Paul Mastronardi of Mastronardi Produce® And Caitlin Tierney of Mastronardi Produce West® Discuss CEA For Upcoming Organic Produce Summit

By Jordan Okumura

July 28, 2021

KINGSVILLE, ON - The dynamic, challenging, and volatile nature of the recent year and a half has revealed quite a few things about fresh produce to me—and one of them is that organics are not only here to stay, but continue to be an area of incredible growth opportunities. Now, with the Organic Produce Summit (OPS) on the horizon, Paul Mastronardi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mastronardi Produce® and Caitlin Tierney, Business Director, Mastronardi Produce West®, join me to discuss the impact of a growing area of investment in organics—controlled environment agriculture (CEA)—and how it is primed to accelerate fresh produce’s advantages and benefits in organics, conventional, and the greater food industry.

Caitlin Tierney, Business Director of Western Operations, Mastronardi Produce®

“Consumer demand for flavorful fresh produce that is sustainably and locally grown is rising. As our population continues to grow, so too does the need for fresh, nutrient-rich produce. Traditional farming simply cannot keep up with this increasing demand,” Caitlin reflects, adding that to meet supply and reduce dependence on imported goods, CEA in greenhouses offers a more viable solution. “Greenhouses are also ten to twenty times more efficient and use up to ten times less water than conventional field farms.”

Caitlin leads me down the CEA path, sharing how consumers have come to expect a “season-less” pantry, and as a result of high-flavor, year-round varieties like Campari® and Flavor Bombs™, the company is seeing more retailers and foodservice operators move toward greenhouse-grown produce grown with innovative methods.

“By increasing quality, reducing the use of pesticides, growing locally, and bringing year-round supply, we can meet the needs of both consumers and retailers. A great example of this is our greenhouse in Coldwater, Michigan. Here, we use CEA techniques—such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM)—which significantly reduce the need for pesticides and provides local retailers and foodservice operators high-quality, flavorful produce that is grown year-round and is closer to them and their consumers,” Caitlin asserts.

Consumer demand for flavorful fresh produce that is sustainably and locally grown is rising, and SUNSET is helping to respond to that need

Costs also play a major role in how the conversation around CEA has progressed—a big topic that will be at play during OPS' "Growth of CEA: What's Real and What's Hype? - Part 1" panel during the September 15-16 show, where Caitlin will be a panelist. To register for OPS, please click here!

“As we all know, produce has a shelf-life that impacts the entire supply chain. If you are a retailer located on the East Coast, your fresh produce could take up to a week to get to the closest distribution center. Transportation relies on liquid fuels, which are predicted to rise in price faster than the U.S. economic inflation rate,” Caitlin reveals. “Production in CEA facilities relies on electricity and natural gas, and these prices are predicted to remain on par with inflation. With CEA, you will get fresher, more reliable produce that’s not only grown closer to where consumers are buying it, but is also cost-sustainable for the supplier.”

A win-win, in Caitlin’s words.

To get an idea of the difference and the dynamic between greenhouse and CEA, Paul breaks it down for me this way.

Paul Mastronardi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mastronardi Produce®

“CEA can be produced in several sectors of the agricultural industry: fish, dairy, produce, etc. It’s essentially the production of food while controlling certain aspects of the environment in order to reduce pest or disease, increase efficiencies, become more sustainable, and save costs,” he says.

Using technology and data, food can be produced with quality and flavor.

“Greenhouse farming does all of this with a focus on controlled variables. Variables like temperature, humidity, and sunlight are considered carefully when growing produce in greenhouses,” he adds. “And, while CEA and greenhouse growing are two separate methods of quality food production, CEA is regularly used in greenhouses because it adds significant benefits to crop production, sustainability, and increased quality and flavor.”

Mark your calendars for the Organic Produce Summit’s "Growth of CEA: What's Real and What's Hype? -Part 1" session where Caitlin Tierney will be a panelist.

It is at this point in the conversation that he pauses to bring in the impact of vertical farming as well.

“Vertical farming, which is the process of growing crops in vertically stacked layers, is a relatively novel concept and has some significant headwinds to overcome before commercially viable. It’s currently a very small part of the market with significantly higher pricing, so it won’t replace, but will complement, existing food production with local, sustainably grown food,” Paul expresses.

This leads me to inquire how one would define the differences between vertical farming and greenhouse, and Paul details how a primary difference between vertical farming and greenhouse growing is output costs.

“Fully automated vertical farms rely exclusively on artificial lighting, which results in higher operating costs and capital expenditures. Our greenhouses, on the other hand, provide nutrient-dense produce grown sustainably, year-round without the high costs associated with energy. Why? Because we draw a lot of value from the fact that the production surfaces are mostly illuminated by the sun,” he shares.

And as Paul Mastronardi always says to his team, “there’s something magical about the sun.”

As OPS draws near, mark your calendars, build your schedule, and add Educational Breakout Session: "Growth of CEA: What's Real and What's Hype? -Part 1" for September 15!

Organic Produce Summit

What’s Real And What’s Hype With Controlled Environment Agriculture?

July 27, 2021

The flourishing development of Controlled Environment Agriculture and how retailers and consumers view this emerging segment of fresh produce production will be the topic of an educational session at Organic Produce Summit 2021. The Growth of CEA—What’s Real and What’s Hype from a Retail and Consumer Perspective will feature leadership from a pair of recognized retailers and one of the fresh produce industry’s most progressive grower-shippers, offering their insight on how indoor-grown fresh produce items come to market, pricing and marketing challenges, and how consumers are reacting to them.

Moderated by Walter Robb, former CEO of Whole Foods, the session is the second of a two-part educational series at OPS offering a retailer and consumer perspective on the growth of indoor growing. Among the topics to be discussed in the session are the impact of indoor-grown products on the supply chain, the messaging and labeling of these various items, and the ramifications of what CEA production means for the organic fresh produce industry.

Panelists for the session include Frances Dillard, vice president of brand and product marketing at Driscoll’s; Victor Savanello, vice president produce and floral at Spartan Nash; and Shawn Peery, vice president produce and floral at Albertsons.

Production of fresh produce in CEA has become a $100 billion-plus industry, showcasing how growing indoors uses less water and no pesticides, while incorporating innovative and efficient technologies to provide fresher produce to consumers. “CEA is changing the landscape of food production and providing consumers a variety of new items that will continue to evolve in the years ahead,” said Susan Canales, president of Organic Produce Summit. “OPS attendees will have the chance to hear from retail leadership on how these products are marketed and learn about the challenges and opportunities these new items offer consumers.”

This second educational workshop follows a session exploring the growth of CEA from leaders actively involved in the production of indoor growing. The panelists for the first session include Philip Karp, president of Shenandoah Growers; Marc Oshima, co-founder of AeroFarms; and Caitlin Tierney, director of business development for Mastronardi Produce.

“Indoor agriculture is increasingly playing a more meaningful role in our fresh produce supply, in terms of volume, variety, and geographical footprint,” said Robb. “The ability of indoor ag to provide predictability and resiliency for supply, coupled with its lower impact on both the environment and resource use, is drawing substantial interest from both investors and consumers. Clearly, the future will be a hybrid one and our panels will explore how quickly and responsibly this will happen.”

Organic Produce Summit 2021 is a live and in-person two-day event specifically designed to bring together organic fresh produce growers, shippers, and processors with retailer and buying organizations from across North America. Over 1,000 attendees will meet Sept. 15-16 in Monterey, CA, to exchange ideas, information and insights into the organic fresh produce industry.   

In addition to the educational sessions focused on CEA, a session looking at the organic industry in a post-COVID-19 environment and a keynote presentation by Jim Donald, co-chairman of Albertsons, have also been announced. OPS 2021 also includes a selection of field tours for retailers and buyers, a gala opening night reception, and a sold-out trade show floor featuring over 150 producers and processors of organic fresh produce from across North America and the globe.

Take Action: Schools Must Provide And Encourage Organic Food

July 19, 2021

As yet another study, “Early life multiple exposures and child cognitive function: A multi-centric birth cohort study in six European countries,” draws attention to the benefits of organic food for the learning young mind, it is important that schools provide organic food to students. The study, conducted by Spanish researchers based at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, looks at a totality of all environmental hazards that children encounter, rather than individual lifestyle factors. As study co-author Jordi Júlvez, PhD, notes, “Healthy diets, including organic diets, are richer than fast food diets in nutrients necessary for the brain, such as fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants, which together may enhance cognitive function in childhood.”

Tell your governor and USDA/Food and Nutrition Service to provide organic school lunches and information for parents.

Researchers find that children who eat organic food display higher scores measuring fluid intelligence and working memory. Lower scores on fluid intelligence tests are associated with children’s fast food intake, house crowding, and exposure to tobacco smoke. Lower scores on working memory tests were associated with exposure to poor indoor air quality.

This study adds to prior research finding that eating a conventional, chemical-intensive diet increases the presence of pesticides and their metabolites in an individual’s urine, including higher pesticide body burden from eating foods grown in chemical-intensive systems. In fact, because of their smaller size, children carry higher levels of glyphosate and other toxic pesticides in their body. Coupled with this research are multiple studies showing that many common pesticides result in developmental problems in children. Most recently, a 2019 Danish study found that higher concentrations of pyrethroid insecticides corresponded to higher rates of ADHD in children. There is also strong evidence that organophosphate insecticides, still widely used on fruits and vegetables in the U.S., are dropping children’s IQs on a national and global scale, costing billions to the economy in the form of lost brain power.

Studies show children’s developing organs create “early windows of great vulnerability” during which exposure to pesticides can cause great damage. This is supported by the findings of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which concludes, “Children encounter pesticides daily and have unique susceptibilities to their potential toxicity.”

Switching from a conventional diet of food produced with chemical-intensive practices to organic diet drastically reduces the levels of pesticides in one’s body, with one week on organic food showing a 70% reduction in glyphosate in the body, according to one study. Socio-economic factors play a large role in access to heathy organic foods, and the ability to provide the sort of environment that allows a child’s brain to flourish, so it is important that school lunches, which provide nutrition across socioeconomic classes, help to equalize learning potential. Pitting access and cost against the long-term success of a child’s development puts many parents in an untenable position. The preponderance of evidence points to organic food providing the nutrition needed to give young minds the start they need in life. But eating organic should not be a choice to make – all food should be grown with high quality standards that reject the use of brain-damaging pesticides and protect the wider environment. 

Is Pontus A Technology or Agriculture Company?

By Steve R McArthur, Partner, Founder & CTO of Pontus Water Lentils | February 26, 2020

Both, actually!

Not long ago, nor very far away, my Company, Vancouver-based Green Oasis Foods developed the CEVAS™ (Closed Environment Vertical Aquaponics System); arguably the most advanced soil-less organic growth system developed to date. Our main consideration was to build a closed-loop Aquaponics system that ensured there was no way for contaminants to enter the growth chain. The resulting efficiency and product quality as a result are quite startling, almost like having a built-in anti-malware program for crop growth.

Good Things Come in Threes

All ’ponic’ grow systems have unique benefits and challenges. Still all markedly increase yields and, to varying degrees, lowers the use of power and water. Each also can be set up to be custom complementary systems. Green Oasis’ CEVAS™ is a hybrid aquaponics system currently being used by Green Oasis and Pontus Water Lentils, the latter owning an exclusive worldwide license to the technology. 

Full disclosure, I am also CTO of Pontus Water Lentils. Ultimately, through an agreement with Amwolf, Pontus plans to obtain a public listing in approximately Q2/2020.

Before that, we plan to crowdfund through FrontFundr for $1.5 million and a like amount in a sponsored Private Placement. We plan to use the initial funds to build a 10,000 square foot grow facility. It might be useful to define the main types of soil-less grow systems.

Let’s Translate the Main Types of ‘Ponic’s

Aquaponics: A symbiotic relationship with the system; housing fish producing waste to provide crop nutrients

Hydroponics: Continuous water system, but nutrients are added to the growth media that replaces soil

Aeroponics: is a variation of hydroponics, but instead of using a grow bed filled with media, the plants are instead suspended, with roots facing a sprinkler system connected to the main nutrient reservoir.

The difference between a standard Aquaponics system and CEVAS™ is analogous to a Prius versus a Tesla, with the latter having a much more efficient with less impact on the environment. We decided it made sense to start with Water Lentils as the first crop as its grow characteristics and high market price are very attractive. 

We are Reinventing Agriculture™

I sincerely believe that our system brings a fundamental and profound change to growing soil-less crops successfully and in greater numbers than other methods. Here are some key points:

CEVAS™

• A combination of the best of both Hydro- and Aquaponics

• Completely closed-loop system customized by Green Oasis

• Utilizes state of the art, data-driven analytics

• Optimize machine learning and artificial intelligence to produce superior and consistent crops

• Uses 5% of the water of traditional agriculture

• CO2 captured and recycled

• Symbiotic air exchange

• Bio Security systems to remove all possible contaminants from any human interaction

• Solids filtration

• Biodigestion; fish waste turned into plant nutrient through aerobic digestion

The Pontus Water Lentils farming practice was created in Vancouver Canada and is licensed Worldwide

For more information visit: https://pontuswaterlentils.com/

Justice Department Responds on Behalf of USDA Against Lawsuit to Restrict Supplies of Organic Foods

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

May 19, 2020 

View fullsize

The Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO) is heartened by the initial response of the Department of Justice to defend organic growers’ rights to incorporate appropriate and legitimate growing techniques in their organic operations. The CSO opposes the efforts of the Center for Food Safety and a handful of growers to limit the availability of fresh organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, and mushrooms.

Lee Frankel, executive director of the CSO, stated, “The lawsuit takes aim at all container systems. The requested decertification of organic growers would include everything from microgreens grown in a tray using soil to tomatoes grown with plastic lining under the planting bed to berries grown in a pot to leafy greens grown in a circulating water system.”

“Demand for organic produce has grown even stronger in recent weeks as consumers are looking for ways to strengthen their immune systems by avoiding unwanted chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics in their diet,” Frankel continued. “We oppose this lawsuit and support the most recent vote of the National Organic Standards Board to not make containers and hydroponic production methods prohibited practices.

As USDA acknowledges in its response to the complaint, “certifiers have certified organic hydroponics operations since the beginning of the program and continue to certify organic hydroponics operations.”

Frankel continued, “If producers, marketers, and retailers truly support bringing healthy food to more consumers, especially in light of the pressures many households are facing as a result of the recent economic contraction, they must speak out against these efforts to restrict supplies.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Lee Frankel, Executive Director

info@coalitionforsustainableorganics.org

619-587-4341

Is Indoor Farming A Solution? UF/IFAS Scientists Explain

At one time, the concept of vegetables growing inside a temperature-controlled facility where LED lights and advanced technology set the pace for year-round harvesting, promoted photosynthesis and water use efficiency, and required no pesticides, was considered a scene from the future.

Today, the concept of indoor vertical farming is increasingly becoming a reality. As an industry in early stages, experts indicate that the market has seen more start-ups fail than succeed. Nonetheless, proponents of indoor vertical farming continue to tout it as a food production method with multiple added environmental and social benefits which drives technology in favor of its existence.

View fullsize

Jiangxiao Qiu is an assistant professor of landscape ecology at FLREC

In the latest EDIS publication entitled ‘Indoor Vertical Farming Systems for Food Security and Resource Sustainability’, UF/IFAS scientists give consumers an inside look at the current status of the industry globally.

“The publication explains what we have learned so far about indoor vertical farming, the different techniques and innovations available, as well as the benefits, limitations, and challenges with this young industry,” said Jiangxiao Qiu, Assistant Professor of landscape ecology at UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. “As we seek ways to curb food insecurity and advance sustainability, we also look at the current state of the methods for their economic, environmental, and social viability.”

Indoor vertical farming is the practice of producing food on vertically inclined surfaces. Instead of farming vegetables on a single level, such as in a field or a greenhouse, this method produces vegetables in vertical layers inside structures including skyscrapers, shipping containers, repurposed warehouses just to name a few. The method relies on artificially controlling temperature, light, humidity, and nutrients to promote the growth of food, and uses much less space. Examples of production methods include hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics, vegetable towers, modular container systems, and cubic production systems.

“The primary goal of indoor vertical farming is to maximize crop output of healthy organic food in a limited space such as an urban environment, while promoting water and nutrient use efficiencies, eliminating chemicals, and ultimately reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions through reducing reliance on external food transports,” he said. “One of its goals is to enhance the connection of local food production to consumption.”

The other side of the message for indoor vertical farming systems is that in urban food production, it can be an important piece of the puzzle to finding solutions for global food insecurity and environmental challenges like climate change and sea-level rise, notes Qiu.

“The methods can serve to promote sustainability and community resilience in the face of situations like COVID-19, hurricanes, and environmental crisis,” he adds.

Now that consumers have experienced first-hand the vulnerability of a supply chain when confronted by natural and man-made disasters like hurricanes and COVID-19, Jiangxiao noted, consumers are starting to ask about the potentials of this method. Meanwhile, UF/IFAS Extension office statewide reports an increase in consumer requests for information, webinars, and videos on how to set up indoor gardens.

Contributing scientists to the publication provides some insight into the constraints and challenges that vertical indoor farming currently experiences. For example, production methods limit the range of crops suitable for growing in vertical indoor farms. Those crops include lettuce, tomato, strawberries, peppers, and microgreens. Staple crops, such as corn, soybean, and rice, at least with the current technology, are not ideal for indoor production at present. Costs related to start-up along with a lack of pervasive incentive or policy initiatives, and technical training for workforce development that can facilitate the adoption of vertical indoor farming at a large scale are also barriers to promoting success in the industry.

However, for residents interested in learning about vertical indoor farming, a series of Sustainable Urban Agriculture Workshops is in the works for August at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. The program, now in its second year, is organized by Qiu, in partnership with UF/IFAS Extensions in Broward and Collier counties. The series covers a variety of sustainable practices through informational and hands-on training on how to establish indoor farming on a small-scale. More information will be forthcoming in the next few weeks as executive orders continue to lift facility lockdowns throughout the state.

Meanwhile, the publication cites environmental and social benefits. For example, indoor farming serves as an enterprise that can create jobs, it can also create a sense of community by providing a variety of urban environments with local places to obtain healthy food.

“This reduces the social inequality among communities targeting food desserts. Having a farm in an urban center revives some of the less developed and neglected neighbors by transforming abandoned warehouses, buildings, and vacant lots into a source of food production and while creating jobs and revenues,” added Qiu. “Ultimately, if the industry gains momentum it will eventually create jobs in sectors of engineering, biotechnology construction, and research and development.”

Source: University of Florida (Lourdes Rodriguez)

View fullsize

Publication date: Thu 14 May 2020

DOJ Assigns Team To Prevent Decertification of Organic Containers

The U.S. Department of Justice has assigned the team and selected a primary attorney at the Federal Programs Brach of the Civil Division in Washington, DC to lead the defense of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Organic Program and the long-standing policy that allows for the organic certification of farms that incorporate container production methods.
 
The lawsuit does not exempt any container systems, and the ban would include everything from microgreens grown in a tray using soil to tomatoes grown in a planting bed with plastic lining to berries grown in a pot to leafy greens grown in a circulating water system.
 
Attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will take the lead in defending your right to choose the most appropriate and sustainable organic production method on your farm. The CSO expects that they will do a wonderful job to show how the USDA followed all the correct procedures in establishing the policy supporting container and hydroponic production systems. However, neither Departments are subject matter experts, and they will depend on growers like you working through the CSO to support their efforts to build a fact-based record to increase the chances of winning the lawsuit.
 
Your membership in the CSO will allow us to fully engage with expert attorneys to strengthen our efforts in the courts in California and with officials in Washington, DC to preserve your organic certification. If you are not yet a member, please consider joining today.

View fullsize

Organic Hydroponics vs. Soil And The USDA Lawsuit

April 15, 2020

Tags: organic certification, organic hydroponics, organic hydroponics vs soil, soil, soilless systems

View fullsize

 
Co-authored by Tinia Pina and Riyana Razalee

BackgroundThe contentious issue of organic hydroponics vs soil certification remains at the forefront of the agriculture industry. In 2017, the National Organic Standards Board voted in favor of hydroponics being certified organic. However, just a few months ago, a lawsuit was filed by a group of organic farmers and advocates against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) over this decision. Although a number of the organic farmers had positive thoughts on the hydroponic industry, as a whole there was consensus that hydroponics should not fall under the organic category.

Pro-Lawsuit Perspective
The organic hydroponic vs. soil lawsuit claims that hydroponic operations violate the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act that mandates the need for organic crop production in order to build healthy soils. Since hydroponic farming is soilless, the argument is that these standards cannot ever be met. Therefore, organic certification should not be allowed. Organic farmers also highlight increased competition in an unfair manner. Larger hydroponic farms usually incur lower costs to grow the same food, thereby capturing even higher margins through their produce sales, while offering more value to the consumers for the same products. From a consumer and market perspective, claims have also been made that this certification weakens the integrity of the term “organic”, creates a lot of confusion, and opens up loopholes for inconsistent organic certifications.

 "[The lawsuit] claims that hydroponic operations violate the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act that mandates the need for organic crop production in order to build healthy soils."

Anti-Lawsuit Perspective
For proponents of hydroponic organic certification, they stress that irrespective of whether food is grown in soil or not, it does not necessarily fully indicate whether the food is organic or not. The National Organic Program (NOP) also disagrees with the plaintiffs, stating that the 1990 statutory and regulatory provisions which require soil cultivation applies specifically to systems that use soil. In other words, the regulation was not created to exclude soilless (“hydroponic”) systems. Instead, its purpose was to ensure best practices within soil-based farming, first and foremost. If food is grown in other sustainable, certified organic growing media, they should still be eligible for organic certification. Anti-lawsuit proponents also pressed on the issue of limitation of fair competition by organic farmers, claiming that this exclusion is being done in order to monopolize the premium organic market, thus driving prices up further.

 "[I]rrespective of whether food is grown in soil or not, it does necessarily fully indicate whether the food is organic or not."

Organic Hydroponics vs. Soil: Finding Common Ground

Ecologically speaking, it cannot be denied that fertile soil promotes healthy interaction between beneficial microorganisms. These microorganisms are incredibly important for crop production as well as the environment, and ultimately, this enhances the land's ability to sequester carbon and retain nutrients and water. However, do we limit ourselves by saying that this is the only input that necessitates an environment for organic production? Interestingly enough, a 2017 poll by the health food store chain, Natural Grocers, found that over 90 percent of respondents cited pesticide avoidance as their key reason for purchasing organic products. Yet, we fail to acknowledge that the organic hydroponics vs. soil debate should be more multi-faceted than just focusing on one key factor such as “pesticide-free” or soil-only growth.

To do this, we need to look even bigger – How is every step of the food production process using inputs which come from an organic source and /or growing method? There are plans by the NOP to integrate new provisions from the 2018 Farm Bill related to oversight, enforcement, data reporting, and technology into the USDA organic regulations. In addition, the NOP will prioritize farm-to-market traceability for the global organic supply chain, ensuring an even more holistic view of what the organic term should constitute, which undoubtedly should include soil, but in reality also includes various inputs along the supply chain. In soil, compost and other organic fertilizers are typically added directly to this media during cultivation. The organic fertilizer is subsequently degraded by soil microorganisms, which make organic compounds readily available for absorption by the plant.

 "[W]e need to look even bigger – How is every step of the food production process using inputs which come from an organic source and /or growing method? "

Re-Nuble’s mindset has always been about how we can bring back closed-loop food again, realizing that nobody has been able to efficiently take organic nutrients and turn it into a viable nutrient solution at a scale that makes it competitive with commercial grade synthetic fertilizers for soilless farms. However, if the microbial community that degrades organic fertilizer can be cultured in a soilless system, it should be possible to meet the organic growing standards that those representing the pro-lawsuit perspective are seeking.

This is something we have not only spent the last 5 years researching but have also been very intentional about. Using our approach of organic cycling, and having developed a nutrient delivery system, we can achieve what we recognize as missing in this lawsuit within the soilless community, by employing a myriad of methods, including composting technology, which is essentially decomposed organic matter. Every stage of our production is viewed as circular, ensuring that we are not only carbon neutral, but also relieving our land (and soil) of further environmental stress.

So really, could the solution be as simple as asking ourselves, “Is the organic hydroponic vs soil conversation really just about soil, or should we hold ourselves to higher standards and, instead, focus on optimizing for efficient food production systems, especially as providers of nutrition to entire communities?”

Photo source

Food Grown Without Dirt Isn’t Organic, Farmers Say in Lawsuit

Bloomberg by: Robert Burnson

March 3, 2020

(Bloomberg) -- Food activists and farmers sued the Trump administration over its decision to let hydroponic operators use the prized “organic” label.

View fullsize

The Center for Food Safety and farmers from Maine to California say in the lawsuit that the decision “undermines the very integrity” of the country’s organic food label -- “that consumers trust and that organic farmers rely upon.”

Hydroponic operations grow plants that have their roots in water or air and receive nutrients from solutions created by the operators. Under federal rules, organic crops -- aside from being grown without pesticides and other harmful chemicals -- must foster “soil fertility,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

But how can you foster soil fertility without soil, the farmers asked.

The farmers want a judge to declare that the hydroponic operations don’t meet the soil fertility mandate and to order the U.S. Department of Agriculture to comply with the requirements for organic certification.

The USDA had issued a statement saying certification of hydroponic operations is allowed and has been since the program began, according to the lawsuit.

“USDA offered no supporting rationale for its statement,” the farmers said. “USDA made the statement in a website announcement, without any opportunity for public input.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

View fullsize

Hydroponic Growers Defend Their Use of Organic Label From Outside The Courtroom

View fullsize

By Dan Flynn on March 11, 2020

A federal civil action brought by soil-using organic growers does not name any of the hydroponic growers they want to prevent from using USDA’s organic label.

But that does not mean hydroponic growers are going to remain silent as the litigation proceeds against Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and other USDA officials.

The lawsuit was filed on March 2 against USDA by the Center for Food Safety and several prominent organic growers. Hydroponic growers, represented by the Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO) said the CFS roll-out was misleading.

Current policy as determined by Secretary Perdue permits hydroponic growers to use the official USDA organic seal. Perdue gets advice on such issues from the National Organic Standards Board, an appointed body that meets twice a year.

Lee Frankel, the executive director of the CSO, said the press release and legal complaint “contains incorrect information regarding the final 2017 NOSB vote on whether to recommend making hydroponics, containers, and aquaponic systems as prohibited practices.”

Frankel said the NOSB voted in the majority to reject that proposal. “It is false to state that USDA ignored the NOSB proposal when in fact the NOSB vote indicated that the majority of NOSB supported the existing USDA policy,” he added.

The CFS-led Plaintiffs in the lawsuit charge that current policy permitting hydroponics to use the USDA certified organic seal violates the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA). That’s because standards for implementing the act encourage organic growers to “foster soil health.”

Frankel says the CSO “is saddened by the latest attempts by the Center for Food Safety and their allies to limit fair competition and organic supplies in the market through legal action.”

“It is disappointing to see groups target pioneering organic farmers that use the most appropriate organic growing methods adapted to their site-specific conditions on their farms to meet the needs of consumers,” Frankel said.

Hydroponics has been called the “indoor agriculture evolution” by USDA, with the potential to offer a food safety advantage for growing lettuce and other leafy greens. Hydroponics grows plants in water using specific mineral nutrient solutions, not soils.

Frankel says his members are committed to the integrity of organic standards and the organic label. He says the groups behind the lawsuit failed to convince NOSB members that hydroponic and container production should be prohibited and there was significant industry debate by the organic community.

Frankel says the CFS “is seeking to eliminate public input to achieve their goals of restricting competition to drive up the price of organics for organic consumers to allow favored producers to increase their profit margins.”

While Perdue’s most recent decision favoring hydroponics occurred on June 6, 2019, the USDA policy is not new. “Growers using containers adhere to the USDA organic standards under the National Organic Program (NOP) and have been allowed to grow certified organic produce since the initiation of the nOP more than 25 years ago,” Frankel added.

Federal Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler with U.S. District Court for Northern California is hearing the case.

Sylvia Wu, senior attorney for CFS, says “federal organic law unequivocally  requires organic production to promote soil fertility.”  And CFS Executive Director says “healthy soil is the foundation of organic farming.”

As for the soil-using organic growers who are Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, price competition from hydroponic growers is causing economic damages, according to their complaint.

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)

Tags: Center for Food Safety (CFS), Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO), hydroponics, Lee Frankel, National Organic Standards Board

Lawsuit Demands USDA Stop Certifying Hydroponic Foods as 'Organic'

Dirt Farmers Want The Feds To Stack The Deck in Their Favor.

View fullsize

BAYLEN LINNEKIN | 3.14.2020

View fullsize

(Rodrigo Reyes Marin/ZUMA Press/Newscom)

Earlier this month, a group of organic farmers and advocates sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the agency's certification of some hydroponic produce as "organic." The suit seeks to bar the USDA from awarding its organic seal to hydroponically raised foods.

Hydroponics is a type of farming or gardening that uses water (rather than soil) as a growth medium for a variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other plants—including cannabis. Hydroponic growth can be accomplished indoors with the addition of commercially available lighting, nutrients, and other materials.

The suit was filed by the Center for Food Safety (CFS)—a "litigious" California-based nonprofit that boasts nearly a million members—along with a handful of organic farmers and the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association. CFS petitioned the USDA early last year, asking the agency to develop rules that would prohibit organic certification of hydroponic operations. The agency denied the petition in June.

The suit alleges that the USDA's actions fly in the face of the 1990 law that established the agency's authority over the labeling of organic foods. That argument hinges in large part on the language around fostering soil fertility in the 1990 law, the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), which gave rise to the USDA's certification program.  Under the law, which refers to "soil" only a handful of times, farmers must have in place an "organic plan [which] shall contain provisions designed to foster soil fertility, primarily through the management of the organic content of the soil." A farmer raising crops she wishes to market under the USDA's organic seal must submit its organic plan to a certifying body such as Oregon Tilth.

That group, the nation's first organic certifying body, was established in the early 1970s. The word "tilth" refers to soil quality.

"Organic farmers and consumers believe that the Organic label means not just growing food in soil, but improving the fertility of that soil," says Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, in a release announcing the lawsuit. "USDA's loophole for corporate hydroponics to be sold under the Organic label guts the very essence of 'Organic.'"

According to the handful of farmers who are part of the lawsuit—and who grow a host of organic fruits and vegetables, many of them having done so for decades—they're facing stiff competition from (typically) larger hydroponic farmers, who incur lower costs to grow the same food and can, therefore, offer more value to consumers for the same products.

What exactly is "organic"? For regulatory purposes, the term refers as much to what doesn't go into producing a particular food as what does go into it. As I explained in a 2016 column, under USDA rules the term "organic" refers to foods that are produced 1) "without excluded methods;" 2) " using allowed substances;" and 3) under the oversight of a USDA-authorized organic certifying agent.

The hydroponic-organic fight dates back to at least 2010, according to Food Dive, a news website that has a helpful chronology on the fight.

As I detailed in 2016, the Cornucopia Institute, which promotes organic foods, had recently filed a complaint with the USDA over hydroponic organics.

TOP ARTICLES1/5After a State-Authorized Medical Marijuana Patient Had an EpilepticSeizure and Crashed Her Car, Police Arrested Her for Driving With 'Marijuana in Her System

"It's not hard to make the case that soil is as central to the concept of 'organic' as any other idea or thing," I wrote. "On the other hand, it's also not hard to make the case that soil isn't central to the concept of what is and isn't organic. While most of our food is grown in soil, only a small percentage of that food is 'organic' under USDA rules. In other words, whether or not food is grown in soil tells us little that's useful about whether that food is 'organic' or not."

When I last wrote about this issue, the Boston Globe editorial board had just weighed in on the debate over hydroponics and organics. Step off, the paper told the USDA.

"It would be better for the authorities to focus on ensuring the safety of food and the accuracy of label information about things like nutrition and allergens, while letting consumers figure out for themselves what organic means to them," write the Globe's editors. 

That latter point is so important—and something USDA rules simply don't allow for. It's also just one of the many flaws inherent in the USDA's oversight of organic food. For example, I detail the arguments of several leading supporters of organic foods who are also leading critics of the USDA's organic labeling program in my book, Biting the Hands that Feed Us: How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable

If CFS and its fellow plaintiffs lose, then the result will likely be more innovation, more competition, and lower costs for consumers. The USDA's organic seal has very little integrity to begin with. Allowing hydroponic crops to be certified as organic—while not as welcome as would be getting the USDA out of the organic-labeling business altogether—won't damage that integrity any further.

BAYLEN LINNEKIN is a food lawyer, scholar, and adjunct law professor, as well as the author of Biting the Hands that Feed Us: How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable (Island Press 2016).

ORGANIC FOODDEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREREGULATIONFOOD LABELING

INDIA: These Urban Farming Startups Are Going The Extra Mile To Bring Organic Food To Your Table

With new technologies like hydroponics and vertical farming, these startups are helping people grow produce in small urban spaces.

View fullsize

By Suman Singh

11th Mar 2020

The Green Revolution in the 50s and 60s may have allowed our farmers to better their yields, but it also brought with it the evils of using pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

View fullsize

Urban farming

Over the years, they have been incorporated into conventional farming methods, bringing with them a host of problems. They are not only found to be toxic to humans by increasing the risk of getting cancers, but they also cause pollution, degradation of soil and water, and poison domestic animals.

Now, many farmers and urban-dwellers have switched to organic farming or urban farming. According to the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM),

“Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity, and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects.”

Just a few years back, farming in cities would have been thought to be impossible. But new technologies like hydroponics and vertical farming have made growing produce in small urban spaces possible.

Here are six urban farming startups which are going the extra mile to bring sustainable farming practices in India:

UGF Farms

Started by Linesh Narayan Pillai in 2017, Urban Green Fate (UGF) Farms converts unused spaces into live food gardens. Live food gardens are built in a way that they do no structural damage to buildings. The Mumbai-based startup sends residents microgreens (vegetable greens after they’ve produced first leaves) in pots, to grow them in organic coco peat as opposed to heavy soil. All a user needs to do is cut the greens from the live plant as and when they need them.

Further, UGF also helps to address issues of starvation, malnutrition, food contamination, and food insecurity by collaborating with schools as well as corporates that work for underprivileged communities as part of their CSR initiatives.

View fullsize

UGF Farms

Since its inception, the startup has planted over 10,000 kg of microgreens. It has also educated 4,000 people over 150 workshops across multiple locations in Delhi and Mumbai about the importance of growing food in their homes and going organic.

Back2basics

Back2basics is the brainchild of S Madhusudhan. Started in 2015, it is an organic farm spread across close to 200 acres around Bengaluru, producing high-quality organic fruits and vegetables.

Run by a father-daughter duo, Back2basics supplies produce to grocery chains, retailers, organic stores, and gated communities in Bengaluru. Its produce is also exported to organic food supply chains and retailers in other parts of the world.

View fullsize

Back2basics

The startup deals in more than 90 varieties of seasonal produce in four categories – fruits, vegetables, greens, and exotics. It has reserved almost three to four acres for customers who wish to visit the farm and try their hand out in agriculture.

It produces products that are 100 percent organic. The producer has full control over the colour and texture of the greens, making them healthier and tastier.

Pindfresh

After returning from New York where he worked as a banker, Somveer Singh Anand, much like UGF Farms' Linesh, found it impossible to source organic food in India.

To address this concern, Somveer developed indoor hydroponic technology suitable for Indian climatic conditions and started Pindfresh in 2016 in Chandigarh. The startup sets up indoor and outdoor hydroponic plants for people who want to farm using the technology across India.

View fullsize

Pindfresh

The lighting, humidity, and temperature are controlled all the time for these microgreens to grow. And to that effect, Pindfresh manufactures quality controlled pipes, lights, and all the necessary equipment required to set up a hydroponic plant.

Growing Greens

Former Infosys employees Hamsa V and Nithin Sagi partnered to start a hydroponic farm, Growing Greens. The Bengaluru-based B2B startup grows and sells microgreens, salad leaves, sprouts, edible flowers, and herbs to high-end restaurants in the city.

View fullsize

Growing Greens

These microgreens, which are about one to three inches tall, are mostly used to decorate and garnish food. They have concentrated nutrient levels that can be almost 40 times higher than the normal-sized produce.

The duo did thorough research by talking to various chefs to understand their requirements before venturing into the business.

Started in 2012 on a small terrace, the startup is currently farming on four acres of land, which it plans to expand to 10 acres.

Herbivore Farms

Not many 24-year-olds would choose to ditch well-paying jobs and take up farming. But after paying a visit to Auroville in Puducherry in 2017, Mumbai-based Joshua Lewis and Sakina Rajkotwala were inspired by musician and organic farmer Krishna Mckenzie who started Solitude Farm with the aim of “honouring Mother Nature through local food.”

View fullsize

Herbivore Farms

The duo got down to business with Herbivore Farms, Mumbai’s first hyperlocal, hydroponic farm. Today, the farm is spread across 1,000 sq ft and grows 2,500 plants. It sells fresh, organic vegetables to customers across Mumbai from its temperature-controlled indoor setting.

The vegetables are grown in a clean, sterile environment, with zero pesticides. As compared to conventional farming methods, the setup consumes up to 80 percent less water to grow the produce due to “recirculating irrigation system.”

Harvested vegetables are delivered to the customers’ homes within hours, maintaining their freshness, nutrition, and flavour.

(Edited by Kanishk Singh)

Coalition for Sustainable Organics Disappointed in Latest Attempts Center for Food Safety to Restrict Supplies Organic Foods Through Lawsuit

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA March 3, 2020 – The Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO) is saddened by the latest attempts by the Center for Food Safety and their allies to limit fair competition and organic supplies in the market through legal action.

Lee Frankel, the executive director of the CSO stated, “It is disappointing to see groups target pioneering organic farmers that use the most appropriate organic growing methods adapted to their site-specific conditions on their farms to meet the needs of consumers. The members of the CSO are strongly committed to the integrity of organic standards and the organic label. The groups behind the lawsuit failed to convince the members of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to prohibit container and hydroponic production methods after significant industry debate and submission of public comments. Instead of unifying the industry after the decision made by representatives of the organic community at the NOSB, the CFS is seeking to eliminate public input to achieve their goals of restricting competition to drive up the price of organics for organic consumers to allow favored producers to increase their profit margins.”

Frankel continued, “Growers using containers adhere to the U.S. Department of Agriculture organic standards under the National Organic Program (NOP) and have been allowed to grow certified organic produce since the initiation of the NOP more than 25 years ago. After extensive study in 2010, the USDA through the NOP opted not to change these high standards for certifying organic produce – and affirmed that organic produce can be grown through containerized methods. After additional review in 2015-2017, the National Organic Standards Board voted to reject a proposed prohibition on container and hydroponic systems.”

Karen Archipley of Archi’s Acres of Escondido, California added “Our production systems are managed in accordance with the federal organic law. We chose to incorporate hydro-organic methods at our operations since it is the most appropriate way to promote ecological balance by drastically reducing our water use, conserve biological diversity by preserving valuable habitat while still incorporating the microbial processes described by organic pioneers to recycle nutrients to nourish our crops. Every choice we make and every input we use must be audited and approved by USDA-accredited certifying agents like any other Organic Farmer.”

Archipley continued “Changing the rules now would limit the amount of organic produce available to the public – just as the public is demanding more organic produce. This is not an issue that should be settled in the courts or politicized. If a grower meets USDA standards for organic certification, they should be able to market organic produce, whether they grow in soil or any other sustainable, certified organic growing media.”

#######

Coalition For Sustainable Organics Disappointed in Latest Attempts Center For Food Safety To Restrict Supplies Organic Foods through Lawsuit

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA March 3, 2020 – The Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO) is saddened by the latest attempts by the Center for Food Safety and their allies to limit fair competition and organic supplies in the market through legal action.

Lee Frankel, the executive director of the CSO stated, “It is disappointing to see groups target pioneering organic farmers that use the most appropriate organic growing methods adapted to their site-specific conditions on their farms to meet the needs of consumers. The members of the CSO are strongly committed to the integrity of organic standards and the organic label. The groups behind the lawsuit failed to convince the members of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to prohibit container and hydroponic production methods after significant industry debate and submission of public comments. Instead of unifying the industry after the decision made by representatives of the organic community at the NOSB, the CFS is seeking to eliminate public input to achieve their goals of restricting competition to drive up the price of organics for organic consumers to allow favored producers to increase their profit margins.”

Frankel continued, “Growers using containers adhere to the U.S. Department of Agriculture organic standards under the National Organic Program (NOP) and have been allowed to grow certified organic produce since the initiation of the NOP more than 25 years ago. After extensive study in 2010, the USDA through the NOP opted not to change these high standards for certifying organic produce – and affirmed that organic produce can be grown through containerized methods. After additional review in 2015-2017, the National Organic Standards Board voted to reject a proposed prohibition on container and hydroponic systems.”

Karen Archipley of Archi’s Acres of Escondido, California added “Our production systems are managed in accordance with the federal organic law. We chose to incorporate hydro-organic methods at our operations since it is the most appropriate way to promote ecological balance by drastically reducing our water use, conserve biological diversity by preserving valuable habitat while still incorporating the microbial processes described by organic pioneers to recycle nutrients to nourish our crops. Every choice we make and every input we use must be audited and approved by USDA-accredited certifying agents like any other Organic Farmer.”

Archipley continued “Changing the rules now would limit the amount of organic produce available to the public – just as the public is demanding more organic produce. This is not an issue that should be settled in the courts or politicized. If a grower meets USDA standards for organic certification, they should be able to market organic produce, whether they grow in soil or any other sustainable, certified organic growing media.

Farmers, Nonprofits Sue USDA, Saying Hydroponics Can't Be Organic

Center for Food Safety (CFS), along with a coalition of organic farms and stakeholders, filed a lawsuit challenging the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) decision to allow hydroponic operations to be certified organic.

View fullsize

The lawsuit claims that hydroponic operations violate organic standards for failing to build healthy soils, and asks the Court to stop USDA from allowing hydroponically-produced crops to be sold under the USDA Organic label. The plaintiff coalition includes some of the longest-standing organic farms in the United States including Swanton Berry Farm, Full Belly Farm, Durst Organic Growers, Terra Firma Farm, Jacobs Farm del Cabo, and Long Wind Farm, in addition to organic stakeholder organizations including organic certifier OneCert and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.

"Healthy soil is the foundation of organic farming," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of plaintiff Center for Food Safety, "Organic farmers and consumers believe that the Organic label means not just growing food in soil, but improving the fertility of that soil. USDA's loophole for corporate hydroponics to be sold under the Organic label guts the very essence of 'Organic'."   

CFS's lawsuit cites the federal Organic Foods Production Act, which requires farms to build soil fertility in order to be certified organic. Hydroponics cannot comply with federal organic standards because hydroponic crops are not grown in soil, the CFS claims.

"The federal organic law unequivocally requires organic production to promote soil fertility," said Sylvia Wu, senior attorney at the Center for Food Safety and counsel for plaintiffs. "USDA's decision to allow mega-hydroponic operations that do nothing with soil to be sold as 'Organic' violates the law."

"Healthy soil is critical to producing nutrient-dense foods that benefit both people and the environment," said Paul Muller, one of the farm owners of plaintiff Full Belly Farm in Guinda, California, a diversified family farm that has been farmed organically since 1985. "Healthy soil increases and improves the availability of soil nutrients and beneficial microorganisms, and enhances the land's ability to sequester carbon and retain nutrients and water."

"While I welcome the work that my friends in the hydroponic industry are doing, hydroponic production does not conform to the soil-building precepts of organic farming," said Jim Cochran, owner of plaintiff Swanton Berry Farm, one of the oldest certified organic strawberry farms in California. "I would be perfectly happy to have my strawberries compete with properly distinguished hydroponically-grown strawberries, without the latter piggybacking on an Organic label that has taken more than 30 years to develop and establish in the minds of consumers. Certifying hydroponically-grown crops as organic devalues that label."

"The USDA's claim that hydroponics can be certified as organic is disingenuous and false," said Sam Welsch, president of plaintiff organic certifier OneCert, Inc. "Until the USDA started telling certifiers that they could ignore the parts of the law and rules that required fertility to come from organic matter in soil, no one was certifying hydroponic systems as organic."

View fullsize

For more information:
Center for Food Safety
www.centerforfoodsafety.org

View fullsize

Publication date: Tue 3 Mar 2020

Can New Agriculture Technology Grow Food That is Better Than Organic?

January 28, 2020

Written by: Randy Huft

New technologies are changing the landscape of food in America. Now, there is the ability to grow food that may be better than organic. How is this possible?

It helps to understand that there are some huge misconceptions about organic food.For starters, despite popular belief, organic farms can use pesticides. The difference is that they only use naturally-derived pesticides, rather than the synthetic pesticides used on conventional farms. Natural pesticides are believed to be less toxic, however, some have been found to have significant health risks

Some studies have indicated that the use of pesticides—even at low doses— can increase the risk of certain cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Children and fetuses are most vulnerable to pesticide exposure because their immune systems, bodies, and brains are still developing. Exposure at an early age may cause developmental delays, behavioral disorders, autism, immune system harm, and motor dysfunction.

Pregnant women are more vulnerable due to the added stress pesticides put on their already taxed organs. Plus, pesticides can be passed from mother to child in the womb, as well as through breast milk.

The widespread use of pesticides has also led to the emergence of “superweeds” and “superbugs,” which can only be killed with extremely toxic poisons like 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (a major ingredient in Agent Orange).

Rinsing reduces but does not eliminate pesticides. It is important to wash your fruits and vegetables, but in most cases, this will not eliminate all traces of pesticides. Even organic foods can use certain pesticides, and outdoor-grown organic food can pick up pesticide residue from nearby farms.

According to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that analyzes the results of government pesticide testing in the U.S., the following fruits and vegetables have the highest pesticide levels:

• Apples

• Sweet Bell Peppers

• Cucumbers

• Celery

• Potatoes

• Grapes

• Cherry Tomatoes

• Kale/Collard Greens

• Summer Squash

• Nectarines (imported)

• Peaches

• Spinach

• Strawberries

• Hot Peppers

There is also confusion about organic food labels:

Organic foods are described on product labels in a variety of ways, but they mean different things:

• 100 percent organic. This description is used on certified organic fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat or other single-ingredient foods. It may also be used on multi-ingredient foods if all of the ingredients are certified organic, excluding salt and water. These may have a USDA seal.

• Organic. If a multi-ingredient food is labeled organic, at least 95 percent of the ingredients are certified organic, excluding salt and water. The nonorganic items must be from a USDA list of approved additional ingredients. These also may have a USDA seal.

• Made with organic. If a multi-ingredient product has at least 70 percent certified organic ingredients, it may have a "made with organic" ingredients label. For example, a breakfast cereal might be labeled "made with organic oats." The ingredient list must identify what ingredients are organic. These products may not carry a USDA seal.

• Organic ingredients. If less than 70 percent of a multi-ingredient product is certified organic, it may not be labeled as organic or carry a USDA seal. The ingredient list can indicate which ingredients are organic.

Is there something better than organic?

 Yes. Recent developments in agtech provides the ability to grow food without any pesticides or harmful ingredients. Controlled Environment Micro-Farms allow growers to cultivate fruits, herbs, and vegetables in a sealed environment that virtually eliminates the need for pesticides and harmful chemicals.

These tightly managed ecosystems use much less water and fertilizer than on conventional farms and allow growers to cultivate throughout the year, regardless of the season or weather.

A 40-foot Controlled Environment Farm can yield about 3,500-4,000 heads of lettuce every ten days. The greens are priced competitively with traditional produce, yet the process uses 97 percent less water than a conventional farm and no pesticides or herbicides since bugs and weeds are much less likely to get in. In fact, some say that produce grown in a Controlled Environment Farm is actually “better than organic,” noting that organic growers can still use certain pesticides.

Closer to Consumption

The Controlled Environment Farm (CEF) provides higher quality food that’s grown closer to where it will be consumed, which means food arrives ripe and ready to eat, with less cost and environmental impact. CEFs are also resource-friendly and use less water, energy, space, labor, and capital than other methods of farming.

Shipping containers are ideally suited to be repurposed into Controlled Environment Farms. There are millions of shipping containers in the world, but only a fraction of them are in service and used actively.  Many of the remaining containers are wasting away in ports and storage yards across the world.

Repurposing these gentle giants into robust farms is not only good for producing clean, healthy food, but it is also good for the environment.

Real-World Uses

When Michael Bissanti opened Four Burgers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he knew he wanted to create a restaurant with a strong sense of sustainability. Initially, that meant procuring only ingredients deemed natural, as well as sourcing from organic and local farms. But Bissanti quickly realized that the “natural” label wasn’t a panacea for a sustainable food system — and so he went looking for a way to bring sustainable, local ingredients even closer to his kitchen.

Today, those ingredients could hardly be closer — Bissanti only needs to walk out the back door of his restaurant to pick all the fresh lettuce, arugula, mustard greens, and herbs he needs. Even in the cold Boston winters, Bissanti is merely feet away from fresh produce, in spite of the fact that his restaurant is located right in the middle of an urban thoroughfare between Harvard and MIT.

That’s because Bissanti is one of the hundreds of farmers across the country growing produce in Controlled Environment Farms built into repurposed shipping containers.

Companies that manufacture these farms, such as GP Solutions and Freight Farms, say that even traditional greenhouses and rooftop gardens require the expertise of an engineer, a plumber, an electrician, and a horticulturist.  And, rooftop greenhouses are also expensive, costing between $1 million to $2 million to get started. A “GrowPod” from GP Solutions or a Freight Farms unit, by comparison, costs only around $48,000-$100,000.

One of the key differences in these Controlled Environment Farms is that everything is included. Everything from water to the LED lights in the units are digitally controlled, and each unit is also connected to the internet so that it can be monitored and managed from anywhere in the world.

“Everything is fully contained within the GrowPod so that it arrives as a turnkey product, ready to grow,” said George Natzic, President of GP Solutions.

These containers allow growers to generate local food production in any location. And manufacturers point out that unlike other indoor growing operations, the shipping container farms are scalable. You can locate the system in a parking lot or the corner of a warehouse and expand incrementally.

Meeting the needs of a changing world

With 54 percent of the world’s population residing in urban areas—expected to increase to about 66 percent by 2050, Controlled Environment Farms allow growers to reduce their agricultural footprint on the environment and address food security of the urban population.

Kimbal Musk (brother of Elon) says that these high-tech shipping container farms are creating “a real food revolution.”

What do you get by growing hyper-local to the end consumer? The answer is that the food you are eating right now at the restaurant was grown right outside and picked minutes ago. This is in stark contrast to traditional agriculture that often supplies produce that was picked when still hard, could sit in a warehouse for weeks, and has chemicals applied that allow ripening just prior to distribution to stores and restaurants.

In summary, there is a great need for controlled-environment agriculture as it allows produce to be grown locally and delivered to the final consumer very shortly post-harvest.

Consumers have a desire for locally-grown clean produce during all periods of the year which they can buy at a competitive price. Controlled Environment Farms are a solution that are sustainable, easy to implement, affordable to acquire, simple to operate, and produce high-quality food that can be considered better than organic.

Ellepot Introducing New Paper For Organic Production

Ellepot has developed and patented a new technology for their Ellepot propagation papers, and the first product in a new line to come is Ellepot Organic 2.0.

New patented technology
The new propagation paper - Ellepot Organic 2.0 consist of 100% fully compostable and degradable materials. The new patented technology for the paper is the result of six years’ intense product development. A development process to ensure environmental compliance at every stage of the paper’s life cycle, including material selection, handling, testing, & degradation.

Certified and ideal for organic production
With a decomposition time of 6-8 weeks, the new Ellepot Organic 2.0 is ideal for producers of organic crops and crops with a shorter propagation time. The paper is made from wood fibers sourced from FSC certified forests and other controlled sources, and is furthermore approved by the Soil Association in UK. The new product is also approved as input for organic crops in Denmark, Sweden & Canada. Soil Association is one of the world’s leading and oldest certifiers for organic crops, assuring conformity to the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility. On a finishing note, Ellepot have applied to have the Ellepot Organic 2.0 certified according to the “Home Compost” and “Biodegradable in Soil” certifications.

Ellepot Organic 2.0

• Based on renewable wood fibers from FSC certified forests and other controlled sources

• 100% degradable in soil

• Certified and approved for organic production (UK, Sweden, Canada & Denmark)

• Great root development resulting in faster growth & healthier plants

• Suitable for all plant propagation, field planting, & farming of organic produce.

Through the past 6 years of developing the Ellepot Organic 2.0 product, Ellepot have learned what it takes to achieve the best results. Please speak with your technical Ellepot representative about water management, soil mixture, and propagation trays. For further information, samples or testing, please contact Ellepot or its partners.

Head office can be reached at +45 76147676 or visit our website: www.ellepot.com.

Superior Fresh Expanding Their Aquaponics Operation

View fullsize

November 26, 2019

View fullsize

Mike Beiermeister

Hixton, Wis. (WXOW) — Superior Fresh utilizes aquaponics to raise seafood and leafy greens for retailers across the Midwest.

View fullsize

To View The Video, Please Click Here

They are now expanding their greenhouse footprint from six acres to 13 acres and their aquaculture center from 40,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet.

“Most people wouldn’t think that you could grow organic vegetables in the middle of Wisconsin in the middle of the winter,” said Brandon Gottsacker, president of Superior Green.

The company was founded back in 2011. Since the creation, Superior Fresh has become the first indoor Atlantic Salmon farm in the United States. They are also able to grow leafy greens year-round thanks to their aquaponics system and sustainable practices.

“You know you’re doing something for not just us, for the rest of the world and leading the harvest of the first Atlantic Salmon in the United States, right here,” said Kyle Woolever, aquaculture manager for Superior Fresh.

Aquaponics integrates fish and plant growth to create a symbiotic environment. Superior Fresh utilizes these practices to produce around 4,000 pounds of leafy greens per day and around 4,000 pounds of Atlantic Salmon each week. By this time next year, they plan to produce 25,000 pounds of Atlantic Salmon each week. Right now, they have 200,000 Atlantic Salmon swimming in their tank.

“We’re probably the most sustainable farm on the planet when you talk about how many pounds of fish and produce were producing on the volume of water,” said Gottsacker.

The company uses the bulk of summer sun to shed light on their produce with the help of diffused glass. They use LED lighting for winter months. Their produce is pesticide-free, non-GMO, and constantly controlled for perfect growing.

“Our goal is to locate these farms all over the world, so in theory, you could build a facility like this in the desert, you could build it right outside of a city where food is scarce, or it has travel really far to get there,” said Gottsacker. “Our goal is to provide really good, high quality, safe, healthy food for everyone.”

Mike Beiermeister

WXOW Weekend Anchor and Reporter

Sales of Organic Products In The US Continue To Grow

Retail sales of organic fruits and vegetables in the US continue to grow, but the way each store assumes their sale and the presentation strategies they use to do so may differ considerably.

The five stores of Sunset Foods Inc. in Highland Park, Illinois, usually offer more than 200 green items, said Vince Mastromauro, the stores' product director, who highlighted that the organic product category accounts for 8% to 10% of their product offer.

The main vegetable sales are of bagged salads, romaine lettuce, red and green leaves, kale, and spinach. In fruits, apples, summer fruits, and citrus fruits stand out. Mastromauro stressed that sales of organic berries, grapes, and lettuce had increased in recent years, possibly due to concerns about product safety.

Another example is the Apple Valley stores in Berrien Springs, Michigan, which have 40-50 units of organic produce in the fresh produce department, according to Brandon Easton, Apple Valley's product and supermarket manager. That accounts for at least 10% of the store's products.

The best-selling fruits, the professional stressed, are the bananas, the Gala apples, and the avocados. Meanwhile, the best selling vegetables in the store are the salad mixes. The Apple Valley Market presents one to five organic items in their ads each week.

Another example is Felton's Meat & Produce, from Plant City, Florida. This store's ecological program, however, is still not as advanced as that of other supermarkets.

The store only has three or four organic products, and they rarely have more than a dozen of them, according to their production manager, Ron Marshall. The organic products that have the highest demand there are the bananas, a couple of apple varieties, ripe tomatoes, and peppers packages.

Announcing the ecological offer is key
Positioning organic products in the retail sector is one of the key factors to increase sales of these products.

Sunset Foods stores display the refrigerated organic products in a 16-foot section, and their fresh organic produce is in a 12-foot section with a sign to differentiate it.

The Apple Valley Market of Easton markets most organic products together, but they also place some organic products that are clearly differentiated from their conventional counterparts next to the latter. For example, they can exhibit 2-pound bags of conventional lemons next to the organic versions, as the organic bags are clearly labeled as organic.

Organic avocados, on the other hand, are displayed separately from the conventional ones, as it is difficult to distinguish between the two types. The store uses colored signs so that consumers can distinguish between several items.

In the same way, the organic products at Felton's, Marshall, are marketed together in a 6-foot section and they are identified as organic via a large sign.

View fullsize

Source: simfruit.cl 

Publication date: Wed 4 Dec 2019

Vertical Farming: On The Up

View fullsize

Ramona Andrews Author

24th April 2019

Standing 12 metres high and with 17 stacked levels of indoor growing space, lit with LEDs in a mixture of red, white and blues – is this really the future of farming?

Lincolnshire-based Jones Food Company’s (JFC) vertical farming system is capable of producing over 400 tonnes of baby leaf salad a year in about 5,000 square metres of indoor space. While there has been development in growing berries, tomatoes and other fruiting plants through these systems, the technology is not yet there to make these crops scalable and JFC is concentrating efforts on baby leaf and herbs. As co-founder Paul Challinor explains, the intention is to make the business commercial from the beginning “rather than having a trial shipping container to look at how it could develop”.

Other city hydroponic growers, such as New York’s Sky Vegetables, a rooftop farm in The Bronx and Growing Underground, a hydroponic farm located 33 metres below the streets of Clapham in London, see their role as an incredibly short supply chain for produce directly into the city. 

But not everyone has the same end goal – Grow Bristol has built a vertical farm inside a shipping container on disused land, offering an opportunity for public engagement and connecting urban communities to food, rather than to provide high quantities of salad to the city.

View fullsize

The Jones Food Company grows over 400 tonnes of salad a year. Image Holly Challinor

The sky isn’t the limit

The cost of energy – financially and environmentally – remains the greatest challenge to scaling up vertical farming. Even using off-peak energy, and with ever more efficient LEDs coming on the market, the energy requirements are high.

Jaz Singh of Innovation Agri-Tech Group, behind an indoor farm in Bracknell, Berkshire, says: “It doesn’t really matter what time of day your energy is getting produced. It’s about how you cycle it. You can turn the evening into effectively daytime if you’re doing it in a fully closed environment.”

For Grow Bristol’s Oscar Davidson, the future of vertical farming must be in renewables, such as biogas or through anaerobic digestion, and ideally on-site generation. This is echoed by another hydroponics expert Kate Hofman, of GrowUp Urban Farms, who says: “From my point of view, the only purpose of doing this kind of farming is to be able to grow food more sustainably…you’ve got to use renewable energy and at the moment it’s too expensive to buy off the grid, so we’ve got to be co-located.”

GrowUp tested a pilot aquaponics urban farm (aquaponics combines raising fish with hydroponics, feeding the plants fish waste), but the system has not proved financially sustainable in its original East London location due to high land rental costs. For Hofman, in theory, the more production moved indoors, the more land can be freed up for other uses, less intensively farmed and even used for carbon sequestering.

Moving beyond salad

Described by Davidson as a “gateway crop to the technology”, salad greens are easy and quick growing (baby leaf salad takes four to five weeks to mature, microgreens just over two weeks), require minimal nutrients and provide multiple crops per season. 

View fullsize

Oscar Davidson and Dermot O’Regan of Grow Bristol

But will we be seeing more than just baby leaf and herbs anytime soon? There has been researching into crops including sweet potatoes and broccoli, and Singh says he has had some success trialing strawberries. But this poses a greater financial risk with the longer growing time required, and the extra light hours needed.

It all comes back to considering the whole cycle of growing and supply, including energy use. Vertical farming is becoming ever more environmentally and economically sustainable, and if these startups continue to develop at the current rate, a lot more of the food in our fridge could be grown in the tower block down the road.

Is vertical farming organic?

View fullsize

Vertical farming often uses hydroponic growing systems that do not use soil

The Soil Association does not currently class hydroponic growing as organic – in the UK, plants classified as organic need to be grown in soil, whereas in the US, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not make this requirement.

That said, there are no pesticides involved in the growing at JFC and other hydroponic farms, and the no pesticide factor is often a major motivator for people choosing organic. Hofman says: “I would wonder that the organic movement’s reliance on soil was good for the time it was created, but there’s actually the opportunity to think a bit more broadly about how both systems might be able to coexist or work together.”

Davidson adds: “There are other things to consider, where has that been grown, what was the conditions of the workers who have grown that crop? So yes, we use a lot of energy to grow our crops with our lighting, but we don’t use big agricultural machinery that uses diesel, we don’t use petrol fertilizers, and we don’t use endless amounts of groundwater.”

• VERTICAL FARMING URBAN FARMING