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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.
What The Heck Is Farm Management Software?!
You can think of these platforms as “enterprise solutions” from Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and SAP’s of the world...but for Ag.
By Aaron Magenheim, CEO & Co-Founder of AgTech Insight & Growers Insight
May 2020
Technology specifically built for Agriculture, (commonly known as AgTech or Precision Ag), has become an exciting space with Farm Management solutions leading digitalization. “Farm Management” has also turned into a buzzword many people use broadly and don’t really understand the importance of and details around – especially in our rapidly changing world.
As CEO and co-founder of AgTech Insight, a global advisory and implementation firm specializing in AgTech, I have been monitoring the evolution of this industry for several years, evaluating both existing and new solutions and companies. In 2015 we launched our first AgTech Market Map leveraging our internal solutions database by providing a free, valuable resource for those wanting a better understanding of which companies are leading the market organized by category.
Over the past couple of years, our database of digital AgTech solution providers has grown to over 3,000 companies. Farm Management Software (FMS) has become the largest category, with over 500 listings. As we once again reviewed the details of each company to choose those we feel are leading their sector, it became clear we needed to further break down the FMS category based on core competency. This article explains the industry’s current state and how, as these AgTech solutions work in combination, they become extremely valuable for AgriFood businesses. We’ve also included an infographic illustrating how these technologies work together, who uses them, dataflow processes, and the value they bring throughout the organization.
Five years ago, lots of companies wanted to be the leading “FMS” platform. Today there is still no clear winner, so I think we can all agree it’s too big of a task with too many variables for one technology company. We must focus on user success, adoption, and RoI, therefore, our approach is to piece together many best-in-class solutions and then aggregate them — like they do in almost every other industry — to meet the needs of customers.
As the AgTech industry matures, there are companies who get really good at solving one specific problem becoming their “core technology.” This helps everyone understand where each company can provide the most value, as well as identifying the solution as complementary rather than competitive.
While the industry becomes more collaborative and standardized, each solution will continue to be a very important tool used day-to-day by some people on the farm while also feeding that data into larger farm management systems and platforms. These larger platforms are aggregating a variety of point source data being collected and provide a wider view of what’s happening on the farm for mid-level management. This data will be further shared to a business intelligence platform, which helps leadership make financial and business decisions but will not typically be used by a farm supervisor managing daily activities and production.
Leadership Level Solutions
Farm Management/ERP Software Platforms
You can think of these platforms as “enterprise solutions” from Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and SAP’s of the world...but for Ag. They work with a variety of integrated software applications and systems to bring these dispersed datasets together and provide a variety of often custom analytic insights to company leadership. These platforms require an administrator and are primarily used to make financial and large business decisions rather than improving the day-to-day production of a specific crop.
Sustainability
Sustainability is an important topic across any organization and (along with agility) drives its future. Most companies and governments are integrating sustainability efforts across their business from soil and animal health through carbon farming and logistics. To meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) by 2030, a huge effort needs to be put forth by every person, so this category spans the entire organization.
The following diagram shows the flow of decisions and data including each user group by category:
Upper-Level Management/Administration Solutions Farm Accounting Software
Tracking an Ag company’s financials is more important today than ever, thus feeding granular data from both revenue as well as ops/expenses to count pennies is of utmost importance – not only to keep the company in business, but to be able to calculate real RoI (Return on Investment) for innovation efforts and other expenditures. Many of the other systems being used across the operation will feed financial data into this system.
Big Data Providers
There is a plethora of data being collected from millions of sources, and while it may not always be extremely specific to your exact case/location (as in weather), leveraging Big Data across market pricing, asset values, consumer trends, and even imaging can be used to further support a farmer’s decision- making by finding anomalies, providing a larger data set, and more.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
As Ag-focused tools to fill the needs of the sector have not yet emerged, great platforms and developer’s tools prominent in other industries are the solutions we can leverage in the near future. These tools can be used as a front end user interface like Power BI or Tableau, allowing the user to run data into the platform to analyze, build projections, prescriptions, and automate processes. They can also be used in the back end of other solutions, doing the heavy lifting and data crunching before sending the prescriptions and actions back to a software’s user interface or to be carried out autonomously.
Mid-Level Management and Workforce Solutions
Crop/Animal Management Software
This is still the largest bucket in the Ag software world, but we have narrowed it down significantly. These FMS are focused more on the operations side, helping to grow a better crop while reducing inputs. They are typically pureplay software and use API’s (Application Programming Interfaces) to collect and share data from a variety of applicable sources. These solutions are most often used by Ag operations directors through ranch managers to get a high-level view of what’s happening across their operations and highlight potential issues and opportunities for improvement. The workforce also uses these solutions by tracking their activities and receiving recommendations. It can also be a catch-all place to aggregate data and display important KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) on a dashboard for easy and quick access to what is most important while allowing a deeper dive to further inspect as needed.
Mobile Apps, Scouting and Manual Data Collection
These important tools are typically used by advisors, agronomists, PCA’s (Pest Control Advisors), foremen, laborers, etc. to collect data and verify as tasks are being done. They also create an historic record that can be used in the future to compare and analyze events like pest infestations, animal health, or water usage.
IoT, Monitoring, Control, and Animal Tracking
There are a number of IoT platforms which focus on fixing a certain problem such as collecting soil moisture, irrigation data, and weather, or tracking a cow to alert when it’s becoming sick or ready to be bred. Their intention is to improve profitability and sustainability while also growing a better product. These hardware-centric approaches use real-time sensors (often from 3rd parties) to collect a variety of data on crops, animals, weather, equipment, people, and more before sending it to a database in the cloud. They produce real records and ground-truthing which can be used to trigger alerts, for analytics, modeling, to calibrate machine learning or AI models and more.
IoT Plus Analytics User Interface Similar to the above category, this is a large sector which also focuses on a specific problem. However, these companies have not only built the hardware portion, but they have also built a software user interface including more advanced analytics or modeling to provide actions around the conditions they are reporting. They typically will also pull in data from other sources to support the decision-making for the specific problem they are solving.
Input and Farm Operations Efficiency and Optimization
These solutions concentrate on helping improve the efficiencies around spray, variable rate applications, or energy/water usage. They can also help with logistics and optimization across a farm by having the right people, equipment and other resources at the right place, at the right time. This can reduce harvest costs by not having trucks and trailers waiting around and streamlining trucks arriving at a processing facility.
Labor Management
Ensuring you have the required workforce and staying connected with them has become a constant battle, as has ensuring they are performing the tasks planned at an acceptable level. These solutions can help mitigate labor shortages while collecting valuable insights to be fed into a FMS and enterprise solutions.
Food Safety/Compliance
This sector of solutions have mostly been built to mitigate risk but have a much larger role to play as they are integrated into larger platforms. Many will start using a backbone blockchain technology, allowing for easier data segregation and to provide invaluable insights into both cost and risk evaluation.
Summary
With so many great technology solutions available today, deciding where to start and who to work with is important. The key to success comes through creating a cultural shift into modernization throughout a business organization. Our companies specialize in designing and implementing successful innovation plans for our clients.
Please Click Here to View: Growers Insight - Grower Overview Slides 3.0
For support through your AgTech journey, please contact:
Aaron Magenheim, CEO & Founder AgTech Insight & Growers Insight
AaronM@AgTechInsight.com
+1-831-595-6064 Mobile
+1-855-410-2030 Office
© AgTech Insight LLC 2020
AEssenseGrows Adds Business Management To Cruise Control Aeroponics
The Guardian Cloud Intelligence central management system brings cloud-based data analysis and visualization of complete grow operations to AEssenseGrows’ advanced software platform for automated aeroponic plant growth
Guardian Cloud Intelligence Visualizes Complete Grow Operations with Cloud-Based Analysis, Accelerating Business Decisions
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 13, 2019 -- AEssenseGrows, an AgTech company specializing in precision automated aeroponic platforms for consistent high-yield plant production, today introduced a new set of business management features that deliver dramatically greater insight to cultivators. The Guardian Cloud Intelligence central management system brings cloud-based data analysis and visualization of complete grow operations to AEssenseGrows’ advanced software platform for automated aeroponic plant growth.
Adding to “cruise control” grow recipes, the new features help cultivators analyze the costs and revenue of various strain performance—easing the comparison of historic, current grows, and future planning—to determine the most profitable paths in the context of the latest market pricing.
“We’re really excited about the ability to run reports on our grows and cross those with our harvest yields and pricing expectations to determine the big-picture issues we can optimize over time,” said master grower Matthew Willinger, whose operation in Oakland, Calif., uses the AEssenseGrows AEtrium system. “And being able to evaluate the operational cost of a grow-- water, nutrients, labor, electricity--combined with selling prices is a great tool for analyzing the profitability of different grow rooms and strains.”
The AEssenseGrows award-winning AEtrium system delivers sensor-driven cruise-control automation to simplify aeroponics and amplify its inherent benefits. The Guardian Grow Manager central management software executes the exact grow recipe and environmental conditions set by the master cultivator. Once created, dozens of sensors in every machine report on performance and direct adjustments 24/7 and 365 days per year without hesitation, rest, or fatigue. Key variables are automatically tuned such as lighting, nutrients, HVAC, and environmental control to maintain the optimal conditions as defined in the master cultivator’s grow recipe.
Guardian Cloud Intelligence now extends the master cultivator’s knowledge with limitless cloud storage and analysis, leading to better decisions at the fingertips of the master cultivator from any convenient location at any time of day.
Key analysis and features in the Guardian Cloud Intelligence system include:
Room-level aggregated reporting for unlimited sized rooms. Sensor data can be displayed and reported per harvest by the minute, hour, day, week, quarter or year.
The availability of unlimited financial data on nutrient usage, water usage, CO2 usage, labor, maintenance, and electrical usage.
The integration of collected data with the Calendar, enabling all employees and managers to share to-do lists and action items. Users can manage labor operations for their entire facility through an easy to use calendar dashboard. Visually analyze sensor patterns over the days of the calendar. Adjust your work assignments on the fly and have those tie directly back to user assignments.
Workflow integration and dynamic form extension connect business processes, like reporting and documentation, directly to the operator’s daily activities so it is seamless and easy to follow. Every employee starts their shift with a complete list of their required activities for the day, and this is dynamically updated with changes as required. Completion of the events are all stored and integrated in the analysis in the cloud.
Market pricing and financial impact reports based on facility metrics and labor integration, produce profitability forecasts based on real-time and projected data.
Software For Farming Inside A Shipping Container!
Welcome to the world of hydroponic farming – growing vegetables and fruits, using water as the main source of ingredients and nutrition
By SiliconIndia | Tuesday, 18 June 2019, 05:51 Hrs
Agriculture is responsible for more than 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) About 30 to 40 percent of produce (vegetables and fruits) is lost because of spoilage while transporting (Local Roots, California) Can we do something about this? Is it possible to reduce the emission and spoilage?
Additionally, can water consumption be cut down by 95 percent, yes, startling 95 percent. Above all, in megacities like Boston, Chicago, and New York where outdoor farming is done only during summer months, how nice would it be to garnish your salad with fresh leaves of lettuce in February – in the middle of winter? Welcome to the world of hydroponic farming – growing vegetables and fruits, using water as the main source of ingredients and nutrition.
While this proven technology has been in use for a long time, information technology has given it a big fillip. It has also brought the farms to downtown, gated communities and big commercial complexes. Conventional farming has many disadvantages. It is not possible to maintain uniform soil conditions. The use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides is almost inevitable. In the long term, these not only add to the cost, but are also harmful to health. Even the certified organic growers use organic pesticides. Seasons control the produce. Water consumption is high. There could be loss due to drought, floods and high temperatures. Animals can trample and damage the crops. Birds eating the crops will help in crosspollination and dispersion of seeds but may also transmit bacteria.
The supply chain involving fresh produce is time-consuming and expensive. On the average, in USA, a head of lettuce travels about 2000 miles before it is consumed. It results in putrefaction, loss of taste and reduction in nutritional value. One cannot guarantee consistency in quality. Variation in the types of produce is limited. Genetically Modified Plants are not that much welcomed. Container farming is the use of shipping containers (20, 40, 53 feet long) to do farming. Those ‘innocuous looking giant boxes’ can be parked in a corner of the parking lot while lettuce, greens and strawberries are growing inside.
Local Roots is a small company (headquartered in Vernon, California) engaged in hydroponic farming inside a shipping container with extensive use of information technology to maximize when possible and optimize when needed to deliver high quality fresh produce throughout the year. They call these TerraFarms. People can see light across the entire visible spectrum but for photosynthesis, plants need light in the range of 400 – 700 nm wavelengths. The most important ones are blue light (430 to 450nm and red light 640 to 680nm). The company uses custom-engineered LED lights to select the wavelengths and the intensity of light needed. Thus, by altering these early in the growth phase, they can even change the color of the plant. By using wireless sensors to monitor and control the temperature, humidity, lighting and nutrient level, the company increases productivity significantly.
With efficient design, they are able to recycle water up to 99percent, a very significant saving. Using computer vision and deep learning techniques, a neural network based software monitors and diagnoses plant health. Thus, prophylactic measures can be taken very early to ensure good and consistent quality of yield. No herbicides or pesticides are used because bugs and weeds have a very low probability of entering the container. A 40-foot container can produce 4000 heads of lettuce every ten days. In traditional farms, it takes about 55- 70 days to grow lettuce. 2 These containers can be parked anywhere and their numbers increased incrementally. Thus, fresh produce is available almost at or vey near the place of consumption; thereby eliminating transportation costs while ensuring high quality and good taste.
The company intends to use solar or wind power to minimize the use of electricity (generation of which contributes to global warming). Tiger Corner farms in South Carolina is another company specializing in aeroponics type of farming inside a shipping container. Aeroponics refers to the growing of plants in an air or mist environment while in hydroponics, the mist is replaced by water solvent and mineral solutions; both do not use soil. NASA uses aeroponics to grow plants in space station. Tiger Corner Farms has received Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for all its operating container farms.
Boxcar central is a company involved in supplying the controls, sensors and the software to monitor and maintain the farm. Light, air temperature, water temperature, water flow rate, pH, CO2 level, nutrients, are monitored. They can be controlled by a Smartphone or a tablet and crops can be viewed on a webcam. Every 10 minutes, mist from hundreds of tiny sprayers is sprayed on the plants’ roots for 3 to 4 seconds. The software tracks all activities from “seed to sale”. Thus, algorithms can specify the amount of nutrients, wavelength and intensity of light, and humidity levels needed for different types of plants. Ritz Carlton Hotel in Naples, Florida uses a container parked in its parking lot to grow lettuce and microgreens.
A company called CropBox manages the container farm. The chef picks the fresh lettuce and greens from the farm. It is the first hotel in US to do so. Freightfarms, Growtainer, and Containerfarm are a few companies that specialize in fitting a shipping container with sensors, and converting it to a farm. Each farm takes approximately 15 working days to build from start to finish. Each container costs about $85000 but it is not high compared to farm equipments that are needed. What can beat garden fresh lettuce for salads and plump strawberries for dessert?
By: Dr. S. Chellaiah, Professor of Systems, Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA)
AEssenseGrows Wins Red Herring 2019 Top 100 North America Award
The AgTech Company’s AEtrium System Uses Automation and Precision
to Deliver Superior Aeroponic Quality and Yields
SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 20, 2019 -- AEssenseGrows, an AgTech company specializing in automated precision aeroponic platforms for consistent high-yield plant production, has won Red Herring’s Top 100 North America award, one of the technology industry’s most prestigious prizes. Winners were selected and announced during a Red Herring ceremony last week in Pasadena, Calif.
CEO Robert Chen receiving the award.
Photo provided by AEssenseGrows
"Of course, human hunger strikes the most vulnerable countries and the poorest, and technology would not meet its paramount objective if it was not addressing this issue as well,” said Red Herring Chairman Alex Vieux. Vieux said CEO Robert Chen and AEssenseGrows “have demonstrated that tomorrow, one could put an end to this drama which every year kills millions. Increasing the food supply and multiplying agricultural output, offsetting weather uncertainties--all this combined in one concept deserves utmost attention.
“As a result,” Vieux said, “AEssenseGrows has received the Red Herring Top 100 2019 Award and will continue to expand across the globe."
“We at AEssenseGrows appreciate that Red Herring’s judges see the same value in our products that we see—a unique combination of technology and agricultural sciences that can help feed the world,” said Chen. “We’re extremely proud to stand alongside so many other innovators and game-changers in accepting this award.”
The AEssenseGrows AEtrium system delivers sensor-driven automation to simplify aeroponics and amplify its inherent benefits. The company's Guardian Grow Manager central management software monitors grow conditions 24/7 and, if needed, automatically adjusts key variables such as lighting and nutrients to maintain optimal conditions.
The Top 100 companies were chosen from thousands of entrants, Red Herring said, and the companies were judged by industry experts, insiders and journalists on a wide variety of criteria including financial performance, innovation, business strategy, and market penetration. The complete list of winners can be found on the Red Herring website.
In addition to produce, the AEssenseGrows aeroponics system is increasingly being used to grow cannabis and hemp. Last year, Ackrell Capital selected AEssenseGrows as one of the firm's Top 100 Private Cannabis Companies for 2018.
About AEssenseGrows
AEssenseGrows (pronounced "essence grows"), founded in 2014, is a precision AgTech company based in Sunnyvale, CA. AEssenseGrows provides accelerated plant growth SmartFarm platforms and software automation delivering pure, zero pesticide, year-round, enriched growth to fresh produce and medicinal plant producers globally.
With AEssenseGrows, you can precisely control your production operations at your fingertips from anywhere in the world.
Farmee Experts: Affordable Crop Consulting Online
German AgTech startup Farmee teams up with leading Dutch consulting company Delphy to support farmers remotely
German AgTech startup Farmee and well-known Dutch crop consulting company Delphy just launched the online platform Farmee Experts.
With their service, both partners provide affordable crop consulting services online. Any farmer in the world having an issue with their plants can post a question on the Farmee Experts website. Within 24 hours, the question is answered remotely by Delphy’s experienced agronomists. Farmers just have to pay for this troubleshooting without any long-term costs. All questions and answers are private and cannot be seen by other users. As a special launch deal, Farmee Experts offers the first answer for a new registered user completely free. After that, any question will be answered for a fixed price of 49 USD during the market entry phase.
“Knowledge still is the biggest challenge in agriculture today”, says Jacco van der Wekken, CEO of Delphy. “With Farmee Experts, we bring the know-how of our experts to new and innovative customer segments worldwide.” Especially innovative owners of small-sized greenhouses, indoor growers or urban farmers will benefit from having access to professional advice through an affordable service.
Florian Hassler, Co-Founder of Farmee, is looking forward to the collaboration: “We are really excited to launch our platform with Delphy as a renowned partner. We believe that sharing knowledge will help many farmers worldwide to grow better food.” In the future, Farmee Experts wants to open up their platform for other partners, becoming the world’s first open marketplace for online crop consulting.
Explainer Video
https://vimeo.com/farmee/farmee-experts-explained-in-90s
PR Contact
Farmee GmbH, Jens Schmelzle (Co-Founder), jens@farmee.io
About Farmee
Farmee is an AgTech startup from Germany. Founded in 2018, the software company develops digital solutions to enable people growing food. Farmee was selected for the Foodstars Accelerator (NL) and the EIT Food Accelerator Network.
About Delphy
Delphy stands for worldwide expertise for food & flowers. The Dutch company with over 220 employees and its own research units is the leading consulting partners, developing and offering knowledge about the cultivation of crops and expertise in all plant sectors, see www.delphy.nl
Ag Software Provider Launches Survey
October 13, 2018
Written by Agrilyst (edited)
Software solutions provider Agrilyst has launched their third annual State of Indoor Farming Survey.
This survey will give Agrilyst and growers insight on emerging trends and challenges in the greenhouse and vertical farming industries.
Last year, Agrilyst received over 150 responses from indoor farmers in the US. The 2017 report shared insight on the benefits and challenges for growers. According to the report, 25 per cent of growers said that their biggest challenge was capital - from access to working capital and expansion capital to cost of production. Even though they faced these challenges, 51 per cent of growers reported operating profitably.
Allison Kopf, CEO of Agrilyst said, "this year we are digging even further into the costs of operating an indoor farm. We hope that the report will give everyone insight on the industry and help new growers get up and running faster." The company aims to expand their survey participants to growers in Canada.
More data collected means better insights for growers. Growers can participate in the 2018 State of Indoor Farming survey here. The survey takes approximately 25 minutes to complete.
Agrilyst provides software solutions to greenhouse and vertical farming operations, enabling them to track and analyze farm data in one place. They have customers in more than 10 countries.
30MHz And Hort Americas Join Forces To Bring Smart Sensing To North American Growers
30MHz And Hort Americas Join Forces To Bring Smart Sensing To North American Growers
By urbanagnews
July 10, 2018
Photos by 30MHz
Leading commercial horticultural suppliers Hort Americas, and smart sensing technology providers 30MHz are pleased to announce that they’ve partnered to bring the power of real-time, crop-level monitoring to growers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Hort Americas is the first North American distributor of 30MHz technology.
The data platform for Horti - and agriculture
30MHz provides agribusinesses with everything they need to start monitoring their crops and growing environment accurately and in real-time, with just minutes of setup. Customers choose from a variety of sensors sourced and developed with growers and agricultural research institutions (capturing metrics including VPD, dew point, temperature, humidity, soil moisture and airflow.) 30MHz also provides a private, scalable mesh network (with the option to easily add more sensors at any time) and an intuitive analytics platform with real-time alerts, visualizations, heatmaps, charts and graphs accessible on any device.
Photos by 30MHz
With 30MHz technology, customers can deploy a wireless sensor network themselves, without technical expertise. Sensors arrive preconfigured— customers simply connect their gateway to a power supply and ethernet and log into the platform to immediately start measuring.
Built to help agribusinesses of all sizes harness the full power of their environmental data, the 30MHz platform makes crop metrics accessible, shareable and actionable without the burden of juggling multiple interfaces. Real-time sensor data can be viewed alongside data from other sources, including climate control systems, shelf quality control and traceability monitoring and root zone monitoring software.
Empowering agribusinesses across the chain
The scalable and modular nature of 30MHz tech makes it a fit for growers of all sizes across agricultural verticals. With over 150 customers across five continents, 30MHz serves agribusinesses from farm to fork, in a greenhouse, vertical (hydroponic and aeroponic), arable, ornamental, cold store, processing, packing, transport, retail, and livestock. Based in Bedford, Texas, Hort Americas partners with leading suppliers of commercial horticultural products from around to world in order to serve the North American professional greenhouse and indoor ag grower community with the latest technologically advanced products from around the world. Hort Americas’ breadth of expertise across horticulture makes the company ideally positioned to bring the Dutch-founded 30MHz further into the North American market.
“We’ve seen the hunger for actionable data among North American growers— they’re constantly looking to innovate and make the most of their resources. But they don’t have time for overly complex systems that silo their data and take forever to get off the ground. Hort Americas understand the specific challenges and needs of North American agriculture, and how to translate Dutch agri-innovation into efficiency and productivity in local contexts” notes Director of Customer Affairs Cor Jan Holwerda. “Hort Americas continues to look for cutting-edge technology that solves problems and provides answers to the questions our grower partners are asking us. With believe that 30MHz’s product portfolio does just that,” adds founder and general manager, Chris Higgins.
More About 30MHz
30MHz helps agribusinesses of all sizes make the most of their resources with real-time data on their crops and environment, from farm to fork. Through an accessible data platform, scalable mesh network and a selection of wireless sensors, 30MHz provides all the elements growers need to start monitoring in moments, without technical expertise. All it takes is a few minutes and an internet connection.
More About Hort Americas
Based in Bedford, Texas, Hort Americas partners with leading suppliers of commercial horticultural products from around the world in order to serve the North American professional greenhouse and indoor ag grower community with the latest technologically advanced products. Learn more at www.hortamericas.com.
Building The Digital Cooperative For Indoor Agriculture
Building The Digital Cooperative For Indoor Agriculture
Agricultural cooperatives exist to help farmers get access to cheaper services and equipment by pooling their resources and needs. Instead of purchasing an expensive piece of equipment to use seasonally, I can work with the three other farms in the area to share and pay less as a result. Do you need a truck to make deliveries? What if the same three neighboring farms also need access to a delivery vehicle? What if you could fit all four loads in one truck and you can, again, decrease the cost to all three by pooling together? This is the idea of a cooperative.
Greenhouses and vertical farms haven’t had access to the agriculture cooperative structure. Until now.
The Agrilyst Platform is a digital cooperative for greenhouses and vertical farms. Using Agrilyst, growers manage their operations and bring intelligence to their workflow.
This gives us a unique picture of what’s going on in the operations on an aggregate basis. For example, we know that growers are paying about 20% more than they should be for various inputs. They do this because they buy through distributors, order when they need product rushed, or buy from far away. There’s also a lack of transparency in pricing which puts the burden of negotiation on the grower. We want to break this model.
We recently announced a partnership with Smithers-Oasis, a worldwide leader in providing solutions throughout the plant and flower supply chain from propagation to consumer. The partnership allows us to connect growers directly to the supplier and automate their inventory purchasing. This saves growers tens of thousands of dollars every year.
We’re committed to finding every point in the supply chain where we can save or earn growers money based on the insights we can gather. This includes partnerships with sensor companies, lighting manufacturers, seed companies, nutrient companies, data companies, retailers, investors, banks, governments, and more. We’ve chosen to build a true platform and are excited to partner with others in this endeavor.
This is just the beginning. We can’t wait to show you what’s next.
If you’re a supplier of products or data to the indoor agriculture industry and want to be part of the Agrilyst Platform, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out at: akopf@agrilyst.com.
Check out more about Agrilyst at www.agrilyst.com.
The Journey To Fully Traceable Crops
Mikhail Hutton Helping farmers with their security, compliance, and scale at @Agrilyst.
May 9, 2018
The Journey To Fully Traceable Crops
The current E.coli outbreak has hospitalized dozens of people and caused one death so far. It is still unknown which farm or processor led to the outbreak. We believe this is unacceptable and solvable, and so today we’re releasing a new feature: Digital Compliance.
There are three big challenges with food safety compliance today: it is expensive and time intensive to document, the regulations apply primarily to packing and shipping not growing, and the regulations are relatively vague.
Let’s talk about documentation. This all starts with a Food Safety Plan which outlines standard operating procedures. Typically this includes things like: traceability procedures, employee training, visitor procedures, hygiene requirements, and water testing procedures.
For anything outlined in the Food Safety Plan, you are required to maintain logs. For example, in order to meet the requirement of training employees on food safety, you’ll need to not only provide the training material but also a log of when each employee receives the training.
Sample training log from the Produce Safety Alliance
This is cumbersome. And expensive. The FDA estimates it will cost small growers between $6,000 and $25,000 annually in record-keeping costs alone.
For the larger multi-acre greenhouses who work with us it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in both man hours and crops. It’s not uncommon for us to see some of the larger facilities hire a full-time person or team just to focus on compliance.
And although food safety compliance used to be optional by buyer demand (a buyer could demand third party audits), it is now mandatory for any grower selling more than $25,000 each year (under FSMA). So this isn’t just something we’re thinking about, it’s something every grower needs to pay attention to.
And as I mentioned earlier, the requirements typically apply to post-harvest processes. There are little tracking requirements for the crop while it’s growing. Hence why we’re having trouble tracking down the farm where the current E.coli outbreak started.
At Agrilyst, we want to change this. We believe in full traceability from seed to stomach and are making that process as easy and cost-effective for the grower as possible.
So how do we do that?
Documentation
We wanted to make it easier for people to store documents like their Food Safety Plan, Standard Operating Procedures, Training Materials, and Farm Layout right in Agrilyst. Now instead of storing documents in a dusty binder, they’re accessible to everyone in the organization and auditors with the click of a button.
Automating Logs
You are already completing logs in Agrilyst…we just call them tasks. Every time you check off a task in Agrilyst, that task stores data: who completed the task, when was it completed, how did crops perform, were they moved, by whom, were things completed as expected or was a corrective action needed?
Now you can simply search for that information and store the logs along with your other food safety documents. And, you can store crop logs as well. This isn’t required under any food safety protocol, but we believe it’s a critical step in transparency.
Track Crops
Crops in Agrilyst are always assigned a unique ID. You can also assign a barcode to a batch. Both of these make all of your crops searchable and trackable. A critical component of food safety protocol is the ability to track crops one step forward and one step backward. With Agrilyst, you can track what inputs went into a batch and where a batch ultimately went by assigning barcodes and unique IDs.
In the case of an outbreak, once a batch is recalled, a grower can find all similar batches with a quick search and we can mitigate issues like we’re currently having. More about how we do this here.
Not Just For Food Safety
This is about more than just food safety. Our cannabis growers are also required to track crops from seed to sale and Compliance helps growers do just that. Our flower growers think about traceability too. Logging and compliance are two of the biggest components of running a commercial farm and we’re here to make that process easier and more cost-efficient. Think of us as an insurance policy and traceability is the data gateway to higher margins.
Have questions or thoughts? I want to hear from you. You can email me directly at mhutton@agrilyst.com to learn more about our Compliance feature.
To find out if you’ll have to comply with the Produce Safety Rule and see how Agrilyst can help you do that, go to www.agrilyst.com/food-safety.
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The Greenhouse
Stories about agriculture and agtech from the team
Energy Is A Major Expense In Greenhouse Productions (between 10% and 25%).
Energy Is A Major Expense In Greenhouse Productions (between 10% and 25%).
Several solutions currently exist on the market to help reduce this energy bill. The dilemma is how to choose an optimal configuration adapted to the external climate, inner climate, and crop(s).
Hortinergy is the first online software that can simulate energy consumptions of an existing or planned greenhouse anywhere worldwide.
It is suitable for a diversity of clients, from growers to agricultural consultants or greenhouse equipment manufacturers. It takes less than 10 minutes to enter your parameters.
The library includes the major equipment available on the market: glass, plastic films, climate screens, etc. Equipment manufacturers can spotlight their branded products for select pre-set parameters to simplify the user experience.
Hortinergy is a decision-making tool to calculate the required dimensions of equipment and optimize the investment: users compare economical and technical scenarios with a simple online interface. A detailed report is sent for each scenario.
Hortinergy allows users to determine optimal configurations for energy savings, which can be up to 50% for renovations, and more than 70% for innovative greenhouse concepts.
In most cases, existing software programs offer only qualitative analyses. While a few are quantitative in nature, they are either not suitable for daily use or they provide limited modeling options.
Hortinergy is a real scientific breakthrough with:
ï Innovative algorithms that take into account greenhouse-specific parameters, such as: light transmission through the transparent cover, external and inner climate, canopy evapotranspiration, and crop types.
ï Dynamic calculations generated with GPS position anywhere worldwide.
ï Most of the functions of a climate computer regulation: day/night climate, screens, vapor pressure deficit, etc.
ï Models that simulate classic equipment (water tank, combined heat, and power (CHP), etc.) as well as innovative equipment (semi-closed greenhouse, active ventilation).
ï Outputs that include heating consumptions, dehumidification needs, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) reaching canopy, etc. for hourly, monthly or annual periods.
ï Results validated by research centers with measurement campaign in classic and semi-closed greenhouses in France and in the Netherlands.
Multiple add-ons will complete our software.
For more information please contact us : alexandre@hortinergy.com - +33 (0)4 79 72 40 59 Agrithermic 17 avenue du Lac Léman – Savoie Technolac BP 60 269 -73 375 Le Bourget du Lac cedex - France
Smithers-Oasis Company Announces Partnership With Agrilyst
Smithers-Oasis Company Announces Partnership With Agrilyst
Smithers-Oasis Company, a worldwide leader in providing solutions throughout the plant and flower supply chain from propagation to consumer, announces its partnership with Agrilyst, leading provider of a software as a service (SaaS) product for greenhouses and vertical farms that allows growers to track crops, labor, inventory and other metrics.
Oasis Grower Solutions products will be included in Agrilyst and offered to growers that subscribe to the software, which helps them manage their crops and provides data-driven insights to make more profitable production decisions.
“With Agrilyst, we bring to the industry an understanding of how to leverage data, making it easier for growers to manage and scale their businesses,” said Allison Kopf, CEO of Agrilyst. “Including Oasis® Grower Solutions products in our platform will enable indoor growers to know when and what to order so they can perform optimally.”
The Agrilyst platform puts the power of precision agriculture in the hands of any grower, no matter what its size. The cloud-based platform leverages knowledge from other growers and offers a mobile app for ease of use. Indoor growers are able to extract data that helps them take control of their operations and improves their supply chain management.
“Using Agrilyst, growers can spend their time and expertise focused on their flowers and vegetables, rather than trying to maintain their supply chain,” said Bill Riffey, general manager, grower operations, Americas, Europe and Africa. “As the industry moves more and more towards indoor growing because of climate changes, it is important for Smithers-Oasis to be involved in the latest technologies that innovative growers are using to help grow their businesses.”
Oasis® Grower Solutions horticulture products provide for the strong, healthy, clean start and post-harvest care and handling of plants and flowers throughout their lifecycle to ensure the best user experience. The entire plant journey includes the breeder, propagator, growers, retailers, distributors and finally, the end consumer.
For more information
Agrilyst
www.agrilyst.com
Smithers-Oasis
www.smithersoasis.com
Publication date: 5/3/2018
French Engineering Office Is Marketing The First Online Software To Facilitate The Construction Of Energy Efficient Greenhouses.
After 5 years of Research & Development, Agrithermic a French engineering office is marketing the first online software to facilitate the construction of energy efficient greenhouses.
Called Hortinergy, this decision-making tool enables producers and agricultural consultants to compare and size different equipment in order to reduce energy costs.
Savoie Technolac April 26th, 2018 - Energy is a major expense in greenhouse productions and with energy prices volatility we have not heard the last of this.
Technical solutions currently exist on the market to help reduce energy costs: curtains, etc. For growers, consultants or suppliers the dilemma is how to choose an optimal configuration adapted to the climate, crop(s), and yields and to determine the investment payback.
Hortinergy is the first online software that can simulate energy consumptions of an existing or planned greenhouse anywhere worldwide.
The library includes the major equipment available on the market: glass, plastic films, climate screens, etc. Equipment manufacturers can spotlight their branded products for select pre-set parameters to simplify the user experience.
As decision-making tool to evaluate energy-saving options Hortinergy helps to calculate the required dimensions of equipment and to optimize the investment: users compare economical and technical scenarios with a simple online interface. A detailed report is sent for each scenario. Outputs include heating consumptions, dehumidification needs, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) reaching canopy, etc. for hourly, monthly or annual periods.
Hortinergy allows users to determine optimal configurations for investment and energy savings which can be up to 50% for renovations and more than 70% for innovative greenhouse concepts.
Innovative algorithms take into account greenhouse-specific parameters, such as: light transmission through the transparent cover, external and inner climate regulation (screens, VPD, etc.), canopy evapotranspiration, crop types, etc.
Result reliability was validated with measurement campaign in classic and semi-closed greenhouses. For example, the comparison with the Wageningen University & Research (WUR) greenhouses showed an accuracy with less than 10 percent margin error.
In partnership with leading companies in the horticulture industry and research centers, multiple add-ons will complete the software.
Hortinergy competes for the 2018 GreenTech Innovation Awards and will be part of the AgTech innovations presented at VivaTechnology Paris 2018.
About Agrithermic:
Agrithermic is an engineering office specializing in energy efficiency of horticultural greenhouses.
Based in the French Alps, this small company is now recognized among European specialists in this specific issue. Its regular customers include leading companies.
Nebullam: Indoor Farming
What started seven years ago as a way to address food security, production and sustainability led to 13 different prototypes and a model farm near Nevada. And if all goes according to plan in 2018, Nebullam will have a second model farm near Ames and additional capital to help send a product to market by 2019.
Nebullam: Indoor Farming
Lettuce that was grown and harvested last Friday from inside the Nebullam model farm near Nevada. Photo courtesy of Clayton Mooney
For the founders of Nebullam, they hope 13 is a lucky number.
What started seven years ago as a way to address food security, production and sustainability led to 13 different prototypes and a model farm near Nevada. And if all goes according to plan in 2018, Nebullam will have a second model farm near Ames and additional capital to help send a product to market by 2019.
The Ames-based agtech startup pairs high-pressure aeroponic technology and software to grow different types of leafy greens indoors.
The company was founded by Clayton Mooney and Danen Pool, who first met while attending Indian Hills Community College. They stayed in contact and three years ago, Pool contacted Mooney to run a business idea by him.
“He started tinkering on hydroponic systems which led into aeroponic systems,” Mooney said of Pool. “He was very intrigued by the early research NASA had done on aeroponic systems back in the 80’s. Throughout the first half-dozen prototypes, he (Pool) was able to grow tomatoes, basil and lettuce varieties. One winter, he took tomatoes into his coworkers and got great feedback.”
Aeroponics is a method of growing plants in a water-based, nutrient-rich solution without using soil. And when those tomatoes—that were grown indoors—tasted like they were from the garden, a business idea formed.
It was no longer a hobby.
“We thought our original business model was to go around Iowa, set up in warehouses, grow leafy greens and get them into grocery stores,” Mooney explained. “The more feedback we received, it really came back to the technology and that was more interesting to scale than just the production side.”
Mooney said along with Pool and third co-founder Mahmoud Parto, they realized the industry needs to be automated.
“Eventually you need an indoor, vertical farm producing at full capacity without any human interaction,” Mooney says. “We are trying to bring it to the forefront so if we have to trail blaze a little bit, we’re ready.”
To fund Nebullam, Mooney said they raised a “friends and family” round of investment last year and received some funding from through the Iowa State Ag Startup Engine last year when they were going through the program. Nebullam also received a $25,000 loan from the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
This year Mooney said they hope to raise $1 million by the end of June.
Fewer parts, fewer problems
With high-pressure aeroponic expertise and startup experience, Nebullam was looking for a partner who had a background in software and automation.
Mooney said that’s when Nebullam hired Parto, who has helped implement software and automate as many of the processes between germination and harvest as possible.
“From there we’ve considered ourselves a 50 percent hardware and 50 percent software company,” Mooney says.
In total there are six employees working for Nebullam in some capacity, with interns to be hired this summer. Mooney said the team should reach ten people.
Nebullam partnered with LongView Farms in Nevada to create a 300 square foot model farm.
“Hardware is tough and the more pieces you have in a product, the more that can go wrong,” Mooney explains. “In our model farm location, we have just under 5,000 parts total. And that’s across four growing units.”
But Mooney said they’ve streamlined the process to get it to 5,000 parts.
“For the 13th prototype that was our entire focus, how do you reduce the required labor?” Mooney asks. “We think we’ve figured that out. We see ourselves as a technology provider to new, indoor growers.”
He said the hardware, software and inputs such as nutrients and seeds are bundled into a monthly price. And over an 18-24 month contract, the grower pays off the hardware and reoccurring revenue comes from seeds, nutrients and an annual licensing fee for the software.
Mooney said they are in negotiations for a second model farm that would be nearly 1,500 square feet and serve as a showcase for potential customers.
“Do we see corn and soybeans being grown aeroponically? Not at this time,” Mooney says. “But leafy greens, herbs, micro greens, flowers and cannabis, we feel pretty good about those segments.”
African Agtech Market Map: 99 Technologies Changing the Future of Agriculture in Africa
African Agtech Market Map: 99 Technologies Changing the Future of Agriculture in Africa
FEBRUARY 14, 2018 LINA BELMAACHI
Editor’s Note: Lina Belmaachi is cofounder of The Seed Project, a non-profit think tank. The team spent time on-the-ground in Africa in order to do a diagnosis and identify pain points across the agricultural value chain before heading to worldwide innovation hubs to meet with start-ups and select the solutions best adapted to African specificities. Their goal is to contribute to the African agricultural progress towards a system with optimized resource allocation through technology. Here Belmaachi organizes 99 African Agrifood technologies.
There are seven billion people on the planet and more than one-quarter of them suffer from malnutrition, mostly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. By 2050, the global population is expected to reach 9 billion people and the number of under-nourished children to increase by 25 million. We are now facing one of the biggest challenges of this century – how can we feed all these mouths?
Innovative solutions need to be implemented and technology and information sharing can help produce enough food and correctly distribute it around the planet.
The African continent has huge potential with 60% of world’s non-cultivated arable lands but still spends $25 billion annually on food imports. Africa could play a major role and take on future food challenges, yet it needs to leapfrog the innovation gap with other continents to produce enough food for its own population and work toward becoming a food exporter.
Even though African farmers are attached to their traditions and quite reluctant to change, they are not immune to the technology revolution. Just like in the banking industry, where mobile money technologies have become pervasive regardless of the quasi-inexistent banking system, agriculture must follow suit.
Coming back to the basics of agriculture, farmers essentially have four main access challenges:
- Financing & Insurance
- Resources (inputs, equipment, labour)
- Knowledge & know-how (business and agronomic)
- Market (logistics, commercialization, transformation)
A representative and non-exhaustive selection of these companies have been visualized in this African Agtech market map, into nine categories by AgFunder and The Seed Project.
Financial Services
Financial services are not intuitively linked to agriculture, but they have a crucial role to play for African farmers. Smallholder farmers are seen as high-risk profile clients, dependent on climate, and with no collateral. This, combined with the lack of credit and risk-scoring capabilities, turns loan and insurance application processes into real hurdles for farmers. Different types of financial solutions are thus arising, such as:
- Micro-banking, with Oradian (Nigeria)
- Micro-insurance, with Mobbisurance (South Africa)
- Transaction services, with M-Pesa (Kenya)
- Data analytics for risk scoring with Acre Africa (Kenya) and credit scoring with Farm Drive (Kenya)
Ag Biotech Inputs
Farmers are using inputs (seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides) that are environmental detractors and not suited for their lands given their underdeveloped agronomic knowledge. There is room for start-ups to use advances in biotechnology such as plant breeding, gene editing, biologicals or microbiome research in order to propose more sustainable and efficient input solutions.
Wanda Organic is a Kenyan start-up providing organic bio-fertilizers to small and medium-sized farmers in order to improve their soil health and yields. Clients can order products by sending a simple SMS with their phone. Another company, InteliSeed from South Africa, partnered with Syngenta to provide farmers with optimized seeds that can offer them an butter output and quality for their crops. They are focused on vegetables, oil, and legumes and are starting to look at new varieties.
Resources Access
Smallholder farmers are operating on just a few acres of land, yet represent 80% of the food production in Africa. They are dispersed, landlocked and limited in cash, thus making it extremely difficult to access inputs or equipment. Marketplaces and sharing platforms aim at giving farmers the production tools they need.
Esoko is an information and communication service for agricultural markets in Africa that recently launched Tulaa, a marketplace for inputs. It combines mobile technology and last mile agent networks to connect input suppliers, financial service providers, and commodity buyers to smallholder farmers.
Apart from inputs, access to natural resources (i.e. water and energy) is a prerequisite for farming activity. Efficient management solutions are necessary to limit costs and waste. SunCulture, a start-up in Kenya is proposing an innovative solution. Their AgroSolar Irrigation Kit is a solar-powered irrigation system – a solar water pumping technology and a high-efficiency drip irrigation, bundled with a “pay-as-you-grow” financing service launched in 2016.
Farmers’ knowledge
With better agronomic practices and knowledge on value-add operations, farmers could obtain higher yields and better quality products. Yet the current farming system is based on traditional practices relayed from father to son. How can these isolated villagers have access and adopt best farming practices? This effort is commonly done by NGOs but a few other actors are also entering the field. For instance:
- Ojay Greene (Kenya) offers training, advisory services and market access for underserved smallholder farmers;
- ICT4Dev (Côte d’Ivoire) integrates ICT solutions for farmers’ problems through platform design, web management tools, mobile, SMS and voice;
- AgroSpaces (Cameroon) is a networking site connecting agricultural communities to share information and form valuable connections.
Farm Management Software, Sensing & IoT
As the saying goes, “what you measure, you optimize”. Farmers are operating in uncertain environments and are eager to obtain smart recommendations. UjuziKilimo is a Kenyan company that utilizes data science and machine learning to provide actionable agronomic insights to farmers. Data on soil and crops are obtained with sensors and farmers can get real-time information and advice by SMS. Sokopepe is another Kenyan startup offering market information and farm records management services through FARMIS, a farm management and diagnostic tool and SOKO+, a digital commodity trading and information system, linking small-scale farmers to end retailers and bulk purchasers of produce.
Farm Robotics, Mechanization & Equipment
Startups are working on automating many repetitive, tiring tasks in order for farmers to save time and energy. A good example is DroneScan, specially-designed drone attachments that can take inventory in food storage facilities and provide live feedback. The Institue for Grape and Wine Sciences is also working on a robot in South Africa for data gathering purposes on vineyards.
Midstream Technologies
Nowadays, consumers are increasingly looking at the life of products from “farm to fork” — they want to know the story behind the product. This is a great challenge in Africa, where logistics can be very tricky. Some Agtech start-ups are laying the foundation for a leaner supply chain, including quality testing devices, sensors for products’ traceability and safety, and smart logistics. iProcure is the largest agricultural supply chain platform in rural Africa. In addition to complete procurement and last-mile distribution services, the Kenyan company provides business intelligence and data-driven stock management across the supply chains. AfriSoft is a technology and software solutions provider in South Africa that addresses challenges such as warehouse management, quality, traceability and production tracking.
AgriBusiness Marketplaces
In Africa, the food supply chain is highly dependent on middlemen that take advantage of smallholder farmers given their limited market connectivity. Margins are then split between all these intermediaries, to the detriment of farmers. Some companies thus enable farmers to sell their products online, reaching final customers and increasing their revenues. M-Farm is a Kenyan startup providing a platform to connect farmers directly to buyers and inform them of price trends to optimize planting and harvesting timing.
Novel Farming Systems
The decreasing percentage of arable lands along with increasing pressure of climate change calls for more sustainable processes to produce food with fewer resources. The most well-known alternative to current farming systems is indoor farming, by growing produce in high-tech greenhouses and automated vertical farms. This includes aquaponics and hydroponics along with production facilities for new living ingredients such as insects and algae. Fresh Direct Nigeria brings fresh premium organic produce closer to market with their container farm technology. Using hydroponics and vertical farming within a shipping container, the company is able to grow directly in urban areas.
Using fly larvae fed on existing organic waste, AgriProtein from South Africa has developed and tested a new large-scale and sustainable source of natural protein.
Africa has the potential to turn into the breadbasket of the world, but the way is still long and arduous. Bright minds should keep looking for solutions fitted to the needs and adapted to the African context. As pointed out by Sudanese billionaire and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim, “This is neither a good time for Afro-optimism nor for Afro-pessimism! Africa needs to move towards Afro-realism.”
What is Blockchain Technology? A Beginner’s Guide
You may have heard the term “blockchain technology” before, in reference to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For the uninitiated, the term might seem abstract with little real meaning on the surface. However, blockchain technology is a critical element of cryptocurrencies — without it, digital currencies like Bitcoin would not exist.
What is Blockchain Technology? A Beginner’s Guide
written by Chantelle Lafaille February 18, 2018
You may have heard the term “blockchain technology” before, in reference to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For the uninitiated, the term might seem abstract with little real meaning on the surface. However, blockchain technology is a critical element of cryptocurrencies — without it, digital currencies like Bitcoin would not exist.
If you are new to cryptocurrencies, and new to blockchain technology, read this guide on the basics to get yourself started. If you are already a seasoned trader, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two you didn’t already know.
A Brief History of Blockchain
To start, let’s talk about the history of the blockchain. Before it was ever used in cryptocurrency, it had humble beginnings as a concept in computer science — particularly, in the domains of cryptography and data structures.
The very primitive form of the blockchain was the hash tree, also known as a Merkle tree. This data structure was patented by Ralph Merkle in 1979, and functioned by verifying and handling data between computer systems. In a peer-to-peer network of computers, validating data was important to make sure nothing was altered or changed during transfer. It also helped to ensure that false data was not sent. In essence, it is used to maintain and prove the integrity of data being shared.
In 1991, the Merkle tree was used to create a “secured chain of blocks” — a series of data records, each connected to the one before it. The newest record in this chain would contain the history of the entire chain. And thus, the blockchain was created.
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamato conceptualized the distributed blockchain. It would contain a secure history of data exchanges, utilize a peer-to-peer network to time stamp and verify each exchange, and could be managed autonomously without a central authority. This became the backbone of Bitcoin. And thus, the blockchain we know today was born, as well as the world of cryptocurrencies.
How Does Blockchain Work?
So, then, how does the blockchain work? Let’s recall a few key features before we get into the details:
1. Blockchain keeps a record of all data exchanges — this record is referred to as a “ledger” in the cryptocurrency world, and each data exchange is a “transaction“. Every verified transaction is added to the ledger as a “block”
2. It utilizes a distributed system to verify each transaction — a peer-to-peer network of nodes
3. Once signed and verified, the new transaction is added to the blockchain and can not be altered
To begin, we need to explore the concept of “keys”. With a set of cryptographic keys, you get a unique identity. Your keys are the Private Key and Public Key, and together they are combined to give you a digital signature. Your public key is how others are able to identify you. Your private key gives you the power to digitally sign and authorize different actions on behalf of this digital identity when used with your public key.
In the cryptocurrency world, this represents your wallet address (public key) and your private key is what let’s you authorize transfers, withdrawals, and other actions with your digital property like cryptocurrencies. As an aside, this is why it’s so important to keep your private key safe — anyone who has your private key can use it to access any of your digital assets associated with your public key and do what they want with it!
Everytime a transaction occurs, that transaction is signed by whoever is authorizing it. That transaction might be something like “Alice is sending Bob 0.4 BTC”, will include Bob’s address (public key), and will be signed by a digital signature using both Alice’s public key and private key. This gets added to the ledger of that blockchain that Alice sent Bob 0.4 BTC, and will also include a timestamp and a unique ID number. When this transaction occurs, it’s broadcasted to a peer-to-peer network of nodes — basically other digital entities that acknowledge that this transaction has occurred and adds it to the ledger.
Each transaction in that ledger will have the same data: a digital signature, a public key, a timestamp, and a unique ID. Each transaction will be connected, so if you move back one transaction in the ledger, you may see that Chuck sent Alice 0.8 BTC at some time. If you move back another transaction, you might see that Dan sent Chuck 0.2 BTC at some other time before that.
The anonymity of cryptocurrencies come from the fact that your public key is just a randomized sequence of numbers and letters — so you are not literally signing with your own name or some sort of handle. A public key doesn’t tell you the real identity of the person behind it. You are also more or less free to generate as many key pairs as you want and have multiple cryptocurrency wallets. Be warned though, there could be other ways someone can figure out your identity — for example, through your spending habits.
Why is Decentralization So Important?
For enthusiasts of blockchain, you will hear a lot about the decentralized aspect of it. What makes this so appealing is that it makes the blockchain impervious to censorship, tampering, or corruption.
Because it uses a peer-to-peer network, copies of the ledger are stored in many different locations, and unless you manage to track down every single one of them (Bitcoin is estimated to have over 35,000 nodes in its P2P network), you can’t destroy it. As well, because so many different, independent nodes are keeping track of the ledger, modifying it in an untrustworthy way won’t go very far because all the other nodes will disagree with that transaction and won’t add it to the ledger.
This is a huge part of why so many people believe blockchain technology is the future of currency, and why it is being adopted in industries other than cryptocurrency.
There’s Always a Downside
However, like any system created by humans, there are always downsides.
Blockchain technology has a pretty steep learning curve. Especially for the typical individual without a technical background, all the jargon and computer science concepts involved may intimidate and scare away otherwise would-be users. However, the rising popularity of cryptocurrency is resulting in the blockchain moving into the mainstream, with a lot more resources available to make the topic more approachable.
Transferring, trading, and buying cryptocurrencies usually involves a transaction fee, and is not usually instantaneous. The former can be costly, the latter inconvenient.
There is also a concept called the “51% attack” — if for some reason 51% of a peer-to-peer network validates an otherwise invalid transaction, it will still get approved and added to the ledger by nature of how the validation process works. Maybe right now it’s unlikely to happen, but it is a security flaw that might have potential for exploitation in the future.
However, there are a lot of developers, users, and enthusiasts who truly believe blockchain technology is the future. Many want to see the technology succeed, so stay tuned for new developments!
Related: What Exactly Is Blockchain, Anyway?
Chantelle is a computer engineering student with over three years of experience writing for science and technology outlets, and a cryptocurrency enthusiast. When she isn't busy keeping up with the latest news in the tech world, she is busy pursuing her space engineer ambitions.
Agrilyst Adds Horizons Ventures to New Round with Eyes on China
Agrilyst Adds Horizons Ventures to New Round with Eyes on China
FEBRUARY 2, 2018 EMMA COSGROVE
Indoor farming software startup Agrilyst has raised an undisclosed strategic round, bringing in new investors with the aim of expanding the scope of its product offering and entering the Chinese market.
Agrilyst offers a software-as-a-service platform to help indoor agriculture operations maximize their efficiency. The platform offers workflow management tools, inventory tracking, and pest and nutrient management. The company analyzes data about these metrics to provide growers with recommendations on the best way to fine-tune their growing plans and increase profitability.
New investors in the round include iSelect Fund, Argonautic Ventures, Horizons Lab and Onlan Capital Ventures, with existing investors Compound and New York State Innovation Venture Capital Fund joining also participating.
Horizons Lab is the seed fund of Hong Kong-based Horizon Ventures, the VC fund belonging to billionaire Li-Ka Shing.
The firm is invested in major tech startups like Slack, Facebook, and Skype, but also several agrifood tech startups such as algae-based food company Algama, as well as alternative protein startups Impossible Foods, Modern Meadow, Hampton Creek, and Perfect Day Foods.
“We see a world where computation cost is driven to zero and we now have the resources to monitor the growth, health, and biology of every single seed,” says Phil Chen, Advisor at Horizons Lab. “I see Allison and her team at Agrilyst as the interpreters of this data to secure future food sources.”
Agrilyst CEO Allison Kopf told AgFunderNews that the company currently has customers in Singapore, but is looking to expand into the Chinese market.
Kopf said that iSelect Fund is also a strategic investor to her company’s growth as the St. Louis firm’s other agtech portfolio companies could be ideal partners. iSelect is also invested in Agrible and Benson Hill Biosystems among others.
This year Agrilyst will ad an app to its web-based suite of tools, which will allow growers to use traceability tools in their growing environments without ideal connectivity.
The company will also release a new inventory management module in the coming months that will eventually help growers to get better pricing on inventory items.
Kopf says the ultimate goal is for Agrilyst to be a central platform aggregating other data and services that indoor farmers might need.
“Our API has been open from day one. We are definitely trying to build an ecosystem with our growers and with our partners on the technology side. The more people we bring in, the more profit we can push back to the farmers,” said Kopf.
Agrilyst added more than 100 new customers in 2017 and has seen 500% growth in terms of both revenue and customers since 2016. The platform is currently available in 10 countries and its customers grow 800 different crop varieties, including cannabis, flowers, and insects, which are relatively new additions to the platform.
The company raised $1 million in seed funding in 2016 led by New York seed stage investors Brooklyn Bridge Ventures with participation from NYC early-stage tech investors Metamorphic Ventures as well as a group of angel investors.
Agrilyst Raises Another $1.5M For Its Intelligent Indoor Farming Platform
Agrilyst Raises Another $1.5M For Its Intelligent Indoor Farming Platform
February 7, 2018 | Frederic Lardinois (@fredericl)
Agrilyst, a platform that makes it easier for indoor farmers to manage their crops based on sensor data, today announced that it has raised a $1.5 million funding round from iSelect Fund, Argonautic Ventures, Horizons Lab (Horizons Venture’s seed fund) and Onlan Capital Fund. The new investors were joined by existing investors Compound and the New York State Innovation Capital Fund. That’s on top of the $1 million round Agrilyst announced in 2016.
As Agrilyst co-founder and CEO Allison Kopf tells us, the company, which won our Disrupt San Francisco Startup Battlefield in 2015, has been on a bit of a roll lately. It added 100 new customers in 2017 and saw 500 percent growth in both revenue and customers since 2016. Its service is now available in 10 countries and its tools support more than 50 vegetables and 800 crops.
When the company launched, the team was very adamant that it didn’t want to be seen as a tool for indoor cannabis growers, but it recently added support for cannabis, as well as for floriculture and insect productions.
“We see a world where computation cost is driven to zero and we now have the resources to monitor the growth, health, and biology of every single seed,” says Phil Chen, advisor at Horizons Lab. “I see Allison and her team at Agrilyst as the interpreters of this data to secure future food sources.”
As for the team, it’s worth noting that the company recently brought on both a new CTO (to replace co-founder and CTO Jason Camp, who left the company last year) and a VP of Customer Success.
Unsurprisingly, Agrilyst plans to use the new funding to support its growth and expand into new markets and product lines. Having a number of new investors that focus on the large Chinese market (Horizons, Argonautic, and Onland) will surely help the company expand into this market, too.
Autogrow Opens Virtual Innovation Community
Autogrow has opened a virtual agtech and science lab and is inviting indoor ag developers, growers and enthusiasts to join in building a dynamic and innovative community.
Autogrow Opens Virtual Innovation Community
8 February 2018
Autogrow has opened a virtual agtech and science lab and is inviting indoor ag developers, growers and enthusiasts to join in building a dynamic and innovative community.
Following on from the launch of their Jelly SDK, APIs and Autogrow Cloud platform last year, the Autogrow Lab was set up as a collaborative environment for continued research and development of control systems for indoor agriculture.
“The industry is a fragmented hardware landscape with software and data technology being introduced into the mix. Our goal is to bring much of that together in an open platform, add in the science of plant biology and create a space for discussion, invention and pushing the boundaries,” explains Chief Technology Officer Jeffrey Law.
“Being virtual ensures that anyone, anywhere and at any time can join in the discussion add to the research or utilize our applications to create next-generation ideas. The industry is moving incredibly fast but a lot of that is happening behind the scenes. We think by creating a collaboration space we can ensure the entire agtech community will benefit from the increased pace.”
Users will have access to Autogrow’s APIs and SDKs for control systems, technical documentation, compiled research and be able to contribute to tech blogs. The Lab will have a strong focus on the marriage of tech and data with plant science.
“To really understand what’s required in different environments such as greenhouses, protected cropping, and plant farms, you have to look at the plants from a biological perspective, then adjust the environment to suit,” says Dr. Tharindu Weeraratne, Director of Crop Science and Agronomy.
The Lab is open to anyone with an interest in agtech with a focus on transparency and creating a repository for education and sharing advances with the community.
“I was asked recently whether I’d be afraid someone would create a better control system by using our API. My answer to that was – I hope so. I hope that people start creating better, smarter systems for indoor ag which in turn drives everyone to work harder,” says Mr. Law.
“Anyone who’s afraid of change or new ideas need to step aside and make way for those that want to innovate and improve our industry and in turn keep everyone on their toes - we included.”
Visit - lab.autogrow.com
About Autogrow
Established in 1994, Autogrow (www.autogrow.com) is committed to creating original ideas for agriculture – and making them a reality.
With a global headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand, an office in the U.S. and growers and resellers in over 40 countries, Autogrow provides affordable, accessible and easy-to-use innovation – 24/7, anywhere in the world.
By leveraging the power of technology, data science, and plant biology through a team of software designers, engineers and crop science experts - Autogrow continues to push innovation boundaries to gain the best result for the growers.
AEssenseGrows Software Delivers 40% Faster Growth with Automated Sensor-Controlled Indoor Farming
AEssenseGrows Software Delivers 40% Faster Growth with Automated Sensor-Controlled Indoor Farming
The Guardian™ Grow Manager Makes It Easy to Manage Precision Control Through Any Device
NEWS PROVIDED BY AEssenseGrows, Inc.
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AEssenseGrows, a precision sensor and software technology company specializing in fully automated aeroponic platforms for consistent indoor high-yield plant production, announced the release of its Guardian Grow Manager intelligent software, now including a complete range of water, nutrient, air, and environmental controls that help customers achieve up to 40 percent faster growth with higher year-round yields.
AEssenseGrows Software Delivers 40% Faster Growth with Automated Sensor-Controlled Indoor Farming
AEssenseGrows produces modular aeroponic grow systems that are constantly aware of plant status through a blanket of precision sensors controlled by the Guardian Grow Manager software. Optimal delivery of nutrients to indoor plants is guaranteed with confidence from recipe through execution, with the constant attention to detail that automation provides. Every sensor reading is processed and mirrored to the AWS cloud, providing a perfect data record for any grow cycle and any plant variety. The company's AEtrium System produces top-shelf pesticide-free crops while reducing the requisite amount of water, nutrients and labor of traditional farming.
"The Guardian Grow Manager is what we rely on to generate a consistent, high-quality product," said Matthew Willinger, master grower at Fitchburg, in Oakland. "I can focus on plant health while the Guardian executes my orders perfectly. The reduction in time and labor is allowing us to be ultra-competitive."
The software provides fully automated intelligence to guarantee nutrient dosage is precise and consistently applied perfectly with every irrigation cycle. Wireless controlled sensors ensure that the Guardian constantly senses, doses, tracks, and analyzes an entire grow operation to specification.
In addition, AEssenseGrows has been licensed to integrate California's Metrc system into the software, meaning users will soon have "seed-to-sale" visibility end-to-end for their operations. The state selected Metrc as its track-and-trace system for tracking commercial cannabis activity and movement throughout the distribution chain.
"The Guardian software makes managing a large facility easy. With all the information of our entire grow at our fingertips we can see up-to-the-second sensor data from anywhere in our facility," said Andrew Lange, CEO of Black Diamond Biotech. "The software makes it easy to maintain the perfect nutrient and light levels and, by integrating the Guardian software into our climate control system, we can maintain the perfect environment for huge consistent yields."
The Guardian Grow Manager features:
- The ability to access, manage, and operate anywhere
- Full facility awareness and control
- Nutrient recipe control and automatic adjustments
- Predictable and repeatable grow results
- 24/7 real-time monitoring
- Complete data monitoring, AWS storage, and back-up in the cloud
- Easy system maintenance
The software delivers total control over photoperiod, nutrient concentration, nutrient dosing ratio, fertigation period (day and night), pH, hydrogen peroxide dosing, air temperature (day and night), humidity, carbon dioxide monitoring, carbon dioxide concentration, air movement, light intensity, water temperature, pump pressure and reservoir water level.
"Our customers have quickly recognized the benefits of having complete control of their grow environments at their fingertips," said Robert Chen, president and CEO of AEssenseGrows. "Advances like the Guardian Grow Manager have turned aeroponics from a theoretically effective method of indoor farming to a practical one. We help our customers compete with automated, low-cost manufacturing so they can be aggressive competitors."
AEssenseGrows will demonstrate its advanced aeroponics systems at the Global Forum for Innovations in AgricultureFeb. 5-6 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at CannaCon Feb 15-17 in Seattle, Wash., and at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit March 20-21 in San Francisco, Calif.
AEssenseGrows offers free webinars on key issues concerning indoor farming. The next, on integrated pest management, will be at 10 a.m. Pacific Time Feb. 14, and reservations can be made on the company's website.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-startup was recently selected by Ackrell Capital as one of the firm's Top 100 Private Cannabis Companies for 2018.
AEssense, Inc. (pronounced "eh-sense") founded in 2015, is a new precision AgTech company based in Sunnyvale, CA. AEssenseGrows provides accelerated plant growth SmartFarm platforms and software automation delivering pure, zero pesticide, year-round, enriched growth to fresh produce and medicinal plant producers globally. With AEssenseGrows, you can precisely control your production operations at your fingertips from anywhere in the world.
For more information for AEssense, visit AEssenseGrows.com.
Phil Gibson
AEssenseGrows, Inc.
669.261.3086
pgibson@aessensegrows.com
SOURCE AEssenseGrows, Inc.
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