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USA - INDIANA: Planning A $1.7 Million Expansion Spread Over Four Years
GroPod, a Heliponix LLC brand, announced plans to grow its operations in southern Indiana, with plans to create up to 30 new, high-wage jobs in Vanderburgh County by the end of 2025
GroPod, a Heliponix LLC brand, announced plans to grow its operations in southern Indiana, with plans to create up to 30 new, high-wage jobs in Vanderburgh County by the end of 2025.
GroPod will invest more than $1.7 million over the next four years to expand its operations in downtown Evansville in order to support the production of its primary product, the GroPod system, which is a smart garden appliance that allows consumers the ability to grow vegetables, herbs and specialty plants in their homes.
“With our strong agricultural tradition and booming tech sector, Indiana offers an ideal environment for companies like GroPod that are at the intersection of ag and technology to flourish,” said Interim Indiana Secretary of Commerce Jim Staton. “Choosing to plant its roots in Evansville, GroPod will not only create high-skilled, high-wage jobs, but it will also bolster a growing industry that is developing innovative solutions, improving agricultural products consumed around the world, and providing consumers with a sustainable food source.”
Massey co-founded GroPod in 2016 with Ivan Ball, and the pair initially funded the business through pitch competition awards, including Gold and Black Awards totaling $100,000 from the Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund in 2018. Since then, the company has raised more than $1 million from investors. GroPod’s parent company, Heliponix, was recently awarded a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant for $256,000 with a $50,000 Elevate match to research an LED lighting system to maximize the production of leafy vegetables.
“The city of Evansville is honored to be the home of GroPod,” said Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke. “I’m grateful to the commitment of Scott and his team for their innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.”
For more information:
GroPod
www.gropod.io
Publication date: Wed 26 May 2021
Is Hydroponic Farming Actually Sustainable?
If you've ever wondered how sustainable hydroponic farming really is—or what exactly is involved in vertical farming—this article is for you.
September 4, 2020
According to the UN, the world is on the brink of its worst food crisis in 50 years.
The global food industry is searching for a more sustainable and accessible system for producing healthy food, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables. Techniques such as hydroponics and vertical farming may provide the solution by maximizing overall output and minimizing the use of space, soil, and other resources.
But what exactly is hydroponic farming? And is it actually sustainable?
Gotham Greens grows fresh produce such as leafy greens in urban greenhouses. | Image/Gotham Greens
What Is Hydroponic Farming?
There are a variety of different approaches to Hydroponic Farming. But they all involve growing plants and fresh produce minus the soil.
There are several main styles of hydroponic systems. One uses an absorbent wick to transfer nutrients from a water reservoir up to the roots of the crop. While others leave an air-gap, allowing part of the root system to absorb nutrients directly while the remainder is exposed to oxygen in the air.
Plants may also be positioned on a floating raft, or grown through a medium, into which water is regularly pumped. Top feeding also requires regular water circulation, while aeroponics involves leaving the roots completely exposed but frequently filling or misting the space with nutrient-enriched water.
Whatever the precise method used, hydroponics involves regular exposure to both air and nutrient-rich water. According to Vertical Roots, a South Carolina-based Indoor Hydroponic Container Farm, there are five core elements to hydroponic farming. These are freshwater, oxygen, root support, nutrients, and light.
By growing crops in water, vertically, and in climate-controlled greenhouses, Vertical Roots and other similar farms are able to produce nutrient-dense food anywhere in the world, at any time of year, and using fewer resources than traditional methods.
Hydroponic farming is more resource-efficient than traditional methods. | Image/Shawn Ang via Unsplash
Is Hydroponic Farming Sustainable?
Soil-less farming techniques, in general, are typically more resource-efficient long term than traditional methods. According to the National Parks Service (NPS), hydroponics can use up to 10 percent less water than field crop watering.
By operating a closed-loop system and recycling rainwater, high-tech greenhouse developer AppHarvest uses up to 90 percent less water than traditional methods.
Most hydroponic farms utilize closed-loop systems, like AppHarvest, that contain and preserve water. This control over the water system also allows for delicate adjustments to the environment. PH levels, amount and type of light, and quantity of nutrients can all be modified to enhance the growth of crops.
Emphasizing perennial agriculture—particularly in combination with vertical farming and hydroponics—can further maximize both production and nutritional content per-plant. Many perennials, which can be maintained all year round with no replanting, are extremely nutrient-dense.
Start-up costs for hydroponic systems are typically greater than for traditional farming. But overall, it produces far greater output with fewer resources. It also allows growers to produce food anywhere in the world. Thereby reducing the carbon emissions generated through transportation, and allowing for year-round production in even inhospitable environments or weather conditions.
In general, hydroponic systems can produce a greater yield of fruits and vegetables. This is in part due to the controlled environment, but also because plants can be housed much more densely than possible using traditional methods. This both increases the overall output and reduces the quantity of land required.
Vertical farming can decrease the amount of land used for fresh produce even further. | Image/Markus Spiske via Unsplash
What Is Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming involves the growing of vegetables in stacked layers, frequently in a controlled environment.
Vertical farming also requires much less land than traditional methods. Typically, it incorporates controlled-environment systems such as hydroponics to maximize output. The primary goal of vertical farming is to increase the crop yield while reducing the space required, much like hydroponics itself.
Vertical farming firm Infarm recently partnered with supermarket chain Marks & Spencer to grow fresh herbs in select stores. The company is also working with several retailers and chefs across Europe who aim to add small vertical farms to their restaurants and stores.
“Our vertical farms can be installed directly in any urban space,” said Emmanuel Evita, global communications director at Infarm. “Which is where the majority of the global population will live in the next few decades.”
It is particularly useful for growing produce in areas where there is a lack of arable land. In Abu Dhabi, where there are extremely high temperatures and increasing water scarcity, the government is investing $100 million in indoor farming.
Inner-city gardening, in general, also lends itself to vertical farming. While harder to create a controlled environment, guerilla gardening and other community-based projects have also made use of the vertical system. This enables greater access to fresh produce and reduced mileage overall, even with rudimentary systems in place.
Emphasizing perennial vegetables could also maximize nutrients, increase production, and reduce the consumption of resources.
Why Do We Need Alternative Farming Methods?
Studies indicate that the suburbanization of major supermarkets has led to food deserts within cities. This disproportionately impacts low-income people and those who live in urban areas. Traditional malnutrition affects around two billion people worldwide. But the Standard American Diet (SAD) and lack of access to fresh food is also responsible for chronic deficiencies.
Access to fresh fruit and vegetables is likely to become even more restrictive in the recession following the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. And even in countries with plenty of food, there will likely be further disruptions in the food supply chain.
In order to provide enough vegetables for the global population to maintain a healthy diet, food production would need to triple. Alternative methods such as vertical farming and hydroponics could provide a resource-efficient and accessible way of revolutionizing the global food industry.
Gotham Greens, a fresh food farming company, specifically choose to build sustainable greenhouses within cities. Local cultivation helps the company deliver products quickly and with minimal energy expenditure. This also allows those who live within urban areas access to fresh, nutrient-dense food, and to agricultural jobs.
AppHarvest is also creating jobs, minimizing its carbon footprint, and increasing its output with its choice of location. By opening a new facility in Morehead, Kentucky, the company is both tackling high local unemployment rates while placing itself less than one day’s drive from 70 percent of the U.S. population. This reduction in travel for delivery has dropped its overall diesel costs by 80 percent.
“It’s time for agriculture in America to change,” said Johnathan Webb, the founder, and CEO of AppHarvest. “The pandemic has demonstrated the need to establish more resilient food systems, and our work is on the forefront of that effort.”
STAFF WRITER | BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM | CONTACTABLE VIA: LIAM@LIVEKINDLY.COM
Liam writes about environmental and social sustainability, and the protection of animals. He has a BA Hons in English Literature and Film and also writes for Sustainable Business Magazine. Liam is interested in intersectional politics and DIY music.
Lead photo: How sustainable is hydroponic farming? | Image/Gotham Greens
Urban Farming: Four Reasons It Should Flourish Post-Pandemic
Since lockdown, public interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home has soared. Seed packets are flying off shelves and allotment waiting lists are swelling, with one council receiving a 300% increase in applications
Since lockdown, public interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home has soared. Seed packets are flying off shelves and allotment waiting lists are swelling, with one council receiving a 300% increase in applications. Fear of food shortages will have motivated some, but others with more time on their hands at home will have been tempted by the chance to relieve stress doing a wholesome family activity.
The seeds of enthusiasm for home-grown food may have been sown, but sustaining this is essential. Urban farming has much to offer in the wake of the pandemic. It could help communities boost the resilience of their fresh fruit and vegetable supplies, improve the health of residents and help them lead more sustainable lifestyles.
Here are four reasons why food growing should become a perennial feature in our gardens, towns and cities after COVID-19.
1. Growing greener towns and cities
More than half of the global population lives in urban areas, and this is expected to rise to 68% by 2050. For the UK, this is even higher – nine out of 10 people are expected to live in towns and cities by this time.
Weaving food growing into the fabric of urban life could bring greenery and wildlife closer to home. The COVID-19 lockdown helped reawaken interest in growing at home, but one in eight UK households have no access to a garden. Thankfully, the opportunities for urban farming extend beyond these: rooftops, walls – and even underground spaces, such as abandoned tunnels or air raid shelters, offer a range of options for expanding food production in cities while creatively redeveloping the urban environment.
Edible rooftops, walls, and verges can also help reduce flood risk, provide natural cooling for buildings and streets, and help reduce air pollution.
Paris hosts the largest urban rooftop farm in Europe. EPA-EFE/Mohammed Badra
2. Resilient food supplies
Diversifying where and how we grow our food helps spread the risk of disruption to food supplies.
The UK’s reliance on imports has been growing in recent decades. Currently, 84% of fruit and 46% of vegetables consumed in the UK are imported. Brexit and COVID-19 could threaten the steady supply, while the problems created by climate change, such as water scarcity, risk disrupting imports of food from abroad.
Growing fruit and vegetables in towns and cities would help resist these shocks. The harvest labour shortages seen during the pandemic might not have been felt as keenly if urban farms were growing food right where people live.
Vertical and underground crops are more resilient to extreme weather or pests, indoor growing environments are easier to control than those in the field, and temperature and humidity is more stable underground. The high start-up costs and energy bills for this type of farming has meant that indoor farms currently produce a small number of high-value crops, such as leafy greens and herbs. But as the technology matures, the diversity of produce grown indoors will expand.
À lire aussi : Vertical farms offer a bright future for hungry cities
3. Healthier lives
Getting out into nature and gardening can improve your mental health and physical fitness. Our research suggests that getting involved in urban food growing, or just being exposed to it in our daily lives, may also lead to healthier diets.
Urban growers may be driven to make healthier food choices for a whole range of reasons. They have greater access to fresh fruit and vegetables and getting outdoors and into nature can help reduce stress, making people less likely to make unhealthy food choices. Our study suggested that urban food growing can also help change attitudes towards food, so that people place more value in produce that’s sustainable, healthy, and ethically sourced.
4. Healthier ecosystems
While urbanization is regarded as one of the biggest threats to biodiversity, growing food in towns and cities has been shown to boost the abundance and diversity of wildlife, as well as protect their habitats.
A recent study found that community gardens and allotments act as hotspots for pollinating insects, because they tend to contain a diverse range of fruiting and native plants.
Vegetables, like this courgette, can produce flowers for pollinators to enjoy. Natakim/Shutterstock
If designed and implemented properly, allotments and community gardens can really benefit biodiversity. Not only should barren spaces be converted into green and productive plots, it’s also important that there are connections between these environments to help wildlife move between them.
Canals and cycle paths can act as these wildlife corridors. As we begin to diversify the spaces used to grow food, particularly those on our rooftops and underground, an exciting challenge will be finding novel ways of connecting them for wildlife. Green bridges have been shown to help wildlife cross busy roads – perhaps similar crossings could link rooftop gardens.
All these reasons and more should compel us to scale up food production in towns in cities. COVID-19 has given us cause to reevaluate how important local urban green spaces are to us, and what we want from our high streets, parks, and pavements. Judging by the garden center sales, allotment lists, and social media, many people have decided they want more fruit and veggies in those spaces. The opportunity is there for urban planners and developers to consider what bringing farming to urban landscapes could offer.
Lead photo: Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock
Déclaration d’intérêts
Senior Research Associate in Physical Geography, Lancaster University
Does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Chair Professor in Sustainability, Lancaster University
Receives funding from the UK Research and Innovation Council and the European Commission. The research described here was funded under the Global Food Security’s ‘Resilience of the UK Food System Programme’, with support from BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, and The Scottish Government (BB/S01425X/1).
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