Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Indoor Ag Science Cafe’s Latest Video Checks Out How To Turn A Smart Phone Into A Sensor
Dr. Krishna Nemali, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist at Purdue University, has developed an easy-to-use, affordable smart sensor that’s proving valuable to indoor farmers for improving farm productivity and crop quality
Purdue University professor turns smartphones into smart sensors
Dr. Krishna Nemali, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist at Purdue University, has developed an easy-to-use, affordable smart sensor that’s proving valuable to indoor farmers for improving farm productivity and crop quality.
Using only a smartphone and a connection to Dr. Nemali’s apps, users can quickly and precisely monitor/measure a wide variety of production and growth parameters including light efficiency, germination rate, plant size (area, height, weight), color (intensity, progression), damage (nutrient deficiency, insect), biochemistry (chlorophyll, nitrogen and other micronutrients), and stress index.
Dr. Nemali plans to make his smart sensor tool available in January 2022 for a nominal annual fee, which will support the development of future applications.
For more information: http://scri-optimia.org/showcafe.php?ID=111113
Indoor Ag Science Café is an outreach program of the OptimIA project, funded by the USDA SCRI grant program.
Interested parties can join the free café forums, live or recorded (http://www.scri-optimia.org).
The café forum is designed to serve as a communication platform among scientists and indoor farming professionals.
Study On Analytic Tools To Measure Future Plants Stress
The paper also assesses the future outlook, economic potential, and implementation strategies for the integration of these technologies in future farming practices.
New work from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) highlights the potential of recently developed analytical tools that can provide tissue-cell or organelle-specific information on living plants in real-time and can be used on any plant species.
In a perspective paper titled “Species-independent analytical tools for next-generation agriculture” published in the journal Nature Plants, researchers from the Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) within SMART review the development of two next-generation tools, engineered plant nanosensors and portable Raman spectroscopy, to detect biotic and abiotic stress, monitor plant hormonal signalling, and characterize soil, phytobiome, and crop health in a non- or minimally invasive manner. The researchers discuss how the tools bridge the gap between model plants in the laboratory and field application for agriculturally relevant plants. The paper also assesses the future outlook, economic potential, and implementation strategies for the integration of these technologies in future farming practices.
Crop loss
An estimated 11-30 per cent yield loss of five major crops of global importance (wheat, rice, maize, potato, and soybean) is caused by crop pathogens and insects, with the highest crop losses observed in regions already suffering from food insecurity. Against this backdrop, research into innovative technologies and tools is required for sustainable agricultural practices to meet the rising demand for food and food security — an issue that has drawn the attention of governments worldwide due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sensors
Plant nanosensors, developed at SMART DiSTAP, are nanoscale sensors, smaller than the width of a hair, that can be inserted into the tissues and cells of plants to understand complex signalling pathways. Portable Raman spectroscopy, also developed at SMART DiSTAP, encompases a laser-based device that measures molecular vibrations induced by laser excitation, providing highly specific Raman spectral signatures that provide a fingerprint of a plant’s health. These tools are able to monitor stress signals in short time-scales, ranging from seconds to minutes, which allows for early detection of stress signals in real-time.
“The use of plant nanosensors and Raman spectroscopy has the potential to advance our understanding of crop health, behavior, and dynamics in agricultural settings,” says Tedrick Thomas Salim Lew SM '18, PhD '20, the paper’s first author. “Plants are highly complex machines within a dynamic ecosystem, and a fundamental study of its internal workings and diverse microbial communities of its ecosystem is important to uncover meaningful information that will be helpful to farmers and enable sustainable farming practices. These next-generation tools can help answer a key challenge in plant biology, which is to bridge the knowledge gap between our understanding of model laboratory-grown plants and agriculturally-relevant crops cultivated in fields or production facilities.”
Early detection
Early plant stress detection is key to timely intervention and increasing the effectiveness of management decisions for specific types of stress conditions in plants. Tools capable of studying plant health and reporting stress events in real-time will benefit both plant biologists and farmers. Data obtained from these tools can be translated into useful information for farmers to make management decisions in real-time to prevent yield loss and reduced crop quality.
The species-independent tools also offer new plant science study opportunities for researchers. In contrast to conventional genetic engineering techniques that are only applicable to model plants in laboratory settings, the new tools apply to any plant species, which enables the study of agriculturally relevant crops previously understudied. Adopting these tools can enhance researchers’ basic understanding of plant science and potentially bridge the gap between model and non-model plants.
Technologies in agriculture
“The SMART DiSTAP interdisciplinary team facilitated the work for this paper and we have both experts in engineering new agriculture technologies and potential end-users of these technologies involved in the evaluation process,” says Professor Michael Strano, the paper’s co-corresponding author, DiSTAP co-lead principal investigator, and the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. “It has been the dream of an urban farmer to continually, at all times, engineer optimal growth conditions for plants with precise inputs and tightly controlled variables. These tools open the possibility of real-time feedback control schemes that will accelerate and improve plant growth, yield, nutrition, and culinary properties by providing optimal growth conditions for plants in the future of urban farming.”
“To facilitate widespread adoption of these technologies in agriculture, we have to validate their economic potential and reliability, ensuring that they remain cost-efficient and more effective than existing approaches,” the paper’s co-corresponding author, DiSTAP co-lead principal investigator, and deputy chair of TLL Professor Chua Nam Hai explains. “Plant nanosensors and Raman spectroscopy would allow farmers to adjust fertilizer and water usage, based on internal responses within the plant, to optimize growth, driving cost efficiencies in resource utilization. Optimal harvesting conditions may also translate into higher revenue from increased product quality that customers are willing to pay a premium for.”
Collaboration among engineers, plant biologists, and data scientists, and further testing of new tools under field conditions with critical evaluations of their technical robustness and economic potential will be important in ensuring sustainable implementation of technologies in tomorrow’s agriculture.
For more information:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
www.mit.edu
For Vertical Farms To Succeed, Sensors Must Take Center Stage
Vertical farming—the process of cultivating produce in stacked, indoor shelves, rather than side-by-side in fields—is a fast-growing industry (pardon the pun)
February 19, 2021
Vertical farming—the process of cultivating produce in stacked, indoor shelves, rather than side-by-side in fields—is a fast-growing industry (pardon the pun). Since it was conjured (or revived, depending who you ask) in a 1999 Columbia University lecture, the technology has grown into a global industry set to be worth $13.5 billion by 2030.
Companies like Plenty, Bowery Farms, and Infarm have innovated vertical farming with a dazzling array of modular, IoT-connected smart devices, which can improve plant “recipes” (the insider term for creating better, more nutritious food) and ramp efficiency alongside vast improvements on water and land usage.
Berlin’s Infarm, for example, claims to have saved over 10m gallons of water and 500,000 square feet of land across its 1,200 farming units, installed in supermarkets in restaurants).
But it is scale and efficiency that proves vertical farming’s bete noir. Leafy greens—low on energy demands and relatively high in price—constitute the lion’s share of output. High-energy food like cereals and potatoes, essential to human survival, remain firmly within the wheelhouse of traditional farms, which already occupy 40% of livable land on Earth, and one of our biggest environmental threats.
“What’s really needed, and that will come with time, is a humanitarian aspect to (vertical farming), which addresses food crises and starvation issues in, say, sub-Saharan Africa where farmers have to put up with horrible things like invasion of locusts,” says Dickson Despommier, the professor who popularized the medium 22 years ago. “Locusts would have a very difficult time invading a vertical farm.”
To feed the world, however, vertical farms need better lights. LED technology has already skyrocketed since its mainstream rollout in the 1960s. “Haitz’s Law” dictates that LED light increases by a factor of 20 and cost drops by a factor of ten every decade.
“The direction is clear: the prices have gone down, the efficiencies have gone up, and I see that continuing,” says Lars Aikala, CEO of Valoya, a leading supplier of LED lights to the vertical farming industry.
But things are getting more complex. Nowadays companies like Valoya can tinker with light spectra to increase growth rates in certain plants while reducing energy costs. “When we started in 2009 this field was pretty much untouched,” says Aikala.
Experts expect Haitz’s Law to tail off in the coming years, as technology becomes smaller, compacter and tougher to scale up. Rather, the next big leaps in LED technology will come via smart sensors, which will help lights replicate night and day, isolate spectra and better tailor themselves to plants’ preferred sunlight.
“If growers want to replicate seasons all year round they have to replicate and control all these parameters in a very narrow window, so plants can survive and grow in a healthy state all year round,” says Fei Jia, technical solutions manager at Heliospectra. “LED lighting allows this because of a high photon efficiency.
“Smart farming is the trend in lighting.”
An added bonus is that around 95% of an LED light is recyclable, helping vertical farmers persuade the public they’re not just a flash in the pan. When sensor technology can lower costs enough to produce carbs and other vital produce, their companies can finally claim to be solving a part of a food crisis that is leaving almost a billion people without adequate access to nutrition each year.
“We’re just at the starting point of (LED) technology, so the price will go down but conversion is going to go up to create more power with less energy,” says Infarm co-founder Erez Galonska. “Now we’re standing on 50-60%, and with the next generation of technology, we easily improve the LEDs. It’s already improved so we’re more energy-efficient already.”
FILED UNDER: CLEAN TECH, CONSUMER, FEATURES, SOFTWARE, STARTUPS, TOP STORY
“Agriculture Doesn’t Lack For Data – It Needs Better Organisation of Data to Feed 10 Billion”
"At Sensei Ag, we believe that indoor agriculture can transform the way we capture data about edible plants, help transform land and water usage at least tenfold through better use of that data, and be part of the critical new infrastructure of post-pandemic economies
As we look ahead to 2021, the challenge of overcoming Covid-19 still stands before us. The primary focus is on rolling out vaccines, but as worries about new variants come to the fore, we really do need to act at warp speed to get shots in arms and take additional measures if necessary.
To look at some of the challenges we face and some of the solutions we have in place, we asked a number of the world’s leading thinkers what their “moonshots” would be, and what grand visions for society we should pursue today.
Sonia Lo says: "Data is collected in the millions of data points every second around the world, in food and agriculture systems. In lesser developed economies, informational offers abound, to help even the smallest small-hold farmer. However, this is not relevant or helpful in the absence of the attendant ecosystem infrastructure of financing; robust, weather-resistant, and inexpensive physical facilities in which to farm; and real-time feedback for the farmers about their critical inputs. The world today is capable of imaging and analyzing every edible plant on the planet and yet there isn’t an international data infrastructure to be able to do that."
"At Sensei Ag, we believe that indoor agriculture can transform the way we capture data about edible plants, help transform land and water usage at least tenfold through better use of that data, and be part of the critical new infrastructure of post-pandemic economies. Organizing data across countries and providing unified data sets across climates and crops not only helps individual farmers but also enables a new generation of “agricultural fintech” which helps those farmers with much needed, but now, well-informed capital. Our vision is to enable the building of a multitude of indoor farm types – to stabilize food supply around the world but also t
VIDEO: Common Mistakes When Setting Up Hydroponics
Even if you have a lot of guidance in setting up your grow space, you may make mistakes in the initial development stages
January 4, 2021 | By Joy King
Starting a hydroponics garden is thrilling. It's an exciting project where you can enjoy the progress your plants make over time. However, producing perfect plants requires some skill and attention to detail that take time to develop. Even if you have a lot of guidance in setting up your grow space, you may make mistakes in the initial development stages.
What is hydroponics?
Wikipedia describes hydroponics as "a type of horticulture as a method of growing plants, usually crops, without soil. It's become popular in vertical and indoor farming. Let's examine some common errors to avoid when setting up a hydroponics grow:
Ignoring plants
New growers may not devote the amount of time necessary to grow hydroponically. Some mistakenly believe that they can check in on plants on the weekend. But, a lot can go wrong if you're not regularly checking on them. Even if your system is fully automated through a grow controller, it's essential to check on your plants daily to ensure that everything is going smoothly.
Check that your automation system isn't clogged or failed in some other way. Once you are a more experienced grower, it will become easier for you to identify failures in your systems and problems with your plants since you're dedicating time to their wellbeing.
Going overboard
More is not always better, particularly in regards to plant growth. Often, problems arise in the grow room from a lack of experience in tending to plants grown hydroponically. It usually takes time to understand how to irrigate and fertilize plants properly. Overwatering is often detrimental to plants, and beginners often do not realize they are overwatering before it is too late. Excessive nutrients, or nutrient burn as it's referred to, is also a common problem for beginners.
Overcrowding plants
It is common for beginners to overestimate how many plants will fit in their grow space. When you first plant them, it may seem that your plants have a lot of room, but once they grow up, they will need that extra space to maintain growth. Be vigilant about removing excess plants and pruning if overcrowding seems like it will be a problem. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and plant fewer plants.
Sudden changes to the environment
You need to give your plants time to adjust when you make changes. One of the most common problems that beginners face is when they suddenly change the grow room's light levels or room temperature. Any sudden increase in light may cause leaf bleaching and burning. It's better that you make changes gradually, giving your plants time to adjust.
Final thoughts
There are many scholarly books on starting hydroponics grow room or space. Do your research and enjoy your hydroponic garden! It's a rewarding way to grow food, cannabis, or flowers.
Source: Growlink
Tags: Hydroponics, Nutrient Dosing System, Wireless Automation, Automated Grow System, Customer Service, Automated Grow Systems, Nutrient Delivery System, nutrients, automation
Indoor Farming Services Provider Agrify Sets Terms For $25 Million IPO
Agrify was founded in 2016 and booked $9 million in revenue for the 12 months ended September 30, 2020. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol AGFY. Maxim Group LLC and Roth Capital are the joint bookrunners on the deal
Renaissance Capital Renaissance Capital
January 13, 2021
Agrify, which provides turnkey indoor farming solutions, announced terms for its IPO on Wednesday.
The Burlington, MA-based company plans to raise $25 million by offering 2.8 million shares at a price range of $8 to $10. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Agrify would command a fully diluted market value of $115 million.
The company claims to differentiate itself with a bundled solution of equipment, software, and services that is turnkey, end-to-end, fully integrated, and optimized for precision growing. Revenue mainly comes from core hardware products, the Agrify Vertical Farming Unit, as well as facility build-outs. Agrify provides products to a variety of agricultural segments, citing cannabis as a key market opportunity.
Agrify was founded in 2016 and booked $9 million in revenue for the 12 months ended September 30, 2020. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol AGFY. Maxim Group LLC and Roth Capital are the joint bookrunners on the deal.
The article Indoor farming services provider Agrify sets terms for $25 million IPO originally appeared on IPO investment manager Renaissance Capital's web site renaissancecapital.com.
Investment Disclosure: The information and opinions expressed herein were prepared by Renaissance Capital's research analysts and do not constitute an offer to buy or sell any security. Renaissance Capital's Renaissance IPO ETF (symbol: IPO), Renaissance International ETF (symbol: IPOS), or separately managed institutional accounts may have investments in securities of companies mentioned.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Derby Vertical Farming Startup Gets £500K Funding to Develop ‘All In One’ Sensor
Derby-based Light Science Technologies delivers lighting, science and research-proven plant monitoring technology and software in partnership with world-leading university research teams
INVESTMENT NEWS / 13 JAN 2021
Derby-based Light Science Technologies delivers lighting, science and research-proven plant monitoring technology and software in partnership with world-leading university research teams. It delivers the right solution across multiple indoor applications such as vertical farming, medicinal plants, and greenhouses. Its full turnkey solution for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) applications for next-generation scalable farming helps customers grow more with less.
Investment to boost agricultural productivity
Light Science Technologies just secured part of the £90M government investment to support the most innovative technology to boost agricultural productivity and set food production systems towards net zero emissions by 2040.
Furthermore, it is one of the 23 feasibility projects that has been awarded up to £500,000 from £4.3M funding that is meant for Science and Technology into Practice feasibility competition, as part of UKRI’s £90 million Transforming Food Production (TFP) program. Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realize the potential of new ideas. Notably, Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation.
Simon Deacon, CEO of Light Science Technologies added: “This is an especially important boost to our business. To be selected by Innovate UK is confirmation of the urgent need for more sustainable, productive, and cost-effective solutions in farming. Investment in UK technology and innovation in this sector is crucial in achieving a better approach to agricultural production and reducing emissions.”
Innovate UK Executive Chair Dr Ian Campbell said: “There are many innovative projects in our latest feasibility competition showcasing ideas for improving productivity and cutting emissions that range across the whole agricultural sector, from arable, to livestock, to sensor technology and to new biopesticides. Our funding and support for these projects is ongoing.”
Groundbreaking sensor technology
Along with partnership with Nottingham Trent University, the company will lead the project to develop a growing sensor and innovative transmission node for vertical farms over the next six months, which is in synergy with their light and science offering.
The IoT precision data solution for vertical farming will help in boosting 0roductivity and efficiency, thereby reflecting the government’s drive to help the agricultural sector grow economically with less environmental impact.
Light Science Technologies’ ‘all in one’ indoor farm sensor will let farms to monitor and control their environment by measuring key areas such as light, water, air, temperature, humidity, oxygen and soil, thereby ensuring optimal plant productivity and yield. Also, this sensor will form a vital part of its bespoke offering, reducing energy and saving costs using technology and real-time data.
Demand for CEA market!
Of late, there is a growing demand for the Controlled Environment Agricultural (CEA) market, which is growing fast at a CAGR of 21%. The demand is mainly from AgTech CEA farmers looking to install or replace existing indoor farms to achieve a maximum yield on crops for optimum profitability. However, the high startup costs attract investment from stakeholders eyeing the potentially significant ROI opportunity.
Light Science Technologies provides custom-made solution for the CEA market, and works with growers to provide an integrated, cost-effective and low maintenance solution that can be used across different crops to achieve maximum yield. Eventually, it creates the full growing recipe of lighting, nutrients, and the environment.
Notably, Light Science Technologies is focused on becoming a technology-driven trailblazer in vertical farming innovation and technology over the next four years as it eyes to shape up the future of the CEA market.
Autogrow Launches Wireless Smart Sensor Network Into US $40 Billion Global Greenhouse Market
“We’ve advocated for a long time in the industry that you can’t manage what you don’t measure and the decisions you make are only as good as the sensor technology gathering the data
5 February 2020
Leading AgTech expert Autogrow has released a wireless smart sensor giving greenhouse operators high-density microclimate data to improve yield, quality and decision making.
Each Folium sensor gathers environmental data including temperature, humidity, CO2, PAR, RAD and barometric pressure, which growers can view on a heatmap - immediately seeing differences across their grow areas. Folium enables greenhouse operators unlimited depth of environmental analysis, as the number of sensors is completely scalable.
“We’ve advocated for a long time in the industry that you can’t manage what you don’t measure and the decisions you make are only as good as the sensor technology gathering the data. Folium will go a long way to giving growers actionable data using state-of-the-art heat mapping technology. It reveals what the eye can’t see,” explains CEO Darryn Keiller.
“According to market analysts, the global greenhouse market is looking to exceed US$40billion in the next 5 years, so it’s a growth market we are excited to support. With over two years of research and development, and a huge amount of hard work from my team, it’s fantastic to have Folium in the market and offer greenhouse growers new technology that will substantially impact their bottom line.”
Folium’s target customer is large greenhouse growers who, simply by the size of their operations, require high-density climate data to ensure all areas of their facilities are providing the optimal environment for growth. The sensor network reliably scales to any size greenhouse.
Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Morgan notes that sensor technology can be incredibly complex but the experience for the grower should be easy and meaningful.
“We’ve been lucky to work with some fantastic growers throughout the development of Folium who have shared their time, knowledge and grow operations to ensure we are solving some of the pain points they experience when dealing with microclimates,” says Mr. Morgan.
“This is just the beginning of what Folium will be able to do. With the way our technology has been designed, we can easily introduce new features that continually support growers. They can also add more Folium units as their business grows and being connected to our cloud platform gives them access anywhere at any time.”
For more information www.autogrow.com/products/folium
PHOTOS: Folium unit in a greenhouse / Heatmap image showing PAR readings
Kylie Horomia
Head of Brand & Communications
(m) +6421 733 025
About Autogrow
Autogrow leverages the power of technology, data science, and plant biology to provide indoor growers affordable, accessible and easy-to-use innovation – 24/7, anywhere in the world.
Our solutions support growers and resellers in over 40 countries producing over 100 different crop types.
We are the experts in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and continue to stay ahead of a rapidly evolving landscape.
Autogrow, Level 1, Building 3, 61 Constellation Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
The Role of Sensors And Data Collection In A Successful Vertical Farm
It’s widely recognized that vertical farming has many advantages over traditional crop-growing methods. Simply put, despite relatively high setup and operational costs, the production per unit of growth area in vertical farms easily exceeds that in the most advanced greenhouses
It’s widely recognized that vertical farming has many advantages over traditional crop-growing methods. Simply put, despite relatively high setup and operational costs, the production per unit of growth area in vertical farms easily exceeds that in the most advanced greenhouses. But to consistently hit this level of production, you need to ensure growth conditions are continuously at their best. This is where sensors and data play a pivotal role, and why they’re ready to transform the future of vertical farming.
What data do you need to capture?
To use sensors and data effectively, you first need to know what kind of data is valuable and why. The most important values to measure are the following conditions for growth:
Climate (characterized by a combination of air temperature, humidity levels, CO2 levels and air speed)
Plant temperature
The nutrient composition of the irrigation water
The light level and spectrum (as perceived by the plants)
Plant morphology, deficiencies and growth (phenotyping)
These conditions are significant for different reasons. The difference between plant temperature and air temperature, for example, can tell us whether the leaves’ stomata are open. If they aren’t, the plant cannot absorb CO2 and convert it into biomass. Likewise, we can continually measure the pH (acidity) and EC (electrical conductivity) of the irrigation water to ensure optimal plant growth. We are also cooperating with several companies that are developing sensors to measure other parameters of the irrigation water (such as f.e. iron or magnesium).
You might be surprised to see that we measure the light level and spectrum as perceived by the plants, presuming that we can deduce this already from the type and number of LED lighting modules installed. However, our research has found that the plants’ perceived light level can deviate up to as high as a factor of two from the light level installed depending on the optical properties of the materials used between and above the plants. This value largely depends on the degree to which the plants cover the growth area, and with such a high potential deviation rate, is one we need to measure and track to ensure optimal growth conditions.
The value of monitoring every stage of the growth process
Sensors enable us to monitor these growth conditions, recognize anomalies and identify problems as early as possible. By detecting problems at an early stage, we can respond pro-actively instead of reactively. This holds especially true for system-related problems – such as the temperature deviating from an intended setpoint – which can be rectified almost immediately.
In addition to measuring growth conditions, measuring growth results also provides valuable data – using parameters such as plant size, height, weight and color. We can use cameras to capture images of the plants in the growth layer, for example, following growth development over time and gauging whether growth meets expectations or not by comparing it to data captured in previous growth cycles under similar conditions. Like sensors, cameras can also help to prevent problems early by enabling the detection of early-stage growth deficiencies (such as tip-burn) and diseases.
How our sensor and data platform can help
Our sensor platform allows us to measure the conditions most important for plant growth. These conditions include climate parameters and irrigation parameters (including water supplied/drained in addition to pH and EC). At the GrowWise Center in Eindhoven’s High Tech Campus (HTC), we collect about 1,600 unique setpoint and sensor readings every ten minutes from our eight climate cells – valuable ongoing research that helps us to continuously build on our knowledge base and improve the solutions we can offer.
The sensors can be placed anywhere within a growth layer and wirelessly communicate the data they gather to the system backend. Cloud applications then retrieve this data and visualize the information that is most relevant and useful to plant specialists and growers. The development of the sensor platform is part of Horizon 2020 Internet of Food (H2020 IoF), a European Commission (EC) innovation project, in which we are closely collaborating with Staay Food Group.
The future of vertical farming
The benefits of modern sensor technology and data science are already manifold, but technological advancements in areas such as AI promise to be truly revolutionary. Signify is currently researching AI-based algorithms that can train models to couple realized growth conditions with realized growth results, for example, in a process known as ‘supervised learning’. This will ultimately enable us to predict the precise growth conditions to achieve optimal growth – and meet the most specific grower needs. AI techniques like machine learning can also be used to analyze images of plants’ growth to immediately detect any unexpected deviations or growth deficiencies.
Right now, our sensor and data platform combined with cloud applications adds considerable value for our plant specialists and customers – from monitoring the growth process and detecting problems as early as possible to accelerating the development of new optimized growth recipes. It’s clear that sensors and the data they capture play a pivotal role in the continuing evolution of vertical farms. Signify and our customers will not just be a part of this revolution – we will drive it.
Dr. Marcel Krijn is a principal research scientist at Signify and has over ten years of experience in horticulture. His primary interest is the advancement of vertical farming as a mainstream method of food production that is both energy-efficient and commercially beneficial for Signify’s customers. His research efforts also focus on the development of new options for data-driven growth management.
The Role of Sensors And Data Collection In A Successful Vertical Farm
It’s widely recognized that vertical farming has many advantages over traditional crop-growing methods. Simply put, despite relatively high setup and operational costs, the production per unit of growth area in vertical farms easily exceeds that in the most advanced greenhouses. But to consistently hit this level of production, you need to ensure growth conditions are continuously at their best. This is where sensors and data play a pivotal role, and why they’re ready to transform the future of vertical farming.
What data do you need to capture?
To use sensors and data effectively, you first need to know what kind of data is valuable and why. The most important values to measure are the following conditions for growth:
• Climate (characterized by a combination of air temperature, humidity levels, CO2 levels and air speed)
• Plant temperature
• The nutrient composition of the irrigation water
• The light level and spectrum (as perceived by the plants)
• Plant morphology, deficiencies and growth (phenotyping)
These conditions are significant for different reasons. The difference between plant temperature and air temperature, for example, can tell us whether the leaves’ stomata are open. If they aren’t, the plant cannot absorb CO2 and convert it into biomass. Likewise, we can continually measure the pH (acidity) and EC (electrical conductivity) of the irrigation water to ensure optimal plant growth. We are also cooperating with several companies that are developing sensors to measure other parameters of the irrigation water (such as f.e. iron or magnesium).
You might be surprised to see that we measure the light level and spectrum as perceived by the plants, presuming that we can deduce this already from the type and number of LED lighting modules installed. However, our research has found that the plants’ perceived light level can deviate up to as high as a factor of two from the light level installed depending on the optical properties of the materials used between and above the plants. This value largely depends on the degree to which the plants cover the growth area, and with such a high potential deviation rate, is one we need to measure and track to ensure optimal growth conditions.
The value of monitoring every stage of the growth process
Sensors enable us to monitor these growth conditions, recognize anomalies and identify problems as early as possible. By detecting problems at an early stage, we can respond pro-actively instead of reactively. This holds especially true for system-related problems – such as the temperature deviating from an intended setpoint – which can be rectified almost immediately.
In addition to measuring growth conditions, measuring growth results also provides valuable data – using parameters such as plant size, height, weight and color. We can use cameras to capture images of the plants in the growth layer, for example, following growth development over time and gauging whether growth meets expectations or not by comparing it to data captured in previous growth cycles under similar conditions. Like sensors, cameras can also help to prevent problems early by enabling the detection of early-stage growth deficiencies (such as tip-burn) and diseases.
How our sensor and data platform can help
Our sensor platform allows us to measure the conditions most important for plant growth. These conditions include climate parameters and irrigation parameters (including water supplied/drained in addition to pH and EC). At the GrowWise Center in Eindhoven’s High Tech Campus (HTC), we collect about 1,600 unique setpoint and sensor readings every ten minutes from our eight climate cells – valuable ongoing research that helps us to continuously build on our knowledge base and improve the solutions we can offer.
The sensors can be placed anywhere within a growth layer and wirelessly communicate the data they gather to the system backend. Cloud applications then retrieve this data and visualize the information that is most relevant and useful to plant specialists and growers. The development of the sensor platform is part of Horizon 2020 Internet of Food (H2020 IoF), a European Commission (EC) innovation project, in which we are closely collaborating with Staay Food Group.
The future of vertical farming
The benefits of modern sensor technology and data science are already manifold, but technological advancements in areas such as AI promise to be truly revolutionary. Signify is currently researching AI-based algorithms that can train models to couple realized growth conditions with realized growth results, for example, in a process known as ‘supervised learning’. This will ultimately enable us to predict the precise growth conditions to achieve optimal growth – and meet the most specific grower needs. AI techniques like machine learning can also be used to analyze images of plants’ growth to immediately detect any unexpected deviations or growth deficiencies.
Right now, our sensor and data platform combined with cloud applications adds considerable value for our plant specialists and customers – from monitoring the growth process and detecting problems as early as possible to accelerating the development of new optimized growth recipes. It’s clear that sensors and the data they capture play a pivotal role in the continuing evolution of vertical farms.
Signify and our customers will not just be a part of this revolution – we will drive it.