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Berry Leader Driscoll's Transitions Santa Maria Cooling Facility To Solar

Driscoll’s has installed 3,384 solar panels on its 155,000 square-foot cooling facility in Santa Maria, Calif., which is estimated to generate 1.4 million kilowatt-hours of power annually

The Transformation Is The First of

More Renewable Energy Updates To Come From The Berry Company  

WATSONVILLE, CALIF. (Aug. 11, 2021) – Driscoll’s has installed 3,384 solar panels on its 155,000 square-foot cooling facility in Santa Maria, Calif., which is estimated to generate 1.4 million kilowatt-hours of power annually.

In addition to solar power, Driscoll’s has installed a battery storage system that can hold up to 700 kilowatt-hours. Together, both systems will allow the company to offset about 92% of the facility’s energy usage, generating a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing more than 7,750 cars from the road over the course of 25 years. 

The solar installation in Santa Maria is one of many, as Driscoll’s is in the early stages of pursuing clean and alternative energy sources for its owned and operated coolers across North America.  

“The solar installation in Santa Maria is the first of several planned energy investments,” said J. Miles Reiter, Driscoll’s chairman, and CEO. “We view this inaugural installation as a commitment to Santa Maria, our employees, and our local growers. It’s an investment in our future by having clean technology to support our local operations.” 

In support of Driscoll’s transformation of its cooling facility to solar power, Driscoll’s employees, community members, and local dignitaries, including Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino, gathered at the facility for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Patino commended Driscoll’s for elevating agriculture’s longstanding positive impact on the community by leading with clean and renewable energy. The event was a celebration of Driscoll’s renewable energy milestone and its future alternative energy investments.

As a community-based business, Driscoll’s is committed to growing in harmony with the environment and growing communities it depends on. The commitment challenges Driscoll’s to assess its dependency and impact on local resources, including the energy grid. Berries are a delicate and perishable fruit that must be kept in controlled temperatures as much as possible, which requires a significant amount of energy consumption. Driscoll’s decision to transform its Santa Maria facility to clean energy is a continuation of its 50-year commitment to the community, employees, and local grower network.

About Driscoll’s

Driscoll’s is the global market leader of fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. With more than 100 years of farming heritage, Driscoll’s is a pioneer of berry flavor innovation and the trusted consumer brand of Only the Finest Berries™. With more than 900 independent growers around the world, Driscoll’s develops exclusive patented berry varieties using only traditional breeding methods that focus on growing great-tasting berries. A dedicated team of agronomists, breeders, sensory analysts, plant pathologists and entomologists help grow baby seedlings that are then grown on local family farms. Driscoll’s now serves consumers year-round across North America, Australia, Europe and China in over twenty-two countries.

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USA - GEORGIA - Giant Photovoltaic Canopy Tops Net-Positive Kendeda Building In Atlanta

US firms Miller Hull Partnership and Lord Aeck Sargent have designed a highly sustainable building at Georgia Tech university that generates more electricity and recycles more water than it uses.

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Jenna McKnight | 6 June 2021

US firms Miller Hull Partnership and Lord Aeck Sargent have designed a highly sustainable building at Georgia Tech university that generates more electricity and recycles more water than it uses.

The project – officially called The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design – is located at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a public research university in central Atlanta.

The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design is in Georgia

The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design is in Georgia

The educational building was designed by Seattle's Miller Hull Partnership in collaboration with local firm Lord Aeck Sargent, which was purchased by tech startup Katerra in 2018.

The project was backed by the Kendeda Fund, a private family foundation that supports a range of social and environmental initiatives. Skanska served as the general contractor.

The project is a highly sustainable building

The project is a highly sustainable building

The facility recently earned certification from the Seattle-based International Living Future Institute under its Living Building Challenge – one of the most rigorous green-building certification programmes in the world. The facility is considered to be a "regenerative building."

"Regenerative buildings create more resources than they use, including energy and water," the team said.

Classrooms and a design studio are included in the design

Classrooms and a design studio are included in the design

"The project's goal is to support the educational mission of Georgia Tech while transforming the architecture, engineering and construction industry in the Southeast US by advancing regenerative building and innovation."

The facility – which totals 47,000 square feet (4,366 square metres) – holds a range of spaces for students and faculty.

These include a design studio, two large classrooms, several laboratories, a seminar room, an auditorium and office space. There also is a rooftop garden with an apiary and pollinator garden.

The building's rooftop garden

The building's rooftop garden

Certain areas of the building are open to the public for special events.

While designing the facility, the team took inspiration from vernacular architecture – in particular, large porches that are commonly found on Southern homes.

"The project reimagines this regionally ubiquitous architectural device for the civic scale of the campus," said Miller Hull.

Rectangular in plan, the building is topped with a giant white canopy supported by steel columns. On the west elevation, the roof extends 40 feet (12 metres) to form a large, shaded area below with steps and seating.

A white canopy tops the building

A white canopy tops the building

In addition to providing shade, the canopy generates electricity. Its 900-plus solar panels form a 330-kilowatt array that produces enough power to exceed the building's energy needs.

For the exterior cladding, the team incorporated a mix of accoya wood, metal, glass and recycled masonry. The foundation walls are made of concrete.

Materials such as metal form the exterior cladding

Materials such as metal form the exterior cladding

Mass timber was used for the structural system due to it having a smaller embodied carbon footprint compared to concrete and steel, the team said.

In large-span areas of the building, the team used glue-laminated trusses with steel bottom chords.

Details on the building's exterior

Details on the building's exterior

"This hybrid approach reduces the quantity of wood required while making routing of building services more efficient," the team said.

For the structural decking, nail-laminated timber panels were made off-site and craned into place. A local nonprofit organisation, Lifecycle Building Center, sourced the lumber from discarded movie sets in Georgia.

Large windows flood spaces with natural light

Large windows flood spaces with natural light

Structural elements, along with mechanical systems, were left exposed so they could serve as a teaching tool.

Salvaged and recycled materials are found throughout the facility. For instance, stairs in the building's atrium are made of lumber off-cuts, and countertops and benches are made of storm-felled trees.

Mechanical systems were left exposed

Mechanical systems were left exposed

Water recycling is also part of the building's sustainable design. Rainwater is captured, treated and used in sinks, showers and drinking fountains. In turn, that greywater is channelled to a constructed wetland, where it is treated and used to support vegetation.

The facility is also fitted with composting toilets, which nearly eliminate the use of potable water. The human waste is turned into fertilizer that is used off-site.

The rooftop has a pollinator garden

The rooftop has a pollinator garden

The building recently earned its Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification following a year-long assessment, in which it needed to prove it is net-positive for energy and water usage.

"It generates more energy from onsite renewable sources than it uses," the team said. "The building also collects and treats more rainwater onsite than it uses for all purposes, including for drinking."

The LBC programme evaluates buildings in seven categories – place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty.

The Kendeda Building is the 28th building in the world to achieve LBC certification and the first in Georgia. The state's warm and humid climate poses a particular challenge when it comes to energy efficiency, the team said.

A large classroom

A large classroom

A communal workspace

A communal workspace

"In spite of this, over the performance period the building generated 225 per cent of the energy needed to power all of its electrical systems from solar panels on its roof," the team said.

"It also collected, treated, and infiltrated 15 times the amount of water needed for building functions."

Students gather under the canopy outside

Students gather under the canopy outside

Other American projects that are designed to meet the LBC standards include the wood-clad Frick Environmental Center in Pittsburgh, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. It achieved certification in 2018.

Photography is by Jonathan Hillyer and Gregg Willett.

Project credits:

Design architect: The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP
Collaborating and prime architect: Lord Aeck Sargent, a Katerra Company
Contractor: Skanska USA
Landscape architect: Andropogon
Civil engineer: Long Engineering
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer: PAE and Newcomb & Boyd
Structural engineer: Uzun & Case
Greywater systems: Biohabitatssolar panels

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Noor III is The Newest Stage of The Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Ouarzazate, Morocco

The Noor III CSP tower can produce and then store enough energy to provide continuous power to the surrounding area for ten days

Noor III is the newest stage of the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Ouarzazate, Morocco. This site utilizes a concentrated solar power (CSP) tower design with 7,400 heliostat mirrors that focus the sun’s thermal energy toward the top of an 820-foot-high (250 meters) tower at its center.

At the top of the tower, there is molten salt, which is used in this process due to its ability to get very hot (500–1022°F / 260–550°C). The molten salt then circulates from the tower to a storage tank, where it is used to produce steam and generate electricity.

The Noor III CSP tower can produce and then store enough energy to provide continuous power to the surrounding area for ten days.

31.059494°, -6.870344°

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Growing Lettuce Under Transparent Solar Cells

A team of researchers at North Carolina State University has shown that using semi-transparent organic solar cells (OSCs) can help greenhouse growers generate electricity and reduce energy use while still cultivating viable crops of lettuce

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May 11, 2021

A team of researchers at North Carolina State University has shown that using semi-transparent organic solar cells (OSCs) can help greenhouse growers generate electricity and reduce energy use while still cultivating viable crops of lettuce.

The research found that red lettuce can be grown in greenhouses with OSCs that filter out the wavelengths of light used to generate solar power. The researchers grew crops of red leaf lettuce in greenhouse chambers from seed to full maturity under constant conditions, apart from the lighting regime.

A control group of lettuces was exposed to the full spectrum of white light, while the rest were dived into three experimental groups. Each of those groups was exposed to light through different types of filters that absorbed wavelengths of light equivalent to what different types of semi-transparent solar cells would absorb.

To determine the effect of removing various wavelengths of light, the researchers assessed a host of plant characteristics, such as leaf number, leaf size, and lettuces weight, as well as how much CO2 the plants absorbed and the levels of various antioxidants. “Not only did we find no meaningful difference between the control group and the experimental groups, but we also didn’t find any significant difference between the different filters,” said study co-author Brendan O’Connor.

“We were a little surprised – there was no real reduction in plant growth or health,” added Heike Sederoff, co-author of the study and professor of plant biology. “It means the idea of integrating transparent solar cells into greenhouses can be done.”

Lead photo caption: The study suggests transparent solar panels will not affect lettuce crop growth

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Transparent Solar Cells Boost Lettuce Farming While Decreasing Energy Use

Researchers, who have worked with the organic photovoltaic cell company NextGen Nano, believe OSCs provide a way for greenhouse cultivation without the large energy demands traditionally associated with it

New research found transparent solar cells can help greenhouse growers generate electricity and reduce energy use while cultivating crops

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Dimitris Mavrokefalidis

29 April 2021

Greenhouse farming of lettuce can be sustainable and energy-efficient under transparent solar cells.

That’s according to a new study by a team of researchers at North Carolina State University, which suggests semi-transparent organic solar cells (OSCs) can help greenhouse growers generate electricity, reduce energy use and cultivate lettuce.

Researchers, who have worked with the organic photovoltaic cell company NextGen Nano, believe OSCs provide a way for greenhouse cultivation without the large energy demands traditionally associated with it.

Published in Cell Reports Physical Science, the research found that red lettuce can be grown in greenhouses with OSCs that filter out the wavelengths of light used to generate solar power.

This means it is feasible to use transparent solar panels in greenhouses to cover their high electricity needs while not shrinking the crop yield.

Doctor Carr Ho, Research Scientist at NextGen Nano, said: “Greenhouses are used to grow plants because they drastically increase yield in non-native climates while lowering water consumption and pesticide use compared to conventional farming.

“But greenhouse glazing has poor thermal insulation, so heating and ventilation systems need to be installed to help maintain optimal conditions. Along with supplemental lighting, this lights to large, unsustainable energy consumptions.”

Lead Image: North Carolina State University

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Greenhouses Can Grow Lettuce And Generate Solar Power: Study

A recent study shows that lettuce can be grown in greenhouses that filter out wavelengths of light used to generate solar power, demonstrating the feasibility of using see-through solar panels in greenhouses to generate electricity

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March 30, 2021

By Matt Shipman

A recent study shows that lettuce can be grown in greenhouses that filter out wavelengths of light used to generate solar power, demonstrating the feasibility of using see-through solar panels in greenhouses to generate electricity.

“We were a little surprised – there was no real reduction in plant growth or health,” says Heike Sederoff, co-corresponding author of the study and a professor of plant biology at North Carolina State University. “It means the idea of integrating transparent solar cells into greenhouses can be done.”

Because plants do not use all of the wavelengths of light for photosynthesis, researchers have explored the idea of creating semi-transparent organic solar cells that primarily absorb wavelengths of light that plants don’t rely on, and incorporating those solar cells into greenhouses. Earlier work from NC State focused on how much energy solar-powered greenhouses could produce. Depending on the design of the greenhouse, and where it is located, solar cells could make many greenhouses energy neutral – or even allow them to generate more power than they use.

But, until now, it wasn’t clear how these semi-transparent solar panels might affect greenhouse crops.

To address the issue, researchers grew crops of red leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in greenhouse chambers for 30 days – from seed to full maturity. The growing conditions, from temperature and water to fertilizer and CO2 concentration, were all constant – except for light.

A control group of lettuces was exposed to the full spectrum of white light. The rest of the lettuces were divided into three experimental groups. Each of those groups was exposed to light through different types of filters that absorbed wavelengths of light equivalent to what different types of semi-transparent solar cells would absorb.

“The total amount of light incident on the filters was the same, but the colour composition of that light was different for each of the experimental groups,” says Harald Ade, co-corresponding author of the study and the Goodnight Innovation Distinguished Professor of Physics at NC State.

“Specifically, we manipulated the ratio of blue light to red light in all three filters to see how it affected plant growth,” Sederoff says.

To determine the effect of removing various wavelengths of light, the researchers assessed a host of plant characteristics. For example, the researchers paid close attention to visible characteristics that are important to growers, grocers, and consumers, such as leaf number, leaf size, and how much the lettuces weighed. But they also assessed markers of plant health and nutritional quality, such as how much CO2 the plants absorbed and the levels of various antioxidants.

“Not only did we find no meaningful difference between the control group and the experimental groups, we also didn’t find any significant difference between the different filters,” says Brendan O’Connor, co-corresponding author of the study and an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State.

“There is also forthcoming work that delves into greater detail about the ways in which harvesting various wavelengths of light affects biological processes for lettuces, tomatoes and other crops,” Sederoff says.

“This is promising for the future of solar-powered greenhouses,” Ade says. “Getting growers to use this technology would be a tough argument if there was a loss of productivity. But now it is a simple economic argument about whether the investment in new greenhouse technology would be offset by energy production and savings.”

“Based on the number of people who have contacted me about solar-powered greenhouses when we’ve published previous work in this space, there is a lot of interest from many growers,” O’Connor says. “I think that interest is only going to grow. We’ve seen enough proof-of-concept prototypes to know this technology is feasible in principle, we just need to see a company take the leap and begin producing to scale.”

About this article:

The paper, Balancing Crop Production and Energy Harvesting in Organic Solar Powered Greenhouses,” appears in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science. Co-lead authors of the paper are NC State Ph.D. students Melodi Charles and Eshwar Ravishankar. The paper was co-authored by Yuan Xiong, a research assistant at NC State; Reece Henry and Ronald Booth, Ph. D. students at NC State; Jennifer Swift, John Calero and Sam Cho, technicians at NC State; Taesoo Kim, a research scientist at NC State; Yunpeng Qin and Carr Hoi Yi Ho, postdoctoral researchers at NC State; Franky So, Walter and Ida Freeman Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State; Aram Amassian, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at NC State; Carole Saravitz, a research associate professor of plant biology at NC State; Jeromy Rech and Wei You of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Alex H. Balzer and Natalie Stingelin of the Georgia Institute of Technology.


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Solar Panels And Water Canals Could Form A Real Power Couple In California

This new study presents an analysis from researchers at the University of California Merced and University of California Santa Cruz that quantifies the economic feasibility of building a “solar canal” system in the state

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BY SHAENA MONTANARI 

MARCH 25, 2021

SOLAR AQUA GRID LLC

Solar canals save water, create energy, and protect natural lands all at the same time.

California has around 4,000 miles of canals that shuttle clean water throughout the state. New research shows that these canals can do way more than bringing California’s residents with drinking water—paired with solar panels, these canals might also be a way to both generate solar power and save water.

This new study presents an analysis from researchers at the University of California Merced and University of California Santa Cruz that quantifies the economic feasibility of building a “solar canal” system in the state.

California’s water system is one of the largest in the world and brings critical water resources to over 27 million people. Brandi McKuin, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Santa Cruz and lead author of the study, found that that shading the canals would lead to a reduction in evaporation of water, kind of like keeping your glass of water under the shade instead of out in the open on a hot summer day prevents evaporation from stealing sips. Putting up a solar panel using trusses or suspension cables to act as a canal’s umbrella is what makes the double-whammy of a solar canal. 

“We could save upwards of 63 billion gallons of water annually,” she says. “That would be comparable to the amount needed to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland, or meet the residential water needs of over 2 million people.” Water is of especially critical importance to California, a state regularly stricken with drought.

So why don’t we cover up our water canals already? Micheal Kiparsky, the director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the UC Berkeley School of Law who was not involved in the study, says while the water savings from solar canals may sound really great, they are modest when considering the scale of the project. “Water might not be enough of a motivator to tip the scales to do this for the whole state,” he says. 

[Related: At New York City’s biggest power plant, a switch to clean energy will help a neighborhood breathe easier.]

Beyond just cooling down canals, those solar panels can pick up loads of energy from being out in the open sunlight. While the analysis didn’t measure how much capacity these solar panels would have, McKuin estimates through a “back of the envelope” calculation it would be about 13 gigawatts, or “half the projected new capacity needed by 2030 to meet the state’s decarbonization goals.” With that kind of electricity,  there is a possibility that diesel-powered irrigation pumps, which do a number on air quality, could be replaced.

Kiparsky finds the idea of tying electricity generation with the water system that uses a vast amount of electricity intriguing. “I like the idea of making things internally renewable,” he says.

Aquatic weeds also plague canals and can bring water flow to a standstill, but the researchers found that by adding shade and decreasing the plant’s sunshine slashes the amount of weed growth. McKuin says preventing weed growth would also lighten the load for sometimes costly mechanical and chemical waterway maintenance.

[Related: 4 sustainability experts on how they’d spend Elon Musk’s $100 million climate commitment.]

While this study is a “modeling exercise” to show the potential of this idea, McKuin hopes this analysis will inspire utilities, as well as state and federal agencies, to test it out on the real waterways. So far, the only test cases of suspended solar panels are in India. In the city of Gujarat, a “canal-top” solar power plant cost over $18 million in 2015 but has saved 16 hectares of land and trillions of gallons of water. In other locations, where flowing water is not critical, floating solar panels have been installed on reservoirs and lakes around the world in places such as Japan and Indonesia.

Placing solar panels above existing canals can also spare untouched natural land that is frequently slated for sometimes expensive or environmentally destructive solar panel installations. “I think one of the important parts of this story is that in California we have this mandate to produce renewable energy at scale, but we also have to be careful about taking large parcels of land,” McKuin says. “By being creative about where we put solar panels we can maybe avoid some of these trade-offs.”

Tags: CLIMATE ENERGY RENEWABLE ENERGY SOLAR PANELS SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT

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Indoor Farming Gets Greener Via Solar Load Aggregation

Transportation to markets is one expense addressed by controlled environment agriculture. Other direct energy costs remain a challenge

DECEMBER 28, 2020

JEAN HAGGERTY

The economic feasibility of plant factories has been questionable because of energy costs. Now, customers of one containerized farm provider can opt for 100% clean energy using a subscription service.

Food and commercial crops that grow outside can soak up sunshine in order to grow. But move those same plants indoors as part of so-called “controlled-environment agriculture” and the associated energy costs can make all but the highest-margin crops prohibitively expensive.

That’s because, in a greenhouse or plant factory, up to 60% of operating costs can go to energy; about half of that goes to lighting. And, because the grid still is not decarbonized, fossil-based electricity sources wind up making controlled environment agriculture something less than green.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Lead photo: Transportation to markets is one expense addressed by controlled environment agriculture. Other direct energy costs remain a challenge. David Wagman


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JAPAN: Producing Electricity While Producing Wine Thanks To A Greenhouse

Fujisan Winery is building the new greenhouse as part of a sustainability model on how they operate as a company and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals as adopted by the Fujinomiya Administrative County where the winery is located

The ASX-listed ClearVue Technologies has landed its first order in relation to a greenhouse project.

The order for about 30 square meters of ClearVue’s insulated window or glass units, or “IGUs” incorporating solar photovoltaic cells came from the Japanese company Fujisan Winery, which is located at the base of tourist mecca Mount Fuji in Japan.

Fujisan Winery is building the new greenhouse as part of a sustainability model on how they operate as a company and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals as adopted by the Fujinomiya Administrative County where the winery is located. The greenhouse is to be located on the Asagiri Plateau at the southwest base of Mt Fuji with spectacular views across the plateau to the Mt Fuji volcano itself. The region is a key destination for tourists and visitors to Mt Fuji.

The greenhouse is to be used by the winery to grow produce and vine stock on-site and may be used for corporate events and promotion for the winery. In addition to the greenhouse, Fujisan Winery will build a new 40 seat fine dining restaurant adjacent to the greenhouse and other outbuildings as part of a larger winery expansion project.

The ClearVue IGU panels are currently being manufactured for expected delivery in Japan by the end of December 2020 with the installation of the glazing into the newly constructed sustainable greenhouse anticipated to commence by late January 2021. The greenhouse is expected to be opened with the winery restaurant in or around March 2021. 

Commenting on the greenhouse, Architect for the project, Paul Ma has said: “We specialize in the master planning of sustainable resort projects. When we first met with ClearVue founder Victor Rosenberg we were simply blown away by the potential for deployment of the ClearVue technology and product into our sustainable architectural design projects. We have watched with interest the continued commercialization of the ClearVue product to this point and can now explore how we might deploy it in our client work.

The greenhouse project in Japan whilst small is a great project for us to use as an example for such future project work and represents a great showpiece for Fujisan Winery who have a deep commitment to sustainability in their wine production and business operations. The region in which they operate the winery also has a stated commitment to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and seeks the same from its constituents. The winery expansion project will explore several different sustainable solutions in addition to the ClearVue technology and will itself become a destination and showcase for sustainable design worldwide.

Commenting on the Fujisan Winery greenhouse project, ClearVue CEO Ken Jagger has said: “We are very pleased to be working with the Paul Ma Design team on this leading-edge sustainable design project. The innovative and high-profile nature of the project and this use of the ClearVue product is an exciting development for the Company. We very much look forward to both updating the market on the Fujisan Winery greenhouse as it progresses and to a long working relationship with the Paul Ma Design team on future projects.”

For more information:
ClearVue PV
http://www.clearvuepv.com/ 

27 Nov 2020

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This Sustainable Neighborhood of The Future Is Designed To Manage Both Climate Change And Pandemics

A proposal for a new city in China is designed to be as green as possible—and also makes it easy to isolate in the case of another outbreak

09-04-20

A proposal for a new city in China is designed to be as green as possible—and also makes it easy to isolate in the case of another outbreak.

[Image: courtesy Guallart Architects]

BY ADELE PETERS

Eighty miles southwest of Beijing, the Chinese government is planning a new five-million person city as a model of sustainability—powered by clean energy, featuring huge green spaces, and unsullied by many cars. A new design shows what neighborhoods in the city, called Xiong’an New Area, might look like.

City blocks would surround courtyards with native plants and garden plots. Apartments, designed for people of all income levels and ages, have large balconies with built-in boxes for gardening; greenhouses with vertical farms sit on the roofs, next to rooftop homes with gardens of their own. The wooden buildings, designed to use 80% less energy than typical buildings, use on-site solar power. Most streets are designed to prioritize people on bikes and on foot, not cars.

Read More Here

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Over Thirty Years Ago Leo and Suzette Overgaag Left Santa Barbara For The Beautiful Coachella Valley To Start Their Own Family Farm

Their dream was to raise their family, support the community and grow the freshest living produce on the market

Over thirty years ago Leo and Suzette Overgaag left Santa Barbara for the beautiful Coachella Valley to start their own family farm. From a shoestring budget and borrowed equipment to break ground, our greenhouses have grown into more than 10 acres of hydroponically grown greenhouse space.

Their dream was to raise their family, support the community, and grow the freshest living produce on the market. Originally growing European cucumbers, the Overgaag’s enjoyed cooking with fresh herbs but noticed the cut herbs available at the grocery store often wilted in a day or two. In the mid-1990’s they delivered the first full line of living herbs sold in the refrigerated section of the grocery store lasting up to three times longer than their fresh-cut counterparts.

Delivering a premium culinary experience with our fresh, living herbs from our family farm to your family’s table is our passion. We have spent years creating the ideal environment to grow culinary herbs with detail to tenderness, exquisite flavor, enticing aroma, and enhanced shelf life. From our deliciously sweet peppery basil to our velvety smooth sage, fresh herbs are a simple and healthy way to make any beverage, appetizer, meal or dessert extraordinary. Enjoy some of our family’s mouth-watering recipes shared or add to your favorite recipes at home.

We are proud to be the first culinary herb grower in the United States to be certified as a sustainable grower by a recognized third party certifier. In order to receive this honor, standards on earth-friendly and labor-friendly practices must be met. We utilize renewable resources such as solar power energy to help power our production and geothermal energy to heat our greenhouses on cool winter nights. A hydroponic growing method enables us to use up to 70 percent less water than field grown crops at a time where the current drought in California is top of mind to so many of us. All our employees are treated with respect, have opportunities for growth, and competitive benefits. North Shore offers tuition reimbursement for higher education or language classes as well as an annual college scholarship for the children and grandchildren of our team.

We are passionate about educating children on where their food comes from and how to cook with fresh, healthy ingredients as well as utilizing agriculture to improve test scores.

In our own community we partner with the YMCA and local schools to donate products, provide monetary donations, educate, and provide greenhouse tours.

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