Kalera CEO Makes an Impact on the Future of Farming

By Lea Hart

August 10, 2021

When he enrolled in North Carolina State University’s College of Management, Daniel Malechuk (’03) didn’t picture himself working in the food industry, but he couldn’t be more proud today of his role in the future of sustainable farming.

Malechuk was named CEO of Kalera in 2019. Based in Orlando, Florida, Kalera grows leaf plants – mainly lettuce – in a vertical farming system inside clean room facilities. That means no pesticides or genetic modification, and the process uses five percent of the water that traditional farms use.

A video on Kalera’s website notes that 80 percent of land suitable for farming in the U.S. is already in use. Due to the growing population, it’s expected that the U.S. will need to produce 70 percent more food by 2050.

What’s more, the video goes on to point out that 95 percent of U.S. produce is grown in Arizona and California, and can take weeks to reach the consumer. That depletes vitamins, increases the risk of spoiling and the risk of contamination. Kalera’s approach localizes farming, bringing the product closer to the community.

From dreams of working in the sky to a career working for the planet

Malechuk enrolled at NC State with dreams of being an aviator. He was the recipient of a prestigious Park Scholarship and began a major in aerospace engineering. However, he enrolled prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and felt, post 9-11, that an aviation career didn’t look as promising.

At the same time, a mentor of his in the College of Management (now Poole College of Management), Professor Art Padilla, regularly encouraged him to consider a business degree instead. When he made the switch, Malechuk said he knew he’d made the right choice.

“I fell in love with the business degree,” he said.

Upon graduation, he went to work for Aldi USA as a district manager and quickly climbed the ladder to become director of corporate buying. While Malechuk didn’t plan to work in the food industry, he said he was excited by the management profile and career opportunities that it presented to him at such a young age.

His next role took him around the globe as vice president at Keysource Foods, a seafood company. He saw shrimp harvested in Vietnam and traveled on mussel boats off the coast of Ireland.

What’s so unique about a business degree and what I love about it is, it can open so many doors; it is one of the broader degrees

“What’s so unique about a business degree and what I love about it is, it can open so many doors; it is one of the broader degrees,” Malechuk said. “I don’t think I could have appreciated how true that is.”

During that time, Malechuk and his family had the opportunity to live in Apex, NC and he never forgot the Wolfpack, enjoying season tickets to athletic events.

He was recruited from there to run the retail division for Shamrock Foods, and his family moved to Arizona. During his time there, Malechuk pursued his executive MBA from the University of Arizona.

When the opportunity at Kalera presented itself, Malechuk admits he had never heard of vertical farming before, but he jumped at the opportunity for many reasons.

“This was a really exciting opportunity to, one, do something so cutting-edge, and two, to have that first opportunity to be CEO,” he said.

While his title is CEO, Malechuk calls himself something else most days.

“Right now, I call myself a farmer,” he says with a laugh.

But it’s fine with Malechuk, who ties it back to NC State’s roots as an agriculture school.

“I’m excited about feeding people,” he said. “It’s a noble cause and a great reason to get up in the morning.”

Demand and growth mean opportunity at Kalera

It’s also a great time to be leading Kalera. The company has a fascinating history. Its founders had initially worked on several different projects, including being a part of a sustainable city located in Florida, before pivoting to focus on indoor farming.

Daniel Malechuk in the Kalera facilities

“Historically, produce is farmed outside,” Malechuk said. “It’s susceptible to weather, fires, contaminants and more – it’s been a challenge.”

As sophisticated as the supply chain has become, he points out that there is also the issue of transporting and delivering it.

By growing produce locally, Kalera changes that business model. The company is currently expanding rapidly with facilities up and running in Orlando, FL and Atlanta, GA , where they have produced 12 times more leafy greens than the entire state of Georgia produced a year earlier. They’re expanding to Houston, Seattle and Honolulu to name just a few other locations, and recently took the company public on the European stock exchange, with plans for a NASDAQ IPO in the U.S. in the future.

I can’t imagine not having exposure and access to culture, people, learning and new experiences. I don’t know that I could have appreciated how much a business degree could give me those opportunities.

It’s been an opportunity for Malechuk professionally in more ways than one. The company was very small when he joined, and he’s had the opportunity to build a team and a culture from the ground up.

“It really has challenged me in a lot of ways,” he said. “It’s been a lot of neat and unique opportunities.”

Though it’s a very different path than the one he envisioned as a high school graduate enrolling at NC State, it fits Malechuk’s personality. As someone who has always had a sense of wanderlust, his various roles have taken him through all 50 states and 67 countries. While it’s not as a pilot, it still provides the same sense of satisfaction.

“I can’t imagine not having exposure and access to culture, people, learning and new experiences,” he said. “I don’t know that I could have appreciated how much a business degree could give me those opportunities.”

Tying it all back to NC State

Malechuk says his degree from NC State has been critical to his current success. He concentrated in marketing in his undergraduate, and said he’s applied everything he learned at NC State at some point during his career. And that includes experiences outside his degree framework as well.

“I don’t know that there was anybody that enjoyed their time at NC State more than I did,” he said.

He took extra Physical Education courses just because he enjoyed them, including scuba diving, and even put that to use during a business trip.

Malechuk was active with the Park Scholars. He calls that experience life-changing, noting the doors it opened and the opportunities it provided for mentorship and relationship-building. He’s hired and hopes to continue to hire NC State students and Park Scholars at Kalera as well.

He was president of the Bragaw Hall Council, served as a resident advisor, was active in the Catholic Campus Ministry, and participated in intramural sports, to name a few other activities.

“Through all of those things, the friendships that you develop and the maturing that you go through – that’s equally as important as the degree,” he said. “It helped me understand how to multi-task and become a dynamic leader in multiple different avenues.”

Malechuk and his wife of 15 years live in Florida currently with their four children, three girls and a boy.

While he is clearly invested in his career, Malechuk is also a big believer in balance and works as a team with his wife in that respect. He strives for balance among what he calls “the five F’s:” faith, family, friends, fitness and finances, saying he always tries to be cognizant that putting too much into one takes away from the others.

He and his family are active in their Catholic Church, and Malechuk enjoys fishing and boating. He got certified in Scuba Diving through NC State, still loves to travel and loves being active.

And, though he didn’t become a career aviator, he has his pilot’s license and enjoys flying.

While he’s committed to Kalera right now, Malechuk hopes things may come full circle one day in the future.

“I would love, perhaps someday, to become a professor in the business school at NC State,” he said. “I’d like to have that same experience of mentoring and leading students that I received, and to replicate what I had from some of the great professors there.”

Lead Photo: Daniel Malechuk, class of '03 graduate from Poole College

VB Ready To Double Capacity For Little Leaf Farms Again

July 5, 2021

Devens, Massachusetts-based Little Leaf Farms' mission is to provide fresh, locally grown lettuce grown sustainably all year round to their New England consumers. To be able to achieve this goal, it is extremely important to grow and supply products in a sustainable way all year round.

This is why Little Leaf Farms asked VB again to build the most modern and innovative greenhouse to date to grow leafy greens. A system that provides the smallest possible chance of disease, an optimal growing climate, and no need for human hands to be involved in the cultivation process. After three consecutive phases for LLF realizing an ultramodern greenhouse is a challenge that VB knows how to handle. 

Inside the Little Leaf greenhouse

The climate on the US East Coast is a challenge: winters during which -25 C is no exception, and summers during which the mercury rises to +38 C. A considerable amount of energy is required to be able to cope with these extremes. The solution had to be more sustainable than transporting the lettuce by truck from the West Coast to the New England area.

With an advanced automatic cultivation system that systematically moves through the greenhouse, the sustainability challenge has been overcome. In collaboration with a team of specialists, as well as the customer, VB was able to take an in-depth look during the design process at what was needed to create an optimal growing climate inside the greenhouse.

The Little Leaf Farms greenhouse in Devens

Active cooling system
VB has integrated a unique active cooling system, with which the inside of the greenhouse can not only be kept cool during the winter through the use of outside air, but also stays cool during the hot summers. LED lighting helps compensate for the shortage of natural light during the winter. With the use of sun protection screens, excess sunlight is blocked during the summer.

The result? The climate conditions can be optimized for the cultivation process, the growth process is accelerated, there is more control over the nutrition the plants receive, available cultivation space is used in the most efficient manner, and virtually nobody needs to enter the greenhouse.

Edward Verbakel (VB) & Paul Sellew (Little Leaf Farms)

Doubling and doubling again
The first greenhouse in Devens MA was completed in 2016 and shortly after two additional phases were built by VB for Little Leaf Farms to reach 10 acres of modern growing space.

In the course of 2021 LLF and VB were able to agree again on the construction of the new Little Leaf Farms greenhouse facility in McAdoo Pennsylvania. With this expansion Little Leaf is doubling its capacity to 20 acres. Construction will start this summer and completion is expected for early Spring 2022.

 McAdoo facility, Pennsylvania

For more information:
Edward Verbakel
VB Group
info@vb.nl
www.vb.nl

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

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 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 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

"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

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

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

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

"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

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

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 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 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

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

Local Vertical Farm Startup Joins Growing Global Market

What if there was a more sustainable way to provide fresh, truly local greens to our communities? And what if there was a way to do it while bringing diverse flavors to the table year-round?

It sounds like an ambitious goal. But it is one that Carina Biacchi and her partner, Alvaro Fernandes, are set to meet.

Ortaliza Urban Farms is a dream that has been sprouting for some time now.

Carina Biacchi is no stranger to business. With a bachelor’s and postgrads in business administration, she has worked in several different sectors, from NGOs to massive corporations. “I’ve mostly worked in sales and marketing” Carina states. “And I have entrepreneurship in my DNA. My parents were entrepreneurs long before I was born.”

And as formidable as Carina is, she is among good company. Alvaro Fernandes, her partner, is an Agronomist Engineer. “He’s a passionate specialist in controlled environment agriculture” Carina explains.

When the two met they quickly started dreaming about their own indoor farm. Years passed, and the two immigrated to Canada and started a family. But those entrepreneurial sparks continued to fly.

“It took us a while to build our lives in Canada,” Carina states. “But we continued to research the idea we had. We kept visiting other businesses in the industry and we even traveled to New York and other areas to see what they had to offer in terms of vertical farms.”

But what is vertical farming? Vertical farming is a growing worldwide phenomenon set to add significant value to the food system. Food security and sustainability continue to be some of the top concerns for city planners, and venture capital firms are investing big into vertical farm operations.

And what is an urban farm? Simply put, urban farming is growing food in urban areas. “We’re located right on Main Street,” Carina states. “In a commercial zoning area. That is pretty unique by itself, and the town of Kingsville has proven to be the perfect partner to help us launch our dream.”

A hyper-local farm-to-plate experience

And while Ortaliza is not the first micro green seller in the region, they are the first to create a storefront, creating an exciting farm-to-plate experience, loaded with flavor and freshness.

“We are truly local!” Carina stresses. “Sometimes, when you see that something is “local” on your grocery shelves, it’s actually from another part of the Province. That might be fine for large vegetables, but greens are special. Think of all the nutrients you would get from a full vegetable but concentrated to deliver all that deliciousness in every single bite. Microgreens require just-picked freshness, so we are super, hyper-local. We’re only growing and selling here in our County.”

This business model, Carina explains, also allows them to reduce food mileage and consequently, food waste. “Leafy greens in Canada can sometimes travel thousands of miles before reaching their destination” Carina reports. “And it can take up to two weeks for the produce to get there. We have a commitment to sustainability, and we will always be local, no matter where we spread our roots to in the future.”

One of Ortaliza’s business Advisors, Adam Castle of WEtech Alliance says the launch of this business in Kingsville represents a unique opportunity for the Startup. “Here we are in the very heart of greenhouse agriculture, not just for Canada but seconded only to Holland from a global perspective,” says Castle. “So you’re planting yourself in a community that lives and breathes agriculture, who knows the value of being able to see where your food comes from and how it’s grown, at a time when the average consumer is more engaged than ever in providing the freshest, most sustainably grown food they can for themselves and their family. I applaud Kingsville for making room at their table for new kinds of agriculture, and being a business-friendly partner that our clients can count on.

“…it certainly fits hand-in-hand with the innovation and the diversification that we’re trying to identify with.”

One enthusiastic supporter of this innovative new business is Nelson Santos, the Mayor of Kingsville and the Deputy Warden of Essex.

“This isn’t your typical business, but it certainly fits in with the entrepreneurial spirit that we have in our community,” Nelson explains. “And it certainly fits hand-in-hand with the innovation and the diversification that we’re trying to identify with. They are touching on all the different aspects of what the community is looking for. Their business is one that is certainly going to turn quite a few heads. It’s very exciting, both in regards to the food aspect and the extension of agriculture.”

Ortaliza is now taking pre-orders for their home delivery service at www.Ortaliza.ca, which promises to deliver a lot more than leafy goodness.

“We want to be more than a farm-to-table service,” says Carina. “We want our customers to think of us as their weekly dose of living, natural vitamins that add easy nutrition to just about every recipe they can think of!”

To learn more and become a friend of the farm, head to www.ortaliza.ca or find them on social media at @OrtalizaFarms 

Sustainable Agriculture Technology Can Help Egypt’s Water Crisis

The project of an Egyptian student consisting of using the Sinai environment for sustainable agriculture with the use of less water may be a solution to Egypt’s water scarcity problem.

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A picture shows the UAE's al-Badia Farms in Dubai, an indoor vertical farm using innovative hydroponic technology to grow fruits and vegetables all year round, on August 4, 2020. - Badia Farms is the Middle East's Based in downtown Dubai, the farms ground-breaking methods sustainably grow crops without sunlight, soil or pesticides. The farm uses 90% less water compared to open field farming. The companys vision is to revolutionise the agricultural industry in Middle East to provide a solution for the regions food security. Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images.

March 6, 2021

Egyptian student Nada Ayman's project dubbed the Cultural Desert Gravity Center uses the Sinai environment as its main agricultural tool. It also won the 36th Cycle at the 2020 World Architecture Festival.

The project — designed to be built as a cultural center in Wadi el-Weshwash in the town of Nuweiba in south Sinai — uses the surrounding environment, including the mountains, to build an integrated center providing organic nutritional products and natural herbs used in manufacturing medicines and fragrance products. A tourist and entertainment complex offering various educational and entertainment activities is also on the horizon, said Ayman.

Ayman, a student at the Faculty of Applied Arts at Zagazig University, told Al-Monitor via phone she chose the project based on the spiritual meaning of mountains.

She noted, “I was nominated by my professors to participate in the architecture competition. The World Architecture Festival has been in place since 2006, and it has a section dedicated to interior design.”

Ayman said the project consists of a hydroponic farm, which is a system to grow crops without soil. The roots of the plants grow in a liquid nutrient solution that is recycled and reused repeatedly through plants. The hydroponic farm produces medicinal plants, used in the manufacture of medicine, and crops that bear fruit to be served with meals in the farm’s restaurant.

Ayman added, “This type of agriculture uses 70% less water than regular agriculture to produce 100% organic products without using soil or fertilizers. Edible products are served at the restaurant of the farm, while herbal and fragrance products are used to manufacture therapeutic oil for the therapeutic center.”

She chose Wadi el-Weshwash because it is located next to a region of rich valleys whose water and minerals can be utilized in organic agriculture.

The design of the complex features a library, a restaurant and an art studio, Ayman said, noting that the design reached the final stage of the competition and was chosen among five others.

Atef Suweilem, a professor of agricultural engineering at Zagazig University, said the hydroponic agricultural method consists of either growing the seeds of plants or herbs in a nutritive water solution containing the main 12 to 16 nutrients plants need — or growing the plants in an inert solid material so they do not interact with the nutritive solution. Using this method does not require the use of chemical fertilizers, the surplus of which usually seeps into the soil in traditional agriculture, according to Suweilem.

Hydroponic agriculture also protects the plants from pests that live in the soil, as is the case in traditional agriculture, he said, adding that ancient Egyptians were the first to know hydroponics, and perhaps the papyrus plant is the most prominent example of this type of agriculture.

Suweilem said hydroponics is an ideal way to deal with water scarcity and climate change, stressing the need for Arab countries that suffer from a shortage of agricultural lands due to their desert nature, including Egypt, to rely on this type of agriculture.

Yasser Ahmed, an expert in agriculture and a former professor at the Egyptian Agricultural Research Center, stressed the need for Egypt to turn to hydroponics in the near future, as it helps save water and energy and increases productivity. Ahmed said hydroponic agriculture uses 95% less water compared to traditional agriculture. Leaf crops consume about 30% less water than traditional agriculture, and if the cultivation of these crops is expanded on the hydroponic farm, that method can be used widely, he said.

“This is the future of agriculture. We do not want to depend on imports. We hope we will have local production throughout the year, regardless of climate change, weather, rain or drought,” Ahmed said.

Of all sectors in Egypt, the agricultural sector consumes the largest share of water — meaning it consumes roughly more than 85% of the country’s share of irrigation water. Although Egypt has lost some of its fertile lands due to urban sprawl, there is an attempt to balance this through the expansion of agricultural areas in the desert. The total cultivated land was estimated at 9.3 million acres — 3.2 million acres of which are in lands recently reclaimed by the state and 6.9 million acres in other lands, according to the latest 2019 statistics of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

Agriculture is essential to the Egyptian economy, as its added-value represents about 14.5% of the gross domestic product. In 2016, agricultural income reached 256.9 billion Egyptian pounds ($16.3 billion). The sector also employs 29.6% of the working population and represents 11% of all exports. Because of the water shortage, the government issued measures in January 2018 to limit the cultivation of water-intensive crops such as rice.

Rasha Mahmoud

@R_ma7moud200

TOPICS COVERED Agriculture and farming Water Issues Sinai

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/03/egypt-project-agriculture-sinai-water-scarcity-crisis.html#ixzz6oQLQrjPl

Study On Analytic Tools To Measure Future Plants Stress

New work from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) highlights the potential of recently developed analytical tools that can provide tissue-cell or organelle-specific information on living plants in real-time and can be used on any plant species.

In a perspective paper titled “Species-independent analytical tools for next-generation agriculture” published in the journal Nature Plants, researchers from the Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) within SMART review the development of two next-generation tools, engineered plant nanosensors and portable Raman spectroscopy, to detect biotic and abiotic stress, monitor plant hormonal signalling, and characterize soil, phytobiome, and crop health in a non- or minimally invasive manner. The researchers discuss how the tools bridge the gap between model plants in the laboratory and field application for agriculturally relevant plants. The paper also assesses the future outlook, economic potential, and implementation strategies for the integration of these technologies in future farming practices.

Crop loss
An estimated 11-30 per cent yield loss of five major crops of global importance (wheat, rice, maize, potato, and soybean) is caused by crop pathogens and insects, with the highest crop losses observed in regions already suffering from food insecurity. Against this backdrop, research into innovative technologies and tools is required for sustainable agricultural practices to meet the rising demand for food and food security — an issue that has drawn the attention of governments worldwide due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sensors
Plant nanosensors, developed at SMART DiSTAP, are nanoscale sensors, smaller than the width of a hair, that can be inserted into the tissues and cells of plants to understand complex signalling pathways. Portable Raman spectroscopy, also developed at SMART DiSTAP, encompases a laser-based device that measures molecular vibrations induced by laser excitation, providing highly specific Raman spectral signatures that provide a fingerprint of a plant’s health. These tools are able to monitor stress signals in short time-scales, ranging from seconds to minutes, which allows for early detection of stress signals in real-time.

“The use of plant nanosensors and Raman spectroscopy has the potential to advance our understanding of crop health, behavior, and dynamics in agricultural settings,” says Tedrick Thomas Salim Lew SM '18, PhD '20, the paper’s first author. “Plants are highly complex machines within a dynamic ecosystem, and a fundamental study of its internal workings and diverse microbial communities of its ecosystem is important to uncover meaningful information that will be helpful to farmers and enable sustainable farming practices. These next-generation tools can help answer a key challenge in plant biology, which is to bridge the knowledge gap between our understanding of model laboratory-grown plants and agriculturally-relevant crops cultivated in fields or production facilities.”

Early detection
Early plant stress detection is key to timely intervention and increasing the effectiveness of management decisions for specific types of stress conditions in plants. Tools capable of studying plant health and reporting stress events in real-time will benefit both plant biologists and farmers. Data obtained from these tools can be translated into useful information for farmers to make management decisions in real-time to prevent yield loss and reduced crop quality.

The species-independent tools also offer new plant science study opportunities for researchers. In contrast to conventional genetic engineering techniques that are only applicable to model plants in laboratory settings, the new tools apply to any plant species, which enables the study of agriculturally relevant crops previously understudied. Adopting these tools can enhance researchers’ basic understanding of plant science and potentially bridge the gap between model and non-model plants.

Technologies in agriculture
“The SMART DiSTAP interdisciplinary team facilitated the work for this paper and we have both experts in engineering new agriculture technologies and potential end-users of these technologies involved in the evaluation process,” says Professor Michael Strano, the paper’s co-corresponding author, DiSTAP co-lead principal investigator, and the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. “It has been the dream of an urban farmer to continually, at all times, engineer optimal growth conditions for plants with precise inputs and tightly controlled variables. These tools open the possibility of real-time feedback control schemes that will accelerate and improve plant growth, yield, nutrition, and culinary properties by providing optimal growth conditions for plants in the future of urban farming.”

“To facilitate widespread adoption of these technologies in agriculture, we have to validate their economic potential and reliability, ensuring that they remain cost-efficient and more effective than existing approaches,” the paper’s co-corresponding author, DiSTAP co-lead principal investigator, and deputy chair of TLL Professor Chua Nam Hai explains. “Plant nanosensors and Raman spectroscopy would allow farmers to adjust fertilizer and water usage, based on internal responses within the plant, to optimize growth, driving cost efficiencies in resource utilization. Optimal harvesting conditions may also translate into higher revenue from increased product quality that customers are willing to pay a premium for.”

Collaboration among engineers, plant biologists, and data scientists, and further testing of new tools under field conditions with critical evaluations of their technical robustness and economic potential will be important in ensuring sustainable implementation of technologies in tomorrow’s agriculture.

For more information:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
www.mit.edu 

To Be or Not To Be? Vertical Farm Standards or Best Practices?

Robert Colangelo, Founding Farmer, Green Sense Farms Holdings, Inc.

There is a lot of talk these days about standardizing the design of indoor vertical farms.  One of the beauties of the vertical farming industry is the lack of regulation that has allowed innovation to flourish.  Green Sense Farms has been an early adopter building our first vertical farm in 2012. Since that time, we have seen the indoor vertical farm supply chain proliferate with some amazing innovation.

When we built our first indoor farm, we had to make many farm components on our own such as, grow tubs, nutrient fill and drain valves, LED light hangers, air circulation systems, data collection software …   Now there is a rapidly developing network of suppliers that make excellent components that can be integrated into a custom farm system to meet the needs of each crop.

I’m a big believer in free-market systems. Standardization is a way to control the market and promote mediocrity. Once a standard is created most organizations will do the minimum amount of work to meet the standard, stifling innovation.

What the industry needs now is collaboration. I propose that we create “Best Practices” for indoor vertical farm design and operation. A Best Practice can be a living document that evolves with technology as the CEA industry matures.

Let me know your thought, please send to Robert@greensensefarms.com

1. Advocate for developing indoor vertical farm standards

2. Advocate for developing best practices 3. Advocate for status quo (do nothing)

Kalera Acquires Customised Seed Developer Vindara For Vertical Farming

By Emma Upshall

US vertical farming company Kalera has announced the acquisition of Vindara, a S2G Ventures portfolio company which breeds plant varieties specifically designed for use in vertical indoor environments.

Founded in 2018, Vindara develops customised, non-GMO seeds for use in high-tech vertical indoor farm environments, as well as other controlled environmental agriculture farming methods.

Based in North Carolina, the company uses genomics, machine learning and computational biology along with traditional breeding methods to meet the market need for produce that is non-GMO, nutritious and high-yielding.

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Following the acquisition, Vindara will become a fully-owned subsidiary of Kalera and will operate out of Kalera’s headquarters in Orlando, Florida.

Kalera says Vindara will significantly increase the output from its current and future facilities by reducing the plant grow cycle and providing higher yields.

According to the press release, Vindara’s breeding process shortens development time from the usual 5-7 years to just 12-18 months, resulting in increased output and optimising yield and profitability.

Together, the companies say they are better positioned to offer differentiated products – expanding beyond leafy greens to include high yield basil, spinach and strawberries – and have improved ability to optimise colour, texture, flavour and nutrient profile.

“While advances in technology such as lighting, robotics, sensors, and planting substrates are all improving grower economics, seeds developed specifically for indoor farming have been a ‘missing link’ to vertical farming achieving its full potential,” said Daniel Malechuk, CEO of Kalera.

“Together with Vindara, we are ushering in a new era of agricultural advancements that will increase production yields and produce unique crop varieties customised for the needs of our discerning customers around the globe,” he added.

The deal will see Jade Stinson continue in her existing role as co-founder and president of Vindara. “With Kalera’s commitment to R&D and improving the yield, variety and characteristics of its produce, we will be able to better leverage our ability to develop customised seeds for indoor growers faster than any other seed provider,” she said.

The transaction will reportedly enable Vindara to accelerate and expand its seed research and development programmes.

Liberty Produce & Writtle University College Launch Webinar Series On The Transformation of Agriculture And Its Workforce For A Sustainable Future

18th January 2021

London & Essex, UK

Writtle University College (WUC) in Essex and Liberty Produce launch their highly anticipated public webinar series on January 27th 2021. The online events will consider major issues facing the horticulture and agriculture sectors based around a key theme of ‘Transforming Agriculture and its Workforce for a Sustainable Future.’

Each of the webinars will feature a range of prominent industry figures and will welcome all viewers with an interest in sustainable production. All online events will be free-of-charge, in line with WUC and Liberty Produce’s ongoing commitment to education and knowledge-sharing. This webinar series is being supported by EIRA, a collaborative project funded by Research England that connects businesses in the East of England with academic expertise, specialist facilities and funding opportunities.

Dr Anya Perera, WUC’s Head of School for Sustainable Environments & Design, said: “We are proud to be working in collaboration with Liberty Produce and EIRA. Our three introductory webinars will focus on challenges faced by growers at a national and international level. We are delighted by the positive response from key members of the sector and look forward to sharing vital topics with our expert panellists.”

Benita Rajania, Product Director at Liberty Produce, said: “We are delighted to be teaming with WUC to bring together stakeholders from across our community for this new webinar series. Collaboration is a vital component in tackling the challenges our sector is facing, and we look forward to meeting virtually with our colleagues from across industry and academia to discuss latest developments, share knowledge and strengthen relationships at an industry level.”

Topics include: the modernisation of agriculture through technological advancement; examining food production systems and identifying skills gaps; how to create a fit-for-purpose workforce in a sustainable economy.

Each subject will be discussed by an expert panel, featuring guests including Dr Susan McCallum from the James Hutton Institute and Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-TechE.

Since its foundation in 2018, Liberty Produce has been dedicated to the development of sustainable agricultural practices. The farming technology company was created in response to the global food security crisis. Liberty Produce develops leading-edge technology that enables the growth of local produce year-round, using fully-controlled indoor vertical farming systems. 

WUC recently became the first UK university to offer degrees in regenerative agriculture. WUC been teaching land-based courses since 1893 and, in 2020, was ranked top university-sector institution in England for overall student satisfaction by the National Student Survey. Its small class sizes and specialist courses offer students a personalised approach that combines practical skills with cutting-edge theory.

2021’s webinar series reflects WUC and Liberty Produces’ collective dedication to the creation of long-term sustainable food production at a time of climate crisis and the disruption of global supply chains.

Click the links below to book your free webinar place:

January 27th: The modernisation of agriculture through technological advancement

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6675999720069964303

February 24th: Examining food production systems and identifying skills gaps

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7622331785910917132

March 24th: How to create a fit-for-purpose workforce in a sustainable economy

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8843380130486408204

About Liberty Produce

Liberty Produce is a farming technology company founded in 2018 to drive innovations that will enable us to meet our global crop requirements over the next century, without harming the planet. As experts in the development of technology (from advanced lighting systems to machine learning for integrated control systems) for the breadth of indoor agriculture (from glasshouses to Totally Controlled Environment Agriculture systems), Liberty delivers research and products that consistently push boundaries. Liberty Produce develops and builds systems that reduce operational costs with enhanced resource efficiency, improve yields and increase sustainability for greater food security through the growth of local produce year-round. www.liberty-produce.com

Further images available here.

Media enquiries: Claire Apthorp media@liberty-produce.com +44 (0) 7920403068

General enquiries: info@liberty-produce.com; +44 (0)20 7193 2933

About Writtle University College (WUC)

Writtle University College (WUC) has been at the forefront of the agrifood sector since 1893. In 2020, it was named the highest rated university-sector institution in England for student satisfaction by the National Student Survey, also receiving 100% satisfaction for its horticulture course. Industry-focused programmes offer the skills, expert theory and qualifications required to enter a fast-moving sector. WUC recently launched a degree in regenerative agriculture, which is the first of its kind in the UK. https://writtle.ac.uk/

Media enquires: Sara Cork  press@writtle.ac.uk

About EIRA

EIRA is a collaborative project between seven universities and colleges in the East of England. Driving economic growth in the region, EIRA connects businesses with academic expertise, consultancy, facilities and funding opportunities. Led by the University of Essex, EIRA is also supported by the University of East Anglia and the University of Kent. Backed by £4.7 million of Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund, EIRA delivers activities across three themes: digital creative, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. EIRA has opportunities to work with businesses of all sizes through Innovation Vouchers, Research and Development Grants, i-Teams, Hothouse events, Start-up Microfinance and Innovation Internships. eira.ac.uk

General enquiries: eira@essex.ac.uk

Twitter: @EIRA_eARC

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eira-enabling-innovation-research-to-application/mycompany/?viewAsMember=true

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Start-Up Launches London’s First Delivery Service For Vertically-Farmed Eco-Friendly Greens

Crate To Plate Says All Its Greens Are Picked

Within 24-hours of Being Delivered To Your Door

Crate To Plate grow greens both vertically and horizontally, without soil, inside giant crates on the Isle of Dogs / Crate To Plate

A start-up is offering to deliver vertically-farmed vegetables to Londoners homes within 24 hours of harvesting in a first for the capital.

Crate to Plate, founded by former banker and scion of the supermarket dynasty, Sebastien Sainsbury, currently grows all its leafy greens inside three giant shipping containers on the Isle of Dogs.

The type of indoor farming the start-up uses has been tipped as the future of food production, and investors have spotted the trend.

The company, launched in London earlier this year, grows salad and herbs using hydroponics - which means seeds are grown year-round on vertical and horizontal racks without any soil or pesticides. The amount of water, light and “specially mixed” nutrients each kale or basil plant receives is carefully controlled. 

(Crate To Plate staff include agriculture MA students / Crate To Plate)

The process uses around 95% less water than traditional farming, in a tiny space.  In recent film A Life on Our Planet, David Attenborough recently warned of the critical importance of moving away from exhaustive farming practices to innovative solutions.

At the height of the November lockdown the team - which includes agriculture MA students - branched out into high-end “leafy veg box” deliveries spanning Zones 1-3.  Each delivery is made on electric vehicle.

A £15 variety “farm to table” box will buy you 3 lettuce varieties, 3 bags of other leafy greens and 4 herbs - all harvested within 24-hours of arriving at your door.

Crate To Plate is now planning to expand around the capital. A second site is opening in Elephant & Castle in the new year, and the firms aims to have up to 15 “farms” by 2021. Each will produce up to six tonnes of fresh food per year.

Sainsbury, who previously founded the Hush Restaurant and organic baby food company Goodness Gracious, told the Standard he began exploring the business idea in 2015, after visiting a hydroponic farmer in Canada.

“I’m all about food wattage. One of the reasons I set up this business is for the environmental sustainability element of it. “Now technology has enabled us to move from growing on one row [as on the Canadian farm ] to growing both vertically and horizontally,” he said. Of the veg boxes, he said: “I did a bit of research and Londoners’ searches for ‘where does my food come from?’ increased by 40% in the pandemic.

“The pandemic was an opportunity to focus on home delivery. We’ve been sold out every week.”

“Everyone is talking about 15 minute cities now. Effectively that was what I was talking about - I want everyone to be able to get fresh leafy greens no more than a mile away from where they live.”

Critics of vertical farming have said it is just too expensive a method to realistically become the future of UK farming. But Sainsbury said the team is already working with farmers around the country to get them on board, with the aim of eventually expanding UK-wide. 

By Naomi Ackerman | @nomiackerman

Published by Dani Kliegerman for iGrow.News

Kalera To Open Hawaii’s Largest Vertical Farming Facility, Bringing Fresh, Locally-Grown Greens And Food Supply Chain Security To An Island That Imports 90% of Its Produce

The new facility will provide produce to one of the most remote population centers in the world as tourism begins to resume operation during COVID

December 22, 2020

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tech-driven vertical farming company Kalera (Euronext Growth Oslo ticker KAL, Bloomberg: KSLLF), today announced it will open a facility in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2021. Kalera’s Hawaiian location will be the Company’s eighth facility announced, making it one of the fastest-growing vertical farming companies in the United States. It will also be the largest vertical farming operation in the state, providing approximately 60 jobs to the local community upon opening.

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The news of this facility comes on the heels of a string of exciting updates from Kalera, including the announcement of upcoming facilities in Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Seattle, and Columbus; the addition of two new members to the Board of Directors, including Red Lobster CEO, Kim Lopdrup; and the completion of over $150 million in fundraising this year.

With millions of heads of lettuce to be grown per year, Kalera’s Honolulu facility will provide a rare and much needed local source of fresh, non-GMO, clean, living lettuces and microgreens to retailers, restaurants and other customers. 90% of Hawaii’s greens are currently grown on the mainland United States and shipped into the state – an expensive 2,500-mile journey that can take over 10 days and require many touchpoints and opportunities for contamination. Kalera’s location within city limits will shorten travel time from days and weeks to hours, preserving nutrients, freshness, and flavor.

“The pandemic has really shown us how important sustainability is to Hawaii’s future… One of my goals for a sustainable Hawaii is to double local food production and a bright spot of the pandemic is that more families are consuming locally produced food and attempting to grow their own food. Every little bit helps as we try to work towards our sustainability goals,” said David Ige, Governor of Hawaii. “I believe a mix of traditional farming and new technologies is the wave of the future for agriculture in Hawaii. Innovations like vertical farming help farmers be more productive while using less resources – especially water. That’s why it’s exciting that a company like Kalera is making an investment to bring their operations to Hawaii, where we are sensitive to reducing our impact on the environment. I think technologies such as vertical farming and hydroponics also have appeal to younger people and could help attract more young farmers to the field.”

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Kalera’s hydroponic systems allow their lettuce to grow while consuming 95% less water than field farmed lettuces and while eliminating the need for chemical pesticide or fertilizer use. Paired with shorter shipping times, Kalera’s operations are more eco-friendly than traditional farming. Additionally, Kalera’s efficient growing methods produce yields that are 300-400 times that of traditional farming, allowing the company to maintain conventional pricing in supermarkets.

“In addition to providing a bounty of fresh, affordable, and delicious lettuces and microgreens to restaurants, cruise lines, resorts, hotels, and retailers, Kalera’s Honolulu location will increase food security and resilience on the island,” said Daniel Malechuk, Chief Executive Officer for Kalera. “With price inflation impacting almost all produce that reaches Hawaii due to prolonged shipping times, Kalera’s affordably priced products will increase access to a stable supply of healthy food for Hawaiian citizens and tourists.”

Distributors anticipate locally grown greens will improve their business.

“Vertical farming is a great way to provide our customers with the freshest quality products grown in a food-safe and sustainable manner while supporting local farming,” said Dwight Otani, founder, and president of D. Otani Produce, Hawaii's largest wholesaler, providing local hotels, restaurants, business institutions and retailers with the highest quality produce.

ABOUT KALERA

Kalera is a technology-driven vertical farming company with unique growing methods combining optimized nutrients and light recipes, precise environmental controls, and cleanroom standards to produce safe, highly nutritious, pesticide-free, non-GMO vegetables with consistently high quality and longer shelf life year-round. The company’s high-yield, automated, data-driven hydroponic production facilities have been designed for rapid rollout with industry-leading payback times to grow vegetables faster, cleaner, at a lower cost, and with less environmental impact.

Media Contact: Molly Antos

Phone: (847) 848-2090

Email: molly@dadascope.com

Vera Vertical Farming Technology Introduced in Finland’s Largest Retail Group

Netled And Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa Sign A New Long-Term Cooperation Agreement

In the photo: Ville Jylhä, COO of Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa

Netled has entered into a significant long-term cooperation agreement with Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa, a regional operator of S-Group, the largest retail chain in Finland.

Netled’s Vera Instore Premium Growing Cabinets, offering a range of herbs and salads, will now be a regular feature in Prisma retail stores in the Pirkanmaa area. Herbs and some of the leafy greens are grown in-store in the cabinets, and are harvested directly off the shelf. The growing conditions are fully automated and controlled remotely.

The newly opened Prisma Pirkkala is Finland’s first hypermarket to launch the new Vera Instore Cabinets. In addition, Netled will deliver to the hypermarket salads and herbs grown on its own vertical farm nearby, thereby allowing customers to get same-day harvested herbs and salads all year round.

”With this newly formed collaboration we can offer consumers fresh, ultra-locally produced products and at the same time introduce them to vertical farming as a method of ecological, urban farming”, says Ville Jylhä, COO of Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa.

S-Group is a customer-owned Finnish network of companies in the retail and service sectors, with more than 1 800 outlets in Finland. The group offers services in areas such as, supermarket trade, department store, and speciality store trade. As the largest retail group in Finland, S-Group’s main focus is also on sustainable food and innovative ways it can offer healthy and responsibly produced food to its customers.

Netled Ltd. is Finland’s leading provider of turn-key vertical farming systems and innovative greenhouse lighting solutions.

”As the leading vertical farming technology provider in Finland, we have developed an extensive range of products for all segments of vertical farming. Instore growing systems are a rapid-growth segment, and our cutting-edge Vera technology puts us at the forefront of the instore space”, says Niko Kivioja, CEO of Netled Ltd.

“The agreement with Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa is just the latest proof of concept, and is also a clear signal to potential customers, investors and other global partners that Vera technology is a game changer.”

  18th December 2020 by johannak

More information:

Niko Kivioja

CEO, Netled Ltd

+358 50 360 8121

niko.kivioja@netled.fi

Robert Brooks, Investor Relations and Communications Manager

+358 50 484 0003

robert.brooks@netled.fi

America Is Hungrier Than Ever For Sustainable Food Systems. Can We Build Them?

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By Carol J. Clouse

November 2, 2020

In the spring of 2020, many small farms across the U.S. found themselves in a bittersweet predicament. Restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus were forcing restaurants — major buyers for the local farms that serve urban areas — to shut down. The loss of these key customers might have wiped out many of these local growers, if not for another COVID-19-induced phenomenon: individual shoppers started calling — and calling — and calling.

"The farms we work with are seeing a huge spike in demand [for direct sales]," Dan Miller, CEO, and founder of the crowdfunding platform Steward, told me when we spoke by phone in early April. "But now they have to quickly switch their businesses to meet that demand." So Miller, who launched the platform in the fall of 2019 to provide funding to small, sustainably run farms — operations often underserved by traditional finance — soon found himself expanding Steward’s services to help these same farmers shift their business model.

Stories of small farms pivoting their operations on a dime were easy to find in the early months of the pandemic: these farmers worked overtime to meet customer demand, added services such as online ordering and home delivery, and jumped into action to prop up community food banks struggling to serve an influx of the newly unemployed. Compared to the industrialized and supersized food system most Americans live with — represented by rivers of wasted milk and COVID-19 outbreaks at meat-packing plants that killed more than 200 people — these distributed systems looked healthier, safer, and more environmentally sustainable than ever. They also looked more agile and resilient.

Crises often present an opportunity to reimagine current systems, so I wondered: Would that happen here, with food? Would the food consumption trends driven by the pandemic wind up as a paragraph in the history books — like the "victory gardens" of World War II — or could it lead to lasting change? And how do we transform this moment of crisis into a more resilient, sustainable, healthy, and just food system?

Crises often present an opportunity to reimagine current systems.

At GreenBiz Group’s virtual clean economy conference, VERGE 20, last week, speakers and participants addressed questions such as these, discussed how to make sure that these changes stick and identified what challenges stand in the way. During a session delving into lessons from the pandemic, panelists agreed that the No. 1 barrier to changing the current food system is financing.

"The financial services that are out there … are really not calibrated for the moment we’re in," said Janie Hipp, CEO of the Native American Agriculture Fund. "If we’re going to actually build an agile and resilient system going forward, then we have to invest in it."

One example of the financial challenges sustainable farms face comes in the form of crop insurance. If a farmer wants to transition a farm from conventional practices to organic or regenerative ones, costs are associated with that transition. However, insurance policies typically do not cover them, so the farmer is forced to take on the extra up-front costs and risk. The same holds true for traditional agriculture financing, developed for conventional farming. Loans are typically underwritten based on the equipment, inputs, volume, prices, and insurance coverage of conventional growers. These factors are different for organic and regenerative farmers, so the numbers often don’t work, resulting in loans being denied or unaffordable.

This increased access to capital could help scale the market, which hopefully would bring down the cost and make this more nutritious food more widely available, said Matthew Walker, managing director at S2G Ventures, a food systems-focused venture fund and mission investor.

"There’s a lot of work to be done to provide affordable nutrition … and allow those who are seeking to grow organic, or use any tech-enabled process that might be better for soil health, better for nutrition, to at least get started," he said.

This increased access to capital could help scale the market.

Making healthy food available in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where affordable, fresh vegetables are hard to come by, is the mission of the Green Bronx Machine, but founder Stephen Ritz — a VERGE keynote speaker — didn’t wait for systems change. Established in 2012, the program uses hydroponic and vertical farming technology at its indoor teaching farm at a South Bronx school, where kids learn how to grow and cook vegetables themselves.

Each week throughout the school year, the kids take home bags of groceries to their families. Green Bronx Machine also operates a "food for others" outdoor garden and summer youth employment program in the Bronx, which serves food-insecure families in the community. And it has various other partnerships and serves as a model for schools in other districts, including a program in more than 60 Chicago schools, sponsored by the foundation of Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, who joined Ritz on VERGE’s Building a Better Food System for America’s Cities panel.

Like the farmers who work with Steward, the Green Bronx Machine’s student farmers pivoted when the pandemic hit, Ritz said in his keynote.

"As COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, it became the ultimate manifestation of three larger illnesses: racism; greed; and corruption," Ritz said. "And we found new ways to secure and distribute food to those who needed it most."

This has included providing weekly grocery delivery for 26 food-insecure patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, who are recovering from cancer, and for 55 of the most vulnerable families in the Bronx, across a 26-mile route that includes walk-up buildings.

"The truth is children want to be part of the conversation. The truth is children don’t let differences divide them. The truth is children are smarter than you think," Ritz said.

As COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, it became the ultimate manifestation of three larger illnesses: racism; greed; and corruption.

When New York was the epicenter of the pandemic — a place whereby May, the virus had killed more than 20,000 people, primarily in underprivileged neighborhoods such as the South Bronx — food grown by a bunch of kids was delivered to families who may not have eaten otherwise.

The Green Bronx Machine joined community farms, urban farms, and small family farms in offering a lifeline to their communities. They proved themselves resilient in a crisis, and their numbers are growing, but they remain a teeny, tiny part of the gargantuan American food system.

In 2017, there were 16,585 certified organic farms, a 17 percent increase from just a year earlier, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s latest Organic Survey, released this month. These farms accounted for 5.5 million certified organic acres, an increase of 9 percent over 2016.

This impressive growth marks the continuation of a decade-long trend. And yet, certified organic acres still represent less than 1 percent of the total 911 million acres of American farmland. (Although I should add that the survey’s three-year lag does not provide an up-to-date picture, and farms that use organic or regenerative practices but have not been certified don’t get counted.)

The main challenges for these farms is getting the infrastructure and operational capacity in place to support a growing customer base.

Curious to see whether the direct sales demand Steward’s farmers saw in the spring was continuing to hold, I checked back in with Miller. By email, he told me that demand had held and offered an example from Fisheye Farms, an urban farm in Detroit. Fisheye, he reported, already has sold out their entire winter CSA and is fielding inquiries for spring. CSA stands for "community-supported agriculture," a system where customers buy "a share" of the farm. They pay a fixed rate to receive regular boxes of whatever’s in season. Every other week, from November through February, members of Fisheye’s winter CSA will receive spinach, kale, carrots, turnips, radishes, microgreens, and more. The cost is $300, or about $38 a week.

"The main challenges for these farms is getting the infrastructure and operational capacity in place to support a growing customer base," Miller said in his email. "Even the farmers with the most demand still need capital to run better, as they can’t finance everything they need just on cash flow."

In other words, to replicate and scale what these farms do, and build distributed food systems that are resilient, sustainable, healthy, and just, will take time, cooperation, and a lot of green.

Lead photo: by Oleg Demakov on Unsplash.

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Carol J. Clouse

Contributor

GreenBiz.com

@caroljclouse

Indoor Ag-Con And The COE Hosting, "Building Sustainable Triple Bottom Line Farms" Oct 29, 2020

Center of Excellence Members

Indoor Ag-Con Webinar

Webinar Topic

The Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture presents:

"Building Sustainable Triple Bottom Line Farms"

October 29, 2:00 pm EDT

Description:  During this insightful and inspiring 60-minute session, our moderator and panelists will discuss:

• The concept of the Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet and Profits
• The B-Certification process and reporting
• The contributions indoor farms can make according to the Triple Bottom Line
• Lessons learned from sustainable indoor farms that apply to all forms of indoor farming
• And more!

Moderator: Eric W. Stein, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture and Associate Professor of Business at Penn State

Panelists:
• Dave Nichols, Director of Strategy, AppHarvest
• Alexander Rudnicki, Senior Project Manager/Plant Manager, Aerofarms
• Grant Vandenbussche, Chief Category Officer, Fifth Season

By registering, you submit your information to Indoor Ag-Con, who will use it to communicate with you regarding this event and our other services. See Indoor Ag-Con Privacy Policy --https://indoor.ag/privacy-policy-2/

Time

Oct 29, 2020 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

About the Series

Indoor Ag-Con LLC, producers of the premier event for the indoor|vertical farming industry, offers a free monthly webinar series to share content originally planned for its in-person annual conference that was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Indoor Ag-Conversation webinars are free to industry members. To register, visit www.indoor.ag/webinar

Register Now

About Indoor Ag-Con

Indoor Ag-Con is a showplace for robotics, automation, AI, breaking technology trends and product innovation – offering educational programming, exhibit floor space and a networking forum for idea exchange, investment opportunities and profitable partnerships.
 

Become a Member of the Center of Excellence for Indoor Ag

Know an organization or an individual who would like to join the Center? Please forward this email.

Anyone can sign up for our mailing list or a free or paid membership by going to: 

https://indooragcenter.org

We are dedicated to providing unbiased

insights on indoor and vertical farming

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Join The Center of Excellence

PMA Virtual Town Hall: Global Societal Macrotrends And How They Affect The Produce Industry

This week’s PMA virtual town hall focused on five important macrotrends in society and how these trends affect the produce industry. “It is always a good time to think about the big picture, but especially now, when what happens in the future is so critical to guiding our everyday operations,” Lauren M. Scott of PMA says. She was joined by Marc Oshima, Co-Founder and CMO of AeroFarms, Sharon Foo, who works as a consultant, Elizabeth Nardi, CEO of Organically Grown Company, and Wyard Stomp, VP of Sales and Marketing to discuss this topic.

Globalization
The first of the macrotrends that was discussed was that of globalization. “In the context of COVID-19, the interdependency of our supply chain has become increasingly clear,” says Oshima. “This interdependency is due to globalization. We have to think more specifically now in terms of food security and resiliency in the supply chain due to the pandemic,” he adds.

While globalization has been an important factor that has been increasingly impacting the entire world for decades now, and even arguably for centuries, the outbreak of the pandemic has also brought forth an increased popularity of locally grown produce. Nardi explains: “This is definitely something we have been seeing here on the West Coast, this trend of hyper-localization. The pandemic has given consumers a real desire to know where their food came from. Consumers are looking for trusted sources and want to support local economies.”

Population diversification
The diversification of populations is the next macrotrend that was discussed. This topic can be approached in many different ways. Nardi, for example, looked at the different lifestyle trends among the population: “We’re seeing that non-gmo has become one of the most recognized labels in the world, and organic has been seeing a significant growth in popularity. There is a shift in how people think about the products they are purchasing.”

For Oshima, the population diversification translates increasingly into product diversification. “With regard to food trends, borders have become seamless. Food continues to play a powerful role in bringing people together, so we think about it as a way of preserving customs and traditions of specific cultures through food.”

For Stomp, generational diversification is also an important aspect of this trend. “Millennials and Gen Z are a whole new game, and we are working to understand them better, especially Gen Z, who are now coming into play as consumers.”

Precision technology
The advancement of technology has always been closely integrated with the produce industry. This is something that AeroFarms, for example, was built on: “For us, it’s about optimizing the key attributes that consumers are looking for. We are working with chefs and the menu development now starts at the farm. We’re able to use technologies to build smart farms, which allow us to bypass season and deliver product consistently year-round,” Oshima shares.

“It’s not science for science’s sake, but for a greater reason,” Foo adds. “Today’s technology helps to solve the problems of the consumers. It’s important that people have a clear grasp on the drivers behind certain developments so that we can understand that the technology is there to enable great access for consumers to the healthy foods the industry has to offer.”

Climate adaptation
Changes in the climate and the environment are central to the agricultural industry, and so this next macrotrend is vitally important for everyone in the supply chain. “We like to look at agriculture as a way of reversing climate change,” says Nardi. “There is so much we can do to pull the carbon out of the air and put it back into the soil.”

Foo explains that she looks at it in terms of regeneration rather than sustainability. “Realistically, there’s not much left to sustain, so we need to change our vocabulary and start looking at it as regeneration instead. We need to build a circular economy and build solutions.

Accelerated urbanization
The final macrotrend that was discussed was urbanization. The majority of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and the consumer trends in urban areas differ widely from those in rural areas. “Our produce is grown by the community, for the community. We have farms located in inner-city schools and growing inside cities. It is about diversifying the supply chain and improving last-mile efficiency, and indoor farming is a big part of that,” Oshima says.

Stomp sees urbanization as a creator of additional opportunities. “This macrotrend is one of the most important ones, from the sales and marketing point of view. Urbanization rates create a lot of opportunities, but they also require that we adjust how we approach the market. For example, people in urban areas shop more often, sometimes even going to the store multiple times a day. This creates a lot of opportunity, but in order to capitalize on these opportunities, we need to recognize the trend and translate the data into a strategy. In the produce industry, so much of the business is focused on the short term – day to day and week to week, but it’s very important to keep track of these macrotrends, analyze the data and simplify to see how it impacts your business, what opportunities you can take from it, and then drive actionable strategies from there,” Stomp concludes.

Next week’s virtual town hall will focus on global trade issues and will include insights from leaders in trade about how to navigate difficult environments and address trade disruptions.

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Publication date: Thu 1 Oct 2020
Author: Annika Durinck
© FreshPlaza.com

IGS Signs Significant Export Deal With Jungle To Supply French Retail Market

Scottish Technology to Create One of

Europe’s Largest Vertical Farms 

Edinburgh, Scotland – 17 September 2020 - Indoor agritech specialist IGS has today announced a significant export deal with experienced French urban agriculturalists, Jungle. The multi-million-pound deal will introduce IGS indoor growing platforms to Jungle’s operations, initially outside Paris, to grow a variety of crops to supply major French retailers.

The first growth towers will be in production by early 2021, scaling incrementally to a minimum of 17 towers by the end of 2021. Jungle will grow a range of herbs and salads to supply select retailers across France. The company will utilize the patented IGS plug-and-play vertical farming platform to widen its portfolio and produce new varieties through an ongoing program of crop trials.

Jungle’s indoor growing operations will also develop a variety of botanicals to provide natural ingredients to a world-leading flavor and fragrance business.

Jungle’s ethos is focused on sustainable food production, with superior quality of crops grown through a more efficient model, re-localizing the supply chain, considerably reducing waste and using no chemicals. With extensive experience in the indoor growing space, the company has achieved recognition in the highly competitive retail market in France for the quality of its produce.

To increase the scale of production sustainably, while maintaining its commitment to high-quality, delicious, and pesticide-free produce, the company conducted an extensive search to identify the best technology partner.

After a thorough and competitive review of the market, IGS was selected as the most economically viable and environmentally friendly system capable of meeting Jungle’s requirements to reach the industrial scale required by its customers. IGS offers its customers a highly controllable platform, designed to maximize productivity whilst minimizing energy and water consumption.

When completed, the nine-meter-high growth towers will be housed alongside a 1,500 m2 service area on Jungle’s site outside Paris. This will provide approximately 5,200 m2 of growing space, producing up to 425 tonnes per annum when fully operational, making it one of the largest vertical farms in Europe.

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IGS CEO, David Farquhar, commented: “In recent months, global markets have been challenged considerably and export agreements have become more difficult to fulfill. The announcement of this deal is an exciting one not just for IGS, but also for the UK’s Agri-tech sector as we showcase our international capability to support economic recovery post-coronavirus. The Jungle team has a strong reputation for excellence and sustainability both of its produce and approach.

“Jungle needs a reliable, productized system that can meet its ambitious growth plans in France and beyond and IGS has proven to be exactly that, following a rigorous selection process. This deal is proof that our unwavering commitment to innovative, practical design, based on a deep understanding of delivering optimum growing conditions, is what customers want. The deployment of the system for Jungle begins immediately and I am encouraged by how well our teams are collaborating as we move forward together.”

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Gilles Dreyfus, CEO of Jungle commented: “This partnership agreement is a significant step forward for Jungle and our ability to deliver at scale for our customers. We have established Jungle as a grower of superior produce with major French retailers and have plans to build on this reputation as we look at operations in other regions. We are proud to be innovators in our sector and it is important that we find people and organizations that share this same vision.

“We undertook a very serious assessment of the market and IGS was a clear leader in our eyes. What we can offer our customers through the partnership with IGS puts us at a different level in terms of scale, flexibility, and potential to expand and develop our produce portfolio. The IGS approach, both with the technology and the team, is such that we feel completely aligned and able to work collaboratively now and into the future.”

IGS has received recognition from the Scottish Government for the exciting export opportunities it is bringing to the Scottish market. Trade Minister Ivan McKee MSP said: “This significant contract underlines IGS’ standing as a global leader in agricultural innovation which will help everyone farm more sustainably. IGS’ growth has been driven by a focus on quality, innovation and scientific expertise and shows what Scottish companies can achieve with the right support in place.

“International exports have a central role to play in our economic recovery from COVID-19. The Scottish Government has set an ambitious target of increasing the value of exports from 20 percent to 25 percent of GDP by the end of the decade and I look forward to IGS helping us achieve that goal.”

In addition, Scottish Enterprise which has worked closely with IGS since 2018, welcomes this strategic export announcement. Neil Francis, International Trade Director at Scottish Enterprise, said: “We congratulate IGS on securing this export deal, which will ensure the company’s innovative technology is delivered to a global marketplace.

“Scottish Enterprise has worked closely with IGS over the past couple of years, both through our investment arm, the Scottish Investment Bank, and Scottish Development International.  We look forward to continuing support IGS as it demonstrates its capabilities in the agritech sector.     

“International trade will be key to Scotland’s economic recovery and help deliver the future, sustainable growth we all want to see.  Working with our partners, Scottish Enterprise will continue to do all we can to support companies access overseas markets.

Ends

 Notes to editors:

For more information: please contact Kate Forster, IGS on kate@intelligentgrowthsolutions.com or call +44 7787 534 999 or Gilles Dreyfus, Jungle on gdreyfus@jungle.bio.

About IGS:

Founded in 2013, IGS brought together decades of farming and engineering experience to create an agritech business with a vision to revolutionize the indoor growing market. Its commitment to innovation has continued apace and it has evolved the applications of its technology beyond agriculture to create solutions for a wide variety of indoor environments which enhance life for plants and people alike.

IGS launched its first vertical farming demonstration facility in August 2018.

For more information visit www.intelligentgrowthsolutions.com or connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Jungle:

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Jungle originated in Portugal in 2016 and maintains a Research and Development facility in Lisbon. It identified strong demand from the retail market in France and opened operations there in 2019. Further European operations are under consideration as the demand for healthy, sustainable and locally-sourced produce increases.

Is Hydroponic Farming Actually Sustainable?

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September 4, 2020

According to the UN, the world is on the brink of its worst food crisis in 50 years.

The global food industry is searching for a more sustainable and accessible system for producing healthy food, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables. Techniques such as hydroponics and vertical farming may provide the solution by maximizing overall output and minimizing the use of space, soil, and other resources.

But what exactly is hydroponic farming? And is it actually sustainable?

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Gotham Greens grows fresh produce such as leafy greens in urban greenhouses. | Image/Gotham Greens

What Is Hydroponic Farming?

There are a variety of different approaches to Hydroponic Farming. But they all involve growing plants and fresh produce minus the soil.

There are several main styles of hydroponic systems. One uses an absorbent wick to transfer nutrients from a water reservoir up to the roots of the crop. While others leave an air-gap, allowing part of the root system to absorb nutrients directly while the remainder is exposed to oxygen in the air.

Plants may also be positioned on a floating raft, or grown through a medium, into which water is regularly pumped. Top feeding also requires regular water circulation, while aeroponics involves leaving the roots completely exposed but frequently filling or misting the space with nutrient-enriched water.

Whatever the precise method used, hydroponics involves regular exposure to both air and nutrient-rich water. According to Vertical Roots, a South Carolina-based Indoor Hydroponic Container Farm, there are five core elements to hydroponic farming. These are freshwater, oxygen, root support, nutrients, and light.

By growing crops in water, vertically, and in climate-controlled greenhouses, Vertical Roots and other similar farms are able to produce nutrient-dense food anywhere in the world, at any time of year, and using fewer resources than traditional methods.

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Hydroponic farming is more resource-efficient than traditional methods. | Image/Shawn Ang via Unsplash

Is Hydroponic Farming Sustainable?

Soil-less farming techniques, in general, are typically more resource-efficient long term than traditional methods. According to the National Parks Service (NPS), hydroponics can use up to 10 percent less water than field crop watering.

By operating a closed-loop system and recycling rainwater, high-tech greenhouse developer AppHarvest uses up to 90 percent less water than traditional methods.

Most hydroponic farms utilize closed-loop systems, like AppHarvest, that contain and preserve water. This control over the water system also allows for delicate adjustments to the environment. PH levels, amount and type of light, and quantity of nutrients can all be modified to enhance the growth of crops.

Emphasizing perennial agriculture—particularly in combination with vertical farming and hydroponics—can further maximize both production and nutritional content per-plant. Many perennials, which can be maintained all year round with no replanting, are extremely nutrient-dense.

Start-up costs for hydroponic systems are typically greater than for traditional farming. But overall, it produces far greater output with fewer resources. It also allows growers to produce food anywhere in the world. Thereby reducing the carbon emissions generated through transportation, and allowing for year-round production in even inhospitable environments or weather conditions.

In general, hydroponic systems can produce a greater yield of fruits and vegetables. This is in part due to the controlled environment, but also because plants can be housed much more densely than possible using traditional methods. This both increases the overall output and reduces the quantity of land required.

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Vertical farming can decrease the amount of land used for fresh produce even further. | Image/Markus Spiske via Unsplash

What Is Vertical Farming?

Vertical farming involves the growing of vegetables in stacked layers, frequently in a controlled environment.

Vertical farming also requires much less land than traditional methods. Typically, it incorporates controlled-environment systems such as hydroponics to maximize output. The primary goal of vertical farming is to increase the crop yield while reducing the space required, much like hydroponics itself.

Vertical farming firm Infarm recently partnered with supermarket chain Marks & Spencer to grow fresh herbs in select stores. The company is also working with several retailers and chefs across Europe who aim to add small vertical farms to their restaurants and stores.

“Our vertical farms can be installed directly in any urban space,” said Emmanuel Evita, global communications director at Infarm. “Which is where the majority of the global population will live in the next few decades.”

It is particularly useful for growing produce in areas where there is a lack of arable land. In Abu Dhabi, where there are extremely high temperatures and increasing water scarcity, the government is investing $100 million in indoor farming.

Inner-city gardening, in general, also lends itself to vertical farming. While harder to create a controlled environment, guerilla gardening and other community-based projects have also made use of the vertical system. This enables greater access to fresh produce and reduced mileage overall, even with rudimentary systems in place.

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Emphasizing perennial vegetables could also maximize nutrients, increase production, and reduce the consumption of resources.

Why Do We Need Alternative Farming Methods?

Studies indicate that the suburbanization of major supermarkets has led to food deserts within cities. This disproportionately impacts low-income people and those who live in urban areas. Traditional malnutrition affects around two billion people worldwide. But the Standard American Diet (SAD) and lack of access to fresh food is also responsible for chronic deficiencies.

Access to fresh fruit and vegetables is likely to become even more restrictive in the recession following the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. And even in countries with plenty of food, there will likely be further disruptions in the food supply chain.

In order to provide enough vegetables for the global population to maintain a healthy diet, food production would need to triple. Alternative methods such as vertical farming and hydroponics could provide a resource-efficient and accessible way of revolutionizing the global food industry.

Gotham Greens, a fresh food farming company, specifically choose to build sustainable greenhouses within cities. Local cultivation helps the company deliver products quickly and with minimal energy expenditure. This also allows those who live within urban areas access to fresh, nutrient-dense food, and to agricultural jobs.

AppHarvest is also creating jobs, minimizing its carbon footprint, and increasing its output with its choice of location. By opening a new facility in Morehead, Kentucky, the company is both tackling high local unemployment rates while placing itself less than one day’s drive from 70 percent of the U.S. population. This reduction in travel for delivery has dropped its overall diesel costs by 80 percent.

“It’s time for agriculture in America to change,” said Johnathan Webb, the founder, and CEO of AppHarvest. “The pandemic has demonstrated the need to establish more resilient food systems, and our work is on the forefront of that effort.”

Liam Pritchett

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STAFF WRITER | BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM | CONTACTABLE VIA: LIAM@LIVEKINDLY.COM

Liam writes about environmental and social sustainability, and the protection of animals. He has a BA Hons in English Literature and Film and also writes for Sustainable Business Magazine. Liam is interested in intersectional politics and DIY music.

Lead photo: How sustainable is hydroponic farming? | Image/Gotham Greens

• TAGS vegan food vegetables gardening Sustainable Farming growing food