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USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum Extends Reduced Hotel Rates
USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum Extends Reduced Hotel Rates
02/01/2018
USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum Extends Reduced Hotel Rates
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2018 – The USDA’s Agricultural Forum has extended its discounted room block rates through Tuesday, February 6, 2018. This two-day gathering is the Department’s largest annual meeting, and will take place on Feb. 22 and 23, 2018 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Va.
Now in its 94th year, this year’s forum theme is “The Roots of Prosperity.” More than 80 speakers will present at 30 sessions; the forum also offers a host of agriculture-related exhibitors. The forum offers a platform for conversation on key issues and topics among producers, processors, policymakers, government officials, and non-governmental organizations, both foreign and domestic.
Presentation highlights include:
- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and members of his cabinet
- Distinguished Speaker Akinwumi Adesina, African Development Bank Group president
- Dinner Speaker Mehmood Khan, PepsiCo vice chairman and chief scientific officer
- “The 2018 Economic Outlook for Agriculture,” presented by USDA Chief Economist Robert Johansson
- A plenary panel with agricultural industry leaders
Session topics include:
- The economic impact of opioids on rural America
- China’s evolving markets and policies
- Restoring America’s watersheds
- Animal disease outbreak preparedness
- Responding to hurricane disasters
- Right sizing regulation
- Emerging issues in food safety
- Outlook sessions on commodities, farm income, food prices, and organic agriculture
Learn more about the program and sessions; plenary speeches will be webcast on Feb. 22 after 6:00 p.m. EST. Register at USDA 2018 Agricultural Outlook Forum. The forum offers discounted room block rates through Tuesday, February 6, 2018.
Follow the Agricultural Outlook Forum on Twitter @USDA #AgOutlook.
World Vegetable Map 2018: More Than Just a Local Affair by Rabobank
World Vegetable Map 2018: More Than Just a Local Affair by Rabobank
FEBRUARY 1, 2018 URBAN AG NEWS
The 2018 World Vegetable Map shows essential vegetable trade flows and highlights some key global trends in the sector, such as the growing importance of production in greenhouses and vertical farms, as well as the popularity of organic vegetables.
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> Click here to download the World Vegetable Map
Poster versions of the World Floriculture Map are exclusively available to Rabobank clients. To receive one, please contact your relationship manager.
Map summary: more than just a local affair
The global vegetable market is still predominantly a local market. Only 5% of the vegetables grown are traded internationally. But that share is increasing. Easy market access is vital for export-focused vegetable-producing countries like Mexico, Spain, and the Netherlands. Over the last decade, Mexico has further expanded its prominent position on the North American market, and internal EU trade has continued to grow.
Market for fresh (prepared) vegetables up, demand for canned vegetables down
An estimated 70% of all vegetables grown in the world are sold as whole fresh vegetables. This market is still on the increase, mainly outside of the US and the EU. Processing of vegetables (freezing, preserving, and drying) is a good way to prevent wastage, but global consumption of preserved (canned) vegetables has decreased over the last decade. At the same time, demand for frozen vegetables has increased by an average of 1% per year. Demand trends seem most favourable for vegetables that are convenient to eat and prepare and/or do well on (social) media because of considered health effects or their visual appeal. Examples are all kinds of (prepared) salads as well as sweet potatoes. EU imports of sweet potatoes (mainly from the US) have tripled in just four years’ time.
Organic vegetables most popular in wealthy nations
Organic foods are gaining market share around the world. The share of organic fruit & vegetable sales (in total fresh fruit & vegetable sales) has already passed 10% in wealthy countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, and Denmark (see Figure 1). In the US, this share is 9% and quickly growing. Income is not the only determinant for organic vegetable consumption. In the Netherlands, where the average income per capita is similar to that of Sweden and Austria, the market share of organic vegetables is only 5%. The reasons behind this are not clear, but it is likely related to supermarkets’ decisions on the category, price, availability, and quality of conventional vegetables, as well as cultural factors.
Sources: UN-Comtrade, Eurostat 2017
Figure 1: Share of organic fresh fruit and vegetable sales vs. income, 2016
Free trade agreements vital
As most fresh vegetables are highly perishable, easy market access is essential. In Latin America and Africa, vegetables are mainly sold regionally. Growing circumstances (climate, water availability), production costs, exchange rates, and trade agreements can trigger vegetable trade flows. Distortions in NAFTA or EU trade agreements (such as Brexit) will negatively affect vegetable trade. In the last decade, Mexico has further extended its very prominent position as North America’s vegetable garden. Spain and the Netherlands are key vegetable exporters within the EU (see Figure 2). Morocco has emerged as an up-and-coming vegetable supplier for the European market.
Figure 2: Intra-EU trade
Source: UN-Comtrade, Eurostat 2017
Up-and-coming import markets
A significant change in the world of vegetables is the rise of new vegetable-importing nations. Vegetable imports used to be concentrated in North America, western Europe and Japan. But gradually, countries like India, China, and the United Arab Emirates have upped their vegetable imports. Russia has also shown an increase in trade, despite the 2014 import sanctions for vegetables from the EU, the US, and a number of other countries. Currently, Belarus, Morocco, China, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are important vegetable suppliers to Russia.
The rise of controlled production in greenhouses and vertical farms
Globally there is a growing need for vegetables that are available year-round, produced in a safe and resource-efficient manner, and are of a consistently high quality. Consequently, vegetable production in greenhouses and vertical farms is rising. The area of greenhouses is estimated at 500,000 hectares, including roughly 40,000 hectares of glasshouses. Recently, we have seen vertical farms popping up in various places around the world, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere close to large consumer concentrations.
Vertical farming entails growing crops (often leafy vegetables) in a controlled environment using artificial lighting. As investments and electricity costs are relatively high, it is (still) challenging to run an economically viable vertical farming business. That said, discerning customers are willing to pay a premium for locally grown vegetables grown in a contained environment.
For more: https://research.rabobank.com/far/en/sectors/regional-food-agri/world_vegetable_map_2018.html
Open Prairie Announces Initial Closing on $100 Million Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund and USDA License as a Rural Business Investment Company
Open Prairie Announces Initial Closing on $100 Million Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund and USDA License as a Rural Business Investment Company
NEWS PROVIDED BY Open Prairie
Jan 24, 2018
EFFINGHAM, Ill., Jan. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Open Prairie is pleased to announce that its newest growth-stage private equity fund, the Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund, L.P., has received a license from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to operate as a Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC). In conjunction with its licensure, the fund has also completed a first closing with strategic partner commitments of over $55 million from lead investors comprised of institutions within the Farm Credit System, commercial and community banks, family offices, farm organizations and individuals passionate about advancing agriculture and growth throughout rural America.
The global food and agriculture system is on the precipice of unparalleled change. World population is projected to reach 9 billion by 2050 and agriculture continues to represent the largest environmental footprint of any economic sector. Globalization and development of emerging markets have resulted in a burgeoning middle class with disposable income, an expansive palate and greater focus on food safety, health and convenience. Additionally, caloric demands are expected to increase more than 70% by 2050 as consumers incorporate more proteins into their diets, resulting in crop demand growth requirements of over 100%.
Open Prairie Founder and Managing Partner, Jim Schultz, stated, "Open Prairie has worked closely with its lead investors to establish the Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund as an investment vehicle uniquely positioned to capitalize on the challenges facing today's agriculture environment." The Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund is a balanced private equity fund offering debt and equity capital to growth and later-stage companies across the agribusiness value chain.
"Compeer Financial, along with our Farm Credit Associations and partners, is committed to the growth of agribusinesses, jobs and new innovations in agriculture and rural America. We're excited to partner with Open Prairie, 11 banking institutions, and other investor partners to provide leadership, expertise and expand rural networks through the USDA's Rural Business Investment Program," explained Compeer Financial's Chief Mission and Marketing Officer, John Monson.
The U.S. remains a global leader in agriculture, particularly with respect to creation, development, and implementation of technologies with worldwide applications. Pat Morand, Open Prairie Partner and President, said, "With our multi-generational connections to rural America and a history of success in facilitating growth for its portfolio companies while generating top-tier returns for its partners, the Open Prairie team will leverage its expertise to identify opportunities in areas such as crop protection, ingredients, processing, storage, data management and logistics. The fund has begun cultivating a rich pipeline of prospects and will continue to raise capital with additional closings expected during the first half of 2018."
About Open Prairie
Open Prairie, based in the heartland of America with headquarters in Effingham, Illinois, and offices in Champaign, Illinois, Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Olathe, Kansas, is a multi-faceted private equity fund management firm with deep roots in rural America. Founded in 1997, Open Prairie has consistently focused on facilitating capital accessibility in underserved markets. The Open Prairie team has managed funds ranging from technology-based venture capital to farmland portfolios. Through its expertise across all functional business disciplines and an extensive network of professionals, Open Prairie works in partnership with its portfolio companies to accelerate growth while providing top-tier returns to its investors. For more information about Open Prairie, please visit www.openprairie.com.
About the Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund
The Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund is a targeted $100 million private equity fund licensed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC). The institutional investors that participated in the first closing in December, 2017 include: Farm Credit organizations – AgriBank (St. Paul, MN), CoBank (Denver, CO), Compeer Financial, FLCA (Sun Prairie, MN), Farm Credit Mid-America (Louisville, KY), Farm Credit Services of America (Omaha, NE) and FCS Financial (Jefferson City, MO); commercial and community banks – Dieterich Bank (Effingham, IL), FarmerMac (Washington, DC), First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust (Mattoon, IL), First National Bank of Omaha (Omaha, NE), Investors Community Bank (Manitowoc, WI), Prospect Bank (Paris, IL), Sauk Valley Bank & Trust (Sterling, IL), Security Bank (Laurel, NE); farming organizations – Farmers Union Enterprises (Alexandria, MN), North Dakota Farmers Union (Jamestown, ND); and individuals committed to the growth of rural America. The Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund is focused on providing debt and equity capital of $2 - $10 million to growth companies in food and agriculture.
For more information on the Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund, please visit www.openprairie.com.
USDA Reaffirms Organic Certification for Container Production Systems
In the most recent edition of the Organic Insider newsletter, USDA states, “Certification of hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic operations is allowed under the USDA organic regulations, and has been since the National Organic Program began.”
USDA Reaffirms Organic Certification for Container Production Systems
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) clearly reaffirmed its position this week on the inclusion of hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic within the organic program. In the most recent edition of the Organic Insider newsletter, USDA states, “Certification of hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic operations is allowed under the USDA organic regulations, and has been since the National Organic Program began.”
This is a significant victory for farmers and producers across the country to provide more certainty over certification standards. The Coalition for Sustainable Organics, a group of environmentally and socially responsible growers committed to maintaining USDA’s current high standards, thanks USDA for its thoughtful approach on this issue. In addition, CSO thanks all the growers, consumers, farm workers, marketers, input suppliers, auditors, and others who took the time to participate in the debate by submitting comments, providing testimony, speaking with your customers and consumers, and reaching out to government officials to help educate members of the NOSB as well as the broader organic community regarding the benefits and legitimacy of organic container production methods.
The Organic Insider is a routine publication of the USDA to inform the organic community and industry on a range of topics related to organic agriculture at USDA, including regulatory updates, requests for public comments, and notices about upcoming activities. This edition also includes links to the materials from the Fall 2017 National Organic Standards Board meeting such as transcripts,presentations made by the USDA, votes, formal recommendations and USDA’s initial responses to the recommendations.
While this publication is important, growers are still reporting wide differences in how individual auditors are evaluating their organic operations with frequent changes to their reviews despite USDA’s consistent policy. In addition, the National Organic Standards Board’s (NOSB) Crops Subcommittee continues to discuss additional regulations for container production systems. It remains unclear how these efforts may unfold moving forward. In addition, USDA acknowledged it received NOSB’s recommendation to prohibit aeroponics from certification.
CSO continues to work with its members to ensure the organic community remains open to a wide diversity of participants in order to provide organics to all and ensure regulatory certainty.
Over 32 Trillion Data Points Give Growers Solid Environmental Intelligence
Over 32 Trillion Data Points Give Growers Solid Environmental Intelligence
17 January 2018 (PST): Autogrow, a leading global ag tech company, has announced their strategy to use trillions of available growing data points to help their growers’ crop production.
“Due to the unique nature of our architecture, over 32 trillion data points flow through our systems each year which would be one of the most substantial collections for indoor agriculture to date. Data is king when it comes to innovation but what you do with it is the key,” says CEO Darryn Keiller.
Darryn Keiller at head office
“The tricky part is, like most systems, a lot of the data generated contains noise. To date, our processing algorithm has filtered and stored over six billion data points which are then ingested by our state-of-the-art data pipeline, and analyzed by our scientists for our customers.”
“Our strategy is to orchestrate the data to make it meaningful for our growers, giving them deeper insight into their crop environments’, revealing critical factors of crop cycle and seasonality, to enable smarter decisions and better outcomes.”
Data is currently sourced from Autogrow’s MultiGrowTM, AphaeaTM, IntelliDoseTM and IntelliClimateTM control systems and, depending on the system being run, collates microclimate data every 3-5 seconds including air temperature, humidity, light levels, CO2, pH and nutrient levels as well as local macroclimate data.
The richness of the data is enormous spanning a vast array of produce, floriculture and arboreal plant nurseries in greenhouses, urban farms and protected cropping systems in over 40 countries.
Each grower can access their own data via the cloud or the controller at any time with enterprise level security in place, but the biggest challenge for the grower is seeing past the large quantity of data to the quality insight.
Autogrow’s Director of Crop Science and Agronomy, Dr Tharindu Weeraratne notes that information gathered gives a true reflection of how the plants are responding to their environment and what the optimum levels are for increased yields with high quality and consistency.
“All the factors involved including external and internal climate, plant biology, nutrient requirements, technology usage and how everything interacts together is vital. Add in the effects of consumer needs, geopolitical factors and climate change, and those leafy greens or tomatoes are more complex than most consumers realize.”
“There are a few factors that can’t be controlled with crop production but by gaining knowledge and understanding of those factors you do have control over, it’s really the first step to true innovation and business growth.”
In Columbia South Carolina, Small and Organic Farmers Talk Farm Bill with US Ag Secretary
In Columbia South Carolina, Small and Organic Farmers Talk Farm Bill with US Ag Secretary
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, City Roots Farm Manager Eric McClam and S.C. Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers discuss amaranth seedlings that City Roots sells as microgreens. Perdue visited City Roots Jan. 27, 2018.
Eva Moore
- By Eva Moore
-
- Jan 27, 2018
President Donald Trump's agriculture secretary visited a small urban farm in Columbia today, a stop that highlighted the sometimes conflicting political interests that face farmers.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue toured City Roots, a Rosewood farm that grows microgreens prized by local chefs. The farm also grows flowers and mushrooms, hosts events, teaches classes, gives school tours and acts as a sort of incubator for farm talent.
This year, Congress will take up a new Farm Bill, something it does roughly every five years. Perdue was in the Capital City to ask farmers what they want to see in it.
The answer from the small crowd, several of them younger farmers from small-scale, organic or sustainable farms: 1, keep programs alive that help launch and boost farms like theirs, and 2, change regulations that are designed with large farms in mind.
Perdue held City Roots Farm Manager Eric McClam up as an example of someone who has "mined the USDA very successfully," making use of its many grants and programs for small farms.
Added S.C. Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers, who was also in attendance, "City Roots is a good advertisement for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, I tell you what."
At a few points, Perdue tried to draw connections between the small farmers' requests and key Republican values.
For example, Roland McReynolds, executive director of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, asked for Perdue's help in addressing the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act. It's an FDA program, not a USDA program, but it sets standards for food handling that could end up costing small farms a lot of money.
"It is going to be a burden for small-scale farms such as [City Roots] to come into compliance," McReynolds said, noting that farmers have an in obvious interest in food safety but face regulatory burdens. "Farmers want to do the right thing. They don't want to kill their customers."
Perdue took the opportunity to knock some other federal regulations that he said have "unintended consequences," such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act.
Meanwhile, City Roots Farm Manager Eric McClam asked for help eliminating a $20,000 annual cap on payments that organic farms can receive for certain conservation practices under the USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program. A large part of the program's funding is set aside for livestock operations instead.
Perdue, who started the job last April, said he hadn't been aware of the cap. But he noted that any changes to the USDA and the Farm Bill will be "evolutionary, not revolutionary."
And at several points, Perdue was sure to emphasize — in subtle terms — that he's not looking to favor the kind of farming City Roots is doing at the expense of bigger commodity crop operations.
Ben DuBard, organic farm manager for massive Walter P. Rawl Farms in Lexington County, as well as a board member of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, asked for some consideration in the Farm Bill of what are called "specialty crops" — a category that covers most non-commodity crops, from fruit to spinach, as opposed to commodities like cotton and soybeans. Specialty crops have a more direct connection between eater and farmer, DuBard suggested.
"People who grow specialty crops grow food that people eat," DuBard told Perdue. "I just want to make sure that specialty crops remain a very strong part of the Farm Bill. I feel like specialty crops are the rock stars of farming because the consumer can directly identify with it."
But Perdue pushed back a bit.
"I think you'll see more interest [in specialty crops] because of the movement and how the organic community has been in creating the demand, but we don't need to do that at the expense of any other part of agriculture," Perdue said. "It's all important and we're all in this together. So we don't need to say we're better than they. Everyone can be successful."
DuBard also made a common request for larger farms like WP Rawl, which employs some 800 people: keep immigrant labor coming.
"At our scale it is very difficult for us to find Americans who really want to do the work," DuBard said. "The immigrants who come in from Latin America do a really great job for us and they're getting harder and harder to get."
Perdue said, "The president's very mindful of the need for a legal farm workforce," and namechecked a proposal by U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte to reform the guestworker program.
The visit put a national spotlight on City Roots, which was started in 2010 by McClam's father, Robbie McClam, though Eric quickly took on the top job.
Perdue noted that the 32-year-old McClam is part of the "millennial resurgence" in farming.
"We see a resurgence in interest in the therapeutic nature of running your hands through the ground," he said at one point.
Integration Empowers Growers to Augment Any Climate Computer With Sensor Insights
Integration Empowers Growers to Augment Any Climate Computer With Sensor Insights
Growers can now connect data from any climate computer to the 30MHz wireless sensor platform with Klimlink. 30MHz, the Amsterdam-based provider of smart sensing technology equips agricultural customers with all the elements needed to monitor and optimise growing and storage environments with physical data: wireless sensors, a scalable network, and a customizable dashboard with alerts and analytics, all deployable in minutes. Partnership and integration with Klimlink offers growers a deeper real-time understanding of crop needs on both macro (climate computer data) and micro (wireless sensor data) levels. The result is tangible insights customers can respond to, preventing crop loss and saving energy.
Breaking down data silos in agriculture
Any systems that generate data can be linked together via Klimlink, and made immediately available in the 30MHz dashboard, with heatmaps, graphs, and other interactive visualizations. “This is a major step in breaking down data silos in agriculture. Growers work with so many different climate systems, and have to read data per system without a central overview of their metrics. This is work-intensive, impractical, and makes it difficult to fully optimise. Integrating with Klimlink knocks down the walls separating this powerful data, making it immediately actionable in our dashboard.” says 30MHz Director of Customer Affairs Cor-Jan Holwerda.
Empowering growers with selective data sharing
Klimlink, developed by agritechnologist Wim Klaver, enables growers to bring together large amounts of data available from greenhouse horticulture companies (most often from climate computers) onto a single, intuitive platform. Without high costs or subsidies, Klimlink opens the door to many additional applications, making data available for deeper analysis. With customizable data sharing features in the 30MHz dashboard, growers can get more value out of their measurements by comparing data with each other, while researchers and crop advisers can simply look over the grower's shoulder without having to log on to different control systems.
30MHz believes that with technology and data, organizations of any size can innovate to become more efficient, sustainable and profitable. Using an easy to deploy sensor technology, the company empowers businesses to turn metrics captured from the physical world into actionable insights at industrial scale.
The 30MHz provides all the building blocks needed for a scalable sensor network: from sensors to connectivity through to alerts and analytics.
Having established a growing presence within Dutch agriculture, 30MHz now counts customers in North America, Africa and across Europe. Alongside its Dutch headquarters, the company has offices in London, Norwich, Bristol, Singapore, Melbourne and Hong Kong.
The flexible and highly customizable 30MHz Smart Sensing Toolkit gives customers a choice of sensors capturing metrics including pointed temperature, light intensity, airspeed, CO2, vibration, temperature, humidity, distance, counting, dew point and soil moisture.
All data captured belongs to the customer and is accessible only by that customer.
30MHz has developed a series of customer case studies that demonstrate real-life examples of how sensors and data collection are driving change at every stage of agriculture and horticulture.
Case study - Proeftuin Zwaagdijk
Optimising greenhouse conditions with sensor data
One of the Netherlands’ foremost sources of applied research on agriculture and horticulture, Proeftuin Zwaagdijk provides a controlled environment to test the best methods and tools for crop cultivation and protection. Using sensory data on dew point, temperature, relative humidity and CO2, the organization ensures the optimum conditions to provide relevant and immediate environmental data to a network of over 100 agricultural research centers specialized in crop protection.
Case study - Jan de Wit en Zonen
Maintaining product quality with monitored environments
Leaders in the cultivation and export of tulip bulbs, Jan de Wit en Zonen have maintained a reputation for quality and expertise, supplying one of the most recognized Dutch exports to clients in more than twenty countries across Europe, Asia and North America. The company uses real-time alerts and analytics from temperature, humidity and ethylene sensors to monitor conditions during processing: tracking the functioning of flower ventilators to deliver the best product.
Case study - Moors Pepper Farm
Optimising water and nutrition delivery to crops
Netherlands-based Kwekerij Moors is a market leader in pepper cultivation. The commercial farm transformed its pepper yield through the strategic placement of flexible infrared temperature sensors--developed in partnership with 30MHz-- to capture the surface temperature of crops. Moors leveraged sensory data to optimize the delivery of nutrients and water, reducing loss of vegetables due to sunscald at an ROI of 3600%.
Case study - Bejo Zaden
Ensuring safe transport conditions for living cargo
With 1,700 employees and operations in more than thirty countries, Bejo Zaden is a leader in the breeding, production, and sale of vegetable seeds. The company keeps thousands of bee colonies in bee farms globally. Temperature and humidity are crucial to successful bee shipping. Extreme temperatures can kill honeybees or reduce their ability to produce honey. Last year, Bejo Zaden lost an entire honeybee shipment due to inconsistent conditions inside a truck. Using temperature humidity sensors to monitor conditions inside trucks, and temperature sensors installed inside beehives, the company ensures optimal conditions for the safe transport of bees around Europe. Drivers receive alerts on changes to the cargo environment, knowing when to ventilate or cool the hives.
Case study - Rawligion
Using sensors to monitor stock inventory and kitchen preparation conditions.
Rawligion is one of London’s premium food retail outlets. Rawligion’s key focus is on high-quality ingredients, as a large part of their menu follows raw food principles. This means that ingredients are never heated above 42oC, to ensure that the finished food or drink product has retained maximum nutritional value. Rawligion using sensors to monitor significant changes in conditions in their fridges, freezer and kitchen areas in real-time. Working with fresh produce that has a limited life-shelf time, sensory data enables Rawligion to actively increase inventory life and prevent losses.
About 30MHz
30MHz develops and produces a complete sensor platform for the agricultural sector, consisting of wireless sensors, a scalable data network and an analytics dashboard with visualizations and real-time alerts available on mobile, desktop or tablet. Quick to deploy without technical knowledge, the intuitive platform enables customers to add new sensors at any time. Customers from horticulture, agriculture, vertical farming, crop and bulb storage and processing companies use the technology to monitor their crops and environments in real-time. Commonly measured metrics include temperature, humidity, dew point, VPD, CO2, light intensity, and air flow. The company works with agricultural leaders including Sercom, Wageningen University and Proeftuin Zwaagdijk to continuously anticipate growers’ needs.
6 Places Where Soil-Less Farming is Revolutionizing How We Grow Food
If it seems like “water, to which farmers have added the necessary nutrients for plant growth.hydroponic systems” are everywhere, that’s because they are. Hydroponic farming is one efficient way to grow fruits and vegetables in small spaces without the use of soil. Instead of dirt, plants grow down into
6 Places Where Soil-Less Farming is Revolutionizing How We Grow Food
by Greg Beach
If it seems like “hydroponic systems” are everywhere, that’s because they are. Hydroponic farming is one efficient way to grow fruits and vegetables in small spaces without the use of soil. Instead of dirt, plants grow down into water, to which farmers have added the necessary nutrients for plant growth. These are then absorbed, along with water, through a plant’s roots. Light is provided either by the sun or specially designed grow lights, with many sustainable systems powered by renewable energy sources. Aquaponic farming incorporates fish into the soil-less system, using the closed-loop nutrient cycle from fish digestion to their advantage. Some systems even feed nutrients to plants through the air! From water-less deserts to the sun-less underground, soil-less farming is offering new possibilities to feed an increasingly urban, growing global population in a more Earth-friendly way.
1. Stores
With consumers increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, many stores have realized that going green is good for business. Big-box store Target began a series of trials in spring 2017 in which vertical, hydroponic gardens were installed in various Target locations to provide customers with the freshest possible produce. In collaboration with MIT Media Lab and Ideo, Target designed a system that is capable of growing leafy greens and herbs with minimal water usage. The company hopes to someday branch out into other crops, such as potatoes, zucchini and beets. MIT may even offer Target use of rare heirloom tomato seeds for its project. Meanwhile, IKEA has teamed up with Denmark-based SPACE10 to design high-tech hydroponics systems in-stores and in homes.
2. Deserts
In preparation for a future dominated by climate change, in which oil becomes a lesser part of the world’s energy diet, Saudi Arabia has taken several major steps to build a more sustainable system in its challenging desert region. One such move is the rethinking of many traditional farming practices, especially focused on reducing water usage. A farm in the town of Jeddah uses neither water nor soil, rooting plants in mid-air while providing their nutrients through a mist. Designed by AeroFarms, the system is the first aeroponic farm in the Middle East and hopes to someday acquire all its water needs through capturing humidity in the air.
Related: The future of food: how dry farming could save the world
If a desert farm chooses to go hydroponic, there are ways to grow without draining freshwater supplies. In arid South Australia, SunDrops Farms grows 15% of the country’s tomato crop through a solar-powered hydroponic system. To eliminate the use of precious freshwater, SunDrops sources its water from the nearby saltwater gulf, which is then desalinated through the reflected heat of the sun.
In a very different kind of desert, soil-less farming helps growers from the Arctic to Antarctica make the most of a short growing season.
3. Cities
As the global population becomes more urban, cities are investing in more local food production systems that offer economic development opportunities and reduce a city’s carbon footprint. In a warehouse on the Near East Side of Indianapolis, Farm 360 are growing vegetables on a hydroponic system that is exclusively powered by renewable energy and uses 90 percent less water than traditional farming methods. The harvest is sold in local grocery stores while the farm supports dozens of living-wage jobs to residents of the neighborhood.
In even the most isolated urban areas, soil-less farming finds a home. With its ability to receive vital supplies and support a functioning economy severely restricted by the Israeli blockade, Gaza has stepped out onto the rooftops to grow its own food. Beginning in 2010, a United Nations-funded urban agriculture program equipped over 200 female-headed households with fish tanks, equipment, and supplies to build and maintain an aquaponics growing system. This initial spark has encouraged others to create their own and to teach others of this valuable skill.
4. The Underground
Farming without soil can often take place beneath the soil. In Paris, Cycloponics runs La Caverne, a unique urban farm that grows mushrooms and vegetables in an underground, formerly abandoned parking garage. The farm’s hydroponics system uses special grow lights to ensure the vegetables have what they need to survive. The mushrooms grow in a special medium and, through their respiration, provide valuable CO2 for the plants to thrive. La Caverne may have found inspiration from Growing Underground, London’s first underground farm. On 2.5 acres of unused World War II-era tunnels, Growing Underground produces pea shoots, several varieties of radish, mustard, cilantro, Red Amaranth, celery, parsley, and arugula.
Related: 7 agricultural innovations that could save the world
Honorable mention: shipping container farms. Although these may be mobilized on the surface, they may as well be underground due to the closed roof of most shipping containers. The solar-powered hydroponicsLA-based Local Roots can grow the same amount of vegetables, at cost parity, with 99 percent less water than traditional farming.
5. On the Water
Some soil-less growing operations take it a step further, leaving the ground behind entirely and opting for a farm floating on water. Barcelona-based design group Forward Thinking Architecture has proposed a progressive solution to the decreasing availability of arable land by creating floating, solar-powered farms. Using modules that measure 200 meters by 350 meters, Forward Thinking’s design allows for expansion and custom configuration of farms. Each module has three levels: a desalinization and aquaculture level at the bottom, then a hydroponic farming level, topped off by a level of solar panels and rainwater collection. The company estimates that each module would produce 8,152 tons of vegetables a year and 1,703 tons of fish annually.
Related: NexLoop unveils water management system inspired by spiders, fungi, bees and plants
Greenwave takes an alternative approach to soil-less, floating farming by combining the cultivation of shellfish and seaweed, both profitable crops that also help to clean the aquatic environment and absorb greenhouse gases. The farm requires little external input, pulls carbon dioxide from the air and water, and consumes excess nitrogen that could otherwise result in algal blooms and dead zones.
6. Your Home
Yes, you too could get in on the soil-less action. Whether you prefer to DIY or you’d rather something more straightforward, there are options for every style.
Lead image via Depositphotos, others via MIT OpenAg, Sundrop Farms, Esther Boston, Cycloponics, GreenWave, and Urban Leaf
FFAR Awards $2.7 Million to Create Fellowship Program to Foster the Next Generation of Food and Agriculture Scientists
FFAR Awards $2.7 Million to Create Fellowship Program to Foster the Next Generation of Food and Agriculture Scientists
FFAR Will Collaborate With Industry Leaders and Universities to Provide Interdisciplinary Training for Graduate Students
WASHINGTON, January 17, 2017- The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), a nonprofit established through bipartisan congressional support in the 2014 Farm Bill, today announced a $2.7 million grant to launch the FFAR Fellowship Program. A team at North Carolina State University led by John Dole, Ph.D., will manage the program. The grant will be matched by a consortium of industry leaders dedicated to preparing the agricultural workforce to optimize impact on the future of the industry.
The goal of the program is to combine cutting-edge food and agriculture science research with professional development training to better prepare graduate students for the workforce. The program will address the "STEM Paradox," or the observation that science, technology, engineering, and math students have strong scientific skills but sometimes lack other professional skills that make them successful in the workplace. Unlike other programs, the FFAR Fellowship focuses exclusively on food and agriculture sciences.
"At the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, we understand that the future of agriculture lies in training the next generation of scientists," said FFAR Executive Director Sally Rockey, Ph.D. "Students must be prepared to not only make the scientific breakthroughs that will sustain us but also have the professional skills to succeed in their careers across the agricultural sector."
The FFAR Fellowship Program will fund 48 graduate students over three years using an interdisciplinary approach to career readiness. Students will pursue research projects in an area of food or agriculture research related to FFAR's Challenge Areas and strategic initiatives, such as soil health, plant phenomics, precision agriculture, breeding technology, digital agriculture, and sustainable livestock production. In addition to academic advisors, students will be matched with industry mentors who will provide additional career guidance.
The flagship component of the FFAR Fellowship Program is the annual professional development workshop. Fellows will convene with industry peers to participate in training for professional and interpersonal skills, such as team building, project and time management, and science communication. These trainings will be complemented by a personalized development plan to help students obtain the professional skills they need to excel in the workforce.
"Industry and academia will be working together in this program to provide an unparalleled educational opportunity for graduate students studying in food and agriculture," said John Dole, Ph.D., North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences associate dean and director of academic programs. "The FFAR Fellows will be conducting innovative research, while learning what it takes to succeed from leading industry scientists."
Interested students should visit www.ffarfellows.org for details on eligibility, application requirements, and fellowship expectations.
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About the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research
The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, builds unique partnerships to support innovative and actionable science addressing today's food and agriculture challenges. Leveraging public and private resources, FFAR will increase the scientific and technological research, innovation, and partnerships critical to enhancing sustainable production of nutritious food for a growing global population. Established by the 2014 Farm Bill, FFAR is governed by a Board of Directors with ex officio representation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation.
Learn more: www.foundationfar.org | Newsletter Sign-Up
Connect: @FoundationFAR | @RockTalking
Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg to Visit West Africa
Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg to Visit West Africa
Photo Courtesy of CORAF.
The President of the Americas-based non-profit group, Food Tank, will visit Senegal and other West African countries from January 15 to 25, 2018.
During the visit, Danielle Nierenberg will learn, document and write about agricultural traditions and innovations in Africa. A meeting with officials of the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) is central to the visit.
“Farmers and scientists are continually improving ways to increase the nutritional value and nutrient density of food,” says Nierenberg. “They do this while protecting natural resources and their efforts improve social equality, and create better markets for their crops.”
CORAF is Africa’s largest sub-regional research organization. It works with 23 African nations to help coordinate agricultural research and development.
“Solutions to food scarcity are developed in fields, kitchens, and laboratories, by farmers, researchers and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America,” says Nierenberg. “We have a lot to learn from CORAF and these countries.”
Economic growth from agriculture is eleven times more effective at reducing extreme poverty than any other economic sector in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Rural poverty is driving urbanization, leading to overcrowded cities and increased risks for vulnerable people.
The demand for food will continue to increase due to population growth, with more than nine billion people to feed by 2050. However, sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to dramatically increase its agricultural output, with a quarter of the world’s arable land but only ten percent of the world’s agricultural output. Traditional agriculture techniques such as agroforestry and intercropping (growing several crops together) can help create a more sustainable global agricultural system.
Both CORAF and Food Tank are interested in promoting sustainable changes in food systems across Africa and the globe, with the ultimate goals of increased food output and access.
Food Tank will share the research institution’s work to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods across the region. Family farmers produce 57 percent of the world’s food while increasing food security, boosting local economies, and improving nutrition. CORAF puts both producers and consumers at the center of its research, focusing on economically sustainable and culturally appropriate agribusiness and disseminating knowledge and education in the agriculture sector.
“Farmers in wealthier countries tend to think that they have so much to teach farmers in other parts of the world,” says Nierenberg. “In some cases that’s true. But what really interests me is how much we can learn from farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly as our world grows warmer and water more scarce.”
ColdPICK International Inc. & Ecarne Sistemas, A Cold Chain Equipment Provider Based in Mexico, Forming Chill Produce Inc.
ColdPICK International Inc., with its extensive background in engineering and packaging innovation, together with Ecarne Sistemas, a Cold Chain equipment provider based in Mexico, are combining their comprehensive expertise to form a new company - Chill Produce Inc.
Chill Produce will focus on helping to resolve the regulatory burdens, which have been mounting, on fruit and vegetable growers in North America. North America because operators of both companies have been involved with agriculture material handling system development in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
ColdPICK designed, engineered and manufactured (under contract with an integrated berry company) the ColdPICK M1, a Mobile post-harvest pre-cooling system that can be located at the grow site to pre-cool 1,000LB of berries in an hour, to match the volume of berries a crew will pick per hour.
Ecarne has been facilitating the provision of large refrigeration equipment to the meat and seafood industry in Mexico.
The new company - Chill Produce provides cold chain material handling systems to the grower/ packer/shipper market. Systems which will minimize labor and energy costs and the regulatory burdens with which California is currently predominantly impacted (resulting in a competitive disadvantage with other states and offshore growers).
The fresh fruit and vegetable growers suffer from a broken immigration system resulting in changing regulatory burdens of minimum wage and overtime enforcement that will now be applied to agricultural jobs.
Energy rates vary by state and California ‘wins’ the race for the highest $kWh measured against other ‘agricultural’ states.
Chill Produce offers various post-harvest pre-cooling systems which will reduce both labor and energy costs
1. The variable Retention Time chilling tunnel, ‘VRT’, will reduce your cold chain material handling headcount over 50%.
2. Chill Produce Cooler Vacuum cooling chambers, ‘CPC’, will cool select produce cartons in 30-minute cycles with a capacity that ranges from 1,100LB to 22,000LB per cycle.
3. VERMAK tray design to increase pallet payload by adding an extra layer at the same height as male-female locking trays which improves revenue and reduces freight costs.
Both the VRT and CPC Vacuum Cooling Systems provide;
- Dwell Time Reduction by 25% to over 50%
- Lower Energy Costs
- Improved Quality
- Longer Shelf Life
- Less Cull
- Smaller Carbon Footprint
Contact Chill Produce; www.chillproduce.com
USA – Canada;
Gregory Smith; gregory@chillproduce.com
+1 863 581 7279
Mexico;
Abe McKee; abe@chillproduce.com
+1 956 242 0665
What The 2018 Farm Bill Means For Urban, Suburban And Rural America
Soybean crop on a family farm near Humboldt, Iowa, 2017. USDA/Preston Keres
What The 2018 Farm Bill Means For Urban, Suburban And Rural America
January 16, 2018
Author
Special Advisor, Colorado State University
Disclosure statement
Tom Vilsack served as Governor of Iowa from 1999-2007 and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 2009-2017. He is president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC); a Strategic Advisor of Food & Water Initiatives at the National Western Center as part of the Colorado State University System team; and Global Chair for the International Board of Counselors on Food & Water Initiatives. He serves on the board of Feeding America, GenYouth and Working American Education Fund and the World Food Prize Foundation Board of Advisors.
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Colorado State University provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.
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Since the turn of the year, Congress and the Trump administration have been haggling over legislative priorities for 2018. Many issues are on the agenda, from health care to infrastructure, but there has been little mention of a key priority: The 2018 farm bill.
This comprehensive food and agriculture legislation is typically enacted every four or five years. When I became U.S. secretary of agriculture in January 2009, I learned quickly that the bill covers much more than farms and farmers. In fact, every farm bill also affects conservation, trade, nutrition, jobs and infrastructure, agricultural research, forestry and energy.
Drafting the farm bill challenges Congress to meet broad needs with limited resources. The new farm bill will be especially constrained by passage of the GOP tax plan, which sharply reduces taxes on the wealthy and large companies, and by concerns about the size of the federal budget deficit. Farm bill proponents will have to work even harder now than in the past to underscore the magnitude and impact of this legislation, and the ways in which it affects everyone living in the United States.
Nutrition programs, mainly SNAP, account for more than three-quarters of spending under the most recent farm bill.
Helping farmers compete
Of course, the farm bill helps farmers, ranchers, and producers. It provides credit for beginning farmers to get started. It protects against farm losses due to natural disasters through disaster assistance and crop insurance. It provides a cushion for the individual farmer if he or she suffers a poor yield or low prices, through a series of farm payment programs tied to specific commodities.
Agricultural trade is critically important to the bottom line for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and producers. More than 20 percent of all U.S. agricultural production is exported. Agricultural exports are projected to account for one-third of farm income in 2017.
The farm bill authorizes market access promotion and export credit guarantee programs that are key for promoting exports and generating farm income from exports. These programs provide resources to exporting businesses to aggressively market American agricultural products overseas and to enable exporters to price our products more competitively on the world market.
Then-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks with Provincial Agriculture Deputy Julio Martinez during a visit to a local farmers market in Havana, Cuba, Nov. 13, 2015. USDA/Lydia Barraza.
Making healthy food available and affordable
All of these provide a stable and secure supply of food for the nation. Along with efficient supply chains, they also allow us to enjoy relatively inexpensive food. On average, Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food.
The farm bill is also a nutrition bill. It funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP), our country’s major program that helps low-income individuals and families afford a healthy diet. In 2016 SNAP served more than 44 million Americans.
Two issues are likely to arise during the farm bill discussion. First, there will be an effort to impose work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. Today, those individuals are required to be in school or working a minimum of 20 hours a week, or their benefits are limited to three months every 36 months.
Second, there will be efforts to limit what people can buy with SNAP benefits – for example, barring their use to purchase soda or other foods that are considered unhealthy. Implementing such restrictions might prove more difficult and costly than policymakers may expect.
Other nutrition provisions in the bill help senior citizens buy goods at farmers’ markets andmake fresh fruits and vegetables more readily available to millions of school children. It is easy to see why farm and nutrition advocates historically have worked together to support passage of the farm bill in an alliance that joins rural and urban interests.
Food insecurity means that access to adequate food for active, healthy living is limited by lack of money and other resources. Very low food security occurs when food intake for one or more household members is reduced and normal eating patterns are disrupted.
Boosting rural economic development
Only 15 percent of America’s population lives in rural areas, but as the bumper sticker reminds us, “No farms, no food.” The farm bill helps make it possible for people who want to farm to stay on the land by funding supporting jobs that provide a second income. It also provides resources to improve the quality of life in rural places.
Since 2009, programs authorized through the farm bill have helped over 1.2 million families obtain home loans; provided six million rural residents with access to improved broadband service; enabled 791,000 workers to find jobs; and improved drinking water systems that serve 19.5 million Americans.
The farm bill also supports our national system of land grant universities, which was proposed by President Lincoln and created by Congress in 1862. Lincoln envisioned a system of colleges and universities that would expand the knowledge base of rural America by improving agricultural productivity.
Through the farm bill, Congress provides grants for research at land grant universities in fields ranging from animal health to organic crop production and biotechnology. Lincoln would be pleased to know that these programs mirror his vision of increasing agricultural productivity through targeted research shared with farmers and ranchers.
Protecting natural resources and producing energy
Farmers, with the assistance of the farm bill, can improve soil quality and preserve habitat for wildlife. The farm bill funds voluntary conservation programs that currently are helping more than 500,000 farmers and ranchers conserve soil and improve air and water quality – actions that benefit all Americans.
For example, the Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to take environmentally sensitive land out of agricultural production and conserve it for other purposes, such as wetland habitat for birds. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program pay farmers to adopt conservation practices, such as conservation tilling and fencing livestock out of streams.
Producing renewable energy is an important tool for expanding economic opportunity in rural areas. USDA’s Renewable Energy for America Program authorizes investments in small- and large-scale projects including wind, solar, renewable biomass and anaerobic digesters, which farmers can use to produce biogas energy by breaking down manure and other organic wastes. Since 2009 the Renewable Energy for America Program has helped finance over 12,000 renewable energy projects.
Investing in food and farmers
In discussion of any legislation that affects so many different constituencies, a key challenge is to recognize that multiple interests are at stake and try to avoid pitting groups against one another unnecessarily. If differences become too divisive, the risk of not passing a farm bill grows.
Many programs in the farm bill are authorized only for specific periods of time. This means the ultimate consequence of not getting a bill passed could be that some policies would revert back to outdated “permanent” (nonexpiring) laws enacted more than 50 years ago. This would cause major disruptions to the nation’s food system and skyrocketing food costs.
Unfortunately, most people are unaware of the farm bill’s importance because they think it impacts only farmers. Over the next few months, debate and discussion about the farm bill will grow, and hopefully will lead to broader understanding of the bill’s importance. I hope this awareness will encourage Congress and the president to provide the level of investment that is needed to maximize the positive impacts that the farm bill can have for all Americans.
Introducing The New Kiss the Ground Speaker Training Course
“Our mission is to inspire participation in the global movement to restore soil.”
– Team Kiss the Ground
Introducing The New Kiss the Ground Speaker Training Course Begins Monday, January 29, 2018
“Our mission is to inspire participation in the global movement to restore soil.”
– Team Kiss the Ground
The 2018 6-Week Kiss the Ground Speaker Training Course begins Monday, January 29th! You are invited to use your voice and join us in the largest movement of our time.
We will give you the tools you need to become a soil revolutionist and share techniques that will help you become a more confident and empowered speaker.
We are seeking participants who preferably have a background in ecological science, environmental or sustainability studies or have a strong interest in learning about the soil regeneration movement. The world needs more voices spreading the message of soil regeneration. Sign up today and become one of them!
More course details provided below!
SIGN UP NOW
Course Details
Dates:
January 29 – March 5, 2018
Where:
In Person at the Kiss the Ground Office in Venice, California or Online From Anywhere
Day/Time:
Mondays 7:00 -9:00 pm PST
Length:
6 weeks
Investment:
In Person: $300 ($200 Student)
Online: $75
How to Register
Email Michelle at speakertraining@kisstheground.com
SIGN UP NOW
Your Teachers
Finian Makepeace
Kiss the Ground Co-Founder
Finian is a recording artist, activist and self-taught soil advocate whose passion for changing the world brought him to study political science at UCLA. He strives to make the world a more peaceful and harmonious place for humans and all of nature. Finian resides in Venice, loves to make music, build gardens and bring people together for common causes.
Don Smith
Healthy Soil Advocate
Don Smith is a speaker, teacher, and student of regenerative agriculture and regenerative lifestyles. His talks are engaging, inspiring, and filled with viable solutions to the world’s largest problems. In addition to speaking, Don helps Kiss the Ground with editing, technical details, and infographics promoting soil as a solution to climate change.
We'd be so grateful if you helped us spread the word about the Speaker Training Course!
Do you know people in your social networks or local community that would be interested in joining our training and becoming a voice in the soil revolution?
We have provided our downloadable event flyer to print and a downloadable social graphic to share on your social networks!
Please tag us #kisstheground so we can say thank you!
The world needs more voices spreading the message of soil regeneration. We'd love if you were one of them!
MORE INFORMATION
Urban Gardening System Grow More Helps City Dwellers Build Mini Local Farms
Designed by Danish firm Husum & Lindholm Architects, Growmore structures can be assembled using six plywood components. The system is designed for people living in cities to utilize unused urban space for local food production.
Urban Gardening System Grow More Helps City Dwellers Build Mini Local Farms
Sebastian Jordahn | 4 January 2018
Our next Dezeen x MINI Living video explores a modular urban farming system called Growmore, which allows people living in cities to build mini gardens from a series of simple plywood planters.
Designed by Danish firm Husum & Lindholm Architects, Growmore structures can be assembled using six plywood components. The system is designed for people living in cities to utilise unused urban space for local food production.
The components include planting and shelving units, which are connected by pivotal joints. This enables users to move and rotate assembled structures, so they can fit in a wide range of different spaces.
As well as food production, the system is designed to create a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city.
"Growmore is an urban gardening modular design that enhances our awareness on local production," the architects said. "It consists of very few elements, which makes it possible to build in any given context."
Husum & Lindholm presented the design last year during the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism – an exhibition showcasing ideas and strategies for the cities of the future.
The design has also released by the designers as an open-source system, meaning anyone can use and adapt the design to their needs and produce the components with a CNC machine.
This movie is part of Dezeen x Mini Living Initiative, a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how architecture and design can contribute to a brighter urban future through a series of videos and talks.
Over 32 trillion Data Points Give Growers Solid Environmental Intelligence
Over 32 trillion Data Points Give Growers Solid Environmental Intelligence
17 January 2018
Darryn Keiller at head office
Autogrow, a leading global ag tech company, has announced their strategy to use trillions of available growing data points to help their growers’ crop production.
“Due to the unique nature of our architecture, over 32 trillion data points flow through our systems each year which would be one of the most substantial collections for indoor agriculture to date. Data is king when it comes to innovation but what you do with it is the key,” says CEO Darryn Keiller.
“The tricky part is, like most systems, a lot of the data generated contains noise. To date, our processing algorithm has filtered and stored over six billion data points which are then ingested by our state-of-the-art data pipeline, and analyzed by our scientists for our customers.”
Innovative. Exciting. Every aspect of your environment under your control.
Light and humidity, air flow, air and root temperature, nutrient delivery, pH balance and EC - with our systems every variable is under your direct control, so you can maximise growth and efficiency.
Optimise your environment for the best crop yield both in terms of quality and quantity.
Our systems let you directly manage your resources and productivity, offering 365 day availability, labour cost savings and the ease of controlling crop growth cycles.
“Our strategy is to orchestrate the data to make it meaningful for our growers, giving them deeper insight into their crop environments’, revealing critical factors of crop cycle and seasonality, to enable smarter decisions and better outcomes.”
Data is currently sourced from Autogrow’s MultiGrowTM, AphaeaTM, IntelliDoseTM and IntelliClimateTM control systems and, depending on the system being run, collates microclimate data every 3-5 seconds including air temperature, humidity, light levels, CO2, pH and nutrient levels as well as local macroclimate data.
The richness of the data is enormous spanning a vast array of produce, floriculture and arboreal plant nurseries in greenhouses, urban farms and protected cropping systems in over 40 countries.
Each grower can access their own data via the cloud or the controller at any time with enterprise-level security in place, but the biggest challenge for the grower is seeing past the large quantity of data to the quality insight.
Autogrow’s Director of Crop Science and Agronomy, Dr. Tharindu Weeraratne notes that information gathered gives a true reflection of how the plants are responding to their environment and what the optimum levels are for increased yields with high quality and consistency.
“All the factors involved including external and internal climate, plant biology, nutrient requirements, technology usage and how everything interacts together is vital. Add in the effects of consumer needs, geopolitical factors, and climate change, and those leafy greens or tomatoes are more complex than most consumers realize.”
“There are a few factors that can’t be controlled with crop production but by gaining knowledge and understanding of those factors you do have control over, it’s really the first step to true innovation and business growth.”
Green thumbs, helping hands.
Autogrow was born in the greenhouses of New Zealand. With more than 20 years experience working with growers around the world, we want to work with you to help you make the most of your growing space.
Scale at your own speed.
Autogrow lets you choose what variables you want to control. No unnecessary extra bells and whistles, just good, clean growing at a price point you can afford.
We're not a walled garden.
Our open systems approach means that wherever possible you can re-use your existing investment in equipment.
Iowa Power Farming Show Expands For 2018
Billed as the third-largest indoor farm show in the U.S., the Iowa Power Farming Show features more than 750 companies from 27 states, three Canadian provinces and the Netherlands,
SEE YOU THERE: The Iowa Power Farming Show, the third-largest farm show in the U.S., spreads across 7.7 acres.
Iowa Power Farming Show Expands For 2018
Changes are set for show running Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 in Des Moines.
Rod Swoboda 1 | Jan 16, 2018
The Iowa Power Farming Show is fast approaching, and the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines will soon be filled with more ag-related machinery and technology displays than ever before.
Billed as the third-largest indoor farm show in the U.S., the Iowa Power Farming Show features more than 750 companies from 27 states, three Canadian provinces and the Netherlands, says Tom Junge, show director. “It just got bigger,” he says.
Presented by Farm Credit Services of America and Ag Direct, the show now covers 7.7 acres across all three buildings and seven floors of the Iowa Events Center. It is loaded with more big iron, precision ag, aerial imaging, livestock production, inputs and data management than ever before.
The three-day show from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 is expanding after its staff had to manage exhibitor waiting lists for more than 10 years. “We continually got requests from companies wanting to exhibit at our show,” Junge says. “As a result, we felt there was no better time than the present to expand.”
The show will expand to the lower level of Hy-Vee Hall for 2018, making room for 75 additional exhibit booths. “We invested in modifying the lower level to make it more exhibitor-friendly and to help with traffic flow,” Junge says. The new floor will also feature a lunch buffet and seating.
Register online to save $5
To date, the Iowa Power Farming Show is the only event to use all three facilities of the Iowa Events Center, making it the largest indoor show of any kind in Iowa. Show hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 30-31 and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 1. Parking and shuttle are free at Iowa Cubs-Principal Park. Farmers may register online at iowapowershow.com to save $5 off the $8 admission.
The Iowa Power Farming Show is produced by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association in conjunction with local Iowa-Nebraska farm equipment dealerships. The show is sponsored by:
• Diamond sponsors Farm Credit Services of America and AgDirect
• Platinum sponsor AgLeader
• Gold sponsors Mitas, Stine Seed Co. and Sukup Manufacturing
• Silver sponsors Machinery Pete and Stewart-Peterson
What to expect for 2018
In addition to the 75 spaces designated for new exhibitors on the lower level of Hy-Vee Hall, including a lunch buffet and seating, get set for Ag Innovation and Pitch Competition.
• The Ag Innovation Pitch Competition is Jan 31 at 3 p.m. at inside the east entrance to Hy-Vee Hall. You can watch six ag-tech startups pitch their latest ideas to help producers manage their farming operation more effectively. The winning company receives a $20,000 prize. This competition is presented by Farm Credit Services of America along with Advantage Capital, Figured, Innova, Iowa AgriTech Accelerator, Koch Ag & Energy Solutions, Midwest Growth Partners and Open Prairie.
• New mobile interactive floor plan, an exhibitor list, and product category directory are available.
• The new mobile responsive website can be accessed at iowapowershow.com.
• A total of 99 new exhibitors will be showing their wares and technology at this year’s show.
Seeds&Chips and Saatchi & Saatchi Italy Partner to Address the Future of The Food Industry
Seeds&Chips and Saatchi & Saatchi Italy Partner to Address the Future of The Food Industry
Milan, January 15th, 2018
Seeds&Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit founded by Marco Gualtieri, has appointed Saatchi & Saatchi to handle its advertising for their next event scheduled in Milan from 7th to 10th of May 2018.
Seeds&Chips, now in its fourth year, has become a point of reference within the food industry for food innovation. The yearly summit held in Milan showcases the best of Italian and international advancement and explores themes, models, and ideas that are changing the way food is produced, distributed, consumed and talked about. With the food production industry placing such great demands on our planet and ecosystem, the Seeds&Chips summit also aims to broaden the scope of discussion and develop solutions to become more sustainable.
The annual summit has gained worldwide recognition in recent years and has attracted high profile speakers such as the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, who spoke at the 2017 event, marking his first international engagement since leaving the White House.
Saatchi & Saatchi Italy will promote the event through an integrated campaign that will launch in February 2018.
" Seeds&Chips is a fantastic opportunity not only for our country but for the future of the planet. Everything about the future of the food industry, from production to the application of technology, is of global importance. We are excited to partner with Seeds&Chips and to be promoting this fantastic event" said Simone Masé - CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Italy.
Marco Gualtieri, Founder, and Chairman of Seeds&Chips added: "The fourth edition of Seeds&Chips will have an even greater visibility and international presence. It’s fundamentally important to spread the message that food innovation and sustainability is a global priority. Its connection to climate change, population growth, and health care means that events such as Seeds&Chips are pivotal. The Saatchi & Saatchi campaign will give us the opportunity to reach stakeholders and consumers, and in particular young people who are the protagonists of this great change taking place."
Saatchi & Saatchi Italy
Saatchi & Saatchi Italy is part of the Saatchi & Saatchi network, which has 114 offices and more than 6500 people.
Saatchi & Saatchi Italy is one of the most awarded advertising agency in Italy with 19 Lions (of which 10 golds) won at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity in the last 5 years. Saatchi & Saatchi Italy has 2 offices, one in Milan and one in Rome, with 100 people. Main clients: Ania, Bauli, Carrefour, Deborah, Enel, Fater, Ferrarelle, Ferservizi, Folletto, Groupama, GSK, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mutti, Nostromo, Peroni, Procter & Gamble, Salmoiraghi & Viganò, Salumi Gardani, Sofidel, Twinings, and Whirlpool.
Seeds&Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit
Seeds&Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit, founded by entrepreneur, Marco Gualtieri, is the world-leading flagship event in the Food Innovation field. A showcase of excellence entirely dedicated to the promotion of solutions and the latest state-of-the-art technological talents from worldwide.
An exhibit as well as a conference with over 30 sessions to present and discuss themes, trends and innovations that are changing the way food is produced, processed, distributed, consumed and communicated. In its III edition, Seeds&Chips,
The Global Food Innovation Summit hosted President Barack H. Obama as a keynote speaker. The event featured over 300 speakers from across the world, over 240 exhibitors, 15,800 visitors and 131 million social media hits in 4 days.
The IV edition of the Seeds&Chips Global Food Innovation Summit will take place at MICo, Milano Congressi, from May 7 - 10 2018, and participants will include, among others, Ex-US Secretary of State, John Kerry.
Abu Dhabi To Host GFIA 2018
Abu Dhabi To Host GFIA 2018
January 09, 2018
ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi is set to host the Global Forum for Innovation in Agriculture (GFIA Abu Dhabi 2018), which will run from 5th to 6th February 2018 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC). The event will coincide with the UAE Innovation Month, Held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA), and in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and ADFCA, the event will showcase the latest innovations and technologies in sustainable agriculture and food security from across the Middle East and North Africa.
GFIA Abu Dhabi is sponsored by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and will draw the participation of several leading speakers and innovators from across the world. The fifth edition of the event will focus on six key areas: indoor farming and hydroponics, date palm production, aquaculture, livestock and animal production, sustainable crops and beekeeping.
The forum will also highlight various agricultural practices, environmental conservation, crop promotion, pest control and tackling the challenges of climate change. Additionally, 600 companies from different countries and scientific centres will present their ideas and vision for sustainable food production to more than 15,000 visitors expected to attend the three collocated events.
The forum will feature panel sessions on food security focusing on five main themes to develop the blueprint for increasing local production and attracting foreign investment in fish farming, milk and dairy production, poultry products, as well as date and date palm waste industries.
Thamer Al Qasemi, Chairman of the GFIA 2018 Organising Committee at ADFCA, said, "In keeping with the founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed's vision and values of promoting sustainability, GFIA seeks to find effective solutions to the most pressing issues facing the agriculture sector globally and regionally.
In addition to providing an ideal platform to share experiences, skills, and ideas through convening top experts, farmers and local and international farmers... In representing the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in international forums dedicated to food and agriculture, ADFCA has succeeded in globalizing the Agricultural Innovations Forum by hosting its European edition in the Netherlands. This reiterates the Emirate's leading status as a top destination for organizing high-caliber international exhibitions and events in this vital domain."
WAM
Reclaiming Our Cities, Starting From Food
Reclaiming Our Cities, Starting From Food
10 JANUARY 2018 MICHELA MARCHI
Over half the world’s people now lives in cities, an extraordinary statistic given that in 1900, just over a century ago, only 10% of the population was urban.
And the trend is continuing in the same direction: Predictions estimate that 75% of us will be city-dwellers by 2050. The roots of this anthropological upset lie in the very idea of progress, in that paradigm of infinite, rule-free growth that dominates the West: Modernity is by definition urban. The rural and natural are disappearing from our lives and everything that lies outside the metropolitan area is swallowed up and transformed into mere function, answering to the city’s needs, or rather adapted to the urban organization of the world. But could we rethink the urban fabric and the metropolitan area, starting from a recovery of that lost rurality? Could we imagine and above all design our cities in a way that recolonizes with greater humanity the spaces in which modernity lives?
Modernity has in fact forgotten to answer a fundamental question: If everyone lives in cities, then how will we be fed? Who will feed us? How is the food that arrives in our metropolises produced, distributed, sold, consumed (and shamefully wasted), now and in the future?
The industrial production model has in practice engulfed every aspect of our life, and most worryingly has relegated agriculture and rural areas to a marginal role, with a removal of the rural that is not only physical but also intellectual. This has progressed so far that agricultural areas are perceived and treated by urban and regional planning as “not yet urbanized” spaces. And yet until a few decades ago, the agricultural areas at the edges of cities had close links with the centers, and many areas inside the cities themselves were being cultivated and serving important functions such as maintaining the climate during the hottest season. These days the most common image we have of agriculture in cities is limited to urban food gardens, which, especially in Italy, tend to be “marginal” in all senses: often illegal and located along the edge of railway lines or in other degraded, peripheral areas. And environmental education often struggles to leave room for the multidisciplinary food education that could ensure children and young people get the training they need to interpret the world from different perspectives, prioritizing social and environmental aspects over purely productivist ones.
What has happened? And how can we reappropriate those spaces, rural identity and agricultural knowledge that would allow us to tackle the challenge of an urbanized future at the mercy of a dramatically changing climate?
Agriculture and Urbanization: A Common History
As architect Carolyn Steel writes in Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives, this process of urbanization began 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, when agriculture and urbanizationdeveloped side by side. It is no coincidence that these activities developed at the same time, she says. Cities and agriculture are linked and each needs the other. She outlines the subsequent course of history, as the domestication of wheat gave our ancestors a food source that allowed them to establish permanent settlements. The cycles of the harvest then went on to dominate life in cities throughout the pre-industrial era. Not only was food grown and reared within the city, but streets, squares and other public spaces were the only places where food was bought and sold. We need to imagine cities full of food, places in which it would be hard to ignore where your Sunday lunch came from, given that it had probably been bleating outside your window a few days earlier, as the picture of Smithfield in 1830 reminds us.
The birth of the railway and a food revolution
Only a decade later the railways had arrived, with pigs and sheep among the first passengers. Suddenly these animals no longer reached the city markets on their own trotters, but were slaughtered somewhere in the countryside, out of sight and out of mind. This changed everything. Cities were able to grow in every shape and direction, with no more geographical restraints limiting its growth and access. Just look at how London developed in the 90 years following the arrival of the trains, morphing from a small, compact, easy-to-feed cluster to a vast sprawling metropolis that would be very hard to feed if food was only being transported on foot or by horse.
With cars came the total emancipation of the city from any visible relationship with nature, and then the arrival of foodstuffs that made us dependent on unsustainable models, harmful to us and the planet: factory farms, monocultures, the indiscriminate use of pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers that leave the soil sterile, products that travel across continents, refrigerated and plastic-wrapped, consuming water and emitting greenhouse gases with terrible effects on the climate, the environment and our health.
What can we do about all this?
It is not a new question, and in fact Thomas More was already asking it 500 years ago in his Utopia, writes Steel. More describes a series of semi-independent cities, a day’s walk apart, where everyone enjoys cultivating vegetables in their gardens, and eats communal meals together. Another famous utopian vision is that of Ebenezer Howard and his “garden cities”: a similar concept of semi-independent cities surrounded by arable land and linked by railways. Attempts were made to make them a reality, but they failed. Carolyn Steel explains that there is a basic problem with these utopian visions, which is that they are utopian. More chose this word intentionally because it has a double derivation from the Greek: It can mean a “good place” (eu +topos) or a “non-place” (ou + topos), in other words an ideal, something imaginary that we can never have.
From Utopia to Sitopia
Instead, as a conceptual tool for rethinking human settlements, Steel proposes “sitopia,” from the Ancient Greek sitos (“food”) and topos (“place”). In order to think about the question of human cohabitation and how we want to see our urban future, we must realize that we already live in a sitopia, that our world is guided by food and that if we become aware of this then we can use food as a powerful and extraordinary tool. This process starts from knowledge, from educating people so that they can recognize what they are eating. We must rediscover markets and we must demand and put into practice policies that can renew a pact with the countryside. We must act on the food supply chain, valuing quality and encouraging direct sales, including in the restaurant industry, making sourcing easier and launching awareness-raising campaigns.
Many cities have already introduced urban agriculture programs to support food production: Ghent, for example, has involved restaurateurs in the spread of a local quality brand and the promotion of a vegetarian option on restaurant and café menus as well as in school cafeterias. Through the creation of 50 community kitchens, Vancouver is encourging neighbors to be more social and to cook together. Lusaka has involved local women in the development of a program to help them start their own food businesses, while Toronto has developed a strategy with local residents to come up with a list of healthy foods to be sold within affilitated shops located within food deserts.
We must look at how agriculture offers sustainable solutions to designing and living in cities, imagining food systems that take into account urban needs and lifestyles, but also and above all the challenges that the future holds for us. And the future can be imagined starting from the education of our children, our young people, starting perhaps with the cultivation of an educational food garden supported by serious food and environmental education programs that talk about prevention and health too. This process must necessarily expand to the entire surrounding area and region so that it is not reduced to mere administrative marketing.
Sources
“Food and the city,” Slowfood 44, February 2010
Research Outlines Interconnected Benefits of Urban Agriculture
Research Outlines Interconnected Benefits of Urban Agriculture
Led by ASU and Google, the study assesses the value of urban agriculture and quantifies its benefits on a global scale
January 10, 2018
From a vacant plot in a blighted neighborhood spring neatly combed rows of plants put in by the neighbors. They meticulously care for this small piece of land, and among the drab-looking buildings sprouts a patch of green. Cultivating the land may have started as a way to unite a neighborhood, to give pride to place, or it might be the project of a local high school to teach land stewardship.
The urban agriculture phenomenon has grown over the years for many reasons, each specific to the plot of land or rooftop it covers. While most of the benefits from these efforts seem to be limited and very local, when taken collectively the result is a significant environmental impact.
The Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis campus garden. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Now a team of researchers led by Arizona State University and Google has assessed the value of urban agriculture and quantified its benefits at a global scale. They report their findings in “A Global Geospatial Ecosystems Services Estimate of Urban Agriculture,” in the current issue of Earth’s Future.
Crunching the numbers
“For the first time, we have a data-driven approach that quantifies the ecosystem benefits from urban agriculture,” said Matei Georgescu, an ASU associate professor of geographical sciences and urban planning and corresponding author of the paper. “Our estimates of ecosystem services show potential for millions of tons of food production, thousands of tons of nitrogen sequestration, billions of kilowatt hours of energy savings and billions of cubic meters of avoided storm runoff from agriculture in urban areas.”
The researchers analyzed global population, urban, meteorological, terrain and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) data sets in Google Earth Engine to come to their global scale estimates. They then aggregated them by country.
Overall, the researchers estimated the annual value of four ecosystem services provided by existing vegetation in urban areas to be on the order of $33 billion. In this scenario, they projected an annual food production of 100 million to 180 million tons, energy savings of 14 billion to 15 billion kilowatt-hours (insulation properties provided by soil on roofs), nitrogen sequestration between 100,000 to 170,000 tons and avoided storm runoff of 45 billion to 57 billion cubic meters annually.
With intense urban agriculture implementation, the researchers estimate the overall annual worth of urban agriculture could be as much as $80 billion to $160 billion. Importantly, urban agriculture could help feed a world that may face future challenges in industrial agriculture as a result of climate change.
“We’ve known there are benefits to having these small plots of land in our cities, but we found that the benefits extend well beyond having fresh food in the hands of those who will consume it,” explained lead author Nicholas Clinton of Google.
“By integrating across elements that comprise the food-energy-water nexus, our work characterizes the heterogeneous nature of ecosystem services. It is a benchmark global scale assessment,” added Georgescu, who also is a senior scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU.
In addition to Georgescu and Clinton, co-authors of the paper are Albie Miles of the University of Hawaii; Peng Gong of Tsinghua University, Beijing; ASU graduate students Michelle Stuhlmacher, Nazli Uludere and Melissa Wagner; and Chris Herwig of Google.
Urban agriculture’s full effect
“The most obvious benefit of urban agriculture is that it improves access to healthy foods,” Stuhlmacher said. “In addition to considering yield, our analysis evaluates the potential ecosystem services — such as urban nitrogen fixation, pollination, biological control of pests, control of damaging stormwater runoff and energy conservation — that result from urban agriculture.”
The work, the researchers say, provides more than an accounting of the effect of urban agriculture in one scenario. It can be used as a tool for future assessments of the changing urban agriculture landscape to better understand tradeoffs between urban design strategies.
“The value of this approach to the global community — research, governmental organizations, political groups — is that it provides local stakeholders with a quantitative framework that they themselves can use. For example, they can assess local implications of varying urban agriculture deployment scenarios based on current or projected urban extent, current or projected building height and facades, different yields, etc., that are all specific to the location under consideration,” Clinton explained.
“The global estimates that we provide are useful because they provide a benchmark for other researchers but the societal benefits extend well beyond that because of the implementation of Google’s Earth Engine platform,” Georgescu added. “Anyone on the planet who wants to know whether and how much urban agriculture can provide for their locality can now do so using open data and code provided with the paper.”
Looking at the future of urban agriculture, Clinton said countries that have the most incentives to encourage it to share two primary characteristics — sufficient urban area, and a national-scale mixture of crops that lends itself to urban cultivation.
“Relatively temperate, developed or developing countries with the right mix of crops are expected to have the greatest incentives for urban agriculture,” he said. “These would include China, Japan, Germany and the U.S.”
Seeing the whole picture
“Analysis of the food-energy-water nexus sometimes leaves the impression that benefits are concentrated in one place and costs in another,” said Tom Torgersen, program director for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Water, Sustainability and Climate program, which supported the research. “But that’s not always the case. Urban agriculture, for example, is an underdeveloped industry that could produce food, sequester urban nitrogen, generate energy savings, help moderate the urban climate and reduce stormwater runoff, as well as provide more nutritious foods.”
In addition to the NSF, funding for the project came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a National High Technology Grant from China and Google Inc.