VIDEO: Farming In A Shipping Container

Transforming Unused Spaces Into Vertical Farms

Indoor Agtech: An Evolving Landscape of 1,300+ Startups

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March 17, 2021

Louisa Burwood-Taylor

Editor’s note: Chris Taylor is a senior consultant on The Mixing Bowl team and has spent more than 20 years on global IT strategy and development innovation in manufacturing, design, and healthcare, focussing most recently on indoor agtech.

Michael Rose is a partner at The Mixing Bowl and Better Food Ventures where he brings more than 25 years immersed in new venture creation and innovation as an operating executive and investor across the internet, mobile, restaurant, food tech and agtech sectors.

The Mixing Bowl released its first Indoor AgTech Landscape in September 2019. This is their first update, which you can download here, and their accompanying commentary.

Since the initial release of our Indoor AgTech Landscape in 2019, the compelling benefits of growing food in a controlled indoor environment have continued to garner tremendous attention and investment. 

One of the intriguing aspects of indoor agriculture is that it is a microcosm of our food system. Whether within a greenhouse or a sunless (vertical farm) environment, this method of farming spans production to consumption, with many indoor operators marketing their produce to consumers as branded products. As we explore below, the indoor ag value chain reflects a number of the challenges and opportunities confronting our entire food system today: supply chain, safety, sustainability, and labor. Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic rippled through and impacted each aspect of that system, at times magnifying the challenges, and at others, accelerating change and growth.   

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Our Indoor AgTech Landscape 2021 provides a snapshot of the technology and innovation ecosystem of the indoor food production value chain. The landscape spans component technology companies and providers of complete growing systems to actual tech-forward indoor farm operators. As before, the landscape is not meant to be exhaustive. While we track more than 1,300 companies in the sector, this landscape represents a subset and serves to highlight innovative players utilizing digital and information technology to enhance and optimize indoor food production at scale.

Supply chain & safety: Where does my food come from?

The pandemic highlighted the shortcomings of the existing supply chain and heightened consumer desires to know where their food comes from, how safely it was processed and packaged, and how far it has travelled to reach them. A key aspect of indoor farming is its built-in potential to respond to these and other challenges of the current food system. 

Indoor farmers can locate their operations near distribution centers and consumers, reduce food miles and touch points, potentially deliver consistently fresher produce and reduce food waste, and claim the coveted “local” distinction. The decentralized system can also add resiliency to supply chains overly dependent on exclusive sources and imports. 

Growing local has many forms. Greenhouse growers tend to locate their farms outside the metropolitan area while sunless growers may operate in urban centers, such as Sustenir Agriculture in Singapore and Growing Underground in London. Growers like Square Roots co-locate their indoor farms with their partner’s regional distribution centers, and Babylon deploys its micro-farms solution on site at healthcare and senior living facilities and universities. Recently, Infarm announced it was expanding beyond its growing-in-a-grocery store model, to include decentralized deployments of high-capacity “Growing Centers” across a number of cities. Additionally, the value of “growing local” might take on a much larger meaning if your country imports most of its produce from other countries; a number of the Gulf region countries have announced major indoor growing initiatives and projects with AeroFarms, Pure Harvest, and &ever to address the region’s food dependence on other countries.  

Organic produce sales jumped to double digit growth in 2020 as consumers are increasingly mindful of the healthiness of their food. The additional safety concerns due to the pandemic only accelerated this trend. While not typically organic, crops produced in the protection of indoor farms are isolated from external sources of contamination and are often grown with few or no pesticides. Human touch points are reduced as supply chains shorten and production facilities become highly automated. Through the CEA Food Safety Coalition, the industry has recently taken steps to establish production standards with a goal to keep consumers safe from foodborne illness.

Indoor farmers market their products as local, fresh, consistent and clean. This story is resonating with consumers as the growers seem to be selling everything they can produce, with many reporting significant sales growth in 2020. The direct connection to consumer concerns is also a key part of their ability to sell their branded products at a premium, which has been critical to financial viability for some growers. This connection can also enable them to collapse the supply chain further, at least at smaller scales, through direct sales and creative business models, e.g., sunless grower Willo allows subscribers to have their own “personal vertical farm plot” and watch their plants grow online. 

Sustainability: Is my food part of the problem or part of the solution?

Farming, as with most industries, has been under increasing pressure to operate more sustainably, and indoor growers, with their efficient use of resources, have rightfully incorporated sustainability prominently into their narratives. 

We are well aware of the impacts of climate change, including greater variability in weather patterns and growing seasons. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization projects that over the coming decades climate change will cause a decrease in global crop production through traditional farming practices, causing greater food insecurity. Indoor growing, which provides protection from the elements, consistent high yields per land area, and the ability to produce food year-round in diverse locations, including those unsuitable for traditional agriculture, can help mitigate this trend.

Water scarcity is projected to increase globally, presenting a national security issue and serious quality of life concerns. According to the World Bank, 70% of the global freshwater is used for agriculture. Indoor agriculture’s efficient use of water decreases use by more than 90% for the current crops under production. It is also common practice for greenhouses to capture rainwater and reuse drainage as does Agro Care, the Netherlands’ largest greenhouse tomato grower. 

On the flip side, energy use, particularly in sunless facilities, is indoor growing’s sustainability challenge. Efficiency will continue to improve, but as recent analysis on indoor soilless farming from The Markets Institute at WWF indicated, there is an industry-wide opportunity to integrate alternative energy sources. Growers recognize this opportunity to decrease impact and improve bottom-line and are already utilizing alternative approaches such as cogeneration, geothermal sources, and waste heat networks. H2Orto tomatoes are grown in greenhouses heated with biogas generated hot water. Gotham Greens’ produce is grown in 100% renewable electricity-powered greenhouses, and Denmark’s Nordic Harvest will be running Europe’s largest indoor farm solely on wind power. 

Labor: We’re still hiring!

There are labor challenges and opportunities throughout the food system value chain, and this couldn’t be more acute than on the farm. Farm operators—both in-field and indoor—find it difficult to attract labor for the physically demanding work. Even before the pandemic, the hardening of borders in Europe and the US created a shortage of farmworkers for both field and greenhouse production. In addition, grower and farm manager-level expertise is in short supply, exacerbated by an aging workforce and the rapid addition of new indoor facilities. While operators would like to see more trained candidates coming from university programs, they are also looking to technology and automation to relieve their labor challenges.

Automation of seedling production and post-harvest activities is already well established for most crops in indoor farming. In addition, the short growth cycle and contained habit of leafy greens lends them to mechanization. For example, the fully automated seed-through-harvest leafy green systems from Green Automation and Viscon have been deployed in major greenhouse operations like Pure Green Farms and Mucci. On the sunless side, Urban Crop Solutions has uniquely implemented automation in shipping containers, and Finland’s NetLed has developed a fully automated complete growing system. Note that many of the larger-scale sunless growers have developed their own technology stacks and have designed labor-saving automation into their systems. For example, Fifth Season has robotics deployed throughout the entire production process.

Despite numerous initiatives, the challenging daily crop care tasks and harvesting for certain crops (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and berries) have not yet been automated at scale. However, planned, near-term commercial deployments of de-leafing and harvesting robots offer the promise of significantly altering labor challenges. Software technologies, like those from Nitea and Hortikey address labor management, crop registration, yield prediction, and workflow/process management for the indoor sector and strive to improve operational efficiencies for a smaller workforce.

Technologies that provide, monitor, and control climate, light, water, and nutrients are already deployed in today’s sophisticated indoor growing facilities and are fundamental to maintaining optimal conditions in these complex environments. They also form the base for the next innovation layer, i.e., crop optimization and even autonomous control of the growing environment based on imaging and sensor platforms (like from Ecoation, iUNU, and 30MHz), data analysis, machine learning, digital twins and artificial intelligence. Recent events like the Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge have successfully explored the potential of AI to “drive horticultural productivity while reducing resource use and management complexity”. Emerging commercialized autonomous growing innovations, such as the Blue Radix Crop Controller and Priva’s Plantonomy, promise to extend and enhance the reach of available grower expertise, particularly in large and multi-site operations. 

Where do we go from here?

Since we created our initial Indoor AgTech Landscape, there has been positive change and reason to be optimistic about the future. But, as with any evolving market and sector of innovation, it can be a bumpy ride. Some believe CEA is not the answer to our food problems because not everything can be economically grown indoors today. We see indoor ag as just one of the approaches that can help fix our food system and it should be applied when it makes sense. For example, tomatoes sold through retail are already more than likely grown in a greenhouse. Expect more crops to be grown indoors more economically with further advancements.

One aspect of our previous landscape was to increase awareness that, despite the fervor surrounding novel sunless farming, greenhouse growing was already well-established. Dutch greenhouse growers have demonstrated the viability of indoor growing with 50-plus years of experience and more acres “under glass than the size of Manhattan.” The recent public offering and $3 billion market cap of Kentucky-based greenhouse grower AppHarvest also clearly raised awareness! Other high-profile and expanding greenhouse growers, including BrightFarms and Gotham Greens, have also attracted large investments. 

The question is often asked, “which is the better growing approach, sunless or greenhouse?”. There is no proverbial “silver bullet” for indoor farming. The answer is dictated by location and the problem you are trying to solve. A solution for the urban centers of Singapore, Hong Kong and Mumbai might not be the same as one deployed on the outskirts of Chicago. 

Regardless of approach, starting any type of sizable tech-enabled indoor farm is capital intensive. A recent analysis from Agritecture indicates that it can range from $5 to $11 million dollars to build out a three-acre automated farm. Some of the huge, advanced greenhouse projects being built today can exceed $100 million. Given the capital requirements for these indoor farms, some question the opportunity for venture-level returns in the sector and suggest that it is better suited to investors in real assets. Still, more than $600 million was raised by the top 10 financings in 2020 as existing players vie for leadership and expand to underserved locales while a seemingly endless stream of new companies continue to enter the market.

Looking forward, indoor farming needs to address its energy and labor challenges. In particular, the sunless approach has work to do to bring its operating costs in line and achieve widespread profitability. Additionally, to further accelerate growth and the adoption of new technologies in both greenhouse and sunless environments, the sector needs to implement the sharing of data between systems. Waybeyond is one of the companies promoting open systems and APIs to achieve this goal.

As we stated in the beginning of this piece, the indoor ag value chain reflects some of the challenges and opportunities confronting our entire food system today: supply chain, safety, sustainability, and labor. Indoor agriculture has tremendous opportunity. While it is still early for this market sector overall, it can bring more precision and agility to where and how food is grown and distributed.

• asia, Europe, indoor ag, indoor farming

Farm In A Box: What Exactly Is Container Farming?

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ConexBoxes

+1 855-966-3022

Vertical Farming Taking Weather Out of The Equation

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News

11 March 2021

Use of vertical farming technology has become more widespread in recent years, but how can it complement conventional farming systems? Alex Black and Rob Yorke report.  

Vertical farming taking weather out of the equation

Vertical farming is seen as an exciting concept, in which to grow high-quality produce without the worries of the weather and get more British produce on shelves.

And the sector is growing. In 2018, vertical farming was worth $3 billion (£2.2bn) globally and it is predicted to grow to $22bn (£16bn) by 2026. This is from a standing start, with no vertical farms in operation in 2010.

Baby leaves

Emma Burke is chief executive of Perfectly Fresh, a site in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, which is equivalent to 20 hectares of farmland and produces baby leaf for Marks & Spencer for both retail sale and as a sandwich ingredient.

 “We are growing a premium product, our unique selling point is flavour, quality, and shelf life," Ms. Burke said. “Traditional baby leaves are often imported from Italy, Spain, and even the US. Vertical farming means that we can grow baby leaves and other crops in the UK all-year-round which previously were imported.

She believes vertical farming is part of the solution to feeding a growing global population in a sustainable way. Using vertical farming and growing plants indoors under controlled conditions, produce can be grown all year round, using less land and in any location, from an office block to a desert.

Ms. Burke said the future of vertical farming was ‘global’ with projections of an 11bn population by 2021.

 “Our fragile planet simply does not have enough natural resources to meet this future consumption. Vertical farming is part of the solution to the global problems we all face,” she added.

 Hydroponics

Preston-based firm Growpura is behind a new commercial-scale vertical hydroponics demonstrator facility to be based at Colworth Park in Bedfordshire.

The project, backed by a £4.5m Government grant, will use a ’simple but sophisticated’ vertical technology conveyor system to continually move plants past sources of light, irrigation and monitoring technology in a cleanroom environment.

Chief executive Nick Bateman said the innovative technology will improve product quality but importantly, generate flexibility as it can modulate plant growth to meet demand requirements.

He said: "The driver for this is to be more efficient, trying to reach net-zero as quickly as possible.

"The ability to move the technology so we can make the most effective use of natural light reduces electricity use, so we can cut production costs.

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"We can lower our carbon footprint by producing and packing on the same site and then transporting straight to to the final destination and because this is cleanroom technology, the products are ready to eat so we are cutting out the washing process."

Unlike conventional production, vertical farming units can grow crops 24/7, 365 days a year.

But Mr. Bateman believes the technology could complement existing farm enterprises.

"If a farmer has a renewable energy project, where they are sending power to the grid, it could be economically more beneficial to use that energy to power a vertical operation," he said.

Predictability

"You do not have the labour costs or the challenges of pests and diseases and supermarkets are increasingly looking to source food produced in this way.

"This is because it gives a supermarket predictability, helps to deal with fluctuations in demand, and does not bring any issues with contamination or disease."

Perfectly Fresh recently invested in a Research and Development Centre of Excellence to fully understand how to grow the best quality, in the shortest time possible, while developing yields and production efficiency.

For some crops, it is possible to have additional crop cycles per year than can be achieved in the traditional field growing.

Food waste could also be reduced in-store and at home, as vertically farmed salads can have a significantly longer shelf life.

Ms. Burke said vertical farming was just the next step for the industry, comparing it to the introduction of robotic milking machines in the dairy sector or the Hands-Free Hectare project at Harper Adams University.

She also believes it can attract new entrants and assist with changing the perception of careers in agriculture and horticulture as the industry will need research scientists, data specialists and photo biologists amongst a range of other technical experts.

Premium needed to make vertical farming work

While vertical farming technology is exciting, it could be difficult to make it work economically, with high initial investment costs and operational expenditure.

Sarah Hughes, who completed a Nuffield scholarship on the subject, said the crop needed to have some ‘real value’ to make it work. 

“The amazing thing is you can grow anything anywhere at any time but it is whether it is economical,” she said.

Ms. Hughes, now marketing manager of hybrid barley at Syngenta, added many companies had focused on salad crops and herbs as they grow very well in this system but they could provide a premium product.

“I do not know how big that market is to grow into. This year a lot of those premium customers, the restaurant’s caterers which would have been quite a big sector for those type of business models, have disappeared quite quickly,” she said.

There were also opportunities in supermarkets but she suggested to make that work economically businesses would likely be having to sell a novel product as they were competing with glasshouses and field-grown crops.

Ms. Hughes suggested there could be opportunities in growing seed or food with higher vitamin content by manipulating the environment or in insect farming.

“That health and well-being sector is really big for consumers and there are still people prepared to pay for that,” she said.

There may be opportunities for farmers that could grow a very niche crop to link up with restaurants.

Ms. Hughes gave the example of a shop she had seen in Japan with a vertical farm included as a ‘tourist attraction’ with the produce sold in the restaurant.

International

Elsewhere in the world, vertical farming was taking off in the coastal areas of the US where major investors were looking for green, agritech investments.

It was also proving popular in the Middle East where water shortages affected farming and there was also a high proportion of hotels and consumers who would pay for the premium products.

More traditional growing methods could also benefit from some of the ideas of vertical farming without using the full model.

She highlighted glasshouses that still utilized sunlight but used supplementary lighting and carbon dioxide.

Rooftop Farming

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Square Mile Farms, established in late 2018 by Johnno Ransom from a Lincolnshire farming family and Patrick Dumas, with an interest in nutrition, is a cutting-edge example of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).

This involves a closed-loop system involving UV-treated nutrient-rich water delivered to vertical racks of inert Rockwool growing plugs in an atmosphere of stable temperature-flowing air illuminated by calibrated LED lights. It is just one of the end of the spectrum of hydroponic farming – using water as the nutrient delivery medium rather than soil – which includes vertical farms of all shapes and sizes.

Mr. Ransom said: “After doing a land management degree at Reading, then working as a property funds consultant, I decided to move into a more socially responsible area which was about bringing agriculture in the built environment.

"There was increasing interest in what is termed ‘urban lifestyle farming’ based around growing fresh produce close to communities becoming more sustainable."

In the 1970s, NASA were the first to start growing crops in water with a view to growing food in space. 

There is more interest in hydroponic farming from venture capital investors as innovation has resulted in better LED lighting required for growing, as well as the prospects of lower operating costs.

Crowdfunding also helping to finance start-ups such as Square Mile Farms.

While many established farms - from London, Scunthorpe to Dundee – aim to serve supermarkets and wholesalers, Square Mile Farms, is keen to connect and bring urban consumers closer to food production by growing ‘greens on the walls of offices and in the basements of flats.

“It is a great model for businesses to embed well-being and social responsibility objectives into everyday living” he added.

“An office environment is already controlled to a large extent for human occupation which also benefits leafy greens and herbs plants which thrive off the temperature and CO2 in a busy workspace – we just need to the right light and water-efficient inputs."

When asked about Government support for this nascent agriculture, Mr. Ransom hoped Defra might show more interest to level the playing field with conventional agriculture.

The Covid-19 pandemic which, apart from highlighting a fragility around ‘just-in-time’ fresh food systems, has also brought people closer to the source of their groceries.

Mr. Ransom added: "Some form of accreditation along the lines of organic certification would be a logical step in labeling produce from CEA – which is nutritious and pesticide-free if done right."

The farms have grown more than 40 types of crops, including leafy greens from various herbs basil and parsley, chives, dill, coriander, lemongrass, bok choy, fennel, sorrel and red stem radish, and brassicas, such as curly kale, cavolo nero, mustard greens, and various lettuces and baby leaf.

GrowGroup IFS Introduces Their Own Grow Container Systems GCS 40HQ

March 12, 2021
GrowGroup IFS Introduces Their Own Grow Container Systems GCS 40HQ

GrowGroup IFS introduces the GrowGroup Grow Container Systems “GCS 40HQ” for small container cluster farms, research & development, schools & universities, and pilots for new indoor farms. With this new solution now GrowGroup IFS can support also small farms in an accessible way with their unique and full approach including support with the operation through their partners GaaS Wageningen and Hoogendoorn Growth Management.

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Grow Container Systems “GCS 40HQ”

The GCS 40HQ is available in different models. All models are in a 40ft container and includes LED technology, climate computers with remote control, and extensive control on water, temperature, humidity, CO2, and lighting. The basic model has a very low entry-level and is upgradeable on different levels. The client can choose for example for an upgrade to the highest quality of climate computers of partner Hoogendoorn Growth Management or the highest quality of LED technology of Signify. The client can even choose for the support with the operation through partner GaaS Wageningen.

“We support the bigger farmers with our unique and full approach on indoor farming for some time already but noticed also that smaller farmers, in particular, have a great need for this. That’s why we launch our own GCS solution right now, so all farmers can use the newest technology of indoor farming for year-round cultivation all over the world”, John Breedveld, CEO GrowGroup IFS.

GaaS Wageningen

Partner GaaS Wageningen from the Netherlands has access to a pool of more than 200 agricultural specialists. Its core business is supporting the operation of high-tech indoor farms from the small ones as the container farms up to the large ones as the big indoor factories. They have high knowledge of indoor farming and sharing their knowledge with the farmers by supporting and training them but also with schools and universities.

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GrowGroup IFS

GrowGroup IFS (Innovative Farming Solutions), founded by CEO John Breedveld in Barendrecht in the Netherlands, is specialized in developing indoor farming based on the most advanced Dutch innovative farming solutions, especially in regions where normal cultivation is restricted by extreme climate and or limited space.

USA - NEW YORK STATE - Ellicottville Greens’ Investors Discuss Why They Backed The Company

By Dan Miner – Reporter, Buffalo Business First

March 10, 2021

Andrea Vossler, partner at Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP | JOED VIERA

Ellicottville Greens crossed a major hurdle facing many growth-oriented startups recently when it pulled in a $1 million round of Series A funding from local angel investors.

How did co-founders Gabe Bialkowski and Sal LaTorre convince angels to move cash into their bank account in exchange for an ownership percentage of the business?

The answer lies somewhere at the intersection of familiarity, talent, and foresight, according to Scott Friedman, chairman of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman law firm, and Andrea Vossler, a partner at that firm.

The duo, who invest through Varia Ventures, were the lead funders in Ellicottville Greens’ round.

Bialkowski is a computer science graduate from the Rochester Institute of Technology who has been in and out of several startups in the last decade, including a startup in Los Angeles that successfully raised seed capital.

“We worked with Gabe in the past and we find him to be bright, entrepreneurial, and collaborative,” Friedman said. “To build a great company requires real teamwork and Gabe is open to building a great team.”

Scott Friedman, chairman of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP | JOED VIERA

The “bet the jockeys” mantra is a common beat among angel investors, who know that even the best ideas will face challenges requiring human ingenuity to overcome.

The model itself was also at the right place for an angel investment round, Vossler said. Ellicottville Greens builds organic vertical farms in shipping containers – making them cost-effective and mobile. It already has four such units in operation, allowing the team to show real-world evidence of its theoretical premise.

The company positions itself at the cutting-edge of a hot consumer trend, which is the ability to offer fresh and locally sourced produce. Its mobile units can be placed directly on a customers’ premises – an idea with major potential in the grocery space.

Ellicottville Greens' Container Farms | ELLICOTTVILLE GREENS

And finally, it uses technology to support production and operations and uses established e-commerce channels such as Produce Peddlers and Off the Muck.

“It’s an ag-tech startup in a massive market that’s continuing to grow,” Vossler said. “Gabe is taking a fairly straightforward business model and wrapping it with technology, utilizing the shipping containers to push down costs and creating significant efficiencies around the delivery of the product.”

Ellicottville Greens completed a $250,000 seed round of funding last year from Launch NY and other local angels. Bialkowski aired his company’s progress at a Jan. 27 web presentation in front of the Western New York Venture Association.

He surpassed many of his own growth and financial milestones for the year in the first quarter.

The mix of attractive leadership, market, and rapid growth was how Ellicottville Greens crossed the finish line on its Series A round. The idea, of course, is that the real race has just begun.

“As he continues to build his team and get traction, we don’t think there is any limit to the potential for this company,” Friedman said.

IN THIS ARTICLE Andrea Vossler Person Banking & Financial

Services Industry Gabe Bialkowski Person Sal LaTorre Person

Scott Friedman Person Technology Industry

US: NEW YORK - Well-Known Investors Water Ellicottville Greens With $1M In Growth Funding

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By Dan Miner

Reporter, Buffalo Business First

March 8, 2021

Ellicottville Greens continues to push forward on its ambition with $1 million in new funding, led by well-known local investors.

The Series A round of funding will support construction of mobile vertical farming facilities, built inside reused shipping containers, along with the acquisition of Vertical Fresh Farms, an established indoor farming operation in Buffalo.

It is a natural progression for the company, which was founded in 2018 by Sal LaTorre and Gabe Bialkowski and seeks to take advantage of the national consumer drift toward locally grown, organic produce.

“We decided to go after a new round of funding because we have a lot more demand coming in than we have capacity to grow right now,” Bialkowski said. “We are focusing on growing the product and sales and that will help define everything else.”

The round was led by Scott Friedman, chairman of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman law firm, and Andrea Vossler, a partner at that firm. The duo run Varia Ventures, an investment vehicle and management consultancy aimed at startups in Buffalo. A group of angel investors based in Buffalo participated as well.

Ellicottville Greens raised $250,000 in seed funding last year from Launch NY and other local investors.

Ellicottville Greens has thus far established four shipping containers: three at its Ellicottville home base and one on the Eastern Hills Mall property in Clarence. It sells its products to homes and restaurants through web-based marketplaces that include Produce Peddlers and Off the Muck.

Produce Peddlers is itself a local startup founded by Gary and Gina Wieczorek.

In the long-term, Bialkowski says Ellicottville Greens has a repeatable business model that could be attractive to supermarkets since the company could set up shop nearby and deliver produce at the peak of possible freshness.

He said the firm is set up at the intersection of nationwide consumer shifts in how people consume food.

“People want to buy healthy local products,” Bialkowski says. “They’re getting more health-conscious and they want to know where their food comes from.”

Ellicottville Greens is the third local startup to announce a growth-oriented round of private funding this year. The others include Torch Labs ($25 million) and Circuit Clinical ($7.5 million).

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Freight Farms

Lead photo: Ellicottville Greens' storage containers

IN THIS ARTICLE

• Andrea Vossler Food & Lifestyle Gabe Bialkowsk Sal LaTorre Scott Friedman Freight Farms

Advanced Container Technologies, Inc. Joins Clean Food Initiative

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March 03, 2021 | Source: Advanced Container Technologies Inc.

Company joins movement toward sustainable alternatives to traditional food production.

CORONA, Calif., March 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Advanced Container Technologies, Inc. (Ticker: OTC:ACTX) stated it is joining the Clean Food Initiative and intends to become a leading force in the drive toward sustainable agriculture.

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The Clean Food Initiative is focused on bringing clean, fresh, healthy food to children throughout the world, that is free from pesticides, herbicides, or harmful chemicals. Along with the practice of implementing Sustainable Agriculture Systems (SAS), the aim is to develop a global food system that uses half the water and half the soil as it does today – yet produces twice as much food.

Through the use of the company’s GrowPods, ACTX can provide farmers, community groups, investors, and non-profit agencies with a turnkey system to grow ultra-clean and nutritious food that can not only benefit the ecology of the planet and bolster community food security but can also provide new jobs and economic opportunities.

GrowPods are automated indoor micro-farms that can provide a sustainable supply of affordable safe, clean, nutritious food, while also providing jobs at a local level by promoting the growth of a skilled agricultural workforce in non-traditional settings.

Doug Heldoorn, CEO of Advanced Container Technologies, Inc., said the company’s objectives are to make agriculture sustainable, investable, manageable, scalable, and transparent.

“There is a substantial difference between meeting basic food requirements and meeting optimum nutrition requirements,” he said. “People need access to high quality foods that are rich in nutritional value. Future generations deserve access to a healthy and sustainable food supply, not a diet filled with preservatives, pesticides or chemicals.”

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SAS and the Clean Food Initiative represents one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, as well as a tangible investment opportunity with sound business growth prospects and consistent annual income generation.

“There are few problems facing mankind that are as massive as our need to change our methods of food production and distribution,” Mr. Heldoorn stated. “Fortunately, there are innovative solutions to these challenges, and we are extremely proud to be a vital participant in this agricultural and social evolution.”

For more information, call (951) 381-2555 or visit: www.advancedcontainertechnologies.com.

About Advanced Container Technologies, Inc.

Advanced Container Technologies, Inc. is in the businesses of selling and distributing hydroponic containers called GrowPods; and designing, branding, and selling proprietary medical-grade containers that can store pharmaceuticals, herbs, teas, and other solids or liquids, and can grind and shred herbs; as well as selling other products and accessories, such as humidity control inserts, odor-proof bags, lighters, and plastic lighter holders; and provides private labeling and branding for purchasers of the Company’s containers and the other products. For more information visit: www.advancedcontainertechnologies.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes predictions or information considered "forward-looking" within securities laws. These statements represent Company's current judgments but are subject to uncertainties that could cause results to differ. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on these statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date of this release. The Company is not obligated to revise any statements in light of new information or events.

Company Contact:

(951) 381-2555

info@advancedcontainertechnologies.com

Investor Relations:

Stuart Smith

SmallCapVoice.Com, Inc.

512-267-2430

ssmith@smallcapvoice.com

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AmplifiedAg Introduces Indoor Farm Platform And Disruptive Technologies, Positioning Company For Rapid Expansion

News Provided By AmplifiedAg

Mar 03, 2021

CHARLESTON, S.C., March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With a mission to provide global access to safe food, AmplifiedAg, Inc. introduces its indoor farming platform which includes vertical farms, hydroponic systems, and its proprietary operating system with disruptive seed-to-sale SaaS-based technologies. For the past five years, AmplifiedAg has demonstrated its unparalleled ability to sustainably grow produce to scale at the highest yield, quality and nutritional value, while operating directly at the point of consumption.

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AmplifiedAg, Inc. wholly-owns Vertical Roots, the largest hydroponic container farm in the world. Vertical Roots indoor farm production operates with AmplifiedAg's holistic indoor farming platform.

AmplifiedAg's compact farm design operates directly at the point of consumption, maximizes growing space, and is easily scalable in food deserts and space-limited areas. The company's proprietary OS gives farmers total transparency and control of horticulture, food safety, production and business management.

AmplifiedAg deploys indoor farms 70% faster than other CEA implementations, and directly at the point of consumption.

AmplifiedAg rapidly deploys fully functioning farms 70% faster than other CEA implementations, and at cost, that is 50% of the required capital per production pound. The company upcycles shipping containers into controlled agriculture environments with vertical hydroponic systems, LED lights, and electronics, and integrated with AmplifiedAg's proprietary operating system.

AmplifiedAg's indoor farm platform produces 86 times more crop yield per acre compared to traditional farmlands and provides reliable crop production with 365-day farming, regardless of climate and resources. The compact design maximizes the growing space and provides easy mobility and scalability in food deserts and space-limited areas.

But the heartbeat of the operation is AmplifiedAg's proprietary Operating System that features industry-exclusive traceability which tracks every detail of an individual plant's journey from its growth to distribution. This gives farmers total transparency and control of horticulture, food safety, and business management.

Farm containers' resilient architecture and segmentation minimizes the risk of crop loss due to pest and pathogen infestations. SaaS-based technologies provide real-time tracking analytics and 24/7 access for farmers to mitigate risk, control the farm environment and optimize plant growth.

AmplifiedAg's ability to quickly place farms directly in communities and distribution points drastically reduces emissions. Sustainably-focused, the farms don't use soil or pesticides and utilize up to 95% less water than traditional farming.

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Wholly-owned by AmplifiedAg, Vertical Roots is the company's proofpoint and has set industry-breaking records in less than five years. Vertical Roots is the largest hydroponic container farm in the U.S., growing nutritious leafy greens with products in over 1,200 grocery stores across the Southeast.

With a proven concept for leafy greens, AmplifiedAg's horticulture expansion plan includes varied nutrient and protein-rich foods to feed the world's growing population.

Increasing threats to the planet's food production fueled Taylor, a 30-year software industry veteran, to found AmplifiedAg in 2016.

"With a growing population, less arable land, water supply and food contamination issues, climate change and environmental disasters," said Taylor, "Our planet is on a path to grow less food for more people while continuing to accelerate the degradation of the earth's fragile ecosystem. Exasperating our already critical food access issues on the planet. The only way we're going to get ourselves out of this situation is with technology. We need to grow safer food in greater volumes closer to the point of consumption while conserving and restoring the environment."

"That is what is driving all of our development and innovation, and ultimately the demand we are seeing from indoor farmers and communities across the world," concluded Taylor.

AmplifiedAg, Inc. was founded in 2016 as the parent company of Vertical Roots, Boxcar Central, a SaaS platform supporting third-party logistics companies and breweries, and Tiger Corner Farms, a CEA farm manufacturing company. AmplifiedAg has absorbed Tiger Corner Farms and Boxcar Central operations as the company presents its mobile indoor farm platform to the market.

About AmplifiedAg, Inc.
AmplifiedAg, Inc. is an ag-tech industry visionary on a mission to provide global access to safe food. The company manufactures indoor vertical farms, hydroponic systems, and disruptive seed-to-sale SaaS-based technologies. Unlike other indoor ag operations, AmplifiedAg provides holistic indoor farm solutions to grow and distribute food anywhere in the world.

AmplifiedAg owns and operates Vertical Roots, the largest hydroponic container farm in the World. Learn more at www.amplifiedaginc.com. Growing Food for a Growing World.

SOURCE AmplifiedAg

Related Link

https://www.amplifiedaginc.com

Creating A Connected, Community Centered Urban Farm Environment

“NYC streets are ripe with potential to start producing their own food,"  says Julian Lwin with Street Farm. Full and built up through the city might be, lack of space is no excuse for anyone, as Street farms’ vertical farm can be fit also in small public spaces. “We now can claim street space for sustainably grown urban greens the same way we claimed the streets for outdoor dining during COVID.”

COVID forced many countries to rethink their food system, as logistics suddenly got complicated. Also Julian became acutely aware of the need for new retail environments, finding a safer way to interact with food, and purchasing fresh produce. Via an automated dispensing think vending machines & dedicated StreetFarm app.

In this period he saw people taking their activities outside, exercising or even eating out on the streets whereas they would normally do this indoors. With that in mind, he found (conceived) Street Farm, intending to find a solution for growing fresh produce right there in the streets of NYC. “We will fabricate the farms right here in New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard, to keep the transport emissions to an absolute minimum.” This model can be set up in any city metropolis around the globe where freshly grown produce is missing from the urban environment

Street Farm’s micro-vertical farm works with a hydroponic growth system and is designed to be reused again and again. The designs vary in size from 8’ wide x 8’ high x 12’ long to 16’ high to 32’ long. The smaller ones can be placed in gardens, allowing the larger-scale growing to be done in empty storefronts, city lots, etcetera. Julian dreams of the microfarms to be placed even in schools, libraries, and train stations to show people that food can be grown literally anywhere. 

Urban “element" vertical farm

Combining the latest technologies in the field of AI and robotics for monitoring the growth and yield, the New York streets will produce lots of fresh produce for the local population.  “With Street Farms we can transform New York from a food desert to a paradise of nutritious, healthy vegetables.” The plan is for the system to monitor the plant growth itself, but for the harvest to be done by employees, thus creating more jobs in the city. “We want these farms to create a connected, community-centered urban farm environment, connecting people to each other and to the food they eat.”

Julian finds it vitally important that people see tangible agriculture grown in public places, rather than hiding vertical farms in post-industrial spaces and rooftops. “Street Farms will connect the community with the products we eat. We aim for a paradigm shift in our relationship to the food we eat and our city landscape.”

Lead photo: The micro modular urban vertical farm satellite

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For more information:
Lwindesign
Julian Lwin, Founder 
julian@lwindesign.com 
www.lwindesign.com  

Publication date: Thu 25 Feb 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com

In This Episode Joe and Nick Interview Glenn Behrman About His Career In The Vertical Farming Industry

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New Freight Farms CMO Shares 4 Reasons Why He Moved From Sportswear To AgTech

Former Senior Director Global Marketing at Reebok shares his reasons for joining Freight Farms C-Suite

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James Woolard spent the last 14 years at Reebok, heading up everything from regional Sports Marketing and Brand to Global Marketing for the brand’s Running and Style units. After an amazing experience and professional success, James felt that he needed a change: a new challenge, a new industry, a new way to make an impact. His search brought him to the world of AgTech and Freight Farms, where he saw the huge potential of both the company and the industry and knew it was just what he had been looking for. Today, James shares the four big reasons why he was so drawn to the AgTech industry, and how he believes his previous experience will help propel Freight Farms forward.

In the past, I have always resisted “building a social presence” as a result of a (very British) suspicion of people’s real motives and my own laziness in maintaining it. In truth, the former reason is an easy cover story for the latter. However, in this case, my aversion to online social platforms has been overruled by a greater feeling that I want to share: Gratitude.

I am grateful for the experiences I have had, the people I have been fortunate enough to meet, and excited by all the opportunities in the future. However, most recently I am grateful for the opportunity to become the Chief Marketing Officer of Freight Farms. There were several small reasons to make the switch–but they all scaffold up to four somewhat big reasons:

1. Creating a Simple Solution for a Complex Problem

A pioneer of indoor agriculture and a leader in hydroponic container farming, Freight Farms has a suite of products and technology that can revolutionize access to hyper-local fresh grown produce. Our products reflect a level of complex design and engineering on which far cleverer people than me tirelessly work; yet the solution we are creating is incredibly simple — A 2.5-acre smart farm in a 40ft freight container that can go anywhere in the world to provide food security. With already over 300 of our farms around the world, we are building a tech-connected network of farmers who are simultaneously solving food access issues in their own communities and building a new global food system–all powered by Freight Farms technology.

• 1 in 6 people in the world relies on food imports to feed them daily. This number is set to reach 3 in 6 by 2050.

• 9 counties–mostly in California–are responsible for most of the food supply within the U.S. Any disruption (fires, drought, etc) can be catastrophic to the whole system.

• In the U.S., 19 million people currently live in food deserts with limited access to healthy and nutritious fresh foods.

2. Leveraging Cross-Category Experience

In addition, I am incredibly grateful to my former colleagues at Reebok and Adidas. I was lucky enough to have a robust education in the UK Sports industry and be part of and learn from an amazing Adidas leadership team. I was fortunate enough to come to the US, understand firsthand the dynamics of a global business, and meet a diverse range of interesting people. And I got to set up my family in Boston.

Now it is time to apply this experience to Freight Farms. Why the move from sports to Agtech you might ask? Yes, I needed the change and new challenge. And yes I would be lying if I said I targeted Agtech but sometimes you find what you need without realizing it. I am still a sports fan at heart — and when I first walked into the offices I walked into a locker room full of energy and talent. I was intrigued and hooked early on. I met Jon — who a decade earlier had looked at a Freight container and thought “why can’t I put a farm in there and build a business helping people anywhere in the world access fresh, hyper-local food”; I met a team of people (young, purposeful, talented ones) like Caroline, our Director of Marketing and Community Relations, with huge potential and authenticity who wanted to learn and grow; I met a new CEO in Rick and CTO in Jake with pedigree and passion; I saw a set of investors led by Ospraie Management and Spark Capital backing this all with capital.

3. Driving Profits for Company & Customers

At Freight Farms, I saw the impact I personally could have on the business. We have a thriving community of customers who have been essential in building Freight Farms’ success. The stories are inspiring, and I am eager to apply my experience to help Freight Farmers achieve their own individual success with the best possible support from our company. At the end of the day, we can’t be shy about saying “people need to make money”, because that’s the only way our mission to build a global infrastructure of local farms can succeed. I am here to embrace this and say ‘how can we create a return on investment for every stakeholder’? This is how we will grow.

4. Saying ‘No’ to Greenwashing and ‘Yes’ to Tech for Good

I am conscious of the perceived need to be on trend with “sustainability”, of the danger of falling into buzzwords and jargon that are of the moment. There is a business model and story myriad people are chasing. This is all happening parallel to a degradation of our trust in technology; as a society, we recognize it’s time to direct it towards something good. With three girls under 12 (all over using screens in Covid times), I see the benefits and dangers. We all see the power of the big brands and how algorithms are driving division. I believe people want to see positive expressions of technology beyond driving up their 401k. Combined, these two factors unlock our greatest brand strength in 2021: we already do leverage technology and data to create a truly sustainable product. There’s no need to spin, exaggerate, or greenwash. We can carry on doing exactly what we are doing with confidence that we’re creating the kind of positive impact the world needs.

That’s what is most exciting about entering the ‘Agtech’ industry: the moniker actually means something — the former (Agriculture) consistently driving change throughout history, and the latter (tech) acting as the most rapid accelerator of that change in my lifetime. It’s exhilarating, and I can’t wait to see how far we can take it.

Learn more about Freight Farms.

Freight Farms

Empowering anyone to grow food anywhere. Freight Farms makes local food accessible in any climate with the Greenery™ container farm.

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USA - MICHIGAN: Indoor Agriculture Receives $100,000 Grant From MDARD

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February 19, 2021

Ayanna Allen

NMU’s new indoor agriculture program recently received a $100,000 grant on Feb. 12 from Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to help offset the costs for a self-contained growing center.

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According to MDARD’s page, the grants are to help “promote the sustainability of land-based industries and support infrastructure that benefits rural communities”. 

MDARD received over 139 proposals, totaling over $11 million. The program only accepted 20 proposals, which totaled to roughly $1.7 million. This included NMU’s proposal for a self-contained growing center.

The indoor agriculture program is a new major brought to NMU which focuses on hands-on learning of indoor agriculture, sustainable farming practices, urban farming models, environmental infrastructure systems, helping solve the global food crisis, and more. 

Last fall was the first semester that the program took off.

“One of the biggest challenges of growing a program is finding space, and even though there is some available around campus, and in the Jacobetti Center in particular, it still costs a lot of money to retrofit that space and make it usable for the intended purpose.” Evan Lucas, assistant professor of technology and occupational sciences, said. “We targeted this grant specifically to help alleviate the cost impact of adding space for our labs.” 

Lucas went on by saying that the program submitted the idea of purchasing one to two shipping containers to enhance the curriculum. The shipping containers, depending on size and capability would be used to add growing space and diversity the type of growing space.

The program hopes that with the grant money they will be able to grow, and in turn create more space for students to work. Sarah Cormier, a junior in the indoor agriculture program, has exciting hopes for the grant money. 

“I’d hope it’d encourage others to look into the program and think about food production differently,” said Cormier. “We are limited in our labs with the number of seedlings we can tend to, but with more systems we would be able to monitor more plants simultaneously.” 

In turn, having more space means having room for more students. After quick shutdowns and pack-up times, last semester was hard for the program. However, Cormier felt that the experience this semester has been more straightforward. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the program had to cut back on the amount of students able to register. This left many students on waiting lists, unable to participate in the brand new program.

“We were unfortunately not able to open up more than we did without sacrificing the hands-on aspect of growing, which we weren’t really willing to do as that kind of defeats the main purpose,” Lucas stated.

However, Lucas was quick to say how integral Kim Smith Kolosa, another assistant professor of technology and occupational sciences, was to the program. 

“She has done an amazing job taking this program from literally non-existent to exceptional in no time, and we couldn’t ask for anything better at this time,” Lucas said.

TAGS: grant, indoor agriculture, news

BRITISH COLUMBIA: Learning Centre Gearing Up For “Village Greens”

Published on February 13, 2021

By Laura Keil

Fresh, local and green aren’t words you often hear about Robson Valley products in the wintertime, but the Valemount Learning Society hopes to change that.

The Learning Centre is branching out from its usual array of employment services and courses and digging into local food, thanks to a grant last summer from Northern Development Initiative Trust. The Society used the $166,328 grant to buy a Growcer “growing container” to supply the community with fresh greens year-round: they have made inquiries at IGA and local restaurants and plan to donate some to the food bank. They are also considering a box program if other options don’t work out.

The container is currently on order and will arrive sometime in March, said Riette Kenkel, manager of the Valemount Learning Centre, and she hopes they will have their first harvest in May.

Mike Johnson, who works for VLC as an employment advisor, will run the Growcer operation, which will be called “Village Greens.” Prior to arriving in Valemount, he worked in a commercial greenhouse for 20 years, Kenkel said.

The Growcer company provides training as the food is grown hydroponically.

The container will be set up in the Valemount Industrial Park next door to Robson Valley Mushrooms and near the Valemount Community Forest offices. Kenkel said the heating costs should be offset by the well-insulated container walls, which are good to -50 degrees.

She hopes to package most of the food in biodegradable packaging.

Kenkel previously told the Goat it’s no one’s fault the fresh food supply in Valemount isn’t always consistent.

“By the time the truck gets here the produce is old, and if stuff flies off the shelf we have to wait for the next (truck),” she said. “The Learning Centre has always responded to community needs. This was something we were hearing.”

She said it’s a social enterprise, so if it makes money, that cash will be cycled back into the programs that the Valemount Learning Centre delivers.

One of the more recent programs they’ve taken on is 4-H, which has a focus on agriculture and livestock and they’ve put a call-out for people to come up with program ideas.

Kenkel says it goes beyond just agriculture, however. Projects can relate to environmental issues, learning about aspects of farming, soil, and animals- not just farm animals.

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The Growcer container is self-contained and ready to go in any season using hydroponics. The Valemount Learning Centre hopes to fill the winter void, create a job or two and raise money for their other programs. //GROWCER

“It’s wide open right now for whatever the community wants it to be.”

Farmers Market management
The Society recently took over management of the Valemount Farmers’ Market from long-time organizer Christine Pelletier.

“We’re pretty excited about it,” Kenkel said. “We’re not really going to make any changes. We want to just run this next season as close to what it’s been in the past.”

She said the market will run from June 17th until September 30th this year and the rates for vendors will be the same: $10 per day plus a $10 annual membership.

Kenkel says they likely won’t sell their own fresh greens at the market, as they don’t want to compete with local growers.

“If Village Greens has something that’s marketable at the farmers market that isn’t competing with existing customers, then we might look at it. But yeah, we don’t want to compete with any of the smaller farmers that have been reliably selling lettuce, kale, basil, that kind of stuff.”

Related Posts:

• Non-profit to invest in local wintertime greens

USA - OHIO: Thinking And Growing Inside The Box

FEBRUARY 10, 2021 By SIDNEY DAILY NEWS

Local Farmer Takes The Farm Indoors

By Blythe Alspaugh - balspaugh@sidneydailynews.com

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PIQUA — A brother-sister team has taken the mechanics of farming out of the field and into a freight container.

“We are growing beautiful plants without the sun; there’s no soil, and so it’s all a closed-loop water system,” Britt Decker, co-owner of Fifth Season FARM, said. “We use non-GMO seeds, completely free of herbicides and pesticides, so the product is really, really clean. In fact, we recommend people don’t even wash it, because there’s no reason to.”

Fifth Season FARM is unique in many ways; the 3-acre hydroponic farm is contained in a 320-square-foot freight container that sits along 120 S. Main St. in Piqua, with everything from varying varities of lettuce, to radishes, to kale and even flowers in a climate-controlled smart farm that allows Decker and his sister, Laura Jackson, to turn crops in a six- to eight-week cycle. The crops spend 18 hours in “daytime” every day, and the farm uses 90% less water than traditional farming.

“It’s tricky because we’re completely controlling the environment in here. It’s kind of a laboratory more than a farm,” Decker said. “I think there’s about 50 of them around the world right now. These are really international, and they’re perfect for places that are food deserts where they can’t grow food because of climate or other reasons. It gives them a way to grow food in the middle of nowhere.”

Decker and Jackson, along with their brother Bill Decker, also do traditional farming and grow corn, wheat and soybeans, but Decker said they were looking for a new venture that would help lead them to a healthier lifestyle and learn something new.

“Just with the whole local food movement becoming more and more important and food traceability, we just thought it would be a great thing to bring to our community to help everyone have a healthier lifestyle,” Decker said. “People love food that’s grown right in their hometown and the shelf-life on it, when you get it home, is remarkable. It’ll keep for two weeks.”

Currently, Decker and Jackson are growing a half-dozen variety of specialty lettuces that include arugula, butterhead, and romaine, as well as specialty greens like kale and Swiss chard, and even radishes and flowers. They received their freight container at the end of July and set up their indoor farm over two weeks; while the farm has been in operation for less than six months, Decker says that they’re growing beautiful product.

They have also started growing micro-greens, said Decker. Micro-greens are immature plants which are 1 to 3 inches tall and are in a 5-inch by 5-inch container.

“People will use them as garnishments and in smoothies,” said Decker. “Since they are immature plants, they have an intense flavor.”

Decker said they are growing wheat germ, broccoli and spicy salad mixes.

They’ve also started moving forward with sales and marketing. Fifth Season FARM has partnered with the Miami County Locally Grown Virtual Market to sell their products to the community. They also take orders through their website, fifthseasonfarm.com; customers can opt to pick up their orders between 4 and 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, or Decker and Jackson will deliver products up to five miles from the farm. Decker said that Fifth Season FARM is also in discussions with three restaurants in the area about including their specialty greens on their menus.

Decker said they also plan to attend the Sidney Farmers Market when it opens for the spring/summer season.

“We’re really just getting going,” Decker said. “While we were learning to grow products, we didn’t want to overcommit to a restaurant or grocery store before we knew we could really grow a beautiful product, so we’ve been donating product every week to the food pantry at the Presbyterian Church. It feels good to plant the seeds and watch them grow, and it feels good to make sure that people who aren’t getting the proper nutrition are getting some.”

Vertical Farming At A Crossroads As Pandemic Shifts Focus To Fresh Produce

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15-02-2021

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Getting the right business model to balance resource usage with socio-economic conditions is crucial to capturing new markets. Speakers will discuss the issues at the forthcoming Agri-TechE event on Thursday 25th February 2021.

Although growing crops all year round with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has been proposed as a method to localize food production and increase resilience against extreme climate events, the efficiency and limitations of this strategy need to be evaluated for each location. Research by Luuk Graamans of Wageningen University & Research, a speaker at the upcoming Agri-TechE event on CEA, has revealed that integration with urban energy infrastructure can make vertical farms more viable. 

“The pandemic has shifted the conversation to the global connectivity of countries, where people started questioning the sustainability and resilience of the international food network,” comments Luuk. “The big question is should countries or large cities (mainly) rely on imports to feed their citizens?

His research around the modeling of vertical farms shows that these systems are able to achieve higher resource use efficiencies, compared to more traditional food production, except for electricity. So, the vertical farm needs to offer additional benefits to off-set this increased energy use. One example his team has investigated is whether vertical farms could also provide heat.

“We investigated if vertical farms could provide not just food for people living in densely populated areas and also heat their homes using waste heat. We found that CEA can contribute to stabilizing the increasingly complex energy grid.”

This balance between complex factors both within the growing environment and the wider socio-economic conditions means that the rapidly growing CEA industry is beginning to diversify with different business models emerging.

Jack Farmer is CSO at LettUs Grow, the company has just launched its Drop & GrowTM growing units, which offer a complete farming solution, in a shipping container. He says that everyone in the vertical farming space is going to hit a crossroads, “Vertical farming, with its focus on higher value and higher density crops, is effectively a subset of the broader horticultural sector. All the players in the vertical farming space are facing a choice – to scale vertically and try to capture as much value in that specific space, or to diversify and take their technology expertise broader.”

LettUs Grow is focused on being the leading technology provider in containerized farming. Jack continues: “Drop & Grow:24, is primarily focused on people entering the horticultural space, and we expect it to be one of the most productive, ethical, and easy to use container farms on the market. This year is looking really exciting – supermarkets are investing to ensure a sustainable source of food production in the UK, which is what CEA provides. We’re also seeing a growth in ‘experiential’ food and retail and that’s also where we see our Drop & Grow container farm fitting in.”

Kate Hofman, CEO, GrowUp agrees, the company launched the UK’s first commercial-scale vertical farm in 2014. She comments: “It will be really interesting to see how the foodservice world recovers after lockdown – the rough numbers are that supermarket trade was up at least 11% in the last year – so retail still looks like a really good direction to go in. If we want to have an impact on the food system in the UK and change it for the better, we’re committed to partnering with those big retailers to help them deliver on their sustainability and values-driven goals.

“Our focus is very much as a salad grower that grows a fantastic product that everyone will want to buy. And we’re focusing on bringing down the cost of sustainable food, which means doing it at a big enough scale to gain the economies of production that are needed to be able to sell at everyday prices.”

The economics are an important part of the discussion. Recent investment in the sector has come from the Middle East, and other locations, where abundant solar power and scarce resources are driving interest in CEA. Luuk’s research has revealed a number of scenarios where CEA has a strong business case.

However, for the UK, CEA should be seen as a continuum from glasshouses to vertical farming. “Greenhouses can incorporate the technologies from vertical farms to increase climate control and to enhance their performance under specific climates.” Luuk continues.

It is this aspect that is grabbing the attention of conventional fresh produce growers in open field and covered crop production.  

James Green is Director of Agriculture at G’s, one of Europe’s leading fresh produce growers. He explains: “There’s a balance in all of these systems between energy costs for lighting, energy costs for cooling, costs of nutrient supply, and then transportation and the supply and demand. At the end of the day, sunshine is pretty cheap and it comes up every day…

“I think a blended approach, where you’re getting as much benefit as you can from nature but you’re supplementing it and controlling the growth conditions, is what we are aiming for, rather than the fully artificially lit ‘vertical farming’.”

Luuk, Jack and Kate are to join a discussion with conventional vegetable producers, vertical farmers and technology providers at the Agri-TechE event “Controlled Environment Agriculture is growing up” 25th February 2021.

Find out more: agri-tech-e.co.uk/upcoming-events/

Agri-TechE is a business-focused membership organization, supporting the growth of a world-leading network of innovative farmers, producers, scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs who share a vision of increasing the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of agriculture.
Together we aim to help turn challenges into business opportunities and facilitate mutually beneficial collaboration.

Agri-TechE

Agri-TechE directory information

Why I Moved From California To Kansas To Grow Leafy Greens In All Seasons

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By Brad Fourby

January 9, 2021

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Brad Fourby runs Leafy Green Farms LLC, a hydroponic shipping container farm in Pittsburg.

Google Maps says the distance between Sacramento, California, and Pittsburg, Kansas, is 1,842 miles.

This year has been tough, with COVID shutdowns, a heart attack, bypass surgery, and the loss of a loved one. All of this slowed me down but did not stop me from leaving California and starting a year-round container farm that will provide Pittsburg with fresh leafy vegetables like lettuces, basils, and arugula.

Good nutrition starts with what is on your plate. Knowing where your food comes from and how it was grown is becoming more important to everyone.

While living in downtown Sacramento, I started Innovative Farms. I would build and help consult with others interested in aquaponics, growing fish and plants together in small places. Small towns have to wait and pay higher prices for food that has been grown and transported from California, China, Argentina, and other countries. The produce is picked early so that it may ripen in transit on ships or trucks while being treated with chemicals along the way.

Through this work, I met longtime Pittsburg residents Rob and Sara Morris, owners of Energy Group Consultants. They told me that Pittsburg and Crawford County were considered a food desert — like much of the Midwest, grocers in Crawford County import their food, while producers export what they grow, such as corn and soybeans.

I would visit the city a few times a year and got to know some of the people and businesses. I loved the vibe of the place.

Rob and Sara and I discussed increasing the farm-to-table opportunities in Pittsburg. We talked about container farming, using repurposed shipping containers that have been outfitted with computer-controlled vertical hydroponics. This highly efficient method requires no pesticides or herbicides to grow vegetables that can be harvested weekly regardless of the climate.

My previous experience with aquaponics reminded me of Freight Farms, a Boston farm manufacturer with a great track record of successful farms worldwide. Their farm design was expandable, and vegetables could grow in any weather condition.

I came up with the outline of a business plan. With three farms, my goal was to begin year-round harvests this winter in Pittsburg and support the farm-to-table lifestyle.

I began making phone calls to the city. Compared to the regulation and tax heavy California, Kansas felt welcoming to new business. I heard the term “agri-tourism,” and the idea of new agricultural developments directly helping the area was exciting for many people I spoke with.

The city planners loved the idea of a new business that supported other existing businesses like restaurants, grocers, and the farmers market community, many of them hurt by the COVID shutdowns.

Working with Pittsburg State University’s Small Business Development Center, I created a final business plan. Equity Bank signed on to assist with the Small Business Administration loan process.

So far it has been a real team effort. We really picked up steam after a call with Mike Green, Equity Bank’s small business banker. Turns out he grew up on a farm and instantly recognized the value the business would be to the entire area. We talked about how freshly picked non-chemically treated vegetables actually taste. The difference is night and day.

After that call I knew for sure Pittsburg would be the home of Leafy Green Farms.

The Kansas Healthy Food Initiative then stepped in and awarded the business $15,000 to assist with operating and equipment expenses. This kind of support was a real boost for everyone. KHFI and our farm goals are very much aligned.

It turned out that everyone agreed: Every Kansan should have access to healthy, affordable food.

The idea of more fresh food being produced in Pittsburg was something Live Well Crawford County director Brad Stroud told me he has been very supportive of. Joining their network has been a very positive experience.

We hope that by adding farms that are unique to the area that grows specialty crops, more people will visit the city and frequent some of the supporting businesses. We will take input from chefs and the community palate, and restaurants in the area will be able to offer menu items that their counterparts in large cities have no chance of offering. Our list of available herbs, roots, and vegetables is long and our variety is huge, with Firecracker Leaf Lettuce, Sylvesta Butterhead, and even Wasabi Arugula.

Sacramento County has around 1.5 million people, Crawford County 38,000. Many of my California friends and family are watching my move with great anticipation. When someone asks “Why Kansas?” my answer has remained the same since the beginning: Kansas is open for business.

Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.

Lead photo: A Freight Farms container on its way to a destination. (Submitted by Leafy Green Farms to Kansas Reflector)

VIDEO: Freight Farms - Greenery Tour Recording

 Below we've included the entire recording along with additional resources to help jump start your farming project. 

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Freight Farms, 46 Plympton St, Boston, MA 02118, US, 877-687-4326

Farming Goes Indoors

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By JOY LEE

06 Feb 2021

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Beyond profits: Lim, seen here briefing an investor, says the company is also looking at creating new high-valued jobs and generate income for local communities.

THE pandemic has shone a light on many of the gaps that exist in the country’s economy. And one of these is the need for better food security, an issue that resonated with Gerard Lim long before Covid-19.

Many years ago, he started noticing that most of the vegetables sold in local supermarkets and grocers were not necessarily the best of quality as top-grade vegetables grown here were mainly exported. That means locals were consuming lower grade vegetables.

Additionally, a lot of the vegetables that can be grown in Malaysia were, in fact, imported.

Lim wasn’t a farmer but he knew that technology could help boost quality production for local consumption and improve the local supply chain for vegetables.

“My exposure and experience with farming started about five years ago when I introduced smart farming solutions using sensors, the Internet of Things, and Big Data to various farmers. But I found that many farmers in Malaysia were smallholders who could not afford the technology.

“I knew that if I wanted to move the needle, I had to adopt the technology and build large commercial scale, industrial-grade farms to achieve better economies of scale.

“What was compelling to me was that I was not alone in wanting better quality food and vegetables. There was a ready and strong demand from friends and contacts who wanted the same good quality, clean and fresh vegetables, ” he points out.

Lim has vast experience with tech startups and had previously served in the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

When he left the regulatory body last year, the time seemed right to embark on a venture that would focus on scaling up smart farming. And with the Covid-19 pandemic ongoing, it became even more evident that there was a need to grow food and vegetables closer to where they are consumed.

He founded Agroz Group Sdn Bhd, an agritech and indoor vertical farming company, to simplify the distribution supply chain of vegetables while reducing the long- and mid-haul transport of vegetables from far away farms. This is done by establishing indoor vertical farms to grow vegetables in local neighbourhoods instead.

Lim is targeting to build 100,000 sq ft of indoor vertical farms in Malaysia this year to make Agroz the largest indoor vertical farm operator in Malaysia.

While it should seem like a no-brainer to support a move into the agriculture industry at a time like this, Lim notes that it is not all straightforward. A lot of stakeholders do not understand that smart farming is different from traditional farms.

“Malaysia does not have policies to support the use of advanced technologies for smart farming, urban farming and indoor vertical farming. So, existing special grants, incentives and loans are provided for the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides for traditional farming but there are no grants, incentives and loans for the use of technology in smart farming, ” he says.

This makes it a challenge for the company to access ongoing assistance for the agriculture industry.

The lack of policy support and guidelines also make it difficult for them to get funding from financial institutions. Lim says most banks in Malaysia were not particularly supportive of indoor vertical farming as they do not understand these new modern, high-tech forms of farming.

Agroz is currently seeking to raise RM100mil through the issuance of redeemable convertible preference shares to fund its expansion.

Lim says the company has drawn interest from several investors, both local and foreign, and they are in the midst of evaluating some of these offers. He is, however, open to any other interest.

To sweeten the deal for potential investors, Lim is looking at exit plans in five years’ time, either through an initial public offering or via a trade sale to a special purpose acquisition company.

At the moment, Agroz has a small farm in Seri Kembangan, Selangor. It is in the midst of building a 3,000 sq ft farm in Sg Buloh and upgrading a commercial-scale indoor vertical farm in Shah Alam to 90,000 sq ft.

Lim believes Agroz’s indoor vertical farms will complement traditional farming.

“Customers who demand for higher quality will prefer to buy their vegetables from sources like Agroz, which delivers clean, fresh and quality vegetables from farms that you can see and are located within your neighbourhood.

“At the same time, we need to recognise that the market is huge with Malaysia importing over RM5bil worth of vegetables in 2019 alone. And this number is increasing.

“So it will take an entire industry of indoor vertical farmers to grow clean and fresh vegetables in farms within the city before we even make a dent in the traditional agriculture space. Taking even a 10% share, which is only RM500mil, of the multi-billion ringgit market would take some time, ” he says.

However, its efforts, and perhaps that of many other budding agritech companies that have popped up in recent times, are moving in the right direction.

Lim points out that Malaysia ranks 28th on the 2019 Global Food Security (GFS) Index, according to the Economist Group. Singapore, on the other hand, which hardly produces its own food, has topped the index two years in a row, in 2018 and 2019.

A myriad of advanced technologies to ensure that the methods and approach of growing food is repeatable, scalable and traceable to feed a growing population is key to achieving better sufficiency to meet domestic demands.

“We also aim to create hundreds of new high-valued jobs and generate income in our local communities heading into this post-Covid-19 era, ” Lim says.

In some countries, green jobs have been mulled over as a potential area to generate jobs to help with economic recovery. This could also be a space that policymakers could explore further.

Currently, Agroz’s produce is sold directly to consumers through a subscription programme and also supplied to neighbourhood grocers, eateries, restaurants and the hospitality industry.

The company is already growing 200kg of produce per month and will soon have the capacity to grow 1 tonne per day from the various farms already committed.

Once its 100,000 sq ft of indoor vertical farms is achieved, it is expected to produce 3 tonnes of vegetables every day.

Agroz has a current order book of RM5mil to license its technology including supply of its indoor vertical farm systems to warehouses and land asset owners as well as through supply of vegetable products to consumers and businesses. Lim says its got more orders in the pipeline.

TAGS / KEYWORDS:SME , Startup , Indoor Farming , Agroz ,

TOPIC: Corporate News SME

Bringing The Future To life In Abu Dhabi

Amid the deserts of Abu Dhabi, a new wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are sowing the seeds of a more sustainable future.

Image from: Wired

A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture. 

Madar Farms is one of a number of agtech startups benefitting from a package of incentives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) aimed at spurring the development of innovative solutions for sustainable desert farming. The partnership is part of ADIO’s $545 million Innovation Programme dedicated to supporting companies in high-growth areas.

“Abu Dhabi is pressing ahead with our mission to ‘turn the desert green’,” explained H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, in November 2020. “We have created an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and the companies we partnered with earlier this year are already propelling the growth of Abu Dhabi’s 24,000 farms.”

The pandemic has made food supply a critical concern across the entire world, combined with the effects of population growth and climate change, which are stretching the capacity of less efficient traditional farming methods. Abu Dhabi’s pioneering efforts to drive agricultural innovation have been gathering pace and look set to produce cutting-edge solutions addressing food security challenges.

Beyond work supporting the application of novel agricultural technologies, Abu Dhabi is also investing in foundational research and development to tackle this growing problem. 

In December, the emirate’s recently created Advanced Technology Research Council [ATRC], responsible for defining Abu Dhabi’s R&D strategy and establishing the emirate and the wider UAE as a desired home for advanced technology talent, announced a four-year competition with a $15 million prize for food security research. Launched through ATRC’s project management arm, ASPIRE, in partnership with the XPRIZE Foundation, the award will support the development of environmentally-friendly protein alternatives with the aim to "feed the next billion".

Image from: Madar Farms

Global Challenges, Local Solutions

Food security is far from the only global challenge on the emirate’s R&D menu. In November 2020, the ATRC announced the launch of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), created to support applied research on the key priorities of quantum research, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems.

“The technologies under development at TII are not randomly selected,” explains the centre’s secretary general Faisal Al Bannai. “This research will complement fields that are of national importance. Quantum technologies and cryptography are crucial for protecting critical infrastructure, for example, while directed energy research has use-cases in healthcare. But beyond this, the technologies and research of TII will have global impact.”

Future research directions will be developed by the ATRC’s ASPIRE pillar, in collaboration with stakeholders from across a diverse range of industry sectors.

“ASPIRE defines the problem, sets milestones, and monitors the progress of the projects,” Al Bannai says. “It will also make impactful decisions related to the selection of research partners and the allocation of funding, to ensure that their R&D priorities align with Abu Dhabi and the UAE's broader development goals.”

Image from: Agritecture

Nurturing Next-Generation Talent

To address these challenges, ATRC’s first initiative is a talent development programme, NexTech, which has begun the recruitment of 125 local researchers, who will work across 31 projects in collaboration with 23 world-leading research centres.

Alongside universities and research institutes from across the US, the UK, Europe and South America, these partners include Abu Dhabi’s own Khalifa University, and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the world’s first graduate-level institute focused on artificial intelligence. 

“Our aim is to up skill the researchers by allowing them to work across various disciplines in collaboration with world-renowned experts,” Al Bannai says. 

Beyond academic collaborators, TII is also working with a number of industry partners, such as hyperloop technology company, Virgin Hyperloop. Such industry collaborations, Al Bannai points out, are essential to ensuring that TII research directly tackles relevant problems and has a smooth path to commercial impact in order to fuel job creation across the UAE.

“By engaging with top global talent, universities and research institutions and industry players, TII connects an intellectual community,” he says. “This reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.”