Israel’s Vertical Field Inks Deal To Deploy Its Farming System In UAE

By LUKE TRESS

Produce grown using Israeli start up Vertical Field's farming system. (Courtesy/Vertical Field)

Vertical Field, a startup that has developed a vertical farming system, has signed an accord with an Emirati company to deploy its products to the United Arab Emirates.

The Israeli ag-tech firm signed the agreement with Emirates Smart Solutions & Technologies, Vertical Field said in a statement on Wednesday.

Vertical Field will set up pilot vertical farms in the Emirate of Umm Al Quwain ahead of a wider roll-out in the UAE, the company said. The pilot will aim to determine which crops are best for the local market and will be supported and overseen by Vertical Field’s Israeli agronomists.

The firm expects the project to expand into a multimillion-dollar venture that will include distributing Vertical Field’s products to additional Gulf states, the company said.

Roughly 80 percent of agricultural food products in the UAE is imported from abroad, amounting to $10 billion in trade in 2018. The increasing cost of transporting food and concerns over food security played a part in the new partnership, Vertical Field said.

“Arid desert regions face many challenges surrounding the production of high-quality agricultural produce at low prices. With the help of various agricultural technologies and new developments, we believe that we can successfully align the demands of the market with competitive prices without compromising quality,” Guy Elitzur, Vertical Field’s CEO, said in a statement.

Maher Makalde, the CEO of Emirates Smart Solutions & Technologies, said, “We are excited for the opportunity to partner with Vertical Field and bring advanced Israeli vertical technology that enables the growth of produce in a controlled and predictable way, overcoming harsh outdoor climate conditions.

“Our goal is to establish food security that is independent of imports and to develop a high-quality agricultural infrastructure that reaches the retail market,” Makalde said.

An illustration of vegetables growing on walls by Vertical Field. (Courtesy)

Vertical Field’s soil-based installations are made up of separate blocks of plants that can be rearranged at will to produce locally sourced vegetables. This green wall of vegetation is suitable for growing vegetables in stores, offices and apartment buildings, or anywhere in urban areas, which have little space but many walls.

The firm, formerly called Green Wall Israel, said that products grown with its farming method are pesticide-free, generate less waste than conventional agriculture and utilize 90% less water, growing in precise quantities in a controlled environment with shorter growing cycles.

Produce in its containers can grow 365 days a year and is free of the limitations usually imposed by seasons, weather, climate and location.

The farms are modular, expandable and moveable, with fully automated crop management and a sterile environment that requires significantly less human contact. The crops that are currently offered include lettuce, basil, parsley, kale, mint and others, and are competitively priced, the firm said in a statement.

Israel and the oil-rich UAE signed a US-brokered normalization agreement in September, opening the way for business and tourism between the two countries, after years of covert trade exceeding $1 billion annually by some estimates.

The UAE, a federation of seven desert sheikdoms dependent on petrodollars, has been keen to cash in on the influx of Israeli investment and travel, particularly after the pandemic diminished demand for oil and hammered international tourism.

Earlier this month, Vertical Field signed an agreement with Moderntrendo S.R.O, an agricultural distributor in Ukraine, to deploy its plant installations in supermarket chains nationwide.

In December Vertical Field also signed a “multi-million dollar” agreement with Israeli discount supermarket chain Rami Levy for the installation of its vertical farming containers on the stores’ premises.

Vertical Field is based in Ra’anana in central Israel and was founded in 2006.

Agtech Attracts Celebrities

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January 3, 2021

Amy Wu Contributor

Forbes Women

I report and write about food, farms, and farm tech.

Food and farming are attracting celebrity investment including from Meghan Markle, Oprah, and Katy Perry to name a few.

While food and farming are increasingly in the limelight in part driven by the pandemic. COVID-19 has catapulted food and farming to the forefront of the minds of ordinary folks who have had first-hand experiences related to food shortage, food supply, and food safety surfaced.

Now the sector has piqued the interest of investors too including celebrities. 

In 2020 there was a steady stream of investments in a sector that has traditionally struggled to attract investors especially venture capitalists who seek fast returns.

Agtech has seen robust investment in recent years. Growers are increasingly seeking solutions for challenges including a severe labor shortage and water and land management issues, and open to adopting innovations that increase yield and efficiency.

A growing number of investors are also banking on companies that support sustainability and promote conservation. In 2020, venture capitalists invested $4 billion in startups in the agtech space, according to Crunchbase a research company. This is up significantly from the $2.8 billion that venture capital investors placed in agtech startups across the globe in 2019. 

Little surprise that public figures are jumping on the bandwagon too.

“Celebrities have access to tech thought leaders and see what they are excited about and want to be in on the new trend,” says Jaleh Daie an entrepreneur and seed investor with a focus on agtech. Daie observes that the agrifood tech sector is climbing and has yet to see its peak.

Pam Marrone, the founder of Marrone Bio Innovations and investor in agtech start-ups, notes: “More than ever, consumers care about how their food is produced and processed. Celebrities are tuned into this trend and see that they can help shift us along to a more transparent and sustainable food system that reduces food waste and improves people’s health.”

Below are a few high profile investments by household personalities in 2020:

Meghan Markle invested in Clevr Brands a Santa Barbara, California-based company that specializes in instant oat milk latte. The company, led by CEO and founder Hannah Mendoza, asserts that its products are green-friendly and ethically sourced.

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Meghan Markle (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

Oprah Winfrey and Katy Perry invested in Apeel Sciences a California-based foodtech company that produces coasting for fruit that is edible. Among her various properties, Winfrey also owns and lives on a farm.

Perry, Serena Williams, and Jay-Z invested in Impossible Foods a company in Redwood City, California that develops plant-based substitutes in lieu of meat.   

Finally, tech magnates Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft, and Eric Schmidt the former CEO of Google have been expanding their investment in agtech. In 2020 Microsoft announced that it had launched Azure, a suite of tch tools and resources to help agtech start-ups in India. The Schmidt Family Foundation made food and agriculture one of the four areas of investment.  

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A visitor takes a picture of vegetables growing under artificial light on a Grow Stack vertical farm at the 2019 RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London on May 20, 2019. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)

Coming in 2021

Marrone forecasts that agtech and food tech will continue gaining momentum in 2021 when it comes to interest and investment. Consumers are becoming more focused on eating healthier and interested in where their food comes from. On a global scale, there is a growing interest in food supply chain transparency through blockchain technology.

Vertical farms and indoor agriculture, plant-based protein substitutes, and companies tackling food waste attract significant attention.

“There is a burgeoning startup ecosystem of B2B agbio and agtech companies getting funded that are focusing on tackling the problems and inefficiencies of chemical fertilizers and pesticides,” Marrone says.

Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website.

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Amy Wu

I am award-winning writer and documentary filmmaker for the women’s ag and agtech movement, and previously covered agriculture for The Californian in Salinas, Calif. I am also the founder of From Farms to Incubators, an online platform that profiles minority women entrepreneurs in agtech and includes an award-winning documentary that has screened at SXSW and Techonomy. I have over 24 years of experience working as an investigative journalist including at Time magazine, the USA Today Network, and The Deal. I earned my master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. 

Lead photo: FUJI CITY, JAPAN - A worker inspects lettuce plants at the hi-tech Innovatus farm. Sensors collect information on all the factors that affect the development of plants. (Photo by Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Terramera Deploys New Industry-Leading Technology To Speed Discovery of Sustainable Crop Solutions For Farmers

December 3, 2020

New customized growth chambers and liquid handling robot already delivering better, faster research results

• Where many crop protection products fail in the field because testing doesn’t accurately replicate on-farm conditions, Terramera’s new growth chambers are customized to simulate wide-ranging weather as climate change leads to even more extreme conditions for farmers

• Fully automated and uniquely retrofitted for experimental use, Terramera’s growth chambers will reduce the trial time from weeks to days while strengthening the connection between the lab and the farm and paving the way for the future of food

• New liquid handling robot, “Enzing,” is a best-in-class design that is rapidly screening active ingredients with Terramera’s Actigate™ technology

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VANCOUVER, BC – December 3, 2020 – Terramera, the global agtech leader fusing science, nature, and artificial intelligence to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture, today announced the launch of six custom, state-of-the-art plant growth chambers, showcasing Terramera’s industry-leading technological capabilities and redefining indoor agriculture’s contribution to field-based production.

Many crop protection products fail in the field because labs and greenhouses do not accurately replicate real-world conditions. Each chamber offers precise control over temperature (ranging from 5 to 40 degrees Celsius), humidity, and light to simulate many possible field conditions, from cool nights and morning mists to desert and subtropical conditions, and will be outfitted with a Terramera-built automation system for end-to-end integration. Automation will enable experiments to run entirely without human intervention including watering, spraying, nutrient dosing, and imaging of the plants throughout their lifecycle, dramatically accelerating data collection for product performance and increasing accuracy with Terramera’s industry-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) platform.

“Customized growth chambers allow us to simulate weather to study disease and insect infestations with integrated treatment and imaging systems in one automated system -- replicated six times for parallel studies,” said Annett Rozek, Terramera Chief Scientific Officer. “This is as close as we can get to real-world conditions in a research environment and will deliver solutions as rapidly and efficiently as possible.”

The new growth chambers bring Terramera’s total to 12 and are part of a larger technological scale-up for the company, which also brought a new best-in-class liquid handling robot on board. Terramera’s own machine learning (ML) model named the robot, “Enzing,” which is integrated into Terramera’s fully automated in-vitro screening and data analysis pipeline. The robot has already enabled Terramera’s largest in-vitro screening project yet, testing the company’s Actigate™ library against numerous plant disease pathogens.

“This marks an exciting milestone for Terramera and a step-change in the industry by adding a new, essential capacity,” said Karn Manhas, Terramera Founder, and CEO. “Simulated environment studies are the missing link between controlled environments like the lab or greenhouse and field trials since many products fail because lab and greenhouse conditions are too different from the outside world on a farm. This technology increases our throughput, allowing us to predict outcomes more accurately, allowing us to quickly scale our knowledge and technologies to make farming healthier, more sustainable and productive while turning back the clock on climate change.”

About Terramera

Terramera is a global agtech leader fusing science, nature, and artificial intelligence to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture in the next decade. With its revolutionary Actigate™ technology platform, which was recognized by Fast Company as a 2020 World Changing Idea, Terramera is committed to reducing the global synthetic pesticide load 80% by 2030 to protect plant and human health and ensure an earth that thrives and provides for everyone. The privately held, venture-backed company was founded in 2010 and has grown to include a world-class bench of engineers, scientists, advisors, and investors. Terramera is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with integrated operations in Canada, the US and India that include research labs, a greenhouse and farm, and more than 240 patents in its global IP portfolio.

For more information, please visit Terramera.com

Media Contact

Valerie Martin  

VP Strategic Communications – Terramera  

valerie.martin@terramera.com

612-743-4013

"We Have Barely Scratched The Surface In The MENA AgTech Sector"

"Badia Farms is the first commercial vertical farm to launch in the GCC. We officially started operations in the heart of Dubai in 2016, but the seeds were planted further back. My background is in engineering and banking. I first took the entrepreneurial leap in Saudi Arabia in the hospitality sector by opening multiple unique restaurant concepts." That's how Omar Al Jundi, Founder & CEO of Badia Farms, introduces himself.

Mesmerized by hydroponics
When he decided to enter his next venture, he says "I knew it had to be both challenging and able to add value and make a difference to our society and communities. When I was introduced to the concept of hydroponics, I was mesmerized with this new technique of growing where we don’t require any soil, we can recycle 90% of the water, and it can be grown in a fully closed environment, without even sunlight!  Years before we launched I learned as much from experts, conferences, courses, and by working in a high-tech greenhouse facility in Holland."

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Sustainability
Food security is one of the main issues in the MENA region, and the development of sustainable farming is crucial. "We have seen this first hand during the early days of the Covid pandemic," Omar says. "Produce supply chains were halted, and many countries (especially in MENA) had to reassess their long-term plans and fast-track their commitment to AgTech models such as vertical farming."

The choice to go vertical
Vertical farming and AgTech is needed in the GCC. Why? Omar explains: "Over-dependence on imported produce and the simple fact that traditional framing does not work in our arid desert climate. I want to tackle an issue that will make a difference to society while preserving our natural resources such as water. Badia products are pesticide and herbicide-free. Since our crops are grown naturally in sterile, soil-free mediums, along with the controlled environment, it removes the need for harmful additives. We can also harvest fresh produce all year round. Our harvest yields 4-8 times the amount of crops in the same space compared to conventional soil farming. As a former restaurateur, it has been amazing to be able to work with the top chefs and restaurants in the UAE and be able to supply them with fresh, better than organic flavourful products that wouldn't be available to them otherwise. The journey from food to table is much shorter."

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Optimal growth conditions
In this vertical farming environment, Badia Farms is able to control every aspect of the ecosystem to ensure optimal growth conditions are provided for each crop. "For example, our facilities utilize LEDs, artificial lighting to replace the sunlight, we control and monitor all environmental inputs (humidity, temperature, CO2), and we use computer linked dosing units to schedule the irrigation and feed formulas," Omar points out. "Lastly, our hydroponic growing methods use 90% less water compared to open field growing, and since we recirculate our water there’s no wastage."

Support needed
There were also some challenges along the way to achieving this, as AgTech and modern farming are still very new to the region. "The biggest challenge is there aren’t off the shelf solutions that we can purchase and implement immediately," Omar says. "In the case of vertical farming, which is still at an infancy stage globally, we had to design our own grow system to form our IP and ensure we have a commercial operation that will yield high-quality products and profits to ensure we stay in business.

We surely need a lot more support from the government and private sectors for this industry to see the light. For example, the government can support the industry by introducing cost-effective initiatives that reduce the operational cost that will ensure the viability of the projects. Educating the public and consumers on the benefits of modern farming and vertical farming is very important to ensure the continuity of this new industry. We are seeing more regional and global VC's and investment funds interested in the AgTech sector in our region, but they haven’t made the big investments yet!"

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Opportunities in the Middle East
Asked what advice Omar would give to people looking into breaking into the UAE food/ag market, he says: "What's great right now is that we have barely scratched the surface in the MENA AgTech sector, so there are so many opportunities, which has been propelled by the pandemic. The UAE is an open economy, I suggest whoever is interested to enter the market to come and meet with the different governmental entities, to meet with distributors, understand the market dynamics, pricing, etc. Come and do the work themselves vs hiring a consultant to do the job. The journey won't be easy. But even with the advent of technology farming is still what it was hundreds of years ago: to grow something needs constant attention, passion, and patience."

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E-commerce platform
Badia Farms has a lot in store for the future, like increasing their product offering, expanding their facility in the UAE, and growing their team. "We are also excited about the launch of our own e-commerce platform! The crop will be harvested only once a customer places an order and will reach them within a couple of hours. We are also raising our next round of funding. So a lot is going on", Omar concludes.

Omar Al Jundi will be one of the speakers during the upcoming Agritecture Xchange. When registering, you can use the code 'HDaily10' to get 10% off tickets.

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For more information:
Badia Farms
www.badiafarms.com

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Publication date: Fri 23 Oct 2020
Author: Jan Jacob Mekes
© HortiDaily.com

Hyve Indoor Farming Systems Looking To Hire Indoor Farming Technology Sales And Support Position

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By urbanagnews

September 4, 2020

Indoor Farming Technology Sales & Support Position

For The Territory

of North and South America

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This is an outstanding opportunity for a person who is willing to learn the
Controlled Environment Agriculture business from the ground up. There is
significant advancement potential for the right person in this rapidly growing cutting-edge company.

For Interest in applying, please send your resume and cover letter to Ron Acorn at racorn@dascom.com

Job Objective:

• Develop HYVE Indoor Farming Systems business by Sales and

• Support of customers

• Responsibilities:

• Support HYVE System sales

• Take customer calls and inquires

• Update and maintain data in CRM system

• Proactive phone calls for follow up/appointments/GrowLab tours

• Collaboratively develop Quotes and Proposals

• Pricing/Availability

• Program/Project support for system Implementations

• Work with In House Grower to assist in Grow Lab testing and maintenance

• Technical Support for customers on growing process

• Technical Support for customers on grow system issues

• Customer visits as needed to review locations and support projects

Relationships and Roles:

Internal / External Cooperation

• Demonstrate the ability to interact and cooperate with all company employees.

• Build trust, value others, communicate effectively, drive execution, foster innovation, focus on the customer, collaborate with others, solve problems creatively, and demonstrate high integrity.

• Maintain professional internal and external relationships that meet company core values.

• Proactively establish and maintain effective working team relationships.

Job Specifications and Requirements:

• College degree in Horticulture or related experience

• Desire to work in a business environment and culture with customer first attitude

• Desire to be part of the future of controlled environment agriculture and a willingness to grow with the company

• Demonstrate a “Can Do” attitude in a dynamic environment

• Honest, ethical, good sense of humor

• Self-starter with excellent communication skills

• PC-literate

• Logical, business-oriented thinker able to represent the company in a sales capacity as it relates to the quotation of technical equipment in a variety of applications

• Willing to assist with hands-on growing and experimentation in a vertical farming environment

• Organized and able to handle multiple tasks in a rapidly changing environment

• Ability to travel as needed to customer sites, for trade shows, or to represent the company at organizational meetings

Netled Partners Up With Agritech Start-Up Vertigo Farms – A Focus On New Kinds of Vertical Farming Applications

26th August 2020 by johannak

Netled and a Polish agritech start-up Vertigo Farms have announced a new technology partnership. Vertigo Farms will use Netled’s Vera® vertical farming technology in its indoor growing projects. The collaboration has already started, and the goal is to have the first plants growing at the beginning of 2021.

Vertigo Farms is the first publicly known European actor to produce natural extracts from plants grown indoors. Mainly herbs are grown and processed in a sustainable manner with no use of chemicals, all-year-round, regardless of weather conditions.

“At Vertigo Farms, we believe that vertical farming serves the future not only for direct consumption purposes, but it may also serve as base for highest quality natural extracts for food, cosmetics and pharma industries”, comments Dawid Drzewiecki, the CEO of Vertigo Farms.

The company works with research laboratories and universities to develop methods for optimal conditions and nutrition of plants to boost their growth. Each type of plant requires a different approach. For start, the company will experiment with Safflower, Lovage, and Opium poppy, but there will be more species along the way.

Niko Kivioja, CEO of Netled, comments the newly formed partnership: “Vertigo Farms has a very interesting approach to produce natural extracts. Netled is proud to be Vertigo’s technology partner. In addition to this, our crop specialist team is especially excited to have insight into the new, more exotic plants growing in a vertical farming environment. Globally, we see massive opportunities to produce crops which have very high-quality standards in vertical farms, alongside the more common leafy greens.”

The mission of Vertigo Farms is to process and deliver the highest quality natural ingredients with the use of state-of-the-art solutions. Thus, the goal is a great fit with Netled, as the company aims to provide the best technology, expertise, and guidance for vertical farming projects and actors all around the globe.

Read more about Netled’s Vera® Vertical Farm: https://netled.fi/vertical-farming-vera/ 

Read more about Vertigo Farms: http://vertigofarms.eu/

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Filed Under: NewsTagged With: indoor farming, indoor farming technology, indoor growing, sustainable growing, vertical farm, vertical farming, vertical farming expertise, vertical farming technique, vertical farming technology

“We Are Developing A Sustainable Technology That Uses 75% Less LED Lighting”

Verde Compacto, a Mexican start-up, producer of container farms and indoor farming growing technologies, has seen significant demand for their growing systems during the pandemic. 

"COVID is driving this market forward because people want to know what is behind their food and their diets. Logistic chains in countries like South Korea and Arab countries are really dependent on imports. They are trying to implement urban technologies to strengthen their supply chains. As we’re focusing on growing systems, we are trying to turn this into reality. We are growing food in a more sustainable way where everyone can benefit from it”, Juan Gabriel Succar, Co-Founder and CCO of Verde Compacto says.

The company has an R&D container farm, Huvster, with several labs and small scale systems. The company sells some of its crops locally to better understand the urban business model, as Verde Compacto is educating the future indoor growers.

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The Huvster growing container

Succar continues: “We are providing the knowledge to any grower that wants to have an urban farm and we are helping them throughout the process by constructing a farm to their needs.” The company does not only build container farms, which is their standard model but also provides custom made projects such as warehouses or buildings. Or on a smaller scale like supermarkets and restaurants. “We provide the knowledge to install a farm at any size”.

Decreasing LED use

Verde Compacto is looking to improve the electricity use for its growing solutions. “We are developing a sustainable technology that uses 75% less LED lighting, which is part of a sustainable R&D project. The tests are still running but they have delivered positive results. In the end, our technology used for indoor farms allows us to rotate the lamps. Rather than using four lamps at one spot, Verde Compacto can use one light that is constantly rotating. That's why we can make such a big impact on light usage”, Succar affirms. 

Lack of quality and water

“Every business model and location has different benefits. As we are one of the largest agricultural countries in the world, we can offer excellent fresh produce quality. The sad story is that all the good fruits and vegetables are exported, thus there is a lack of quality products here in Mexico”, Succar says.

Succar says that Verde Compacto’s technology can build a profitable business model to deliver excellent quality and healthy food to the Mexican society. He notes that the central Mexican region sees a big challenge: a large water shortage. “With our solution, companies still see an opportunity to grow food and maintain their quality by using fewer resources”, Succar notes. 

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Sustainability

“We always try to give the best options possible regarding our client’s budget, business model, and capabilities. Verde Compacto is cooperating with solar panels to give access to clients for installing these solutions. “Renewable energy, in the end, really depends on the client. Our goal is to make vertical farming as sustainable as we can”, Succar states. At the end of October this year the company will install the first urban farm in Salamanca, Mexico which will be run on 100% solar energy.

Price opportunities

 Succar: “In Mexico, we provide our produce at a lower price level than supermarkets. This is done on purpose, to get people to know about vertical farming. Sometimes we are on the same price level.”

Olivier Kappetein, EU representative at Verde Compacto notes: “We have a financial stimulator and we found out that we can bring product prices down. Consumers would pay less compared to supermarket prices as they are unbelievably high. In the United Arab Emirates, locally grown products are unfindable. An iceberg lettuce costs around €7.60 (9 USD) or more. We could get that price down by at least 350% and still make a profit if we were to sell our produce there. We are aiming to sell high-quality food and that’s what they are looking for.”

Pre- and post COVID story

Verde Compacto has a pre- COVID story and a post-COVID story regarding any company expansions. The pre-COVID story was to expand to all Latin American countries, as a priority. They started several alliances and promoted the Verde Compacto technology in Latin America. However, the economy in Latin America was really affected during the pandemic.

“Thus, countries depending on imports saw a great opportunity in our technology for constant production. We didn’t get behind on the expansion actually. Right now, we are working with associations to open different commercial offices in several countries in Latin America. We will be expanding there at the beginning of next year. We are also exploring different options in different parts of the world, expanding globally. One of the regions is Northern Europe because we saw the need for farming technology in those countries. Especially in Luxemburg, where there’s limited fresh produce available.

“The most common problem in vertical farming is the unawareness of the consumer”, Kappetein adds. “They don’t know what it has to offer. It’s still an investment that needs to be made. There is still a greater focus on organic produce as they are aware of the great benefits that come along.”

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The Verde Compacto team

Forage

Verde Compacto has been developing its own R&D department, generating knowledge that is also used for new product lines. Succar continues: “We are developing indoor farming systems that are not limited to leafy greens and herbs, but also for forage e.g.. Forage is eaten by grazing cattle mostly. With our hydro system, we can feed cows e.g. with using fewer resources in a more profitable way. The meat and milk industry is impacting the ecosystem significantly. Implementing this technology will help us to make this type of agriculture more sustainable.” The company is also exploring the opportunities of launching indoor strawberries, with the greatest focus on Europe.  

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For more information:
Verde Compacto
Juan Gabriel Succar, Co-founder, and CCO
juan.gabriel@verdecompacto.com 
Olivier Kappetein, EU representative
olivier.kappetein@verdecompacto.com 
Phone: +316 14 62 13 10.
www.verdecompacto.com 

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Publication date: Tue 8 Sep 2020
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© HortiDaily.com

Federal Grant Bolsters Higher Education In AgTech

Growers have indicated the need for highly skilled workforce is becoming more urgent as technology restructures the future of farming.

Today’s blog notes a bright spot amongst many past reports of reduced government-backed financial support in research & development (R&D) and education programs that aim to improve living conditions, reduce environmental impact, and manage the growing population’s resources via technology.

Cornell University has reported that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), has endowed the university’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ School of Integrative Plant Science with a $496,000 grant. The federal funding will be used to develop new controlled environment agriculture (CEA) training programs for a skilled workforce that is sorely needed.

Cornell’s associate professor of horticulture Neil Mattson, well-known to us as the keynote speaker at our 2019 HortiCann Light + Tech conference, will collaborate with Cornell Small Farms program director Anu Rangarajan, Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute, and SUNY Broome Community College to create a technical training certificate in CEA production. The partners also expect to develop a two-year associate’s degree program for students at these institutions and other community colleges to provide solid education in CEA.

Mattson said in the Cornell Chronicle, “Growers consistently state that finding well-trained personnel to operate their facilities is among the largest barriers to expansion.”

Why do we need this educational support? The global population is growing, and supply needs to ramp up to deliver healthy foods to all economic strata. Many food crops are currently unavailable close to home for many, which places a burden on transportation and increases carbon footprint, as well as impacting shelf life. CEA can bring many food-growing resources closer to consumers, especially in urban areas or regions that would prove inhospitable to sensitive crops in a traditional farming operation.

CEA gives growers the means to apply physical systems of growth media, environmental controls, horticultural lighting, and water supply systems along with evidence-backed research in pest management, food safety processes, light customization, and more to produce food sources in a manner designed to balance economic viability, food demand, and sustainability.

Technologies available to modern CEA growers would naturally require a more advanced skillset. Indeed, said Rangarajan, “Our efforts have laid the groundwork for what I hope will be a dynamic training program that will build the workforce and elevate the industry as a whole.”

It’s an exciting time in the horticultural and agricultural space, and learning opportunities abound. Bookmark our HortiCann Light + Tech conference homepage for updates on our upcoming October program, now virtual for 2020. Moving beyond horticultural lighting fundamentals, the program will also delve into agribusiness and the return on investment in advanced systems and controls, AgTech systems integration, and topics related to legalized cannabis growing operations.

Photo credit: Image by iamereri via Pixabay; used under free license for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

Author: Carrie Meadows | LEDsMagazine | Jul 10, 2020

VIRTUAL SUMMIT: Connecting Technology & Business To Create Healthy, Resilient Food Systems - July 23, 2020

The Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit is going virtual!  This year’s summit will be live online on July 23, 2020, providing an essential opportunity for the industry to meet, network, https://indooragtechnyc.com/, and exchange ideas at this critical time for our industry.

The world’s leading farm operators, food retailers, and investors will present live, before hosting virtual discussion groups on the emerging trends and technologies that will shape your business as we emerge from the current crisis into a redesigned food system:

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Key Themes:

·       Finding Growth in Crisis: Responding to a Rapidly Changing Food Landscape

·       Scaling Up: Co-locating Food Production and Distribution Centers

·       Enhancing Nutritional Value: Towards a Perfect Plant Recipe

·       Optimizing Seeds for Indoor Agriculture: Breeding a Competitive Advantage

·       Analytics and the Cloud: Digital Integration to Optimize Indoor Agriculture

·       Robotics: Developing a Contactless Food System

·       Energy Consumption: Driving Efficiency and Economic Viability

·       Financing Growth: Can Capital Keep Pace with Industry Demand?

·       Consumer Awareness: How to Build a “Holistic” Indoor Brand

All participants can schedule video 1-1 meetings with potential partners and clients throughout the summit, and for an extended period before and after the sessions.

By sharing best practice from around the globe, and facilitating new connections and collaborations, the summit offers an invaluable platform to develop new business and accelerate projects across the Indoor AgTech ecosystem.

Summit website: https://indooragtechnyc.com/

Registration:

-       One summit pass Indoor AgTech: $195.00

-       Start-Up pass: $95.00 / Please contact jamie.alexander@rethinkevents.com to enquire about the criteria to qualify for special rates.

https://indooragtechnyc.com/register/

PODCAST: Kyle Barnett and Rob Spivock Talk Ag Tech

In this two-part episode of the CropTalk series, #KyleTalksAgTech, Kyle Barnett speaks with Robert Spivock, Director of Technology at GE Current about what makes an LED horticulture light truly reliable, using cars as a reference point for the listeners.

Listen to the podcast here. 

Is Vertical Farming The Post-COVID Future of Food Production?

NEWS PROVIDED BY: Local Leaf Farms 

Jun 22, 2020

New Canadian agtech company Local Leaf Farms opens first vertical farming facility, producing fresh, safe, and sustainable hyper-local produce. Barrie location is the first of 20 planned to open by the end of 2025.

BARRIE, ON, June 22, 2020,/CNW/ - New Canadian agtech company Local Leaf Farms officially opened its first vertical farming facility today, establishing itself as a company ready to transform Canada's food industry. Using vertical farming technology, Local Leaf produces hyper-local produce that's fresher, more sustainable, and fully traceable - directly addressing many of the challenges of food production highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Alongside the launch, Local Leaf also released the findings of a study conducted by IPSOS that confirmed the ways in which COVID-19 has impacted the way Canadians are making decisions about food: according to the survey, 68% of Canadians say the pandemic has made food safety more important to them and 47% say locally produced food is today their top purchase driver.

"Canadian consumers are demanding greater transparency about the food they eat. And that demand has never been more urgent," said Steve Jones, President, and CEO of Local Leaf Farms. "As we begin to consider a post-COVID reality, we need to have real discussions about the stability - and overall future - of food production in this country. Local Leaf is bringing leading-edge technology to the food sector to produce the fresh, safe, and sustainable produce that Canadians are asking for."

Today, the average package of leafy greens in Canadian grocery stores travels 3,000 km before it lands in a shopper's cart. This journey can take up to two weeks and can cause produce to lose up to 70% of its nutritional value - not to mention the impact on its taste, texture, and flavour. Local Leaf Farms' technology allows the company to reimagine the journey food takes from the farm to the store. All Local Leaf Farms produce can be at local grocery stores just hours after it was harvested, not only because of proximity but because, unlike any other produce sold in Canada, it can be 'drop shipped': delivered directly, without the need to pass through distribution centres, maximizing freshness and shelf life.

Local Leaf also offers a fully traceable food source, with instant access to information about the food from seed to shelf. The company's proprietary technology and mobile app allow retailers and consumers to know exactly where their produce comes from, including detailed information on how it was grown, when and by whom. The farm, which includes an 20,000 square foot community garden, is even open to the public once a month, allowing people to see and connect with their food.

Of particular importance in our current reality, vertical farms like Local Leaf eliminate the need to rely on migrant labour - a workforce that has faced a severe threat in the face of COVID-19.

A growing number of Canadian investors and stakeholders are recognizing the need for Canada to rebuild its capacity to produce goods through stronger innovation - and are looking to the vertical farming industry as a viable solution. Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, is a vocal supporter of Local Leaf Farms' mission.

"It is vitally important that all Canadians have access to healthy, sustainable food," said Minister Bains.  "Local Leaf Farms is taking an innovative approach to this challenge by using the latest in agricultural and digital supply chain technologies, and data-driven decision making, to produce a reliable domestic supply of nutritious food, with a smaller environmental footprint."

The IPSOS research also identified the following key insights about changing consumer perceptions:

• Nearly all Canadians (96%) prefer to buy produce grown in Canada, whether in their local community (21%), their province (41%), or elsewhere in the country (34%).

• There is a widespread belief (68%) that eliminating plastic from food packaging is important, and a stated preference (51%) for non-plastic, compostable, plant-based material. By contrast, just 21% would prefer produce to come packaged in recycled plastic, sometimes referred to as recycled PET.

• Food safety matters: 88% of Canadians consider food safety important to their purchase decision when buying leafy greens and produce.

• The top food safety concerts are hygiene-based: almost 1 in 2 Canadians are concerned about product handling safety standards and 1 in 4 called out the cleanliness of the growing environment.

Local Leaf's Barrie location services grocery stores, food service providers, and home meal kit providers within 50km of the farm. All of the produce, which is sold under the My Local Leaf brand, is pesticide- and herbicide-free, non-GMO and packaged in 100% plastic-free compostable packaging. The company is on track to open its next location in Kingston in the coming months - and has a scale goal to launch 20 locations across the country by the end of 2025.

For more information about Local Leaf Farms, visit localleaffarms.com.

SOURCE Local Leaf Farms

For further information: Julie Pieterse, Craft Public Relations, 647-282-6118 | julie@craftpublicrelations.com

Agri-Khalifa: Agriculture Skyscraper For Dubai

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Editors’ Choice

2020 Skyscraper Competition

Zeng Shaoting, Liu Chenyang
China

Dubai is one of the most popular cities in the world, lies directly within the Arabian Desert. With sandy desert surrounded, Dubai has a hot desert climate. Summers in Dubai are extremely hot, windy, and humid, with an average high around 41 °C (106 °F) and overnight lows around 30 °C (86 °F) in the hottest month, August. Most days are sunny throughout the year. Winters are comparatively cool with an average high of 24 °C (75 °F) and overnight lows of 14 °C (57 °F) in January, the coolest month. Desert terrain, extremely high temperatures, and limited rainfall have historically made agriculture unworkable in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates

Dubai currently imports over 80% of its food. The main food influences were from nearby countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, East Africa, and Indian. In order to reach the city’s targets, locally grown food not only has to expand its growth rapidly, but it also has to meet the uncompromising health standards of the UAE, and cater to the diverse population that enjoys a wide variety of international food.

The Burj Khalifa, known as a skyscraper in Dubai, has been the tallest structure and building in the world since its topping out in 2009. Our skyscraper project is Agri Khalifa aimed to use innovative agricultural technology to find ways to grow locally-sourced produce in Dubai and change its current state.

Agri Khalifa is a vertical farm located in the desert area of Dubai, going with a big factory that includes energy, transportation system. There is sufficient solar and wind energy in the desert, and we build a series of energy collect system to supply electricity to the farm. We apply many advantages of current vertical farm technologies, such as lighting system, which uses a series of variable color LEDs, for instance, we can use ultra-violate light to shorten the span of plant growth to improve the production.

Skyscraper is a perfect medium for vertical farms, especially in the desert climate condition. We utilize space as much as possible. No winter in the desert, so we omit the curtain wall of the building, making use of the natural condition of Dubai.

We use robotic arms and elevators to pick up mature plants automatically. There are rail trails beneath the building, and we can use railway transportation to conduct remote carriage to the urban and living area of Dubai.

Up to 20 units of outdoor farmland per unit of vertical farming could return to its natural state, due to vertical farming’s increased productivity. Vertical farming would reduce the amount of farmland, thus saving many natural resources.

Deforestation and desertification caused by agricultural encroachment on natural biomes could be avoided. Producing food indoors reduces or eliminates conventional plowing, planting, and harvesting by farm machinery, protecting soil, and reducing emissions.

Traditional farming is often invasive to the native flora and fauna because it requires such a large area of arable land. One study showed that wood mouse populations dropped from 25 per hectare to 5 per hectare after harvest, estimating ten animals killed per hectare each year with conventional farming. In comparison, vertical farming would cause nominal harm to wildlife because of its limited space usage.

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BioLumic Appoints Steve Sibulkin as CEO

Proven Ag and Tech Leader to Drive Photogenics Company’s Continued Product Development Efforts and Global Growth

New York, NY and Palmerston North, New Zealand — June 8, 2020 —BioLumic Ltd. (“BioLumic”), the leader in using plant photogenics to unlock the genetic potential of seeds and seedlings, today announced the appointment of Steve Sibulkin as Chief Executive Officer. Based on decades of experience in the agriculture and technology industries, Sibulkin will lead the company’s global expansion and accelerate its UV light treatment innovation based on the groundbreaking BioLumic photogenics platform. 

“An exceptionally sustainable agriculture innovator tackling complex farming challenges, BioLumic is at a critical juncture as it prepares for the immense opportunities ahead and the rigors of global commercialization,” noted Dr. Adrian Percy, BioLumic Chairman of the Board and CTO of UPLLtd. “With a proven track record building industry-leading ag and tech companies, Steve will help BioLumic move faster and deepen relationships with key partners while accelerating the company’s ability to bring its innovations to the market.”

Sibulkin joins BioLumic from Yara International, where he led enterprise sustainability, partnership, and digital initiatives after the company acquired the precision agriculture company he co-founded, Agronomic Technology Corp (ATC), in 2017.  As the CEO of ATC, Sibulkin commercialized and grew the Adapt-N nitrogen recommendation solution, which was originally developed by a team at Cornell University. Under his leadership, ATC conducted over one billion simulations, expanded its product portfolio, signed enterprise partners, and became an industry-standard with growers, agriculture industry leaders, and sustainably focused organizations. Before joining Yara, Sibulkin was a multi-time CEO, entrepreneur, and strategic advisor, and held leadership positions at Sapient, Ogilvy & Mather, and Mainspring.

“BioLumic’s discoveries around plant signaling responses harness the natural genetic potential of seeds and seedlings for yield improvement, disease resistance, and the ability to withstand environmental stress — all without requiring additional inputs or genetic modification. This is a huge win for farmer profitability, the food, and agriculture supply chain and the environment,” said Sibulkin. “BioLumic perfectly aligns with the movement toward more resilient and productive agriculture, and the opportunity to accelerate the growth of this transformative technology is one I couldn’t resist.”

Rooted in more than a decade of research into UV light treatments in plants and spun out from Massey University in New Zealand, BioLumic’s proven technology offers seed producers and growers new opportunities to grow more valuable and sustainable crops. Its scientifically validated photogenics platform uses a combination of artificial intelligence and precise light treatments to activate the natural plant signaling response to UV light, triggering plant growth that enhances crop yield, crop quality, drought tolerance, and natural disease and pest resistance. 

“Our proprietary technology cultivates stronger, healthier plants to meet rising food demands, and we are ready to focus on commercialization and building a global footprint,” added Dr. Jason Wargent, founder and chief science officer. ”A respected leader in sustainable agriculture, Steve’s wealth of experience leading cross-disciplinary teams around new categories of product innovation will help drive the adoption of our novel light treatments in the global ag marketplace.” 

Positive outcomes from produce such as broccoli, lettuce, strawberries, and tomatoes have accelerated the development of BioLumic’s high-quality seed and plant treatment innovations for indoor farming, row crops like soybeans, and high-value crops like cannabis.  BioLumic is actively growing its team to support the acceleration and expansion of its UV light treatment initiatives.   

“With recent trials showing the extensibility of this novel technology across crops, we know growers around the globe will see improved profit from their seed and seedling investments,” added Sibulkin.  “Our next step involves deepening our partnerships with seed companies, seed dealers, sustainability-focused organizations, and enterprises that have aligned interest in utilizing and expanding this technology.”

Sibulkin earned a B.A. in political science from UCLA and an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he graduated with Beta Gamma Sigma distinction and co-founded the Net Impact Chapter. He currently resides in New York City.  

About BioLumic

BioLumic harnesses the power of ultraviolet (UV) light to empower growers and seed producers around the globe. BioLumic’s pioneering technology activates natural mechanisms in seeds and seedlings that increase plant growth, vigor, and natural defense mechanisms — resulting in increased yields at harvest without the use of chemical input or genetic modification. Backed by top Ag investors, BioLumic is headquartered in New Zealand and is actively growing its presence in North America.

To learn more, visit www.biolumic.com. 

What’s Next For Vertical Farming? Proprietary Strawberries And Other Non-Leafy Produce

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by Jennifer Marston

JUNE 3, 2020

THE SPOON

Agtech investment firm AgFunder announced this week that it has added agtech company SinGrow to its investment portfolio for an undisclosed sum. AgFunder founding partner Michael Dean wrote in a post that SinGrow “isn’t just looking to be another vertical farmer selling leafy greens.” Instead, the company uses a combination of plant biology, hydroponic vertical farming, and other technologies to grow what it hopes will be a range of produce types, starting with its own novel varieties of strawberries. 

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As Dean lays out in his post, SinGrow has developed a vertical farming solution that addresses every stage of a plant’s agricultural journey, from breeding to harvesting. (Most vertical farm solutions do not address plant breeding.) It breeds strawberry varieties adapted to humid weather and has two proprietary strawberry cultivators specifically developed for Singapore’s tropical climate. Both of those things mean SinGrow’s system uses less energy because it needs less air conditioning pumped in to cool the facility and reach the ideal growing temperature for the strawberries.

The company also grows the plants on a strawberry-specific rack it has developed, where the plants grow outward instead of upward. That in turn allows a harvesting robot to drive alongside the rack and simply snip the strawberries off rather than pick them. 

Why strawberries? Well, first, they’ve been a hobby of SinGrow cofounder Bao Shengjie, who has been cross-breeding strawberry seeds since 2016. That particular fruit was of interest to the founders because it’s difficult to actually get in Singapore, at least at an affordable price point. SinGrow lists expenses, poor taste, and an unstable supply chain as reasons strawberries are difficult for the average consumer to buy in that region.

The company has this neat explainer video that delves more into the specifics on how it grows its strawberries.

Singapore also relies on imports for about 90 percent of its foods, hence the Singaporean government’s 30x30 initiative launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Singapore should have 30 percent of its foods produced domestically by 2030. 

On that note, SinGrow hopes to soon move beyond strawberries to grow grapes, saffron, and other crops, according to Dean’s post.

A (very small) handful of companies are also exploring what else they can grow beyond the leafy green. UK-based Phytoponics is trialing a system for plants like cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. And a while back, San Francisco startup Plenty said it wanted to grow “exotic” produce on its farm Tigris. To date, though, the company’s website still offers only leafy green varieties.

If a company like SinGrow can show others how to use biology, technology, and farming to grow a greater assortment of produce items, it could change vertical farming’s role in our system from an add-on method to a primary source for getting certain fruits and vegetables. It’s early days yet, but the technology looks to be moving in that direction. 

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• FILED UNDER: AG TECH BUSINESS OF FOOD FEATURED FOODTECH FUNDING FUTURE FOOD MODERN FARMER SMART GARDEN VERTICAL FARMING

Video: Interview with Christina Johnson from NASA Postdoctoral Program

Microgreens in Space

Agritech Startups Are Solving The Biggest Crisis For India’s Farmers

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Shanthi S Inc42 Staff

18 May'20

Agritech startups are gearing up to resolve the issue at multiple levels from supply chain to financing the Covid-19 pandemic has derailed harvest preparation due to lack of agricultural labour and disruption in the transportation of produce

Maharashtra is among the worst-hit, where the grape harvest and supply chain has completely broken down India has around 130 Mn farmers with 195 m hectares of land under cultivation. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of the population. The gross value added by agriculture, forestry, and fishing is estimated at INR 18.55 lakh Cr (US$ 265.51 billion) in FY19.

However, it’s impossible for farmers, who largely live on sustenance to shoulder even a small disruption in cash flow putting them in deep debts. The pandemic has also derailed harvest preparation, due to lack of agricultural labour to harvest. Logistical curbs on transportation of produce are adding to their woes. The government’s move to alleviate their troubles by putting agriculture under the list of the essential services hasn’t done much to allay their fears.

Maharashtra is among the major affected areas where the grape harvest and supply chain is completely crippled.

“The available logistics has been erratic and certain offtake channels — hotels, restaurants, and catering as well as exports — have been temporarily imploded. For farmers who need to harvest their Rabi crops, lack of farm labour is adding to the misery,” Mark Kahn, managing partner of agritech-focussed Omnivore told Inc42.

Lack of labour may lead to large harvests going to waste, say the agritech entrepreneurs, experts, and investors that we spoke to. Farmers may also struggle to get good prices to support their families. Moreover, farmers who have just harvested crops or about to harvest (especially perishable crops) are most vulnerable due to supply chain disruption. According to reports, farmers had to discard tonnes of produce and some had to leave many quintals of crop and fruit to rot. This is on top of already existing issues such as poor post-harvest management, absence of cold chain, and processing facilities. According to government statistics, various studies on fresh fruits, vegetables, and fisheries in India have indicated a loss percentage ranging from about 8% to 18% in 2018.

With the situation likely to get worse in the pandemic, can agritech startups help the agricultural sector stay afloat? Given the fact that India is estimated to have more than 1090 agritech startups as per DataLabs, this sector has been spearheading a revolution in terms of technology. From high-tech drones, IoT devices and data analytics to AI and satellite imagery, India’s agritech startups have lately become crucial contributors to the agriculture economy.

How Startups Are Prepping Up To Use Tech To Address The Situation

Though agri-business is categorised under essential commodities act, the local authorities are not able to differentiate between agri-supply chains and other supply chain goods. This has led to a lot of on-ground confusion amongst companies and startups as cross-district and state border logistics is still a problem.

Smoothening The Supply Chain

“We are associating closely with other agri startups, government and large foundations and developmental agencies to accelerate our pace of reach to the farmers, to be of service in this crucial time,” said Ayush Nigan, cofounder and CEO, Distinct Horizon.

AgriBazaar, an integrated agri-marketplace founded in 2016, is also working closely with farmers, state governments and procurement agencies to allow farmers to download its app and trade on it from the safety of their homes. The platform has more than 1,13K farmers on its platform.“

Crop care startups are talking to procurement companies to help farmers sell produce and logistic and market-linkage startups are helping them in doing that. We are working with farmers across Maharashtra and Karnataka and enabling them to sell their harvested produce directly to our partner procurement companies,” Ananda Verma, cofounder, Fasal told us.

In the current situation, an aggregator model meets the COVID-19 safety procedures as it ensures no crowding in physical mandis and maintaining social distancing norms. For instance, AgriBazaar allows farmers to register and list the produce for sale, while buyers like merchants, traders, and corporates give orders for purchase. Once the deal is complete, the startup ensures the logistics of picking up the grain from the farmer’s doorstep and delivering it to the buyers’ godown or warehouse.

“I think every challenge is an opportunity. COVID19 is an opportunity for Indian agritech startups to showcase how tech-intervention and innovation in agriculture can solve the problem of not only yield but procurement and fasten the entire agri-supply chain,” Amith Agarwal, co-founder, and CEO, AgriBazaar told Inc42.

Homegrown ventures have understood the problem of the small size of Indian farms and have been following a B2C2B model whereby, direct linkages with the farmer gets established, aggregation is done to supply to large agri-buyers, processors or manufacturers and retailers noted Nigan.

Smart monitoring technologies will also play a crucial role here. With supply chains completely disrupted, monitoring the end to end supply chain operations becomes more important now than ever.

And smart farming technologies can be used for the same. “Smart farming technologies have the capability to monitor the end to end supply chain operations and provide the right remedy for many pain points of agricultural enterprises,” Jitesh N Shah, CRO of CropIn, which is a farm management-monitoring-traceability business solution provider, launched in 2010.

With experts saying that the coronavirus is here to stay for long and we have to learn to live safely, startups have also started sensitising and training farmers to take extra care to completely sanitize themselves before entering the farm. Many such as Barton Breeze have donated produce from our farms to the needy. Omnivore backed M.I.T.R.A is currently using sprayers and tech normally used for agriculture protection for sanitisation by partnering with municipal bodies.

Additionally, agritech startup DeHaat is working to support smallholder farmers in Bihar, UP, Odisha, and Jharkhand. Shrimp farming tech startup Aquaconnect is leading the charge to help aquaculture farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu survive the collapse of global shrimp markets. Similarly, Bijak is helping rural commodity traders and buyers transition to digital commerce. Clover is making sure greenhouse farmers avoid financial ruin while delivering fresh vegetables to kirana shops.

Creating Direct Linkages With Farmers

Many agritech startups have created direct linkages with farmers for procurement. And it is the need of the hour that the produce of the farmer finds a buyer. And then it is brought either to the warehouse or for end consumption. The direct linkages during such time reduce the chances of fraud or the farmer not getting the right price. Many startups with field staff and agronomists spread all over the country provide the critical last-mile logistics support to pick up the produce from the farmers and deliver it to the buyer. This is besides the value-added services like warehouse financing for the produce, quality checking facility, pre-sowing and post-harvesting solutions to increase yield.

Many companies are working towards delivering essentials to citizens, but there is still a shortage of essential goods faced by a majority of the leading e-commerce platforms. “Kirana stores, on the other hand, are attracting more footfalls and more customers who are going offline to buy essentials. Startups and SMEs are playing a major role by helping these kirana stores stock up during this crisis,” Prithwi Singh, co-founder, and CEO, SuperZop told us. The company is using its B2B agri-commerce platform to reach out to kirana stores and help them stock up staples along with the assurance of high quality.

With the lack of information on mandi timings and also the fear among farmers, many startups are working towards sending across the correct information. FarMart, for instance, has a mobile app that helps agri-input merchants disseminate information to their farmers through SMS alerts. “We identified an opportunity where merchants want to inform their farmers about the store opening & closing time. We rolled out this additional feature and merchants now informing their farmers regarding their inventory and service timings. This feature has been a great hit amongst our merchant base and is helping us acquire other merchants organically,” said Alekh Sanghera, co-founder, and CEO, FarMart.

Solving Payments For Agri-Businesses

Usually, farmers are paid in 2-3 days but currently, startups such as Farmpal are working on immediate payments in order to not just help farmers but also motivate others to bring in more produce which is in huge demand in cities. Farmers get their payments online in their bank account within the stipulated time from the startups. Farmpal, Pune based agritech startup that connects farmers to businesses directly, has launched new collection centres to help farmers maintain their daily income and to provide consumers with easy access to fresh produce.

With the aim to expand and increase outreach, Farmpal has launched the fourth collection centre at Kopargaon, near Shirdi and a distribution centre in Wadgaon Sheri in east Pune. This will be followed by three more distribution centres across Pune. “On the supply side, we are buying 100% produce from our farmers as earlier, the only difference being now we are buying whatever they can make available to us – either bring to our collection centres or help us pick it up from their farms. This is because consumers are less picky at this time given the crisis,” said Puneet Sethi, director, and co-founder, Farmpal.

Bringing Cities Into Play

The urban population in India stands at 377 Mn and is expected to touch 404 Mn by 2050. With 50% of the Indian population expected to live in cities by 2050, urban farming is something startups such as Homecrop, Growing Greens have been looking at as an option. This resolves the issue of pesticides to a great extent as fresh produce can reach city dwellers within a few hours and also without the need for resource-intensive transportation, refrigeration, and storage facilities.

“Since our farms are close to the city, we can reach the supermarket shelves in one hour compared to 3-4 days for the produce to come from village farms outside the city,” said Shivendra Singh, founder at Barton Breeze, which has 18 farms in cities.

While the hotels, restaurants, caterers segment or institutional sales are completely shut, supermarkets and local retailers have seen a spike in consumer spending on agri-produce as everyone is staying indoors and eating at home. Urban farming started by startups to primarily promote organic farming can resolve the supply issue now.

Startups such as Barton Breeze have been doing hydroponic and other soil-less farming and their farms continue to operate even in these testing times mainly due to hydroponic farming that demands lean operations, with just have 2-3 people to manage the half-acre hydroponic farm. During such a crisis, hydroponic farms can deliver quickly and better. Additionally, as compared to conventional farming which takes three months for produce (90 days), hydroponic farms can grow most veggies in 30 days. As compared to conventional farming, startups like Pindfresh do not depend on external weather. Founded in 2016, the Punjab-based startup uses technologies such as coco peat gardening and other soilless techniques, which takes less space, demands lesser water, and is free from pathogens and biological contaminants.

“The future of agriculture will be smart, controlled, precision farming that will help in sustainability as proved during the coronavirus crisis. We can help the economy bounce back more quickly and help feed the needy. We can hit the market more quickly and help the customers,” added Singh.

Agritech Coronavirus

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Author

Shanthi S

Inc42 StaffJournalistShanthi has 13 years of experience in journalism, both print, and digital media. She specialises in writing long format feature stories. Trends, interviews and human-interest stories are her forte.

You can write to her at shanthi@inc42.com.

Madar Farms Receives Investment As Part of Abu Dhabi Investment Office's Drive To Accelerate The Growth of The Emirate's Ag-Tech Industry

Abu Dhabi, Monday 13 April 2020

UAE-based AgTech company, Madar Farms has partnered with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to support the operation of the world’s first commercial-scale indoor tomato farm using only LED lights and a new research facility to help in accelerating the AgTech industry in the UAE and the region.

The investment is part of ADIO’s AED 1 billion AgTech Incentive Programme to accelerate the growth of the emirate’s burgeoning AgTech ecosystem and promote innovation in desert agriculture that is locally relevant and globally exportable.

It will be used towards developing the world’s first commercial-scale indoor tomato farm that will use only LED lighting to grow. The facility is currently under construction at Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) and set to open by the end of this year.

The facility will also see Madar Farms triple the quantity of its microgreens and grow a wider variety of products, increasing its operations in developing local food for local consumption.

The investment will also support a new Research and Development (R&D) facility that will enable Madar Farms to quantify production output measured against environmental inputs (water and electricity). Currently, Madar Farms has an established R&D facility at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.                     

Madar Farms is one of four AgTech innovators to receive investment from ADIO in the latest award of financial packages from its AgTech Incentive Programme, established under the Abu Dhabi Government’s Ghadan 21 accelerator program. ADIO will invest AED 367 million (USD 100 million) in total in four AgTech companies building facilities in Abu Dhabi as part of this round.

Since launching in 2017, Madar Farms has been leading a new agriculture revolution by using advanced methods to grow local high-quality fresh produce with cutting-edge farming technologies on its hydroponic-vertical systems.

As well as providing a holistic approach to sustainability, Madar Farms also works with the wider industry and education authorities to support the UAE government’s National Food Security Strategy 2051 that aims to solve the region’s food problems and provide enough nutritious food all-year-round.

Abdulaziz AlMulla, CEO and co-founder of Madar Farms, said: “It is a privilege to be recognized by ADIO for our efforts in tackling food and water security challenges in the UAE and the region and turning the Late Sheikh Zayed vision into reality. This shows that we are going in the right direction and with food sustainability becoming more important, we are more determined to build on this achievement.

“This investment will enable us to significantly scale up our operations in the UAE as well as put the skills and knowledge we have gained over the last three years into researching long-term, sustainable solutions for complex food security challenges in the region. 

“As well as strengthening our position as a key player in the UAE’s AgTech industry, our ambition is to be leading a new agricultural revolution in different countries in the GCC region and this investment is a step forward to helping us achieve this.”

H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, said: “We are proud to partner with Madar Farms to support the continued commercialization of its innovative AgTech solutions in Abu Dhabi. The investment will enable Madar Farms to scale up its capabilities and contribute to expanding the supply of sustainable, quality local food in the region. AgTech is a priority sector for the Abu Dhabi Government, and Madar Farms will be a key player in the growth of the ecosystem over the coming years.”

About Madar Farms

Madar Farms is a local company providing a holistic approach to sustainability to help tackle food and water security challenges in the region.

With offices in Dubai and a research and development center in Abu Dhabi, Madar Farms offers products and services that help drive responsible sourcing, environmental ownership, and social impact. This purpose-driven offering is underpinned by the application of innovative AgTech.

Madar Farms also operates the Sustainable Futures program, a hands-on, localized, easy-to-integrate sustainability curriculum that uses food to explore a wide range of topics across the sustainability agenda. This school program is designed to empower the next generation with the awareness, knowledge, skills, and behaviors to create a sustainable future for us all.

Keep up to date with the latest news and events from Madar Farms on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook