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Flashfood, Price Rite to Boost Fresh Sales, Cut Waste
Flashfood, an app-based marketplace that strives to eliminate retail food waste by connecting consumers with discounted food nearing its best by date, is adding more stores to its U.S. footprint through a new pilot program with Price Rite Marketplace.
August 12, 2021
Flashfood, an app-based marketplace that strives to eliminate retail food waste by connecting consumers with discounted food nearing its best by date, is adding more stores to its U.S. footprint through a new pilot program with Price Rite Marketplace. Price Rite Marketplace customers in the western New York area can now save up to 50 percent off select groceries that would otherwise go to waste.
The Flashfood app allows shoppers to browse and purchase fresh food, including produce, meat, deli and bakery products, nearing its best before date at significantly reduced prices. Shoppers can find great deals and purchase through the app, then simply pick up their items at the Flashfood zone located at their selected Price Rite store.
“We’re thrilled to work with Price Rite Marketplace as our newest partner committed to fighting food waste while helping their customers save significantly on their groceries,” said Josh Domingues, CEO of Flashfood. “Flashfood is a triple-win for our partners, the planet and people. We look forward to connecting Price Rite Marketplace shoppers with great deals while helping them make sustainable choices.”
In addition to helping customers shop more affordably with Flashfood, Price Rite Marketplace also supports local communities by donating to charitable organizations such as Feed the Children, contributing nearly 3 million pounds of food across 49 cities since 2015.
“Partnering with Flashfood is a natural next step as we continue to create environmentally-friendly neighborhoods and exceptional value for shoppers,” said Jim Dorey, president of Price Rite Marketplace. “We are proud of the concerted efforts our stores have made over the years to minimize our environmental footprint and look forward to seeing the impact of our new partnership with Flashfood.”
To date, Flashfood has partnered with grocery chains across the U.S. and Canada to divert more than 25 million pounds of food from landfills.
"New York Is Ideally Suited For Greenhouse Production"
Intergrow Greenhouses is excited to announce the opening of its newest expansion in Upstate, NY. The 10-acre project will produce over 3 million pounds of fresh produce a year, feeding millions across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic all of the way down to the Southeast.
August 10, 2021
Intergrow Greenhouses is excited to announce the opening of its newest expansion in Upstate, NY. The 10-acre project will produce over 3 million pounds of fresh produce a year, feeding millions across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic all of the way down to the Southeast.
“We’ve been operating in the US since 1998, and always in New York State.” says Dirk Biemans, president of Intergrow Greenhouses. “Our European partners saw the opportunity for greenhouse-grown produce here in the US back in the 90s and we quickly set up shop. The climate here in New York is ideally suited for our greenhouse production, resulting in the best flavor, quality, and consistency for our retail partners all year. We are primed for successful growth here in NY. With nearly 60% of the US population only 24 hours from us, and growing consumer demand for local and domestically grown produce, we’ve got to be ready."
And a local company they truly are. Biemans reports over 70% of the 350 employees at Intergrow are permeant residents of New York State and that number is growing. “Labor is an extremely important part of our business model, if we can recruit, train, and retain local labor it can yield huge advantages for us.”
The new facility will be outfitted with HPS grow lights, adding to Intergrow’s ever-increasing winter offerings. It also boasts diffused glass for better light distribution and heating and fertigation systems. However, Biemans reports there were several challenges and delays that threatened the project finishing on time.
“Ocean freight is crazy right now, not only have prices increased but there’s been a huge problem with on-time arrivals and customs issues. The majority of this project came in prefabricated from Europe, which offers a lot of benefits but our team and chosen suppliers were not quite ready for the logistical challenges in 2021. However, we were able to pull through, overcoming those challenges, and working with the cards we were dealt. This project was successfully completed on time putting us at a total of 105 acres under glass.”
For more information:
Intergrow Greenhouses
www.intergrowgreenhouses.com
Lead Photo: Propagated tomato plants await their final placement in Intergrow’s Newest 10-acre greenhouse.
3 Questions For Mindful Eating
Free yourself from “relating” with food — it’s not a person, and you don’t owe it anything. Instead of judging past decisions, let’s take a minute to focus on what we really have control over — our next meal.
By Derek Brainard
Jun 6, 2017
Someone Needs to Say It
Food is not good or evil, nor do your decisions about what to eat translate into you being a good, bad, smart, or stupid person. There is no magical transitive power that food possesses that indicates your personality or your character. Free yourself from “relating” with food — it’s not a person, and you don’t owe it anything. Instead of judging past decisions, let’s take a minute to focus on what we really have control over — our next meal.
Mindful Eating
Every day we’re inundated with a new diet — a new way of eating that will “revolutionize” our approach to nutrition, help us lose weight, and get back in shape.
The resulting process has become predictable, and almost cliche — we get motivated, decide it’s time to make a change fueled by this new information, jump in for a few weeks or months, then slowly regress back to habits that have been instilled for the first several decades of our lives, eventually wiping out any progress that was made in the first place.
In fact, researchers from UCLA have found that people on diets typically lose five to ten percent of their starting weight in the first six months, only to have at least one-third to two-thirds of people on diets regain more weight than they lost within four or five years (American Psychologist).
Not surprising, right? Our own collective experience probably supports that claim, leaving us with one big, perpetual question:
How am I supposed to eat?
It is exactly this mindfulness, this quest for finding what works for you, that will eventually lead you to a successful personal nutrition plan. Work with a licensed pro to hone your plan, and as always — consult your doctor when making a change that may impact vital health markers (we hope).
With mindfulness at the center of our conversation, here are three questions to ask yourself when it comes to what you decide to put in your mouth, regardless of what diet or lifestyle you choose.
Why Am I Eating?
Sounds simple enough, but the lack of this question may be one of the greatest causes of our current obesity epidemic in America. As of last year, 38% of adults and 17% of teenagers were considered “obese” — with the operational definition being a Body Mass Index of over 30 (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention).
Starting with why may be the single most powerful filter we as humans can place on our actions. Asking why we engage in any behavior is a step that is often taken for granted, but can yield amazing, behavior-changing results.
The top ways we omnivores tend to approach food consumption come in the following flavors:
Emotionally — This may be the primary way we make food decisions in our daily lives, whether we know it or not. Eating a cookie or having a beer because we “had a hard day” makes no earthly logical sense, but we do it anyway because of the temporary “lift” we may get from a sugar high or a buzz. In a more communal sense, food is typically at the center of celebration. For many families, it would be considered sacrilege to forgo the cake at a birthday in exchange for fruit. Most would never question the alleged benefits of this ritual. As a matter of fact, even suggesting the change might actually incite anger.
Passively — Sometimes, we simply give very little thought at all to what we are putting in our bodies. Mindless eating or snacking falls under this category, and is definitely a culprit of pounds and inches being added to our waistlines each year. Usually happens at a work-desk or during the “witching hours” (anytime after 8 pm).
Addictively — When we legitimately lose control of our ability to make food or drink decisions for ourselves, it may be time to to seek help and engage with one of the many community organizations that exist to help us get back to health.
Culturally — Many cultural traditions are passed down from generation to generation within families — some good, and some potentially damaging. It can be difficult to buck a trend, but when it comes to your health — your body is your temple, and supersedes someone else’s desire to see you eat some fried goodies.
Medicinally — Hippocrates, who many call the father of medicine, said:
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
We may have strayed from this mentality for some time, but thankfully medical professionals are now seeing the benefits associated with a return to a “food as medicine” practice.
OK, so if it’s given that we generally eat because we’re hungry (and there can be false indicators that the body sends in this regard that are outside of the scope of this article), then take some time to ask yourself — how do I typically approach my food-decisions each day? Emotionally, passively, culturally, medicinally, or a mixture?
Simply asking “why am I eating this?” before we ingest may help us determine whether we’re eating for health or for some other reason.
Where Did This Come From?
Asking where our food comes from can also be another great filter for a mindful eater. The movement to locally-sourced, non-modified food is undeniable. A leader in the movement, author Michael Pollan captures the essence of the growing prescription best with his mantra: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”
A number of well-done documentaries exist on this subject, like “Food, Inc.,” “Fresh,” “What’s With Wheat?”, and “In Defense of Food.”
Common themes exist in many of these films, and have beared themselves out in my own experience as well.
Common Themes in Support of Local Food-Sourcing
In our effort to scale food operations (on a massive level), we humans generally make a bigger mess of things, and sometimes even diminish or remove the nutritional values of the many of the foods we are attempting to nourish our society with in the first place.
Knowing where our food comes from is valuable primarily because it allows us to know definitively where it did not come from (e.g. feed lots, chicken factories, chemical-laden crop and wheat fields, etc…).
Look for opportunities in your community to shop at farmers markets or buy directly from the farm, bring the kids out to a sheep-shearing festival, buy from a local butcher, or participate in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Local, organic and humane farmers need our support to give us the food our bodies need. We vote with our dollars.
How Is This Nourishing My Body?
The third question for mindful eating is another simple, yet overlooked question. Let’s frame this up in the following context:
Just like financial decisions have a positive or negative net effect on our balance sheet, food decisions can have a positive or negative net effect on our health.
Simple concept — exceedingly difficult application.
What I have found in my reading, and my experience as a coach and as an avid foodie, is that different people react differently to the same foods, and that what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another (shocking, I know).
In other words, outside of generally accepted nutrition principles (like Pollan’s mantra), what nourishes one may harm another, especially for those with allergies.
Simply asking “how is this nourishing my body” is a great way to acknowledge and celebrate the benefits of your food-choices, or to recognize that a divergence from the nutrition plan may not have a nourishing effect, but that it is temporary and done for another reason (cultural or celebratory primarily).
Take action in your own life by becoming a student of health and nutrition. This stuff matters, and your successful implementation of a personalized nutrition plan may only be a few steps away. Read books. Talk to local pros, health coaches, experts, and trainers. Listen to podcasts and stay motivated daily. Go back and read the first paragraph of this article — every day if you have to.
Continuously ask yourself the three questions for a life packed with delicious and mindful eating.
For a list of whole-food ideas for your next shopping trip, check out the Level 1 Food List.
A Vertical Farm In New Jersey May Be Transforming The Farm-to-Store Supply Chain
Bowery Farming in Kearny, New Jersey, is reimagining the farm-to-store supply chain. Bowery is the largest vertical farm in the United States, growing leafy greens, herbs, fruits, and vegetables inside a climate-controlled warehouse where crops grow in stacked trays under lights that mimic natural sunlight.
August 5, 2021
Bowery Farming in Kearny, New Jersey, is reimagining the farm-to-store supply chain. Bowery is the largest vertical farm in the United States, growing leafy greens, herbs, fruits, and vegetables inside a climate-controlled warehouse where crops grow in stacked trays under lights that mimic natural sunlight. “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal recently toured the research and development part of the farm, where Bowery fine-tunes the flavor of new produce such as radishes and strawberries with fewer threats of pests, water scarcity, or other challenges associated with traditional outdoor farming. Bowery also grows wasabi arugula and other hard-to-find vegetables that are difficult to cultivate using conventional growing methods.Because Bowery’s business model is based on growing crops in indoor sites near the cities they sell in, most products that would normally take two or three weeks to reach stores make it to market a day or two from harvest. Bowery Farming’s CEO Irving Fain sees vertical farming as nothing short of revolutionary, stating that it can “democratize access to high-quality fresh food” in cities. Bowery is growing in other ways: It has a second farm in Nottingham, Maryland, and a third is under construction in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The Advantages of Local Food Production
There is a growing movement worldwide, including in our tri-county area, to encourage local farming. This is a rich agricultural region, but most of what is produced is exported, while more than 90 percent of what we consume is imported
By Dennis Allen
August 5, 2021
My last article focused on creating food security in Brazil with the accompanying benefit of strengthening community. There is a growing movement worldwide, including in our tri-county area, to encourage local farming. This is a rich agricultural region, but most of what is produced is exported, while more than 90 percent of what we consume is imported.
A similar situation existed in Rosario, Argentina, when the economy collapsed in 2001. A quarter of the work force was unemployed, half the population dropped below the poverty line, and food shortages became common. To address this crisis, the municipal government started its Urban Agriculture Program to create employment and counter hunger. The city partnered with 700 families and made available unused land for farming. Two decades later, the program is still vital and has expanded to the surrounding region. Within the city limits, there are 2,000 acres of gardens and orchards. Gardens are in every corner of the city, including abandoned factories, old dumps, and empty lots. Rosario has just been awarded the World Resource Institute’s coveted Prize for Cities, the global award recognizing transformative urban change.
Cities around the planet are incentivizing local farming, returning to an old pattern linking food production and consumption, and often small scale. There are community farms, rooftop gardens and greenhouses, vertical hydroponic farms, aquaculture ponds, orchards, animal husbandry, front-yard and backyard gardens, beehives, and herb gardens.
Locally grown food is less expensive, in part because there is minimal or no transportation involved. It is fresher and more nutritious, features which diminish the farther away the food is produced. Several studies have documented that small-scale, family farms use less energy and less water. Often, rainwater is harvested to grow these fruits and vegetables, and sometimes wastewater can even be used.
The Community Environmental Council (CEC) is working with farmers, researchers, educators, and policy makers to develop a comprehensive food program locally. Our many farmers’ markets and network of family and community gardens provide a strong component for what is envisioned. The underlying principle of CEC’s approach is tackling climate change — reducing carbon emissions, turning food waste into resources, shifting to renewable energy, and building up soils to hold more water, nutrients, and carbon.
One of the biggest hurdles in our area is the cost of land. Many small farmers are forced to lease fields with an attendant precariousness. Some activists are starting to work toward greater permanence and ownership. Local municipalities and our three counties need to give priority to lands they control for permanent food use, including curb strips, degraded lands, and even parts of parks and school yards.
CEC, with its 50-year history of approaching challenges through theory, policy, and practice, is uniquely positioned to develop partners and alliances to transform our food sector to be more resilient and climate friendly.
Lead Photo: Localizing Our Food Will Produce Health, Economic, and Climate-Offset Benefits
Common Farms (Hong Kong): “It's A Marathon And Not A Sprint For Us”
The product demand keeps growing. Inevitably, the pandemic has accelerated this demand for food quality and availability in Hong Kong.
By Rebekka Boekhout
July 23, 2021
The product demand keeps growing. Inevitably, the pandemic has accelerated this demand for food quality and availability in Hong Kong. “I think it’s because of the following reasons. One being that Common Farms can deliver with consistency, speed, and quality. Secondly, as people aren’t traveling they have disposable income to spend locally. The customers we serve are booked out for months. Lastly, pricing for imported produce fluctuates, which over time has a great impact on our customers.”
Lead Photo: Jessica Fong
Read the rest of the article here!
1-in-3 Agree This Grocery Store Has The Worst Quality Produce
Mashed had these big-box shoppers in mind when we conducted a recent survey of 593 U.S. residents. We asked, "Which grocery store has the worst-quality produce?"
By Ralph Schwartz
July 26, 2021
Some people prefer to grow their own garden or pick up their produce at the farmers market, straight from the person who grew it. On the other hand, a lot of us like to get our apples and lettuce at the same store where we buy our toilet paper and home furnishings. Mashed had these big-box shoppers in mind when we conducted a recent survey of 593 U.S. residents. We asked, "Which grocery store has the worst-quality produce?" We gave our survey participants eight options: Aldi, Costco, H.E.B., Kroger, Meijer, Publix, Target, and Walmart.
Before we reveal which of these retail chains our respondents considered the worst, let's take a look at who didn't get a lot of votes. Like golf, low scores are good in this survey, and three grocers each got less than 7% of the total vote. Faring best was Publix, with 6.41% of the votes. Publix might have been off the radar for most respondents, as the chain only has locations in seven Southeast states, according to the Publix website. Publix doesn't necessarily have a sterling reputation for produce. If it's known for anything, it's the fried chicken and sub sandwiches, per The Kitchn.
Costco and Kroger tied for second-lowest vote total, at 6.91%. This is more impressive, as both are truly national chains. The only real knock on Costco's produce is that a lot of it is sold in bulk, and normal-sized families might not use it all before it spoils, per CNBC.
Our survey says Walmart has the worst produce, despite a recent upgrade.
Now for the bad news in the Mashed survey that asked people which grocery store has the worst produce. The runner-up for worst produce was Target, which drew 16.53% of the vote. But Target was no competition for Walmart in the produce-quality race to the bottom. Walmart was our clear, er ... winner, with 33.39% of the total vote. Our survey respondents seem to know low-quality produce when they see it. Their answers matched a 2019 survey by Consumer Reports, which also ranked Target and Walmart's produce among the worst.
Target had planned to install vertical farms inside its stores beginning in 2017 (via Business Insider), but it's not clear whether this plan for getting the freshest possible produce in their stores ever got off the ground. Whatever the case, it has done little to improve Target's poor reputation for produce.
Meanwhile, Walmart made major improvements to its produce departments in 2020, according to Supermarket News. But the changes were more about the department's layout than the quality of the food. Wider aisles and lower displays were intended to reduce crowding and make it easier for shoppers to see the produce. But if you don't like what you see, then a redesign may not be much of a game-changer. Walmart may need to do more to lose its image as the worst grocery store for produce.
AeroFarms Expands Its Award-Winning Leafy Greens Product Assortment
AeroFarms, a Certified B Corporation and leader in indoor vertical farming, today announced that it is expanding its line of leafy greens to include 5 new items: Baby Bok Choy-The New SpinachTM, Micro Arugula, Micro Broccoli, Micro Kale, and Micro Rainbow Mix
July 13, 2021
NEWARK, N.J.–AeroFarms, a Certified B Corporation and leader in indoor vertical farming, today announced that it is expanding its line of leafy greens to include 5 new items: Baby Bok Choy-The New SpinachTM, Micro Arugula, Micro Broccoli, Micro Kale, and Micro Rainbow Mix.
AeroFarms® award-winning retail brand of leafy greens is prized for its elevated flavor and is grown using proprietary aeroponics and indoor vertical farming technologies, which yield annual productivity up to 390 times greater than traditional field farming while using up to 95% less water and zero pesticides.
There has been increased consumer interest in Asian greens and Future Fusebiquity – as outlined in Datassential’s Food Bytes 2021 Food Trends – that takes new generation products and combines them with well-known dishes. AeroFarms Baby Bok Choy-The New SpinachTM is reimagining how to create a better spinach experience that is juicier, more flavorful, and even more nutrient-dense with an ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) score of 865 vs. spinach at 707, and it can be enjoyed in just about any spinach recipe for an updated new take on the dish.
Microgreens were recognized by The Today Show as one of the top health trends for 2021, and AeroFarms has been expanding this category at retail since 2019. Responding to consumer demand, AeroFarms has added Micro Arugula, Micro Broccoli, Micro Kale, and Micro Rainbow Mix to its core line of Micro Spicy Mix and Micro Super Mix. Produced year-round at the highest quality, AeroFarms microgreens offer great visual and flavor excitement, elevating the home cook into a chef. In addition, AeroFarms microgreens provide higher nutrient density than their mature green counterparts, offering a powerful way to provide a potent boost of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
AeroFarms starts by selecting the most flavorful varietals of microgreens and baby greens, then perfects them in its proprietary indoor vertical farms for optimal quality, yield, color, nutrition, texture, and taste. In fact, AeroFarms has trademarked Vertical Farming, Elevated Flavor™ to highlight to consumers not only where and how their food is grown, but also more importantly, the key growing benefits that AeroFarms uniquely brings to the market, setting a new culinary standard with millions of data points to prove it.
AeroFarms is able to grow its kale to be sweeter and its arugula to be perfectly peppery, and the Company has developed its signature FlavorSpectrum™ to represent the breadth of flavors and hundreds of varieties of leafy greens that it is able to grow. AeroFarms’ team of experts from horticulturists to engineers to data scientists to nutritionists paired each specific tasting note with a representative color to bring the FlavorSpectrum™ philosophy to life. Across its leafy greens packaging line, the cool blue tones represent sweet and mellow notes, while the intense reds represent bold and zesty flavors.
All AeroFarms leafy greens are safely grown indoors in New Jersey at one of AeroFarms’ state-of-the art commercial indoor vertical farms that is certified for USDA Good Agricultural Practices, SQF Level 2 Good Manufacturing Practices, Non-GMO Project Verification, and OU Kosher. AeroFarms leafy greens are completely pesticide free, and ready-to-eat without any need to wash, providing a major benefit to consumers looking for safety and convenience. AeroFarms leafy greens are available at major customers such as Amazon Fresh, Baldor Specialty Foods, FreshDirect, Morton Williams, ShopRite, Walmart, and Whole Foods.
“Our Company is committed to partnering with our retail partners to expand the entire category of leafy greens and drive consumption with our sustainably grown produce that is winning on taste,” said David Rosenberg, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AeroFarms. “We are excited to expand our line of microgreens, which we believe can move from just a garnish to center of the plate given their exceptional taste — microgreens can be enjoyed all of the time!”
About AeroFarms
Since 2004, AeroFarms has been leading the way for indoor vertical farming and championing transformational innovation for agriculture. On a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity, AeroFarms is a Certified B Corporation with global headquarters in Newark, New Jersey. Named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company two years in a row and one of TIME’s Best Inventions in Food, AeroFarms patented, award-winning indoor vertical farming technology provides the perfect conditions for healthy plants to thrive, taking agriculture to a new level of precision, food safety, and productivity while using up to 95% less water and no pesticides ever versus traditional field farming. AeroFarms enables local production to safely grow all year round, using vertical farming for elevated flavor. In addition, through its proprietary growing technology platform, AeroFarms has developed multi-year strategic partnerships ranging from government to major Fortune 500 companies to help uniquely solve agriculture supply chain needs. For additional information, visit: https://aerofarms.com/.
On March 26, 2021, AeroFarms announced a definitive business combination agreement with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SV). Upon the closing of the business combination, AeroFarms will become publicly traded on Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol “ARFM”. Additional information about the transaction can be viewed here: https://aerofarms.com/investors/
No Offer or Solicitation
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction in connection with a proposed potential business combination among Spring Valley and AeroFarms or any related transactions, nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction where, or to any person to whom, such offer, solicitation or sale may be unlawful. Any offering of securities or solicitation of votes regarding the proposed transaction will be made only by means of a proxy statement/prospectus that complies with applicable rules and regulations promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or pursuant to an exemption from the Securities Act or in a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “contemplate,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this presentation, regarding Spring Valley’s proposed acquisition of AeroFarms, Spring Valley’s ability to consummate the transaction, the benefits of the transaction and the combined company’s future financial performance, as well as the combined company’s strategy, future operations, estimated financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of the respective management of AeroFarms and Spring Valley and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of AeroFarms and Spring Valley. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political, and legal conditions; the inability of the parties to successfully or timely consummate the proposed transaction, including the risk that any regulatory approvals are not obtained, are delayed or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction or that the approval of the stockholders of Spring Valley or AeroFarms is not obtained; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction; risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to AeroFarms; risks related to the expansion of AeroFarms’ business and the timing of expected business milestones; the effects of competition on AeroFarms’ business; the ability of Spring Valley or AeroFarms to issue equity or equity-linked securities or obtain debt financing in connection with the proposed transaction or in the future, and those factors discussed in Spring Valley’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, final prospectus dated November 25, 2020 and preliminary proxy statement/prospectus dated May 10, 2021 under the heading “Risk Factors,” and other documents Spring Valley has filed, or will file, with the SEC. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that neither Spring Valley nor AeroFarms presently know, or that Spring Valley nor AeroFarms currently believe are immaterial, that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Spring Valley’s and AeroFarms’ expectations, plans, or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. Spring Valley and AeroFarms anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause Spring Valley’s and AeroFarms’ assessments to change. However, while Spring Valley and AeroFarms may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Spring Valley and AeroFarms specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Spring Valley’s and AeroFarms’ assessments of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.
Inside Natural Grocers' Hydroponic Produce Container
Inside, more than 4,000 heads of organic lettuce are grown every month across roughly 320 square feet — just a fraction of the roughly 1 acre worth of land it would take to conventionally grow the same amount, said Michael Boardman, manager of the grow unit, which the grocer calls GardenBox
Catherine Douglas Moran
July 7, 2021
Eighty-two steps away from the produce aisle of Natural Grocers store in Lakewood, Colorado, sits a shipping container filled with hydroponic produce.
Inside, more than 4,000 heads of organic lettuce are grown every month across roughly 320 square feet — just a fraction of the roughly 1 acre worth of land it would take to conventionally grow the same amount, said Michael Boardman, manager of the grow unit, which the grocer calls GardenBox.
"Within this small space, there's a lot of possibilities," Boardman said while giving a recent FaceTime tour of the shipping container.
The GardenBox pilot marks Natural Grocers' first foray into organic hydroponic farming and furthers its commitment to sell 100% organic produce and invest in hyper-local production. Starting Wednesday, July 7, customers can buy the lettuce at the store for $1.99 per head.
GardenBox grows seven to eight varieties of lettuce, including Hampton, Brentwood, Alkindus, Tropicana, Muir, Marciano and Truchas. Unlike seasonal greens, the lettuce in GardenBox can be grown year-round, meaning it's always in season.
"We're seeing consistency in the product, whether it's snowing 2 feet outside or it's 90 degrees outside," Boardman said. "The box does a really good job of regulating this temperature."
Courtesy of Natural Grocers
From seed to salad
A portion of the container is dedicated to seedlings and can hold 2,400 plants at a time, with roughly 700 to 800 organic seeds planted each week in organic-friendly peat and coconut husk.
Around the three-week mark, the plants get transferred to the three vertical grow walls. The walls are double-sided and on rollers so that the plants can get spread out for equal access to LED lights that mimic sunlight, Boardman said. After about eight weeks after the seeds are planted, most varieties of the lettuce are ready for harvest.
The feeding, nutrients and water are automated through a computer system inside the box. The system also measures air temperature, humidity, vapor pressure deficit and pH levels. If any issues arise, the system sends Boardman an email. "The computer and box kind of run itself," Boardman said. "It's just us troubleshooting and then coming in planting and harvesting."
Lasting lettuce
The GardenBox lettuce, which is certified organic by Where Food Comes From Organic and has the Clean Hydroponic Produce seal, is sold with roots intact, which Boardman said lengthens its shelf life and provides a better flavor and more nutrients.
"They taste amazing," Boardman said. "The taste is a really big selling point for me. You get a much stronger flavor out of all of them."
Courtesy of Natural Grocers
In some cases, the lettuce may get sweeter when the roots are kept in the water following the harvest. Fresh living greens also provide a more nutrient-dense product than traditional lettuces that have been shipped to the store, Boardman noted.
After getting harvested, the produce is sold loose on a spinning display with water in the middle of the store's produce department. Shoppers can then bag it with plant-based produce bags.
Growing more greens
The idea for the hydroponic farm came from the Isely family, which started Natural Grocers in 1955, said Boardman, who joined the project in October.
The trickiest part of the operation has been figuring out the nutrients formula, which includes magnesium, cobalt, copper, manganese, zinc and iron, along with the organic growing process. "It took us several months to really dial in the organic nutrients. There's not a lot of organic hydroponic growers out there," Boardman said.
Courtesy of Natural Grocers
The first harvest happened in June, though Boardman said experimentation is continuing with different types of lettuce. Not all lettuce is prime for hydroponic farming, but the varieties in the box now, including butter lettuce, red romaine, and green and red oak leaf, are doing well, Boardman said. "I love [the oak leaf lettuce]. It comes out beautiful ... It just really thrives in the box," Boardman said.
Typically, hydroponic farming produces crops faster and saves more water than traditional farming. As part of the Clean Hydroponic Produce Standards certification, the grocer will be participating in scientific research studies on nutrient density and energy use.
GardenBox plans to eventually grow herbs for Natural Grocers, though for now, the focus is on perfecting its leafy greens, Boardman said.
Natural Grocers aims to bring GardenBox containers to more stores. "Right now, we've got one more store that we're planning on opening up with a box shortly within the next few months. But beyond that, I'm still not sure what the steps will be," Boardman said.
Lead Photo: The grocer's first foray in the futuristic farming technology, GardenBox, grows 4,000 lettuce heads per month and sits just steps away from a Colorado store's produce department.
Vertical Farming Method To Produce UK Strawberries ‘Nine Months A Year’
Direct Produce Supplies (DPS) is stacking up 1,000 tonnes of strawberries and will be supplying Tesco using the method, which should guarantee supplies whatever the weather during the British summer
By Ben Mitchell
July 4, 2021
Strawberries grown in Britain could be on supermarket shelves nine months of the year using a new vertical-growing technique that is also better for the environment.
The system, which is being pioneered by a fruit-grower in Arundel, West Sussex, England, uses 50% less water and has a 90% lower carbon footprint but has yields five times higher than normal production methods.
Staff at Wickes Farm in Ford, West Sussex, UK, harvest strawberries at the state-of-the-art farm (Ben Stevens/Parsons Media/PA)
Direct Produce Supplies (DPS) is stacking up 1,000 tonnes of strawberries and will be supplying Tesco using the method, which should guarantee supplies whatever the weather during the British summer.
The strawberries are produced in vertically stacked beds under fully controlled conditions, with plants watered using a hydroponic feed instead of in the soil, which DPS says helps improve the nutrition value of the fruit.
Chief executive Paul Beynon said: “Vertical farming offers growers a protected environment that requires significantly less land, water and energy to produce excellent quality crops.
“We chose our farm location near Chichester on the south coast because this region gives the highest natural levels of light and heat in the UK and so maximises the potential.
“We are still at a relatively early stage in vertical growing and in the future we believe that we can make even further advances in sustainable strawberry production and that other fruit crops could take to the system in a similar way.”
Tesco fruit technical manager Sabina Wyant said: “Vertical crop production is a giant step for fresh produce growers in helping reduce their carbon footprint and use less water, at the same time boosting their yields.
“For shoppers there is also a clear benefit, with consistent quality fruit and availability for up to nine months of the year, regardless of the weather conditions.
“By example, right now during Wimbledon fortnight, the UK sees the highest demand of the year for strawberries but sometimes adverse weather conditions can challenge production at this time, leaving retailers with a shortfall.
“Vertical farming will put an end to that uncertainty and ensure perfect growing conditions during an extended nine-month season.”
Lead Photo: The strawberries are produced in vertically stacked beds under fully controlled conditions, with plants watered using a hydroponic feed instead of in the soil.
Farms of The Future: The Paris Rooftops At The Heart of an Urban Revolution
A bumblebee zig-zags through rows of lettuce, over a healthy patch of red peppers and lingers next to a juicy strawberry, before buzzing away and off the rooftop of a six-story building in central Paris. Based on the top floor of a municipal swimming pool in the busy Marais district, this thriving city farm is at the heart of an urban food revolution in the French capital
Words by Peter Yeung
June 3, 2020
The world's largest urban farm is opening in the French capital and will soon produce around 1,000kg of organic produce every day
A bumblebee zig-zags through rows of lettuce, over a healthy patch of red peppers and lingers next to a juicy strawberry, before buzzing away and off the rooftop of a six-story building in central Paris.
Based on the top floor of a municipal swimming pool in the busy Marais district, this thriving city farm is at the heart of an urban food revolution in the French capital.
Opened in 2017 by Agripolis, it is part of a series of City Hall-led projects, called Parisculteurs, which will see 100 hectares of vegetation planted across Paris by the end of the year. Agripolis alone has 10 farms running or in planning around the city.
The farm’s vertical system is closed-loop, doesn’t waste any water, and doesn’t use pesticides. In season, it produces some 20-30,000 portions of fruit, salad, and vegetables. It has come to be a blueprint for changing how the city eats.
“We don’t throw anything away,” says Pascal Hardy, an agronomist and the founder of Agripolis, who only entered the world of urban farming in 2015 by growing vegetables on the roof of his Parisian apartment.
“My principal motivation has always been environmental. Our farms are great for biodiversity and efficiency, and they have a very low carbon footprint.”
Agripolis is also set to unveil a 14,000sq m farm atop the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, an exhibition center in the south-west of the city. The project was due to open in April but this had to be delayed because of the lockdown in France in response to the pandemic. When it opens at the end of June, it will be the largest urban rooftop farm in the world – and the largest urban farm of any kind in Europe. With more than 30 different plant species, the Porte de Versailles site will produce around 1,000kg of goods every day in high season. The first harvest of greens is expected after a month.
Visitors will be able to eat at a 300-cover on-site restaurant, attend educational tours and even lease small vegetable plots of their own. The all-organic produce, cultivated by around 20 gardeners, will be grown using aeroponic vertical farming methods.
We don’t throw anything away
“Our produce will be available across the whole of the city in a variety of shops, restaurants, and schemes,” adds Hardy.
There’s evidence that Hardy’s urban farms will be a success. “We’ve had a huge demand for their products, with customers asking specifically for Agripolis produce,” says Jeremy, an assistant at a nearby shop that has been stocking food from the Marais farm for six months. “We just need to cross the road to get the products.”
For now, Hardy’s main challenge is reducing the relatively premium cost of city-grown food, although advances in technology mean it continues to become cheaper. Coupled with low emissions and almost no “food miles”, the few extra cents could be a small price to pay.
Main image: Agripolis
VIDEO: Local Hydroponic Farm Continues Pop-Up Produce Markets Through Pandemic
The farm is a mostly wholesale produce operation, selling their vegetables in bulk to be distributed around the region, but they say they felt a need to keep local produce flowing into the community, while many chain grocery store shelves were running low
By Rachael Penton and Ben Gauthier
May 21, 2020
ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - The hydroponic tubes at GrayWalk Farms in Alexandria are full of fresh heads of butter and romaine lettuce, mustard greens, and herbs like basil.'
Source: KALB
Lately, all that home-grown goodness has been making it onto dinner plates more often here in Cenla.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, GrayWalk Farms has been selling their produce at pop-up markets at places like Little Cakes with Big Attitude and Beans N Cream Coffee, while the Alexandria Farmer's Market has been closed."
We've been doing it for about six weeks now and it's really worked out well. The community seems to really embrace it,” said owner Jay Pearson.
The farm is a mostly wholesale produce operation, selling their vegetables in bulk to be distributed around the region, but they say they felt a need to keep local produce flowing into the community, while many chain grocery store shelves were running low."
Since the pandemic we've seen that there is a big need since they've shut down the farmer's markets, to be able to go out and open ourselves to the community and give them some fresh produce,” added Pearson.
According to a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices in America during the month of April saw the biggest one month increase since 1974, increasing by 2.6 percent.
While the prices of many grocery items continue rising in the U.S. because of supply chain disruptions and a larger demand for groceries with many people staying home more often, GrayWalk said they expect to produce prices to remain steady. Especially on produce here at home, where it's harvested on a weekly basis in a sterile environment, with no travel time to your table."People really appreciate that and there's a big difference in taste too,” says Pearson. "There's nothing like supporting your local businesses. There's going to be a big shift in this community going local and trying to seek out that fresh produce. Whatever may be in season, they're going to be looking for it because they've gotten a taste."
To find out where the next pop-up produce market is, follow GrayWalk Farms on Facebook.
Colruyt Grows Basil In Self-Developed Vertical Farm
The basil plants are grown in a sustainable way but are not organic. The problem is that they are not grown in the open air, nor on biological substrate, which is why they do not receive an organic certificate
On Tuesday, March 3rd, Colruyt Group introduced home-grown basil from a vertical farm. The fresh basil from the private label Boni Selection can be purchased from today in all 31 stores of Bio-Planet. Bio-Planet will also market-fresh coriander within months.
Fabrice Gabbato
According to Fabrice Gobbato, director of Bio-Planet and Okay; sustainability is in Colruyt's DNA and they were looking for a way to make the range more sustainable. "The system is sustainable and local. We do not use plant protection products and the product travels a distance up to five times less. The plants also need less space, water, and nutrients, which means that the footprint of this product is very small."
No organic label
"Although growing basil is quite difficult, we have opted for basil because there is a lot of demand for it," says Fabrice. "The basil plants are grown in a sustainable way but are not organic. The problem is that they are not grown in the open air, nor on biological substrate, which is why they do not receive an organic certificate.
The price that consumers pay for the fresh basil in the Bio-Planet stores is € 1.89, the normal market price."
Capacity: 250,000 plants
In the Colruyt distribution center, near the head office in the Netherlands, the retailer grows basil plants under violet light. "We have developed the entire installation, from ventilation to lamps, in collaboration with KU Leuven and UGent. We opted for our own installation because we mainly wanted to focus on energy efficiency, "says Wannes Voorend, R&D coordinator of Colruyt Group. "We are currently growing the plants on two layers of 450 square meters, with a capacity of 250,000 plants."
High technology
In the vertical farm, it is moist and the temperature is 30 ° C. "We use state-of-the-art technology whereby the plants receive a different mix of light, water, and air every day. This makes the plants stronger so that they can be kept longer. The right mix of red and blue light ensures that the plants contain more aroma and grow twice as fast, the R&D coordinator continues. We recycle all the water that the plants do not absorb or that evaporates. All the energy used by the vertical farm is green."
Future plans
Colruyt is in charge of the entire cultivation process, from growing the seeds to packaging the mature plants. "We started this project about three years ago in a small aquarium with lamps and currently we can supply 31 stores. In the future we want to grow at more levels and also supply the other chains, but this is a step in the right direction. Currently, all operations in the vertical farm are still done manually. We intend to automate the entire process, but that is the future, "says Wannes.
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
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.
QFCs In Bellevue And Kirkland To Begin Growing Produce In-Store
QFCs in Kirkland and Bellevue appear to be taking the whole farm to table concept to a new level, since the grocer will now be growing some of their own food as well. It’ll probably require a new aisle
BY MYNORTHWEST STAFF
DECEMBER 1, 2019
QFCs in Kirkland and Bellevue appear to be taking the whole farm to table concept to a new level, since the grocer will now be growing some of their own food as well. It’ll probably require a new aisle.
The Kroger Company has teamed up with urban farming network Infarm that would bring modular living produce farms to a few of their stores. This doesn’t mean there will be vast fields in the QFC parking lot; rather, they will allow some of their produce to grow onsite using hydroponic technology, potentially producing items like kale, cilantro, and lettuce, among others.
QFC’s new self-checkout cameras may send you back to human checkouts
“Kroger believes that everyone deserves to have access to fresh, affordable and delicious food, no matter who you are, how you shop or what you like to eat,” said Suzy Monford, Kroger’s group vice president of fresh. “Our partnership with Infarm allows us to innovate by combining ground-breaking in-store farming technology with our passion for fresh, local produce and ecological sourcing. Kroger is excited to be first to market and offer the best of the season, and we’re proud to lead the U.S. on this journey.”
Infarms are stackable and controlled through a cloud-based farming platform that adjusts lighting and temperature remotely. In addition to freshness, the idea is also intended to eliminate unnecessary transportation and storage.
Believe it or not, some people actually call QFC ‘The Q’
The two QFCs in Kirkland and Bellevue will be the first in the county to undertake such a partnership with Infarm, with the company planning to expand to 15 QFCs in Washington and Oregon by April, reports The Seattle Times. The new greens are expected to be ready within weeks at the two Washington locations.
We Mapped How Food Gets From Farms To Your Home
Our map is a comprehensive snapshot of all food flows between counties in the U.S. – grains, fruits and vegetables, animal feed, and processed food items
2019
My team at the University of Illinois just developed the first high-resolution map of the U.S. food supply chain.
Our map is a comprehensive snapshot of all food flows between counties in the U.S. – grains, fruits and vegetables, animal feed, and processed food items.
To build the map, we brought together information from eight databases, including the Freight Analysis Framework from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which tracks where items are shipped around the country, and Port Trade data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which shows the international ports through which goods are traded.
We also released this information in a publicly available database.
This map shows how food flows between counties in the U.S. Each line represents the transportation of all food commodities, along transit routes, like roads or railways. Environmental Research Letters (2019), CC BY-SA
What does this map reveal?
1. Where your food comes from
Now, residents in each county can see how they are connected to all other counties in the country via food transfers. Overall, there are 9.5 million links between counties on our map.
All Americans, from urban to rural are connected through the food system. Consumers all rely on distant producers; agricultural processing plants; food storage like grain silos and grocery stores; and food transportation systems.
For example, the map shows how a shipment of corn starts at a farm in Illinois, travels to a grain elevator in Iowa before heading to a feedlot in Kansas, and then travels in animal products being sent to grocery stores in Chicago.
2. Where the food hubs are
At over 17 million tons of food, Los Angeles County received more food than any other county in 2012, our study year. It shipped out even more: 22 million tons.
California’s Fresno County and Stanislaus County are the next largest, respectively. In fact, many of the counties that shipped and received the most food were located in California. This is due to the several large urban centers, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as the productive Central Valley in California.
Who ships and receives the most food, kilograms per year
In 2012, Los Angeles County both shipped (outflows) and received (inflows) more kilograms of food than any other U.S. county. Other California counties ranked highly in both categories.
We also looked for the core counties – the places that are most central to the overall structure of the food supply network. A disruption to any of these counties may have ripple effects for the food supply chain of the entire country.
We did this by looking for counties with the largest number of connections to others, as well as those that score highly in a factor called “betweenness centrality,” a measurement of the places with the largest fraction of the shortest paths.
San Bernardino County led the list, followed again by a number of other California transit hubs. Also on the list are Maricopa County, Arizona; Shelby County, Tennessee; and Harris County, Texas.
Core counties for the US food supply
A study showed that these nine counties -- mostly in California -- are most central to the overall structure of the food supply network. A disruption to any of these counties may have ripple effects for the food supply chain of the entire country.
However, our estimates are for 2012, an extreme drought year in the Cornbelt. So, in another year, the network may look different. It’s possible that counties within the Cornbelt would show up as more critical in non-drought years. This is something that we hope to dig into in future work.
3. How food travels from place to place
We also looked at how much food is transported between one county and another.
Many of the largest food transport links were within California. This indicates that there is a lot of internal food movement within the state.
One of the largest links is from Niagara County to Erie County in New York. That’s due to the flow of food through an important international overland port with Canada.
Some of the other largest links were inside the counties themselves. This is because of moving food items around for manufacturing within a county – for example, milk gets off a truck at a large depot and is then shipped to a yogurt facility, then the yogurt is moved to a grocery distribution warehouse, all within the same county.
The food supply chain relies on a complex web of interconnected infrastructure. For example, a lot of grain produced throughout the Midwest is transported to the Port of New Orleans for export. This primarily occurs via the waterways of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
The infrastructure along these waterways – such as locks 52 and 53 – are critical, but have not been overhauled since their construction in 1929. They represent a serious bottleneck, slowing down innumerable supply chains nationwide, including that of grain. If they were to fail entirely, then commodity transport and supply chains would be completely disrupted.
Railroads are also important for moving grain. Fresh produce, on the other hand, is often moved around the country by refrigerated truck. This is due to the need to keep fresh fruits and vegetables – relatively high-value agricultural products – cool until they reach the consumer.
In future work, we hope to evaluate the specific infrastructure that is critical to the U.S. food supply chain.
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Lettuce Prices Soar After Heatwave Wilted Salinas Crop
The prices of both romaine and iceberg lettuce have tripled in many stores around Northern California after crops grown in the Salinas Valley were destroyed by the mid-June heatwave
2 JULY 2019 / SF NEWS / JAY BARMANN
The prices of both romaine and iceberg lettuce have tripled in many stores around Northern California after crops grown in the Salinas Valley were destroyed by the mid-June heatwave.
Heads of lettuce wilted significantly in the extended heatwave the week of June 9, with some parts of the Salinas region hitting triple-digit temperatures. As KSBW reports after talking with local farmers, the heat left 20 to 30 percent of the lettuce crop unusable, which has meant that many big-name buyers from the farms are getting far less than they've ordered — and leading to higher prices.
Leaf lettuce is the number-one crop in Monterey County, as the county's Farm Bureau reported in both 2017 and 2018. Romaine lettuce crops actually decreased around 12 percent between the two years due to the well publicized E. coli outbreak, but 2018's lettuce production still accounted for $733 million in value for farmers. Strawberries are the county's second biggest crop, with a value of $698 million.
The coastal climate around Salinas typically makes it ideal for lettuce production, but some years and some planting periods get surprises from the weather. Jason Lathros of Churches Brothers Farms tells KSBW, "There's nothing you can do. That's Mother Nature. We play in an outdoor arena."
Lettuce production was also impacted by a particularly rainy May, which slowed down picking by about half, says Lathros. And picking all over the county has been impacted in the short term by President Trump's threats of ICE raids— one field supervisor reported that 15 fieldworkers failed to show up last week due to fears of a raid, according to Monterey County Weekly.
U.S. Organic Sales Break $50 Billion Mark
May 20, 2019
Organic sales are climbing across the board, and so are organic sales of fresh produce.
( File Photo )
U.S. organic sales hit a record $52.5 billion in 2018, up 6.3% from the previous year.
Organic food sales accounted for $47.9 billion, an increase of 5.9% from 2017, according to the Organic Trade Association.
More than one-third of organic food sales come from fruits and vegetables. Produce sales — including all forms, not just fresh — were $17.4 billion in 2018, up 5.6%.
“Organic is now considered mainstream, but the attitudes surrounding organic are anything but status quo,” OTA executive director and CEO Laura Batcha said in a news release. “In 2018, there was a notable shift in the mindset of those working in organic toward collaboration and activism to move the needle on the role organic can play in sustainability and tackling environmental initiatives.
“Activism is a natural reaction from an industry that is really close to the consumer,” Batcha said. “When we are in an environment where government is not moving fast enough, the industry is choosing to move to meet the consumer rather than get stalled.”
Fresh perspective
The United Fresh Produce Association, in its FreshFacts on Retail report about 2018, provided some context on the growth of organic fresh produce in particular.
Organic sales of fresh produce in 2018 were $5.6 billion, up 8.7%. Organic fresh vegetable sales were up 7.1%, organic fresh fruit sales were up 10.7%, and organic fresh herbs/spices sales were up 7.9%.
Packaged salads are far and away the top organic fresh produce item in terms of dollars, while organic bananas top the list for volume. Other big-ticket fresh items for organic are apples, carrots and strawberries
US (AZ): Farming Sustainably With Aquaponic Produce
It began years ago with a pledge from Chef Ken Harvey to provide his guests at Loews Ventana Canyon with food made from the freshest possible ingredients, and Harvey hasn’t cut any corners in sourcing his meats, cheeses, breads and produce from sustainable purveyors.
But it was his first meeting with the founders of Merchant’s Garden, a local aquaponics farm, which put his nearly pathological commitment to the principle of sustainability on an exciting new path. This ultimately resulted in his vow to grow and harvest onsite enough lettuce to serve his tens of thousands of guests per month, year-round, with only one percent of the water that’s used in conventional farming.
Occupying a climate-controlled storage space that wasn’t being fully utilized, the new hydroponic garden is the last stop on the lettuce’s journey before it lands on a guest’s plate. That journey begins aquaponically at Merchant’s Garden, where the lettuce spends its newborn month being fed through its young root system by water enriched by nutrients from biofiltered tilapia waste. It’s then transported live to Loews Ventana Canyon, 7000 N. Resort Drive, in floating containers, with its roots still submersed in the nutrient-rich water, for a subsequent cycle of hydroponic growing prior to harvest.
Harvey is currently growing Bibb and Red Cherokee lettuces, as well as three varieties of Romaine. His garden system’s capacity is nearly 300 heads per harvest, with multiple harvests per month, which equates to a full acre of farming if the lettuce was grown in the ground. And he tells me that he’s only using 200 gallons of water per month in a recirculating system that only loses water through evaporation and transpiration.
Publication date: 5/9/2019
Paper Sleeves Added To Greensleeve Product Range
Earlier this year, Mediane launched their Greensleeve program including a variety of sustainable packaging sleeve alternatives to the herbal plant market. Next to Home Compostable Film, Industrial Compostable PLA and Recyclable Green PE, the Greensleeve program now also includes a paper variant.
Many existing and non-existing customers from different European countries have shown great interest already. First results are to be seen on the shelf at some leading supermarkets in the EU. Given the positive reactions from the market, the expectations are that more supermarkets will follow shortly.
‘’This clearly indicates that the use of plastics in the Agro and Horti-industry is under pressure’’, according to Mike Leistikow, sales manager at Mediane. ‘’The use of paper responds to the growing awareness of the consumer. Paper is seen as a more sustainable option. We are independent converter of packaging sleeves and for us we adjust ourselves to market demand. Obviously there is a lot to be said about the pros and cons of each sustainable alternative, however we are not forced to defend or push through either of these alternatives since we are in the position to produce and offer them all. This is the choice and decision of the retailer”.
For many countries, depending on local legislation on waste management, Home Compostable or bio-based recyclable materials are definitely the preferred option with a lower CO2 footprint. The advantage of the paper/paper variant is that it is produced out of recycled kraft and can be thrown away together with the old newspapers and can be considered to be 100% recyclable. Next to the 100% paper version, Mediane also offers the Paper/Film variant and the Paper/Partly (paper with bio-film).
Just like traditional sleeves, the Greensleeve paper sleeves are supplied on a block and can be packed in the same way.
For more information:
Mediane
P.O. Box 1623
3600 BP Maarssen
The Netherlands
+31 346 285029
info@mediane.nl
www.mediane-flexibles.com
www.greensleeve.green
Publication date: 5/7/2019