Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
100% Robotization Allows Constant Quality Produce
"One of the biggest bottlenecks for most vertical farms is labor-intensity and associated costs. Our first focus was to reduce manual handling," says Ard van de Kreeke, Growx's CEO and founder
"One of the biggest bottlenecks for most vertical farms is labor-intensity and associated costs. Our first focus was to reduce manual handling," says Ard van de Kreeke, Growx's CEO and founder.
Growx has recently been featured in the 75th edition of RuMoer Magazine by BOUT, a master student association program in Building Technology at TU Delft, the Netherlands. The 75th issue is dedicated to urban farming as a solution for reconnecting the urban population to their food sources.
Ard continues, "Not only to reduce cost but also to ensure a constant quality of produce. The implementation of 100% robotization was successfully introduced in 2020. This not only makes a huge difference in labor costs and produce quality but also keeps the cell extremely clean. Human interfaces are only needed for malfunctions and checks. Another additional advantage is that there is no need to keep aisles and room for personnel to move around."
Each plant (gutters) continuously records broad water and nutrients, exposure, and air quality. But also a photographic representation in visible and infra-red light. This data stream is centrally stored and analyzed with the aim of developing optimal cultivation profiles.
Growx's robots pick up the entire process from start to finish, in other words, from seeds to harvest. "As soon as the plant moves on to the next phase of the growing cycle, the robot can respond automatically. Think of different light- or water composition," says Ard.
The company created a closed-loop system, where 100% of their waste is recycled to produce energy, CO2, water, and nutrients. They use an anaerobic digester for all the waste, which results in biogas that can be used for heat pumps and CO2 for the plants to use.
The complete article can be found here.
For more information:
Growx
info@growx.co
www.growx.co
Start-Up Launches London’s First Delivery Service For Vertically-Farmed Eco-Friendly Greens
A London-based company is offering vertically-farmed, ultra fresh produce delivered straight to Londoners doors.
Crate To Plate Says All Its Greens Are Picked
Within 24-hours of Being Delivered To Your Door
Crate To Plate grow greens both vertically and horizontally, without soil, inside giant crates on the Isle of Dogs / Crate To Plate
A start-up is offering to deliver vertically-farmed vegetables to Londoners homes within 24 hours of harvesting in a first for the capital.
Crate to Plate, founded by former banker and scion of the supermarket dynasty, Sebastien Sainsbury, currently grows all its leafy greens inside three giant shipping containers on the Isle of Dogs.
The type of indoor farming the start-up uses has been tipped as the future of food production, and investors have spotted the trend.
The company, launched in London earlier this year, grows salad and herbs using hydroponics - which means seeds are grown year-round on vertical and horizontal racks without any soil or pesticides. The amount of water, light and “specially mixed” nutrients each kale or basil plant receives is carefully controlled.
(Crate To Plate staff include agriculture MA students / Crate To Plate)
The process uses around 95% less water than traditional farming, in a tiny space. In recent film A Life on Our Planet, David Attenborough recently warned of the critical importance of moving away from exhaustive farming practices to innovative solutions.
At the height of the November lockdown the team - which includes agriculture MA students - branched out into high-end “leafy veg box” deliveries spanning Zones 1-3. Each delivery is made on electric vehicle.
A £15 variety “farm to table” box will buy you 3 lettuce varieties, 3 bags of other leafy greens and 4 herbs - all harvested within 24-hours of arriving at your door.
Crate To Plate is now planning to expand around the capital. A second site is opening in Elephant & Castle in the new year, and the firms aims to have up to 15 “farms” by 2021. Each will produce up to six tonnes of fresh food per year.
Sainsbury, who previously founded the Hush Restaurant and organic baby food company Goodness Gracious, told the Standard he began exploring the business idea in 2015, after visiting a hydroponic farmer in Canada.
“I’m all about food wattage. One of the reasons I set up this business is for the environmental sustainability element of it. “Now technology has enabled us to move from growing on one row [as on the Canadian farm ] to growing both vertically and horizontally,” he said. Of the veg boxes, he said: “I did a bit of research and Londoners’ searches for ‘where does my food come from?’ increased by 40% in the pandemic.
“The pandemic was an opportunity to focus on home delivery. We’ve been sold out every week.”
“Everyone is talking about 15 minute cities now. Effectively that was what I was talking about - I want everyone to be able to get fresh leafy greens no more than a mile away from where they live.”
Critics of vertical farming have said it is just too expensive a method to realistically become the future of UK farming. But Sainsbury said the team is already working with farmers around the country to get them on board, with the aim of eventually expanding UK-wide.
Published by Dani Kliegerman for iGrow.News
Plenty And Driscoll’s Partner To Grow Strawberries Indoors
Strawberries aren’t exactly exotic, but for vertical farming, they are a logical next crop after leafy greens
San Francisco Bay Area-based vertical farming startup Plenty and well-known berry brand Driscoll’s announced a partnership today to grow strawberries year-round via controlled-environment indoor farms. The partnership will use Plenty’s indoor farming technology and incorporate Driscoll’s proprietary genetics for strawberries, according to a press release sent to The Spoon.
Plenty hinted at strawberries (and tomatoes) more than a year ago when it unveiled its high-tech vertical farm Tigris. Currently, the company is best known for its mixtures of leafy greens, which it grows indoors via the hydroponic method. Plenty’s facilities also utilize sensors, LED light mixtures, and temperature and air control to create the optimal growing environment for plants.
Leafy greens are still one of the most common crops grown in these controlled-environment farms and for a few good reasons. For one thing, they’re one of the most popular produce types among U.S. consumers today. They are also far more delicate than, say, a mango, making it harder to transport them without spoilage. Leafy greens also yield more crops in a smaller space compared to something like a row of sweetcorn, and they can be harvested faster. Something like a strawberry takes more time to grow, and one profile of Plenty last year noted that it can take up to nine months to understand how a strawberry plant performs inside a controlled environment operation.
Lately, though, more ag-tech companies have announced plans to grow more than arugula and herbs. Most notably, a Singapore-based company called SinGrow has employed its proprietary vertical farming tech to grow strawberries on a rack designed specifically for that fruit. SinGrow also creates its own strawberry breeds. Unfold, which just raised $30 million, has added cucumbers and tomatoes to its roster. Plenty itself said at the time of the Tigris launch that it wants to grow “exotic” fruits and vegetables, though as yet the company hasn’t named specific crops.
Strawberries aren’t exactly exotic, but for vertical farming, they are a logical next crop after leafy greens. Plenty’s home state of California produces over 91 percent of the country’s entire strawberry supply, and that fruit is also high on U.S. consumers’ lists.
To start, Driscoll’s will grow strawberries at Plenty’s Laramie, Wyoming facility. Driscoll’s Chairman and CEO J. Miles Reiter said in today’s press release that this partnership “will create a competitive market edge.” While that remains to be seen, one thing we can expect with a fair amount of certainty is that more companies will be growing strawberries via controlled environments in the months to come.
Growing Upwards: Q & A on Vertical Farming
Over time, farming practices have evolved to use less energy, pesticides, water and other needed inputs to grow the foods we depend on. A type of farming that recently has grown in popularity is vertical farming
By Food Insight
OCTOBER 22, 2019
Over time, farming practices have evolved to use less energy, pesticides, water and other needed inputs to grow the foods we depend on.
A type of farming that recently has grown in popularity is vertical farming. Building off the base concept of how greenhouses operate, this agricultural system allows for large-scale farming to occur on vertically inclined surfaces. Fruits and vegetables can be grown without the use of soil or natural sunlight, and the produce is often able to grow faster than it does in a traditional farm setting. A key advantage of vertical farms is that they can operate in urban areas and don’t require wide-open land; their vertical surfaces can be easily incorporated into a city’s existing structures and buildings.
Vertical farming has now been used in locations where large-scale farming previously has not been possible, such as in urban spaces throughout Brooklyn, New York, and Chicago, Illinois. Vertical farming’s small land usage and positive environmental benefits have the potential to increase sustainability, lower food costs, and increase accessibility and food security across the country.
We’ve touched on vertical farming in previous posts, but to take a closer look, we caught up with expert Ricky Stephens, who works with Agritecture, a vertical farming, and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) strategist group.
Q: What is vertical farming?
Vertical farming is the growing of crops in an indoor/controlled environment setting, in vertical stacks. Typically, vertical farming is done without using soil as the main practice. Instead, vertical farming uses practices like: hydroponics (growing plants in sand, gravel or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil), aeroponics (growing plants with roots suspended in air and nutrients delivered in a fine mist), or aquaponics (using the waste produced by farmed fish as nutrients for hydroponically grown plants).
Q: Why do you think vertical farming is being used as an alternative to traditional farming?
The top reasons for using vertical farming that come to mind for me include:
Vertical farming uses significantly less water than traditional farming. Currently, global agriculture accounts for 70 percent of freshwater withdrawals (use of freshwater). Instead of using up so much water directly, vertical farming often utilizes indoor hydroponics to grow crops. Using a recirculating system to recycle water, indoor hydroponics uses up to 70 to 95 percent less water than would be used in a traditional outdoor in-soil setting.
Vertical farming also eliminates the need for pesticides while reducing hazards. By balancing the use of beneficial insects, having heightened biosecurity protocols, and being in a well-controlled indoor environment, vertical farms can operate pesticide-free.
Vertical farming reduces pressures on our overall land use and addresses our concerns surrounding land scarcity. Due to population growth and land degradation, we’re running out of arable land. Furthermore, with the over-development of certain urban areas into industrial-style buildings (factories, warehouses), there is a plethora of vacant and utilizable spaces in cities that are very close to consumers. These areas are suitable for creating controlled, crop-friendly environments that can further “eating local” efforts.
Q: Where do you see vertical farming being able to help our food supply chain from a supply and sustainability standpoint?
Vertical farming moves production closer to the point of consumption—this means potentially less food miles and increased vegetable access. Let’s take one example of a very commonly consumed and desired food item: leafy greens. Currently, 98 percent of the current U.S. leafy greens production occurs traditionally (as outdoor crops) in California and Arizona. Not only are these water-dense produce items grown in severely water-scarce regions, they are then shipped thousands of miles across the country (and sometimes around the world).
As an alternative, vertical farming can be very useful for the leafy greens industry. In fact, because vertical farming is indoors and unaffected by weather conditions, you can grow greater quantities of different types of leafy greens all year round. In turn, this food can be immediately injected into the local food supply, thereby increasing availability and decreasing food loss and food waste during transportation.
In the long term, vertical farms will increase the diversity of crop choices and become more focused on producing different varieties of highly nutritious and frequently consumed products like mushrooms and strawberries. Vertical farms will also play an integral role in our larger movement toward sustainability and supporting local and regional food systems.
Q: What advances do you think will occur/are needed for vertical farming in the next 5–10 years?
We need technology advances that allow normal people—not just tech entrepreneurs or those with monetary funds—to access fair financing for vertical farms. As it currently stands, vertical farming can be cost-prohibitive to launch and start. For vertical farming to become more widely implemented there is a need for innovations and advances that bring down the high initial investment costs. The good news is this has started happening in the greenhouse space already.
Q: What ag (agricultural) technology excites you the most and why?
Soon we will need to feed upwards of 9 billion people in this world. On one hand, ag technology must be better utilized by farmers. On a more global and sustainable level, any technology that will push us all towards a more circular economy is exciting.
Agricultural technology supported by circular economy principles will begin exploring new business models, processes, and bio-stimulants that will play a major role in transforming our food system to be less wasteful and more regenerative.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
My team travels the world educating the broader public on the importance and potential of urban agriculture every chance we get. We have organized several of our own conferences in New York and Atlanta. It’s energizing to be working in a field with so many people who are fueled by honest passion and the pursuit of positive change.
We thank Ricky for his urban ag insights and look forward to seeing how more farming advances like vertical farming can positively impact our food system. To learn more about Agritecture and vertical farming, check out the company’s website here at www.agritecture.com.
Article was written by Lily Yang, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Associate at Virginia Tech in the Department of Food Science and Technology