Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
USDA Announces Grants For Urban Agriculture And Innovative Production
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced the availability of up to US$4 million for grants to further support urban farming entrepreneurs and businesses looking to innovate.
Editor’s note: The following information is derived from an interview Agritecture conducted with Leslie Glover of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. Read the USDA's News Release to learn more about the grants, or reach out directly to urbanagriculture@usda.gov with any application-related questions. Apply here!
Supporting Innovation In Urban Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced the availability of up to US$4 million for grants to further support urban farming entrepreneurs and businesses looking to innovate.
“The number of individuals, groups, and community organizations seeking to build stronger local food systems is growing. It is encouraging to see the USDA continue to provide financial support to city stakeholders as applicants around the country aim to improve their communities through urban agriculture.”
— JEFFREY LANDAU, AGRITECTURE’S DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Considering that over 6.7 billion people are projected to live in urban areas by 2050, these grants are essential to ensuring greater food security in the urban context and helping support food justice and equity. This enables farmers to better educate and unify communities to improve the locals’ overall health and permit them greater nutritional access.
As part of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, Leslie Glover comments that “the purpose of UAIP competitive grants are to support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production activities by funding planning projects and implementation projects. Planning projects may be designed to initiate or support projects in the early stages of development, while Implementation projects may be designed to accelerate existing and emerging models of urban, indoor, and other agricultural practices that serve multiple farmers or gardeners or improve access to local food in the target area(s).”
Who Is Eligible To Apply?
Awarded by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, this grant opportunity “is only eligible to nonprofit organizations, local or tribal governments, and any schools that serve any of the grades kindergarten through 12 in areas of the United States.”
More specifics on eligibility can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NFO), and supporting documents can be found here. Although seemingly limiting for non-eligible parties, Leslie adds that “non-eligible entities can be partners on a project” in order to benefit from this grant.
“This is a really great opportunity for for-profit businesses to partner with nonprofits to meet shared goals. For example, a school that wants to set up a small vertical farm as part of their science curriculum could apply for funds and partner with a local vertical farm operator for technical expertise. A city that is looking to promote various aspects of urban agriculture within its jurisdiction could be the lead and partner with a software designer to develop an online platform that helps facilitate the various aspects of urban agriculture that it wants to promote. The possibilities are endless, and for creative organizations, this is a golden opportunity.”
— DAVID CEASER, AGRITECTURE'S LEAD AGRONOMIST
Inspiring A Change
Previously awarded grants have seen great success in reshaping food production in built-up urban cities. Leslie shares that “last year’s grants were used in several ways from creating a citywide Agriculture Master Plan in New Haven, Connecticut, to providing fresh produce to food deserts and food insecure areas in targeted urban zip codes in Wichita and Sedgwick Counties in Kansas.”
VIEW MORE GRANT RECIPIENT PROJECTS
As for this new $4 million made available for grants this year, the USDA wants to continue inspiring and encouraging change. Leslie adds that “like last year, the goal is to serve communities in urban areas, suburbs, or urban clusters where access to fresh foods are limited or unavailable.” This is planned to be done “by leveraging collaboration, information sharing, and reporting on evidence-based impacts.”
If you’re interested in applying, reach out to Agritecture to be a supportive partner and strengthen your application! With our 10+ years of experience in local food systems planning, and our portfolio of 130+ clients in over 50 cities, our team of agricultural experts can help you make the strongest application.
USDA To Invest More Than $4 Billion To Strengthen Food System
The new effort will strengthen the food system, create new market opportunities, tackle the climate crisis, help communities that have been left behind, and support good-paying jobs throughout the supply chain
Investments Will Support Biden Administration’s
Effort to Strengthen Critical Supply Chains
Release & Contact Info
Press Release
Release No. 0125.21
Contact: USDA Press
Email: press@usda.gov
WASHINGTON, June 8, 2021 – Citing lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and recent supply chain disruptions, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced plans to invest more than $4 billion to strengthen critical supply chains through the Build Back Better initiative. The new effort will strengthen the food system, create new market opportunities, tackle the climate crisis, help communities that have been left behind, and support good-paying jobs throughout the supply chain. Today’s announcement supports the Biden Administration’s broader work on strengthening the resilience of critical supply chains as directed by Executive Order 14017 America's Supply Chains. Funding is provided by the American Rescue Plan Act and earlier pandemic assistance such as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
Secretary Vilsack was also named co-chair of the Administration’s new Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force. The Task Force will provide a whole of government response to address near-term supply chain challenges to the economic recovery. The Task Force will convene stakeholders to diagnose problems and surface solutions—large and small, public or private—that could help alleviate bottlenecks and supply constraints related to the economy’s reopening after the Administration’s historic vaccination and economic relief efforts.
USDA will invest more than $4 billion to strengthen the food system, support food production, improved processing, investments in distribution and aggregation, and market opportunities. Through the Build Back Better initiative, USDA will help to ensure the food system of the future is fair, competitive, distributed, and resilient; supports health with access to healthy, affordable food; ensures growers and workers receive a greater share of the food dollar; and advances equity as well as climate resilience and mitigation. While the Build Back Better initiative addresses near- and long-term issues, recent events have exposed the immediate need for action. With attention to competition and investments in additional small- and medium-sized meat processing capacity, the Build Back Better initiative will spur economic opportunity while increasing resilience and certainty for producers and consumers alike.
“The COVID-19 pandemic led to massive disruption for growers and food workers. It exposed a food system that was rigid, consolidated, and fragile. Meanwhile, those growing, processing and preparing our food are earning less each year in a system that rewards size over all else,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The Build Back Better initiative will make meaningful investments to build a food system that is more resilient against shocks, delivers greater value to growers and workers, and offers consumers an affordable selection of healthy food produced and sourced locally and regionally by farmers and processors from diverse backgrounds. I am confident USDA’s investments will spur billions more in leveraged funding from the private sector and others as this initiative gains traction across the country. I look forward to getting to work as co-chair of the new Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force and help to mobilize a whole-of-government effort to address the short-term supply challenges our country faces as it recovers.”
The Build Back Better Initiative will strengthen and transform critical parts of the U.S. food system. As it makes investments through this initiative, USDA will also seek to increase transparency and competition with attention to how certain types of conduct in the livestock markets and the meat processing sector have resulted in thinly-traded markets and unfair treatment of some farmers, ranchers and small processors. Among other investments in the food system and food supply chain, Build Back Better will specifically address the shortage of small meat processing facilities across the country as well as the necessary local and regional food system infrastructure needed to support them.
Funding announcements under the Build Back Better initiative will include a mix of grants, loans, and innovative financing mechanisms for the following priorities, each of which includes mechanisms to tackle the climate crisis and help communities that have been left behind, including:
Food Production: Food production relies on growers, including farmers and ranchers, workers, and critical inputs. But a diminishing share of the food dollar goes to these essential workers. USDA will invest in the current and future generation of food producers and workers throughout the food system with direct assistance, grants, training and technical assistance, and more.
Food Processing: The pandemic highlighted challenges with consolidated processing capacity. It created supply bottlenecks, which led to a drop in effective plant and slaughter capacity. Small and midsize farmers often struggled to compete for processing access. USDA will make investments to support new and expanded regional processing capacity.
Food Distribution & Aggregation: Food aggregation and distribution relies on people working together throughout the food system and having the right infrastructure to gather, move and hold the food where and when it is needed. This system was stressed during the pandemic due to long shipping distances and lack of investment in local and regional capacity. USDA will make investments in food system infrastructure that can remain resilient, flexible and responsive.
Markets & Consumers: The U.S. spends more on health care and less on food than any other high-income nation; yet the U.S. has higher rates of diet-related illness and a lower life expectancy than those nations. At the same time, many socially disadvantaged and small and mid-sized producers do not have equitable access to markets. USDA will support new and expanded access to markets for a diversity of growers while helping eaters access healthy foods.
USDA will continue to make announcements through the Build Back Better initiative in the months to come. Today’s announcement is in addition to the $1 billion announced last week to purchase healthy food for food-insecure Americans and build food bank capacity, putting the total announced thus far at more than $5 billion.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
#
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
Judge Rules In Favor of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Certification of Organic Hydroponic Producers
The decision is a major victory for producers and consumers working together to make organics more accessible and the supply more resilient
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA March 19, 2021 – The Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO) is ecstatic with the ruling issued today by the U.S. District Court in San Francisco that affirms the legality of U.S. Department of Agriculture certification of organic hydroponic operations. Lee Frankel, executive director of the CSO, stated, “Our membership believes that everyone deserves organic.
The decision is a major victory for producers and consumers working together to make organics more accessible and the supply more resilient. The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased demand for fresh organic vegetables and fruits as consumers look to healthy foods to bolster their immune systems and protect their family’s health.
The court preserves historically important supplies of berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms, leafy greens, herbs, sprouts and microgreens that are frequently grown using containers or other hydroponic organic systems. In addition, the lawsuit threatened the nursery industry that provides many of the seedlings used by organic growers planting both in open fields as well as greenhouses.”
The court in its written opinion stated that “USDA’s ongoing certification of hydroponic systems that comply with all applicable regulations is firmly planted in OFPA.”
Frankel was pleased that the court ruling clearly affirmed the legitimacy of hydroponic and container production systems under the Organic Foods Production Act that established the USDA National Organic Program. In addition, the ruling also confirmed that USDA was fully within its rights to reject the petition to ban the certification of operations and correctly followed procedures in its handling of the petition.
“We look forward to the organic industry coming together in the wake of this court decision to help strengthen the organic community, continue to enhance the cycling and recycling of natural resources and promote ecological balance,” continued Frankel. “We are eternally grateful to the teams at USDA and the Department of Justice in effectively defending the work of the National Organic Program.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Lee Frankel, Executive Director
info@coalitionforsustainableorganics.org
619-587-4341
VIDEO: Is Tom Vilsack The Changed Person He Says He Is To Lead USDA Again?
For decades, USDA has misappropriated resources in supporting a factory farming system that harms communities, threatens human health, perpetuates racial inequity, and destroys natural ecosystems
For decades, USDA has misappropriated resources in supporting a factory farming system that harms communities, threatens human health, perpetuates racial inequity, and destroys natural ecosystems.
02-15-21
Gene Baur - Another View contributor
After heading up the U.S. Dairy Export Council, Tom Vilsack is in line to reprise his role as secretary of the US Department of Agriculture. Social justice, family farm, and sustainable agriculture groups have raised legitimate concerns about his longtime support of unjust and extractive practices, but at his confirmation hearing, Vilsack said that it’s a different time and he’s a different person, and that he now supports a more equitable and regenerative food system.
Let’s hope Vilsack has truly learned from past missteps and rises to the moment. He has huge opportunities to bring together diverse constituencies around common interests by reforming agriculture. We all benefit from access to wholesome food, produced in a just and compassionate way without destroying the planet or exploiting people and other animals.
For decades, USDA has misappropriated public resources in supporting a factory farming system that harms communities, threatens human health, perpetuates racial inequity, and destroys natural ecosystems. Raising and slaughtering animals by the billions demands inordinate resources, using 10 times more land in the US than plant-based farming. It is a major contributor to the climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity, and other ecological hazards, causing forests and other ecosystems to be destroyed to produce food for farm animals.
ANOTHER VIEW: Vilsack has the right stuff to move the Agriculture Department forward
Vast expanses of land are used for grazing and to produce corn, soybeans and other commodities to feed farm animals. It is far more efficient to grow crops to feed people directly, which could free up millions of acres to help sequester greenhouse gasses, create habitat for wildlife, and preserve natural ecosystems for future generations. Government programs should actively encourage this transition and remove all support, including financial instruments like carbon trading, that enable extractive practices linked to animal agriculture. Incentivizing biodigesters to turn animal excrement into energy at industrial farms, for example, is a short-sighted response to a chronic problem that allows agribusiness to further consolidate power, while greenwashing an untenable system.
Crowding animals by the thousands into factory farms increases risks for virulent pathogens and infectious diseases, including possibly future pandemics. These toxic conditions also sicken workers, disproportionately harming people of color, like the essential workers forced into slaughterhouses that were COVID-19 hotspots. Despite these and other hazards, however, most USDA funding, including COVID relief, has been used to perpetuate this unhealthy and unjust system, which concentrates wealth into the hands of fewer larger operations at the expense of family farmers, exploited workers and disenfranchised citizens.
We must shift USDA support and incentives away from industrialized animal agriculture, and toward a more resilient and equitable system that produces fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and other nourishing foods. Our government should stop underwriting excess dairy production, for example, and distributing surplus artery-clogging cheese through food assistance programs. It is in our nation’s interest for the USDA to incentivize the production and distribution of nutritious plant-based foods instead. We could save billions of dollars in health care costs every year, while lightening our ecological footprint and creating meaningful jobs and opportunities through a diversified, community-centered, plant-based food system.
Concerns about food insecurity during the pandemic spurred a gardening movement, similar to the victory gardens during World War II that provided 40% of our nation’s produce. USDA’s vast network of land grant colleges and cooperative extension offices should build on this by supporting community gardens, urban agriculture, farmers markets and similar endeavors that provide fresh and healthy food, especially in communities that need it most. In some areas, there might also be opportunities for low-income housing to be connected with farming and food enterprises. Schools, churches, and other institutions, including those that serve vulnerable populations, can be enlisted to train the next generation of farmers. USDA food assistance programs that incentivize fresh fruits and vegetables should be expanded and leveraged to support local agriculture.
Industrial animal agriculture has perpetuated racism and structural inequity, often with USDA support. Most farm owners are white, but most agricultural workers are people of color, and they are commonly subjected to dangerous conditions. Black and brown communities experience environmental racism with pollution spilling out of factory farms, and they disproportionately lack access to wholesome food, which leads to elevated rates of diabetes, obesity, and other diet-related ailments. Recognizing this, Vilsack said, “I will ensure all programming is equitable and work to root out generations of systemic racism.”
At his confirmation hearing, Vilsack quoted Robert F. Kennedy about seeing things as they are, and aspiring to dream of things that are yet to be. Let’s hope we’re at an inflection point and that our incoming USDA secretary has truly changed and will actively work to manifest those dreams and the unfulfilled promises of our nation.
Gene Baur is president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, America’s first farm animal sanctuary and advocacy organization.
US: Public Oral Argument In Hydroponically-Grown Organic Food Lawsuit
CFS filed a petition requesting USDA to prohibit organic certification of hydroponic operations that do not work with or build soil in 2019
Source: Vertical Farming Daily
On Thursday, January 21st, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California will hear arguments in Center for Food Safety's (CFS) ongoing lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) "soil-less" loophole that permits the labeling of hydroponically-grown foods as USDA Certified Organic, even though the Organic statute and regulations clearly mandate all organic crop producers foster soil fertility in order to obtain organic certification.
WHAT: Oral Argument in Center for Food Safety's Lawsuit Challenging the Labeling of Hydroponically-Grown Foods as Organic
WHEN: Thursday, January 21, 2021, at 1:30 PM PST
(Note: the Court's afternoon session starts at 1:30 PM and is currently listed as the first of the two cases scheduled for hearing that afternoon, but the Court can hear the cases in any order it wishes).
WHERE: District Judge Richard Seeborg's Virtual Courtroom via Zoom.
CFS filed a petition requesting USDA to prohibit organic certification of hydroponic operations that do not work with or build soil in 2019. After USDA denied the petition, CFS, along with a coalition of organic farms and stakeholders, filed a lawsuit challenging USDA's decision to allow hydroponic operations to continue to be certified organic in March 2020. The lawsuit claims that hydroponic operations violate organic standards for failing to build healthy soils, and asks the Court to stop USDA from allowing hydroponically-produced crops to be sold under the USDA Organic label.
Hydroponic operations, or "hydroponics," describes methods of growing crops using water-based nutrient solutions without any soil. CFS's lawsuit cites the federal Organic Foods Production Act, which requires farms to build soil fertility in order to be certified organic. Hydroponics cannot comply with federal organic standards because hydroponic crops are not grown in soil. Allowing hydroponics to be certified organic is another attempt to weaken the integrity of the Organic label, and has resulted in market confusion and inconsistent organic certifications.
Thursday's hearing on summary judgment will be the only time the Court will hear oral arguments on whether hydroponic operations that do not work with soil meet the mandatory requirements to be sold under the USDA Organic label, and whether USDA violated the federal Organic Foods Production Act when it decided to exempt hydroponic operations from the Organic Label's soil-building requirements.
The plaintiff coalition in the lawsuit includes some of the longest-standing organic farms in the United States, including Swanton Berry Farm, Full Belly Farm, Durst Organic Growers, Terra Firma Farm, Jacobs Farm del Cabo, and Long Wind Farm, in addition to organic stakeholder organizations, such as organic certifier OneCert and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.
Publication date: Wed 20 Jan 2021
USDA Seeks Members For New Urban/Indoor Ag Committee
The dozen members of the board will advise the agriculture secretary on issues relating to urban/indoor/vertical farms and identify barriers to establishing them
by Chris Koger
January 7, 2021
(Courtesy AeroFarms )
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking members for a new advisory committee for urban agriculture.
The dozen members of the board will advise the agriculture secretary on issues relating to urban/indoor/vertical farms and identify barriers to establishing them.
“This group will underscore USDA’s commitment to all segments of agriculture and has the potential to support innovative ways to increase local food production in urban environments,” Bill Northey, USDA’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation, said in a news release.
The members will represent:
Four growers, two from an urban area/cluster and two who use innovative technology;
Two people from a university or extension program;
One person from a nonprofit organization, which may be a public health, environmental or community organization;
One person from of business and economic development, such as chamber of commerce, city government or planning organization;
One person with supply chain experience, such as a good aggregator, wholesaler, food hub, or a background in a direct-to-consumer program;
One person from a financing entity; and
Two people with experience in urban, indoor or other emerging agriculture production practices, as determined by the USDA.
Nominations are due by March 5, and should include a cover letter, resume and a background form.
Send them to Ronald Harris, Designated Federal Officer, Director of Outreach and Partnerships, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 6006-S, Washington, D.C. 20250, or mail them to Ronald.Harris@USDA.gov.
The NRCS oversees the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, which was established by the 2018 farm bill.
Why Are British People Protesting U.S. Farm Imports?
10.28.2020
Cow costumes, tractor caravans, and Great British Bake Off support: U.K. farmers and their allies are registering opposition to a new agriculture bill.
This weekend, lawmakers in the U.K. were greeted with a strange sight. Costumed demonstrators—one dressed like President Trump carrying a syringe, others dressed like farm animals—gathered in London to protest the passage of a new agriculture bill.
At issue was the government’s failure to codify British food standards as the country exits the European Union. Activists fear this omission would crack open the door for an influx of food imports from the United States as part of a trade deal between the two nations. They argue that allowing imports of U.S. products like beef raised with hormones (hence the syringe) and chicken washed in chlorine would compromise food safety and animal welfare.
A similar battle is playing out across Europe: The EU recently issued a green farming plan that blocks these products and signals a shift away from chemical pesticides and fertilizers. U.S. trade representative Ted McKinney called the plan a “diss.” And the EU once faced fierce opposition over imports of hormone-raised beef and chlorine chicken from the U.S., leading to an eventual ban—which Britain may abandon.
Elsewhere in the country, protestors have staged tractor parades down city streets and enlisted the support of celebrities including Jamie Oliver and Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith in support of their cause. (Leith actually voted in favor of Brexit, so her tweets promoting British food standards were met with backlash from opponents who said she should have considered the consequences for farmers before voting to leave the European Union.)
“In this country, we’ve been through some major food crises with foot and mouth 20 years ago. We had the horsemeat scandal. We had the egg scandal in the 80s, with salmonella.” says Liz Webster, a self-described “farmer’s wife” and campaign organizer with Save British Farming, a group that advocates for British food standards. “We’ve got stricter standards about how many animals you can have in an area.”
Jamie Oliver put it another way in a video with the BBC: “Imagine being a British beef farmer and all of a sudden someone across the pond who uses hormones—those cows have never seen grass—they can sell you a product much cheaper.”
The messaging in these campaigns is a little muddled: They’re claiming that loosening import rules is bad for animal welfare, and also that it’s bad for farmers’ bottom lines, and, perhaps most alarmingly, that imported food threatens the health of the people who eat it. And it is true that the European Union has adopted food standards that ban some potentially harmful products used in animal production and food processing in the U.S., including bovine growth hormone. If the U.K. adopts its own agriculture policy without banning the same products, activists worry they’ll find their way into the food supply. It’s also true that Europe has adopted some stricter animal welfare laws, including rules that give chickens a bit more space than their American counterparts.
“They’re trying to imply that food imported from America isn’t safe somehow, or that it’ll poison them or something—they don’t spell it out because it’s not true.”
Yet the implication in many of these campaigns that U.S. food imports are less safe than homegrown beef is not backed up by acknowledgment from the U.S. or the World Trade Organization. “They’re trying to imply that food imported from America isn’t safe somehow, or that it’ll poison them or something—they don’t spell it out because it’s not true. What they’re really talking about is the way the food is produced,” said Sean Rickard, an economic analyst who advises clients on food and farming.
Of course, there’s a deeper set of issues at play here: This bill, which represents the government’s foray into post-Brexit agricultural policy, has been a wake-up call for farmers, half of whom voted in favor of leaving the EU, Rickard said. “What farmers realized as it was going through the Houses of Parliament was that it wasn’t actually the sort of milk and honey that they had been expecting,” he added. The bill removes direct payments to farmers and replaces them over the next several years, though the details are hazy. More concerning to some are the trade implications.
“Farmers suddenly woke up to the fact that one of the dangers was that if this bill didn’t protect them against imports of cheaper food, they were going to be completely screwed,” Rickard said. “They were not only going to lose their support systems, but they were also going to face imports from countries that can produce food more cheaply.”
Over time, the food service sector will slowly start purchasing imported meat, and Britons will start eating chicken grown in the U.S. at KFC.
Rickard is cynical about the potential inclusion of food standards language in the agriculture bill because such a move could jeopardize a trade deal with the U.S. “[Representatives] made abundantly clear there will be no trade deal with us if we are not prepared to accept American standards,” Rickard said. That puts politicians in a bind: Some of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s key supporters are farmers, but a bilateral trade deal with the U.S. is not compatible with a policy that limited American farm imports.
U.K. legislators have promised not to allow imports of the two most incendiary products—beef raised with growth hormones and chicken washed with chlorine—but The Guardian notes that the proof will be in the pudding. Under pressure to sign a trade deal with the U.S., these assurances may fall by the wayside.
In the long run, Rickard envisions a slow, grudging acceptance of U.S. food imports. “I think in the short run, the supermarkets will say, ‘Oh, we’re going to put big labels up. None of our food will be produced in the way Americans do,’” he said. But over time, the foodservice sector will slowly start purchasing imported meat, and Britons will start eating chicken grown in the U.S. at KFC. Slowly, the grocery stores will follow suit. “The truth is that when it comes to buying food—and we have a lot of people, unemployed, single-parent families, in this country—cheaper food will find its way into the supermarkets,” he added.
Lead photo: AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali
Also tagged farmers, food imports, trade, trump administration, united kingdom
H. Claire Brown is a senior staff writer for The Counter.
MSU Awarded Grant To Expand Career Education Opportunities In Food, Agriculture, And Natural Resources Fields
This three year effort will support urban Michigan students and teachers through the development of food, agriculture, and natural resources curricula and five Jr. MANRRS chapters
Lindsay Mensch - September 1, 2020
This three-year effort will support urban Michigan students and teachers through the development of food, agriculture, and natural resources curricula and five Jr. MANRRS chapters.
Michigan State University was awarded $280,997 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture at USDA to strengthen food, agriculture, and natural resources career pathways for students in urban Michigan.
The project, “Collaborative Approaches to Building Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences Content and Career Learning in Urban Michigan,” will focus on developing food, agriculture, and human sciences curricula with school science teachers in cities like Detroit, Flint, Lansing, and Saginaw.
The project team includes Dr. Buddy McKendree, Dr. Aaron McKim, Dr. Jennifer Hodbod, Dr. Quentin Tyler, and Dr. Mike Everett from MSU. Dr. Antomia Farrell from the National Society of MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences) and Dr. Orlenthea McGowan from Langston University are also collaborators on the project.
Dr. Buddy McKendree
“In Michigan, some of our most populated areas do not have any school-based agricultural education. This proposal was really a way for us to reconsider how we can get that content and career learning in areas that don’t have school-based agricultural education,” says lead investigator Buddy McKendree, Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Sustainability.
“We have to prepare our future leaders in the agriculture industry,” says Antomia Farrell, National President of MANRRS.
The curricula developed through this collaboration will be designed in accordance with Next Generation Science Standards, with the ultimate goal of increasing student, teacher, and administrator interest in establishing formal school-based agricultural education programs.
Orlenthea McGowan, Professor at Langston University, will support teachers to integrate these curricula in their classrooms through a one-week immersive teacher training.
The Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Education program in MSU’s Department of Community Sustainability has always focused on K-12 education and career development. Expanding existing agriculture, food, and natural resources career pipelines through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion is a critical next step for the work.
Dr. Quentin Tyler
“This is a culmination of multiple things we’ve been working on,” says Quentin Tyler, Associate Dean and Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR). “This effort not only focuses on recruitment but also retention.”
In Tyler’s role in CANR, he is responsible for increasing student diversity and recruiting and retaining students. This project will support that effort as more pre-college students in Michigan will access career learning opportunities in the food, agriculture, and natural resources fields.
Working with the National Society of MANRRS is integral to diversifying and strengthening this career pipeline. There is a strong MANRRS chapter at MSU, but there are currently no registered Jr. MANRRS chapters in the state of Michigan. One outcome of this project is to develop five Jr. MANRRS chapters in urban Michigan schools over the next three years.
Farrell says, “I think representation is very important: to see that there are BIPOC communities who have been through these particular careers, and from an educational standpoint, to know that they can do the same thing that we’re doing today.”
Dr. Antomia Farrell
“Within MANRRS what we’re really looking at is developing a cohesive structure for our Jr. MANRRS program” shares Farrell. “We focus on developing a pipeline approach as early as 7th grade to bring awareness of the agriculture, natural resources, and related sciences industry.”
This new initiative is building on past and current efforts in coordinating a Jr. MANRRS presence in the state of Michigan by the MSU MANRRS chapter and advisors Stephanie Chau, Dr. Eunice Foster, and Phillip Seaborn.
The national and statewide perspectives involved in this work make this project particularly exciting. The team hopes that this collaborative approach can be replicated in future efforts.
Tyler notes, “This effort is a collaboration between an 1862 institution, an 1890 institution, and a nonprofit, so to me, it’s a model showing different ways we can work together across organizations and across universities.”
Ultimately, this project will help meet the growing demand to fill jobs in the agriculture, food, and human sciences fields. Educating young adults about where food comes from and how to sustainably manage natural resources is a critical entry point for these careers.
McKendree sums up the significance of the project well.
“Agriculture, food, and natural resources are intertwined in our lives,” he says. “Everybody eats, everybody interacts with the environment. It’s relevant for everyone.”
This project is one of six recently awarded Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge (SPECA) grants. The SPECA program seeks to promote, strengthen, and foster linkages between secondary, two-year postsecondary, and higher education programs to encourage more young Americans to pursue and complete a baccalaureate or higher degree in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human science disciplines.
Learn more about the project in NIFA’s Current Research Information System.
Micro-Naps For Plants: Flicking The Lights On And Off Can Save Energy Without Hurting Indoor Agriculture Harvests
A nighttime arrival at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport flies you over the bright pink glow of vegetable production greenhouses. Growing crops under artificial light is gaining momentum, particularly in regions where produce prices can be high during seasons when sunlight is sparse.
The Netherlands is just one country that has rapidly adopted controlled-environment agriculture, where high-value specialty crops like herbs, fancy lettuces and tomatoes are produced in year-round illuminated greenhouses. Advocates suggest these completely enclosed buildings – or plant factories – could be a way to repurpose urban space, decrease food miles and provide local produce to city dwellers.
One of the central problems of this process is the high monetary cost of providing artificial light, usually via a combination of red and blue light-emitting diodes. Energy costs sometimes exceed 25% of the operational outlay. How can growers, particularly in the developing world, compete when the sun is free? Higher energy use also translates to more carbon emissions, rather than the decreased carbon footprint sustainably farmed plants can provide.
I’ve studied how light affects plant growth and development for over 30 years. I recently found myself wondering: Rather than growing plants under a repeating cycle of one day of light and one night of darkness, what if the same daylight was split into pulses lasting only hours, minutes or seconds?
Short bursts of light and dark
So my colleagues and I designed an experiment. We’d apply the normal amount of light in total, just break it up over different chunks of time.
Of course plants depend on light for photosynthesis, the process that in nature uses the sun’s energy to merge carbon dioxide and water into sugars that fuel plant metabolism. Light also directs growth and development through its signals about day and night, and monkeying with that information stream might have disastrous results.
That’s because breaking something good into smaller bits sometimes creates new problems. Imagine how happy you’d be to receive a US$100 bill – but not as thrilled with the equivalent 10,000 pennies. We suspected a plant’s internal clock wouldn’t accept the same luminous currency when broken into smaller denominations.
And that’s exactly what we demonstrated in our experiments. Kale, turnip or beet seedlings exposed to cycles of 12 hours of light, 12 hours dark for four days grew normally, accumulating pigments and growing larger. When we decreased the frequency of light-dark cycles to 6 hours, 3 hours, 1 hour or 30 minutes, the plants revolted. We delivered the same amount of light, just applied in different-sized chunks, and the seedlings did not appreciate the treatment.
The same amount of light applied in shorter intervals over the day caused plants to grow more like they were in darkness. We suspect the light pulses conflicted with a plant’s internal clock, and the seedlings had no idea what time of day it was. Stems stretched taller in an attempt to find more light, and processes like pigment production were put on hold.
But when we applied light in much, much shorter bursts, something remarkable happened. Plants grown under five-second on/off cycles appeared to be almost identical to those grown under the normal light/dark period. It’s almost like the internal clock can’t get started properly when sunrise comes every five seconds, so the plants don’t seem to mind a day that is a few seconds long.
Just as we prepared to publish, undergraduate collaborator Paul Kusuma found that our discovery was not so novel. We soon realized we’d actually rediscovered something already known for 88 years. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture saw this same phenomenon in 1931 when they grew plants under light pulses of various durations. Their work in mature plants matches what we observed in seedlings with remarkable similarity.
A 1931 study by Garner and Allard tracked the growth of Yellow Cosmos flowers under light pulses of various durations. J. Agri. Res. 42: National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture., CC BY-ND
Not only was all of this a retread of an old idea, but pulses of light do not save any energy. Five seconds on and off uses the same amount of energy as the lights being on for 12 hours; the lights are still on for half the day.
But what would happen if we extended the dark period? Five seconds on. Six seconds off. Or 10 seconds off. Or 20 seconds off. Maybe 80 seconds off? They didn’t try that in 1931.
Building in extra downtime
It turns out that the plants don’t mind a little downtime. After applying light for five seconds to activate photosynthesis and biological processes like pigment accumulation, we turned the light off for 10, or sometimes 20 seconds. Under these extended dark periods, the seedlings grew just as well as they had when the light and dark periods were equal. If this could be done on the scale of an indoor farm, it might translate to a significant energy savings, at least 30% and maybe more.
Recent yet-to-be published work in our lab has shown that the same concept works in leaf lettuces; they also don’t mind an extended dark time between pulses. In some cases, the lettuces are green instead of purple and have larger leaves. That means a grower can produce a diversity of products, and with higher marketable product weight, by turning the lights off.
One variety of lettuce grew purple when given a 10-second dark period. They look similar to those grown with a five-second dark period, yet use 33% less energy. Extending the dark period to 20 seconds yielded green plants with more biomass. J. Feng, K. Folta
Learning that plants can be grown under bursts of light rather than continuous illumination provides a way to potentially trim the expensive energy budget of indoor agriculture. More fresh vegetables could be grown with less energy, making the process more sustainable. My colleagues and I think this innovation could ultimately help drive new business and feed more people – and do so with less environmental impact.
July 22, 2019 6.58am EDT Updated July 22, 2019 2.40pm EDT
This article was updated with a corrected legend on the photograph of the plants grown in 1931.
Little Wild Things City Farm
Little Wild Things City Farm produces soil-grown microgreens, shoots, and edible flowers on less than one-quarter acre in the heart of Washington, D.C.
Little Wild Things City Farm produces soil-grown microgreens, shoots, and edible flowers on less than one-quarter acre in the heart of Washington, D.C.
We believe that environmentally sustainable, commercially viable farming is possible in urban landscapes—and we're proving it.
As a first generation farm, we combine the best of time-honored sustainable growing techniques with new innovations and a disciplined business focus to achieve high yields from our very small growing spaces.
We aim to demonstrate that farming is a desirable career for the best and brightest of the next generation, and seek to develop relationships with customers who share our values to create a transformative impact on our local food system.
WHAT ARE MICROGREENS?
Our microgreens are tiny edible greens that provide exceptional flavor, nutritional value, texture, and color to salads, sandwiches, wraps, tacos, pizza, smoothies, soup and more. Smaller than “baby greens,” and harvested later than “sprouts,” microgreens provide a variety of leaf flavors, such as sweet and spicy, and come in many vibrant colors. Fine dining chefs use microgreens to enhance the beauty, taste and freshness of their dishes with their delicate textures and distinctive flavors.
Researchers at the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the University of Maryland began studying the nutritional content of microgreens in 2012. They looked at four groups of vitamins and other phytochemicals – including vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta carotene — in 25 varieties of microgreens. The researchers found that leaves from nearly all of the microgreens had four to six times more nutrients than the mature leaves of the same plant, with variation among the varieties – red cabbage was highest in vitamin C, while the green daikon radish microgreens had the most vitamin E [i]
[i] Xiao, Z.; Lester, G. E.; Luo, Y.; Wang, Q. (2012). "Assessment of Vitamin and Carotenoid Concentrations of Emerging Food Products: Edible Microgreens". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 60 (31): 7644-7651
How Can Crop Production Data Advance The Controlled Environment Agriculture Industry?
The Controlled Environment Agriculture Open Data project aims to advance controlled environment research, machine learning, and artificial intelligence through the collection and dissemination of crop production data
The Controlled Environment Agriculture Open Data project aims to advance controlled environment research, machine learning, and artificial intelligence through the collection and dissemination of crop production data.
by By David Kuack
There is a considerable amount of data being generated by both private companies and university researchers when it comes to controlled environment crop production. This data is being generated for ornamentals, food crops, and cannabis. One of the questions about all this data is whether it is being used to its maximum potential to benefit the horticulture industry.
“Data has become a big topic in the horticulture industry with university researchers and private companies,” said Erico Mattos, executive director of the Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium. “People can identify with the challenges and opportunities with the amount of data that is being generated. However, we don’t yet have a centralized repository and a standard methodology for storage to allow us to explore and exploit this data.”
The formation of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Open Data (CEAOD) project aims to promote crop production data sharing from universities and private companies to accelerate CEA research.
Addressing the data proliferation
In 2018 during the North Central Extension & Research Activity–101 (NCERA-101) meeting members of this USDA-organized committee discussed what should be done with the extensive amount of data being generated by controlled environment researchers. Ohio State University professor Chieri Kubota proposed the formation of a sub-committee to address the need to develop guidelines for sharing data generated by controlled environment agriculture researchers.
“Dr. Kubota initiated the discussion about the need for a centralized platform to store data collected from controlled environment research,” Mattos said. “A task force was formed that included Chieri, Kale Harbick at USDA-ARS, Purdue University professor Yang Yang, Melanie Yelton at Plenty and myself. Since the task force was formed Ken Tran at Koidra and Timothy Shelford at Cornell University have also become members of the task force.
“We started discussing how we could make use of all this data. Researchers in the United States collect a huge amount of data. All of the environmental data such as temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide and light levels in controlled environment research is collected. There is also a biological set of data which includes plant biomass and fruit yield.”
Mattos said there is also a great deal of research data generated and collected by private companies that is not shared with the horticulture industry.
“With the advancement in sensors and environmental controls, the capability now exists that this data can be collected,” he said. “With the advancements in computing power, this data can be used to start new applications and new tools that haven’t been available before. However, in order to do this, we have to have access to a large amount of data. That’s why the task force thought it would be good to create a repository where researchers and private companies could share the data following a specific format. This data could then be used in the advancement of machine learning and artificial intelligence applications to optimize crop yields in commercial CEA operations.”
An increasing number of funding agencies and organizations, including USDA, are requiring researchers include information about their data management plans in their grant proposals.
Need for collecting and organizing data
Mattos said university researchers see the value in creating a centralized database.
“There are probably millions of data points when you consider how many researchers are doing research in the U.S.,” he said. “Historically these researchers have not been required to share their data. However, an increasing number of funding agencies and organizations, including USDA, are requiring that researchers share their data. If researchers apply for a grant from USDA, they are required to include information about their data management plans in their grant proposals.
“Researchers see the value of sharing this data, but this is not a common practice which involves allocating time and resources. This means someone on their research team would have to organize and share the data. There are probably millions of data points (big data) when you consider how many horticulture researchers there are in the U.S.”
Creating a central database
Based on the need for collecting and organizing the controlled environment research data that is being generated, the task force established the Controlled Environment Agriculture Open Data (CEAOD) project [https://ceaod.github.io/]. The project aims to promote data sharing to accelerate CEA research.
The CEAOD website provides guidelines on how to upload the data. The task force developed the guidelines, which include three sets of data that can be uploaded to the website.
“One set is environmental data, including environmental controlled parameters such as temperature, carbon dioxide, relative humidity, and ventilation,” he said. “These data points are usually collected automatically by sensors. Another set of data is biological data, which is usually collected by humans. These biomass production yield parameters include shoot and root biomass and plant height and weight. The final document is the metadata which are descriptions of the experimental setups and data sets. It is a file that explains the experiments. It describes how the experiments were done.
“There is a certain format that is recommended to be followed to upload the data on the CEAOD website. The step-by-step process is listed on the website. There are no restrictions on which crops the data can be submitted. Our goal is to establish a platform to host a large number of crop production data sets to allow for the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms aimed at improving crop production efficiency.”
Leading by example
This winter GLASE will have a student collecting and organizing environmental and biological research data.
“The data will be uploaded to the CEAOD database and we will be documenting these activities,” Mattos said. “We will create a guideline of recommendations. We also plan to work with researchers from other institutions to demonstrate how the data can be organized and uploaded to create awareness and how to use the database.
“We hope this initial GLASE contribution will incentivize other researchers to share their data and will facilitate the uploading process. Access to the CEAOD database is free. It is an open platform and anyone can contribute to the development of this database tool.”
Once research data is collected and available for dissemination, the equipment used to produce controlled environment crops will be able to optimize the environmental conditions for a wide variety of crops, including lettuce, tomatoes, and cannabis.
Benefits to the horticulture industry
Mattos said private companies would also benefit from the collection of data and creating a centralized database.
“These companies need more data because it would allow them to analyze the data to develop new products and identify new markets,” he said. “Unfortunately, many of these companies don’t want to share their data. They are very proprietary about their data. They see that collecting and analyzing this data can put them ahead of their competition.
“Many private companies see the need for more data and how it can be valuable but are unwilling to share their own data. But like in other industries there are early adopters. I believe there will be companies that step up and will share their data with the horticulture industry. Hopefully, industry people will be willing to contribute and work on this database as well.”
Mattos said one of the big applications with this project is related to machine learning and artificial intelligence.
“With these applications, large sets of data are needed in order to create baselines,” he said. “Using the data, machines can be taught. Currently, growers’ production knowledge and opinion are more accurate for growing crops than artificial intelligence predictions. Growers are still more reliable, but it is just a matter of time before the use of big data and artificial intelligence will be able to match the growers in regards to optimizing growth.
“We are trying to develop this platform between the growers and controlled environment researchers and the machine learning/data computer scientists. I’m not sure the controlled environment researchers have grasped the potential that is available. We are not using this technology. Establishing this platform, as we collect and disseminate the data, there is real potential to help the advancement of the horticulture industry.”
For more: Erico Mattos, Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE), (302) 290-1560; em796@cornell.edu.
More info on CEAOD
Want to learn more about the Controlled Environment Agriculture Open Data project? Then check out these two upcoming events.
Aug. 4, 2-3 p.m. EDT
GLASE webinar: Controlled Environment Agriculture Open Data project. Presented by Erico Mattos, executive director of GLASE, and Kenneth Tran, founder of Koidra LLC.
Aug. 13, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. EDT
American Society for Horticultural Science presentation: The Promise of Big Data and New Technologies in Controlled Environment Agriculture. Presented by Erico Mattos.
David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.
CubicFarms Attracts $1.16 Million Investment From Leading Dairy Entrepreneur Harry DeWit and Company Insiders
Harry DeWit is CEO and President of Blue Sky Farms, a Texas and Ohio-based dairy and farming business producing 1.2 million pounds of quality milk per day
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Jul 15, 2020
VANCOUVER, BC, July 15, 2020, /CNW/ - CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV: CUB) ("CubicFarms" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement with Harry DeWit and company insiders, involving the issuance of 1,659,600 common shares of CubicFarms at a price of C$0.70 per share for gross proceeds of up to C$1,161,720 (the "Offering"). Insiders participating in the Offering include Jeff Booth, Chairman; Rodrigo Santana, Chief Operating Officer; and Tim Fernback, Chief Financial Officer.
Harry DeWit is CEO and President of Blue Sky Farms, a Texas and Ohio-based dairy and farming business producing 1.2 million pounds of quality milk per day. He has been lauded as a forward-thinking dairy entrepreneur, having been awarded the International Dairy Foods Association's "Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year", which recognizes the valuable contributions of progressive dairy producers. His soil conservation efforts were recognized by the USDA's National Resources Conservation Service.
Mr. DeWit commented: "Sustainability, efficiency, and automation have always been at the core of my business endeavors. I have looked to technology to conserve water, reduce labor, and generally improve the efficiency of my daily operations. When CubicFarms' board member John de Jonge introduced me to CubicFarms' HydroGreen system that automates the growth of livestock feed, I had to learn more about the company.
"CubicFarms' HydroGreen technology enables a more sustainable farming operation in that one system displaces thirty acres of land used for livestock forage production, not to mention the cost savings in labor, water, energy, and fertilizers. Providing fresh HydroGreen feed on a daily basis to a herd of cows should bring the herd to a higher production level with health benefits."
CubicFarms CEO Dave Dinesen commented: "Top tier ag-tech investor Ospraie Ag Science has added tremendous value to CubicFarms from day one of becoming a strategic investor just two months ago. We have benefitted from Ospraie's vast network, sector expertise, and vision in our company-building efforts. We are now pleased to welcome Harry to the roster of company supporters. An investment from an industry stalwart such as Harry is a big vote of confidence in CubicFarms and our HydroGreen livestock feed division."
The net proceeds from the Offering are expected to be used for research and development to expand machine capabilities and crop varieties, and working capital.
The Offering is scheduled to close on or about July 28, 2020, and is subject to certain conditions, including, but not limited to, the execution of definitive documentation and receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a hold period under applicable securities laws, which will expire four months plus one day from the closing date of the Offering.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless an exemption from such registration is available.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor it’s Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About CubicFarm® Systems Corp.
CubicFarm Systems Corp. ("CubicFarms") is a technology company that is developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary technologies enable growers around the world to produce high-quality, predictable crop yields. CubicFarms has two distinct technologies that address two distinct markets. The first technology is its patented CubicFarm™ System, which contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops. Using its unique, undulating-path growing system, the Company addresses the main challenges within the indoor farming industry by significantly reducing the need for physical labor and energy, and maximizing yield per cubic foot. CubicFarms leverages its patented technology by operating its own R&D facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, selling the System to growers, licensing its technology, and providing vertical farming expertise to its customers. The second technology is CubicFarms' HydroGreen System for growing nutritious livestock feed. This system utilizes a unique process to sprout grains, such as barley and wheat, in a controlled environment with minimal use of land, labor, and water. The HydroGreen System is fully automated and performs all growing functions including seeding, watering, lighting, harvesting, and re-seeding – all with the push of a button – to deliver nutritious livestock feed without the typical investment in fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, field equipment, and transportation. The HydroGreen System not only provides superior nutritious feed to benefit the animal but also enables significant environmental benefits to the farm.
Cautionary statement on forward-looking information
Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the use of proceeds of the Offering and the potential benefits of Harry DeWit's investment to the Company. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors including evolving market conditions, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of CubicFarm Systems Corp., or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information including the Company obtaining the approval of the Offering from the TSX Venture Exchange. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict", and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events, or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur, or be achieved.
These statements reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events, performance, and results and speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except as required by securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if the Company's expectations regarding future events, performance, or results change.
SOURCE CubicFarm Systems Corp.
For further information: Kimberly Lim, kimberly@cubicfarms.com, Phone: +1-236-858-6491, www.cubicfarms.com
USDA Grant to Support Cornell Indoor Ag Training Programs
Fueled by year-round market demand for local food and by advancements in greenhouse technology, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is a rapidly growing field
July 10, 2020
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
IMAGE: NEIL MATTSON, LEFT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HORTICULTURE, WORKS WITH PH.D. STUDENT JONATHAN ALLRED TO COLLECT DATA FROM STRAWBERRIES GROWING IN THE GUTERMAN BIOCLIMATIC LABORATORY GREENHOUSE. view more | CREDIT: JASON KOSKI/CORNELL UNIVERSITY
ITHACA, N.Y. - Fueled by year-round market demand for local food and by advancements in greenhouse technology, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is a rapidly growing field. In this intensive form of agriculture, plants are grown in a controlled environment, such as a greenhouse, to efficiently produce fresh, high-quality fruits and vegetables.
However, commercial CEA requires advanced knowledge of both plant biology and complex infrastructure. And while New York state ranks fourth in the nation for CEA production value, the workforce hasn't been able to keep pace with industry growth.
Now, thanks to a $496,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), two horticulture experts at Cornell University will help design new CEA training programs to build a skilled workforce pipeline for the industry.
"Growers consistently state that finding well-trained personnel to operate their facilities is among the largest barriers to expansion," said Neil Mattson, associate professor of horticulture. "This project uses a targeted approach to determine what skill sets are most critical, and it develops several pathways for training - both for traditional college students and for the professional development of existing employees."
He and Anu Rangarajan, director of the Cornell Small Farms Program, will collaborate with industry leaders, Ohio State University and its Agricultural Technical Institute, and SUNY Broome Community College to develop a technical training certificate in CEA production. They also plan to create a two-year Associate of Applied Science degree for students enrolled in those schools and for other community colleges to integrate into their curriculum.
Participants will gain experience with CEA infrastructures, such as hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaculture. They will also develop advanced knowledge in environmental monitoring, pest management, food safety, and marketing skills.
Rangarajan already oversees numerous training programs and has spent the last five years working with commercial urban agriculture operations to better understand the key factors that influence farm viability. As part of the new project, she will lead the development of an online delivery platform for the new programming.
Mattson's current research includes using energy-efficient LED lighting for sustainable greenhouse production and studying the long-term viability of indoor urban agriculture. His role in the NIFA project involves collaborating with industry partners to develop the new learning modules.
In addition to supporting more local and sustainable food systems, Rangarajan said the work they've done thus far has been essential for learning how to provide more skilled-training opportunities for new farmers.
"Our efforts have laid the groundwork," she said, "for what I hope will be a dynamic training program that will build the workforce and elevate the industry as a whole."
###
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
OptimIA Free Indoor Ag Webinar - July 29, 2020 - 1 PM EST
OptimIA offers free indoor ag webinar on July 29, 2020. The OptimIA (Optimizing Indoor Agriculture) project team invites indoor farmers, allied trades, and professionals to their first annual meeting to share recent research results with leafy greens and discuss future activities
By urbanagnews
July 6, 2020
OptimIA offers free indoor ag webinar on July 29, 2020
The OptimIA (Optimizing Indoor Agriculture) project team invites indoor farmers, allied trades, and professionals to their first annual meeting to share recent research results with leafy greens and discuss future activities. OptimIA is a USDA-supported Specialty Crop Research Initiative project to advance the emerging indoor farming industry to become more profitable and sustainable through critical research and extension activities.
TENTATIVE AGENDA / TOPICS
Promotion of lettuce growth under an increasing daily light integral depends on the light intensity and photoperiod
Influence of light intensity and CO2 concentration on dill, parsley, and sage growth and development at harvest
Major energy savings during production of baby greens
Managing nutrient disorders of hydroponic leafy greens
Improving air distribution and humidity management in vertical farming systems
Critical elements of CEA economics
View the agenda and register at http://scri-optimia.org/stakeholder2020.php. The webinar is free, but space is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis.
OptimIA Director and PIs
Erik Runkle, Michigan State University (Project Director)
Murat Kacira, University of Arizona
Chieri Kubota, The Ohio State University
Roberto Lopez, Michigan State University
Cary Mitchell, Purdue University
Simone Valle de Souza, Michigan State University
OptimIA Collaborators
Jennifer Boldt, USDA ARS
David Hamby, OSRAM
H. Christopher Peterson, Michigan State University
Nadia Sabeh, Dr. Greenhouse Inc.
NEW YORK: Vertical Farming Takes Root in Hudson Valley
Vertical Field launched in Israel in 2006 as an agricultural supply solution for the nation’s urban markets. Miner stated the firm began as a “green wall company” that took the horizontal aspect of rooftop gardens and switched it on its side
By Phil Hall
June 20, 2020
Among the more disturbing aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic involved food costs and supplies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a 2.6% increase in food prices nationwide from March to April, marking the largest monthly increase in 46 years. These increases have been fueled by disruptions in the supply chain due to worker illnesses in processing plants.
For restaurants and food retailers, not being able to access materials or being charged higher-than-normal exacerbates an already acute problem of trying to maintain revenue streams during the pandemic.
However, a pair of regional businesses have begun using agricultural technology from the Israeli company Vertical Field that takes the farm-to-table concept and turns it into a container-to-table approach.
“The way it works is that we take a container, just the standard shipping container,” explained Sam Miner, Vertical Field’s U.S. launch manager.
“And the main thing that we do is we put these modules on the wall that have irrigation lines behind it. We simply fill those modules with soil and we put in the right lighting equipment. And once you put plants in there, they just grow fairly simple.”
John Lekic, chef and owner of Poughkeepsie’s Farmers & Chefs restaurant, poses in front of his Vertical Field container used for growing greens and herbs. Photo courtesy Vertical Field.
Vertical Field launched in Israel in 2006 as an agricultural supply solution for the nation’s urban markets. Miner stated the firm began as a “green wall company” that took the horizontal aspect of rooftop gardens and switched it on its side.
The company now has 400 projects around the world, including a massive installation in Vietnam that Miner described as being “tremendous, like a football field.”
This spring, Vertical Field made its way into the U.S. market through a pair of Hudson Valley installations. John Lekic, chef and owner of Poughkeepsie’s Farmers & Chefs restaurant, learned about the technology at a Culinary Institute of America symposium in late 2019 and was intrigued about operating his own food source.
“We were planning to bring in the container in March and we actually brought in a container days after the emergency thing was declared in New York,” he said. “It was a perfect timing. Ten days later, we planted our first crop, mostly salad greens, and in the middle of May we already had to harvest. We are going to have a third one this week.”
Lekic praised the technology for allowing several harvests per week, noting the ability to “harvest them the day of serving.” He also praised the user-friendly aspect of the 20-foot containers.
“It’s super easy to maintain,” he said. “Once the container is set up and the mechanism is in place, you have an app that does the irrigation and controls the temperature and the humidity. It’s not really complicated — after you do it once or twice, the planting and everything else becomes really easy to maintain. It does not require a lot of time.”
Lekic is now growing herbs and leafy vegetables in the containers, adding “it’s still a playground for us.”
Another Hudson Valley business that has Vertical Field’s technology in place is the Evergreen Kosher supermarket in Monsey, which installed its containers at the end of May. Menachem Lubinsky, president of Brooklyn-based Lubicom Business Consulting and marketing director for Evergreen, praised the product for creating a speedy supply of produce.
“If something takes normally three months to grow, the technology can accelerate that to three weeks,” he said. “A restaurant or a supermarket can be in control of their supply.”
Lubinsky said he reached out to Vertical Field following news reports during the pandemic of truckers not being able to deliver goods and farms destroying crops because they suddenly had no outlets for selling. Besides selling the harvested crops, Evergreen is planning to make the containers a visitors’ attraction.
“The customer will be able to see the process of how it grows because one of the walls of the container is glass,” he said. “It’s kind of like an educational experience just for a family to go over to see how this whole process grows. And there’s a very large kosher constituency there who are concerned about consuming insects. This eliminates that concern because of the way it grows — it is insect-free.”
Lubinsky said that Vertical Field is planning to build on its technology to accommodate the growing of a wider variety of items, including strawberries and vegetables.
Scaling Up Urban Farming Beyond COVID-19
More urban dwellers who usually rely on food that is sourced from farms away from the city are turning to urban farming now that COVID-19 has fractured and exposed how fragile the existing food supply chains are
by Esther Ngumbi | University of Illinois
9 June 2020
*Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The world has seen an increase in urban farming amid the coronavirus and fragile food supply chains
Esther Ngumbi, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology and African American Studies Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a Senior Food security fellow with the Aspen Institute New Voices
More urban dwellers who usually rely on food that is sourced from farms away from the city are turning to urban farming now that COVID-19 has fractured and exposed how fragile the existing food supply chains are. Google trends reports show that searches for “gardens” are up and enterprises that sell plants and seeds report a spike in the number of customers. Across America, people are planting more vegetables.
Around the world, other countries have seen a sharp increase in urban farming, from Jakarta, to Singapore to Australia. This is a move in the right direction and the reinvigorating of the urban farming movement should be supported and nurtured.
What does urban farming look like? According to the United States Department of Agriculture and Food and Agriculture Organization, urban agriculture can take many forms, from roof-top gardens to farming on abandoned buildings and parking lots to backyard and balcony gardening. In many African countries, it often entails sack and stack farming and traditional gardening in backyards, and in some places like South Africa, it also includes rooftop gardens and small farm gardens.
There are many benefits to urban farming including condensing the mileage of food from the farm to the market to improving personal health, ecosystems, and food insecurity while promoting sustainable livelihoods. Most importantly, during the pandemic, urban farming has helped families to cope with food insecurities.
The urban farming movement is especially welcome in Africa, a continent that is rapidly urbanizing, with cities that are crowded and costly. At 3.5 percent per year, Africa’s urban growth rate is the highest in the world, and that number is expected to keep increasing. Supporting urban farming across Africa would allow the continent to be ready for any future pandemics. Moreover, at the moment, urban cities in Africa rely on rural areas to meet their food demands, because most of the food consumed is bought in markets and from vendors who source their food directly from farmers that are based in rural areas.
How do we then tap into the renewed attention to urban farming by city dwellers?
Well, to develop effective support systems while further nurturing urban agriculture, there is the need to first and foremost accurately capture and map the current state of things. How many new community and city gardens and farms have been planted? Who is doing it? What challenges have they faced? What kind of food are they growing? How did they finance their venture? Who are they distributing the products to? How big is the space and land they are using?
Creating databases and dashboard maps of this information is vital to growing the urban farming movement. This can be done by sending surveys by organizations that are already practicing urban farming, city governments or educational institutions that are based near urban cities. Creating these inventories would also serve to inform urban city planners and policy makers and governments while connecting urban farmers with each other, to potential funders and to consumers.
Second, farming and agriculture is knowledge-intensive. Consequently, there is a need to establish support systems for these farmers. Urban dwellers need current knowledge about recent growing methods, innovative business models, and other best practices to ensure they make the most out of their urban farming enterprise. The good thing is that there are ample resources such as on the sites of USDA, and UN FAO.
Moreover, as urban farming grows, a community and network of support would be key. Urban farmers living in the same cities and regions can form partnerships to support each other.
As we nurture the movement, we must also encourage many more urban dwellers who have not yet ventured into urban farming to give it a try. From university webpages to private organizations to associations YouTube videos including guiding African cities urban dwellers on how to successfully create a bag garden.
Food supplies disruptions due to another pandemic or other causes are likely to happen. This new appreciation for urban farming fostered during COVID-19 lockdowns should keep growing. We must continue to tap onto urban agriculture to grow fresh, healthy, and nutritious food for urban city dwellers.
THEMES CLIMATE (AIR POLLUTION, GREEN TRANSPORT, ZERO CARBON INITIATIVES ETC)
CSO Pleased With Schedule For Lawsuit Asking To Restrict Supplies of Organic Foods
Lee Frankel, executive director of the CSO, stated, “The sooner growers can be sure that the rules established by Congress, the US Department of Agriculture and the National Organic Standards Board that allow for growers to use containers in their operations will remain in place, the more quickly growers can get back to focusing on providing nutritious and delicious organic fresh produce to consumers looking for ways to strengthen their immune systems during the COVID-19 outbreak.”
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA June 12, 2020 – The Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO) is pleased with the schedule set by Judge Seeborg in the lawsuit seeking to strip growers of their rights to incorporate appropriate and legitimate growing techniques in their organic operations. The CSO continues to oppose the efforts of the Center for Food Safety and a handful of growers to limit the availability of fresh organic berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, leafy greens, herbs, microgreens, and mushrooms.
Lee Frankel, executive director of the CSO, stated, “The sooner growers can be sure that the rules established by Congress, the US Department of Agriculture and the National Organic Standards Board that allow for growers to use containers in their operations will remain in place, the more quickly growers can get back to focusing on providing nutritious and delicious organic fresh produce to consumers looking for ways to strengthen their immune systems during the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Under the Scheduling Order, USDA has until July 15 to provide the Administrative Record supporting its decision to deny the petition of the CFS to revoke certification of organic growers incorporating containers on their farms. A series of briefs will be filed culminating in a hearing currently scheduled for January 21, 2021, to present what will likely be the final arguments in the case prior to the judge’s decision.
The Department of Justice on behalf of the USDA stated in the case management order filed prior to the judge’s order that “The agency properly concluded that the OFPA [Organic Foods Production Act] does not prohibit hydroponic production systems. It properly determined that organic hydroponic systems cycle and conserve resources in a manner consistent with the vision for organic agriculture expressed by the OFPA, that hydroponic organic systems produce food in a way that can minimize damage to soil and water, and that hydroponic organic systems can support diverse biological communities. USDA fully explained these reasons and others in its decision denying the petition—a decision that courts review under an extremely limited and highly deferential standard.”
Frankel continued, “The CSO agrees with the USDA. We look to broaden the coalition to other producers, marketers, and retailers that support bringing healthy food to more consumers because we believe that everyone deserves organics.”
Localization is Seeding Innovative Produce Supply Chains
The COVID-19 crisis is shining a light on the vulnerabilities of food supply chains, as well as opportunities to develop inventive ways to deliver fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables from farm to table
A Key Theme of These changes is Localization – An Increasing Reliance on Local Growers to Supply Produce To Retail Outlets.
By Chris Mejia Argueta, Alexis H. Bateman, & Ken Cottrill · June 12, 2020
Editor’s Note: Chris Mejia Argueta is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and directs the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab. Alexis H. Bateman is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and directs MIT Sustainable Supply Chains. Ken Cottrill is the Editorial Director at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.
The COVID-19 crisis is shining a light on the vulnerabilities of food supply chains, as well as opportunities to develop inventive ways to deliver fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables from farm to table.
A key theme of these changes is localization – an increasing reliance on local growers to supply produce to retail outlets. The movement has gained momentum as a result of shifting consumer buying preferences and the need to make food supply chains resilient to a wide array of risks.
What is localization?
From a global perspective, localization can mean reorienting supply chains towards suppliers in specific countries or regions in any market. In this article, we focus on the localization of fruit and vegetable supply chains in the United States.
There are several definitions of what constitutes a “local” food supply in the US. The United States Department of Agriculture maintains that although “local” connotates short geographic distance between producer and consumer, there is no consensus on what products meet the definition. A government definition assumes that a product can be considered locally or regionally produced if it is less than 400 miles from its origin or within the state in which it was produced. A consumer survey carried out by the research firm Nielsen found that most buyers classify products across various food categories made 50 miles or less from the store, as local.
Local sources of produce are not confined to farms or small-size plots of land; They also include specialist operations such as high-tech commercial greenhouses and urban gardens. The enterprises sell directly to consumers or to retail customers such as supermarkets.
The size of the market for local food is unclear. From an industry standpoint, research from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimates that direct-to-consumer food sales account for about 3% of the total US agricultural production value. Up to one-half of the produce industry relies on sales to supermarkets and other chain stores, and the remainder serves foodservice companies (e.g., restaurants) and large consumers of produce such as schools and other institutions.
Pre-pandemic drivers
The localization movement was gathering steam in produce markets before the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the drivers is the need to make produce supply chains more resilient to disruptions, like market volatility and labor shortages. Local sourcing avoids the risks associated with shipping perishable product long distances from growers to consumers. Also, shorter supply chains are more flexible, require fewer product touches and intermediaries, reduce wastage, and minimize potentially costly and delay-prone cross-border movements. There are cost advantages as well, mainly in the form of reduced transportation and warehousing costs.
Localization is finding support among consumers. Trust in food crops grown on distant, large-scale factory farms has declined as consumer interest in the safety and origins of food products has increased. Another component of this trend is the increased demand for sustainable products. For example, research by The Center for Food Integrity suggests that concepts such as “food miles” are becoming more relevant to consumers, as they place more value on shorter, more carbon-efficient supply chains.
The localization movement also aligns with the need to provide underserved communities with sources of fresh, nutritious food. One way to combat the spread of so-called food deserts – communities where access to fresh fruit and vegetables is limited – is to connect these communities with local growers.
These forces drive demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables and increase the premium that consumers are willing to pay for “locally produced” and “farm to table” product labels.
Coronavirus-related market shifts
Today, the COVID-19 crisis is reinforcing many of these market changes by illuminating weaknesses in produce supply chains. The pandemic shuttered restaurants and other places where large numbers of people congregate such as schools – effectively depriving fruit and vegetable producers of a primary market.
An obvious response was to pivot to other customers, notably supermarkets and other retail outlets. However, these are different channels with distinct specifications for product packaging and unit sizes. Reorienting supply chains geared to foodservice and institutional buyers towards customers in the retail business proved extremely challenging. To solve this issue, some farmers turned to selling their produce directly to the consumer, highlighting the value of locally produced foods as a source of revenue for farmers during supply chain disruptions. Some farmers may never go back to the original model.
The pandemic also exacerbated the labor shortages that plague growers in agricultural regions of the US. Restrictions on migrant workers crimped the supply of labor before the pandemic. The coronavirus’s health threat made it even more difficult to recruit the workers that growers need to harvest and pack food crops.
While localization does not address all pandemic-related supply chain issues, it does promote the flexibility, agility, and resilience needed to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19 disruptions. This is one reason why the pandemic has underscored the advantages of local sourcing, especially for perishable products such as fruit and vegetables.
Moreover, preference for neighborhood markets may grow beyond food deserts. A recent study from mathematician Elena Polozova indicates that buying in corner stores is less risky than in big retail formats.
Innovations hone local models
The localization movement also benefits from a number of supply chain innovations in the agricultural industry. Here are some notable examples.
Local supply programs. As NPR reported recently, the movement known as community-supported agriculture (CSA) is experiencing growth in various parts of the country. Members of CSA programs typically commit to buying regular deliveries of fresh produce from local growers. The coronavirus pandemic has raised the profile of CSAs for the reasons described above, although the model is mainly growing in wealthy communities.
Veggie box models. The so-called veggie box model is an evolution of the CSA movement. In this variation, groups of farmers create boxes of produce items in accordance with consumer preferences.
Commercial veggie box models such as HelloFresh are expanding, and provide a new buying channel for fresh produce. However, they do not offer the variety and quantity that most customer segments need. In addition, these services are configured for middle-to-high income population segments and assume that there is enough last-mile delivery capacity to perform dozens of deliveries effectively. However, the capacity is not always available, a problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.
Dr. Chris Mejia, Dr. Lars Sanches, along with master’s students Jamal Taylor and Luiz Barreto from the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab have collaborated with colleagues from Tufts University, and the City of Somerville, MA, to explore the veggie box model, in underserved communities. The options under review use neighborhood markets as pickup points for veggie boxes, analyze the impact of ride-sharing systems, and extend the impact of grocery delivery models in the city. Despite its complex design, the researchers found that the veggie-box model can support a local economy, decrease food insecurity, and address shortages of healthy food items. However, neighborhood market owners or managers need to widen the choice of produce, promote the veggie box service to the appropriate customers, and allocate space to store the boxes of produce.
A future article in this series on food supply chains will give a detailed account of the veggie box research described above.
Innovative growing models. Growers are harnessing novel agricultural methods such as hydroponics, advanced sensing, and information technologies to develop alternatives to traditional farms. An example is BrightFarms, a company that grows produce sustainably in high-tech, hydroponic greenhouses located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Virginia. The greenhouses typically supply local supermarkets. In January 2020, the company opened a 280,000 sq. ft facility in Selinsgrove, PA, that can deliver over 2 million pounds of fresh, local produce year-round in PA and the PA-NJ-DE tri-state area. It has partnered with local supermarkets, including the Giant chain.
Urban and Container Farms. Small urban farms that sell to retail, food service, or restaurants have also become increasingly common with open fields, rooftops, brownfields, and other open spaces being utilized in cities to grow fresh fruits and vegetables. Urban farms that serve public demand reduce product transit and storage needs and increase food freshness in most cases.
Container farms use shipping containers to create self-contained growing environments for fresh produce, often in urban settings. One example is FreightFarms, which provides the container and set up that enable people to grow produce anywhere in the world.
Diversity programs. Traditional farmer’s markets allow residents to shop for a variety of produce items at specific locations in city locations at weekly times. However, these markets may not cater to the fruit and vegetable needs of ethnically diverse communities. World Farmers Organization in Massachusetts is implementing an innovative strategy to support culturally diverse farmers who grow their preferred products in small parcels and connect them to retail outlets. Some of these outlets are located in neighborhood markets.
Small growers, big potential?
While the localization of fruit and vegetable supply chains is attracting interest, most conventional, large-scale growing operations are not under threat.
Not all food crops are viable candidates for small, local suppliers. Moreover, the competitive advantages of localization are subject to tradeoffs between economies of scale, the capital cost of growing facilities, and transportation costs. Also, more emphasis on locally grown produce increases the importance of supply chain transparency. Consumers who buy local produce want to be reassured that their purchases are sourced locally, and this will require relevant sourcing information at the point of sale. The availability of investment funds also influences the commercial success of localization – a factor that could become more critical while the US economy remains mired in recession.
Still, consumers switching to local growers pre-COVID, in combination with the changes wrought by the pandemic, are creating a significant market for locally sourced produce that poses new supply chain challenges and opportunities. Researchers across MIT CTL are working on research projects to better understand this trend.
VIDEO: May 2020 - Indoor Science Cafe Recording is Now Available - How to Fund Your Indoor Farm
This presentation 'How to Fund Your Indoor Farm' was given by Nicola Kerslake (Contain Inc.) during our 19th cafe forum on May 26th, 2020. Indoor Ag Science Cafe is organized by the OptimIA project team funded by USDA SCRI grant program.
This presentation 'How to Fund Your Indoor Farm' was given by Nicola Kerslake (Contain Inc.) during our 19th cafe forum on May 26th, 2020. Indoor Ag Science Cafe is organized by the OptimIA project team funded by USDA SCRI grant program.
Hydroponic Growers Defend Their Use of Organic Label From Outside The Courtroom
A federal civil action brought by soil-using organic growers does not name any of the hydroponic growers they want to prevent from using USDA’s organic label
By Dan Flynn on March 11, 2020
A federal civil action brought by soil-using organic growers does not name any of the hydroponic growers they want to prevent from using USDA’s organic label.
But that does not mean hydroponic growers are going to remain silent as the litigation proceeds against Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and other USDA officials.
The lawsuit was filed on March 2 against USDA by the Center for Food Safety and several prominent organic growers. Hydroponic growers, represented by the Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO) said the CFS roll-out was misleading.
Current policy as determined by Secretary Perdue permits hydroponic growers to use the official USDA organic seal. Perdue gets advice on such issues from the National Organic Standards Board, an appointed body that meets twice a year.
Lee Frankel, the executive director of the CSO, said the press release and legal complaint “contains incorrect information regarding the final 2017 NOSB vote on whether to recommend making hydroponics, containers, and aquaponic systems as prohibited practices.”
Frankel said the NOSB voted in the majority to reject that proposal. “It is false to state that USDA ignored the NOSB proposal when in fact the NOSB vote indicated that the majority of NOSB supported the existing USDA policy,” he added.
The CFS-led Plaintiffs in the lawsuit charge that current policy permitting hydroponics to use the USDA certified organic seal violates the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA). That’s because standards for implementing the act encourage organic growers to “foster soil health.”
Frankel says the CSO “is saddened by the latest attempts by the Center for Food Safety and their allies to limit fair competition and organic supplies in the market through legal action.”
“It is disappointing to see groups target pioneering organic farmers that use the most appropriate organic growing methods adapted to their site-specific conditions on their farms to meet the needs of consumers,” Frankel said.
Hydroponics has been called the “indoor agriculture evolution” by USDA, with the potential to offer a food safety advantage for growing lettuce and other leafy greens. Hydroponics grows plants in water using specific mineral nutrient solutions, not soils.
Frankel says his members are committed to the integrity of organic standards and the organic label. He says the groups behind the lawsuit failed to convince NOSB members that hydroponic and container production should be prohibited and there was significant industry debate by the organic community.
Frankel says the CFS “is seeking to eliminate public input to achieve their goals of restricting competition to drive up the price of organics for organic consumers to allow favored producers to increase their profit margins.”
While Perdue’s most recent decision favoring hydroponics occurred on June 6, 2019, the USDA policy is not new. “Growers using containers adhere to the USDA organic standards under the National Organic Program (NOP) and have been allowed to grow certified organic produce since the initiation of the nOP more than 25 years ago,” Frankel added.
Federal Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler with U.S. District Court for Northern California is hearing the case.
Sylvia Wu, senior attorney for CFS, says “federal organic law unequivocally requires organic production to promote soil fertility.” And CFS Executive Director says “healthy soil is the foundation of organic farming.”
As for the soil-using organic growers who are Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, price competition from hydroponic growers is causing economic damages, according to their complaint.
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)
Tags: Center for Food Safety (CFS), Coalition for Sustainable Organics (CSO), hydroponics, Lee Frankel, National Organic Standards Board