Now That Hemp And CBD Are Legal, What Comes Next For Food And Beverage?

AUTHOR Cathy Siegner

Dec. 20, 2018

Dive Brief:

• Now that the 2018 Farm Bill is signed into law, hemp and its derivatives are no longer classified as controlled substances by the Food and Drug Agency, and can legally be regulated by state and tribal governments and commercialized in foods and dietary supplements, New Hope Network reported.

• U.S. hemp and CBD companies are expected to pursue listings on Nasdaq and other exchanges soon, according to Bloomberg. However, they still face regulatory obstacles from the Food and Drug Administration, the New Hope Network noted, because the agency's position has been that CBD can't be legally sold in conventional foods or dietary supplements.

• While hemp and marijuana are both members of the cannabis family, hemp extracts contain CBD, a non-psychoactive compound that doesn't produce marijuana's trademark high from THC. Hemp does contain very low levels of THC, but hemp products legally sold in the U.S. must have no more than 0.3% of the chemical.

Dive Insight:

Besides removing hemp from the list of controlled substances, the new Farm Bill also expands research into commercial uses for the plant. Currently, hemp ingredients such as CBD oil, powders and seeds are being used to infuse beverages such as iced tea and are being added to a wide variety of other foods, including ice cream, salads, milk and even children's cereal.

The market for CBD and hemp products is already significant and likely to become more so. According to the Capital Press, a New Frontier Data report found that U.S. CBD sales jumped almost 40% in 2017, hitting $367 million. And, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, the total retail value of all U.S. hemp products last year was estimated at $820 million.

Major food and beverage makers are keeping an eye on the trend and considering how they might adapt forms of THC and CBD to their brands. Bloomberg recently reported that Coca-Cola has been talking with a Canadian cannabis company about marijuana-infused beverages following that country's recent nationwide legalization. A Coca-Cola spokesman told Bloomberg News the company has made no decision yet but is closely watching the growth of CBD as an ingredient in global functional wellness beverages.

THC, CBD and non-psychoactive terpenes from cannabis have appearing in beverages in states where such products are legal. Last year, Heineken-owned Lagunitas Brewing debuted a non-psychoactive, cannabis-flavored IPA brewed with terpenes — organic compounds that give plants their flavors — and the company introduced a THC-based sparkling water this year. 

It's not a big stretch to combine cannabis and hops in beer brewing since they are genetically related. The key ingredient they share are terpenes. It's another question whether beer products containing both ingredients will spark a nationwide trend, although with hemp no longer a controlled substance, there could be many more drinks with some form of CBD or THC showing up on shelves and in coolers. Just this week, AB InBev and marijuana grower and distributor Tilray announced a joint $100 million investment to research cannabis-infused nonalcoholic beverages.

Other recent product introductions containing CBD are a nutrition bar from California-based SNAAK Bar that markets itself as optimizing sports performance — and is only available in California and online — and Spring's line of CBD-infused sodas sold in New York, Florida, Nevada, and Illinois. 

One big unknown for this market is how the FDA will handle regulating hemp and CBD in products since the agency states that "it is a prohibited act to introduce or deliver for introduction into interstate commerce any food (including any animal food or feed) to which THC or CBD has been added." But because of the new Farm Bill's action regarding hemp, it's possible the agency will institute a rulemaking process to realign its regulation and enforcement of the crop and its products. Dave Donnan, a senior partner in A.T. Kearney's food and beverage practice, told Food Dive the regulatory machine will probably be figuring out how to make CBD a safe and legal ingredient.

“There's all these tactical things that 2019 will be the year to work through,” Donnan said.

Some concerns stem from the cannabis industry's poor food safety record and a tendency to market some edible and supplement products as miracle cures. The FDA took action last year against four firms selling supplements based on marijuana that were advertised as curing cancer. Such claims may not be as likely with CBD products, although the oil is said to help with pain, inflammation, anxiety, depression, insomnia and seizures, among other conditions. Critics say these benefits aren't based on science, but advocates counter there has been plenty of recent research to bolster health claims.

Whether hemp and CBD will be appearing across the board in foods and beverages is unclear at this stage since the ink is barely dry on the new Farm Bill. But as research grows into more commercial applications and companies innovate with new products testing public interest — and FDA's tolerance under its current policies — there could be a newly crowded segment attracting investors, retailers and consumers.

Despite Hemp Legalization, FDA Will Still Consider CBD Products Largely Illegal

Published: Dec 23, 2018

Reuters

By ASSOCIATEDPRESS

SEATTLE — The hemp industry still has work ahead to win legal status for hemp-derived cannabidiol, or CBD oil, as an ingredient in food or dietary supplements despite the big farm bill President Donald Trump signed last week designating hemp as an agricultural crop.

CBD oils have become increasingly popular in lotions, tinctures and foods, but their legal status has been murky and the Food and Drug Administration has sent warning letters to some companies making health claims for CBD.

In a statement following Thursday’s bill signing in Washington, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb restated his agency’s stance that CBD is a drug ingredient and therefore illegal to add to food or health products without approval from his agency.

“Selling unapproved products with unsubstantiated therapeutic claims is not only a violation of the law, but also can put patients at risk, as these products have not been proven to be safe or effective,” Gottlieb wrote.

CBD is a non-psychoactive compound found in hemp, a version of the cannabis plant that is low in THC, the part of cannabis that gives pot its high.

An FDA-approved drug for the treatment of seizures, Epidiolex, contains cannabis-derived CBD. GW Pharmaceuticals’ GWPH, +3.72%   syrup became the first prescription drug derived from the cannabis plant in June.

The FDA statement also specified parts of hemp that are safe as food ingredients, but the CBD stance disappointed advocates. Courtney Moran, a lobbyist for Oregon hemp farmers, said she plans to work with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, to nudge the FDA toward greater acceptance of CBD.

“We do hope the FDA does clear a pathway for these products that have already hit store shelves and are out in the marketplace,” Moran said. She said it’s an “opportunity for industry to educate the FDA.”

The FDA statement said three ingredients derived from hemp — hulled hemp seeds, hemp seed protein and hemp seed oil — are safe as foods and won’t require additional approvals, as long as marketers do not make claims that they treat disease.

Hemp, like marijuana, already was legal in some states before Trump signed the farm bill. But now hemp farmers will be able to buy crop insurance, apply for loans and grants, and write off their business expenses on their taxes like any other farmer.

One Year of Legal Pot Sales and California Doesn’t Have the Bustling Industry it Expected. Here’s Why

By PATRICK MCGREEVY

DEC 27, 2018 | 12:05 AM

When Californians voted in 2016 to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, advocates of the move envisioned thousands of pot shops and cannabis farms obtaining state licenses, making the drug easily available to all adults within a short drive.

But as the first year of licensed sales comes to a close, California’s legal market hasn’t performed as state officials and the cannabis industry had hoped. Retailers and growers say they’ve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes and decisions by most cities to ban cannabis shops. At the same time, many residents are going to city halls and courts to fight pot businesses they see as nuisances, and police chiefs are raising concerns about crime triggered by the marijuana trade.

Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who played a large role in the legalization of cannabis, will inherit the numerous challenges when he takes office in January as legislators hope to send him a raft of bills next year to provide banking for the pot industry, ease the tax burden on retailers and crack down on sales to minors.

Hundreds of new California laws take effect Jan. 1. How will they affect you? »

“The cannabis industry is being choked by California’s penchant for over-regulation,” said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, a pro-legalization group. “It’s impossible to solve all of the problems without a drastic rewrite of the law, which is not in the cards for the foreseeable future.”

After voters legalized marijuana two years ago under Proposition 64, state officials estimated in there would be as many as 6,000 cannabis shops licensed in the first few years. But the state Bureau of Cannabis Control has issued just 547 temporary and annual licenses to marijuana retail stores and dispensaries. Some 1,790 stores and dispensaries were paying taxes on medicinal pot sales before licenses were required starting Jan. 1.

(Los Angeles Times)

State officials also predicted that legal cannabis would eventually bring in up to $1 billion in revenue a year. But with many cities banning pot sales, tax revenue is falling far short of estimates. Based on taxes collected since Jan. 1, the state is expected to bring in $471 million in revenue this fiscal year — much less than the $630 million projected in Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget.

“I think we all wish we could license more businesses, but our system is based on dual licensing and local control,” said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the state Bureau of Cannabis Control, referring to the requirement that cannabis businesses get permission from the state and the city in which they want to operate.

Less than 20% of cities in California — 89 of 482 — allow retail shops to sell cannabis for recreational use, according to the California Cannabis Industry Assn. Cities that allow cannabis sales include Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and San Diego.

Coverage of California politics »

Eighty-two of Los Angeles County’s 88 cities prohibit retail sales of recreational marijuana, according to Alexa Halloran, an attorney specializing in cannabis law for the firm Solomon, Saltsman & Jamieson. Pot shops are not allowed in cities including Burbank, Manhattan Beach, Alhambra, Beverly Hills, Inglewood, Compton, Redondo Beach, El Monte, Rancho Palos Verdes and Calabasas.

“While some cities have jumped in headfirst, we've taken a deliberate approach,” said Manhattan Beach Mayor Steve Napolitano, “to see how things shake out elsewhere before further consideration. I think that's proven to be the smart approach.”

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Voters have also been reluctant to allow cannabis stores in their communities.

Of the 64 California cities and counties that voted on cannabis ballot measures in the November midterm election, eight banned the sale of cannabis or turned down taxation measures, seven allowed sales and 49 approved taxes on pot businesses, said Hilary Bricken, an attorney who represents the industry. Among them, voters in Malibu approved pot shops while Simi Valley residents voted for an advisory measure against allowing retail sales.

Javier Montes, owner of Wilmington pot store Delta-9 THC, says he is struggling to compete with a large illicit market unburdened by the taxes he pays as a licensed business.

“Because we are up against high taxes and the proliferation of illegal shops, it is difficult right now,” Montes said. “We expected lines out of our doors, but unfortunately the underground market was already conducting commercial cannabis activity and are continuing to do so.”

Montes, who received his city and state licenses in January, says his business faces a 15% state excise tax, a 10% recreational marijuana tax by the city of Los Angeles and 9.5% in sales tax by the county and state — a markup of more than 34%.

He says there isn’t enough enforcement against illegal operators, and the hard times have caused him to cut the number of employees at his shop in half this year from 24 to 12.

“It’s very hard whenever I have to lay people off, because they are like a family to me,” said Montes, who is vice president of the United Cannabis Business Assn., which represents firms including the about 170 cannabis retailers licensed by the city of Los Angeles.

DELTA-9 faces a 15% state excise tax, a 10% recreational cannabis tax by the city of Los Angeles and 9.5% in sales tax by the county and state, the shop owner says. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Sky Siegel, who operates a cannabis business in Studio City, said he recently gave up trying to open another store in Santa Monica because of its restrictions on such businesses.

“It turns into this ‘Hunger Games’ to try to get a license,” said Siegel, who is general manager of Perennial Holistic Wellness Center, which has a dozen employees in Studio City and also operates a delivery service.

He says his firm is up against thousands of unlicensed delivery services going into cities where storefronts are banned.

“To me, it doesn’t make sense” that many cities have prohibited shops, he said. “Banning does nothing. It’s already there. Why not turn this into a legitimized business, which is what the people want.”

Marijuana use is rising among pregnant patients. Not so fast, doctors warn »

California has also issued fewer cultivation licenses than expected in the first year of legalization, with about 2,160 growers registered with the state; an estimated 50,000 commercial cannabis cultivation operations existed before Proposition 64, according to the California Growers Assn. Some have given up growing pot, but many others are continuing to operate illegally.

The trade group hoped to see at least 5,000 commercial growers licensed in the first year, said Hezekiah Allen, the group’s former executive director who is now chairman of Emerald Grown, a cooperative of 130 licensed cultivators.

“We are lagging far behind,” Allen said. “It’s woefully inadequate. Most of the people in California who are buying cannabis are still buying it from the unregulated market. There just isn’t a reason for most growers to make the transition.”

Hemp is about to be legal under the 2018 farm bill. You can’ get high from it — but you can wear it

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Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg), who has crafted cannabis regulations, said the licensing system had not yet lived up to its promise.

“The state licensing process this past year has been a painful one,” said Wood, adding that the complex rules are particularly difficult for small businesses. “I recognize that this has been a significant undertaking for the state, and you combine that with the cannabis industry learning how to navigate the process — it’s been difficult for them both.”

The legalization of recreational pot has also created tension in areas of the state where cannabis growers are operating close to residents.

Jesse Jones said he moved his family to Petaluma from Marin County six months ago so his three children could enjoy more open space, but he is now fighting a proposal for a cannabis farm to operate a few hundred feet from his home, in part because of safety issues.

“You are going to have what is still a [Schedule 1] narcotic being produced in line of sight of my kids’ trampoline, on a shared road that was never intended for this type of commercial operation,” said Jones, an energy industry executive.

Sanjay Bagai, a former investment banker who lives with his family next door to a new cannabis farm in Sonoma County, is a leader of a residents group called Save Our Sonoma Neighborhoods, which has obtained a preliminary court ruling against one cannabis-growing operation.

Bagai said his group was “not anti-cannabis” but added that pot cultivation “is not something that fits into our neighborhood here.”

“The smell is horrific,” he said of the marijuana plants. “It’s like rotting flesh. And the traffic is insane.”

Quality-of-life complaints have also surfaced in neighborhoods where cannabis sellers have set up shop.

Van Nuys Neighborhood Council President George Thomas said he had received about a dozen complaints in the last year from residents living near pot stores who were concerned about loitering, the smell of marijuana smoke and other issues. Thomas, who is the publisher of the Van Nuys News Press and is an LAPD volunteer, passes complaints on to police officers.

“If they are not in compliance,” Thomas said, “if they are within a thousand feet of a school or church, we are totally against them and we are happy to work with the neighborhood prosecutor in the city attorney’s office to shut them down.”

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OCT 15, 2018 | 3:00 AM

At the same time, he said, the neighborhood council has worked with licensed cannabis stores to get them involved in improving the community and has asked the Los Angeles City Council to devote some of the tax revenue from Van Nuys shops to solving local problems, including homelessness and crime.

Meanwhile, despite concerns from law enforcement, the state is finalizing a proposal to allow deliveries throughout California — including in cities that ban retail stores. The new rule by Lori Ajax, chief of the state Bureau of Cannabis Control, is expected to be implemented in January.

Ajax says she believes that as the system is refined and is shown to operate successfully in some cities, other local governments will allow retail pot sales. But opponents of pot legalization, including Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, are happy that most cities are saying “no” to selling the drug.

“The residents of Compton and these other cities have seen the ills that come with allowing marijuana in the door,” Sabet said, “including skyrocketing drugged driving; the promise, then failure of social justice; and the targeting of children through the use of colorful and deceptive candies, gummies and sodas.”

Even in cities that allow cannabis sales, businesses face big hurdles.

The various taxes and fees could drive up the cost of legal cannabis in parts of California by 45%, according to the global credit ratings firm Fitch Ratings.

There is less of a tax burden in Oregon, where voters legalized recreational pot in 2014, and state and local taxes are capped at 20%. With nearly a tenth of the population of California, that state has more licensed cannabis shops — 601. On a per capita basis, Alaska has also approved more pot shop licenses than California, — 94 so far. The state imposes a tax on cultivation, but there is no retail excise tax on pot.

Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Alameda) tried and failed this year to push for a temporary reduction in California’s pot taxes to help the industry get on its feet.

“It’s a work in progress,” Bonta said of the current regulatory system. “We knew we weren’t going to get it exactly right on Day 1, and so we’re always looking for ways to achieve the original intentions and goal.”

Bonta said he may revisit the taxation issue in 2019 and is exploring the idea of having the state do more to get cities to approve businesses, possibly by providing advisory guidelines for local legalization that address cities’ concerns.

California cannabis businesses, like their counterparts in Colorado and Oregon, also face costs to test marijuana for harmful chemicals.

“The testing costs are excessive — $500 to $1,000 per batch, and most crops involve multiple batches,” said Gieringer, the director of California NORML. “No other agricultural product is required to undergo such costly or sensitive tests.”

Another problem hampering the legal market is a lack of banking for cannabis businesses. Federally regulated banks are reluctant to handle cash from pot, which remains an illegal drug under federal law.

“Banking continues to be an issue in terms of creating a real public safety problem with significant amounts of cash being moved for transactions,” said Bonta, who co-wrote a bill this year that would have created a state-sanctioned bank to handle money from pot sellers. It failed to pass after legislative analysts said the proposal faced “significant obstacles,” including no protection from federal law enforcement.

Industry leaders and activists said they knew it would be a slow process to establish a strong legal market, noting other states with legal pot, including Colorado, Washington and Oregon, also faced growing pains and problems along the way.

But Ajax, the state pot czar, says her agency has had a productive first year, issuing initial licenses, refining the rules and stepping up action against unlicensed operations, including partnering with the Los Angeles Police Department to seize $2 million worth of marijuana products from an unlicensed shop in Sylmar in October.

“I am optimistic about the coming year, where our focus will be primarily on getting more businesses licensed and increasing enforcement efforts on the illegal market,” Ajax said.

Danone Invests in Urban Farming Business Agricool

By Andy Coyne | 5 December 2018

Danone - investing in French urban farming business

The investment was made through its Danone Manifesto Ventures venture fund arm.

Urban farming business Agricool said the investment will allow it to pursue its ambition to make "excellent, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables accessible to all".

The other investors in the round included Bpifrance Large Venture Fund, French businessman Antoine Arnault via Marbeuf Capital, Docker co-founder Solomon Hykes, as well as a dozen other 'business angels'.

Existing investors - which include venture-capital funds Daphni and XAnge, Xavier Niel via the Kima Ventures venture-capital firm and Henri Seydoux, the founder of civil-drone business Parrot - also participated in the new funding round.

In the past three years, Agricool's teams have developed a technology to grow local, healthy fruits and vegetables more productively and within small and controlled spaces, known as "Cooltainers" (recycled shipping containers transformed into urban farms).

Agricool said that, thanks to this new funding round, it will be able to confirm its role in the development of this new type of agriculture, while positioning itself as a key player in the segment of vertical farming in France and worldwide.

It said it plans to multiply production by a hundredfold by 2021, in Paris first, then internationally starting with Dubai, where a container has already been installed.

Agricool has ambitions to employ 200 people by 2021.

Disruptor of the Year: Constellation Brands

AUTHOR

Emma Liem@emma_liem

PUBLISHED

Dec. 3, 2018

CEO: Rob Sands

Total investments in marijuana: $4.07 billion

Outlook: Constellation Brands' stake in Canopy Growth, the largest investment in the marijuana market to date, could fan the flames of a cannabis arms race between U.S. alcohol manufacturers. 

When Constellation Brands invested $3.9 billion in Canopy Growth this summer, it not only made the largest investment in the marijuana market to date, but broke an industry taboo that had kept many beverage players on the sidelines.

The cash infusion increased the beer giant’s stake in the Canadian cannabis supplier to 38%, and Constellation will nominate four directors to the company’s seven-member board as part of the deal. The partnership has legitimized a trend that beer makers and analysts have been buzzing about for years: cannabis is set to become a cash cow for the alcohol industry.

“I cannot imagine a more disruptive development within the alcohol industry in the last couple of millennia, to be honest,” Spiros Malandrakis, head of alcoholic drinks at Euromonitor International, told Food Dive of the rise of cannabis in the beer space.

But while many bemoaned the marijuana industry’s impending threat to alcohol sales, Constellation identified cannabis as a potential growth driver in the sluggish U.S. beer space.

"Over the past year, we've come to better understand the cannabis market, the tremendous growth opportunity it presents, and Canopy's market-leading capabilities in this space," Constellation CEO Rob Sands said in a company release following the August investment. "We look forward to supporting Canopy as they extend their recognized global leadership position in the medical and recreational cannabis space."

Constellation isn't a first-mover in this budding segment, however. Craft brewers were the first to begin dabbling with marijuana-infused product. Heineken-owned Lagunitas Brewing rolled out a non-psychoactive, cannabis-flavored IPA brewed with marijuana terpenes in 2017. This year, it debuted a THC-based sparkling water, complete with the marijuana high.

But Constellation’s formidable advantage in the Canopy partnership can’t be ignored. The cannabis supplier, valued at $5.4 billion, will use the American beer titan’s financial backing to enter emerging recreational cannabis markets, as well as achieve global scale in the nearly 30 nations working toward federal medical cannabis programs. Though the company doesn't plan to sell marijuana-based beverages domestically before the U.S. fully legalizes the substance, this market reach — combined with Canada's legalization of recreational marijuana use in October — has driven rival beer brands to enter the space.

"Once Constellation broke the taboo, people started discussing [cannabis innovation] much more openly, and the other thing we have to remember is that not many cannabis companies in Canada are right now available for M&A."

Spiros Malandrakis

Head of alcoholic drinks, Euromonitor International

"In a way it's a game of musical chairs. There aren't many chairs left. So even for the biggest players in the alcohol space, they're not going to have the luxury of an infinite amount of time to choose their chair before the music actually stops."

Less than a year after Constellation's initial investment in Canopy Growth, Molson Coors announced that its Canadian business had formed a joint venture with Hydropothecary Corp. to make nonalcoholic, cannabis-infused drinks to sell in Canada. As part of the deal, Molson Coors Canada gained a 57.5% controlling interest in the firm.

But the most striking result of the M&A domino effect that began with the Constellation-Canopy partnership came from beyond the alcohol segment entirely. In September, Coca-Cola announced it was in talks with Canadian marijuana supplier Aurora Cannabis about developing marijuana-infused drinks. The soda behemoth's stock climbed 0.72% to $46.32 on the news, and boosted the stock of other cannabis companies as well.

"We are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world," Coke spokesman Kent Landers told Bloomberg News. "The space is evolving quickly. No decisions have been made at this time."

On a conference call in October, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said the company "doesn't have any plans at this stage" to enter the CBD market.

As interest in the medicinal properties of cannabinoids grows and stigma around marijuana use relaxes, alcohol manufacturers face a new path to growth. Whether or not these players can unseat Constellation's lead, however, is an open question.

"You’re looking at an arms race which, in my mind, is already in full swing," Malandrakis said. "There’s no doubt in my mind that the 'green tide' is inevitable at this stage, and it's just going to gain more momentum moving forward."

Young Fijian Makes Good Use Of Govt Scheme

September 22

18:56 2018

by SWASHNA CHAND , SUVA

Entrepreneur, Rinesh Sharma.

A Fijian who studied in India has made the most of Government’s Young Entrepreneurship Scheme and embarked on a journey to combine engineering and agriculture.

Rinesh Sharma, 25, is an entrepreneur living in Lautoka who has started up something unique.

“While studying in India, I came across a software engineer who had an indoor hydroponics farm in Goa,” he said.

“After reading his success story, I made up my mind to do the same back home.”

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil by using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.

“Engineering combined with agriculture allows me to grow plants in its special conditions and parameters, maximising faster yields,” he said.

“I grow include strawberries, mint, coriander, coral lettuce and butter crunch lettuce. The idea of hydroponics came to me in my third year of engineering.

“Since then, I have researched every day about executing this project on a commercial scale in Fiji.”

Mr Sharma said he came back to Fiji in May and started an automated hydroponics system, in which he grew green leafy vegetables in his backyard.

“This was a challenging process because it was almost impossible to find hydroponic system supplies in Fiji, but regardless I made a small prototype where I can harvest 372 plants per month,” he said.

“Doing farming is the best thing I have done and perception really does matter because we have a lot of people who left farms and moved to the urban life and this has created a huge gap to fill in the field of agriculture.”

Mr Sharma said for him it was a mission to feed the world and he was going to start with his country.

“Upon my arrival in Fiji, I had applied for the YES entrepreneurship scheme run by the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Industry with the intention to begin an automated hydroponics farm in Fiji on a commercial scale and got a grant of $20,000,” he said.

He is thankful to the Government for providing him with the assistance.

“The assistance is motivating and encouraging for us the younger generation to do step forward and do something,” he said.

“I keep challenging myself with growing the most impossible edible items such as blueberries, raspberries and apples as well.

“It is important that people of Fiji are able to afford proper nutritional meals every day and that to at low cost.

“So, as a hydroponics farmer, I am able to control any device in my farm through a single touch on my phone via internet and I am also able to receive any data changes that may occur, such as change in PH, moisture, temperature.

“It was a privilege to be given a scholarship by the Indian High Commission where I got to learn so much.

“I came back to Fiji with the intention of working with the Government and their expertise to change and shape farming methods in Fiji.”

Edited by Epineri Vula

Feedback: swashna.chand@fijisun.com.fj

Get The Free Report On The Investment Potential Of Greenhouse Business In Russia 2018

Last year was one of the most successful years for Russia’s greenhouse industry. Over 250 ha new commercial greenhouses were commissioned, the number of 5-gen greenhouses increased. Further expansion of greenhouse area is expected – new projects are set to be launched in different regions across the country. 

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Prior to the International Investment Forum and Exhibition “Greenhouse Complexes Russia 2018”, Vostock Capital team of analysts has conducted a research on the investment potential of Russian greenhouse industry, which covers: 

• the information about the prospects for the development of Russian greenhouse industry

• new investment greenhouse projects (construction and modernisation) 

• criteria for the selection of technology and equipment by the decision-makers of greenhouse companies and agriholdings and many other important results. 

Request the report:

https://www.greenhousesforum.com/en/request-the-report-on-the-results-of-the-study-greenhouse-business-in-russia-2018/ 

The research involved over 250 respondents, including the C-suite of agroindustrial holdings and greenhouse complexes, suppliers of latest technologies and equipment, regulators, project operators, representatives of financial institutions and investors, independent market experts. 

The international Forum and Exhibition “Greenhouse Complexes Russia 2018” is the high-class professional platform to unlock investment in Russian greenhouse industry, discuss industry development strategy, share experiences between key market players and conclude new lucrative contracts. 

The Event spans investors from the CIS, Europe, and Asia, initiators of investment projects from across Russia, decision-makers of federal and regional agriholdings, dedicated ministries and agencies, heads of regions, retail chain executives, service providers, presidents of national unions and associations. 

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Contact: Elvira Sakhabutdinova, Project Director 

ESakhabutdinova@vostockcapital.com Tel. +7 499 505 1 505

Website: http://www.greenhousesforum.com/en/ 

In Terms Of Revenue Global Smart Agriculture Industry And Attractive Regional Analysis

October 8, 2018 Amy King

The smart agriculture Industry plays an important role in meeting the accelerating food demand of the growing global population. The smart agriculture devices help in continuous field monitoring, precision crop analysis by engages different sensors, high-quality cameras, microcontrollers, web-based platforms, and smart devices to gather data from the field. It also helps in analyzing the collected data by transferring the data to the operator or the farmer for making an accurate decision. These benefits of smart agriculture are boosting the Industry for smart agriculture to grow over the period from 2017 to 2025.

The global smart agriculture Industry is segmented based on solutions, application, and region. Based on solutions, the Industry for smart agriculture is segmented as network management, agriculture asset management, supervisory control, and data acquisition, logistics and supply chain management, smart water management and others. The others segment includes mobility solution, connectivity solutions, and quality assurance solutions.

On the basis of application, the smart agriculture Industry has been segmented as precision agriculture, livestock management, fish farming, smart greenhouse, and others. The others segment include indoor farming, horticulture, dairy management

Regionally, the Industry for smart agriculture is categorized as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.

North America contributed the largest Industry share of the overall revenue generated in 2016 in the smart agriculture Industry. Smart water management is the fastest growing segment in the solution segment in the North American smart agriculture Industry. In the application segment, precision agriculture held the largest Industry share and livestock monitoring is anticipated to be the fastest growing segment. The U.S. contributed largest Industry share in North America. This is attributed to the fact that the companies in the U.S. are conducting extensive research and development with joint ventures or partnerships in order to enhance the agriculture technology to minimize the human involvement on the field and produce ample food to meet the global food requirement. In addition, other factor boosting the U.S. Industry is the individual farmers and farming corporate houses deployed the smart agriculture tools and equipment heavily in 2016. Mexico is the fastest growing region in the North American Industry for smart agriculture due to rapid deployment of tools and equipment and increased fish farming business.

The smart agriculture Industry in Europe held the second largest Industry in 2016. The European smart agriculture Industry stands third in terms of growth rate globally. The growth of smart agriculture Industry in Europe is attributed to the fact that the U.K. is investing huge amounts in research and developments in order to develop robust technologies to ease the farmers in agriculture procedure. Due to this Industry for smart agriculture contributed the largest Industry share in 2016 in the European smart agriculture Industry. The growth rate of smart agriculture Industry in Italy is significant, due to the increasing demand for livestock monitoring. Germany smart agriculture Industry is estimated to be the second fastest growing region, due to the growing demand for smart greenhouse. The growth rate of smart agriculture Industry in Germany is considerable over the period from 2017 to 2025.

Asia Pacific is the most attractive region in the global smart agriculture Industry, growing at an influential rate over the period from 2017 to 2025. The Industry for smart agriculture in Asia Pacific is attributed to the fact that the countries such as China, Japan, and Australia are procuring the smart agriculture tools and equipment rapidly in order to minimize the human effort in agriculture, save the agriculture assets such as plants and animals, and the increased need for livestock monitoring. China held the largest Industry in 2016 while Japan is the fastest growing region in the smart agriculture Industry in Asia Pacific.

Middle East and Africa smart agriculture Industry is expected to grow at a fair rate from 2017 to 2025. Owing to the fact that fish farming is the most demanding segment in the region. South Africa held the largest Industry share in the smart agriculture Industry in the Middle East and Africa due to increased precision agriculture in the region.. Egypt is estimated to be the fastest growing region in the Middle East and Africa smart agriculture Industry, growing at a significant rate.

Latin America is the second fastest growing region in the global smart agriculture Industry. The growth rate of smart agriculture Industry in Latin America is significant in comparison to North America, Europe and Middle East and Africa. Latin American smart agriculture growth rate is attributed to the increasing need for smart water management in order to save agriculture water in varied weather conditions and also to grow crops with less usage of harmful chemicals and fertilizers. Brazil held the largest Industry in the Latin American smart agriculture Industry in 2016 and it is estimated to be the fastest growing region over the period from 2017 to 2025. This is due to the rapid growth of smart greenhouse.

People In Produce

November 6, 2018

The produce industry relies on exceptional people to advance the processes of growing food, improving it and getting it to consumers' plates. In this month’s cover story, meet seven of the leading People in Produce.

Would you like to see someone recognized in a future issue? Drop us a line at pwilliams@gie.net

Dr. Amy Bowen

Director of consumer insights, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre

Bowen researches consumer sensory perceptions of produce.

Photo courtesy of Vineland
Research and Innovation Centre

Human perception of flavor involves the integration of taste and smell, and forms part of a discipline called sensory science. Researcher Dr. Amy Bowen has dedicated her career to advancing this field.

To further this work, Bowen joined the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in 2009. As director of Vineland’s consumer insights team, she harnesses sensory evaluation best practices to meet consumer expectations of fruits and vegetables grown in controlled environments. In practice, Bowen’s research focuses on understanding the intrinsic (appearance, aroma and taste) and extrinsic (price and packaging) drivers that impact consumer preference for horticultural products.

“Doing this type of work with fresh products is unique,” says Bowen, a Ph.D. in biological sciences with a specialization in plant science, oenology and viticulture. “It’s creating value for people growing in greenhouse environments.”

Bowen’s current activities at the Vineland facility in Canada’s Niagara region include deep-dive studies into tomatoes and edible flowers.

Edible flowers are surging in popularity as a garnish or to give dishes a signature flavor. Bowen’s team partnered with an Ontario-based grower of fresh herbs to gain insights into the booming market, splitting consumers into groups based on their preferences.

Results showed that edible flowers such as nasturtiums and candy pop mint are favored by fans of bold flavor, while impatiens and dianthus are approved for their smooth texture. The findings would help outline a business plan for Vineland’s herb-distributing partner, should it expand into the edible flowers market, Bowen says.

Meanwhile, Vineland scientists are busy developing two hybrid varieties of greenhouse tomatoes, creating two new flavor profiles that should be ready for distribution by 2020. Bowen’s group studied 56 varieties of tomato, digging into attributes including sweetness, bitterness, firmness and smokiness. A selection of fruits was passed onto a consumer panel, allowing researchers to compile a list of aroma-producing chemical compounds that the test group associated with liking or disliking a particular tomato.

Texture and consistency became additional important characteristics in how test consumers shaped their opinion, Bowen says.

“It’s a bit like Goldilocks,” she says. “People don’t want a tomato that’s too soft or too hard. They want it to be just right.”

Once texture is determined, tomatoes with the right consistency can be crossed with preferred chemical compounds to breed the “perfect” tomato, or at least its closest approximation. For Bowen, the pleasure is in researching a diversity of products derived directly from the greenhouse.

“I love the reactions we get from consumers, and the whole value chain in producing something people are excited to consume,” Bowen says. — Douglas J. Guth

Douglas is a Cleveland Heights, Ohio-based freelance writer and journalist. His work has been published by Midwest Energy News, Crain’s Cleveland Business and Fresh Water Cleveland.

Mollie Van Lieu

Senior director of nutrition policy, United Fresh Produce Association

Van Lieu promotes policies that are focused on increasing fruits and vegetable consumption.

Photo courtesy of United
Fresh Produce Association

Mollie Van Lieu has spent much of her career advancing school food policies, a commitment that continues today in her role as senior director of nutrition policy at the United Fresh Produce Association.

Van Lieu joined United Fresh last September, bolstering a Washington, D.C.-based policy team meeting national regulatory challenges in bringing healthy foods to kids. Among other duties, Van Lieu champions policies to ensure fruits, vegetables and other nutritious goodies are integrated into school meals daily. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, for example, introduces students at 7,600 schools nationwide to a variety of produce they otherwise may not have the opportunity to sample.

“Fruits and vegetables are served in the classroom, and the teacher eats with the children, too,” Van Lieu says. “There’s an educational component to the program.”

Van Lieu has worked closely on kid-centric nutritional issues for over a decade, including a stint on the staff of Rep. Todd Platts (R-Pa.), where she helped foster sponsorship of the House’s 2010 Child Nutrition Reauthorization program.

From 2011 to 2014, Van Lieu campaigned for healthy eating as a strategist for the National PTA, working with United Fresh to boost various nutritional programs. Her advocacy for youth food programming continued in 2014, when Pew Charitable Trusts named her a senior associate of government relations.

After years of cultivating relationships with stakeholders on Capitol Hill, Van Lieu is pushing improved health standards for efforts like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, which offers food assistance to millions of low-income citizens nationwide. She’s also advocating for a farm bill currently being considered by Congress.

“Having been on the Hill when changes were made to school meals, I see it as making sure these policies are implemented successfully,” Van Lieu says. “Policy is only as successful as folks working on it on the ground, and the industry stepping up to provide [nutritious] products.”

United Fresh represents growers and suppliers as well, introducing them to school service directors as a means of bringing new products into cafeterias. While most decisionmakers Van Lieu meets understand the benefits of produce, many don’t realize how heavily unconsumed fruits and vegetables still remain.

“We’re trying to find a tipping point in policy to include produce consumption,” Van Lieu says. “We need to make sure there are opportunities for people who are struggling.” — Douglas J. Guth

Ricardo Hernandez

Chief scientific officer and co-founder, Grafted Growers

The North Carolina State University professor will use his research expertise to grow grafted tomato and watermelon seedlings for wholesale, and possibly retail.

Dr. Ricardo Hernandez performs research and teaches as assistant professor of horticultural science at North Carolina State University, and previously studied and conducted research at the University of Arizona. His research background points to plant grafting as a crucial tool contributing to agricultural production. Beginning this fall, Hernandez will be working within a high-tech toolbox to explore the commercial creation of specially grafted produce.

Photo courtesy of
Ricardo Hernandez

Grafting is a horticultural technique used to join parts from two or more plants so that they appear to flourish as a single plant. As chief scientific officer and co-founder of Grafted Growers, a vertical farm in Raleigh, North Carolina, Hernandez will harness years of horticultural experience to grow grafted tomato and watermelon seedlings in a precisely controlled environment.

Unlike working in a greenhouse where unpredictable natural light is a critical growth regulator, the vertical farm allows Hernandez to experiment with temperature, air velocity and various artificial light wavelengths, producing hardy plants that carry potentially higher drought tolerance and disease resistance than his nearest competitors.

“In a greenhouse, you’re depending on the outside weather, and you’re only getting high-quality plants during certain times of the year,” Hernandez says. “We have the same environmental conditions the entire year, so the quality of plants is always going to be consistent.”

Hernandez founded Grafted Growers alongside business partner John Jackson with help from a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) innovation grant. The pair is currently building out a 6,000-square-foot facility set to open later this fall.

Once up and running, the operation will sell to greenhouses and field growers. Hernandez also expects Grafted Growers to have a retail presence, both on site and through the company website, graftedgrowers.com

“Our end goal is to produce plants faster, and ensure they grow well and have good morphological characteristics,” Hernandez says. “This isn’t a smoking gun, as there’s still a need for field and greenhouse production. But using a controlled environment is one more tool we have to keep producing food.”

Additionally, Hernandez hopes to educate a new generation of farmers and scientists on what he deems an innovative means of plant production.

“Right now we have a need for talent in agriculture,” Hernandez says. “We’re not just showing acres of grain, but how plants can be grown through technology.” — Douglas J. Guth

Heather Szymura

Grower/owner, Twisted Infusions

By catering to a niche market, Twisted Infusions grower/owner Heather Szymura has built a thriving hydroponics business in Arizona.

Photo courtesy of
Heather Szymura

Heather Szymura, the grower and owner of Twisted Infusions in Glendale, Arizona, started growing produce professionally two years ago in a Freight Farms-brand container farm after a career in corporate America. Although she had been a gardener for more than a decade, it was her first experience with controlled environment agriculture (CEA).

“I started with kale and lettuce because that’s just what everyone starts out with,” she says. “It was really beautiful and it came out really well. And I took it to some chefs because I didn’t want to go to farmer’s markets — I have two kids and don’t want to give up my Saturdays. But the lettuce and kale wasn’t enough for them, so I started to grow some things that they couldn’t get good quality. And it led me down the path of research and finding things that don’t necessarily grow well outside in Arizona.”

Fast forward to today, and Szymura co-owns Twisted Infusions with her husband, Brian. In the vertical hydroponic system, Szymura primarily produces unique products such as oyster leaf, salad burnet and some greens for the same local restaurants she met when she was still exclusively growing greens.

“I try to look for things that people have never heard of,” Szymura says.

The key to Twisted Fusion’s business model is that Szymura understands her clientele — a group of 10 to 15 different restaurants in the Scottsdale and Phoenix areas. When looking for new clients, Szymura prefers to work with chef-owned establishments when possible, as well as taking custom orders from restaurants or other customers. Not only does it allow her to grow the type of plants that interest her the most, but it also makes business sense. Most households aren't shopping for unique garnishes; chefs are.

“The alternative is going to farmers markets or going to distributors,” Szymura says. “If I go to a distributor, I won’t be making enough money to make farming worth my time. It’s a commodity market and I’m not selling stuff that’s high commodity because nobody else has it.” — Chris Manning

Dr. Joel Cuello

Professor of biosystems engineering at the University of Arizona

Cuello designs controlled-environment technologies in an effort to feed a growing population.

The idea that originally drove Dr. Joel Cuello to pursue a career in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) keeps him going to this day — the concept that as the global population grows, so does the need to produce safe, nutritious and high-quality food.

Photo courtesy of
Joel Cuello

“The motivation behind my research is to be able to help meet the increased food demand by the planet and do so in a sustainable way — in a way that would not deplete the essential resources, which are vital for food production,” he says. “To me, that’s the grandest challenge [of] this century.”

The professor of biosystems engineering at the University of Arizona grew up in the Philippines. He acquired his bachelors degree from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños before moving to the United States and attending The Pennsylvania State University, where he earned two masters degrees and his Ph.D. in agricultural & biological engineering. Cuello then took his talents to NASA, where he worked on developing a hybrid lighting system for possible crop production on the moon, Mars or asteroids.

Since 1995, Cuello has worked at the University of Arizona, where he has designed new technologies, such as the Vertical Green Box Solution. Cuello’s prototype of a modular vertical farm consists of containers, which he says could make use of electric or natural light, or be constructed of solid walls and roofs or transparent ones. Because it is different than a warehouse or skyscraper farm, Cuello dubs it “Vertical Farming 3.0” (formerly “2.0”). “I’m championing that because it’s a competitive alternative to the warehouse, and it’s efficient; and it could be potentially lower-cost in terms of construction and operation,” he says. None have been built yet, though, so he is looking for partners.

Another one of Cuello’s inventions is the patented Accordion Photobioreactor. The zigzag-shaped device produces microalgae, which can then be used in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and biomass. The invention comes in three types, he says — one that supports photoautotrophic (photosynthetic) production and recirculates liquid; another that enables photoautotrophic production and doesn’t recirculate; and a third that carries out heterotrophic production, meaning it doesn’t use light.

Cuello also has other projects in the works. He serves as a member of the Governing Board and will help with the technology at Cobre Valley Indoor Farm, a nonprofit community-based organization in Claypool, Arizona, that is opening up a vertical farm in an abandoned school. He has also started growing carrots through a process called cellular agriculture, which is comparable to when meat is grown in a lab.

During his global travels, Cuello says he has found public demand for controlled environment agriculture, and he believes that more companies will use renewable energy sources. He is committed to sustainability, introducing his own “Cuello’s Law.” “It’s an industry aspiration, or goal, that productivity per unit resource used will double every four to five years,” he says. — Patrick Williams

Kim Hookway

President, Buckeye Fresh

After a career in the manufacturing industry, Kim Hookway partnered with a former colleague to open a local vertical farm that now sells its product to major grocery chains in Ohio.

Photo: Chris Manning

When Kim Hookway, president of Medina, Ohio-based vertical farm Buckeye Fresh, sold the brand’s produce by going into different Northeast Ohio grocery stores — first Buehler’s Fresh Foods, then Giant Eagle and Heinen’s — she had to connect directly with each store’s produce managers. It took some work, but Hookway did what was necessary to help get the business going.

“Before we even went into business, we checked with Buehler’s to see if they would be interested in locally grown produce,” she says. “At the beginning, it was also talking to produce managers and getting them on board.”

Hookway’s background is not in horticulture; she spent 20 years at a manufacturing company alongside Buckeye Fresh principal investor Tim Remington before founding Buckeye Fresh in 2014. As the company’s president, she has utilized the skills she developed in her previous role to help Buckeye Fresh find success.

According to Remington, Hookway’s ability to accurately approximate order sizes has been essential to making the business successful. When Buckeye Fresh sells its greens and basil to its customers, it must do so based on estimates instead of fixed order amounts. In her previous job, Hookway managed multiple components of cushioning components for shoes and varying order sizes from different customers. Just like growing, it required understanding and organizing several factors all operating on different schedules. With growing, it took some trial and error, but Hookway can accurately estimate and book the farm’s towers for specific crops based on past order trends.

“Without her doing the scheduling, we couldn’t manage the harvesting and growing,” Remington says. “And this is more difficult [than what she used to do].”

As Buckeye Fresh continues to expand, its basil and greens are sold in stores as far south as Columbus (115 miles) and as far east as Pennsylvania (a minimum of 276 miles). Late in 2018, it will also debut greens with Giant Eagle’s Market District — the grocery chain’s branding for local suppliers — that will be sold in roughly 200 locations. Hookway says the business is already turning a profit. “It’s about understanding the business,” Hookway says.

And its success started with her. — Chris Manning

Ray Solotki

Executiv
Photo: Ray Solotkie director at Inuvik Community Greenhouse

The Vancouver Island native aspires to improve food access in the Arctic.

Located north of the Arctic Circle in Canada’s Northwest Territories, the Inuvik Community Greenhouse — a converted ice hockey arena — is one of the most remote greenhouses in the world. “Even though we’re in the Northwest Territories, the only road out goes into the Yukon, and we can’t even get to our capital city by road,” says Ray Solotki, executive director. Solotki originally came to this icy abode — where temperatures regularly dip to -20° F in the winter — to feed herself. Three years ago, she committed to helping feed the rest of the community.

Photo: Ray Solotki

Solotki is from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, (“the south,” according to her), but moved north near Inuvik in 2015, when she took a job at a hotel. She chose to live in Inuvik because of the greenhouse. “I knew I could grow my own food for at least part of the year and have some local food production of my own,” she says. Solotki became the first executive director at the greenhouse, which had previously been managed by a volunteer board of directors and summer employees since it first opened in 1998.

The nonprofit Community Garden Society of Inuvik runs the greenhouse; the government of the Northwest Territories funds the gardening society and others in seven surrounding communities: Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Tsiigehtchic, Tuktoyaktuk and Ulukhaktok.

Solotki’s job, which includes financing, human resources and public relations duties, was created to provide food access to all eight communities, which have limited access to fresh food due to the climate. This includes indigenous people, who make up roughly 64 percent of Inuvik’s population and approximately 50 percent of the population of the Northwest Territories, according to the 2016 Canadian Census.

Local indigenous populations have land to hunt and trap, but a lot of them don’t eat many vegetables, Solotki says, noting how the produce that is flown up from the south loses its freshness. “But when [vegetables are] fresh, you can barely get them from the greenhouse to the house because they’re eaten so quickly,” she says. “No one has ever put a pea on a plate in the Arctic because they were gobbled up in the greenhouse because it’s so exciting to have such fresh, local produce.”

Currently, the 16,000-square-foot, passive solar greenhouse is only open from April until September, and with high daylight and heat in the summer, its soil-grown lettuce and leafy greens can bolt if not harvested quickly. The greenhouse hires experienced growers from out of town every summer, but Solotki wants to change that. She aims to work with Modular Farms of Ontario to build a year-round facility, which will cost $350,000, and work with a partner in the community to find a location to install it and hook it up to that partner’s electricity. (Electricity costs are high at 79 cents per kilowatt-hour.) This approach would allow locals the opportunity to grow their own produce year-round.

In the same vein, Solotki hopes to grow a wider variety of crops to accommodate local diets and preferences. “We want to see some heavier items, so beans, peas, tomatoes.” She would also like to grow tomatoes, onions and carrots — ingredients in the popular Canadian dish, caribou stew. Adds Solotki: “These are the staples of an Arctic diet.” — Patrick Williams