the production quality through light optimization.
Grower Marcel Dings from Brookberries, co-initiator behind Fragaria Innova, noticed some influence on the plant build-up, but the extra assimilates that came with it, went mostly to the crop and less to the fruits. Dings: “Next season will focus on how we can further optimize the division of the assimilates in the plant, and how we can get the assimilates to the fruits”. The grower notices that there are a lot of variables at play, such as: cultivars, planting times, cultivation goals, light spectra, light intensity, and the balance between natural daylight and artificial lighting. “The benefit of this new generation of LED grow lights is that we can play with lighting efficiently and that we can finetune the recipe to our own wishes and possibilities. Within this project, together we can achieve faster and more progress. I am satisfied with the results of this first year, but there is definitely room for further optimization. Hopefully, we can keep this going in the coming years.”
Grower Dave Linssen, a participant within Fragaria Innova (cultivar: Malling Centenary), had a trial with different spectra at one company location, planted in August just like his unlit crop. “The lit plants went into production earlier in winter, as expected. When it came to kilos and plant build-up, we hardly noticed any difference between the light spectra”, he concludes. “We may need to tinker a little to get the ideal light recipe for our company. It seems obvious to me that growing under LED is a desired addition.”
Based on these encouraging results, the trial set-up for the coming season will be determined. Spectrum research and testing different cultivars will be part of this research. For more information on growing strawberries with LED grow lights, please go to www.philips.com/horti.
--- END ---
For further information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 37,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
About Innoveins | Fragaria Innova
Innoveins is an ecosystem where organizations cooperate at the cross-over between plants and technology to develop innovations through co-creation and bring them to the market.
Within Innoveins, Fragaria Innova unites ambitious strawberry growers to jointly tackle challenges in the areas of labor, upscaling, efficiency, plant health and resilience, biodiversity, growth media, product quality, continuity, delivery reliability and smart farming.
Myths Surrounding ‘White Light’ Part 2 – Do You Need ‘White’ Light To Grow Better Crops?
This article is the second in a series of interviews with Signify’s Esther de Beer, manager of the team of plant specialists at Philips Horticulture
May 6, 2021
Myths surrounding ‘white light’ – Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?
An interview with our plant specialist
· There are several myths surrounding the specific light spectra used for growing crops and, more specifically, the use of white, green, or broad-spectrum light.
· This article is the second in a series of interviews with Signify’s Esther de Beer, manager of the team of plant specialists at Philips Horticulture.
· In this interview, we asked the question: Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Light is perhaps the most important consideration for optimizing plant growth in a greenhouse or vertical farm. There are several myths surrounding the specific light spectra used for growing crops and, more specifically, the use of white, green, or broad-spectrum light. This article is the second in a series of interviews with Signify’s Esther de Beer, manager of the team of plant specialists at Philips Horticulture. In this interview we asked the question: Do you need ‘white’ light to grow better crops?
Interested in the first interview with Esther, where she answers the question if green light penetrates deeper into the canopy? Read it here.
First of all, what do we mean with white and green light?
When talking about light for plants, we often distinguish four basic colors: blue (400-499nm), green (500-599nm), red (600-699nm), and far-red (700-799nm). Purple light is actually a combination of red and blue light. Basically, you will get white light when you add enough green light to this red/blue light. Therefore, we will focus on the question of whether you need green light to grow better crops.
How efficient does a plant use green light for growth?
In the first interview it is explained that blue, red and green light are absorbed equally by a plant canopy and only far-red light is absorbed significantly less. But are all these colors used equally for growth?
In the early 1970’s, McCree measured the photosynthetic efficiency as a function of wavelength for a large number of plants. These data show a large commonality between the plants and has been averaged to what is now known as the “McCree curve”, see figure 1 below.
Figure 1 McCree curve: the photosynthetic efficiency of light as a function of wavelength
This shows that green light is used for photosynthesis, but at a lower efficiency when compared to red light. Since this early work, many researchers have found similar results. [Hogewoning 2012, Paradiso 2011]
For overall plant growth, not only the process of photosynthesis is important, but also other processes which, for instance, influence the shape of the crop. Therefore, for practical applications it is relevant to evaluate the total crop growth rather than only zooming in on photosynthesis.
So, what is the effect of green light on the crop?
We have found that several crops have significantly higher fresh weight when actually grown without green light. For other crops, however, the amount of green light has no effect on the fresh weight. Also, we have found that to steer the shape of the crop, blue and far-red light are far more effective than green. Let me share some examples from our research.
At the Philips GrowWise Center, we have run a trial where we have grown eight RijkZwaan Salanova lettuce varieties under light spectra with both 0 and 20% green light, but with the same photon flux and percentage of blue light. The graph below shows the relative fresh weight of these crops, comparing the growth under both spectra with 0% green and 20% green light.
As you can see in this graph, not all lettuce varieties react the same. There are two varieties (RZ1 and RZ2) that grow slightly better under the spectrum with 20% green. However, most varieties have significantly higher fresh weight (even up to 20% more fresh weight for RZ8) when grown without green light.
Figure 2 Significantly higher fresh weight for lettuce varieties when grown without green light
The small effect which green light has on the growth of a crop is confirmed by an extensive academic study by Snowden, who compared the growth of 7 diverse plant species under 8 different spectral compositions: “In contrast to the significant effects of blue light, increasing green light in increments from 0 to 30% had a relatively small effect on growth, leaf area and net assimilation at either low or high PPF”. [Snowden 2016]
A second example from our own research is related to medicinal cannabis. In this trial, two different cultivars were grown under three different light spectra with 0%, 6% and 36% green at the same supplemental light level (600 µmol/m2/s). Here, in addition to looking at the flower weight, we also looked at the quality of the crops.
The graph on the right in Figure 3 below shows the dry flower weight for two different cultivars, whereas the graph on the left shows the percentage of active compounds, which are the key factor in determining the product quality for medicinal cannabis.
Figure 3 Higher active compounds of medicinal cannabis with lower percentages of green light.
The graph on the right shows that the dry weight remains the same for all three spectra, again confirming that the amount of green light has little effect on growth. However, the active compounds reduce substantially when the green content increases. Since these crops are grown specifically for their medicinal compounds, this leads to a preference of light spectra which contain little or no green.
To summarize: in our studies, we find that different crops require different light spectra for optimal growth. However, in most cases there is no benefit in adding more than a few percent of green; both for the yield and for the quality of the crop.
So, if green light has so little benefits, why use it?
That needs some further clarification; all of the above results describe the use of light by the crop, comparing yields at the same photon flux. However, they do not take into account how much electrical energy is needed to create this light. Since there are big differences in efficacy (mmol/Joule), this of course has a huge impact on the total energy usage.
Red LEDs give far more photons per electrical Watt (μmol/W) compared to blue and green LEDs.
Our research shows that a spectrum with approximately 6% green light is sufficient for good color recognition by people and is 30% more energy efficient when compared to a ‘sun-like’ spectrum, which contains approximately 40% green light.
At Signify, we want to provide our end customers with the optimal lighting solution to grow their crops in the most sustainable way. Green light is much less efficient than blue and red LEDs. Only a limited amount of green can be considered for most lighting applications as only a small amount of green light is required for good color recognition by people and as crops do not need a high amount of green light to grow well.
Esther de Beer is the manager of the plant specialist team at Signify horticulture LED solutions. She spends her days trying to make LED grow lights more effective. In this series of articles, she explains facts and fiction with regards to white light and how research has shown which light spectrum helps crops grow better.
References:
Hogewoning S.W., Wientjes E., Douwstra P., Trouwborst G., Van Ieperen W., Croce R. and Harbinson J., 2012.
Photosynthetic Quantum Yield Dynamics: From photosystems to Leaves. The Plant Cell 24: 1921-1935.
Paradiso, R., Meinen, E., Snel, J.F.H., De Visser, P.H.B, Van Ieperen, W., Hogewoning, S.W., Marcelis, L.F.M., 2011.
Spectral dependence of photosynthesis and light absorptance in single leaves and canopy in rose. Scientia Horticulturae 127: 548-554.
McCree, K.J., 1972.
The action spectrum, absorptance, and quantum yield of photosynthesis in crop plants. Agricultural Meteorology 9: 191-216.
Snowden, M.C., Cope, K.R, Bugbee, B., 2016
Sensitivity of seven diverse species to blue and green light: interactions with photon flux. Plos One 11(10): e0163121. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163121
--- END ---
For more information:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
Email: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems, and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 37,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years, and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018, and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
Strategic Partnership Between Oreon And Enersavings, Inc.
The energy savings possibilities of Oreon’s LED grow lights made EnerSavings recognize the advantages of the sustainable water-cooling technology
IJsselstein, 4 May 2021. Oreon and the Canadian company EnerSavings Inc. have come to an agreement for a strategic partnership. EnerSavings is a leader in customized lighting retrofits throughout Canada with a presence in 7 provinces. As a lighting engineering firm, they continuously work on improvement and innovation. EnerSavings expertise in providing the most sustainable and energy-saving solutions to its customers, fits perfectly with the sustainable water-cooling technology of Oreon’s LED grow lights.
Energy saving solutions
In EnerSavings, Oreon sees a strong partner for the Canadian market. EnerSavings is based in Toronto, Ontario, and has over a decade of experience in the ever-increasing market demand for efficient lighting technologies. The energy savings possibilities of Oreon’s LED grow lights made EnerSavings recognize the advantages of the sustainable water-cooling technology. They see lots of opportunity for growers in the fixture’s high efficiency and the ability to reuse the gained heat and save on cooling costs. The active water-cooling makes it possible for the LED fixtures to efficiently produce a large amount of light without heating up the greenhouse or grow facility. Revenues are increased by lowering operating costs, and growers get full control over the climate in their facility. This results in high-quality yields year-round.
"EnerSavings is excited to partner with Oreon and expand its presence in the North American LED plant grow light market. The Oreon water-cooled fixture is by far the best grow light in the market today, bringing the highest value proposition to growers. Oreon was the first to bring an LED grow light to market in 2009 and its fixtures are the best built, and cheapest per micromole. The water-cooling ensures productive longevity second to none. The first install over a decade ago still has over 90 percent light output today!" – Jason Beer, Business Development Director of EnerSavings.
“With EnerSavings Inc. as a new dealer, Oreon creates a better connection to the Canadian market. Both Oreon and EnerSavings share the fact that we are both committed to providing sustainable LED solutions and tailored energy-saving solutions, so customers can reduce operating expenses and increase profits. With the expertise of EnerSavings in commercial horticulture projects, we see a promising future in this rapidly growing market,” says Bill Whittaker (North-American Sales Manager) of Oreon.
5 Learnings For Growing Top-Quality Tomatoes In A Vertical Farm
To develop an effective high-wire indoor farm, we built on our years of know-how and experience from both greenhouse growers and vertical farms. Over the past decade, tomato production has been optimized with high-tech automation and data management
Eindhoven, Nederland – In a few decades, indoor city farms or vertical farms have become popular for producing healthy food year-round in urban environments and harsh climates. Leafy greens and herbs are the most common crops in these facilities, but growers are looking to expand to a much wider variety of vegetables and fruits. In April 2019, we began a long-term series of research studies on high-wire tomatoes at our Philips GrowWise Center. Our goal? Find the optimal high-wire cultivation strategy, light recipe and best performing tomato varieties for city farms.
Building on previous tomato trials
To develop an effective high-wire indoor farm, we built on our years of know-how and experience from both greenhouse growers and vertical farms. Over the past decade, tomato production has been optimized with high-tech automation and data management. We can use this tremendous amount of knowledge and adapt and implement the same vision and technology in an indoor farm. The same construction, irrigation and cropping systems can be applied and we can even use the same kind of bumblebees for pollination. However, we should not blindly copy every aspect from a greenhouse as there are significant differences between an indoor city farm and a conventional greenhouse.
The most critical differences between a greenhouse and an indoor high-wire system, are perhaps that the latter uses active cooling and dehumidification instead of venting and uses only LED lighting instead of mostly sunlight. It is by excluding the effects of seasonal differences in temperature, humidity and light that the optimal growing environment can be created to produce a premium product year-round.
Climate optimization, selecting the right varieties, and defining growth recipes
We conducted three trials. First, we wanted to learn from our experiences in greenhouse tomato cultivation, to see what learnings on climate conditions we could repurpose and then optimize. Second, we wanted to ensure that we were growing the best-suitable varieties for growing indoor tomatoes, so we planted 20 different varieties. To finally, in our third trial, optimize for the 5 most suitable ones to find the optimal growth recipe for indoor growing.
We equipped one climate-controlled chamber with Philips GreenPower LED toplighting linear and a single row of Philips GreenPower LED interlighting. This combination of top- and interlighting is a proven solution for a uniform vertical and horizontal light distribution within the canopy. The Philips GrowWise Control System is used to plan for the right light levels throughout the growth phases of the plants.
These are the 5 learnings from our 3 trials so far:
Learning #1: Crucial to finding the right balance between light, temperature, and yield
Growing successfully indoors is all about finding the right balance between light, temperature, and yield. Increasing the light intensities might increase the yield, but that does not happen linearly. In The GrowWise Center we can achieve up to 1200 µmol/s/m2, but plants do not use all that light equally efficient. With the Philips GrowWise control system we can optimize the light intensity to the needs of the plant and seek the optimal point where the extra yield is worth more than the extra energy input from both the light and the climate system. Hence, we do not just focus on yield maximization, but rather try to achieve the most efficient system.
To steer the plant into the right balance between vegetative and generative growth it is important to adjust the temperature accordingly. Plants can be steered into a more generative state by increasing temperature. However, overcharging could result in too generative growth. The plants will put too much energy into the fruits and overload the plant, something that will cause a dip in production later on. Growing tomatoes is like walking a tight rope: correcting too fierce when in danger of falling off one side could result in falling off the other side. In a perfect strategy, only small adjustments are needed to keep the plants well balanced. Something that is undoubtedly easier without the variable influences of the climate outside.
The trial also helped us to better understand the partitioning of energy between the heat load from the LEDs and the transpired moisture from the plants. This allows us to go beyond the optimal light-use efficiency, and rather improve the total system efficiency.
Learning #2: Strong business case in place for growing high wire tomatoes in an indoor farm
Not all tomato varieties are suitable to grow in an indoor farm and not all are of interest for this form of high-tech cultivation. Some varieties are difficult to grow in a conventional system, but they might flourish in an environment with less prevalence of disease and a more stable climate. In theory, the highest production numbers could be reached with big truss and beef tomatoes, but these are certainly not suited for every market. Lower producing cherry and cocktail tomatoes or difficult to grow ‘Coeur de Boeuf’ are usually full of taste and visually appealing and therefore can serve high-end retailers or restaurant chefs.
Learning #3: Growing the right varieties can minimize handling and labor costs
In the trials, we have successfully grown over 20 cherry and cocktail varieties to select the best performing, best tasting and most robust varieties that require very little handling and pruning. This makes them ideal for vertical farmers who may not have a lot of experience in growing a certain variety of tomato and the reduced labor costs will increase the city farm’s profitability.
Learning #4: Endless potential to steer plant growth in indoor cultivation
An important benefit inherent to indoor cultivation is that we have control over plant growth. The right light spectrum, optimal light intensities, temperatures, and CO2 levels enable you to achieve an excellent balance of fruit load and vegetative plant growth. Having control over all these growth parameters means that we can really optimize for both production and taste. Moreover, the growth recipes we have developed are reproducible. This creates a consistent cultivation environment that allows reliable yield prediction. It gives growers more flexibility and security over their production and enables them to steer yields to meet market demands. In addition, creating the right environment also provides the potential to actively steer specific characteristics, such as sugar content, acidity, vitamins, and other compounds, to meet preferences for taste and nutritional value, respectively.
Learning #5: Tomatoes can now also be grown in challenging markets
Building a farm in an area that already has plenty of greenhouses or open-field production would, of course, not be very profitable. Yet, there are many places where locally grown tomatoes are not available all-year-round because of the harsh climate or other factors. A farm in the Middle East for example makes perfect sense: lots of water can be saved and the close proximity to the consumer means that the product can be super fresh and of high quality. Our trials show that it is possible to grow fresh, tasty tomatoes in an indoor, climate-controlled facility year-round, without the use of pesticides.
Blueprint for high wire tomatoes in a vertical farm
Based on the results of the trials, we now have a blueprint for growing great tasting high-wire tomatoes in a city farm with a fully controllable environment. That opens up new opportunities to grow fresh tomatoes year-round in extremely hot and cold climates. We can advise growers on how to set up their system, and how to choose the best variety based on their customers and market. With the research baseline in place, we can now focus on trials for specific concepts and markets.
Please learn about our Philips GrowWise Center or read our other blogs on growing tomatoes.
Jarno Mooren, Plant Specialist
Jarno Mooren is a Plant Specialist at Signify. He is located at the GrowWise Research Center in Eindhoven. His work focuses on setting up and carrying out trials aimed at developing growth recipes that growers can use to efficiently grow crops with desired specifications. He carries out research on light, cropping systems, climate, and nutrients for a wide range of crops for indoor farming. In this article, Jarno shares the latest results from tomato trials carried out at the GrowWise Research Center.
--- END ---
For further information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: Daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
www.philips.com/horti
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems, and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 38,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
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
Miljøgartneriet, Norway's Largest Nursery, Grows Even More Tomatoes And Peppers Year-Round By Using Philips LED Lighting
For many years, Signify has studied lighting and plants and has found the perfect lighting recipe for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and other fruits and vegetables
April 6, 2021
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Norwegian consumers are currently eating fruits and vegetables that have traveled thousands of kilometers from Southern Europe before they reach the shelves in Norwegian stores, which results in more imported food and a greater carbon footprint from its transport, compared to locally-grown crops. Now, Miljøgartneriet, Norway's largest nursery, together with its partner LOG and Signify’s horticulture LED department, are taking the first steps in shortening the farm to fork distance by growing tomatoes and peppers year-round locally, under LED lights.
The goal is to increase opportunities for local production and reduce the climate impact that comes from importing foreign produce. Signify has supplied Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact for the 70.000 square meter greenhouse in Naerbø, Rogaland, Norway. With LED lighting, Miljøgartneriet gets the best possible conditions in the greenhouse. This is important since the lighting affects the plants' photosynthesis, and that makes proper lighting extremely important for how well the plants grow and thrive.
For many years, Signify has studied lighting and plants and has found the perfect lighting recipe for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and other fruits and vegetables. Miljøgartneriet can therefore provide the plants with the right spectrum and light intensity at the right time. In this manner, they can control growth, planning and not least of all, increase productivity.
"Many supermarket chains want to be able to offer their customers fresh and tasty fruits and vegetables with a significantly lower carbon footprint than those that come from Southern Europe. This is something we can provide all year, thanks to our cooperation with Signify," said Kåre Wiig from Miljøgartneriet. "We chose Signify because they can do more than just providing LED lighting. We have a good, close cooperation with their plant experts in order to get the most out of the lighting solution so that the vegetables get the best possible growing conditions. This means that we can easily adjust production as we get better at growing vegetables and Signify can also bring in different experts if necessary."
Miljøgartneriet has installed Philips GreenPower LED toplighting compact, in combination with the GrowWise control system. This makes it possible to dim the lights so that growers can provide even light levels throughout the day and production cycle. Growers can also dim the lights when necessary. Either to save energy or when there is sufficient daylight.
Innovation in horticulture
Miljøgartneriet starts with 1 hectare of tomatoes and 0.4 hectares of peppers,and intends to eventually expand this. The vegetables are already being harvested now and on their way to the stores throughout Norway.
Even though Signify has worked witFphilh LED lighting for greenhouses since 2012, there are many producers that are still not ready for the newest greenhouse lighting technology. Henrik Nørgaard, who is the Commercial Operations Manager for Agriculture at Signify, hopes that this cooperation with Miljøgartneriet, which is one of the leading actors in the market, can inspire other growers to install Signify Horti LED lighting and increase production.
"We are really proud that Miljøgartneriet sees the potential of cultivating with our lighting. Our lighting solutions should be seen as a cornerstone of production. We start with defining what is grown, the physical framework of the greenhouse and the production goal, and based on this we create an optimal mix of micromoles, spectrum and timing; the light recipe, together with the grower. With the solution, we can avoid the overuse of both water and electricity, as well as the environmental burden with transport from Southern Europe, and instead can get fresh, locally-produced vegetables in Scandinavia year-round," said Nørgaard.
Supporting food availability through Horti-LED illustrates Signify's commitment to supporting good health and well-being (SDG3) and is the key to their commitment to double the percentage of earnings for a brighter life that benefits society, to 32%, as part of the program Brighter Lives, Better World 2025, that they launched in September of 2020.
--- END ---
For more information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
Signify Nordics, PR Manager
Anne-Cathrine Tjørnehøj
Tel: +45 40330806
E-mail: anne-cathrine.tjornehoj@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), a world leader in lighting for the professional market, the consumer market, and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips-products, Interactive lighting systems, and data-activated services add value to businesses and transform private homes, buildings and public spaces. In 2020, we had sales of 6.5 billion EUR and approximately 38,000 employees in 70 countries. We utilize the full potential of light to offer a brighter life and contribute to a better world. We were carbon-neutral in 2020 and have been on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for four consecutive years since our listing. WE were also named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018 and 2019. News from Signify is availabel at Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Investor information is available on the Investor page.
Three Way To Maximize A Vertical Farm's Potential
Population growth and urbanization are forcing global food production to a crossroads
17 March 2021
By Abhay Thosar, Ph.D., director of horticulture services for Fluence by OSRAM
Previously published in the February 2021 issue of Inside Grower.
Population growth and urbanization are forcing global food production to a crossroads. Overall, migration to high-density areas increases access to health care, higher-paying jobs, education, and other socio-economic opportunities. But it also places more strain on existing infrastructure and demand for resources, leading to greater water scarcity, energy consumption, waste, and, perhaps most importantly, threats to the food supply, prices, and quality.
The economically disadvantaged will be the first to pay the price of increased urbanization. As prices increase and access to quality food sources decreases, the nutritional health of poor populations will decline. Over the next several years, the responsibility of bridging the gap between projected food supply and demand in urban areas will largely fall on vertical farms, an industry that is expected to nearly quadruple by 2025 to about $16 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic could accelerate that growth rate even further.
The vertical farming industry still has challenges to overcome. Production costs remain relatively high and, as a young market, knowledge gaps in operational best practices in critical areas like facility design and environmental conditions threaten long-term sustainability and profitability. The evolving economic dynamic with supermarkets is forcing vertical farms to scale quickly as they attempt to grow and supply a wider variety of crops while maintaining the buyer’s standards around produce size, quality, and nutritional value.
And, as we look to the future, new innovations in lighting strategies, facility design, cultivation best practices, and automation mean that vertical farming operations have to be constantly adapting and seeking new operational advantages. This is just as true for new market entrants and relatively established players alike, and each will be critical to not only maintaining profitability, but ensuring that food production in urban areas can increase with demand.
With that in mind, here are three critical factors vertical farmers need to consider to meet market expectations, improve efficiency and ultimately grow, cultivate and distribute larger quantities of quality food to more people in a smaller area.
Facility design as a function of market demand
The history and growth of the vertical farming market are largely driven by two trends at the consumer and buyer levels. A decade ago, consumers asking questions about how, where, and when their food was grown was practically unheard of. Things are different today. People want to know the provenance behind the food they buy and ensure it is chemical-free and safe to eat. Every product has become more than a label, it’s become a story that consumers want to hear, and one that has an equally significant impact in where they shop and what they buy.
Supermarkets have taken notice. Beyond that, though, vertical farming operations have given supermarkets one more option in addition to the existing supply chains on which they’ve relied for food production and distribution. Vertical farms play an even more important role during large-scale disruption events like the COVID-19 pandemic or massive recalls. As a result, supermarkets—which value the consistent supply of produce above all—are turning to their local vertical farming operations and, in some cases, even investing in them directly. The increased attention, however, comes at a cost (literally and metaphorically). Supermarkets are demanding that the vertical farms supplying them grow a wider variety of crops—lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy greens, microgreens, herbs—more consistently while also meeting unique specifications around weight, aesthetic, nutritional value and a variety of other factors that are ultimately dictated by the vertical farm’s environment and the grower’s expertise.
Vertical farmers are quickly realizing they need to expand their portfolio from potentially a handful of crops to a few dozen or more, raising a range of questions on how to design or retrofit their facilities and adjust environmental conditions that favor any given crop.
The first decision many vertical farmers face is the growing technique that will be most scalable and viable for their operation. Hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics have all emerged as viable options with varying degrees of success, but they’re far from interchangeable.
In the end, there is no universal solution for every vertical farm. Cultivators should closely consider their buyers’ expectations, and how those expectations might change over time. Then, cultivators must assess the full range of their crops’ needs and how each might respond differently to various environmental factors and lighting strategies.
Strike a balance between environmental factors
The next set of factors governing facility design, investment and day-to-day operations should always be the environmental conditions themselves.
How air flows into and across each rack of a vertical farm is one of the most unique and important challenges vertical farms have to solve. Ignoring or failing to closely monitor airflow is often a death blow to entire sections of crops and to profitability, yield, and consistency as a result. Air movement helps to maintain temperature, humidity, and transpiration at each rack, and lack of it creates wide temperature swings or large gaps between crops at the bottom and crops at the top. It’s an incredibly fragile balance to strike. Everything from the number of access points into a warehouse—there should only be one access point—to HVAC and circulation systems affect air movement.
As a best practice, the maximum difference between the temperature at the top-most rack and the bottom-most rack should be no more than two degrees Fahrenheit. In practical scenarios, cultivators facing large temperature fluctuations can also consider placing crops that prefer relatively warmer temperatures—such as basil, oregano, chives, sage or thyme—at the top and simply let the laws of thermodynamics do the rest.
Carbon dioxide enrichment is a slightly easier condition to manage but no less important and changes based on temperature and lighting strategy. CO2 enrichment, too, can fluctuate based on the number of access points into a warehouse (again, there should only be one). Enriching a cultivation environment with carbon dioxide stimulates photosynthesis and plant growth, the rate of which is critically dependent on the difference between CO2 concentrations in the air and in the leaf cells.
The law of diminishing returns puts a cap on the amount of carbon dioxide cultivators should be introducing. CO2 is by no means the only factor governing plant growth, but vertical farms have the advantage of being able to closely monitor and control CO2 levels. To do so properly, however, they shouldn’t shy away from significant investments in both handheld devices—which allow cultivators to measure carbon dioxide levels at each rack, each plant, and each leaf—but also large-scale control systems that can measure and track CO2 throughout the entire warehouse.
Humidity levels govern a plant’s transpiration rate and the aperture sizes of its stomata, ultimately affecting how much water it moves from its root zone to release back into the warehouse. When a plant’s stomata open, they release water while also collecting carbon dioxide, making the balance of humidity, temperature, and carbon dioxide all the more crucial. Different plant types in different growth stages have different transpiration rates, adding even more complexity to how a vertical farm is designed and managed. The most common way to express humidity is relative humidity, the percentage of water vapor in the air at a given temperature compared to the total amount of water the air can hold at that temperature. In vertical farming, however, vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is the more accurate way to gauge humidity’s effect on plant growth. VPD remains an interesting discussion among researchers as the industry seeks to understand the differences between VPDs for air and leaves as well as exact VPD calculations.
Every environmental factor in a vertical farm affects the others to some degree. Nearly everything can be controlled; it’s both the advantage and the challenge native to the market. No factor, however, is more important to photosynthesis than its primary driver: light. Each factor—CO2, temperature, airflow, humidity, fertilizer, irrigation, VPD—need to be fine-tuned with changes to light quantity and quality to optimize plant performance and response.
Designing an effective lighting strategy
The design and implementation of an effective lighting strategy is and always will be the primary driver of your vertical farm’s success. In environments as complex as vertical farms, identifying the correct light intensity, spectra, photoperiod, and configuration will determine how other environmental factors work together to optimize a facility for plant yield and quality.
The first of these, the fixtures themselves, carry more implications for vertical farms than other cultivation spaces; in a vertical farm, plants receive no other source of light. The sun isn’t the safety blanket that it is for greenhouses. This simple and obvious fact means that vertical farmers have to find efficiencies in ways others don’t, which can manifest across a variety of operational metrics. Light efficacy, for instance, becomes more important. Most vertical farms are located in urban areas and are likely paying a premium for electricity. Maximizing micromoles per watt and reducing energy waste becomes more than a sustainability initiative, it’s critical to overall profitability.
Similarly, vertical farms operating warehouses measuring in the tens of thousands of square feet need fixtures with a good form factor without sacrificing light intensity. The right configuration means vertical farms can squeeze more racks into their facilities while also putting the lights closer to the plants for better results.
Beyond the hardware specifications, lighting design and strategy consist of several key factors: light intensity, light quality (or spectra), and light bar configuration. Each should be rooted in a facility’s overarching goals—typically defined by the consumer or buyer. Lighting strategies can be customized by crop, yielding specific plant chemistries or changes in biomass. Differences in spectra and light intensity can affect a crop’s coloration, shelf life, taste, and smell. Desired crop characteristics should be determined upfront in conjunction with the prospective buyer, therefore guiding a lighting designer to identify the optimal strategy to accomplish a facility’s goals.
Light quantity is the first and foremost aspect when it comes to optimizing the productivity of the crop. It is important to target the correct mols/day for each crop. Light quality (or spectra) is defined by measuring light’s wavelength in nanometers (nm). Wavelengths of light that drive photosynthesis are primarily found within 400 to 700nm—a range identified as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). In a vertical farming environment, broad, white light has proven effective for tissue culture, propagation, and vegetative growth—while also serving the more practical function of making it easier for human eyes to diagnose and observe crops day in and day out. As the body of research into LED applications has expanded, it’s become clear that lighting strategies need to shift based on the growth stage. The days of bombarding plants with the same intensity and spectra are quickly fading. More and more research is showing that different cultivars respond to different lighting strategies at different stages of their maturation. More nuanced, customized lighting strategies are increasingly leading to tangible business outcomes for cultivators: longer shelf life, improved aesthetic, enhanced nutritional value, faster cycle times, and higher yields.
LED improvements will continue to drive costs down, while more in-depth research will discover and confirm a new set of lighting strategies and operational best practices to help vertical farmers meet future market demand for increased food production while also improving profitability. Overall, the future for vertical farms is bright and ripe for even broader innovation. Automation—the final frontier of food production—will mean even greater control of agricultural environments. That future is on the horizon. For now, though, vertical farms just need to stick to what they can control, which is pretty much everything else.
About Abhay
Abhay Thosar is the director of horticulture services at Fluence by OSRAM, where he is responsible for managing a team of horticulture specialists that enhances how cultivators grow their crops, optimize their lighting strategies and increase profitability in their operations. He holds a Ph.D. in plant physiology from Gujarat Agricultural University and spent more than a decade at leading greenhouses and nurseries throughout the U.S.
Polygreens Podcast Episode: 18 Jamey Agathen - Grow Strong Industries
Grow Strong Industries’ mission is to help humanity thrive by enabling all people to grow indoors effortlessly.
Since they founded in 2002, Grow Strong Industries has grown by leaps and bounds
Grow Strong Industries’ mission is to help humanity thrive by enabling all people to grow indoors effortlessly.
Since they founded in 2002, Grow Strong Industries has grown by leaps and bounds.
From offering a single product, now offer multiple products - including grow tents, LED lighting, hydroponics systems, and nutrients - all suitable for indoor growing. Starting from three lifelong friends in their garage, they now have an army of employees and an office to call their own.
Latest Episode
"Providing A Multi-Faceted Solution With The Potential To CEA Farmers And The Industry"
Simon Deacon, CEO of Light Science Technologies said: “The opening of the laboratory demonstrates our full commitment to the ‘art’ of plant science
Light Science Technologies Opens Its New In-House Laboratory
Light Science Technologies (LST), has opened its new, state-of-the-art in-house laboratory as it aims to help growers create the most optimal plant recipe.
Simon Deacon, CEO of Light Science Technologies said: “The opening of the laboratory demonstrates our full commitment to the ‘art’ of plant science. It will help accelerate the development of horticulture lighting and environmental technologies over the next few years. And, beyond as we seek out more sustainable, energy-efficient ways of farming."
The purpose-built testing facility at LST’s Derby site will mimic, via a test and replicate process, a grower’s closed indoor environment and test new crops in its controlled environment chambers managing temperature, humidity, and CO2. By running up to 12 concurrent trials in 6 chambers, a team including in-house scientists and top-level industry experts will harness historical and real-time data to help farmers and growers create the right recipe.
Simon continued: “Our testing facility provides a multi-faceted solution with the potential to controlled environment agriculture (CEA) farmers and the industry at large. Not just recipe development for higher density and profit margin crops, but a pathway to industry-leading scientists in different plant species. And, equally importantly, an opportunity to prototype new crops before investment.”
Utilizing its Conviron A2000 reach-in grow chambers along with its integrated, fully updateable and bespoke lighting solutions, LST’s lab offers multiple benefits to growers while helping them achieve the optimal yield, including lowering CAPEX and OPEX costs.
One of LST's scientists outside Conviron growth chambers in lab
By harnessing advanced lighting technology, LST’s lighting systems can identify the right spectral waveforms and PPFD levels required for any species of plant or microbiology and can validate the performance of a grower’s existing set-up or compare new solutions independently, using its own Quantum PAR Photo-Goniometer testing facility. Built inside a 22-meter bespoke light tunnel using its 2021 SSL Spectral Photo Goniometer, it can accurately measure PAR (400nm-700nm) Quantum PAR (250nm-1040nm) and CIE.*
The lab’s capabilities also mean it can measure plant health thanks to the LIcor LI-6800, the only photosynthesis system capable of measuring combined gas exchange and fluorescence from leaves and aquatic samples in just a few seconds with the highest level of accuracy and detail. It also instantly details temperature and humidity.
Other key elements include advanced water and environmental testing, used to help growers identify the macronutrients in their plants and check for all types of food safety, quality and chemical contamination. And, to ensure only plant performance data is collected, GrowFoam, a natural biodegradable growing medium that has no effect on the plant, will be used in the chambers.
One of the most interesting aspects of the lab is the focus on developing an AI capable of monitoring and proactively controlling environmental parameters and plant performance. This is done by leveraging LST’s partnership with a number of universities and its work using an in-house Big Data resource. Using the latest stacked GPGPU technology, data can be brought to life to increase plant performance, taste control and quality.
For more information:
Light Science Tech
Claire Brown, PR Consultant
claire.brown@lightsciencetech.com
www.lightsciencetech.com
Publication date: Wed 17 Mar 2021
Is All White Light the Same - Webinar
In this free webinar, we break down the differences among different types of white horticultural lighting. We will present the results of comparative plant trials we conducted using a variety of our own and other LED providers’ luminaires
More and more LEDs are going from purple to white. Is there any difference among the countless white LED light options on the market, in addition to fluorescent? Cool white, warm white, full-spectrum white, fluorescent, white with UV and far red, etc. How to evaluate these choices?
In this free webinar, we break down the differences among different types of white horticultural lighting. We will present the results of comparative plant trials we conducted using a variety of our own and other LED providers’ luminaires.
Spectra appearing white to human eyes contain a variety of spectrum colors, including green. Humans can distinguish them in terms of their temperature (e.g. warm white and cool white) and CRI (color rendering index) which determines how realistic objects appear under them.
Plants however can have dramatically different reactions to light that appear nearly the same to us. The example here shows the difference in biomass accumulation from three light sources that look exactly the same!
This webinar is aimed at growers and researchers trying to understand which kind of light to illuminate their growth chambers, indoor farms, and greenhouse compartments with.
Register for the webinar here.
Contact Valoya sales here - sales@valoya.com
About Valoya
Valoya is a provider of high-end, energy-efficient LED grow lights for use in crop science, vertical farming, and medicinal plant cultivation. Valoya LED grow lights have been developed using Valoya's proprietary LED technology and extensive plant photobiology research. Valoya's customer base includes numerous vertical farms, greenhouses, and research institutions all over the world (including 8 out of 10 world’s largest agricultural companies).
Additional information:
Valoya Ltd, Finland
Tel: +358 10 2350300
Email: sales@valoya.com
Web: www.valoya.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valoyafi/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/valoya
Improved Product Consistency
Introducing Travaglini FarmTech, a new business division that has been established by Travaglini S.p.a., the world leader in meat, cheese, and fish processing equipment. Travaglini FarmTech will deliver turnkey vertical farm solutions to food processors to help them improve product consistency and simplify their supply chain dynamics
12-03-2021 Philips Lighting
ITALY, Milan- Introducing Travaglini FarmTech, a new business division that has been established by Travaglini S.p.a., the world leader in meat, cheese, and fish processing equipment. Travaglini FarmTech will deliver turnkey vertical farm solutions to food processors to help them improve product consistency and simplify their supply chain dynamics.
“With vertical farming
we can grow and process consistent, high-quality produce in one location that can be close to retailers and consumers. We have full control over the entire process.”
- Luca Travaglini, leader Travaglini FarmTech
The challenge
Travaglini S.p.a. builds on 68 years of expertise in developing extremely accurate climate control, industrial automation, processing, and packaging equipment. The company is partnering with Philips Lighting, the world leader in lighting, to establish Italy’s first vertical farm research lab in Milan. This facility will be used to develop a state-of-the-art model for vertical farming growth strategies and technologies. The Italian vertical farm research lab will focus primarily on the production of leafy greens.
The right lighting
Vertical farming is a reply to the environmental problem that exists today in horticulture – how to provide fresh food to urban environments in a way that’s efficient and sustainable. “With vertical farming we are looking to answer many of the questions that the food industry is facing today and that will only become clearer and more pressing in the coming years,” said Travaglini. We can grow and process consistent, high-quality produce in one location in a vertical farm that can be close to retailers and consumers. Plus, we can fully control the entire supply chain, from seed to packaging.”
Luca Travaglini, leader of Travaglini FarmTech division said, “We chose to work with Philips Lighting because they have the strongest expertise in this field, and we trust them to help us expand our skillset and knowledge base over the long-term.
Photos Courtesy of Philips Lighting
Click here for more information.
VIDEO: Signify Celebrates Five Years Anniversary of GrowWise Research Center
Over the past five years, we have helped hundreds of entrepreneurs and pioneers all over the world discover how they can feed tomorrow’s cities and grow plants faster, in a more sustainable way."
Five Years of Feeding Tomorrow’s Cities
Ellis Janssen, Director city farming at Signify explains: “At the GrowWise Center, we believe in vertical farming. Over the past five years, we have helped hundreds of entrepreneurs and pioneers all over the world discover how they can feed tomorrow’s cities and grow plants faster, in a more sustainable way."
Jarno Mooren, Signify's plant specialist vertical farming with tomato crops cultivated at the GrowWise Center
"We work closely with our customers and partners, looking at all aspects of the business case: whatever a grower’s needs are, we can translate them into a dedicated recipe for growth. To achieve this, our team of plant specialists, application engineers and key account managers look at the most important aspects that determine the set-up of a farm so they can give the grower dedicated advice in making the best decisions," Ellis states.
Ellis Jansen, director of city farming at Signify
She adds, "We have learned a lot over the past five years, and as we are evolving our customers are evolving as well. They want the best solutions for their specific needs. At the GrowWise Center, we support them wherever we can. The world continues to change, and we will change along with it. Through this all, and by combining the latest technology, business insights and plant expertise, we can help growers make their business successful and future-proof."
Jarno in between strawberry crops
"At the GrowWise Center, we are proud of all that has been accomplished in vertical farming over the past five years, and we are excited to see where we can take the dreams and ambitions in vertical farming in the future," Ellis notes.
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2020 sales of EUR 6.5 billion, we have approximately 38,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for four consecutive years and were named Industry Leader in 2017, 2018, and 2019. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, Linked In, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
LEDs Light the Way to Efficient Urban Farming
The global pandemic has turned the world upside down, bringing unprecedented change to the way we live, work and play. But the crisis has also paved the way for important new innovations
By Mike Martens, Senior Manager, Illumination Marketing at Osram Opto Semiconductors, North America
The global pandemic has turned the world upside down, bringing unprecedented change to the way we live, work and play. But the crisis has also paved the way for important new innovations. For instance, massive disruption to the global supply chain is now compelling many nations to ramp up their indoor and urban farming efforts to secure their food supply and feed their people.
Take the desert nation of the United Arab Emirates. Amid the ongoing pandemic, the country is experiencing something of a food crisis. That’s why it recently announced a $100 million investment in cutting-edge indoor farming facilities that can help feed its population. The effort will include the creation of the world’s largest vertical farm to help solve the challenge of local food production.
A key component of vertical farming is LED technology. In places across the globe where farmland is limited, innovative LED lighting solutions offer a major advantage because they can provide the exact light composition that various plants need for ideal growth or to develop certain characteristics. Plants can also be grown in a very space-saving manner and with considerably higher yields thanks to these lighting solutions.
LEDs are more efficient
For decades, traditional high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps were commonly used for greenhouses and other horticultural purposes but they bring with them many challenges. They have a short lifespan and are often only suitable for top lighting in greenhouses due to their high heat output.
This is a big problem for greenhouse owners because efficient energy use is essential to economic production. In traditional greenhouse and urban farming setups, HPS lights are often inefficient. They do provide light for plants, but it is often not the most efficient wavelength range because the lamps cannot be customized to provide ideal growing conditions for different types of plants.
HPS lights often generate a lot of heat , causing considerable evaporation and ultimately limiting crop yield. What’s more, due to this heat production, HPS fixtures often cannot be placed very close to plant canopy, preventing more efficient vertical-farm setups. After all, you don’t want to singe your produce.
The good news is that innovative LED technologies can alleviate many of these concerns. For starters, LEDs produce almost no radiated heat, allowing for the light fixtures to be placed closer to plants and for plants to be stacked much higher, enabling farmers to grow more produce in smaller spaces while simultaneously reducing water costs.
LED lights also offer customizable wavelengths for different plants’ needs, allowing greenhouse operators and urban farmers to grow specific plants in their optimal conditions. For instance, LEDs can be tailored to supply light with a higher amount of red or blue content, generating exactly the wavelengths the plant, such as iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and basil need for optimal growth.
Urban farming is not a new phenomenon, but LEDs have the power to take it to the next level and more efficiently feed the world. In terms of sheer numbers, LEDs have an average lifespan of 50,000 hours compared to 8,000 hours for HPS lamps, making LEDS much more economical (and better for the environment). Indeed, vertical farms that leverage LED technology can achieve 40% energy savings compared to traditional lighting methods like HPS lamps. And due to the optimized light spectrum at 450, 660 and 730 nanometers, LEDs can provide the perfect lighting for all types of plants, allowing growers to adjust the lighting exactly to the needs of various crops.
LEDs grow healthier produce
LED are the most efficient lighting technologies to date for growing produce. They not only help produce fresh food in smaller spaces without the use of pesticides, they also make it easier for consumers in urban areas to obtain fresh and healthy food quickly, a must, considering the planet’s ever-growing population and ever-decreasing farmland.
Consumers in urban areas often rely on produce grown in faraway places that is brought to them on trucks using fossil fuels. This produce is often grown with pesticides to keep insects away, as well as fertilizers, so plants can be grown throughout the year, even in suboptimal conditions. All of these factors contribute to climate change and more polluted water sources. With horticultural LEDs, these issues can be mitigated.
LEDs also provide optimal growing conditions in any environment with minimal water waste, while reducing the need for pesticides in indoor growing environments. Communities then have the ability to grow produce closer to home, which allows consumers to learn more easily what exactly goes into their food and greatly reduces the fossil fuel usage to get produce from the (urban) farm to their tables. Urban farming has great potential to make positive impacts on local environments and communities. It’s more sustainable and decreases communities’ reliance on foods shipped in at great cost from around the globe.
LEDs light the way
As we grapple with the many concerns facing our modern society, it is imperative to invest in efficient and time-saving technology of all types. LEDs are one of these technologies. Indeed, they light the way to the farms of the future. They will have an enormously beneficial impact on agriculture by dramatically increasing crop production and putting food on every table more efficiently.