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Bigger Produce, Better Crops With Vertical ‘Container Farms’, Scientists Claim
By Dominic Cuthbert -
25th March 2019
Professor Chungui Lu in one of the container farms
A UK university has created two vertical ‘container farms’ capable of producing natural crops which, scientists claim, are more nutritious, have bigger yields and are ready to harvest in half the time.
Thought to be the first of their kind in the UK, the farms are housed inside two converted shipping containers and use a variety of innovative and automated feeding and environmental control systems to create perfect growing conditions all year round.
Each container farm is capable of producing three to five tonnes of crops a year.
Scientists at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences plan to use them for teaching and research – and to showcase the potential for ‘precision agriculture’ in a time of global challenges for food security and safety.
Nearly 70% of the UK’s fruit and vegetables currently comes from outside the UK and there is concern that food imports could become more expensive post-Brexit and that there could be significant disruption to the UK’s food supply chain.
An increasing world population, climate change, and pressure on natural resources which threaten global food security, are other major challenges.
The farms, located at the Brackenhurst Campus, have been created as part of a project with scientists at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.
Produce is grown vertically on racks using various LED light and nutrient ‘recipes’ to stimulate growth, depending on the particular species, variety of crop and its different developmental stages.
Suitable wavelengths of light enhance plant growth, giving crops higher yields, more flavour and increased nutrition.
Plants are also grown using include hydroponics – growing plants without soil in a nutrient-rich solution – and aeroponics, whereby plant roots are suspended mid-air in high humidity, whilst being intermittently misted with a nutrient solution.
Unique recipes of the 17 different nutrients which control crop quality and flavour are automatically monitored and delivered to each plant via a software-based control system.
Delivering these directly to the roots ensures almost all nutrients are taken up by the plant – hence bigger yields, faster growth and improved nutrition.
Only about 30%-40% of nutrients are taken up by the roots when grown in soil.
In addition to this, the project tackles the need to increase efficiency of nutrients and the protected conditions of the container mean there is no need for pesticides or fungicides.
“We want to address food security and sustainable agriculture issues by developing new farming systems which can provide an improved crop quality and yield,” said Chungui Lu, Professor of Sustainable Agriculture in the university’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences.
“We believe that there is enormous potential for urban agriculture and ‘”vertical farming to meet these emerging challenges.
“Container farms have optimum growing conditions from germination right through to harvest. It is a hugely efficient and sustainable way of growing very fresh vegetables and some fruit all year round.
“Container farms the size of ours would be able to produce three to five tonnes of crops per year. Producing natural and sustainable local food under such protected conditions could be very attractive for a range of organisations, such as supermarkets and restaurants.
“The system is also completely autonomous so people wouldn’t need to know how to operate it.”
Gordon Food Service And Square Roots Reveal Location of First Urban Farm
March. 27, 2019
BROOKLYN, NY and WYOMING, MI - Early this month, Gordon Food Service made headlines when the foodservice provider unveiled a new partnership with Square Roots and new plans to erect indoor farming campuses throughout North America. And this week the two partners announced the first location to serve locally-grown produce to Gordon Food Service’s network of foodservice partners—along with additional details about the site. The two companies will build their pilot in Gordon Food Service’s hometown of Wyoming, Michigan.
Rich Wolowski, North American President and CEO, Gordon Food Service“
This partnership brings together technology, agriculture, young farmers, and scalability, in a model that could revolutionize our food systems,” said Rich Wolowski, North American President and CEO of Gordon Food Service. “And it’s wonderful to be starting in our own backyard.”
According to a press release issued by the two companies, the partnership’s local, fresh produce offerings will be non-GMO, pesticide-free, and meet Gordon Food Service’s high quality and safety standards. Product will be available for purchase by both commercial chefs and consumers at Gordon Food Service’s area retail stores.
Construction and installation of the first container farm campus is expected to be completed by the fall of 2019, with growing operations beginning immediately thereafter.
Gordon Food Service made headlines when the foodservice provider unveiled a new partnership with Square Roots and new plans to erect indoor farming campuses throughout North America
Plans for the new campus include ten specially designed Square Roots shipping containers in direct production, with four additional containers providing operational support. Containers will occupy less than two acres of the Gordon Food Service HQ’s fifty-acre site, yet are projected to produce more than 50,000 lbs of herbs annually.
Tobias Peggs, Co-Founder and CEO, Square Roots“This partnership means we will grow delicious, local, real food at huge scale,” said Tobias Peggs, Co-Founder and CEO of Square Roots. “We’re so happy to be working with a mission-aligned partner in Gordon Food Service—leveraging technology to bring real food to a huge number of people across the country, while delivering real social impact by empowering thousands of young people to become our country’s future farmers.”
The two companies also noted that Square Roots is expected to recruit and hire a class of new farmers to participate in its unique, year-long Next-Gen Farmer Training Program at the new Wyoming, Michigan farm campus. The recruitment process will start in early summer, and the program will begin in the fall. Interested applicants can find out more about the program on the Square Roots website and sign up for early access to applications here.
Jack Poll, Mayor, City of Wyoming, Michigan“
Our community is proud to be home to an international business leader like Gordon Food Service and to support new, game-changing innovations in fresh, local food production and distribution,” Jack Poll, Mayor of the City of Wyoming, Michigan, noted.
The new campus is expected to function as a template for future farms, and the partnership plans to develop additional farms at or near Gordon Food Service’s U.S. and Canadian distribution centers.
Will Gordon Food Service’s pilot have transformative effects on the supply chain? AndNowUKnow will continue to report as the program expands.
Gordon Food Service Square Roots
Gordon Food Service Urban Farming Protected Agriculture Michigan Expansion Rich Wolowski Tobias Peggs Jack Poll
COMPANIES IN THIS STORY
Gordon Food Service
Gordon Food Service is the largest privately-held, family-managed broadline foodservice distributor in North America-and...
Minnesota Food Bank Second Harvest Heartland Turns Shipping Container Into Lettuce Farm
It's Part of a Growing Focus on Getting
Fresh Produce to Minnesota Food Shelves
By Kelly Smith Star Tribune
MARCH 18, 2019
Eric Reller, master grower with Second Harvest Heartland, took stock of the plants growing in a shipping container at the organization's warehouse in Brooklyn Park. ANTHONY SOUFFLE – STAR TRIBUNE
It’s the busy planting season for Eric Reller all year round inside a dark shipping container in Brooklyn Park.
The freight container holds a mini hydroponic farm where he plants seeds and rows of lettuce under LED lights. But the leafy greens aren’t for sale.
Instead, the lettuce is sent to Twin Cities nonprofits that provide meals to people in need through a new pilot program from Second Harvest Heartland, Minnesota’s largest food bank.
“It’s the future of food and we want to see if a food bank can be a part of that,” said Bob Branham, director of produce strategy at Second Harvest. “There’s a need.”
Second Harvest is the first food bank in the nation to do a program like this, Branham said, adding that other food banks across the country are watching to see its progress.
As one of the nation’s largest food banks, Second Harvest specializes in “food rescue,” taking millions of pounds in produce donated by farmers, manufacturers and grocers to repackage and distribute to food shelves. And part of the nonprofit’s growing focus is on fresh produce, doubling the quantity in the last six years.
Eric Reller, master grower with Second Harvest Heartland, sorted through the columns of plants growing that hang from the ceiling of the shipping container. ANTHONY SOUFFLÉ • anthony.souffle@startribune.com
Since lettuce wasn’t as feasible because it doesn’t last long and grocers prefer to sell it, Second Harvest stepped up to grow its own, buying the container hydroponic farm last year for $100,000, paid for by a donor. While hydroponic farms aren’t new, food banks aren’t often in the business.
“What’s innovative is a food bank, usually at the end of the supply chain, is putting itself at the front of the supply chain,” said Branham, a former leader at General Mills. “We don’t have access to leafy greens in food rescue.”
A new home
The farm is part of Second Harvest’s new warehouse in Brooklyn Park, which it moved into last year after closing a smaller Golden Valley site.
On Tuesday, officials will celebrate the groundbreaking for the renovation of the 233,000-square-foot facility, funded largely by $18 million in bonding money approved by the Legislature — the largest amount of public money Second Harvest has gotten. The organization is fundraising to pay the rest of the $52 million total price to buy the building and create programming.
The new renovated warehouse near Interstate 94 and Hwy. 100, which is expected to be done by 2020, will add more space for volunteers packaging meals and more than triple the space for coolers and freezers.
That will allow the nonprofit to provide more fresh produce and protein, boosting the number of meals it supplies from a record 89 million in 2018 to nearly 112 million by 2025. Food is distributed to food shelves and pantries in 59 counties in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
Second Harvest will share the space with the Brooklyn Park community food shelf, Community Emergency Assistance Programs, which will open a free food market there.
With the new space, Second Harvest is also starting a new initiative this year, seeking money to buy bulk quantities of chicken and beef from manufacturers that can be repackaged into smaller quantities for food shelves.
“It’s exciting to know it’s going to people who don’t have the opportunity for that kind of food,” Branham said.
The lettuce farm could also grow. Branham has mapped out where the full-scale farm could go in the warehouse, if the nonprofit chooses to fundraise for the larger operation. For now, Second Harvest’s small hydroponic farm harvests 8,000 pounds of lettuce a year. To grow 250,000 pounds of leafy greens a year, enough to supply food shelves and clients, it would cost an estimated $2 million.
Farm-to-table for all
Inside the 480-square-foot shipping container, which is the equivalent to the growing space of nearly 2 acres over the year, seeds are planted in coconut fiber and then transported into towers.
Reller, the master grower, has help from two volunteers to grow 21 varieties of lettuce and herbs such as basil, cilantro and parsley — all without any dirt, sunlight or pesticides in the 8-foot-tall hanging towers.
“The plants look pretty much immaculate,” Reller said, adding that they don’t have to ward off pests or cope with bad weather.
About five weeks later, lettuce is harvested and sent to Loaves & Fishes, which provides 3,000 meals a day at 30 dining sites in the Twin Cities, and Waite House, a community center in south Minneapolis that dishes up free lunch for 100 to 140 people a day.
A rendering of the new volunteer center at Second Harvest Heartland in Brooklyn Park.
Loaves & Fishes uses the lettuce to supplement donated bags of lettuce from grocery stores, which isn’t as fresh.
“By the time we get it, it is pretty far gone, so this lettuce is special because it’s so fresh,” said Cathy Maes, the executive director of Loaves & Fishes. “It’s genius.”
Pillsbury United Communities, which operates Waite House in south Minneapolis, also relies on Second Harvest’s lettuce, part of a broader movement to expand locally grown fresh foods to people in need. Pillsbury United Communities also has its own hydroponic farm in a shipping container to grow lettuce and herbs for its North Side community meals.
“How do we make farm-to-table accessible for everyone?” said Ethan Neal, the food systems manager for Pillsbury United Communities. “People, even if they don’t have money, should have the choice to eat healthy.”
Kelly Smith covers nonprofits/philanthropy for the Star Tribune and is based in Minneapolis. Since 2010, she’s covered Greater Minnesota on the state/region team, Hennepin County government, west metro suburban government and west metro K-12 education.
Seedo Partners With Kibbutz Dan For First-of-its-Kind Fully Automated Indoor and Containerized Commercial-Scale Cannabis Farm
AI-powered climate control technology serves growing demand for pesticide-free products around the globe
NEWS PROVIDED BY Seedo Corp.
TEL AVIV, Israel, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --
Today, Seedo Corp., "Seedo" (OTCQB: SEDO), a high-tech company providing the world's first fully automated and controlled indoor growing machines for the pesticide-free cannabis and agricultural markets, announced today it will be partnering with Kibbutz Dan in Northern Israel to establish the first fully automated, commercial-scale, pesticide-free containerized cannabis farm in Israel. With Israel's recent approval of medical cannabis exports, Seedo is positioned to become a key player in this emerging market as its technology can achieve reliable and uniform production goals to meet pharmaceutical-grade standards. Within 36 months of operation, the project is estimated to produce a minimum of 14 tons of dry cannabis bud, generating an estimated revenue of $24 million dollars.
Introducing the Seedo Farm, automated, commercial scale container
In legal cannabis markets around the world, new research has brought to light concerns surrounding the prevalence of pesticides, solvents and bacteria present in the current supply chain. This poses a serious threat to consumer safety, especially for patients that are increasingly dependent on medical cannabis for treatment of a variety of illnesses. Seedo's revolutionary technology can control the purity of the crop to meet stringent compositional standards set by pharmaceutical and beverage companies looking to supply clean and consistent products to the market.
"We are entering a new era of growing where demand for pesticide-free products will only continue to increase," said Seedo CEO Zohar Levy. "We're thrilled to partner with Kibbutz Dan to provide a business model with governments that the world can look to. We've built our commercial-scale system to reflect our philosophy that technology can provide precise and reliable results without sacrificing yield."
This Landmark installation includes Seedo's first commercial-scale product to meet growing demand stemming from maturation of the worldwide medical cannabis market. Seedo is now applying its proven technology, originally developed for home-grow devices, towards containers for commercial scale. This new offering will allow Seedo to leverage and adapt its existing and proven AI-powered technology to commercial farming applications, thereby maximizing the quality, yield and reliability of crops regardless of local climate conditions. By taking the guesswork out of the cultivation process, communities will be able to grow both native and non-native products with less labor, energy and water than ever before. The airtight, stackable containers will allow cultivators to optimize land-use and reduce the environmental footprint of their farming operations. Each one of Seedo's containers can provide a minimum quantity of 326 pounds of dry cannabis bud per year.
Seedo will also look to provide its commercial product to agricultural regions in need of healthy and reliable food supplies. Each container features maximum daylight illumination, built-in carbon filters, automated air conditioning, and a smart post-harvest drying system that allows farmers to minimize cultivation costs and provide high-quality food with extended shelf life. As rising temperatures and urban population growth encroach on global food supplies, Seedo's turnkey technology will allow communities to grow their food locally without fear of crop loss from external climate or weather conditions. As its network of systems continues to grow, Seedo will be able to leverage aggregated data to discover the ideal growing conditions for every type of fruit and plant species, even bringing some back from the brink of extinction.
As part of Seedo's recent momentum, the company recently appointed Daniel Birnbaum, CEO of SodaStream, and Dr. Jendayi. Frazer, the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, to its board of directors. Mr. Birnbaum's expertise in building global brands and Dr. Frazer's work in international development and governance will inform the development of the commercial product to serve vulnerable communities around the globe.
About Seedo
Seedo is a market leading high-tech company providing the cannabis and agriculture industries with the world's first fully automated and controlled indoor growing machine. Seedo provides growers with the freedom to cut costs while generating high yields of lab-grade, pesticide-free herbs and vegetables. Seedo's AI-powered, turnkey systems enable anyone from average consumers to large-scale producers the ability to grow without prior experience or ample space. Seedo is a publicly traded company backed by a group of international investors including Cannabics Pharmaceuticals and is headquartered in Israel. For more information, visit http://www.seedolab.com
Contacts:
Seedo Corp.
+972-546-642-228
General Information: info@seedolab.com
Media inquiries: seedo@antennagroup.com
http://www.seedolab.com
Disclaimer:
Certain statements contained in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, results of clinical trials and/or other studies, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, the effect of any competitive products, our ability to license and protect our intellectual property, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, changes in government policy and/or regulation, potential litigation by or against us, any governmental review of our products or practices, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, our latest Form 10-K Report filed on January 15th, 2019. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time.
SOURCE Seedo Corp.
A Hydroponic Farm In A Refurbished Train Car Is Enriching The Denver Community
Another innovative urban farm is in Denver, this time fully centered around cultivating community. Metro Caring is partnering with Saint Joseph Hospital to bring a Freight Farm to the Mile High City, thanks to a donation from the Morgridge Foundation
Another innovative urban farm is in Denver, this time fully centered around cultivating community. Metro Caring is partnering with Saint Joseph Hospital to bring a Freight Farm to the Mile High City, thanks to a donation from the Morgridge Foundation. This hydroponic garden has the capacity to grow the equivalent of two acres on 10 gallons of water a day, all in a refurbished freight train car. While Freight Farms are now utilizing urban spaces across the country, having a farm inside an old train car is particularly fitting for Denver. It’s marrying two Colorado traditions: farming and railroads, as a consequence of the mining culture.
With The GrowHaus’ hydroponic and aquaponic gardens and Altius’ aeroponic farm, Denver is catching on to the innovative practices in urban farming that are sweeping the country. Metro Caring’s Freight Farm will expand the growing capacity of farms in the city to bring fresh greens and herbs to the tables of Denver residents. “One of the things that we’ve noticed,” said Teva Sienicki, CEO of Metro Caring, “is that most of Metro Caring’s participants – participants is the word we use for our clients – live a lot of times in rental housing, which doesn’t provide access to land to garden and grow their own food.”
READ: A Look Inside RiNo’s Rooftop Urban Farm
In addition to the new Freight Farm, Metro Caring has a few other garden spaces in the Five Points and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. Last year, the organization turned over the care of those gardens to their participants and their community, giving them control to choose what they wanted to grow and cook. “The gardens really came alive, we saw that our participants, volunteers and staff were gardening side by side,” Seinicki commented. For that reason, participants will also help make decisions in operating the Freight Farm.
“This is the freshest lettuce that you’ll find [in the area]”
The Freight Farm
Photo courtesy of Freight Farms
Though the freight car is small, hydroponic growing utilizes space more efficiently than a traditional soil far. In a contained space, farmers are able to provide the ideal conditions for growing – controlling the light, humidity, temperature, CO2 levels and many additional factors that affect growth. Because the plants are given exactly what they need to thrive, they are able to grow faster in their vertical towers than they could on land. In the span of about eight weeks, the Freight Farm will harvest two acres worth of greens – around 500 to 600 plants – packed with nutrients and fresh flavor.
Metro Caring’s chief gardener, Jess Harper, will oversee the farm’s operations. “It’s so fascinating that you can engineer it to have all of the things that your little plants need to grow and be nutrient-dense,” she commented. Harper will be with the plants from seed to harvest, ensuring that the freight car’s environment perfectly suits the plants in all stage of growth.
The process begins in the germination trays where seeds grow in a plug of peat moss. They sit under a set of lights that emulate day and night and are sprayed with water and nutrients until they sprout. Then the seedlings are moved to a pool-like container that floods from the bottom. This allows the roots to soak up water and other nutrients without disturbing the growth up top. After seedlings grow to about two inches, the gardeners will move the plants to the vertical towers that hang from the ceiling and allow water to flow down to the roots of each plant. Along the rows of towers also hang LED full-spectrum lights that are a concentrated form of everything plants need for photosynthesis.
Once the greens reach harvest size, Harper and a team of Metro Caring’s community will remove each plant – with roots attached – from the vertical towers. This lettuce will stay fresh for about two weeks with the root ball attached. Harper is excited to provide greens that will stay fresh three to five times longer than what you could buy in the grocery store. “This is the freshest lettuce that you’ll find [in the area],” she commented.
The Future of Urban Farming
Photo courtesy of Freight Farms on Facebook
The Freight Farms is incredible, not only because it grows fresh and nutrient-dense greens, but also because it is a sustainable method of farming compared to traditional customs. The container itself reduces waste by refurbishing a train car that was headed for the trash. Inside, the hydroponic system uses less water than a soil farm. Because the Freight Farm doesn’t use soil, none of the water is soaked up and unable to be utilized by the plants. The water that does evaporate into the air is removed by a dehumidifier and put back into the tank after being filtered.
The LED lights used to nourish the plants uses significantly less energy than standard grow lights. While the farm does take a lot of energy to run, Metro Caring and Saint Joseph Hospital are considering solar power in the future if they have the funding. The hydroponic system also requires very little space to function, so the Freight Farm takes a small amount of space – a few parking spots – compared to two acres of good farmland. All in all, hydroponic growing in a space with great technology to record data is a great alternative when growing in urban areas.
Metro Caring is clearly excited to be experimenting in this new age of urban growing. Sienicki commented that the Freight Farm “allows us to be a part of a growing movement in the food world around sustainable, urban, local agriculture.” But while Metro Caring’s is excited about giving their participants a chance to participate in the food movement, their partnership with Manual High School is equally as important. Students from the Career Readiness program will come to help out at the farm and learn the science behind hydroponic growing. Metro Caring’s work in teaching a future generation to rethink traditional farming and explore the opportunities in urban farming will be so important for the future of urban growing. In addition to their work on the farm, Manual students will work with a team at Saint Joseph Hospital to discuss the importance of healthy eating and nutrition. This work supports the great work Metro Caring does in teaching their participants about nutrition. As in all of Metro Caring’s work, the Freight Farm is centered around community and providing the resources necessary to help each member of the community thrive.
Nourishing The Community
Photo courtesy of Freight Farms
Giving participants a space to grow their own food is a big part of Metro Caring’s mission in fostering a community. “One of our core beliefs is to allow our participants and our community to co-create with us,” Sienicki commented.With over 40 languages represented by participants, there are so many people from different cultures and cuisines at Metro Caring. Part of Sienicki’s excitement in turning ownership of the garden spaces over to participants was allowing them to grow foods from their various heritages that they couldn’t find in the grocery stores.
In making this change, Sienicki also learned that some of Metro Caring’s participants had a background in farming and growing their own food. One woman, in particular, grew up helping her grandparents on their sharecropping farm. It wasn’t until she began gardening with Metro Caring that she was able to grow her own food again and has now been teaching her own granddaughter how to grow vegetables. “She was so excited to have access to land and to get her hands in the dirt again because she hadn’t been able to do that since she was a kid,” Sienicki explained.
This relationship is part of what inspired Metro Caring to take on a huge project like the Freight Farm. The project will provide more opportunities for participants to grow their own food and learn different farming practices. Once the farm has produced its first harvest, Metro Caring is thinking about selling to local restaurants or corner stores in neighborhoods with less access to fresh, healthy food. They are also considering teaching entrepreneurship skills and allowing participants to create a business out of their gardens. But as Harper pointed out, they are giving the control of those decisions to their participants. “It’s not up to me, it’s not up to Teva [Sienicki],” she explained. “It’s up to the community to decide this is what we need, and this is what we want.”
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Metro Caring’s Freight Farm is located at 819 Lafayette St., Denver. Contact Teva Sienicki or Jess Harper for more information about the growing process here .
9 Steps To Launching Your Freight Farms Project
Ready, Set, Grow!
Freight Farmers come from all walks of life; many have never farmed a day in their life, while others have a rich personal and family history of soil farming.
Regardless of who you are and where you’ve been, you have arrived at Freight Farms because you believe in making waves, disrupting the food system, and providing fresh, local, and delicious produce year-round. We’re here to help you succeed in making this farming dream a reality.
PART 1 - RESEARCH, PLAN, AND COMMIT
Discovery
Luckily, you’ve already completed the first step – you found us! However, following us on our various social media accounts will keep you updated with company and industry news, helpful content, and fun engagement opportunities.
Build Your Vision
As with any new business, you need to be aware of who your customers are and where you can find them. This will allow you to determine what your ideal strategy should be. Common strategies include selling direct-to-consumer, at farmers markets, and wholesale to grocers and restaurants. Read more about finding customers here and here.
Once you know who you will be selling to, you need to think about what you will be selling. Our farms are optimized to grow a huge variety of leafy greens! Read our Growing Guide and start to consider which crops you want to grow and sell.
Don’t forget, your account representative is extremely knowledgeable and always happy to answer any questions.
Find Your Site
This is an incredibly important step, so be proactive and start asking the right questions as soon as you start seriously thinking about buying your farm.
We’ve mapped out the zoning process for you, but – as always – give your account rep a call with any questions you have.
Finding the Perfect Home for Your Farm
How to Approach Your Municipality About Shipping Container Farming
Freight Farm with the Federal Realty Investment Trust
Make Your Investment
Take the plunge and join the Freight Farm family! We understand this is a big transitionary step for you, so speak to your account rep for clarifications and answers to any last-minute questions.
Additionally, we are excited to announce that we are currently offering financing! If this is something you are interested in, look into the options available for your needs.
Last but not least – go out and celebrate! You’ve just gotten that much closer to actualizing your farming dream.
PART 2 - LEARN AND LAUNCH
Training
Get ready to farm! We offer a few training options to best work with your schedule.
One option is to participate in a one or two-day intensive training at our headquarters in Boston, MA, where we combine in-farm sessions and classroom lessons. Another option is to learn remotely with our robust step-by-step online training course that allows you to learn on your own time.
Both training options cover everything you need to know! See the Farm Camp syllabus here.
Launch Your Farm
Your farm has arrived and you’re ready to go! Hook up your farm with the help of a trusty electrician and plumber, set up the farm Wi-Fi, and – hooray! – you’ve launched your farm. Your farm comes fully-equipped with all components needed for immediate production, so you can start growing immediately.
This video is a great resource for getting the operational and set up basics.
PART 3 - GROW AND GO
After training, you will have all the tools necessary to start growing in your farm. Don’t worry about making mistakes initially – it takes time to become familiar with all of the farming processes. Allow yourself three months to become a farm expert.
Thanks to the farm’s efficiency, you will be ready to harvest your first crops eight weeks after launching the farm. We estimate that you will need to spend about 20 hours a week to maintain the farm; these hours can be handled by one person, or split between a team. Read all about the farm’s labor requirements here.
In addition to our training resources, we have tons of information available on site, such as:
Get to know your peers!
The best thing about being a Freight Farmer? You’re not alone! You belong to a great community for farmers from all over the world, and they can be the best resources for you as get started.
Read about the journeys of other farmers just like yourself:
Acre in a Box, Houston, TX
Agora Greens, Walpole, MA
Brothers in Farms, Savannah, GA
Bees Greens Co, Waipahu, HI
Corner Stalk Farm, Boston, MA
Karma Farm, Monkton, MD
Very Local Greens, Halifax, Canada
Ready to get started? Simply contact us, and we can help you start container farming in no time!
LET'S GET STARTED!
Where To Find The Freshest Lettuce In Alaska? Try This Freight Container
A small green freight container sits behind a popular stop along the Seward Highway, the Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ.
By Hank Davis |
Posted: Mar 07, 2019
ANCHORAGE (KTUU) — A small green freight container sits behind a popular stop along the Seward Highway, the Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ.
Inside is a hydroponic garden, dubbed the Indian Valley Farm. Its climate-control systems monitor for optimal humidity, pH balances, and temperature.
The "Freight Farm" system uses LED technology to mimic 18 hours of sunlight every day.
Owner Jack Goodsell moved the freight farm from Boston to Alaska as a way to provide fresher produce at his restaurant.
According to the manufacturer's website, these hydroponic setups cost around $110,000 to get up and running, but Goodsell says it cost him about $150,000 to get the unit to Alaska and begin farming. Now he's growing more leafy greens than both of his restaurants can use.
"Everything we grow, we harvest live, so it doesn't get fresher," Goodsell said. "The flavors of fresh grown versus what we ship up is incredible."
The enclosed garden is only a couple hundred square feet, but it can support a couple thousand plants if used strategically.
Goodsell regularly has more than 1,000 plants growing in his freight farm, and he says it only takes about five gallons of water daily to maintain that pace.
Goodsell's plants are harvested daily, regardless of the weather conditions outside. His crop boasts half a dozen species of lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, herbs and radishes. He says they're continuously adding new plants to the mix.
He says the surplus greens are among the freshest produce you'll find in Alaska, and can now be bought at either Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ location.
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Canadian Vertical Farming Startup to Distribute Produce to Universities
Chartwells, a Canadian educational food service provider, and the Growcer, announced an exclusive partnership that will bring 'the 100 foot farm' to college and university campuses across Canada. The Growcer converts shipping containers into state-of-the-art vertical farms to grow fresh produce for food insecure areas. Chartwells will be the first to bring this program to the Canadian higher education landscape with this partnership.
Ashton Sequeira, President Chartwells (L) with Ottawa students Alida Burke and Corey Ellis, co-founders of The Growcer (CNW Group/Compass Group Canada)
Founded by Ottawa students Corey Ellis and Alida Burke, The Growcer is a farming system combining hydroponic technology with precision climate controls that allows the user to easily grow fresh produce in a contained space. The distance the produce travels to the consumer can be as little as 100 feet – making this the '100 foot farm'.
"As part of our Thinking Ahead Giving Back vision, we have made a pledge over the next 3 years to deliver 1,000,000 meals to tackle food insecurity both domestically and globally, provide 10,000 hours of community support around mental health and social issues facing students and create 1,000 jobs through a more focused commitment to student employment," said Ashton Sequeira, President, Chartwells. "At Chartwells, we are committed to delivering a student-first experience on campus and this exciting partnership with The Growcer is another step towards this. We will be donating 10% of annual crop grown to tackle local food insecurity as part of our commitment to deliver 1,000,000 meals over the next 3 years. Teaming up with The Growcer delivers on our pledge and puts student innovation, sustainability and community engagement at the forefront of what we do."
"We had the opportunity to partner with any of the companies in this space, but we chose Chartwells because of their commitment towards social and sustainable initiatives, their support around student innovation and leadership within their executive team and all the way to their front-line associates," added Corey Ellis, Co-founder and CEO, The Growcer. "Through our partnership with Chartwells, partner colleges and universities across Canada will benefit from having fresh, local and healthy produce grown only steps away from their food halls and cafeterias, no matter the weather. We're excited that students will get to enjoy locally-grown, nutritious meals throughout the entire year."
"The Growcer's incredible growth is just beginning with the global adoption of indoor farming. More and more, we are seeing ag-tech innovations such as hydroponics being used to address food security challenges, rising population, food prices and shrinking arable land," said Nick Quain, Vice President of Invest Ottawa, whose tech acceleration program, the IO Accelerator, has provided the Growcer with business advisory and support since 2016.
"We couldn't be more proud of The Growcer, and congratulations to Chartwells for having the vision to land this partnership with one of Ottawa's most innovative companies."
For more information:
www.chartwellsschools.com
Shipping Container Farms Expanding To Grocery Stores Around The Country
Container farming startup Square Roots partnered with a major distributor to bring locally grown food to cities nationwide
By Liz Stinson Mar 8, 2019
Photo: Square Roots
A few years back, Square Roots set up shop in a parking lot in Brooklyn’s Bed Stuy neighborhood. The urban farming startup, founded by Kimbal Musk and Tobias Peggs, built a compact hydroponic farming system inside tricked out shipping containers designed by ORE Design’s Thomas Kosbau.
Now, Square Roots is expanding operations (and keeping the shipping containers). The startup just announced that it’s partnering with Gordon Food Services, a distribution company that works with retailers across the country. The plan is to build Square Roots facilities (i.e. shipping containers) on or near GFS’s distribution or retail locations in order to shorten the amount of time it takes to go from hydroponic pod to store shelves.
Photo: Square Roots
Photo: Square Roots
Fast Company reports that each new Square Roots location will get somewhere around 10 shipping containers, though that number could grow in the future.
“We’ll start with putting 10 containers down in a market, and as demand for locally grown produce increases, we can very quickly expand our footprint by adding more modules,” Peggs told Fast Company.
With each container generating around 50,000 pounds of produce each year, that’s a major upgrade for locally grown food.
Via: Fast Company
Freight Farms Announces New Container Farm "The Greenery"
The “Greenery” Features More Growing Space Than The Company's Previous Farm, Among Other Attributes
March 6, 2019
Freight Farms has announced the Greenery, the successor to the Leafy Green Machine (LGM). According to a press release, the Greenery offers farmers 70 percent more growing space than the LGM in the same 320-square-foot container.
The Greenery features a mobile rack system that allows growers direct access to every plant, 70 percent more growing space than the LGM and rigid LED panels that replace rope lighting in the LGM. It also has a climate control system that reduces moisture.
According to the press release, each farm is outfitted with sensors that relay all climate, component and camera data to farmhand, Freight Farms' digital platform that allows growers to monitor their farms remotely via a smartphone, tablet or computer.
The Greenery retails for $104,000 and is currently available for pre-sale.
Photo courtesy of Freight Farms
Gordon Food Service and Square Roots to Bring Local Food to Cities Across North America
The strategic partnership will see new campuses of Square Roots’ indoor farms built on or near Gordon Food Service distribution centers and retail stores across the continent, enabling year-round growing of premium quality herbs, greens, and more, which will then be available to Gordon Food Service customers.
March 6, 2019
BROOKLYN, NY
Gordon Food Service has linked up with Square Roots, a leader in urban indoor farming, to provide customers across North America with locally-grown food. The strategic partnership will see new campuses of Square Roots’ indoor farms built on or near Gordon Food Service distribution centers and retail stores across the continent, enabling year-round growing of premium quality herbs, greens, and more, which will then be available to Gordon Food Service customers.
Rich Wolowski, CEO, Gordon Food Service
“Customers want an assortment of fresh, locally-grown food all year round,” stated Rich Wolowski, CEO of Gordon Food Service, in a recent press release. “We are on a path to do that at scale with Square Roots and are excited to be the first in the industry to offer this unique solution to our customers.”
Gordon Food Service has linked up with Square Roots, a leader in urban indoor farming, to provide customers across North America with locally-grown food
The press release noted that this partnership enables Gordon Food Service to bring a modern offering to meet growing customer demand for local food across North America. It also signifies the first significant expansionto new locations for Square Roots.
Tobias Peggs, Co-Founder and CEO, Square Roots“
This partnership means we will grow delicious, local real food at huge scale,” said Tobias Peggs, Co-Founder and CEO of Square Roots. “We’re so happy to be working with a mission-aligned partner in Gordon Food Service—leveraging technology to bring real food to a huge number of people across the country, while delivering real social impact by empowering thousands of young people to become our country’s future farmers.”
Customers can scan a QR code on packaging to trace how their food was grown and who grew it
Square Roots utilizes a high-tech farming platform with its Next-Gen Farmer Training Program to train young people to become future leaders in the food industry. In addition to this tech, the company's Transparency Timeline enables customers to trace exactly how their food was grown and who grew it, simply by scanning a QR code on its packaging. Two winning tech solutions, if you ask me!
Stick with us here at AndNowUKnow for the latest in new partnerships.
Gordon Food Service Square Roots
Distribution Gordon Food Service New Partnership Square Roots Locally-Grown Rich Wolowski Tobias Peggs
COMPANIES IN THIS STORY
Gordon Food Service
Gordon Food Service is the largest privately-held, family-managed broadline foodservice distributor in North America-and...
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Race On To Make Urban Agriculture Viable, Durable
March 3, 2019
Countries and cities are coming up with ever more imaginative forms of urban agriculture. (AFP Relaxnews pic)
A key ingredient is the trend in ever more imaginative forms towards urban agriculture, a multi-faceted recipe already being poured over by some 800 million people globally, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The trend takes many forms – from collective market gardens in even the most run-down of urban districts to connected vertical farms using indoor farming techniques to meet spiralling food demand in areas largely bereft of arable land.
The FAO wants to see the trend prosper and become durable and sustainably embedded within public policy.
Yves Christol, of French cooperative In Vivo, has identified six models of the genre.
They include a key European variant, electronically managed without recourse to pesticide — or even soil or sunshine.
Green beans mean… Iceland
“That has allowed Iceland to become a major producer of green beans,” says Christol, thanks to geothermal heating.
Asian countries are also in on the act, not least Singapore, with the high density population city state bent on ensuring high-tech food autonomy.
Japan and China have sought to give new life to sites which once hosted electronics factories even if the strategy appears costly.
China has launched some urban farms even in areas where the soil has been polluted by heavy metals and would be too costly to clean up.
The US model, as cities including New York and Chicago seek to become sustainably hunger-proof, includes hydroponic gardens – effectively eschewing soil and using mineral nutrients in a water solvent, although profitability can prove elusive.
But scale is an issue and the concept will not be viable “so long as the price of the vegetables is not increased fourfold,” to cover energy costs, says Christol.
Strawberry containers forever
The cost of transporting food is something which particularly exercises entrepreneurs such as Guillaume Fourdinier, a founder of French start-up Agricool in Paris and Dubai.
His firm produces strawberries year round in shipping containers fitted out with LED lighting. Urban agriculture’s raison d’etre, he says, comprises fighting against “the ecological disaster of transport”.
“Today, with our containers, we are 120 times more productive per square metre than on open ground,” says Fourdinier.
“We produce in decentralised fashion and closer to customers,” he adds of strawberries sold marginally cheaper than their organic equivalent.
Paris has meanwhile come up with its own urban agriculture model, dubbed “Pariculteur,” a series of town hall-mandated projects designed to cover as much of the capital as possible with greenery via a rise in urban farming.
An initial 10 hectares (25 acres) for the project is set to grow to 30 hectares by next year.
Urban ecologist Swen Deral, who oversaw a pan-European urban agriculture project last year, says if the concept is to be financially viable in cities it has to go “beyond production”.
“Either they recycle, or else they create services linked to urban agriculture, educational activities, restaurants and the like,” he explains.
Researchers point to urban agriculture’s additional benefit of fighting against the effects of climate change as its proponents seek to reinvent urban existence.
Francois Mancebo, researcher at France’s Reims University, summed up the challenge in an article published by peer-review open access publisher MDPI and entitled “city gardening: managing durability and adapting to climate change thanks to urban agriculture.”
Mancebo says the concept must become an integral part of urban planning with local politicians underlining the need for active participation of city dwellers.
Brick Street Farms is a Hidden Gem Producing Fresh Food
By Vanessa Ruffes, FOX 13 News
February 27, 2019
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (FOX 13) -
Tampa Bay is full of hidden gems, and even hidden farms.
Brick Street Farms is nestled off of 2nd Avenue South in downtown St. Petersburg, and is making the most of its modest space. It opened about two years ago. At the time, it only served its produce to local restaurants and hotels. Then, more than a year ago, the farm opened its doors to the public with retail and farm memberships.
"We specialize in all things leafy green," said owner Shannon O'Malley, who actually worked with computers before switching to farming. "So, we have about 10 to 12 varieties of lettuce. We do four to five varieties of baby kale, chard, herbs, edible flowers, microgreens, sprouts."
All the growing magic happens inside several containers, which totals roughly 1,200 square feet, but O'Malley says her farm is able to generate 430,000-square-feet worth of produce.
"We actually grow 8 to 10 acres of produce every five weeks," O'Malley says. "We might look small, but we're actually a commercial grower. We go through 50,000 plants every five weeks."
Brick Street grows its crops hydroponically, striving to do the most with the least waste, tailoring water and light conditions specifically to what each type of plant likes.
"We use an LED lighting system, which means there's no sunlight used. We control temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, nutrient levels," O'Malley says. "We make every bit of use of the vertical space, which is why we're able to cram so much into a small space."
All that effort has put Brick Street's team up to its eyeballs in leafy greens, but the farm is starting to branch out, recently digging into tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries.
It doesn't get fresher than this either. O'Malley said everything goes straight from the farm to their market on-site or to their buyers within hours.
Speaking of the market -- shoppers and farm members will find small batch products either grown on the property or locally made. In addition to produce, the market offers items like honey, vinegars, and kimchi. O'Malley says the offerings are constantly changing too.
"I definitely think this is the way of the future," O'Malley says. "People really want to know where their food is coming from. We do everything without chemicals, without pesticides, no dirt, no bugs, non-GMO, no animal products, no animal fertilizers so we eliminate all the contaminant risks with our produce."
If you're interested in a tour, you can schedule a group tour. For more information, check out Brick Street Farms' website.
The Growcer Signs Produce Supply Deal With University Food Services Firm Chartwells
A view inside one of The Growcer's hydroponics pods. Provided.
BY: Techopia Staff
March 6, 2019
ORGANIZATIONS: The Growcer Chartwells Canada University of Ottawa
PEOPLE: Corey Ellis Alida Burke
Ottawa-based hydroponics startup The Growcer will soon be installing its high-tech system for growing fruits and vegetables at colleges and universities across Canada.
The three-year-old company announced this week it has signed a partnership with food-services provider Chartwells Canada to set up mini-hydroponic farms in converted shipping containers on post-secondary campuses around the country. The produce grown inside will be sold to Chartwells, the largest supplier of food services to colleges and universities in Canada.
“Through our partnership with Chartwells, partner colleges and universities across Canada will benefit from having fresh, local and healthy produce grown only steps away from their food halls and cafeterias, no matter the weather,” The Growcer co-founder and CEO Corey Ellis said in a statement.
“We're excited that students will get to enjoy locally grown, nutritious meals throughout the entire year."
Founded by Ellis and Alida Burke when they were students at the University of Ottawa in 2016, The Growcer combines hydroponic technology with climate controls that allow users to grow fresh produce in a contained space. The company claims the system uses 95 per cent less water than conventional agricultural methods and can grow up to 100 kilograms of vegetables per week without the need for herbicides or pesticides.
The company’s products have already been used in Canada’s Arctic, and last year the firm installed one of its retrofitted shipping containers at the University of Ottawa campus in a joint venture with Chartwells.
Now a member of Invest Ottawa’s accelerator, The Growcer appeared on CBC’s Dragons’ Den earlier this year, where its founders landed a $250,000 equity offer for 30 per cent of the company, a deal they accepted on the show but did not finalize.
Ellis told Techopia Live in 2018 the company’s goal is to enable any community in Canada to be more more self-reliant when it comes to food.
“We can do a lot with the technology we have now to allow any community, not only in northern Canada, but in Canada in general, to be more self-reliant. So I’d love to see a Growcer system in every major city in Canada,” he said.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Ottawa startup The Growcer triumphs on Dragons’ Den
Jan 11, 2019
Freight Farms Announces Next-Generation Container Farm, Advancing Production Limits of Hydroponic Vertical Farming
Agtech innovator's new technology adds 70% more growing space, drives yield, efficiency, automation
NEWS PROVIDED BY Freight Farms
Feb 26, 2019
BOSTON, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Freight Farms is proud to announce the Greenery™, successor to the Leafy Green Machine™ (LGM), and the first generational product leap since Freight Farms pioneered the containerized agriculture industry in 2010. Within the same standard 320 sq. ft. footprint, the Greenery offers farmers 70% more growing space, with unprecedented versatility, efficiency, and automation control – advancing the limits of production, and making farming more accessible than ever before.
Performance-Driven Container Farming
The Greenery combines dynamic aisles with new plant panels and LED technology to boost yields and create streamlined operations for the farmer. Simplified Workflows: Moveable rows provide easy access to plants for convenient harvesting, pruning, cleaning, and maintenance. This drastically reduces labor and increases productivity. Customization & Versatility: With the sliding rack system, farmers can arrange the Greenery based on their needs, allowing them to grow larger plants without experiencing spacing or airflow problems.
Exterior of Freight Farms' Greenery: now made from purpose-built freight containers with all-weather paint, premium metalwork, and superior manufacturing.
The Greenery’s main growing area features 88 plant panels and 112 LED panels. The LED panels are hyper-directionally focused on the plant canopy to prevent light waste and yield fuller, heavier crops in shorter time-frames.
Freight Farms' new vertically hanging 5-channel plant panels replace previous single-channel crop columns, capturing previously unproductive space to unlock 70% more growing space within the Greenery’s 320 sq.ft. footprint.
The Greenery’s nursery station holds 4,608 plant sites. Seedlings grow up toward 3:1 red-to-blue LED light panels that focus directly onto the canopy, with minimal light fall-off or wasted energy.
After years of data collection and development based on the experience of hundreds of farmers in its global network, Freight Farms has again raised the industry bar with a fundamental container farm redesign. Instead of reorganizing existing technology into a refreshed layout, the company saw the potential to blueprint entirely new farm components previously unavailable to the industry. In doing so, Freight Farms keeps the ergonomics of both farmers and plants as the central priority to improve yield, efficiency, and workflow. Today Freight Farms reveals three pillars of the Greenery's design.
Greater Yield, Productivity, and Usability: A fully-reimagined farm interior combines customizable grow rows with innovative plant panel and LED technology to boost yields and create streamlined operations for the farmer.
Mobile rack system: Farmers can now shift grow rows and LED panels to create custom layouts to support the growth of a new variety of crops (larger, vined, rooted, etc.) while drastically improving workflow.
Increased production: Capturing previously unproductive space, a unique 5-channel plant panel design replaces traditional crop columns to unlock 70% more growing space within the same small footprint. The Greenery also hosts 30% more nursery plant sites.
Industry-leading LEDs: Unique, rigid LED panel arrays replace previous rope lighting, tripling the crops' access to light energy to result in fuller, heavier plants within a faster growth period.
Superior Resource Efficiency: Newly designed systems throughout the Greenery, including lighting and climate control, use and reclaim resources with unrivaled efficiency.
Best brightness-to-power ratio: Because the LED arrays are focused directionally, light energy waste is prevented, and despite triple the intensity, there is no 3x corresponding electricity draw.
Intelligent moisture reclamation: The farm's powerful new climate control system condenses and recycles ambient moisture so efficiently that in certain humid regions it is capable of capturing upwards of 1.5 gallons of water per hour, rendering some Greenery operations water-positive.
Time savings: The mobile rack system gives farmers direct access to all plants for more convenient harvesting, pruning, cleaning and maintenance. This reduces farm work time by 25–50%.
Climate Automation and Connectivity: The Greenery pairs exceptional design with complete connectivity. Each farm component is built from the ground up with farmhand® IoT integration, bringing unparalleled control and transparency to farming.
Smart farm: Using IoT-connected sensors, the Greenery continuously relays all climate, component, and camera data directly to farmhand®. With this information at their fingertips – via smartphone, tablet, or desktop – farmers can confidently operate and monitor their farm remotely.
Tailored climate control: With Freight Farms' catalogue of real-world growing data, farmers can replicate ideal environmental conditions, or "recipes," for consistent crop quality. They can even make non-native produce varieties available in their local market by creating environments otherwise impossible in their region.
Combined, the Greenery's features signal a major shift in containerized agriculture. "The Greenery's forward leap in data and sensor technology represent a fundamental improvement to farmers' workflow and production versatility," said Brad McNamara, Freight Farms Co-Founder and CEO. "It also allows for total, real-time transparency for consumers. A single romaine head can be traced back through every growing stage back to the seed it came from, even down to the hour. That standard was previously considered impossible, and one we hope the entire industry will now adopt."
Versatile Design For the Future
With size and resource conservation central to its design, the Greenery is deployable by a single individual, yet powerful enough to meet the needs of regional distributors. This turnkey system can grow a higher capacity of hyper-local food directly onsite for communities, without resorting to time-consuming and capital-intensive indoor farming installations that are often located remotely.
"The Greenery is the most powerful standalone hydroponic farm available, with a fully-connected technology platform you can't achieve from any combination of products elsewhere in the industry," added Jon Friedman, Co-Founder and COO. "By revolutionizing a farm that can be operated by anyone, in any climate, and can successfully support a diverse range of business goals, our team is helping support a higher standard for society's food system than previously possible."
Establishing Containerized Farming
In 2012, Freight Farms debuted the first vertical hydroponic farm built inside an intermodal shipping container—the Leafy Green Machine—with the mission of democratizing and decentralizing the production of fresh, healthy food. With its technology system and integral IoT data platform, farmhand®, Freight Farms now has the largest network of connected farms in the world.
In 15 countries and most U.S states, farmers use Freight Farms technology to grow food in environments ranging from urban neighborhoods to extreme climates. These farms are the cornerstones of hundreds of independent small businesses and non-profit initiatives that localize and improve food access geographically and socio-economically. Leafy Green Machines have also been added to numerous educational infrastructures, as well as corporate and wellness programs by customers like Google, Ford Motor Company, Everlane, and Kimbal Musk's Square Roots.
The Greenery, available for pre-sale starting today, retails for $104,000, with general availability this Spring. For purchasing information, please visit freightfarms.com, or inquire at 1-877-687-4326 ext. 1. Freight Farms can also be visited on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
Gordon Food Service Partners With Indoor Farming Company
Indoor farms will be built on or near Gordon Food distribution centers and retail stores
Food produced in farms will be sold through the food supplier's distribution channels
Trainees will study plant science, entrepreneurship frameworks and more
Square Roots indoor farms will be built on or near Gordon Food Service distribution centers and retail stores across North America.
Photo by Square Roots
Wyoming, Mich.-based Gordon Food Service is teaming with indoor farming company Square Roots to build indoor farms across North America, igniting opportunities to train the next generation of urban farmers.
Through the partnership, Square Roots farms will be built on or near Gordon Food distribution centers and retail stores, enabling year-round growing of herbs, greens and more. The food that is produced will be sold through the food supplier's distribution channels, according to a Wednesday news release.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Square Roots will carry out a yearlong program in which trainees study plant science and entrepreneurship frameworks, and learn how to use tech-enabled systems, according to the company's website.
The move also marks Square Roots' first "significant expansion" to new locations, the release says.
"Customers want an assortment of fresh, locally grown food all year round. We are on a path to do that at scale with Square Roots and are excited to be the first in the industry to offer this unique solution to our customers," Rich Wolowski, CEO of Gordon Food Service, said in the release.
Annalise Frank/Crain's Detroit Business
Through the partnership, Square Roots farms will be built on or near Gordon Food Service distribution centers and retail stores. The food supplier opened a store on East Jefferson Avenue, east of downtown Detroit, last year.
Gordon Food Service has more than 20 locations in metro Detroit and 175 locations total in the U.S., according to its website.
It had $13.7 billion in revenue in 2018, according to Forbes, and 19,000 employees. The company ranked 22nd in Forbes' 2018 list of America's largest private companies and second on Crain's 2019 list of the largest privately held companies in greater Michigan by 2017 revenue.
IDEA San Benito, Texas Introduces Hydroponic Farming
By Luis Montoya -
March 5, 2019
SAN BENITO, RGV – To coincide with National Nutrition Month, IDEA Public Schools has introduced what it is called the Leafy Green Machine at its San Benito campus.
IDEA leaders say LGM is an efficient and environmentally conscious way to grow food because of its minimal electricity and water requirements. IDEA San Benito is just one of ten K-12 schools in the U.S. with the LGM on campus and became the second school in the State of Texas to obtain the LGM after IDEA Eastside in San Antonio in 2018.
The Leafy Green Machine has been developed by Freight Farms, a leader in the agriculture technology industry and the first to introduce container farming. A 40’ x 8’ x 9.5’ modified freight shipping container, LGM incorporates hydroponic farming to grow and harvest food for the campus. LGM will serve as a pilot program.
Using just ten gallons of water per day and incorporating a closed loop hydroponic system that delivers nutrient rich water directly to the plants’ roots, LGM is capable of producing 500 heads of lettuce, 40-50 lbs. of hearty greens, and 35-45 pounds of herbs in one week. That is 90 percent less water than traditional farming methods.
Jordon Roney, campus farmer at IDEA San Benito, says the pilot program is part of an effort to support IDEA’s Healthy Kids Here initiative. Roney believes LGM will provide for an engaging space for IDEA students to learn about the future of growing food at the intersection of agriculture, conservation and technology. He pointed out that the technology itself will engage students in combination with classes such as biology, chemistry, math and our Junior Master Gardeners (JMG) curriculum. All harvested items, he said, will be used to supply the campus’ food nutrition program throughout the year.
“IDEA San Benito is excited to become the first campus in South Texas to implement this new and efficient farming method,” says Jordan Roney, campus farmer at IDEA San Benito. “Not only will our students benefit from learning about the technology behind hydroponic farming, but we will also have the ability to support our campus food program while providing students with an abundance of healthy produce year-round.”
Hernan Colmenero, CNP Farm Manager at IDEA’s Valley headquarters, said LGM is an efficient and environmentally conscious way to grow food because of its minimal electricity and water requirements. With little agricultural training, anyone can quickly learn to operate the unit and our students can reap the benefits, Colemenero said.
The internal temperature, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, and all nutrient needs within the contained are controlled through a software application that can be accessed by any mobile device. This allows the greens, such as a variety of lettuce and herbs, to provide hefty harvests year-round, no matter the outside weather conditions. On average, the LGB has a monthly operational cost of $1975/month.
An IDEA news release stated:
STUDENT LEARNING
The LGM will provide an engaging space for IDEA Students to learn about the future of growing food sustainably. They will be able to touch and taste leafy greens packed with nutrients, building connections with healthy eating choices as well as participate with the market-scale growth of crops, witnessing how technology plays a role in agriculture. The technology itself will engage students, but combined with classes such as biology, chemistry, math or our Junior Master Gardeners (JMG) curriculum, it will support IDEA’s mission to prepare students for college and citizenship.
LGM FEATURES
IDEA students will have access to leafy greens, harvested at the peak of ripeness with the highest potential for nutritional content.
Vertical Crop Columns – 4,500 growing sites throughout 256 lightweight crop columns.
The ability to grow 500 head of lettuce, 40-50 lbs. of hearty greens, and 35-45 pounds of herbs in one week.
Automation System – software that allows farmers to automate functions using real-time data from sensors and in-farm cameras.
LED Array – high efficiency LED lights in the seedling and mature growth areas provide crops with only the optimal wavelengths of light required for photosynthesis
Irrigation System – Uses approximately 10 gallons of water per day, 90% less water than traditional farming methods, in a closed loop hydroponic system that delivers nutrient rich water directly to the plants’ roots
Controlled Environment – Uses approximately 80 kWh per day and is equipped with environmental sensors that monitor water, climate, and lighting conditions within the farm.
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series on National Nutrition Month. Part Two will be posted on March 6, 2019.
Video: Why Venture Capital Likes Modular Farming
Mar 07, 2019:
Wharton's Sherryl Kuhlman and Joey Hundert, CEO of Sustainitech, discuss why modular farming has become a hotbed of VC interest.
Modular farming, which is growing crops in self-contained, movable units so they can thrive in difficult climates, is becoming more than just a sustainability goal for social impact organizations. It is also becoming a big business that’s increasingly being backed by venture capitalists and private equity firms. New startups in this market are sometimes models for not only how to make profits while contributing to the social good, but also how such profits can lead to innovation that goes on to create additional social good.
In this podcast interview, Sherryl Kuhlman, managing director of Wharton Social Impact Initiative (WSII), interviews Joey Hundert, founder and CEO of Sustainitech, about these developments and where the whole movement is heading.
An edited transcript of the conversation follows.
Sherryl Kuhlman: Tell us about Sustainitech.
Joey Hundert: Sustainitech produces indoor agriculture facilities in spaces. We build modular indoor farms to produce crops in places where it’s very hard to grow crops. So, think really harsh winters. Dry, arid regions. Really hot places. We build indoor farms, typically inside of shipping containers that can be put anywhere to grow crops successfully where it can be hard to grow them.
Kuhlman: Who are the clients and consumers?
Hundert: In Canada, we grow lettuces and fresh herbs. And the clients are the everyday consumer. We’ve partnered with food companies – and we grow on their behalf. We package up the produce, ship it to them, and they ship it to the consumer. And then one of our customers is actually an ethnic group in Manhattan that requires produce a specific way. And so, we grow the produce and ship it to them. And they ship it to people who eat it.
Kuhlman: What are the latest trends in indoor container farming?
Hundert: What I’m seeing is trends in indoor farming writ large. It has attracted a lot of capital to the space. The idea is unfortunately sexy. The reason I say that is I think it has whipped up a bit of a frenzy of interest in international media and in the capital markets. And it has chased a lot of money into the space. Now, you might say, “well that sounds great.” And I am happy about that. That’s not the part I don’t like.
It’s that there are unrealistic expectations of the companies in this space. I think some of the money is coming in from Silicon Valley, where there’s a belief that industries can be cornered, and that a winner-take-all approach can be had. But when it comes to fresh food and agriculture, it is a hopelessly [fractured] and diverse space for a reason. And so, I think some of the trends that I’m concerned about with the arrival of so much money is companies are trying to scale into the hundreds of millions.
Kuhlman: So that they can drive out the others.
Hundert: Pretty much. Which looks silly. But beyond that, I see core flaws in their technology — in their whole approach. And I just worry what happens when you hit carbon copy 300 million times on something. And I worry about what the failure of some of these larger startups is going to mean for the rest of the market. And so, we’ve been building our company while keeping in mind that this is happening in the market. And we’ve been offered — like most of our competitors — a lot of cash. We’ve been very conservative about what we will receive and what we will do with it, trying to build a more durable company that’s going to last until the market economics are proven. And that’s the real critique.
“I worry about what the failure of some of these larger startups is going to mean for the rest of the market.” –Joey Hundert
Kuhlman: Even here in Philadelphia, there’s a lot of interest in urban farming to adjust the food deserts. And the fresh and healthy food is nice to get from your neighborhood container farm rather than shipped from California.
Hundert: Local food is probably what drove the initial interest in indoor farming. However, the further you get into farming — especially in the most developed nations — if you look past the first few hands into the food system, you find a massive industrial-scale mechanized complex of farms and processors whose unit economics are amazingly low. We’re talking pennies per pound. If you take a New York City — a Manhattan-based urban farm — they need $5 to $10 per pound just to turn the lights on. And so, I’m worried that those farms that need 10 times the amount per unit are going to have trouble.
The industry has chased a few ideas. Firstly, the vertical approach from Japan. We’ve built vertical farms. I’ve built non-vertical farms. The non-vertical farms are much more capital-efficient than the vertical ones. If we were building in Hong Kong, I would totally go vertical. But the places in the world where you need to go vertical are not many.
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And then the other piece is, everybody chased lettuce because lettuce and leafy greens grow so fast. But it has also created a flood of product, and still competing with the produce from the field and from the greenhouses is incredibly hard. So, I think those two things — vertical growth and chasing greens — have steered indoor agriculture companies after some unattainable goals.
Kuhlman: You’re talking about the financing around this — venture capital chasing this, pushing it. How else can an entrepreneur get the funding to make these ideas happen? For farming and for other kinds of initiatives?
Hundert: Silicon Valley has created the well-paved, smooth-running highway of capital available to technology-based ventures — globally, but certainly in North America. And that is nothing to complain about. It has made it much more affordable for ventures like mine to go after capital. The agreements are standardized. The investment tools are standardized. The lawyers know what they’re doing, and there are many, many investment shops. And that is super cool. So, I think that we’ve benefited from that. We’ll continue to benefit from it, and I’m glad it’s there.
But I also built my company differently. Indoor farming is a very high-capital cost industry. If I was to have sold equity from day one, I would have 3% in the company left. I would have been diluted right out of it. And so, we’ve found other ways of financing the company. The first thing we did was sell an entire indoor farm on contract. We found a buyer of a very specific kind of indoor farm, and we sold that farm. And that injected cash into the company. The first two, two-and-a-half years of the company were built on just that contract. And it did let me get into the game and really see what was going on.
Then we scored a contract to ship produce to a company. And you can finance contracts if you know what your cost of production is — if you know you can make money at it. It may be hard to go find a buyer of this produce, but is it any less hard than going and chasing capital when you have no value? I found it easier to go find a customer for the produce that was willing to pay a really high price for the quality. And we grew for three years on that. And so, we didn’t even open up our cap table until year five. And then we started raising equity capital with a valuation I could stomach. And I want entrepreneurs out there to know there’s other types of capital out there. Sometimes countries will fund technology companies to make sales in other countries.
Countries love export revenue. It’s awesome for GDP. And a lot of countries in the advanced world have a terrible imbalance in imports and exports. And so, there are funds available to assist in export of technology and crops. What I would have done differently — and what I encourage entrepreneurs to do — is to have gone to the major trade shows sooner to find out how specialized a lot of these buyers are and that you can get forward contracts on a lot of this stuff. It’s a different way of going about it, but I would rather build value and ultimately build more equity before approaching a VC, especially in a high-capital expenditure business.
“I would rather build value and ultimately build more equity before approaching VC, especially in a high-capital expenditure business.”–Joey Hundert
Kuhlman: A lot of the student entrepreneurs we’re seeing — and even ones we’re reading about — they’re going after the venture capital right away. They’re thinking it’s a long shot, but if you get that quick hit, you’re set.
Hundert: One of our competitors raised $128 million a month and a half ago in a Series B. There was a competitor last year that raised $200 million in a Series D. What life was like before that round and after that kind of a round — that is a way-different existence. And again, if the unit economics were there, great. But I think entrepreneurs have to ask themselves, what are they in it for? When you become instantly corporate, you’ll have a board filled with very serious people and specific goals and KPIs, that if you don’t hit, you won’t have much time to mess around when there’s a couple hundred million at play.
Whereas, at $20 million to $60 million at play, I think there’s more flexibility to go after more profitable ends and niches in the market. It’s a global market: Agriculture — fresh produce is a massive [market]. And you can even process the produce — making it into essential oil, a tea, a dried herb or a nutraceutical. It opens up global markets. And so, the further I’ve gone, the more happy I am with the choice not to play in the commodities of these farms.
Kuhlman: You’ve been visiting us as the Nazarian Social Innovator in Residence. This year it’s official, but you’ve been with us for seven times, right? … We’ve seen your development along the way. You like to make improvements. I could see why you would say, “I’d rather have the freedom to continue to change, explore and develop rather than get the money that forces me to scale in ways that I’m not comfortable with,” right?
Hundert: Exactly right. If I had an opportunity a year ago to take on lots of capital and scale massively — if I had scaled with those ideas, I’m sure we could have pulled out the win, of some kind. What we broke through to, technically, in the last nine months — even the last six months — is amazing. And I can head after those opportunities now.
We’re already writing contracts on them. The margins eclipse that which we were doing before. It also embeds more of a purpose piece in what we were doing. It has continued to change the nature of the company. And we’re in the millions. It’s not like there are small opportunities. It’s that if I, like some of my competitors, had just scaled what I was doing a year ago, I wouldn’t be anywhere near as confident as I am today that the profitability is really there.
Kuhlman: And that gives you a great deal of flexibility in thinking about what you’re going to do next, who you’re going to approach, and how you’re going to structure your next rounds.
Hundert: Absolutely right. And it changes the type of investors that we’re approaching and making sure that we’re as exciting to those investors as we’ve ever been. But if anything, our investors are feeding back that they get confident the more clarity with which we’re seeing the global market.
Kuhlman: What kinds of trends are you seeing in investors? I know you’ve funded your first initiative — the Sustainival, the carnival — through more traditional nonprofit grants and sponsorships. How are you seeing that transition going? Is there more blended capital? More venture capital?
Hundert: I would say that venture capital is incredibly mature at this point. It’s also a great time to be raising money. A lot of these funds are flush. Sure, there’s concern about a coming recession. However, there are funds that have just closed their rounds. They have three and four and five years of dry powder to spend. So, I’m seeing lots of capital. I’m seeing new private equity shops pop up every day that I didn’t know about. A lot of them are getting even more purpose-built — for food, for robotics, for tech, for pharmaceuticals. Or even the venture arms of big corporations. They’re going at a purpose. And they’ve got these sidecar funds of $50 million or $100 million to go after a purpose.
“I’m seeing new private equity shops pop up every day that I didn’t know about.” –Joey Hundert
The ecosystem is so differentiated and flush. But beyond that, I think that some investors are wary of the companies that say, “we’re going to lose money for 15 years, and you’re going to need to pour in $10 billion, but then, we are going to boil the ocean.” I am seeing some skepticism about that now. There’s no question that some of these unicorns have blitz-scaled to the $50 billion mark. And everybody looks at Uber and looks at Airbnb and looks at Amazon, and says, “See?”
Kuhlman: You can do it.
Hundert: Right. But what about the 30,000 ventures that didn’t get anywhere close to that? What’s wrong with a 10x or a 30x? Why does it have to be a 700x? I’m seeing some skepticism in the capital markets about companies that say, “what we’re tackling is so huge and fundamental for society, someday we’re going to make money. Just bet on us and keep betting on us.” I’m seeing the preference for some investors to see some business savvy along the way. Can you cash-flow the venture? Is it profitable? When are you going to reach profitability? Can you do it a bit sooner? Can you access traditional bank financing? These are questions that we are being asked, and something that I’ve been seriously considering.
Because for a high-capital cost business, if I can get bank financing, that’s the cheapest non-dilutive capital that I could ever hope for. So, I’ve been working with banks to start to line that up because every dollar I borrow for our systems is a dollar I didn’t have to raise through equity capital. So, I think that the height of “We’ll make money someday” is actually behind us. And I’m seeing more value consciousness among certain institutional VC shops.
Kuhlman: I like the point you made about purpose, and more entrepreneurs and investments going towards that. We have a radio show on SiriusXM — Dollars and Change — and we’ve been doing it for about five years. And one of the things that we continue to see — our hypothesis is that the more funding that can go towards these purpose companies, the more likely entrepreneurs are to think about that as an opportunity. It proves the concept that you can have a business that has a purpose — makes a positive social impact — and still make money. And if you show that that’s possible, I think that inspires more entrepreneurs to think about how to make that happen.
Hundert: I would agree.
Kuhlman: It’s more fun to solve problems like that, right?
Hundert: It is. I think it’s in the heart of people. When I come to Wharton, I always like to take to pulse on what I’m hearing around here. What’s clear is that the concept of impact investing itself has matured here. People are looking at Wharton and looking at WSII — they’re coming here for that. I’ve talked with a couple of dozen students that came here because of WSII. I didn’t used to hear that. And they came here to learn about impact investing. I’ve even heard students saying, “I’m going into X big firm — big banking, big consulting firm — and I want to take these methodologies with me. I want to promulgate these ideas inside of large global firms.” That’s exciting. Wharton is one of those schools where that can actually come from. And students can carry it into those industries.
I’m also hearing a lot about the desire to blend purpose into venture – but it’s more sophisticated than in the past. It’s more concrete. In our company, we’ve had purpose on our minds the entire time. And there’s that terrible tension between making the company work and float and staying with the purpose. And one needs the other. Sometimes, you prioritize one or the other. I admit, much of the last six years was just making this thing technically work so that I could, again, point back more directly at [the company’s] purpose — when we could afford it, but most importantly, when the purpose made money to focus more on it. And to me, that’s the most virtuous blend.
If you can get the purpose to make money and actually be inspiring from a profitability standpoint, that’s maximum, when one isn’t taking away from the other [but] I admit, that is very hard. And we’ve done things just for profitability while I’ve had some purpose on my mind. And this year, we’ve begun to redevelop those programs — and they’re global in nature. They’re big. It’s a big lift. But we’ve restarted those programs that have purpose and profitability baked right into them.
Kuhlman: What advice would you give to an entrepreneur in this exciting, innovative, flush time for them to think about how to be most successful?
Hundert: I would actually report on something I’ve seen here at Wharton which I’m inspired by. I’ve been coming for eight years. This year, I’m [finding more people who would] most likely be candidates for success in venture than I’ve heard in years past. Somewhere, somehow, feedback came back to the cohort of students here to “get more specific. Niche out. Pick a niche and pick a product that is specifically built for something.”
I used to come in here [and hear startup pitches like] “It’s the Uber for this,” “it’s the Airbnb for that.” While there was lots of passion and energy, that [lack of focus] would concern me because you cannot boil the ocean and make your way. This year, I’m hearing about B2B plays on the most obscure things: switches and SaaS services for categories I didn’t even know existed. How students are finding this within weeks and months — it tells me something has trained them to look at the problem more carefully, and to look deeper into the market to find real problems instead of reading Fast Companyand being like, “I want to be like that.” I’m heartened to see this shift towards more specific, niche high-growth opportunities.
That’s my advice back to entrepreneurs that might listen to this. Pick a niche. Pick it carefully. You’re not expected to know [it’s the right one for you] right away. Go deeper into the field. Deeper into the market. Meet players at trade shows. Stay curious. Ask tons of questions. Eventually, those apertures of real peer opportunity are going to open up. And they may not have been visible to you in the beginning. They may even be totally uninteresting to the general population. But they could be super profitable — and easier to build a moat around, and easier to capitalize. I like that movement. I like the movement towards specificity — niche-based, high-profit opportunities — instead of trying to boil the ocean.
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