Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
CANADA - MONTREAL: Indoor Farming Technology Seeks To Localize Agriculture
“The goal is to have the first crops in the system in August of this year,” Zeman said. “It’s going to take a pretty serious pull from everyone involved to get us there.” Whereas traditional agriculture grows in outdoor fields or gardens, Interius Farms uses hydroponics and vertical farming to grow plants indoors, offering a climate-controlled environment and artificial lighting in place of sunlight.
A Canadian company is pioneering new technology for growing produce indoors, utilizing hydroponics to provide year-round, cost-effective food production. Interius Farms, based in Montreal, developed the innovative system as a means to localize agriculture in a country where fresh produce is imported at least seven months a year from other parts of the U.S. and North America.
Founded in 2018 by longtime friends Jonnie Lawson and Tristan Zeman, the company is taking vertical farming to the next level with its 8-foot rotating rack design—exposing plants to a single light fixture saving on both space and energy demand.
More efficiency
While the project is currently in its beta stage, Interius Farms is ambitiously ramping up to commercial scale, moving into a 14,000-square-foot facility to grow leafy greens, including lettuce, kale, cilantro, parsley, and basil.
The rotating rack eliminates the need for additional lighting systems, maximizing energy efficiency. Zeman said the system requires 40-80% less lighting and 92% less land than traditional agriculture. The original proof of concept was done in the corner of Zeman’s Chicago apartment. Now, he said they are zeroing in on a commercial facility where Interius Farms can grow a significant amount of food. “5,000 square feet of growing space produces over a million heads of lettuce,” he said.
Growing with hydroponics is inherently more expensive, Zeman said, with higher costs of inputs. He knows they cannot compete on direct cost with field lettuce. However, where the technology proves especially valuable is how it insulates against seasonal price fluctuations of produce and other shocks in the supply chain, such as disease outbreaks and natural disasters in other parts of the world.
Collaboration
Interius Farms is also working with urban-gro, a Colorado-based company that focuses on engineering efficient and profitable controlled environment agriculture facilities. Though urban-gro is traditionally rooted in cannabis, the business is expanding its expertise to work with innovators in other areas of farming. “We are excited to be working with Interius Farms and their innovative and patented approach to growing fresh and sustainable foods for the Canadian market,” said Jim Dennedy, urban-gro’s president and chief operating officer.
The mission of Interius Farms, according to Zeman, is to localize Canadian agriculture through its platform. Buyers will have access to locally grown food even in harsh winter months while at the same time giving themselves an “insurance policy” against volatile prices caused by supply chain disruptions.
“We offer a fresher and more sustainable product, and we introduce price and business sustainability into the Canadian food market, especially in those import months,” Zeman said.
Seasonal fluctuations can increase the price of field lettuce by as much as 85% during the non-growing months, Zeman said. “When the vast majority of the Canadian supply chain in the winter is coming from the American Southwest, you’re very exposed, and you’re not getting very high-quality produce by the time it’s been shipped up here,” Zeman added.
The fresh produce
More control
Looking ahead, Zeman said he has heard from some consumers who question whether indoor agriculture produces healthy, natural food. That is a perception the company will battle, he said, though he points out Interius Farms can offer enhanced traceability with its design. “Everyone wants to know exactly where their food came from,” he said. “And we can tell you, from the seed, exactly what nutrients it has received. For every second of the plant’s life, we can tell you exactly what the plant has received, whereas if you’re in the field, many factors are out of your control.”
Over the next six months, Zeman said Interius Farms and urban-gro will be joined at the hip, testing their commercial facility’s design, vendors, lighting fixtures and other options. “Through our engagement with urban-gro, we gain the advantage of supplementing our internal expertise with the urban-gro team that has spent decades working with complex systems. We can rely on urban-gro to guide us in developing the right solutions for our unique application. The ultimate goal is to be in that facility, to have that anchor customer—which we feel like we’re very close to having in place—and growing very soon in our first facility,” Zeman said.
Lead photo: From the left: Brady Deslippe (Chief Technology Officer) and Tristan Zeman (Founder/President)
For more information:
Publication date: Thu 27 May 2021
Author: Andrea Di Pastena
© HortiDaily.com
“We Believe That The Time Has Come To Harness Innovative Technologies”
"The extreme African weather conditions make this market a perfect candidate for controlled environmental growth," says Francois Duvenage, R&D researcher at CAN Agri.
"The extreme African weather conditions make this market a perfect candidate for controlled environmental growth," says Francois Duvenage, R&D researcher at CAN Agri. “From wet tropical to extreme desert conditions, it especially means we can enable African countries to successfully grow their produce and sell a marketable product.”
Francois says the company has “two extremely exciting projects coming up, one project in Namibia starting in the next few months and the other is an international collaboration that we established and are strengthening.” According to him, the company is not only targeting Africa but also areas such as Eurasia and North America.
Value proposition
CAN-Agri has developed a multi-faceted solution to ensure our client’s overall support to successfully commission and sustain a CAN-Agri hybrid vertical-greenhouse. “We employ a six-phase approach where each phase is developed to ensure the client’s requirements are accommodated by detailed consultation agreements," says Francois.
“We believe that the time has come to harness innovative technologies to enable responsible and efficient food production, meeting the challenges and demands of the years to come,” says Francois. CAN-Agri’s operational procedure allows an advantage, that a farming unit is flexible in design and scalable to suit client needs. The vertical tower growing units allow for improved product quality and quantity through all seasons. Rows of fresh produce are harvested daily, opening space for new seedlings to be planted, forming a continuous daily production cycle.
Upcoming projects
As the travel restrictions are lifted, CAN Agri has encountered visitors both diplomats and private investors from several African countries. The interested parties are currently in negotiation processes and according to Francoise, the company foresees that its units will be established in these countries. “The earliest construction of a CAN-Agri greenhouse will probably start early August 2021, in our close desert neighboring country, Namibia.
This year, CAN-Agri has worked closely with a major retailer in the development of an additional market to amplify the supply and demand of its lettuce produce. Francois adds, “We have grown the sales of private markets to the extent that we are currently at full capacity. Our long shelf life, no-wash technique, and clean, great quality produce have been openly accepted by all of our clients, the demand keeps growing daily.”
Hybrid benefits
According to Francois, CAN-Agri’s patented technology allows providing an unmatched scalable, commercially viable farming solution that is grounded in both scientific research and credible data. The company has developed an innovative hybrid farming system. In this way, they can share the knowledge and technical support to allow their clients around the world to create a successful farm. “We continue to prove that our system provides better yields through our enhanced methods.”
As of now, the company does not make use of additional lighting. “We have done in-depth studies with regards to the implementation of lighting coupled with the installment and operation of additional lighting, mainly for use in other parts of the world with low solar radiation. Operating in sunny South Africa it is currently unnecessary to implement additional lighting as ample solar radiation is available to the plants,” says Francois.
In terms of cost-efficient production, the company identified common limiting factors and found solutions to the challenges of successful production in hybrid greenhouses. “Our extensive research and development on operation specifics are always ongoing. We have our commercial-scale testing facility CAN-AGRI Greenhouse RSA and continuously produce and record empirical data to support our model.”
For more information:
Francois Duvenage, R&D plant propagationist
CAN-Agri
info@can-agri.com
https://can-agri.com
3 May 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© HortiDaily.com
Lead photo: Francois Duvenage
"Horticulture Is An Interesting Sector For Hackers"
Digital espionage from the East, a Dutch newspaper headlined last month. Ransomware attacks pose a risk to Dutch companies, according to various cybersecurity companies
Suddenly it does get very hot in the greenhouse. The grow pipe appears to be heating up at maximum and the windows are closed. The screen system does not seem to respond to the sun and the irrigation is set to zero. The climate computer no longer responds to adjustments, instead giving an unknown message. Hostage. Pay up, or you won't regain control of your greenhouse.
This scenario may seem far-fetched, but at the same time it is not unimaginable. Horticulture is at the forefront of using modern technologies and that simultaneously makes the sector a target for hackers. The information and knowledge of suppliers, growers and breeders also attract the attention of malicious parties. Marco van Loosen and Patrick Dankers of Priva explain what is going on and how it is possible that the horticultural industry is simultaneously the most modern in the world, but also somewhat naive when it comes to cyber security.
Digital espionage from the East, a Dutch newspaper headlined last month. Ransomware attacks pose a risk to Dutch companies, according to various cybersecurity companies. Last week Dutch science organization NWO was in the news: it was extorted by hackers. Their network was taken hostage and because they did not pay a ransom, confidential information was revealed on the dark web. According to Marco van Loosen, these are threats that the horticultural sector must also be aware of. He started working as Information Security Lead at Priva last year. His colleague Patrick Dankers (Portfolio Manager Horticulture) explains that there are various ways in which hacking in horticulture can be a risk. Theft, for example, of technology.
Cloud solutions
"We expect the use of cloud solutions in horticulture to take off in the next five years. Then you can think of autonomous cultivation, harvesting robots, harvest predictions and the associated algorithms, but also the knowledge of, for example, the breeding companies. All technology that can be interesting for outsiders" says Patrick.
"On the other hand, you don't have much use for this data without knowing how it is used in practice," adds Marco. "That also makes the process data from the greenhouses themselves a target. The combination between technology and the process data gives the opportunity to be able to apply the knowledge elsewhere, or at least to be able to catch up technologically in horticulture."
A second threat that horticulture may face is cybercriminals penetrating the greenhouse. "By adjusting parameters or settings or taking over users' accounts, you can obviously cause a lot of damage. Then there may be hostage-taking and asking for ransom, but sometimes they are also just out to do damage."
"Previous DDOS attacks on the government were also found to have been carried out by an adolescent," Patrick gives as an example. "But whoever is behind it, the fact remains that disruption of services is a risk that comes into play, both locally and in the cloud."
Secure and modern
The fact that Priva, of all companies, has come forward with this may seem surprising. The company offers various services that make it possible to control and optimize a crop via the cloud. Priva is happy to share information on how these solutions contribute to, for example, an autonomous greenhouse or scaling up in the sector. "It's a shaky balance: we don't want to paint doomsday scenarios or spread fear, yet this is a topic that concerns the entire sector. At the moment there is a lot of focus on the great opportunities and not on the risks. As Priva, we want to take the lead in making the sector aware of the opportunities that cloud technology offers, but only if you use that beautiful technology properly and safely. By being alert and aware, we at Priva and our users can contribute to this," says Patrick.
Within Priva itself, information security is a high priority. Last year, Marco was recruited, who is working non-stop with a special security team. When developing products and services, we work on the basis of known security principles, and security is also given sufficient attention in new releases. In addition, penetration tests are performed by ethical hackers. "We let them loose on our services and see where we can make improvements. First, they are allowed to try and penetrate our systems from the outside, and at a later stage we give them access so that they can also identify any security weaknesses from the customer's point of view. Findings are assessed and resolved. This kind of double testing keeps us on our toes and allows us to continuously increase the security level of our systems. "
Password on a post-it
There is also work to be done at a much more basic level, at the companies themselves. "There is a large group of customers who are serious about cybersecurity, but we also recognize the sector as one in which security is handled somewhat naively. That really starts with the cliché cases: companies where the password is attached to a computer screen with a post-it, where the Wi-Fi network for guests has had the same password for years or is not separated from the other networks. It might end up with a grower who can control the greenhouse with his iPhone through Priva Operator, but doesn't think about how to handle the security of his phone."
"As Priva, we do everything we can with our cloud platform to protect that knowledge and process data: the data remains with the customer and it is only under Priva's control. To continue doing that safely, we are now turning on two-stage security by default for new users of our cloud services," Marco continued. "In doing so, we help companies make the right choices in this regard. We also ensure that existing company accounts can be used to access our platform so that rights can be easily assigned and removed, for example when employees leave the company. And we also ask companies to think about the security of their systems themselves. Is there someone responsible for IT? Is there someone who regularly checks and monitors everything?"
Learning money paid
"From a historical perspective, hacking is obviously not an important topic for this sector, because it is relatively new. We now see that big players are more engaged in it - perhaps also because learning money has already been paid," Patrick continues. Marco adds: "we are therefore working with the security teams of these big players to fine-tune the security requirements. But companies that do not employ specialists themselves can also choose to outsource part of their IT security."
For growers, it is usually really not necessary to set up a complete security team themselves as well. "But growers sometimes wonder what they have to hide, or what can go wrong. If someone unnoticed is in your system and has access to process data, for example. But also, growers have their own way of growing a tomato, cucumber or rose in the best possible way. Their own knowledge is all in the system and that has been developed and refined over the years. You don't want a hacker to get hold of this, but neither do you want your neighbor or competitor to have access to it. At the same time, of course, you want to take advantage of the new possibilities of this technology, which is certainly possible if we as a sector give security sufficient priority."
For more information:
Priva
www.priva.com
www.priva-international.com
contact.priva@priva.nl
3 Mar 2021
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
© HortiDaily.com
PODCAST: Joe Swartz & Nick Greens
Our new podcast called Polygreens with Joe Swartz from AmHydro and Nick Greens from Nick Greens Grow Team brings agriculture and technology together in educational episodes. With this episode you'll learn about tips on operating a greenhouse
11/20/2020
Our new podcast called Polygreens with Joe Swartz from AmHydro and Nick Greens from Nick Greens Grow Team brings agriculture and technology together in educational episodes. With this episode, you'll learn about tips on operating a greenhouse.
Webinar: The State of Vertical Farming In Asia - September 28, 2020
This webinar is designed for vertical farmers, cultivation and operation teams, support technology companies, business executives as well as investors looking to connect with industry leaders to better understand the opportunities and challenges facing the vertical farming industry in Asia during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
AVF Roundtable: Vertical Farming in Asia:
Challenges & Opportunities During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic
(To be held on the 28th of September at 10:00 a.m. CEST)
This webinar has a limited number of tickets available, please register your participation soon
This webinar is designed for vertical farmers, cultivation and operation teams, support technology companies, business executives as well as investors looking to connect with industry leaders to better understand the opportunities and challenges facing the vertical farming industry in Asia during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Panelists:
1. Dr. Peng Li, Head of International Sales Department at SANANBIO
Dr. Li has a Ph.D. in Ecology from Peking University and a post-doctorate degree from the same university in Plant Nutrition. Since 2016 he has been working at SANANBIO as a senior engineer in Plant Factory Research Institute, COO in Hutou Produce Center, and now as Head of the International Sales Department.
2. Dr. Joel Cuello, Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Arizona
Dr. Joel L. Cuello is Professor of Biosystems Engineering and Director of the Global Initiative for Strategic Agriculture in Dry Lands (GISAD) at The University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. He is also currently Vice Chair of the International Association for Vertical Farming (AVF).
A globally recognized expert in the engineering of sustainable biological and agricultural systems, his technical expertise in both engineering and biology provides the platform for engineering designs in various agricultural and biological systems with an emphasis on optimizing productivities while fostering resource sustainability and environmental protection.
Prof. Cuello has designed, constructed and implemented varied types of engineered agricultural or biological systems, including those applied to bioregenerative space life support, vertical farming, plant tissue culture, micropropagation, industrial mass production of algae and plant cell and microbial cultures for production of biomass, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, etc. He is the Principal Inventor of the patented algae photobioreactor series — the Accordion photobioreactors — as well as the Vertical Farming systems — the Mobile & Modular Vertical Farm and the V-Hive Vertical Green Box
3. Eri Hayashi, Vice President at the Japan Plant Factory Association
Eri is the Vice President of Japan Plant Factory Association (JPFA), a non-profit organization devoted to academic and business advancements in the Plant Factory/Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry.
Before joining JPFA, Eri worked at a private research/consulting institute in Tokyo as a researcher specializing in the technology advancement for global food production. She has been conducting international field researches on Plant Factory/Vertical Farm and CEA since 2008. She has published multiple research papers and has been a research project manager on AI- and phenotyping- based smart plant factory systems and breeding.
She is also the chief executive officer of E*Green Lab Inc.
4. Yasuhiro Suzuki, General Manager for Asia at Heliospectra
Yasuhiro Suzuki is responsible for Heliospectra’s Product management, Business development and Asian sales. He covers both Sales and Marketing in Asia with his rich experience in Business Development and Sales from his previous carriers. Yasuhiro holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from St. Paul’s University in Tokyo. Previous positions include Marketing & Product Management Director at Tetra Pak in Japan.
5. Christine Zimmermann-Lössl, Chairwoman at the Association for Vertical Farming
Christine Zimmerman-Loessl has a background in studying political science, sinology and philosophy at Munich University – which was the starting point for her interest in international work. She has worked in different Asian countries which has given her experience and deeper insight in the culture and people. In Germany, she benefited from this as a project manager for risk analysis and crisis management. Networking was always easy for Christine and she founded the Asia Network Information Center – a research and project organization bridging East and West. Later on, as the representative for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in China, she took responsibility in different areas and led a German-Chinese Management Institute, initiated environmental protection and poverty alleviation projects, as well as engaged in women’s programs. Christine was inspired by her son’s interests in Vertical Farming and founded with a group of like-minded young people the first nonprofit in the world – the Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) in 2013, since then she is acting as the chairwoman of AVF.
Topics:
1. Key challenges and opportunities in the context of the pandemic
2. Emerging trends and new market opportunities
3. Change in consumer behavior and preferences
4. New retail strategies
5. New technology developments
6. Private and public financing
7. Certification and standardization
8. Educating the next generation of farmers
9. Need for interindustry networking and partnerships
Take-Home Value:
• Deeper understanding of the Asian Vertical Farming industry
• Background and exploration of the Asian Vertical Farming Markets
• Understanding constraints and opportunities in Asia for this industry
• Exploring the continent’s legislative and private financial support for the industry
• Exchange of ideas and solutions
This webinar has a limited number of tickets available, please register your participation soon.
If you cannot attend the live session the recording of this webinar will be sent to you.
Note that AVF members can attend or access the recording of this webinar for free. contact our vice-chair, Ramin Ebrahimnejad at re@vertical-farming.net for more information.