Italy: Phosphonic Acid In Organic Crops

Sicural, a laboratory authorized by the Ministry for Agricultural Policy for the analysis of samples taken during checks on organic crops, is currently performing analyses on phosphonic acid, produced by Fosetyl aluminium degradation. This is because of technical regulation RT 16Accredia, which entered into force a few weeks ago.

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At work with LC MS/MS

"Fosetyl aluminium is the active principle of many fungicides and it is widely used, although it cannot be employed in case of organic cultivation. Often, however, analyses detect phosphonic acid, which is the degradation product of said active principle," explain Maverik Bezzi, Silvia Zuccherelli and Giusy Riciputi from Sicural.

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State-of-the-art equipment

When it comes to organic produce, RT16 establishes that a level of phosphonic acid above or equal to 0.010 mg/kg is not enough to rule out the use of inadmissible or admissible but irregular technical means. This leads to further analyses by the Certifying Body to identify the potential cause of the positive result.

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Makerik Bezzi

"A specific warning level must be defined and the fact that the phosphonic acid may derive from natural plant components or foliar fertilization."

"The new detection limit is rather critical and needs sensitive tools such as LC MS/MS, which we are not equipped with. The analysis method and experience in using the tools is also just as important."

"Analyses and checks of organic crops are very strict. We are at full disposal for any clarification."

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Contacts:
Sicural
Via Dismano 2855, 
47522 Cesena (FC)
Tel.: +39 0547/377303
Email: laboratorio@sicural.it
Sito: www.sicural.it

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Publication date : 1/25/2019

© FreshPlaza.com

"Labor Is The Number One Topic In All The Conversations We Are Currently Having"

As we begin 2019, the moment is here to take a general look at the industry, and who better to discuss today’s topics with than Chris Higgins? With Hort Americas continually competing to be one of the leading wholesalers in North America, and Chris being a complete horti-geek, he’s on top of the industry’s topics of today and tomorrow. And there’s much to cover at the moment. “For us, Hort Americas, the only constant thing we see is change. Being a wholesaler and being constantly aware of the need to add value to our customers’ businesses, we are focused on finding the winning innovation of tomorrow”, he explains.

Drew Demler (State Fair of Texas), Chris Higgins and Stephen Ritz (Green Bronx Machine) (photo Hort Americas)

Anniversary 
It's been almost a decade since Hort Americas was founded. In April 2009, a group of young American entrepreneurs united with the Dutch suppliers of Horticoop and started bringing horticultural products to the quickly growing horticultural industry of the USA and Canada. Operating as a wholesaler, the company made many products accessible to bigger and smaller companies.

Within their client base you can find vegetable growers, ornamental growers as well as a wide variety of growers implementing a wide variety of innovative techniques used to produce an even wider variety of crops. However, there are various topics that unite them. “Labor is the number one topic in all the conversations we are currently having. It does not seem to matter if we are talking about commercial horticulture, field agriculture or vertical farming. This trend seems constant. In vegetable production as well as in ornamental horticultural production – the quality, availability and cost of labor is the number one topic in North America”, Chris explains. To the company, being on top of these trends and offering solutions to them is key.

“We have a fairly narrow focus on a niche market and we are in contact with our client base daily. This allows us to understand their needs intimately and find and deliver solutions that make our customers more profitable and more successful.” He continues, “This includes new emerging markets as well as established industries that are evolving to meet demand and stay relevant, like indoor farming of medicinal crops and the hydroponic production of soft fruits.”

On a side note he offers, “I do believe that out of these new or evolving grower populations, we are going to see some all stars: people that do things differently - apply new technology, or operate their business in a different way - and become the leaders. But, as common throughout history, it will only be a small percentage of the companies that change the industry. And it is not our desire nor our goal to pick winners. To us, the focus is the complete industry: seeing the similarities between the companies and the way trends and novelties impact their operation. Within these topics, we select products that are winners to us: that can add value to most growers' businesses. That’s how we’re serving the industry and how we are on the look-out for our own product range.”

Role as a wholesaler
The company's vision sounds clear - but there’s challenges in the market. In 2018 Horticoop, the Dutch partner of Hort Americas, announced it would resign their wholesale activities and focus on production only. Whilst this does not affect the Hort Americas business, it did urge the company to rethink their role as a wholesaler. Adding value is key, Chris explains. “Being a distributor is more than just selling or providing products. To us it is offering growers solutions to better their business in both the short and the long term.” To do so, HortAmericas puts a lot of effort in helping growers with their specific challenges and, if needed, educate them about the solutions. “Before, being a supplier meant supplying products. Now it’s about understanding what our growers need and value, then finding ways to fulfill those needs as a service: educating, improving the crop(s) quality, creating a better more efficient work environment, and eventually helping growers find ways to become more profitable.”

Demo Greenhouse 
It’s not just a vision to Hort Americas. Besides being active continuously in educating growers and researching a lot, the company (which two years ago started their own demo greenhouse) is focused on creating positive change within their community while at the same time improving the knowledge of the Hort Americas team and their ability to communicate that knowledge with both their vendors and their grower partners.

“Thanks to our relationship with the State Fair of Texas (better known as Big Tex Urban Farms), who’ve continuously supported our business, we’ve been able to combine our efforts, energies and resources to create a demo greenhouse at the fairgrounds based in Dallas, Texas. As long as you have scheduled an appointment, it is open for both the community and growers year round. It is in production year round. It is in a constant state of learning and development. But most importantly it is contributing free, safe and healthy food to members of the south Dallas community in need.”

Night time before the start of the Texas State Fair, where more than 200 thousand people are estimated to visit the greenhouse each year. This pond uses Current, Powered by GE LED Top Lights and the Moleaer Nanobubble Generator. (photo Hort Americas)

Hot summer 
When asked why Dallas, Texas, Higgins responds, “We are testing products and trying to prove their value. The hot Texas summers offer a tough and difficult environment to grow in. If we can make it work in Dallas, we are confident in the quality of these products and their abilities to perform in some of the most harsh circumstances.” From their commitment to have a positive social impact to their commitment to playing an important role in both the success of their vendors and their grower partners, Higgins is excited and enthusiastic about the future.Then there’s the social aspect: adding value to the local community.

Chilling the rootzone
In the demo greenhouse the Moleaer system is shown - one of Hort Americas' most talked about products at the moment. “We’ve focused on the limiting factors in producing the best possible crops 12 months of the year. One of the biggest issues in Dallas turned out to be controlling temperature of the root-zone. Chilling the rootzone is not cost-effective in most scenarios. Adding dissolved oxygen to it, turned out to do the trick.”

To Chris, the Moleaer product range offered a typical Hort Americas solution. “It can benefit many growers in an affordable, easy way and it is applicable in a wide area of the countries we service”, he explains. “With Hort Americas, we want to be there for a large group of growers. Products that are only accessible to a small part of the market are not a good fit to us. We are looking for the products that help the average grower in their business.”

Add value by specializing
He explains how the North American industry on one hand consists of big companies, in need of tailor-made solutions. “Then there is a large amount of smaller scale customers. These farming operations do not follow the same pattern of upscaling or monocropping. Instead they add value by specializing in specific groups of products, serving local communities with locally grown product or whatever business model proves them to be right. Whilst we are capable of supplying the large customers, we also want to bring suitable products and services to the farms and greenhouses of all shapes and sizes.”

The Sudlac product portfolio is another example of a product line that is effective for large and small greenhouse ranges as well as hydroponic vegetable production and ornamental horticulture. The demand for the various shading solutions has been on the rise. “Creating a better production climate is of course important to growers everywhere in the world. The added value at the moment is in innovative second generation shading products that not only reduce the amount of light in the greenhouse, but can manipulate and improve light in ways that can enhance crop quality.”

USDA Fresh Herbs Grant Planning Meeting held during the 2018 Texas State Fair. (photo Hort Americas)

Relationships with suppliers
The importance of a good and stable relationship isn’t a one way road. Relationships with suppliers are of high importance to Hort Americas. “Obviously the product itself is important in our selection, but it’s not just that... it cannot be just that. Trust between us and our valued suppliers has continued to evolve into a vital part of our business model. We look for specific relationships with suppliers. We look for companies that we can count on and trust, and vice versa. We ask ourselves, ‘Can the manufacturer add value to the chain? Can we help them market their products in the better ways? Do the manufacturers understand the needs of the market?’ Again we want to create partnerships. Partnerships lead to better business for everyone involved.”

A perfect example of this is Hort Americas' relationship with Current by GE (LED grow light solutions). Adding lighting to the crop is an important topic for many growers wanting to lengthen their season and increase their production. “This goes for vegetables, but for sure is not exclusive to vegetable crops. Managing light intensity, light quality and photoperiod is important in all crop production. LED lighting has helped everyone from tree nurseries (for example) becoming more efficient in growing maple trees to tissue culture facilities producing ornamental and medicinal crops.

"Investing in LED is all about effectiveness and efficiency - making it a perfect Hort Americas product catalog. And the engineering team at Current has helped us to develop a variety of fixtures perfect for many (not all) applications. We are working towards that.” Higgins’ excitement about the GE partnership carries over to other partners that are helping them produce innovative fertilizers and have provided them with opportunities to explore new technologies like 30MHZ (sensor products offering growers a better control and more insights on their crop).

Leafy Greens being grown under Current, Powered by GE LED Grow Lights (Arize Lynk LED Grow Lights) (photo Hort Americas)

Keeping up is a challenge
With the Hort Americas client base being super diverse, staying on top of the various needs in the industry is of vital importance. “Keeping up with all the issues along with the wide range of crops and topics indeed is a challenge”, Chris confirms. “On the other hand, trends are similar across the categories. Labor (again) is something affecting the complete industry: the quality, availability and cost of it is the number one topic in North America at the moment. The biggest difference between the various sub-segments within industries are access finance and the pace of developments and investments - depending on both the maturity of the sectors and what their opportunity for profits look like. But in the end the demand of growers is the same in all crops. It all comes down to the smart use of technology and how that technology lets the grower achieve a sound ROI. That’s the main question we are all trying to answer. This will always be the question we are trying to answer.”

For more information:
Hort Americas
Chris Higgins
chiggins@hortamericas.com
www.hortamericas.com

Publication date : 1/15/2019 
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma 
© HortiDaily.com

EDEN ISS Antarctic Grower Paul Zabel Returns

365 days in the Antarctic, of which 257 days cut off from the outside world. Antarctic grower Paul Zabel from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has tested vegetable cultivation, suitable for Moon and Mars environments in the EDEN-ISS greenhouse. There, he harvested peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and various lettuces and herbs, grown with the use of artificial light. 

Now Paul Zabel has returned to Germany and, at a press conference at the DLR Bremen site, he spoke for the first time since his arrival of his efforts and deprivations of recent months, as well as the joys of plant breeding in extreme situations and his life on the seventh continent.

"The Antarctic is a fascinating place and I am very happy that I could be one of the few people who had the opportunity to spend the winter there, having experienced many unique impressions and challenges over the past 12 months. Now it is great to be back home, seeing family, friends and colleagues again," said Zabel.

"Antarctic grower" Paul Zabel returned after a stopover at the Antarctic Novo Airbase and a short stay in Cape Town shortly before celebrating Christmas in his home in the Brandenburg Spreewald. "Having spent Christmas 2017 in the Antarctic, it was very special to spend Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve at home." Zabel left for the Antarctic on 16 December 2017, with three other members of the EDEN-ISS team. After a two-month build-up phase, he remained there from February 18, 2018 on German Antarctic station Neumayer III with nine other overwinterers of the AWI.

Working in the Antarctic cold
Day by day, Zabel set off on the commute to the EDEN-ISS greenhouse, about 400 meters from the station. Only during the strongest storms, of which Zabel experienced many during the Antarctic winter, the greenhouse was monitored and controlled automatically by people in the Bremen control center. "From Bremen, we were in daily contact with Paul," reports EDEN-ISS's Daniel Schubert from the DLR Space Systems Institute. "He has done a great job over the past months. Although it has taken up quite a lot of his time, the EDEN-ISS project and he himself will be thanked by future astronauts." 

Other members of the AWI hibernation team also helped Paul Zabel with his work. They aided him with the sowing of the plants and supported him with the numerous experiments. "After more than a year in the Antarctic, we can look back on successful overwintering." The work in the greenhouse and the fresh vegetables have enriched our time at the Neumayer Station III," says station manager Bernhard Gropp.

Rich harvest
A detailed evaluation of the studies on plant breeding in Antarctica is currently in full swing. The extensive results, including technical, botanical, microbiological and psychological analysis, are expected in May 2019. It is already clear that Paul Zabel has repeatedly been able to harvest a rich harvest, again supported by the other AWI overwinterers. For example, on Neumayer III over the past year, the crew wwere able to eat 67 kilograms of cucumbers, 46 kilograms of tomatoes, 19 kilograms of kohlrabi, 8 kilograms of radishes, 15 kilograms of herbs and 117 kilograms of lettuce.

The station continues to be open to researchers from all over the world. In the next two years, DLR, AWI and other research partners will further develop the production processes in the EDEN-ISS greenhouse, with the goal to offer future stations on the Moon and Mars an optimized greenhouse concept. The continuation of the project is open to researchers from all over the world. "Soon we will hand over the greenhouse to the new overwinterers who will continue the EDEN-ISS project in the Antarctic and look after the crop," says dr. Daniel Schubert. "We will monitor and control the greenhouse from Bremen." Schubert and his team will again travel to the Antarctic in mid-January 2019 to maintain the EDEN-ISS greenhouse and update it technically for the continuation.

EDEN-ISS: Food supply of the future 
World food production is one of the key societal challenges of the 21st century. An increasing world population and simultaneous upheavals caused by climate change call for new ways of cultivating crops, even in climatically unfavorable regions. For deserts and areas with low temperatures, as well as space missions to the Moon and Mars, a greenhouse, closed of from the weather, the sun and the seasons, will allow independent harvests, less water consumption and the abandonment of pesticides and insecticides. With the project EDEN-ISS, such a greenhouse of the future can be tested under Antarctic extreme conditions.

Source: www.gemuese-online.de  
Publication date : 1/15/2019 

80 Acres Farms Strikes 'Significant Investment' From San Francisco Private Equity Firm

15-Jan-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Vertical indoor farming company, 80 Acres Farms, has received a "significant investment" from Virgo Investment Group, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, to help rapidly commercialize the company's specialized indoor farming technology.

For more information:

HTTPS://WWW.FOODNAVIGATOR-USA.COM/ARTICLE/2019/01/15/80-ACRES-FARMS-STRIKES-SIGNIFICANT-INVESTMENT-FROM-SAN-FRANCISCO-PRIVATE-EQUITY-FIRM 

Republic Polytechnic Invests in Urban Farming With New Diploma, Lab

Angelii Trissha Mohan

Jan 11, 2019

On Wednesday (Jan 9), the poly launched the specialised diploma in urban agricultural technology - the first full-qualification diploma in the field.

At the launch, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Dr Koh Poh Koon, emphasised the importance of increasing the margin of safety for Singapore's food supply through agricultural technology.

Dr. Koh explained that since Singapore imports more than 90 per cent of its food supply, it is crucial to leverage on technology to minimise challenges like disruptive weather conditions and optimise crops' growth cycles.

To overcome the challenges of unpredictable weather and land scarcity, the agricultural industry has turned to urban agriculture.

Commencing in June with an inaugural batch of 25 students, the part-time diploma in applied science gives students the option of signing up for the associated SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme

The 900-hour course is ideal for students interested in a career in the industry and adult learners looking to upgrade their skills.

OPENING

Dr. Koh also witnessed the opening of RP's Agriculture Technology Laboratory and memorandum of understanding signing with Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation.

The Agriculture Technology Laboratory is a new facility to support students in deepening their skills through hands-on training.

The lab will be equipped with indoor farming systems like vertical plane cultivation,conduit-based horizontal hydroponic nutrient film technique, tray-based horizontal hydroponic growing and substrate growing systems.

According to Mr Yeo Li Pheow, the principal of RP, the motivation behind the new course and lab stemmed from the pressing issue of food security due to Singapore's limited land area.

"In order for Singapore to be more self-sufficient and resilient, we need to increase the amount of food we produce locally and reduce our dependence on food imports," said Mr. Yeo.

Greenhouse In An Auchan Hypermarket

In Italy, Auchan is testing the installation of a greenhouse in a hypermarket. Fresh herbs and salads grow directly on the shelves and customers do their own “harvesting”.

Agricooltur, a young company from the Turin region, is the originator of this scheme. The neighboring Auchan hypermarket placed the installation in its market area at the end of November; it is a spectacular complex of about thirty meters square. The plants are grown by aeroponics: the roots are hanging loose and are sprinkled with a nutrient solution.

Also in late November, Casino installed a showcase in which an assortment of fresh herbs were grown in its supermarket in La-Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, France.

Source: internationalsupermarketnews.com

Publication date : 1/17/2019 

Technology Will Make The UAE One of The World's Most Food-Secure Countries By 2021

Food security is without doubt one of humankind’s most pressing concerns and the issue is one that is felt particularly keenly in the UAE. Although considered food secure – primarily because it enjoys a high degree of economic and political stability – the UAE still faces significant challenges. These stem from its arid climate, its shrinking groundwater levels and the volatility of the wider region. Added to these geographic and geopolitical stressors is the country’s spectacular growth. As its population has expanded exponentially, increasing from about 300,000 in 1971 – the year the UAE was founded – to more than nine-and-a-half million today, the need to provide for its residents has increased correspondingly.

My responsibility as UAE Minister of State for Food Security is to ensure that the nation continues to enjoy an adequate food supply for its citizens as it develops and to elevate its current position of 31st on the global ranking for food security to the top 10 by 2021. In order to achieve this, we are championing trade facilitation and enabling technology-based production and supply of food. The initiatives to support strategic goals are anchored in diversification of supply, alternative supply sources, technology-enabled enhancement of local production and international trade links, among others. Thus, a major part of my mandate is involved in incorporating agricultural technology – also known as “AgTech” – into the country’s food security agenda. This agenda is enshrined in the UAE’s recent launch of its National Food Security Strategy.

Variously defined as “transforming the global food system through digital technology” and “smart farmers getting smarter using digital technology”, AgTech encompasses advanced agricultural methods that differ distinctly from the traditional ways of farming practised for millennia. Increasingly seen as a solution to the UAE’s food security issues, my office is now placing a strong focus on adopting AgTech in the country’s agricultural sector, as part of a concerted effort to considerably reduce the 90 per cent of food that the country currently imports.

The AgTech government accelerator project, with its two components, is one such initiative. The first component is the promotion of the use of “controlled-environment agriculture” (CEA), which is a technology-based approach toward food production that utilises highly efficient technologies to properly manage agriculture inputs and maximise output. It involves agricultural industry entrepreneurs working alongside government bodies to provide tangible solutions to promote CEA, primarily through implementing an enabling business environment that is conducive to innovation.

The second component of the project is aquaculture, which is farming in controlled conditions of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic plants, algae and other organisms in freshwater and saltwater. With agriculture in general being the world’s thirstiest industry, accounting for approximately 72 per cent of total freshwater consumption, aquaculture represents one of the best uses of what is the region’s most precious resource. To this end, the UAE has established a vibrant aquaculture sector with an investment of more than Dh100 million to develop hatcheries and fish farms.

Vertical farming is another AgTech component that my department is promoting and one that has been identified as offering a solution to the UAE’s food security issues. The concept involves plants being grown in vertically stacked layers in an indoor environment where environmental factors can be controlled. Vertical farms typically use artificial light, humidity regulation, temperature control and minimum use of pesticides, enabling the production of vegetables in large quantities all year round without the need for soil, sunlight and chemicals. The commercial applications of vertical farming are already being realised in the UAE, with the opening of the Gulf region’s first-of-its-kind facility in December 2017. Located in the Al Quoz industrial area of Dubai, the 8,500sq ft farm produces 18 varieties of micro-greens, including rocket, kale, radishes, red cabbage, basil and mustard.

Remote-controlled drones have become an accepted presence in the skies above the UAE, with the ubiquitous flying machines used by the authorities to – among other things – monitor traffic and deliver post. Now they are providing benefits for the country’s agricultural sector, with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) being used to map farming areas across the country. Announced in June 2017, the pilot project sees UAVs being used to create a highly accurate agricultural database that supports decision-making and forward planning by enabling the best use of resources and determining the optimum areas for crop growth.

Perhaps the most prevalent form of AgTech being incorporated in the UAE’s agricultural sector is the use of sensors, with their adoption resulting in increased yields in both large-scale agricultural projects and smaller organic farms. Sensor-equipped gyroscopes, accelerators and GPS monitors are being employed to enhance crop production by making the most of land and water use – precision irrigation that is highly effective in reducing water waste. A good example is an organic farm in Sharjah that relies heavily on sensors to determine the salinity and mineral content of the soil to ensure optimum crop growth with minimal use of water. Another prime example is a household name Japanese electronics manufacturer that is creating a farm in Dubai to grow strawberries, with the facility incorporating light-emitting diodes for controlled lighting, air distillation technology and other appliances to check room temperature and humidity.

Aquaculture, vertical farming, drone use and sensors are just four of the technologies that are being utilised in the UAE to maximise crop production while ensuring good husbandry of resources. This is only the start of what will be an expanding role for AgTech in the country’s agricultural sector. The office of food security is currently evaluating how emerging areas of technology, such as robotics, can play a part. Automation combined with artificial intelligence is an exciting field that we are currently assessing. One company in the US has produced a robot that mimics what a fruit picker in the field does. It uses AI to determine which fruit is ripe and ready to be picked, leaving unripe fruit in place on the vine. We are closely following such developments as part of the National Food Security Strategy and will be assessing how rapid technological changes that form part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution can be best incorporated to ensure food security for all.

Mariam Al Mheiri is the UAE's Minister of State for Food Security

Updated: January 16, 2019 04:25 PM

Convert Your Hydroponic System To An Aquaponic System

Contributed by | GoblinHydro

01/08/19, 08:48 AM

For those of you who are seasoned growers, aquaponics might be an investment worth while. Aquaponics is all about your water and nutrients in your solution tank, so your not really "converting" as much as you are "adding." it doesn't matter how you choose to deliver water and nutrients to your plant, as long as it comes from the tank inhabited by the fish. Everything you have set up, however it is laid out, you're just a couple steps away from converting your hydroponic or aeroponic system to a aquaponic system.

Aside from the many benefits you will read below, teachers have been turning to hands on education using small aquaponic systems in the classroom.

Why convert?

Yes, it may require a little bit of extra capital, but the benefits far exceed the cost. Organic matter contained in fish feces and feed are used for the conversion of fish generated ammonia to nitrate. Bacteria breaks down the fish waste and converts it to plant food and nutrients. This is a huge cut in your nutrient upkeep. Instead, you will be supplying your fish with food and letting them take care of the plants.

Water is constantly being recycled instead of disposed of, which will give you a huge break when paying your hydro bill. Since the water is recycled, the only loss of water comes from evaporation and transpiration.

PH balance is very important to keep an eye on, in aquaponics or any other method. While you will still need to keep that eye on it, bacteria breaking down the fish waste should adjust the PH balance on its own.

Vegetation and fish happen to be healthiest choice in food, and your farming both! Once a fish has matured (depending on species,) you can remove and enjoy a healthy organic dinner while enjoying the freedom of being self sufficient.

Will my yield increase or decrease?

Many cultivators are reporting a rate of 400% - 500% faster crop turns. Not only that but crop density has been heavily increased for many. Every plant responds to aquaponics differently and certain fish seem to partner with plants just a little bit better.

Many different species of fish can be used. Which kind you select will depend on not only your plant species but tank size.

If this is a home project you might want to use ornamental fish like guppies, fancy goldfish, angelfish or even a swordfish. Some have even created environments for turtles, crayfish and even shrimp. If the purpose is not decorative, but still home based, pacu, koi and catfish get along with many different plants. Larger commercial operations use larger fish including larger mouth bass, salmon burramundi, this is to maximize nutrients per fish and to provide a cheaper upkeep solution.

Time to add in your aquaponics tank

Choose your tank - As mentioned above, the size of the tank will be dependent on your grow area and fish species you plan to manage.

Choose your fish - This should have already been decided at the time your obtained your tank. Proper research should be done on the species and the habitat required. Search for studies and/or personal experiences through blogs, forums and research papers on what fish people recommend for your specific plant.

Transfer your pump - Remove the pump from your nutrient tank and place it into your fish tank. The minute delay of water to your plants should not cause any stress. Make sure the pump is safe from any holes or crevices your fish can wedge itself into.

Maintenance - Now that the hard part is complete, a close eye will be needed to ensure your fish accept their new home and produce the bacteria required to detoxify the water. Fish feeding should start off gently so you don't overfeed the fish. Leaving traces of leftover food particles can contaminate the water and throw off the bacteria process causing a buildup of ammonia and nitrate.

The best solution to measuring the amount of food required by your fish is to start with a predetermined amount wait 10 minutes while the fish take their fill. Up to 10% can be left in while more should be added if less than 5%.

Oxygen must be dissolved, if the oxygen falls below 2 mg/l, denitrification can occur. For optimum fish performance, keep the oxygen above 5 mg/l but below 10 mg/l. PH should be kept about 6.0, just add potassium for a boost when needed. tools such as API or Tetra kits for measuring nitrate and ammonia are readily available and relatively inexpensive.

As we rush towards a greener tomorrow, techniques that have been given to us by mother nature are being revived with modern methods. Aquaponics has a long way to go but both economically and environmentally speaking, this path with have many rewards.

LED Lighting for Indoor Agriculture

Len Calderone for | AgritechTomorrow

01/10/19, 08:14 AM

Since the beginning of time, plants have relied on the sun to feed and grow through the method known as photosynthesis—a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy. Now, plants can be commercially grown without any sun light. LED lighting is replacing the sun due to advanced technological innovations.

Light emitting diodes (LED) work by passing a current between semiconductors. Compared with other forms of electrical illumination, LEDs use less energy, give off little heat and can be controlled to optimize plant growth compared to other forms of electrical illumination, such as fluorescent lamps, which contain mercury, which is needed to make the inert gasses conductive at all temperatures and to make the lamp work properly and efficiently. Mercury is a heavy metal, which is hazardous to the environment.

Then, we have incandescent lamps that are considered the least energy efficient type of electric lighting commonly found in residential buildings. Because of their inefficiency and brief life spans, they are more expensive to operate than LED and fluorescent lights.

LEDs are tiny light bulbs that fit into an electrical circuit. Unlike incandescent bulbs, they don't have a filament that will burn out, and they don't get very hot. They are illuminated uniquely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material. The lifespan of an LED exceeds the short lifespan of an incandescent bulb by thousands of hours.

In LEDs, the conductor material is usually aluminum-gallium-arsenide. In pure aluminum-gallium-arsenide, all of the atoms adhere entirely to their neighbors, leaving no free electrons to conduct electric current. Additional atoms change the balance by adding free electrons or creating holes where electrons can go. Either of these variations make the material more conductive.

In agricultural applications, LED lights are used to change how plants grow, alter when they flower, transform how they taste and even modify their levels of vitamins and antioxidants. LED lights can extend a plant’s shelf life as well.

Growers can use LED light modifications to grow two types of basil from the same plant.  For example, they can grow sweeter basil for the grocery store and more spicy versions for chefs.

These plants are grown indoors, utilizing a fraction of the land, water and fertilizers of greens raised outdoors with conventional farming. Since the plants are gown indoors, they can be grown close to urban centers. Growers don’t need varieties bred for disease resistance, or plants genetically modified to handle the stresses of growing outside. The harvest isn’t transported across the country in refrigerated trucks, and they are not susceptible to the effects of climate change, which is making growing much more difficult for a lot of farms around the country and around the world.

Indoor growing and LEDs allow fast, year-round crop cycles. This permits growers to produce 200,000 pounds of leafy greens, vine crops, herbs and microgreens annually in a 12,000-square-foot warehouse, which is the equivalent of 80 acres of farmland. Not dependent on the outside weather, plants can grow year-round, enabling a grower to produce 15 or more crops a year.

Conventional greenhouses have depended on on high-pressure sodium lamps (HPS) to complement sunlight, but HPS lights don’t work as well as LED because they consume much more power to produce the same light levels. They also generate too much heat to place near young greens. Greenhouses are moving to a combination of HPS and LED lighting for supplemental lighting, though growers see a time when they will use LEDs alone. Lately, LED lighting costs have been cut in half, and their effectiveness has more than doubled.

Scientists have acknowledged that photosynthesis is improved within the red band, but plants also need blue light waves to prevent stretching and enhance leaf color. A visible range beyond red, known as far red, encourages larger leaves, branching and flowering. With advances in LED technology, light recipes can be finely tweaked to each crop and even to each phase in a crop’s life.

Sunlight is inefficient when it comes to improving small-scale, urban agriculture. The heat produced by the sun can damage plants. The sunlight’s heat effect is further amplified when the plants are packed close together, which they are in urban farming.

In contrast to sunlight, LED lights are known for shifting nearly undetectable amounts of heat onto plants, and the light bulbs are cool to the touch. When using LED lighting, urban farms can closely pack plants for maximum efficiency. This would not be achievable in ordinary agricultural environments without conceding the health of the plants.

There is normally a higher upfront cost using LED lighting. The best way to acknowledge the cost-savings of LED lighting is to look at it in terms of a long-term investment. Over time, LED lighting has a much higher energy productivity over time as compared to other urban farming lighting technologies.

LED's use much less electricity than pressure sodium lights or fluorescent, as much as 40% - 50%. For indoor growing, proper ventilation is required. Ventilation for indoor growing helps prevent excess moisture, the propagation of pests and the weakening of plant stems. LEDs produce much less heat than other types of grow lights, resulting in the need for less ventilation.

LED's grow lights have an extreme life length. They typically have 50,000 hours of usable life, which is approximately 6 years of continuous use. So, if you are utilizing the lights on a 50% on 50% off schedule, the life of LED grow lights is over 11 years.

Since LED's have much lower heat output, they can be located nearer to the plants. This allows the grower to stack more plants in the same vertical space. Therefore, the benefit of using LEDs is to double or triple the production output without changing the area of the growing space. Of course, this depends on the height of the growing space.

As used in commercial indoor growing, LED lighting technologies have been around less than ten years. LED lights are less understood than other types of grow lights, which have been studied for several decades. So, what does this mean? The support for and the knowledge of LED grow lights is far more limited than other types of grow lights. Most importantly, because of the knowledge gap, there are great opportunities.

Keep Calm And Carrot On: How Agritech Could Transform Farming In Singapore

What agritech entails, why investors are sitting up, and how it could transform farming in Singapore

January 19, 2019

CLAUDIA CHONG chongkmc@sph.com sg@ClaudiaChongBT

KEEP CALM AND CARROT ON: How agritech could transform farming in Singapore. 

BT ILLUSTRATION: SIMON ANG

THINK fast: which countries come to mind when you hear "agriculture"? China? Yes. Japan? Probably. Singapore? Not so much. The country has never had a large role to play in agriculture. Yet in the past two years, the authorities cannot seem to stop waxing lyrical about the potential of Singapore as an agrifood tech hub for the region, almost as if to say: There's so much we can do. Lettuce grow together.

But jokes asides, agritech is becoming serious business here. Just earlier this week, Enterprise Singapore (ESG) investment arm Seeds Capital appointed seven co-investment partners to pump more than S$90 million into Singapore agrifood tech startups. The last year also saw notable movements within the private sector as well. Catalist-listed Trendlines announced plans to open an innovation centre to develop agrifood technologies here, and wants to raise a US$40 million venture fund. Global agrifood tech accelerator network The Yield Lab rode into town too, basing their regional operations in Singapore.

And yet when it comes down to it, most of us in Singapore might go our whole lives never being in the presence of a crops farm or livestock. A single mysterious wild cow on Coney Island - which has since died - was novel and exciting enough to gather a religious following.

So what does Singapore have to do with agriculture technology, and why is the buzz getting louder? Here's why you should even carrot all.

Agritech refers to the use of technology in agriculture to improve yield, efficiency and sustainability. It is different from foodtech in that it involves innovation higher up the supply chain, and tends to be business-to-business instead of consumer-facing.

Categories of agritech include biotechnology, farm management, novel farm management systems, and supply chain technology or marketplaces. So it could mean doing research into vaccines for fish in sustainable and traceable indoor farming, or growing vegetables on the rooftops of shopping malls, or developing cutting-edge technology to monitor operations in a farm.

In Singapore, the topic of agritech has gained colour over the years because of push-pull factors. Globally, countries are facing challenges such as arable land scarcity, overfished oceans and resource constraints. Research has projected 37 per cent post-harvest losses in agricultural production by 2050 amid population growth and urban migration.

Though Singapore ranked top of the Global Food Security Index last year, more than 90 per cent of its food is imported, signalling heavy reliance on other countries. Innovation in food production has hence been touted as a possible solution to ensuring greater self-sustainability.

It is a nascent sector, but the interest in agritech has already yielded some startups in Singapore. Sustenir, for instance, has perfected the art of growing strawberries - a cold weather crop - indoors right here. In February last year, VertiVegies clinched a land parcel in Yio Chu Kang from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) to build nine six-storey modular structures to grow vegetables.

Not all of these startups are food-producing ones. "Agriculture doesn't equate to farming," Howard Tang, CEO and co-founder of Smart Animal Husbandry Care (SmartAHC), tells The Business Times. SmartAHC uses wireless sensors and a smart system to analyse a pig's health and readiness to breed, through movements in vital measurements such as temperature and weight.

The company currently has customers in five of the top 10 pig farms in China, home to the largest market for pork. But things were not always smooth-sailing - being in tech didn't take the toil and patience intrinsic to agriculture out of the experience.

The early days of SmartAHC involved prolonged trips by the founders to China to study pig farms there (to get their hands dirty, they had to first get squeaky clean - humans are a major carrier of viruses, which is detrimental to pig farms).

Back in Singapore, the earliest version of the sensors had to be inserted into the heads of dead pigs, which would then be shaken hard to see whether the device could stay put. It was only after establishing a small office in China with live pigs nearby that the R&D time for the prototypes significantly reduced.

Mr Tang says one of the biggest challenges in operating an agritech startup in Singapore is lacking the resources to understand the industry. He laments that a lot of attention is being given to the technology itself.

"Agriculture needs to come first; it shouldn't be the technology coming first," says Mr Tang.

For Upgrown Farming Asia, its industry experience of more than five years is its biggest selling point. Upgrown has clients in Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, among others.

The company designs commercial indoor farms and greenhouses, providing their clients with system integration and agri-business consulting. Its products include a range of technology, from automation and climate control to data analytics and artificial intelligence, depending on the client's needs.

Founding director Lionel Wong tells BT: "The latest issue in urban farming, especially for new entrants, is how you sell your product. Marketing strategy is not so simple; farming is simpler."

For vertical farming projects, the cost of production can be quite high. Mr Wong recommends that indoor farms develop their own niche crop instead of competing with commodity suppliers. Players can also adapt a farm to the needs of a specific group of clients that are looking for an exclusive product.

Land of opportunities?

With Singapore increasingly gearing up towards agritech, a small number of foreign startups are beginning to turn their gaze towards the city in search of good fortune.

Isabelle Decitre is founder of Singapore-based Future Food Asia Platform, which helps startups connect with large corporations. She says the platform has seen 45 Singapore agrifood tech startups to date and about 230 across the Asia-Pacific in 2018. "Singapore is a place of highest repute to get funding from and conduct business transactions in, and this is definitely a big draw for startups," says Ms Decitre, who moved to Singapore from France in 2012 and established her agrifood tech venture capital firm ID Capital that year.

ID Capital is one of ESG's chosen co-investment partners. It invests in Series A rounds with ticket sizes ranging from US$2 million to US$5 million.

"If foodtech is the core focus, Singapore has also chosen two particular sectors in agritech: aquaculture and indoor farming. Both represent very high stakes for the country and there is still a lot of room for technology innovation," says Ms Decitre, echoing what Trendlines told BT back in November.

Examples of those dabbling in aquaculture are small-and-medium enterprise (SME) Apollo Aquaculture Group, and Japan and Singapore-based startup Umitron. SGX-listed Oceanus has also pumped significant capital into R&D for its abalone aquaculture operations.

At Indoor Ag-Con Asia this week, finalists in the running to bag S$50,000 from ESG and substrates and technical advice from Smithers Oasis included startups from Israel and the US.

Two startups BT spoke to had travelled from their headquarters overseas to set up booths at Indoor Ag-Con. One of them, a startup from Tokyo called Farmship, is on the hunt for a partner to bring its container-based vertical farm to Singapore. Farmship already has a joint venture with a local enterprise in Indonesia.

Amid the flurry of activity in the startup scene, corporates and investors are oiling their gears too. According to agrifood tech VC firm AgFunder, global agritech investments in 2017 grew 24 per cent year on year to US$4.2 billion.

Mainboard-listed paper mill firm Avarga said in June last year that it was acquiring a 23.08 per cent stake in urban farming tech solutions provider Archisen for up to US$1.5 million. A few months later, Vanda Global Capital, Shenzhen Dayshine Fund Management and Raffles Capital announced they are launching a US$1.5 billion Asia AgriTech Fund.

Temasek Holdings has made a few agritech investments as well, the most recent being its participation in a US$90 million round in New York-based Bowery Farming, a two-year-old startup that uses robotics to cultivate crops indoors.

Temasek Lifesciences Accelerator (TLA) CEO Peter Chia tells BT that the firm just obtained its fund manager's licence and set up The Life Sciences Innovation Fund (TLIF) to inject seed funding into startups.

TLA is a joint venture between Vertex Ventures and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL). It supports agritech startups by providing specialised wet lab spaces such as growth chambers, greenhouses and urban aquaculture facilities.

While the capital currently floating around in the agrifood tech space is limited, investors are of the opinion that it will pick up.

The amount of funding available in Singapore for agrifood tech is not more than S$10 million, according to a ballpark estimate by Sirius Venture Capital founder Eugene Wong.

"However, because the government is keen on promoting this industry, I can envisage more incubators and early stage VCs coming to set up presence in Singapore," he says. "I think in the next two three years, there will be a tenfold jump in available funding."

For Openspace Ventures, the total addressable market size stemming from agrifood tech is a huge draw. Consultancy firm Frost and Sullivan said the global smart agriculture technology market generated revenue of US$4.5 billion in 2015 and will reach US$9 billion in 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 14.8 per cent.

Openspace Ventures is the only sector-agnostic co-investment partner of ESG, and is rather known for being an early backer of Gojek.

The firm has made some undisclosed investments in agritech overseas. Founding partner Hian Goh says tech has sewn itself into the fabric of society, so it is natural that sectors like healthcare and agriculture will see change.

"We're looking at a revolution," says Mr Goh. "We want to encourage more people to use these kinds of fundamental technologies that were born out of the mobile phone revolution to apply to agritech." An interesting agritech startup will have a fighting chance to become a very large business, he adds.

Seeding pains

Still, challenges remain in this budding sector. Like most startups, agritech suffers from a lack of skilled talent. But the problem is exacerbated by the estrangement of the sector with Singapore. How many spare a glance at agriculture and see an opportunity to start a business?

Mr Wong pointed out that up till recently, agrifood tech-related courses were geared towards training students to do lab work for large companies like Nestle and Unilever.

"You need to instill an entrepreneurial spirit," says Mr Wong. "Programmes mixed with entrepreneurial skills are the best; we need to replicate what we did with ICT and fintech."

For now, agritech startups rely heavily on partnerships for relevant experience. Archisen, the startup that Avarga invested in, works with local and overseas institutes for knowledge transfer and to identify and groom local talent.

And as it stands, Singapore's agriculture sector remains fairly fragmented.

Leo Wein is founder and managing director of Protenga, a Singapore startup that builds farming systems for black soldier flies in order to make insect-based feed for livestock, packed full of nutrients. He tells BT that when he first approached the authorities in 2016 regarding land to set up an R&D farm, he encountered some apprehension.

"They couldn't really grasp the idea that I wasn't farming produce, like vegetables," he says. "But insect-based feed is part of the ecosystem too; food waste is broken down by black soldier fly larvae, and the feed that we make enables farmers further downstream."

Protenga eventually established operations in Johor, while its headquarters remained here.

Singapore's understanding of agritech has matured since then, and Mr Wein is excited to establish a larger presence here.

But the ecosystem remains a work in progress.

Darren Ho, head of urban farm set-up Citizen Farm, says retailers in Singapore can be more open to communicating and working with local farmers instead of prioritising margins.

Citizen Farm currently sells its produce straight to consumers. In this vein, education about better food choices is something that resonates with many in the agritech sector.

Mr Wein, whose company also produces edible insect products for humans, can't agree more. "People tell me that eating insects is so wild. You know what is wild? It's going into the supermarket, picking up a bag of food, looking at the ingredients list, and still putting that in your body."

As the country attempts to charge ahead with agritech, the government has turned its attention to local heritage farms as well.

Singapore is home to a small community of farmers, some of who are in the Kranji countryside, a 45-minute drive from town.

The authorities have been pushing for tech adoption in these farms, awarding grants for R&D and including an "innovation" component in its review of land tenders.

But Chelsea Wan, a second-generation farmer who heads Jurong Frog Farm, says money is not the only big concern for these farmers. Tech adoption also touches on the issue of labour and maintenance of new technologies, which farmers need more support for.

That said, she is a believer that local farmers need to be creative too, in order to edge out the competition. Her farm has worked with startups DeNova Sciences and Collagreen to spin off frog collagen skincare products. Collagreen was co-founded by Ms Wan; it processes agricultural byproducts for more advanced applications.

"You also do have to think out of the box. I think that would be what the younger generation of these family-owned farms are looking at," she says. "So it's not only pertaining to infrastructure or using tech in operations. It's also being innovative in your product offering and really knowing what you're selling."

HCMC Welcomes Advanced Technologies In Agriculture

January 15, 2019

Urbanization has gradually increased its pressure on agriculture land of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) year by year. Yet thanks to the application of advanced technologies, especially biotechnology, into crop growing and harvesting, agricultural performance witnessed an impressive rise.

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Flower growing in nethouses in the HCMC Biotechnology Center. Photo by Thanh Tri

The production value per hectare was able to reach VND502 million (approx. $21,638) last year, a growth of 11.5 percent compared to this time the year before. The general agriculture development rate of HCMC was twice as fast as the national one, with the Gross Regional Domestic Product increasing by 6.2 percent.

Expansion of 4 main projects 

Recently, various new agricultural models that implement cutting edge technologies, particularly biotechnology and information technology, have achieved spectacular results. Take for example the Mokara Greenhouse for tropical flowers in Cu Chi District, the hi-tech melon farm in Hoc Mon District, the hi-tech shrimp ponds in Can Gio District, the dairy farm in Cu Chi District. They are all eminently suitable for urban agriculture development.

Appreciating these updated models, Standing Vice Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem has encouraged the implementation of information technology into agricultural manufacturing in the hope for the city to possess a high-tech agriculture area.

HCMC is also exercising various advantageous policies for businesses and individuals to invest in these models. In 2016, the HCMC People’s Committee issued Decision No. 6150/QD-UBND for the program ‘Developing Agriculture via the Use of High Technologies in HCMC from 2016 – 2020, with Orientation to 2025’.

Thanks to all these efforts, in 2018, HCMC owned 407ha surface area of hi-tech farms in various districts such as Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, Nha Be, and Can Gio, an increase of 4.8 percent compared to this time in 2017 (with only 389ha).

Besides the land growth, many new models have been formed in the suburban areas like hydroponics vegetable, melon, or bell pepper farms using drip irrigation and substrates in plastic greenhouses. The rate of hi-tech application in agriculture in the period from 2015 – 2020 has been quite impressive, rocketing from 10 percent in 2010 to 35.8 percent in 2016 and then 38.2 percent in 2018.

The city is planning to continue carrying out its 4 major projects of expanding the 200-hectare hi-tech agricultural area in Pham Van Coi Commune of Cu Chi District, constructing a new hi-tech aquaculture area in Can Gio District, enlarging the 23-hectare hi-tech agricultural area in Phuoc Vinh An Commune of Cu Chi District, and building a hi-tech breeding farm in Binh Chanh District.

Human resources training for high tech

To meet the upcoming urgent demands in human resources, it is necessary to organize training sessions, make technology transfers related to urban agriculture.

According to Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Trung, Director of the HCMC Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, there are now 31 biotechnology startup businesses participating in the incubation centers and 600 companies as well as co-operatives taking part in training classes to improve their trade capacity, brand name building, management ability in agricultural manufacturing.

Related agencies of the government are also holding workshops for 600 rural workers and 80 officers regarding dairy farming, shrimp farming, and decoration flowers using advanced technologies. In addition, 13 officers have been sent to training courses in Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan for high tech applications in agriculture.

Various local short-term classes in the country have also been organized for technicians to obtain cutting edge knowledge about disease diagnosis for plants using molecular biology, genetic engineering in selecting mushroom types, milk cow quality improvement, plant seed selection using biotechnology, melon growing, hydroponics in vegetable growing, nutrition monitoring in raising milk cows, hi-tech growing techniques for orchid growing.

There have been 243 local workshops to help transfer new technologies to farmers in suburban areas, along with the publication of handbooks, flyers, and guiding CDs to popularize necessary new knowledge to the public.

According to Dr. Duong Hoa Xo, Deputy Director of the HCMC Department of Agriculture and Rural Development cum Director of the HCMC Biotechnology Center, it is essential that educational institutes cooperate with other agencies to prepare suitable training programs for both farmers and agriculture businesses to reach the most promising outcome for the urban agriculture of the city.

By CONG PHIIEN – Translated by Vien Hong

Tags: HCMC advanced technologies agriculture

How UAE’s Food Security Agenda Will Impact Dubai

Minister reveals key initiatives of National Food Security Strategy

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January 26, 2019 Sharmila Dhal, Chief Reporter

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Mariam Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Food Security Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News

Dubai: Soon, your visits to the supermarket will be a different experience. As you browse the shelves for your tomatoes, dates, leafy greens, meat or fish, you will find there will be far more options of premium local produce than currently available.

Reason: The UAE has launched its first-ever Food Basket which has identified 18 different food items (see infographic) whose large-scale local production in some cases is set to make prices more competitive. Not just that, many items will have an all-new ‘Emirates Sustainable Agriculture Label’, which means they are ‘Agriculture-tech’ or ‘Ag-Tech’ products complying to standards of sustainable production, water efficiency, without chemicals and in line with innovative technologies. Basically they will be “clean and traceable foods.”

Food consumption is growing at the rate of 12 per cent a year. Looking at climate change and global food demand, we need to ensure we have different plans in place to secure food for today and the future.

- Mariam Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Food Security

Making these revelations to Gulf News in an exclusive interview at her office, Minister of State for Food Security Mariam Al Muhairi said, “We are looking at a domestic production target of over 100,000 tons by 2021 in line with the National Food Security Strategy 2051 announced in November.”

100000

tons is the target set for domestic production of foods by 2021

She said, “We need to understand what’s in our food basket and say which of these foods makes sense to be grown in the UAE and still have a competitive price, compared to imports. We arrived at the basket based on consumption patterns, local production capacity and nutritional value of foods. The basket is dynamic and could change in a few years depending on these factors.”

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Image Credit: ©Gulf News

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Image Credit: ©Gulf News

Challenges

UAE’s food imports currently stand at 90 per cent. How will the new thrust on domestic production impact this figure? 
“It is difficult to put a number on where we want to head in terms of imports,” said Al Muhairi. “We need to factor the many challenges — less than five per cent of our land is arable and water is scarce. Our population is growing rapidly — it is expected to go up from nine million now to 11.5 million by 2025.

11.5 million is the estimated population of the UAE by 2025

A graduate of the Latifa School for Girls, the minister, who has a master’s degree in engineering from Germany, said, “Food consumption is growing at the rate of 12 per cent a year. Looking at climate change and global food demand, we need to ensure we have different plans in place to secure food for today and the future.

“We have to be in a position to absorb food shocks, secure the continuity of food supplies and also enhance the quality of food.”

12 is the percentage rate at which food consumption is growing in the UAE

Another challenge, she said, pertains to the consumption behaviour of the diverse mix of people (UAE is home to people of over 200 nationalities), their eating patterns, and the way we deal with food wastage and loss.

Community’ role

The government is not the only entity that will make the change happen. “Food security is not just the government’s responsibility,” she said. “Individuals, families and communities also have to play their part. When you choose your food, you are taking part in the food security outlook. If we make sure we educate our communities and give them the tools to do that, we could nudge them to go for more sustainable foods and make healthier choices. Also, the community is involved when we talk of consumption habits or reducing food loss and waste.”

Accessibility

Explaining the difference between food security and self-sufficiency, she said, “People tend to relate food security to self-sufficiency, which is not the case. Food security for the UAE means enabling all residents to have access to safe, nutritious, sufficient and affordable food to lead a healthy and active lifestyle at all times.”

90% UAE's current food imports

Taking the example of Singapore, she said, “Singapore is No. 1 in the Global Food Security Index even though it imports 90 per cent of its food. Why? Because it has managed to have access to food at all times.”

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Supermarkets will soon have a lot more options of premium local produce than currently available. Many items will also have an all new ‘Emirates Sustainable Agriculture Label’Image Credit: Abdul Rahman/Gulf News

According to her, the UAE, which ranks 31 in the index, aims to make it within the top 10 by 2021 and to the first place by 2051. “To be able to do that, we need to diversify, with some food grown at home, some food grown by our companies abroad and some imported from different sources.”

With land and water being scarce in the UAE, she said local companies can invest abroad to boost supplies. “There are many possibilities they can explore across all continents. Recent investments have been made in Romania, Egypt, Sudan, Serbia, and Cambodia. Lately, Uganda has also allocated 2,500 hectares of land as an agricultural free zone dedicated to the UAE. The government’s role is to facilitate agribusiness to increase food trade of quality products.”

She said the UAE’s food security stems mainly from its economic and political stability. “We have the buying power but we need to be prepared for what lies in the future concerning the global food systems. At the same time we should work on the opportunities of becoming a world leading hub in innovation-driven food security by enhancing facilitation for agribusiness and increasing R&D and place more emphasis on sustainable and efficient ways of food production.”

New economic sector

The Office of Food Security has introduced 10 strategic initiatives as part of a “new economic sector” to encourage the adoption of new technologies in the agricultural sector. “We wanted to develop a new economic sector with food systems that are sustainable and don’t use water excessively. We had to first see what were the barriers.”

So a joint programme between the Future Food Security Office and the Government Accelerators was undertaken. It was attended by over 50 representatives of federal and local government authorities and the private sector.

“The idea of coming together was to see how best we could remove existing barriers companies faced in the sector and come up with solutions in 100 days. The result was the set of 10 initiatives.

“The first — an Emirates Sustainability Agriculture Label — tells the consumer that the product has been grown in a sustainable way, using innovative technologies, without chemicals or soil and in keeping with human and animal rights. This is the first national logo of its kind to be introduced anywhere in the world. Unlike earlier, when investors would require four-five different licences to set up a facility, the new economic sector provides a single unified licence, under which activities have been consolidated and updated, reducing costs by 60 per cent.

“It also offers a hassle-free framework for providing agriculture finance and an Ag-tech loan guarantee and supply chain financing. In other words, cash flows have been streamlined.

“Similarly, a new Ag-tech building code allows for hi-tech greenhouses or closed system fish farms to be built to required specifications while a food security data framework and platform (bayanat.ae) provides easy access to information.

“Investors can also benefit from a new standard for aquaculture in keeping with Good Aquaculture Practice, besides a local aquaculture atlas that shows places in the UAE that are suitable for fish farming and a dedicated fish feed facility.”

The minister said 70-80 per cent of the operational costs of fish farming derives from feed which is currently being imported. So it was important to build a sustainable fish feed facility locally.

What Ag-Tech means

Ag-Tech covers advanced agricultural methods that differ from traditional ways of farming. Among other things, it encourages the use of “controlled-environment agriculture” (CEA) that includes efficient technologies to manage inputs and maximise outputs, aquaculture or farming of fish and other marine life in controlled conditions, vertical farming where plants are grown indoor in vertically stacked layers using artificial light, regulated humidity, temperature and minimal pesticides, thus enabling large-scale production of vegetables in the absence of soil, sunlight and chemicals. It also covers drones to map farming areas and adoption of sensors that can help boost yields.

Hi-Tech Agriculture in the UAE

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Badia Farms in Al Quoz, Dubai: Based in Al Quoz, the region’s first vertical farm employs hydroponics technology and uses 90 per cent less water than open field farming and recycles the water it uses. It produces a wide range of lettuces, microgreens and baby leaf herbs among other varieties.Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News

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Masdar City’s eco villa Bustani: A pilot project in Masdar City, this smart showcase has been designed to use 72 per cent less energy and 35 per cent less ater than a typical comparably sized villa in Abu Dhabi.Image Credit: Supplied

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Al Dahra BayWa Greenhouse in Al Ain: The facility in Al Ain consumes 67 per cent less water than traditional greenhouses and the cooling technology employed is the first of its kind in the world. It has the capacity to produce 3,000 tons of tomatoes locally.Image Credit: WAM

The UAE can boast of several hi-tech projects:

• Al Dahra BayWa Greenhouse in Al Ain

• Pure Harvest, Al Ain

• Fish Farm LLC, Dubai, Fujairah

• Al Qouz-based Badia Farms

• Masdar’s eco villas initiative — Bustani with Madar Farms

• Upcoming indoor farm by Emirates Flight Catering and Crop One Holdings of the US

• Dedicated fish feed facility for which a letter of intent has just been signed

The National Food Security Strategy:

The National Food Security Strategy 2051 was presented by Minister of State for Food Security Mariam Al Muhaiari in November 2018 during the UAE Government’s second Annual Meetings. The meetings were chaired by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The food security strategy was among seven national strategies that outlined the early stages of implementing the UAE Centennial 2071 goals in vital sectors.

The strategy, which includes 38 short and long-term key initiatives, seeks to facilitate the global food trade, diversify food import sources and identify alternative supply schemes, covering three to five sources for each major food category.

The strategy aims to:

• Make the UAE the world’s best in the Global Food Security Index by 2051 and among the top 10 countries by 2021.

• Develop a comprehensive national system based on enabling sustainable food production through the use of modern technologies.

• Enhance local production.

• Develop international partnerships to diversify food sources.

• Activate legislation and policies that contribute to improving nutrition.

• Activate legislation and policies to reduce waste.

UAE Leads In Vertical Agriculture In Region

 Sumaira FH  1 month ago  Mon 10th December 2018 | 07:00 PM

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 10th Dec, 2018) The National Food Security Strategy in the UAE aims to develop a comprehensive system, which aims to achieve sustainable food production.

The system will involve 38 short and long-term initiatives, as per the "2051 Vision" and "2021 Work Agenda."

Many specialist newspapers highlighted the UAE’s plans and projects that aim to attract major investment in vertical or horizontal agriculture, in line with related growth forecasts for the Gulf region, which amounts to US$1.21 billion by 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 26.4 percent.

The Business Standard stated that the UAE leads in this type of investment, and has launched many recent leading projects.

Mariam Hareb Almheiri, Minister of State for Food Security, announced, during the UAE government’s annual meetings in November, the "National Food Security Strategy," which includes many related objectives, such as achieving sustainable local production through the use of technology and smart applications.

The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment approved the launch of 12 vertical farms while Emirates Airline is planning to launch the largest vertical agriculture farm in the world, in partnership with Crop One Holdings.

Food import rates amounting to 90 percent and the issues associated with the scarcity of water and arable land in the region strongly support this trend.

In August, Xinhua signed an agreement with China's Chongqing University related to the use of modern technology, to utilise sand as arable soil, and relevant field tests will be conducted in cooperation with Mawared.

Almheiri raised the idea of establishing a "Food Valley" or a technology centre dedicated to developing food products and automated agriculture, to attract a new generation of farmers who can help achieve future sustainability.

The UAE hosts many specialist forums and exhibitions, which aim to promote the latest technologies and showcase them in the region’s agricultural and business markets.

Henry Gordon Smith, Founder and Managing Director of AgriDetriti, said that the middle East has the ability to reshape its vital infrastructure, which will support modern life.

It also has the potential to transform a relatively small and conventional agricultural industry into the world's most technologically advanced agriculture industry, he added.

Bob Honch, Sales Manager in Van Der Hoven Company, said that the UAE has already started this industry, revealing the completion of the largest glass houses project in the UAE (11 hectares), using advanced technologies allowing climate control and stressed that the project could produce around 3000 tonnes of tomatoes throughout the year.

$1.2bn GCC Vertical Farming Boom Seen by 2021

The UAE is leading the vertical farming change and has upcoming projects facilitated by the government as well as private players to help increase food security in the region.

Image by: Crop One Holdings

A growing importance is being given to vertical farming across the GCC and is generating interest and increased investments from regional and overseas players, according to a new report.

Orbis Research said the region's vertical farming market is expected to reach $1.21 billion by 2021 at a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 26.4 percent from only $380 million in 2016.

It said the UAE is leading this change and has upcoming projects facilitated by the government as well as private players to help increase food security in the region.

These include the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment allotting space for 12 vertical farms to be built by Shalimar Biotech Industries, and the world’s largest vertical farm for Emirates Airlines by Crop One Holdings Inc.

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Image by: Crop One Holdings

With around 90 percent of food being imported in the UAE, territorial problems of water scarcity and small percentages of arable land, vertical farming is becoming increasingly vital to ensure food security within the region, the report added.

Mariam Al Mehiri, Minister of Future Food Security, also plans to create a "Food Valley" or a technology hub, dedicated to the development of food and farming automation.

The report comes ahead of AgraME 2019, a platform for the latest technology to be showcased to the regional agribusiness market.

Henry Gordon-Smith, founder and managing director of Agritecture who will be speaking at AgraME 2019, said: “The potential is certainly there to transform what has historically been a relatively small traditional farming industry into perhaps the most technologically advanced agriculture industry in the world.

"This means economic development, increased production of nutritious local produce, and lowered food costs, all with minimal water consumption and increased resilience to climate change and foreign markets.”

Samantha Bleasby, exhibition director of AgraME added that the show, which takes place in Dubai from March 5-7, is attracting key players in the industry such as Certhon, Agrotonomy, Veggitech, Wuxi, iGrowths Technology Co Ltd, Ozorganic Urban Farming and Van der Hoeven.

The World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit Returns To San Francisco March 19-20, 2019.

Turning Disruptive Technology into Business Strategy Through Partnership & Collaboration

Mission Statement:

Focussed on predictive agriculture, automation, robotics, AI backed genomics and biological discovery platforms, the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit explores the business models and partnerships needed to scale new technologies and transform the food supply chain into a more sustainable, affordable and nutritious system for future generations.  

Now in its 5th year, the summit will gather 1000+ global agri-food corporates, innovators and investors to uncover the most exciting innovations in the agri-food sector and to forge the right partnerships to take those solutions to market. 

Each year the summit attracts important delegations from Europe, Israel, Asia and Australia and is where valuable business connections are made to accelerate the transition of technology from the laboratory to the field.

https://worldagritechusa.com/

Venue:

Hilton San Francisco Union Square

333 O’Farrell Street

San Francisco

CA 94102

Registration:

https://worldagritechusa.com/register/

 World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit:

Early Bird (until January 17, 2019) $1,895

Full Price $2,295

Two Summit Pass: World Agri-Tech and Future Food-Tech

Early Bird (until January 17, 2019) $2,995

Full Price $3,495

About the Summit

Focussed on predictive agriculture, automation, robotics, AI backed genomics and biological discovery platforms, the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit 2019 explores the business models and partnerships needed to scale new technologies and transform the food supply chain into a more sustainable, affordable and nutritious system for future generations.

Now in its 5th year, the summit will gather 1000+ global agri-food corporates, innovators and investors to uncover the most exciting innovations in the agri-food sector and to forge the right partnerships to take those solutions to market.

Each year the summit attracts important delegations from Europe, Israel, Asia and Australia and is where valuable business connections are made to accelerate the transition of technology from the laboratory to the field.

OUR EVENTS

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REGISTER BY JANUARY 17 2019 TO SAVE $400 

Farmee Experts: Affordable Crop Consulting Online

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German AgTech startup Farmee teams up with leading Dutch consulting company Delphy to support farmers remotely

German AgTech startup Farmee and well-known Dutch crop consulting company Delphy just launched the online platform Farmee Experts.

With their service, both partners provide affordable crop consulting services online. Any farmer in the world having an issue with their plants can post a question on the Farmee Experts website. Within 24 hours, the question is answered remotely by Delphy’s experienced agronomists. Farmers just have to pay for this troubleshooting without any long-term costs. All questions and answers are private and cannot be seen by other users. As a special launch deal, Farmee Experts offers the first answer for a new registered user completely free. After that, any question will be answered for a fixed price of 49 USD during the market entry phase.

“Knowledge still is the biggest challenge  in agriculture today”, says Jacco van der Wekken, CEO of Delphy. “With Farmee Experts, we bring the know-how of our experts to new and innovative customer segments worldwide.” Especially innovative owners of small-sized greenhouses, indoor growers or urban farmers will benefit from having access to professional advice through an affordable service.

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Florian Hassler, Co-Founder of Farmee, is looking forward to the collaboration: “We are really excited to launch our platform with Delphy as a renowned partner. We believe that sharing knowledge will help many farmers worldwide to grow better food.” In the future, Farmee Experts wants to open up their platform for other partners, becoming the world’s first open marketplace for online crop consulting.

Farmee Experts explained in 90 seconds from farmee on Vimeo.

Explainer Video
https://vimeo.com/farmee/farmee-experts-explained-in-90s

PR Contact
Farmee GmbH, Jens Schmelzle (Co-Founder), jens@farmee.io

About Farmee
Farmee is an AgTech startup from Germany. Founded in 2018, the software company develops digital solutions to enable people growing food. Farmee was selected for the Foodstars Accelerator (NL) and the EIT Food Accelerator Network.

About Delphy
Delphy stands for worldwide expertise for food & flowers. The Dutch company with over 220 employees and its own research units is  the leading consulting partners, developing and offering knowledge about the cultivation of crops and expertise in all plant sectors, see www.delphy.nl

The Southeast's Largest Urban Agriculture Conference of the Year!

The Southeast's Largest Urban Agriculture Conference of the Year!

• Sunday, April 14, 2019 - Monday, April 15, 2019

On April 14-15th, 2019 the AGLANTA CONFERENCE will once again host innovators, business leaders, and AgTech rising stars to celebrate, share, and grow together in the capital of the South.

Over the past two years, the AgLanta Conference has become well known for its informative content, honest conversations, and exceptional networking opportunities. Now, for its third consecutive year, AgLanta 2019 will bring together a wide array of enthusiasts and professionals from across the globe to hear from industry leaders and experience urban agriculture innovation within the City of Atlanta. 

The AgLanta Conference 2019

Why Atlanta? The city has emerged as a leading advocate for both community-focused and commercial forms of urban agriculture, with initiatives like the Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill; Grows-A-Lot program; and IoT.ATL Living Labs Challenge.

This year's AgLanta Conference will spotlight Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Attendees will hone in on three crucial stages of development for any endeavor - Create | Pilot | Grow - by participating in tours, networking, speaker sessions, creative workshops, and locally-sourced meals.

A limited number of Early Bird tickets are now on sale! You'll save 15% vs. a full-price ticket when you buy today.

Atlanta, Georgia
Sunday, April 14 - Monday, April 15

Register Today

Netherlands: Additional Research Facilities At Delphy

For years, Delphy Improvement Centre in Bleijswijk and Certhon have shared the same ambition: to contribute to global solutions in the field of health, food safety and sustainability, through knowledge sharing and knowledge development. This is reflected in the Improvement Centre, which was opened a few years ago and has been used for various research projects since. The facility has now been extended with the addition of two climate cells.

Following the research facilities in the greenhouse, Delphy wanted to make an in-depth study of research and research methods. With the two climate cells realized by Certhon last summer, Delphy can gain more knowledge about daylight-free cultivation and physiological aspects of plants. This knowledge can also be applied in the greenhouse.

The two climate cells can be found in the reception area of the research centre. The doors of the cells are equipped with two small windows, so visitors can see which test set-up with which crops are inside. A few weeks ago, the first tomato and cucumber plants were placed and the research started. During the cultivation process there will be frequent consultation between Delphy and Certhon, to share advice and knowledge.

For more information:
Certhon
www.certhon.com

Publication date : 12/17/2018 

Hydroponic Nutrient Management: What Every Grower Should Know

Monica Mansfield | December 10, 2018

Takeaway: When you choose to grow hydroponically, it becomes your responsibility to ensure your plants are receiving what they need to be healthy and productive. Follow Monica Mansfield’s tips and your plants will think Mother Nature is working her magic.

One of the keys to a successful hydroponic garden is having a solid nutrient management plan. Plants grown hydroponically are much more sensitive to the nutrients you give them simply because they don’t have the soil to buffer any mistakes you may make. You are taking on nature’s role and are responsible for putting together the correct nutrients, in the right amounts, with the right pH, at the right time. You must also manage your water’s quality more strictly and be aware of any chemical incompatibilities that could hurt your plants.

Essential Hydroponic Nutrients

First things first, you must understand the importance of the nutrients you are feeding your plants. They can be broken down into three categories: primary, secondary, and micronutrients. In hydroponics, instead of receiving these nutrients from the soil, plants get these nutrients from the nutrient solution they grow in.

Primary nutrients include nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. These are needed in large quantities for plants to thrive. The secondary nutrients are calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. They are needed in smaller quantities than the primary nutrients, but in much larger amounts than the micronutrients. Micronutrients include iron, molybdenum, boron, copper, manganese, sodium, zinc, nickel, chlorine, cobalt, aluminum, silicon, vanadium, and selenium. Plants also need carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, however, they receive these from the air and water.

If a plant takes in too much or too little of these nutrients, they will suffer from deficiencies or toxicities. Plants will show signs to help you figure out what they need. For example, a nitrogen deficiency will cause yellowing of the older leaves and slowed growth. Too much nitrogen can cause extremely green leaves, excessive vegetative growth, and reduced fruiting.

Understanding Hydroponic Ratios and Formulas

When you go into a hydroponic shop, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the hundreds of fertilizers lining the shelves. There are many different formulas and ratios to choose from.

There will be three numbers on the front of the fertilizer bottles. This is the NPK, which stands for nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, respectively. These numbers represent the percentage of each nutrient in the bottle. A 7-9-5 fertilizer will have seven percent nitrogen, nine percent phosphorous, and five percent potassium in that bottle. The back label will tell you the percentage of other nutrients in the fertilizer.

These ratios will vary a little by brand, what kind of formula it is, and what stage of growth it is meant for. Fertilizers formulated for the growth stage of plant development will have more nitrogen, while the bloom stage formulas will have less nitrogen and more phosphorous.

You will also see one-part, two-part, and three-part formulas. One-part formulas have one bottle for the growth stage and one bottle for the bloom stage of growth. While they contain all the nutrients needed, they likely have smaller amounts of calcium to keep the formula stable and will need to be supplemented. One-part formulas are ideal for beginners who don’t yet understand how to adjust recipes for their plant’s specific needs.

Two-part formulas have an A and B formula for growth, and an A and B formula for bloom. By separating some of the chemicals, the manufacturer has created a more stable and complete formula that can be mixed at different rates throughout the growth cycle. Specifically, higher amounts of calcium and phosphorous can be included in the base nutrients by separating them instead of putting them together in one bottle.

Three-part formulas include a separate grow, bloom, and micro formula that will be mixed together at different ratios throughout a plant’s life. This allows for much more flexibility so that the grower can tailor nutrient recipes to their plant’s specific needs and fix deficiencies more quickly.

Water

One of the most important things to consider in a hydroponic nutrient management program is your water. It is essential to test your water before designing your program. You will want to test for alkalinity, electrical conductivity (EC), and contaminants.

Alkalinity is measured from near zero to more than 300 parts per million (PPM). If your water’s alkalinity is high, then the pH will tend to rise in your nutrient solution. Ideally, you want your alkalinity as close to zero as possible, as it is in reverse osmosis treated water. It is important to note that alkalinity is not the same as pH. While pH can be measured at a certain point in time, alkalinity is a measure of your water’s longer-lasting pH effect. Knowing your water’s alkalinity can help you choose the proper fertilizer program. For example, you may want to use a fertilizer with greater amounts of acidic nitrogen to counter the pH rise.

Your water's EC can be a rough measurement of your water’s purity. Electrical conductivity measures the total dissolved salts in your water. If your EC is high, then you will want to use a drain-to-waste hydroponic system. Electrical conductivity should be low, ideally less than 0.25 mS/cm for closed systems. You can also filter your water using reverse osmosis if you would like to use a closed system but have a high EC.

Your lab analysis should tell you what other elements or contaminants are already present in your water. This is helpful when designing your fertilizer program. For example, if your water already has calcium or magnesium then you will not have to add as much to your nutrient solution. If your water has high levels of sodium or chloride, you know that you may need to purify your water or flush your soil more often to prevent salt build-up.

pH

Monitoring and maintaining a proper pH is crucial in a hydroponics nutrient management system. The solution’s pH measures how acidic or basic it is. The scale ranges from zero to 14, with 7.0 being neutral. Different nutrients are available at different pH levels. In general, nutrient solutions for hydroponics should have a pH between 5.0 and 6.0, which will create a pH in the root environment of between 6.0 and 6.5. In this range, more nutrients are readily available to plants.

You can measure pH with either pH strips or a pH meter. If you use a meter, be sure to calibrate it on a regular basis, about once every week or two.

Depending on your hydroponic system and your plant’s stage of growth, you may need to adjust your pH often. A drain-to-waste system does not reuse water, so you will adjust your pH when you mix it initially. However, recirculating systems will need more frequent adjustments. As roots respire, the pH will decrease as carbon dioxide reacts with water to create carbonic acid. This will happen much more towards harvest when roots are their largest.

To adjust your pH, you will add acids and bases to your nutrient solution. Add a little at a time and measure with your meter as you go. Common acids used to decrease pH include sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, citric acid, and nitric acid. To increase your pH, potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide are commonly used. It is important to consider which acids and bases you use to adjust your pH, as they will add nutrients to your solution. For example, nitric acid will add nitrogen and phosphoric acid will add phosphorous.

PPM/EC

When mixing your nutrient solution, you have the option of creating your own program from scratch or following a pre-designed program from a fertilizer company. Commercial operations usually design their program from scratch so that they can adjust their solution as needed. To save money, many commercial operations use recirculating systems and lab-test their nutrient solution regularly so they can add only the elements that have been depleted. For the hobby grower, however, it is much easier to follow a feeding plan that has been designed by a fertilizer company. Most companies have feeding schedules available to go with their products.

Although you can simply follow the measurements on the bottle, your solution will be more precise if you mix it using a PPM or EC meter. Parts per million and EC both measure the total dissolved salts in your solution. While this measurement will not tell you exactly how much nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium is in your solution, it will give you an idea of the overall nutrient concentration. You can use this number to add nutrients to a recirculating system in between reservoir changes. Most feeding schedules will tell you what the PPM or EC should be at each week’s stage of growth.

If you are a hydro grower, follow these principles to create an effective nutrient management plan for a successful harvest.

(For more on plant nutrients, check out The Essential Plant Nutrients.)

"The Crop is Ready for the Darkest Period"

Only two more weeks and the days will get longer again on the Northern hemisphere, making it quite a challenge for growers these days to keep their crop up and running.

The team at the Delphy Improvement Centre is doing their best as well. They're currently conducting a light test in which the first bell peppers were harvested at the end of November. The plant load is now at around 28 fruits/m2. This is also the maximum plant load calculated for the darkest period with the 200 μmol/m2/s light intensity. The most difficult phase is only just beginning, according to BTO, and the current crop is a good start for the next cultivation phase.

During cultivation they've tried to regulate the amount of light according to the needs of the plant. "This way, we wanted to ensure that the crop did not become too heavy during the period that the supply of assimilates was greater than the demand, so that in the first few weeks light was shielded based on the sum of realized light. Starting in week 42 (4 weeks after planting) the number of exposure hours is slowly increased and from week 47 on we will use the lighting for the maximum 18 hours per day."

Fruit thinning
The challenge of the coming period is that the crop will not experience a dip in fruit production. A plan has therefore been drawn up for the number of fruits that are allowed per week, and fruit thinning is the solution. "The plan is to have a maximum of 3.5 fruits/m2 per week. As bell peppers don't always take every node, thinning is a precision job. But when we look back at the plant load, the plan worked well. We currently have fruit hanging in all stages, which should ensure that we get an even production through the winter."

No difference between departments
There are currently no differences between the two departments (full LED compared to a combination of LED and SON-T lighting). In half of each greenhouse there is extra far-red lighting. So far this provided slightly more stretching and less anthocyanin formation on the stem.

The fruits of the first and second nodes are currently harvested. The fruit weight of the main variety Mavera is around 220 grams and the fruits are very thick-walled. These fruits were harvested within 6 weeks after setting. "Two weeks before the first harvest the setting was somewhat lower, but this week we see this again."

Source: Kas als Energiebron 

Publication date : 12/17/2018