Nine High-Tech Farms In Singapore Awarded Nearly $40 Million To Ramp Up Food Production

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SEP 9, 2020

Shabana Begum

SINGAPORE - Nine urban farms have been offered a total of $39.4 million by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) as part of efforts to support the growth of local agrifood enterprises and ramp up local food production over the next six to 24 months.

The amount was made available through the "30x30 Express" grant launched by the SFA on April 17 this year. The aim of the grant was to meet 30 percent of Singapore's nutritional needs with food produced locally by 2030.

More than 40 proposals were received by May 29, the closing date for proposals, and SFA said that the nine selected incorporated highly productive farming systems that could be constructed and implemented quickly to achieve high production levels.

All the proposals were assessed based on benchmarks such as productivity, project feasibility, economic viability, and the farms' capabilities.

SFA had to increase its original $30 million budget for the grant to close to $40 million to support the nine companies' proposals, said the agency in a press release on Wednesday (Sept 9).

Seven of the nine companies have accepted the SFA offer.

They are vegetable farms ComCrop, Green Harvest, I.F.F.I, LivFresh, Genesis One Tech Farm and VertiVegies, and egg farm Chew's Agriculture.

The funds will go towards projects such as building additional greenhouses, leveraging technology and automation to reduce manpower, and bringing artificial intelligence to high-tech farms.

SFA said the companies awarded the grant will be able to tap it to defray costs while accelerating their expansion.

For instance, I.F.F.I will set up a mega high-tech indoor vegetable farm that depends on AI to monitor the growth of its leafy greens, along with an advanced environmental control system to ensure optimum yield all year round. The farm will also use an innovative water treatment system that reduces the amount of bacteria in the crops and extends the shelf life of its produce.

Ms. Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, said: "While we continue to plan to tackle our long-term challenges, we also need to respond swiftly to the immediate global food supply challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Supporting our agri-food industry and augmenting their production capabilities remains a key strategy in strengthening Singapore's food supply resilience," she added.

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Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has awarded close to $40 million of funding to nine companies to help them adopt technology to ramp up local food production. This marks another significant step towards reaching our goal of fulfilling 30% of our nutritional needs through local sources by 2030.

The “30x30 Express” grant was launched in April this year to accelerate our efforts to strengthen food security. The COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse impact on global supply chains, has underscored the importance of local food production as a buffer against supply disruptions. With Singapore importing more than 90% of our food, we are particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in the global food supply, which can stem from diseases, trade tensions, or climate change.

I visited two of the awarded companies, ComCrop and I.F.F.I, and was impressed by how they have integrated technological innovation into their farming. ComCrop’s vegetables are grown using NFT hydroponics system, which requires 90% less water and nutrients compared to traditional soil-based farming. I.F.F.I leverages AI farming systems integrated with IoT monitoring to achieve optimum growing conditions all year around. The grant will provide them with an added boost to adopt highly productive farming systems to ramp up production over the next 6 to 24 months.

Let us play our part to strengthen food security by supporting our local farmers! Do lookout for the SG Fresh Produce logo and give local produce a try when you go on your next groceries shopping trip!

Farms in Singapore can tap on SFA's existing Agriculture Productivity Fund (APF), which aims to help them modernize and adopt advanced farming systems, as well as co-fund the test-bedding of technologies.

Enterprise Singapore has also set aside over $55 million to help local agriculture and aquaculture companies build new capabilities and innovate to grow more with less.

SFA has also urged consumers to buy local.

"We urge consumers to support our local farms and buy local produce, which can be identified easily by our new SG Fresh Produce logo," said Mr. Lim Kok Thai, SFA chief executive officer.

Lead photo: Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu with ComCrop CEO Peter Barber during a visit to the farm

TOPICS: AGRICULTURE AND FARMING MINISTRY OF SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT AWARDS AND PRIZES

Temasek, Bayer Form Joint Vertical Farming Venture In California

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Jovi Ho

 August 12, 2020

Temasek Holdings is partnering with German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer AG to create a new vertical farming venture headquartered in California, as part of Singapore’s plans to boost the city-state’s supply of sustainable, locally grown produce. 

The joint venture between Temasek and Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG, will be a US entity with commercial and research and development operations in both California and Singapore. 

The new venture, Unfold, will focus on innovation in vegetable varieties with the goal of lifting the vertical farming space to the next level of quality, efficiency, and sustainability.

Instead of focusing on external infrastructure to support plant growth, Unfold will look within the plant itself. 

“By utilizing seed genetics (germplasm) from vegetable crops, Unfold will focus on developing new seed varieties coupled with agronomic advice tailored for the unique indoor environment of vertical farms,” says Bayer. 

Unfold has raised US $30 million (S$41.19 million) in its initial funding round and entered into an agreement for certain rights to germplasm from Bayer’s vegetable portfolio. 

Global food challenges are forcing countries to rethink traditional farming practices, says John Vaske, Head of Agribusiness at Temasek.

“We need to ensure secure farm-to-fork supply chains in urban settings while we also work to reduce the overall environmental impact of farming. Reducing food waste and improving the safety, traceability and nutritional value of food are all the more important as populations grow and demand for food expands. Investments in companies such as Unfold allow us and our partners to support innovative, sustainable solutions that will benefit all of us over the long term,” says Vaske. 

Back in 2018, Temasek acquired a 3.6% stake in Bayer for 3 billion euros (S$4.85 billion), bringing its total stake to about 4% with 31 million new shares. The share sale to Temasek was part of Bayer's efforts to fund its planned US$62.5 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto.

However, according to the latest Bloomberg data, Temasek no longer appears to own a substantial stake in Bayer. 

Unfold’s President and CEO Dr. John Purcell will move from his role as Head of Vegetables R&D, Crop Science at Bayer. 

“As a company fully focused on the vertical farming industry, Unfold will combine leading seed genetics with the best agtech experts in order to dramatically advance productivity, flavor, and other consumer preferences,” says Purcell.

“We look forward to serving the market through partnerships with vertical farming operators, technology providers, and others across the produce supply chain.”

Prior to joining the food and agriculture industry, Purcell was a post-doctoral researcher at the United States Department of Agriculture from 1987 to 1989. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Massachusetts. Purcell is also part owner of a family ranching operation in Montana.

Vertical farms, also known as indoor farms or plant facilities with artificial light (PFAL), help crops grow more quickly while using less space and fewer natural resources.

Investment in the vertical farming market has increased significantly in recent years mainly due to decreasing arable land, increasing market demand for local, sustainable produce, and migration towards mega-cities.

Singapore’s "30 by 30" agriculture goal aims for 30% of our nutritional needs to be produced locally by 2030, though this figure is smaller than 10% currently. 

According to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), the 77 leafy vegetable farms here accounted for 14% of total consumption in 2019. 

Lead Photo: Credit: Bayer stock photo

Farm to Fork: This Millennial Urban Farmer Grows Vegetables On Carpark Rooftops in Singapore

Singapore Announced New Measures in April Aimed At Speeding Up Local Food Production Over The Next Six Months To Two Years.

By Vulcan Post

June 25, 2020

The ongoing battle against the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant lockdowns imposed in many countries worldwide have put the spotlight on Singapore’s dependence on food imports and its vulnerability to global supply shocks.

The government has repeatedly assured its citizens that Singapore has sufficient food supplies, amid bouts of panic buying that gripped the country when Singapore raised the DORSCON level to Orange.

Although the panic buying has now eased, another cause for concern is that Singapore has a population of about 5.7 million people but it only produces about 10% of its food needs.

To tackle this food crisis, Singapore announced new measures in April aimed at speeding up local food production over the next six months to two years.

This includes providing a SGD 30 million grant to support production of eggs, leafy vegetables, and fish in the shortest time possible, and identifying alternative farming spaces, such as industrial areas and vacant sites.

As part of that project, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and the Housing Development Board (HDB) have launched a tender in May for rooftop farms on public housing car parks.

This means that the rooftops of a handful of multi-story carparks in Singapore will be converted for use to farm vegetables and other food crops from the later part of this year.

Farming hits the roof

The move to find alternative farming space in land-constrained Singapore is part of their strategy to meet the country’s 30 by 30 goal, which is to produce 30% of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.

Local agritech startup Citiponics did not take part in the tender this time round, though it piloted SFA’s multi-story carpark rooftop farm project in Ang Mo Kio last year.

According to Danielle Chan, co-founder of Citiponics, its 1,800 square metres farm atop the carpark at Block 700 in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 can grow between three and four tonnes of vegetables a month.

They grow up to 25 different types of vegetables naturally without the use of pesticides.

“We currently specialize in growing our own crossbreed of lettuces—Georgina Lettuces—and have also been growing other varieties such as nai bai, Italian basil, and Thai basil based on customers’ requests,” said Danielle.

Sharing more about the Ang Mo Kio site, she said they have been steadily producing pesticide-free vegetables on a monthly basis, supplying to nearby residents and consumers islandwide.

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Rooftop farm in Ang Mo Kio. Photo courtesy of Citiponics via Vulcan Post.

Beyond contributing to local food production, this pilot project has also generated “positivity,” which stems from community involvement when visitors get to know and see their food source.

“It brings us great joy to see the senior citizens enjoying their time as they work on farming activities as well as the support we have received from visitors who come to our community markets to self-harvest their produce,” said Danielle.

She added that they hire senior citizens from AWWA Community Home as well as part-time workers to help with farm maintenance.

“We believe that even if one does not have the technical agriculture know-how, they should be able to contribute to food production as well.”

Citiponics is a Singapore-grown urban farming company that started in 2016, which aims to grow safe produce through its zero-waste farming process.

It is co-founded by Danielle and her family friend Teo Hwa Kok, who has a “rich experience in agriculture.”

When agriculture meets tech

The 26-year-old is a National University of Singapore (NUS) graduate, who has worked in technology startups across Singapore and New York, as well as technology consulting companies such as IBM.

But with her tech background, why did she choose to be a ‘farmer’?

“I grew up in an agricultural environment and as such, the farm was always my playground. Growing up, I never had to worry about buying vegetables from the supermarket or doubting my food source. I had the blessing of getting all my vegetables supplies directly from the farm,” explained Danielle.

“Having personally witnessed the wastage as well as the inefficiencies in the traditional farming industry, I knew I wanted to go back to the farming industry to change the way farming is done traditionally as well as to share the blessing of the farm-to-table experience with others.”

Her tech background didn’t go to waste though. She made it a point to integrate technology into Citiponic’s farming processes.

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Citiponics at NTUC FairPrice. Photo courtesy of Ministry of Trade and Industry via Vulcan Post.

They have a proprietary vertical farming technology called Aqua-Organic System (AOS). It falls under a solid-based soilless culture, which is different from the likes of traditional farming and hydroponic farming system.

As every drop of water is kept in a close loop within the growing system, it helps to minimize water consumption, using one-tenth of hydroponics water consumption and one-hundredth of traditional farming water consumption.

Due to its vertical nature, it is also able to be seven times more productive than traditional farming.

As it is specially designed to provide a natural farming environment in order to preserve the nutrients value and natural taste of the vegetables, the technology is also pollutant-free and pesticide-free. It’s also anti-mosquito breeding, which makes it very suitable for farming within community and neighborhood areas.

“The AOS farming technology removes the complex technicalities of farming and we wanted to keep it that way to allow people of all ages and backgrounds to have a great experience when they get to farm with our systems,” said Danielle.

COVID-19 does not pose a huge business challenge

All of Citiponic’s farmed produce are segmented to home deliveries, nearby residents, and selected NTUC FairPrice outlets.

Despite their limited farming space, Danielle said that they see a constant stream of supply and sales.

It’s not so much a business challenge, she added, but the need to adapt to the new normal, hence the introduction of home deliveries and engaged logistics channel.

Although COVID-19 does not greatly impact its business, it serves as a timely reminder on the importance of accelerating our local food production.

This pandemic serves a time for us to reflect on how we can enhance our food resilience strategies.

Singapore steps up to be more food resilient

As Singapore is still largely dependent on food imports, the rooftop farming tender and local food production grants are definitely the right steps forward.

According to SFA, Singapore currently secures food supply from about 170 countries.

For instance, Singapore now imports oranges from Egypt, milk powder from Uruguay, eggs from Poland and shrimps from Saudi Arabia as part of its efforts to broaden food supplies.

Danielle is well-aware that food security, food sustainability and food safety are global issues, so she hopes to bring Citiponics’ farming solution to more countries.

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Citiponics’ Georgina lettuce sold at NTUC FairPrice. Photo courtesy of Citiponics via Vulcan Post.

“We are not only focused on food production, but also becoming an agritech solution provider. We have developed agriculture technology and designed farming solutions that are suitable for tropical countries, and hope to extend the applicability of our expertise and farming technology to temperate countries as well,” she added.

Citiponics is also looking at scaling its operations to enhance its contribution to local food resilience and grow more communities through the introduction of hyperlocal Citiponics urban vertical farms in various neighborhoods of Singapore.

“We envision Citiponics as a supportive environment that is able to cultivate the next generation of urban farmers and agritech innovators.”

This article was first published by Vulcan Post.

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