Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Dickson Despommier, Professor Emeritus - Contributor To The New Book "The Economics of Sustainable Food: Smart Policies For Health And The Planet "
In The Economics of Sustainable Food, co-authored by Dr. Charles Knirsch, I discuss, as agrotechnology advances rapidly, consumers will no longer have their produce shipped months in advance and from thousands of miles away
I contributed to the new book The Economics of Sustainable Food: Smart Policies for Health and the Planet , Co-Authored by Dr. Charles Knirsch, and am excited to say that it is now available!
In The Economics of Sustainable Food, I discuss, as agrotechnology advances rapidly, consumers will no longer have their produce shipped months in advance and from thousands of miles away. Vertical farming uses a fraction of the resources of conventional farming and allows farmers to grow locally and bring fresh produce to the mass market within days or even hours, reducing the carbon footprint associated with transporting food. Additionally, as climate change brings dramatic weather changes, CEA allows constant conditions regardless of weather patterns. VF thus promises substantial environmental and economic gains, and policy should incentivize vertical farms to grow increasing shares of produce both domestically and across the world.
If you’d like to purchase a copy from Island Press, which ships worldwide, use the code BATINI, which is good for a 20% discount. You can also order the book from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local independent bookseller.
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Dickson
IGS Signs Significant Export Deal With Jungle To Supply French Retail Market
The first growth towers will be in production by early 2021, scaling incrementally to a minimum of 17 towers by the end of 2021
Scottish Technology to Create One of
Europe’s Largest Vertical Farms
Edinburgh, Scotland – 17 September 2020 - Indoor agritech specialist IGS has today announced a significant export deal with experienced French urban agriculturalists, Jungle. The multi-million-pound deal will introduce IGS indoor growing platforms to Jungle’s operations, initially outside Paris, to grow a variety of crops to supply major French retailers.
The first growth towers will be in production by early 2021, scaling incrementally to a minimum of 17 towers by the end of 2021. Jungle will grow a range of herbs and salads to supply select retailers across France. The company will utilize the patented IGS plug-and-play vertical farming platform to widen its portfolio and produce new varieties through an ongoing program of crop trials.
Jungle’s indoor growing operations will also develop a variety of botanicals to provide natural ingredients to a world-leading flavor and fragrance business.
Jungle’s ethos is focused on sustainable food production, with superior quality of crops grown through a more efficient model, re-localizing the supply chain, considerably reducing waste and using no chemicals. With extensive experience in the indoor growing space, the company has achieved recognition in the highly competitive retail market in France for the quality of its produce.
To increase the scale of production sustainably, while maintaining its commitment to high-quality, delicious, and pesticide-free produce, the company conducted an extensive search to identify the best technology partner.
After a thorough and competitive review of the market, IGS was selected as the most economically viable and environmentally friendly system capable of meeting Jungle’s requirements to reach the industrial scale required by its customers. IGS offers its customers a highly controllable platform, designed to maximize productivity whilst minimizing energy and water consumption.
When completed, the nine-meter-high growth towers will be housed alongside a 1,500 m2 service area on Jungle’s site outside Paris. This will provide approximately 5,200 m2 of growing space, producing up to 425 tonnes per annum when fully operational, making it one of the largest vertical farms in Europe.
IGS CEO, David Farquhar, commented: “In recent months, global markets have been challenged considerably and export agreements have become more difficult to fulfill. The announcement of this deal is an exciting one not just for IGS, but also for the UK’s Agri-tech sector as we showcase our international capability to support economic recovery post-coronavirus. The Jungle team has a strong reputation for excellence and sustainability both of its produce and approach.
“Jungle needs a reliable, productized system that can meet its ambitious growth plans in France and beyond and IGS has proven to be exactly that, following a rigorous selection process. This deal is proof that our unwavering commitment to innovative, practical design, based on a deep understanding of delivering optimum growing conditions, is what customers want. The deployment of the system for Jungle begins immediately and I am encouraged by how well our teams are collaborating as we move forward together.”
Gilles Dreyfus, CEO of Jungle commented: “This partnership agreement is a significant step forward for Jungle and our ability to deliver at scale for our customers. We have established Jungle as a grower of superior produce with major French retailers and have plans to build on this reputation as we look at operations in other regions. We are proud to be innovators in our sector and it is important that we find people and organizations that share this same vision.
“We undertook a very serious assessment of the market and IGS was a clear leader in our eyes. What we can offer our customers through the partnership with IGS puts us at a different level in terms of scale, flexibility, and potential to expand and develop our produce portfolio. The IGS approach, both with the technology and the team, is such that we feel completely aligned and able to work collaboratively now and into the future.”
IGS has received recognition from the Scottish Government for the exciting export opportunities it is bringing to the Scottish market. Trade Minister Ivan McKee MSP said: “This significant contract underlines IGS’ standing as a global leader in agricultural innovation which will help everyone farm more sustainably. IGS’ growth has been driven by a focus on quality, innovation and scientific expertise and shows what Scottish companies can achieve with the right support in place.
“International exports have a central role to play in our economic recovery from COVID-19. The Scottish Government has set an ambitious target of increasing the value of exports from 20 percent to 25 percent of GDP by the end of the decade and I look forward to IGS helping us achieve that goal.”
In addition, Scottish Enterprise which has worked closely with IGS since 2018, welcomes this strategic export announcement. Neil Francis, International Trade Director at Scottish Enterprise, said: “We congratulate IGS on securing this export deal, which will ensure the company’s innovative technology is delivered to a global marketplace.
“Scottish Enterprise has worked closely with IGS over the past couple of years, both through our investment arm, the Scottish Investment Bank, and Scottish Development International. We look forward to continuing support IGS as it demonstrates its capabilities in the agritech sector.
“International trade will be key to Scotland’s economic recovery and help deliver the future, sustainable growth we all want to see. Working with our partners, Scottish Enterprise will continue to do all we can to support companies access overseas markets.
Ends
Notes to editors:
For more information: please contact Kate Forster, IGS on kate@intelligentgrowthsolutions.com or call +44 7787 534 999 or Gilles Dreyfus, Jungle on gdreyfus@jungle.bio.
About IGS:
Founded in 2013, IGS brought together decades of farming and engineering experience to create an agritech business with a vision to revolutionize the indoor growing market. Its commitment to innovation has continued apace and it has evolved the applications of its technology beyond agriculture to create solutions for a wide variety of indoor environments which enhance life for plants and people alike.
IGS launched its first vertical farming demonstration facility in August 2018.
For more information visit www.intelligentgrowthsolutions.com or connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Jungle:
Jungle originated in Portugal in 2016 and maintains a Research and Development facility in Lisbon. It identified strong demand from the retail market in France and opened operations there in 2019. Further European operations are under consideration as the demand for healthy, sustainable and locally-sourced produce increases.
VIDEO: "Localized Solutions To Food Insecurity In The COVID-19 Era"
This "Localized Solutions to Food Insecurity in the COVID-19 Era" panel discussion was moderated by CEO, Scott Massey hosting fellows Joseph Daliwa, Natacha Agbahoungba Sah, and Mankaah Yvonne
Heliponix has long been involved with the Mandela Washington Fellowship sponsored by the United States Department of State, by sharing our insights for hydroponic farming to Mandela Washington Fellows to adopt the technology, and implement financially and environmentally sustainable businesses in West and Central Africa. This "Localized Solutions to Food Insecurity in the COVID-19 Era" panel discussion was moderated by CEO, Scott Massey hosting fellows Joseph Daliwa, Natacha Agbahoungba Sah, and Mankaah Yvonne Che.
Lef Farms Keeps Front-Line Workers Happy And Healthy With A Quarter Million Dollars In Food Donations
The whole reason we started Lef Farms was to reduce our community’s reliance on food sources outside our region by offering healthy local alternatives. We feel a healthy community is one that grows and prospers together
(LOUDON, NH) – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, New Hampshire-based lef Farms continues to do its part by providing hard-working front-line healthcare workers across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey with more than $250,000 in baby greens over the past six months – a total of 50,000 meals.
“We’ve always seen ourselves as community advocates first and foremost”, begins lef Farms founder, Henry Huntington. “The whole reason we started lef Farms was to reduce our community’s reliance on food sources outside our region by offering healthy local alternatives. We feel a healthy community is one that grows and prospers together. Our ability to bring fresh greens to those logging countless hours to fight this pandemic is just another way to keep our community healthy and strong.”
“Front-line heroes are pulling 12- sometimes 16-hour workdays. For weeks!”, exclaims lef Farms Sales Manager, Donald Grandmaison. “When you put in that kind of hours, your meals end up a second thought. Our team felt a strong call-to-action. As our local heroes poured themselves into helping our community, we wanted to give them the fuel to continue their amazing work”, finishes Grandmaison.
What began in March as a casual conversation about the country’s incredible pandemic relief efforts led to lef taking a more aggressive approach in its own region. lef immediately reached out to its business partners to gauge interest in supporting healthcare workers. In a matter of just hours, Lef secured thousands in financial support from key vendors, like International Paper, Macaran Printed Products, Inline Plastic, and its parent company, Pleasant View Gardens – demonstrating the willingness of the businesses community to rally for this cause.
With support from business partners, Lef also contacted one of New England’s top grocers, Stop & Shop, joining forces and providing fresh greens directly to dedicated front-line workers. Through the Stop & Shop’s “Feeding the Frontline” program, lef provided 30,000 servings of fresh baby greens to medical first-responders at Mount Sinai and Long Island Community Hospital in New York, Pascack Valley Medical Center in New Jersey, and Boston Medical Center and Children’s Hospital.
Given the success of the Stop & Shop partnership, lef turned its focus closer to home by inviting local New Hampshire food suppliers to join in. Without hesitation, Pete & Gerry’s added their organic eggs to the mix. And, like a series of dominos, other suppliers fell in line, like Contoocook Creamery, who donated fresh milk. Before too long, a small team of farmers were assembled to lift the spirits of healthcare providers and motivate them to continue their good fight. This local program provided an assortment of local products for 1,000 healthcare professionals at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Centers (DHMC) throughout New Hampshire.
“With several special events throughout the month of August, our dedicated staff was treated to fresh greens, milk, and eggs to keep them going”, notes DHMC media relations manager, Audra Burns. “Plus, lef’s efforts mesh perfectly with the hospital’s own internal wellness and healthy eating. We couldn’t be more grateful”, finishes Burns.
“While the pandemic continues, we’re proud that our farm and other businesses can work together to give back to those who are giving so much. For them, it’s an outward demonstration of community support. A strong message of hope. And that’s exactly what this country needs”, smiles lef’s Henry Huntington.
lef Farms is a 1-acre hydroponic greenhouse growing facility located in Loudon, NH, producing nearly 1.5 million pounds annually of its Crisp, Smooth, Spice, and Fusion baby greens for New England. www.lef-farms.com.
Lead Image Caption:
lef Farms of Loudon, NH, keeps medical first-responders happy and healthy with a quarter of a million dollars in food donations.
VIDEO: It's A 2-Acre Farm, Packed Into A Shipping Container That Doubles As A Farm Building
The Farm From A Box system is designed to feed 150 people per year and includes drip irrigation, all of the tools, and its own renewable energy setup
The Farm From A Box system is designed to feed 150 people per year and includes drip irrigation, all of the tools, and its own renewable energy setup.
This plug-and-play farming system combines water-smart irrigation, renewable energy, and precision farming technology in a single shipping container that is said to be capable of supporting the cultivation of almost two and a half acres, using regenerative agriculture practices.
We've covered a few different approaches to the "farm in a box" concept, but all of them so far have been built around the idea of growing the crops inside a shipping container, using hydroponics or aeroponics, and artificial lighting. The Farm From A Box is quite a bit different in that the farming takes place outside of the box (or shipping container) and after the contents have been unpacked and deployed, the box itself becomes the hub of the farm infrastructure.
According to the company, this is a "turnkey farm kit" that can be used to build a stronger local food system, especially in food deserts and in the developing world, where infrastructure can be spotty and unreliable at best, and possibly even non-existent. The system is described as being “food sovereignty in a box" that can be a “Swiss Army Knife” for off-grid farming, and while there is a basic template, each unit can be customized to fit the particular situation."
We want to develop this as a rapid response transitional food production system. The box is really infrastructure for places that are struggling with a lack of infrastructure." - Brandi DeCarli, co-founder of Farm from a Box. While the units are designed to be complete systems with all of the core components (minus the land and water rights and labor, of course), the company doesn't just stop there, but also includes a training system to help "new farmers tackle the steep learning curve of permaculture technique." To me, this is one of the critical parts of the venture, because if you've ever tried to grow food on a larger scale than your own backyard, without having any formal training or guidelines to follow, it can be a humbling experience that is full of failures learning opportunities."
Based on extensive field research, we found that rural communities often lack the resources and infrastructure needed to access nutritious food. We developed a toolkit that contains all of the core components needed to grow your own food, on a two-acre plot of land, without the need for an existing grid. Imagine the good it can do by growing local, organic food for a school, or helping jumpstart food production after a disaster. ‘Farm from a Box’ enables and empowers communities to provide for themselves." - DeCarli
Currently, Farm In A Box has a prototype unit operating in Sonoma, California, and a second version is in the works for deployment in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Basic units will cost about $50,000, which includes a 3 kW solar PV array, a battery storage system, a drip irrigation system and water pump (which can be fitted to a well or to a municipal water supply), basic farm tools, a sensor package, a seedling house, and a WiFi connectivity package, all packaged into a single shipping container. Other options are available as well, including a water filtration system, an advanced sensor suite, remote monitoring capabilities, and more.
CANADA: Bringing Local Greens To Ontario Year Round
The state-of-the-art farm is fully automated and equipped to grow microgreens and baby greens 365 days a year, without the use of pesticides, herbicides or fungicides and with dramatically less water consumption
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Sep 15, 2020
Vertical Farm In Guelph Is Now Fully Operational
GUELPH, ON, Sept. 15, 2020,/CNW/ - The revolutionary GoodLeaf Farms' 4,000-square-metre indoor vertical farm is now fully operational.
The state-of-the-art farm is fully automated and equipped to grow microgreens and baby greens 365 days a year, without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides and with dramatically less water consumption. The result is a safer, more nutrient-dense, and sustainably grown food source, providing a domestic alternative in a produce aisle highly dominated by imports from the southern United States or Mexico.
"Knowing where their food comes from is important to Canadians," says Jacquie Needham, Accounts Manager for GoodLeaf Farms. "Our growing system mimics the spring sun without the use of chemicals, releasing farming from the restrictions of the changing seasons. We can grow local, fresh, nutritious, and healthy leafy greens for the Ontario produce market all year long — we do it safely."
Vertical farming is an innovative growing process that naturally grows plants with hydroponics under specialized LEDs that concentrates the waves from the light spectrum that plants need to maximize photosynthesis. This method of farming is cost-effective, uniquely suited for Canadian climate, and scalable. GoodLeaf Farms is a leader in food safety. Every crop is tested for contaminants before it is shipped, ensuring it is safe for consumers.
GoodLeaf Farms is also sustainable. It uses 95 percent less water than a traditional farm, has no run-off issues or potential contamination of nearby water sources, it is local which eliminates thousands of kilometers of transportation from the supply chain and more food can be grown per acre, reducing land-use pressures.
GoodLeaf currently has four microgreens and two baby greens available in Ontario:
Spicy Mustard Medley — Blend of Asian greens create a spicy touch reminiscent of Wasabi or Dijon Mustard. It makes for a perfect peppery finish.
Pea Shoots — Sweet and crisp with a subtle pea flavour, they add a fresh bite to salads, seafood, and summer rolls.
Micro Asian Blend — Mild peppery flavour with a hint of mustard, this makes a great addition to stir fry, soups, or as a crunchy culinary adventure to any dish.
Micro Arugula — Intense spicy flavour that is both peppery and nutty. Use this to elevate the look and flavour of any meat or seafood dish, as an addition to your salad or to garnish your sandwich.
Baby Kale — Earthy and nutty, it is a calcium-rich dark green to add a nutritional punch to any salad.
Baby Arugula — Excite your taste buds by adding this spicy and peppery green to your salad or as a topping for sandwiches or burgers.
"The pandemic has underscored how important it is to have access to local food sources – food that we know is safe, grown responsibly, and immune to border closures," says Ms. Needham. "Compared to a green that was grown thousands of miles away, packed onto a hot truck and shipped across the continent, our process is far superior. Local food is simply better — better for you, better for the environment and better for our economy."
Follow GoodLeaf Farms on Instagram at @goodleaffarms and like it on Facebook at /GoodLeafFarms.
About GoodLeaf Farms:
With a passion for delicious, nutrient-rich greens, GoodLeaf was founded in Halifax in 2011. Using an innovative technology and leveraging multi-level vertical farming, GoodLeaf has created a controlled and efficient indoor farm that can grow fresh produce anywhere in the world, 365 days of the year. The system combines innovations in LED lighting with leading-edge hydroponic techniques to produce sustainable, safe, pesticide-free, nutrient-dense leafy greens. GoodLeaf has ongoing R&D Programs in collaboration with the University of Guelph, Dalhousie University, and Acadia University.
Learn more at goodleaffarms.com.
SOURCE GoodLeaf Farms
For further information: Jacquie Needham, Accounts Manager at GoodLeaf Farms, jneedham@goodleaffarms.com, 416-579-6117
Nine High-Tech Farms In Singapore Awarded Nearly $40 Million To Ramp Up Food Production
The amount was made available through the "30x30 Express" grant launched by the SFA on April 17 this year. The aim of the grant was to meet 30 percent of Singapore's nutritional needs with food produced locally by 2030
SEP 9, 2020
Shabana Begum
SINGAPORE - Nine urban farms have been offered a total of $39.4 million by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) as part of efforts to support the growth of local agrifood enterprises and ramp up local food production over the next six to 24 months.
The amount was made available through the "30x30 Express" grant launched by the SFA on April 17 this year. The aim of the grant was to meet 30 percent of Singapore's nutritional needs with food produced locally by 2030.
More than 40 proposals were received by May 29, the closing date for proposals, and SFA said that the nine selected incorporated highly productive farming systems that could be constructed and implemented quickly to achieve high production levels.
All the proposals were assessed based on benchmarks such as productivity, project feasibility, economic viability, and the farms' capabilities.
SFA had to increase its original $30 million budget for the grant to close to $40 million to support the nine companies' proposals, said the agency in a press release on Wednesday (Sept 9).
Seven of the nine companies have accepted the SFA offer.
They are vegetable farms ComCrop, Green Harvest, I.F.F.I, LivFresh, Genesis One Tech Farm and VertiVegies, and egg farm Chew's Agriculture.
The funds will go towards projects such as building additional greenhouses, leveraging technology and automation to reduce manpower, and bringing artificial intelligence to high-tech farms.
SFA said the companies awarded the grant will be able to tap it to defray costs while accelerating their expansion.
For instance, I.F.F.I will set up a mega high-tech indoor vegetable farm that depends on AI to monitor the growth of its leafy greens, along with an advanced environmental control system to ensure optimum yield all year round. The farm will also use an innovative water treatment system that reduces the amount of bacteria in the crops and extends the shelf life of its produce.
Ms. Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, said: "While we continue to plan to tackle our long-term challenges, we also need to respond swiftly to the immediate global food supply challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Supporting our agri-food industry and augmenting their production capabilities remains a key strategy in strengthening Singapore's food supply resilience," she added.
Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has awarded close to $40 million of funding to nine companies to help them adopt technology to ramp up local food production. This marks another significant step towards reaching our goal of fulfilling 30% of our nutritional needs through local sources by 2030.
The “30x30 Express” grant was launched in April this year to accelerate our efforts to strengthen food security. The COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse impact on global supply chains, has underscored the importance of local food production as a buffer against supply disruptions. With Singapore importing more than 90% of our food, we are particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in the global food supply, which can stem from diseases, trade tensions, or climate change.
I visited two of the awarded companies, ComCrop and I.F.F.I, and was impressed by how they have integrated technological innovation into their farming. ComCrop’s vegetables are grown using NFT hydroponics system, which requires 90% less water and nutrients compared to traditional soil-based farming. I.F.F.I leverages AI farming systems integrated with IoT monitoring to achieve optimum growing conditions all year around. The grant will provide them with an added boost to adopt highly productive farming systems to ramp up production over the next 6 to 24 months.
Let us play our part to strengthen food security by supporting our local farmers! Do lookout for the SG Fresh Produce logo and give local produce a try when you go on your next groceries shopping trip!
Farms in Singapore can tap on SFA's existing Agriculture Productivity Fund (APF), which aims to help them modernize and adopt advanced farming systems, as well as co-fund the test-bedding of technologies.
Enterprise Singapore has also set aside over $55 million to help local agriculture and aquaculture companies build new capabilities and innovate to grow more with less.
SFA has also urged consumers to buy local.
"We urge consumers to support our local farms and buy local produce, which can be identified easily by our new SG Fresh Produce logo," said Mr. Lim Kok Thai, SFA chief executive officer.
Lead photo: Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu with ComCrop CEO Peter Barber during a visit to the farm
TOPICS: AGRICULTURE AND FARMING MINISTRY OF SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT AWARDS AND PRIZES
Infarm Raises $170M In Equity And Debt To Continue Building Its ‘Vertical Farming’ Network
That’s likely a testament to the speed of new retail partnerships over the last 12 months. They include Albert Heijn (Netherlands), Aldi Süd (Germany), COOP/Irma (Denmark), Empire Company’s Sobeys, Safeway and Thrifty Foods (Canada), Kinokuniya (Japan), Kroger (U.S.) and Marks & Spencer and Selfridges (U.K.)
September 17, 2020
Image Credits: Infarm
Infarm, the vertical farming company that has built a network of urban farms to grow fresh food closer to consumers, has raised $170 million in new investment in a “first close” of a Series C.
Leading the round — which is expected to reach $200 million and is a mixture of equity and debt — is LGT Lightstone, with participation from Hanaco, Bonnier, Haniel, and Latitude. Existing Infarm investors Atomico, TriplePoint Capital, Mons Capital, and Astanor Ventures also followed on. It brings the company’s total funding to date to more than $300 million.
That’s likely a testament to the speed of new retail partnerships over the last 12 months. They include Albert Heijn (Netherlands), Aldi Süd (Germany), COOP/Irma (Denmark), Empire Company’s Sobeys, Safeway and Thrifty Foods (Canada), Kinokuniya (Japan), Kroger (U.S.) and Marks & Spencer and Selfridges (U.K.).
With operations across 10 countries and 30 cities worldwide, Infarm says it now harvests more than 500,000 plants monthly, and in a much more sustainable way than traditional farming and supply chains. Its modular, IoT-powered vertical farming units claim to use 99.5% less space than soil-based agriculture, 95% less water, 90% less transport, and zero chemical pesticides. In addition, 90% of the electricity used throughout the Infarm network is from renewable energy and the company has set a target to reach zero emission food production next year.
Founded in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli, and brothers Erez and Guy Galonska, Infarm’s “indoor vertical farming” system is capable of growing herbs, lettuce and other vegetables. It then places these modular farms in a variety of customer-facing city locations, such as grocery stores, restaurants, shopping malls and schools, thus enabling the end-customer to actually pick the produce themselves. To further scale, it also installs Infarms in local distribution centers.
The distributed system is designed to be infinitely scalable — you simply add more modules, space permitting — whilst the whole thing is cloud-based, meaning the farms can be monitored and controlled from Infarm’s central control center. It’s also incredibly data-driven, a combination of IoT, Big Data and cloud analytics akin to “Farming-as-a-Service.”
The idea, the founding team told me back in 2017 when I profiled the nascent company, isn’t just to produce fresher and better-tasting produce and re-introduce forgotten or rare varieties, but to disrupt the supply chain as a whole, which remains inefficient and produces a lot of waste.
“Behind our farms is a robust hardware and software platform for precision farming,” explained Michaeli at the time. “Each farming unit is its own individual ecosystem, creating the exact environment our plants need to flourish. We are able to develop growing recipes that tailor the light spectrums, temperature, pH and nutrients to ensure the maximum natural expression of each plant in terms of flavor, color and nutritional quality.”
On that note, I caught up with two of Infarm’s founders to get a brief update on the Berlin-headquartered company and to dive a little deeper into how it will continue to scale.
TechCrunch: What assumptions did you make early on that have turned out to be true or, more interestingly, not panned out as expected?
Osnat Michaeli: When we first chatted about four years ago, we were 40 people in Berlin, and much of the conversation centered around the potential that our approach to urban vertical farming might have for retailers. While for many it was intriguing as a concept, we couldn’t have imagined that a few years later we would have expanded to almost 10 countries (Japan is on its way) and 30 cities, with partnerships with some of the largest retailers in the world. Our assumptions at the time were that retailers and their customers would be attracted to the taste and freshness of produce that grew right in front of them in the produce section, in our farms.
What we didn’t anticipate was how much and how quickly the demand for a sustainable, transparent, and modular approach to farming would grow as we, as a society, begin to feel the impact of climate change and supply chain fragility upon our lives, our choices and our food. Of course, we also did not anticipate a global pandemic, which has underscored the urgency of building a new food system that can democratize access to high-quality, amazing-tasting food, while helping our planet regenerate and heal. The past few months have confirmed the flexibility and resilience of our farming model, and that our mission is more relevant than ever.
In terms of signing on new retailers, based on your progress in the last 12 months, I’m guessing this has gotten easier, though undoubtedly there are still quite long lead times. How have these conversations changed since you started?
Erez Galonska: While lead times and speed of conversations can vary depending upon the region and retailer. In mature markets where the concept is familiar and we’re already engaged, deal conversations can reach maturity in as little time as three months. Since we last spoke we are already working with most of the leading retailers that are well established in Europe, the U.K., and North America. Brands which in each of their markets are both forerunners in a retail industry rapidly evolving to meet the demand for consumer-focused innovation, while proving that access to sustainable, high-quality, fresh, and living produce is not only possible, but can be available in produce aisles today, and every day of the year, with Infarm.
I’m interested to understand where Infarms are installed, in terms of if the majority is in-store and consumer-facing or if the most scalable and bulk of Infarm’s use cases are really much larger distribution hubs in cities or close to cities, i.e. not too far away from places with population/store density but not actually in stores. Perhaps you can enlighten me on what the ratio looks like today and how you see it developing as vertical farming grows?
Erez Galonska: Today across our markets, the split between our farms in stores and in distribution centers is roughly 50/50. However, as you anticipate, we will be expanding our network this year with many more distribution hubs. This expansion will likely lead to an 80/20 split as early as next year, with the majority of our regions being served with fresh, living produce delivered throughout the week from centrally located hubs. This not only offers retailers and restaurants flexibility in terms of volumes of output, and the ability to adapt the presentation of our offerings to floor areas of different sizes, but it also allows us to begin to serve whole regions from our next-generation farms under development today.
Based in our hubs, these farms will deliver the crop equivalent of an acre or more of fresh produce on a 25 m2 footprint, with significant further savings in energy, water, labor and land use. We believe this technology will truly challenge ideas of what is possible in sustainable, vertical farming and we look forward to talking about it more soon.
Lastly, what are the main product lines in terms of food on the shelves?
Osnat Michaeli: We have a catalog of more than 65 herbs, microgreens, and leafy greens that is constantly growing. Our offerings range from the known and common varieties like Coriander, Basil, or Mint, to specialty products like Peruvian Mint, Red Veined Sorrel or Wasabi Rucola.
Because our farms give us excellent control over every part of a plant’s growth process and can imitate the complexity of different ecosystems, we will be able to expand the diversity of Infarm produce available to consumers to include root vegetables, mushrooms, flowering crops, and even superfoods from around the world in the near future. What you see today with Infarm is still only the beginning.
Netled And SweGreen Collaborate In Sweden – Netled’s Vertical Farming System Delivered To In-Store Farm In ICA Focus Supermarket
Netled is specialized in developing and selling high-technology vertical farming systems
7th September 2020 by johannak
We have delivered a vertical farming system to our partner SweGreen’s project in Sweden. SweGreen has agreed on providing ICA Focus, one of Sweden’s biggest supermarkets in Gothenburg, an automated in-store farming solution. The greens are grown within the store and harvested directly off the shelf. This kind of in-store farm is first-of-its-kind in Sweden and globally unique in size as well as production capacity.
Netled is specialized in developing and selling high-technology vertical farming systems. Our mission is to enhance vertical farming by providing the best technology, expertise, and guidance for vertical farming projects and actors all around the world. The collaboration with SweGreen has been outstanding and produced valuable next steps towards hyper-local vertical farming.
Netled’s CEO Niko Kivioja comments: “We have followed the markets for ultra-local vertical farming for quite some time now and seen that our technology has clearly many opportunities for the current markets. This first project we have executed with and according to the wishes of our Swedish partner SweGreen is a great reference for us. Their business model, Farming as a Service, is elegant and easy to implement by supermarkets. Our team is proud to be partners with SweGreen, making fresh production close to consumers possible.”
Photos: SweGreen & Netled
More photos in SweGreen’s post on LinkedIn >
Watch a video by ICA Gruppen on LinkedIn >
Read more from the article in Gothenburg’s local paper Göteborg’s Posten (in Swedish) >
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Filed Under: NewsTagged With: agtech, autonomous farming, indoor farming, indoor farming technology, indoor growing, vertical farming, vertical farming expertise, vertical farming technology
LIVE Virtual Tour - Inside the Greenery Container Farm with Freight Farms' Lead Designer - Thurs, Sept 10, 2020 - 4:30 PM EST
Explore the technology behind our Greenery container farm that allows farmers to grow food anywhere in the world!
Take a Virtual Tour of the Freight Farms Greenery™
Explore the technology behind our Greenery container farm that allows farmers to grow food anywhere in the world!
Farm expert Derek will explain the ins and outs of the Greenery using a live video stream inside the farm. He’ll cover the basics of controlled environment agriculture, hydroponics, vertical farming, and how all those work together inside the Greenery to create the perfect conditions for crop growth regardless of geographic location.
To Register For This Free Zoom Virtual Live Tour
Thursday, September 10, 2020 - 4:30 PM
Heliponix - GroPod Smart Garden Appliance
At Heliponix, we believe it is critically important to invest in tomorrow's workforce by keeping schools engaged in CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture).
Heliponix has completed the Export Indiana Accelerator Program sponsored by the Indiana Small Business Development Center focused on developing international export regulatory compliance strategies so Indiana businesses can continue growing to hire more hoosiers!
Heliponix, we believe it is critically important to invest in tomorrow's workforce by keeping schools engaged i
Micro-Naps For Plants: Flicking The Lights On And Off Can Save Energy Without Hurting Indoor Agriculture Harvests
A nighttime arrival at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport flies you over the bright pink glow of vegetable production greenhouses. Growing crops under artificial light is gaining momentum, particularly in regions where produce prices can be high during seasons when sunlight is sparse.
The Netherlands is just one country that has rapidly adopted controlled-environment agriculture, where high-value specialty crops like herbs, fancy lettuces and tomatoes are produced in year-round illuminated greenhouses. Advocates suggest these completely enclosed buildings – or plant factories – could be a way to repurpose urban space, decrease food miles and provide local produce to city dwellers.
One of the central problems of this process is the high monetary cost of providing artificial light, usually via a combination of red and blue light-emitting diodes. Energy costs sometimes exceed 25% of the operational outlay. How can growers, particularly in the developing world, compete when the sun is free? Higher energy use also translates to more carbon emissions, rather than the decreased carbon footprint sustainably farmed plants can provide.
I’ve studied how light affects plant growth and development for over 30 years. I recently found myself wondering: Rather than growing plants under a repeating cycle of one day of light and one night of darkness, what if the same daylight was split into pulses lasting only hours, minutes or seconds?
Short bursts of light and dark
So my colleagues and I designed an experiment. We’d apply the normal amount of light in total, just break it up over different chunks of time.
Of course plants depend on light for photosynthesis, the process that in nature uses the sun’s energy to merge carbon dioxide and water into sugars that fuel plant metabolism. Light also directs growth and development through its signals about day and night, and monkeying with that information stream might have disastrous results.
That’s because breaking something good into smaller bits sometimes creates new problems. Imagine how happy you’d be to receive a US$100 bill – but not as thrilled with the equivalent 10,000 pennies. We suspected a plant’s internal clock wouldn’t accept the same luminous currency when broken into smaller denominations.
And that’s exactly what we demonstrated in our experiments. Kale, turnip or beet seedlings exposed to cycles of 12 hours of light, 12 hours dark for four days grew normally, accumulating pigments and growing larger. When we decreased the frequency of light-dark cycles to 6 hours, 3 hours, 1 hour or 30 minutes, the plants revolted. We delivered the same amount of light, just applied in different-sized chunks, and the seedlings did not appreciate the treatment.
The same amount of light applied in shorter intervals over the day caused plants to grow more like they were in darkness. We suspect the light pulses conflicted with a plant’s internal clock, and the seedlings had no idea what time of day it was. Stems stretched taller in an attempt to find more light, and processes like pigment production were put on hold.
But when we applied light in much, much shorter bursts, something remarkable happened. Plants grown under five-second on/off cycles appeared to be almost identical to those grown under the normal light/dark period. It’s almost like the internal clock can’t get started properly when sunrise comes every five seconds, so the plants don’t seem to mind a day that is a few seconds long.
Just as we prepared to publish, undergraduate collaborator Paul Kusuma found that our discovery was not so novel. We soon realized we’d actually rediscovered something already known for 88 years. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture saw this same phenomenon in 1931 when they grew plants under light pulses of various durations. Their work in mature plants matches what we observed in seedlings with remarkable similarity.
A 1931 study by Garner and Allard tracked the growth of Yellow Cosmos flowers under light pulses of various durations. J. Agri. Res. 42: National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture., CC BY-ND
Not only was all of this a retread of an old idea, but pulses of light do not save any energy. Five seconds on and off uses the same amount of energy as the lights being on for 12 hours; the lights are still on for half the day.
But what would happen if we extended the dark period? Five seconds on. Six seconds off. Or 10 seconds off. Or 20 seconds off. Maybe 80 seconds off? They didn’t try that in 1931.
Building in extra downtime
It turns out that the plants don’t mind a little downtime. After applying light for five seconds to activate photosynthesis and biological processes like pigment accumulation, we turned the light off for 10, or sometimes 20 seconds. Under these extended dark periods, the seedlings grew just as well as they had when the light and dark periods were equal. If this could be done on the scale of an indoor farm, it might translate to a significant energy savings, at least 30% and maybe more.
Recent yet-to-be published work in our lab has shown that the same concept works in leaf lettuces; they also don’t mind an extended dark time between pulses. In some cases, the lettuces are green instead of purple and have larger leaves. That means a grower can produce a diversity of products, and with higher marketable product weight, by turning the lights off.
One variety of lettuce grew purple when given a 10-second dark period. They look similar to those grown with a five-second dark period, yet use 33% less energy. Extending the dark period to 20 seconds yielded green plants with more biomass. J. Feng, K. Folta
Learning that plants can be grown under bursts of light rather than continuous illumination provides a way to potentially trim the expensive energy budget of indoor agriculture. More fresh vegetables could be grown with less energy, making the process more sustainable. My colleagues and I think this innovation could ultimately help drive new business and feed more people – and do so with less environmental impact.
July 22, 2019 6.58am EDT Updated July 22, 2019 2.40pm EDT
This article was updated with a corrected legend on the photograph of the plants grown in 1931.
Boys And Girls Clubs of Metro South Awarded Food Security Infrastructure Grant
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South was awarded a grant of $128,960 by the Baker-Polito Administration in partnership with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as part of the commonwealth’s $36 million Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program on Aug. 18
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South was awarded a grant of $128,960 by the Baker-Polito Administration in partnership with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as part of the commonwealth’s $36 million Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program on Aug. 18.
In a concerted effort to address food insecurities in their service area, BGCMS will be using the grant to purchase and operate a Freight Farms Greenery container farm on their Camp Riverside property located at 388 Harvey St., Taunton. The Greenery is a fully functioning, self-contained hydroponic farm housed in a shipping container that allows for plants to grow vertically indoors year-round without soil or direct sunlight. The Greenery will be able to support over 13,000 plants at once.
BGCMS intends to use this produce to support their Kids Café Healthy Meals program which provides hot, healthy dinners to every child who attends the Brockton and Taunton Clubhouse each weeknight. The clubs’ Kids Café program feeds more than 400 youth per day and serves more than 100,000 healthy meals annually. In addition to meal service, the clubs will utilize the Greenery to teach members about nutrition, agriculture and how to keep eating healthy foods at home.
“Our goal is to also build upon existing partnerships with local community organizations and other nonprofits that are working to tackle food insecurity — like homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and food pantries in our region — to support their efforts to feed the hungry and feed them nutritious food,” said Monica Lombardo, vice president of advancement at Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro South.
In March, BGCMS jumped into action to adapt its Kids Café meals program into an open grab and go dinner program for youth from 0 to 18 years old in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 18, meals have been served in a socially distanced fashion at both the Brockton and Taunton Clubhouses every weeknight between 4:30 and 6 p.m. The community response to the grab and go meals program inspired BGCMS to think critically about the clubs’ ongoing role in supporting food security in the region as its afterschool, weekend and summer programs are key social supports for economically vulnerable families.
“Increasing access to fresh, local food is critical to ensure the health and wellbeing of all commonwealth families,” said Gov. Charlie Baker about the grants being offered. “Through this grant program, we are helping residents and businesses who’ve been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic while making investments in building a strong and equitable local food system for Massachusetts that is prepared for the future.”
To support BGCMS and their mission or to learn more about their Kids Café healthy meals program, visit https://bgcmetrosouth.org.
Posted Aug 25, 2020 at 4:44 PM
Updated Aug 25, 2020 at 4:44 PM
World's Biggest Rooftop Greenhouse Opens In Montreal
Lufa Farms on Wednesday inaugurates the facility that spans 15,000 square metres, or about the size of three football fields. "The company's mission is to grow food where people live and in a sustainable way,"
Lufa Farms just opened what it says is the world’s largest commercial rooftop greenhouse, seen in this aerial photo in Montreal
26 Aug 2020
MONTREAL: Building on a new hanging garden trend, a greenhouse atop a Montreal warehouse growing eggplants and tomatoes to meet demand for locally sourced foods has set a record as the largest in the world.
It's not an obvious choice of location to cultivate organic vegetables -- in the heart of Canada's second-largest city -- but Lufa Farms on Wednesday inaugurates the facility that spans 15,000 square metres, or about the size of three football fields.
"The company's mission is to grow food where people live and in a sustainable way," spokesman Thibault Sorret told AFP, as he showed off its first harvest of giant eggplants.
It is the fourth rooftop greenhouse the company has erected in the city. The first, built in 2011 at a cost of more than C$2 million (US$1.5 million), broke new ground.
Since then, competitors picked up and ran with the novel idea, including American Gotham Greens, which constructed eight greenhouses on roofs in New York, Chicago and Denver, and French Urban Nature, which is planning one in Paris in 2022.
A local Montreal supermarket has also offered since 2017 an assortment of vegetables grown on its roof, which was "greened" in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.
'Reinventing the food system'
Lebanese-born Mohamed Hage and his wife Lauren Rathmell, an American from neighboring Vermont, founded Lufa Farms in 2009 with the ambition of "reinventing the food system."
At Lufa, about 100 varieties of vegetables and herbs are grown year-round in hydroponic containers lined with coconut coir and fed liquid nutrients, including lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, bok choy, celery and sprouts.
Bumblebees pollinate the plants, while wasps and ladybugs keep aphids in check, without the need for pesticides.
Enough vegetables are harvested each week to feed 20,000 families, with baskets tailored for each at a base price of C$30.
The company's "online market" also sells goods produced by local partner farms including "bread, pasta, rice, etcetera," Sorret said.
On the ground floor of the new greenhouse, a huge distribution center brings together nearly 2,000 grocery products for offer to "Lufavores," including restaurants.
Shopper Catherine Bonin tells AFP she loves the freshness of the produce but laments that some items are always out of stock. "I can never get peppers," she says.
Sales doubled during pandemic
"We are now able to feed almost two percent of Montreal with our greenhouses and our partner farms," said Sorret.
"The advantage of being on a roof is that you recover a lot of energy from the bottom of the building," allowing considerable savings in heating, an asset during the harsh Quebec winter, he explains.
"We also put to use spaces that were until now completely unused," he said.
Fully automated, the new greenhouse also has a water system that collects and reuses rainwater, resulting in savings of "up to 90 percent" compared to a traditional farm.
Lufa "more than doubled" its sales during the new coronavirus pandemic, a jump attributable "to contactless delivery from our online site," says Sorret.
Profitable since 2016, the private company now employs 500 people, around 200 more than before the pandemic, according to him.
It is currently working on the electrification of its fleet of delivery trucks and is in the process of exporting its model "to different cities around the world," starting with Canada and the United States, Sorret said.
"What's a little crazy," he recalls, is that none of the founders "had grown a tomato in their life" before opening the business.
PODCAST: Vertical Farming - Fork Farms: Growing Food For Positive Change - Alex Tyink
Alex Tyink is the President of Fork Farms, an organization that started on the principle that growing fresh and healthy food is a vehicle for positive change in the world. It is their belief that having consistent access to the freshest, highest quality food is a human right.
Alex Tyink is the President of Fork Farms, an organization that started on the principle that growing fresh and healthy food is a vehicle for positive change in the world. It is their belief that having consistent access to the freshest, highest quality food is a human right. Join Harry Duran, host of Vertical Farming Podcast, as he and Alex discuss Alex’s unorthodox path to entrepreneurship, hydroponic farming and the impact Covid-19 has had on Alex’s business, Fork Farms.
Click on the Above Image to Access the August 25th, 2020 Podcast
Key Takeaways
02:54 – Alex expounds on the impact Covid-19 has had on his business, Fork Farms, and how he got involved in AgTech
13:02 – Where Alex got his entrepreneurial drive and motivation and Alex’s experience moving to NYC
20:12 – Alex breaks down the business model of Fork Farms, the curriculum package they offer and the idea behind Flex Farm
32:28 – What Alex has learned throughout his entrepreneurial journey in AgTech
37:55 – Challenges and obstacles Alex has had to overcome as he continues to grow his team and business
43:14 – Alex talks about what excites him the most about the future of Fork Farms, AgTech, and a tough question he had to ask himself recently
50:29 – Harry thanks Alex for joining the show and let’s listeners know where they can connect and engage with Alex and Fork Farms
Cities Are Turning To Rooftop Farming
With green initiatives popping up, the benefits of rooftop farms are becoming worldly-recognized. We spoke with Thomas Schneider, co-founder and director of Rooftop Roots in Washington DC and Michelle Hong of Rooftop Republic, based in Hong Kong, China to know how to create and run a rooftop garden or farm
by Erin Tallman
August 24, 2020
With green initiatives popping up, the benefits of rooftop farms are becoming worldly-recognized. We spoke with Thomas Schneider, co-founder and director of Rooftop Roots in Washington DC and Michelle Hong of Rooftop Republic, based in Hong Kong, China to know how to create and run a rooftop garden or farm.
Hong Kongers and city-dwellers are increasingly concerned about the food they put on their dinner tables, According to Michelle Hong of Rooftop Republic, people are increasingly demanding food that is safe, healthy and sustainably produced. With green initiatives popping up, the benefits of rooftop farms are becoming worldly-recognized. One prime advantage is locality— reducing transport mileage equates to lowering emissions, but there’s more to it than a couple of miles here and there.
When bare roofs receive more heat than they emit, they increase emissions and greenhouse gases. Rooftop farms are also helping to cool buildings as they defer this “heat island” effect. The greenery of rooftop farms absorb CO2 and release oxygen, so buildings don’t diffuse as much heat—a good thing since the United Nations confirms our planet is warming much faster than we think.
There’s more still. Rooftop farming can offer low-income families a new source of revenue and better access to quality products—in the US, only 7% of low-income families eat the proper amount of fruits and vegetables, according to a report done by CBS This Morning.
The Rooftop Society
Rooftop Republic (Credit: Ann Woo for Let It Grow.)
Both the Rooftop Roots and Rooftop Republic were born from the realization that there was untapped potential in the city and that there was a real rupture between people and their food sources, health and community.
Rooftop Republic provides services to help install, maintain, learn and understand how to grow gardens on the top of the buildings. Some of the gardens act as a platform for corporate employee engagement or for students to immerse themselves in the educational experience of growing their own food. Through these actions, they’re taking a step forward to reconnect people to food explains Michelle Hong,
“Only by addressing this disconnection—this broken relationship—will we be able to change people’s mindsets and behavior and help them make more informed decisions about their food.”
Rooftop Roots was also created with the intention of rekindling this disconnect through providing economic, environmental and social justice. Their ambition is to generate jobs, offer a new source for fruits and vegetables, and establish a community for food deserts.
Choosing the Right Location
Thomas Schneider, the founder and executive director of Rooftop Roots, in one of his gardens. (Keith Lane/for The Washington Post)
Although the benefits are shiny on paper, Schneider reminds us that it’s not easy:
“Rooftop gardens are not going to end world hunger, weather conditions and temperature swings that occur high up render farming a lot more difficult than ground farms. Plants tend to prefer the earth.”
One can’t forget that rooftop farms are on roofs, literally vulnerable to strong winds on structures that need to be secure and have fundamental integrity. In the Hong Kong context, the first thing to consider when starting the urban farming revolution is to identify a good location that has easy access to water, explained Hong.
“Most herbs/veggies require a minimum of 4 to 5 hours of direct sunlight. No matter what containers you use, the bigger the better. The more space you give to your plants the easier they will find it to develop their root systems, to find nutrients in the soil, etc.”
Rooftop Republic is embarking on training more urban farmers of the future, and with the growing demand for urban agriculture, the company is optimistic that the potential of urban farming in creating employment/vocational opportunities, can be huge.
Immeasurable Benefits
Rooftop herb, vegetable and fruit garden by Rooftop Republic. Photo by Matthieu Millet
Rooftop farming doesn’t require that one purchases land for farming. Underutilized spaces such as rooftops, terraces or even ground surfaces can be re-utilized and re-valued. Although difficult at times, the perks of building community and giving others’ access to natural processes at work are priceless, Schneider maintained. When people begin to understand the tough work involved, a stronger sense of respect for food develops. Hong emphasized:
“People who grow their own food are likely to understand the processes of nature on agriculture, and are more likely to accept ‘imperfect’ produce, as well as be more conscious to treat food purchases with care. We are aiming to change the concept that food is something that we only engage with at the supermarket.”
Rooftop farms and gardens are being implemented to provide greenery and produce just as much as they’re learning experimentations. Today there still aren’t enormous amounts of data concerning the success or results of rooftop projects, which is why Rooftop Roots took it into their hands to initiate a pilot project in 2016 in collaboration with the University of the District of Columbia, in order to establish the best methods and plants for maximum production.
With the intent to improve food scarcity and help other urban growers, the project focuses on the testing of 6 varieties of both strawberries and tomatoes, because as Schneider put it,
“Tomatoes are the gateway drug to gardening.”
In other words: tomatoes are the plant one usually starts out with. Tomatoes are also exceptionally nutrient-dense and somewhat temperamental, so they are an interesting fruit to work with.
Although the teams have been working on this for about 2 years, results are still not definitive and the farmers are not in a position to report their findings. Yet, they can say that tomatoes are definitely not easy on rooftops.
Lead photo: Credit: Rooftop Republic
(This article was first published in our sister publication AgriExpo)
Exploring The Costs And Benefits of Indoor Agriculture
Vertical farming is the shiny new toy in agriculture. It's attracted tremendous media attention and VC investments. Mostly, VC seeks a high rate of return. How has VC investment impacted the business decision making in vertical farming operations?
Leafy GreRobert Colangelo and Matt Roy
Yesterday, the Indoor Agtech kicked off its virtual event, joined by many participants. One, of the many seminars, was about 'Exploring the costs and benefits of indoor agriculture'. Robert Colangelo, Founding Farmer at Green Sense Farms, kicked off the seminar by asking what CEA means to Matt Roy, VP Business Development CEA at Tanimura & Antle. Roy answered, “CEA to me, means anything grown inside. There’s a lot of innovation and disruption happening in the space and I think there’s going to be a lot of different technologies that are going to provide the right solutions here.”
Colangelo: “Is it true that, according to the myth, the leafy greens supply chain is broken and where can it be improved?”
Roy stated that one of the misconceptions out there is that there’s this big waste field on the West Coast on how products are grown, harvested, and shipped out. “It’s actually highly innovative and from innovation, technology, and sustainability standpoint, there’s a lot of exciting things happening out there. I continue to be amazed at how well we are able to get fresh fruits and vegetables across the country. A lot of things we’re trying to achieve indoors, in a lot of ways we have accomplished that outdoors. From growing it, getting it harvested efficiently, timely, and done food safely, we’re getting high quality, nutritious fresh produce across the country in a matter of days.”
Colangelo: “Can you give us a quick thumbnail of the different touchpoints, from seed in the field to the supermarket, how does that level travel and where do you see waste along that line?”
Roy: Naturally, with any farming, indoor, or outdoor there is going to be some level of waste. Obviously, putting products on a truck for five days brings challenges and vulnerability along. A misperception is that all of the food is left in the field, but in a lot of ways, it’s organic material feeding the soil. Just because leaves are left in the field after harvesting, it might be viewed as waste, but it goes back in the dirt and provides nutrition to the soil.
Colangelo: "A challenge in vertical farming is packing on a large economy of scale. What are the challenges of packing as a smaller scaled farm with few centralized packing houses near? How do you get packing done economically?"
Roy: “Hyperlocal smaller farms bring value to the supply chain and continue to provide additional ways to provide nutritious products to consumers. I think it’s going to be one of the challenges, and it’s a huge component that is not talked about a lot. There’s a lot of discussion on the growing side, but I think that we need more conversation on what innovation looks like on the packing side. What is looks like for hydro-cooling, think of everything shipped out from the West Coast, is hydro-cooled. So, when growing indoors, pulling the heat out of the product to ensure you have the shelf life needed out of it. It’s a big piece that needs to be solved.
Colangelo: “Most of the packing equipment is geared to large-scale production and there's very little cost-effective low scale packing equipment out there. So I agree, that it’s an area that we all need to work out. Looking at product recall, there's been a number of recalls with field-grown lettuce, but I've not heard of any from a vertical farm. So, can you talk a little bit about health and safety, and food safety when it comes to field production versus indoor growing?”
Roy: “The challenge has been full case-level traceability. A lot of work was done around the first traceability initiative. But, until all channels of the supply chain jump all in together around traceability, it's going to continue to be a challenge rather outdoors or indoors. Controlling more elements inside allows to produce a safer product, but in a lot of ways, it creates more risk because it's easier to contaminate all of your crops. So it’s really an all-in from everybody jump in and says we're going to prioritize food safety. And yes, this product might be 50 cents or a dollar more of a product, but we're putting a premium on food safety. We know these ‘five golden rules’ they are compliant against and we're going to pay a premium for that. As a buyer, you’re not looking at food safety first, so it’s actually a broader conversation that impacts both indoor and outdoor. It's great to have you here with your unique perspective both as a buyer and now our producer.”
Colangelo: Vertical farming is the shiny new toy in agriculture. It's attracted tremendous media attention and VC investments. Mostly, VC seeks a high rate of return. How has VC investment impacted the business decision making in vertical farming operations?
Roy: “I think it creates a different pressure. Whereas, if you're a self-funded or institutionally funded organization, there's more of a long view on what you're doing and when you're crawled by VC money there's a higher expectation on the return. I think that in a lot of ways vertical is still early stage and technology has not gone to a point that had a mass scale to produce cost-effectively. The market has not matured enough to demand a premium to get those returns. The pressure impacts your day-to-day decisions as a business leader. Are you going to make the right decisions, long-term, for the help of a product in your business, or, are you going to make some short-term decisions that might not allow long-term success in your business?
Colangelo: “Banks don’t provide debt finances to new ventures. Private equity and VC being the only few sources, how do new ideas get funded in this market?”
Roy: “In the last four of five years, from an investment side people have really have given more attention to how much food is consumed, and the size of the industries, the supply chains around products. In general, the energy coming into the food space, investing, bringing innovation and new ideas to disruption is all very exciting, but I think you speak to that challenge. ‘How do you balance funding your business to get started, while still staying true to your principles and creating something long-term?’ So I think that these many people were battling with these challenges. From a macro view to me, it's exciting to see a lot more VC money coming into fresh produce than you’ve seen historically. With that will come continued innovation and disruption.”
For more information:
Green Sense Farms
Robert Colangelo, Founding Farmer
www.greensensefarms.com
Tanimura & Antle
Matt Roy, VP Business Development CEA
www.taproduce.com
Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit
www.indooragtechnyc.com
Publication date: Fri 24 Jul 2020
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© HortiDaily.com
Farming Goes Vertical - The New Supermarket Trend For Growing Herbs In-Store
Marks and Spencer is the latest UK retailer to adapt vertical farming into its stores, with a selection of herbs now freshly grown and harvested in stores across London for shoppers to buy
The new supermarket trend for growing herbs in-store could help the environment - how does it work?
Vertical farming works by growing fruits and veg in vertically stacked layers
Claims it can significantly reduce environmental damage
M&S Simply Food is one of the latest UK retailers to introduce vertical farming
By GRACE GAUSDEN FOR THIS IS MONEY
4 August 2020
Top of the agenda for many big firms across Britain and the world in recent years is to find ways to help reduce their environmental footprint and become more sustainable.
This has been driven by consumer demand for change and warnings over irreversible damage by large companies, who can make small improvements to help that add up.
One such way is vertical farming and it has seen one middle-class supermarket favorite get involved at some stores.
Marks and Spencer is the latest UK retailer to adopt vertical farming into its stores, with a selection of herbs now freshly grown and harvested in stores across London for shoppers to buy.
Vertical farming works by growing fruits and vegetables in vertically stacked layers inside
It has partnered with Infarm, a fast-growing vertical farming firm based in Berlin, that also now operates in other supermarket chains across Europe.
Ocado has also invested £17million in vertical farming while John Lewis plans to grow salads in store in the future in a partnership with LettUs Grow.
Aside from Marks and Spencer, Infarm has recently partnered with the online sustainable supermarket Farmdrop, which stocks a selection of herbs and salad leaves.
VIDEO: Feeding A Changing World With CubicFarms' Automated Vertical-Farming Technology
What if you could give a plant the perfect day, every day? Give it the optimum level of light, water, temperature, and humidity, so that it grows to be as nutritious, fresh, and delicious as it can possibly be?
We Are Excited To Share Our New Video With You!
What if you could give a plant the perfect day, every day?
Give it the optimum level of light, water, temperature, and humidity, so that it grows to be as nutritious, fresh, and delicious as it can possibly be?
Meet the team at CubicFarms, helping growers around the world do just that, at commercial scale.
Are Automated Indoor Growing Facilities The Future For Fresh Produce?
Can growing veg in urban units scale up to meet demand, or is vertical farming a cottage industry focussed on leafy greens? Interest in Controlled Environment Agriculture is increasing internationally. Agri-TechE bring together Controlled Environment Agriculture technologists, producers and investors to discuss the current landscape and promising developments
CEA-Lite is an online debate on precisely that question,
taking place on 10th Sept.
Agri-TechE bring together Controlled Environment Agriculture technologists, producers and investors to discuss the current landscape and promising developments
Can growing veg in urban units scale up to meet demand, or is vertical farming a cottage industry focussed on leafy greens? Interest in Controlled Environment Agriculture is increasing internationally. In the UK autonomous growing systems have attracted funding from the Government’s Transforming Food Production program and tens of millions are being invested in a new training and demonstration facility; but the industry still has many challenges.
Agri-TechE is hosting an event “CEA-lite”, which is discussing the drivers for innovation and investment with leading entrepreneurs, producers, and investors on 10th September 2020.
Are new business models emerging?
Dr Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE says new models of food production are gaining traction. “Year-round intensive cropping of high-value crops becomes economically viable if the technology can scale. The Transforming Food Production call focussed on big, inspirational projects and this will help de-risk the technology, particularly around automating the monitoring and harvesting, which are so problematic for open field production.”
Jock Richardson of Growpura agrees: “A lot of operators have some great technology but to grow bigger means a linear (or worse) growth in costs. Scale-up is vital but there are operational challenges of how we grow plants at scale and at low cost.”
Could scaled-up vertical farms create economic value in vacant retail units?
“I have seen repurposing of buildings for CEA but location remains vitally important”, says Investor Kiryon Skippen of Capital Agri International, “landlords of these buildings need to be realistic in their rent demands and preferably have a real interest in the vertical farming business and work with it, taking the longer term view.”
Jock has seen uplift in interest in localised crop production, but as their system requires cleanroom conditions, refitting an older building could be too costly. “We’ve been talking to major retailers and its clear there is real interest in the use of hydroponics (growing in water) to fulfil the demand for fresh produce but of course it has to be at a competitive cost and offer a reliable supply,” he says.
The company will announce funding for a large training and demonstration facility in the coming days, which may provide over 200 jobs and internships in the South East Midlands area. “A vibrant hydroponics industry is essential in the UK. On the licensing front there has been interest from a number of countries particularly in the UAE and Asia and also for non-food products which we are progressing keenly,” Jock continues.
Can the industry look beyond leafy greens?
This international interest is a trend David Farquar, of Intelligent Growth Solutions, has also seen. He says; “Interest from NW Europe, the Middle East, and SE Asia is increasing the diversity of the food grown under secure conditions to reflect local diets and cuisine; encouraging the CEA industry to look beyond leafy greens and salads. For example, we have seen more demand for roots and fruits over recent months and interest in re-localizing as much of the food supply chain as possible.”
Phytoponics has recently raised £0.5M to develop its next-generation deep-water culture modules that offer a sustainable more profitable alternative to hydroponics substrates, such as rock wool and coir, and the company has started a series of strawberry trials with Total Produce. CEO Andy Jones, says the funding environment is challenging but that investment is there for companies with the right solutions.
He continues: “For growers, costs remain the big issue and one of the biggest is labor. New approaches need to give growers an economic advantage by reducing those costs.”
Are we swapping a labor shortage for a skills shortage?
However Max McGavillray of Redfox Executive says Brexit, and then COVID-19, has resulted in a marked increase in protected cropping roles as the UK adapts to a new normal: “We’re seeing individuals with plenty of cash establishing vertical farms but with very little experience in agriculture and foods, so there’s a real need for those with growth expertise in controlled environment agriculture.”
CEA Lite is an online event being held
on 10th September 2020 15:00 – 17:00.
Register your interest at bit.ly/ATEeEvents
About Agri-TechE – www.agri-tech-e.co.uk
Agri-TechE is a business-focused membership organization that is supporting the growth of a vibrant agri-tech cluster of innovative farmers, food producers and processors, scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs.
Agri-TechE brings together organizations and individuals that share a passion for improving the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of agriculture. It aims to help turn challenges into business opportunities and facilitate mutually beneficial collaboration.
Photos:
1 – Credit: Growpura / Caption: Growpura is set to create a hydroponic farm, training and demonstration facility in Bedford, UK
2 – Credit: IGS / Caption: IGS has seen more demand for root vegetables and fruits in recent months as vertically farmed crops diversify
3 – Credit: IGS / Caption: Phytoponics has recently won funding and is undertaking commercial trials of its deep-water hydroponics modules