Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
iFarm Partners With Contain Inc., Increases Accessibility of Vertical Farms
Dedicated to securing lease financing for indoor growers, Contain Inc. works with private lenders to facilitate leases and create custom insurance solutions
On February 11th, 2021, iFarm officially became a partner with and an official vendor of Contain Inc., an indoor agriculture fintech platform operating in North America and Europe that connects indoor growers with the resources they need. Growers now have the opportunity to lease iFarm vertical farms through Contain Inc.
Dedicated to securing lease financing for indoor growers, Contain Inc. works with private lenders to facilitate leases and create custom insurance solutions. The company organises financing for all indoor farming needs, including LED, greenhouse equipment, and entire plant growth systems like vertical farms.
Why Lease Financing is Important
Building or equipping a vertical farm can require significant amounts of capital, yet indoor growers typically lack financing options when compared to their outdoor farming counterparts. 75% of indoor growers are looking for funding, and many will not receive it from traditional agriculture banks and traditional business banks as farm lending in the United States declined at an average pace of 2% throughout 2020. While it is slightly easier to seek financing options in Europe, there is still great room for improvement.
By becoming an equipment vendor, iFarm has made its vertical farms more accessible to those who are interested in vertical farming but face the obstacle of high capital investment. Through Contain Inc., indoor growers can now lease iFarm’s vertical farms and LED systems without a need for high investment. By acquiring vertical farming equipment more easily, prospective indoor farmers can also scale their operations more quickly and cost-effectively.
How It Works
If you would like to start your indoor farming journey with iFarm, but need financial support, simply sign up to Contain Inc.’s exclusive leasing platform and complete a simple application form. The application requires you to input company basics, financial essentials (i.e. what amount is needed for lease), primary equipment to be purchased, and principal financial institutions. The algorithms can match you to a pool of 28 equipment and financial lenders, ranging from small shops to some of the largest banks in the world. The minimum lease size is typically around $75,000 with no upper limit. Contain Inc. will review your application and decide whether you are eligible for financial support.
Contain Inc. also provides a “Leasing Calculator”, which is a short quiz to help growers figure out their odds of obtaining lease financing offers through Contain Inc.
Get in touch with iFarm today to discuss how to invest in or to lease vertical farming technology.
US: VIRGINIA - Senior Project Brings Daily Salads For School Lunches
Students Set Up A Hydroponic System In The School Lab
Two Upper School Seniors at the Hampton Roads Academy (HRA) constructed a hydroponic unit for the school's hydroponics lab. About a year ago two students, Ava and Cooper, were asked to construct a new hydroponics unit for the school. They immediately agreed to work on the project, with their first task to create a new system for the school's 1,000 sq. ft. 'Martha H. Patten Hydroponics Lab'. After approval, they picked up the supplies needed and set up the system.
Ava and Cooper set up the hydroponic system by themselves, making use of the additional growing lights, nutrient dosers, Rockwool, and water pumps. However, the project wasn't without struggles. At one point, the system turned out to have some leaks and a PCV pipe was disconnected from the system. They later improved the system to remedy the problems.
The first harvest was successfully done and enough for 200 salads. Throughout the year, all harvested produce went directly to HRA's school lunches. During their project, Ava and Cooper made it their goal to educate other students at the HRA on hydroponic farming. After a while, many students had expressed their interest in the hydroponic lab. Given that response, the seniors held information sessions to teach students how they could get involved.
Ava and Cooper have said to be thankful for the opportunity to create a hydroponic lab for the school. Their main goal to keep educate and inspire others to create their own hydroponic system as they see it as 'the future of sustainable farming.'
Click on the video below to see the complete story.
For more information:
Hampton Roads Academy
739 Academy Lane
Newport News, VA 23602
+1 (757) 884-9100
admissions@hra.org
www.hra.org
6 April 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Lead photo:
Ava and Cooper at the 'Martha H. Patten Hydroponics Lab
US: VIRGINIA - Brooke Point High School Installs Babylon Vertical Garden
“The Babylon garden is an important hands-on STEM learning tool that will benefit our students in many ways,” said Stafford County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner. “The fact that we are saving 2005 square feet of farmland in a booming county is also of great benefit to our community.”
April 3, 2021 | Schools & Education
From Stafford County Schools
High School students participating in the Culinary Arts, Business, IT, and IB Environmental Science programs at Brooke Point High School (BPHS) in Stafford are taking gardening to a whole new level, vertically. The school has partnered with Babylon Micro-Farms, Inc, to install a 15 square foot, hydroponic, vertical garden in its culinary arts room.
“The Babylon garden is an important hands-on STEM learning tool that will benefit our students in many ways,” said Stafford County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner. “The fact that we are saving 2005 square feet of farmland in a booming county is also of great benefit to our community.”
The garden will grow herbs, microgreens, and leafy greens. Students in the culinary arts program will use the produce in their menus, business students will develop a plan for using future crops, IT students will study how the app works and the AI functions of the garden, and IB Environmental students will study the impact of the garden on reducing environmental concerns that are associated with traditional farming.
“It’s important to me that we expose our students to innovative technology and ideas to inspire them to invent and create a more sustainable community,” said BPHS Principal Tim Roberts. “I am excited to see this important learning taking place, and to be able to provide our students with different strategies and ways of thinking in a very tangible way that promotes positive change.”
The garden is remotely managed by Babylon to ensure optimal growing conditions for the plants. Students will use an app that allows them to follow along with live data alerts, growing support, and the harvest schedule. The Babylon garden will initially grow crops that support the culinary arts program. After the first harvest, the garden is expected to produce $500 in produce per month.
Babylon vertical gardens produce three times the yield of traditional gardens, are grown without pesticides, resulting in 95% less food and 99% less plastic waste, and produce 71% fewer carbon emissions. According to Babylon, the Micro-Farms bring people closer to what they eat, create transparency in the food chain, build healthier relationships with food, and create an opportunity to change the story of how food is made.
Green Bronx Machine and Stephen Ritz - Our New PBS TV Show Featuring Leslie Ladybug And Tower Garden
This week we debut our friend Leslie Ladybug, who moves into a new Tower Garden home - Basil Towers - teaching all about seeds, vertical farming, healthy living, and growing food with children all year long - using 90% less water and 90% less space
I could not be more proud of Green Bronx Machine and our new series: Let's Learn debuting on PBS today. This series, designed to inspire healthy living, healthy learning, equity, empathy, compassion, and wellness features a series of diverse and inclusive characters right from our Bronx classroom!
This week we debut our friend Leslie Ladybug, who moves into a new Tower Garden home - Basil Towers - teaching all about seeds, vertical farming, healthy living, and growing food with children all year long - using 90% less water and 90% less space. Leslie teaches us that you too can grow food all year long and have fun doing it!
WATCH THE EPISODE NOW
AND SHARE IT!
And, you can find teacher and student resources to accompany all the fun and learning right on the GBM website.
We hope you'll tune in and share all the learning! Stay tuned to meet Patti the Pigeon, Sammy the Shark, Bobby the Bear, Sam the Squirrel, Artie the Ant, Mr. Met, and General Sequoia - the world's biggest tree - in weekly episodes coming soon!
With love from the Bronx, to the world, your pal,
USA: MARYLAND - BW Students Learning High-Tech Plant Growing Techniques
Bishop Walsh School is teaching students through hands-on experience about the efficient ways plants can be grown. The school recently acquired a ZipGrow Tower through federal grants, which is designed for high-density hydroponic farming
April 1, 2021
By Brandon Glass bglass@times-news.com
CUMBERLAND — Bishop Walsh School is teaching students through hands-on experience about the efficient ways plants can be grown. The school recently acquired a ZipGrow Tower through federal grants, which is designed for high-density hydroponic farming.
Mick Burkett, a teacher at Bishop Walsh, holds up pH meters. Burkett is teaching students through hands-on experience about the efficient ways plants can be grown.
“As far as food goes, of all industries, that’s one industry that’s not going away. There’s a lot of science to growing, so it’s important to have high-tech growing techniques,” said Mick Burkett, a Bishop Walsh teacher who is heading the project. “The kids are going to learn how to grow with state-of-the-art science aquaponics, hydroponics, ZipGrow towers.”
The towers are built to make easier production, irrigation, and planting, which will be important in a future where more people live closer together and planting space is limited.
Some 2,000 seed plants can be grown in a smaller than expected platform. Due to the towers being vertical, they take up much less space when compared to planting in soil in a field or a garden.
Students monitor the nutrient levels in the solutions using pH meters and add more as needed.
“The first graders, they’re learning about what is a living thing, so they’re growing mint,” said Burkett. “They’ll be able to put the mint in little pots in our maker space. They’re going to be doing everything from scratch, from growing the plant to making their own little flower pot.”
Eventually, the goal is to have food from the greenhouse and ZipGrow station on the table at Bishop Walsh, to grow enough food to sustain themselves and contribute to the community.
“Instead of farm to table, this is from BW to BW. It is great economically, it’s great for the environment,” said Burkett. “It’s good in so many ways.”
There are also plans for a spring sale at some point, where 50% of whatever is made would go back into the greenhouse and other technologies. They also want to pick out a local organization to donate to.
The genesis for the ZipGrow project was the greenhouse the school built over a year ago, which due to the pandemic has not been used yet, but will eventually be able to hold, Burkett estimated, 6,000 starter plants.
The ZipGrow station was born out of federal funding the school receives through the county and ran about $5,000, said BW Principal Jennifer Flinn.
For now, for students, it’s come as you want, as the school is not able to have clubs due to the pandemic; however, next year the expectation is there will be clubs dedicated to growing plants.
Lead photo: Bishop Walsh freshmen Michael Nowaczyk and Rianne Treadwell examine the plants on the ZipGrow Tower.
Follow staff writer Brandon Glass on Twitter @Bglass13 - Submitted Photo
JD’S Plant Factory Sparks Children's Early Interest In Agriculture
JD hosted nearly 100 primary school students and their teachers for a field trip at its hydroponic plant factory in the Tongzhou district of Beijing on March 22
by Ella Kidron
March 31, 2021
JD hosted nearly 100 primary school students and their teachers for a field trip at its hydroponic plant factory in the Tongzhou district of Beijing on Mar. 22. The event was part of a larger program which started last year in which JD offers the plant factory as a high-tech educational facility for elementary and middle school students as well as families to learn hands-on.
JD Plant Factory in the Tongzhou district of Beijing
During the activity, the general manager of the plant factory, Zhongsheng Wu, gave a lecture on basic crop growth knowledge, providing the group with a preliminary understanding of hydroponic planting. Following the lecture and observation, the children got to have a taste test.
As quality and food safety is of utmost importance to JD, every student and teacher donned a white lab coat, shoe covers, masks and head coverings, and stepped into the air shower for a disinfection prior to entering the factory.
Zhongsheng Wu, general manager of JD Plant Factory, teaches students about hydroponic planting
On the weekends, the factory is usually full of parents and their kids. It is a good way for kids to get outside and have much-needed contact with nature. Parents are also delighted by their kids’ newfound love of vegetables. Wu said: “Parents come to us and say, ‘my kids never eat vegetables at home no matter what, but here they are eating veggies like little rabbits!’”
Parents show their children veggies at the plant factory
They often come home with bags of vegetables, and will also adapt to buying them online through JD.com, enhancing omni-channel conversion. Furthermore, parents will often post on their WeChat Moments (similar to a Facebook wall) too, helping raise overall awareness of the plant factory.
A boy excitedly enjoys a salad with veggies from JD Plant Factory
As the younger generation becomes increasingly tech-savvy, there are concerns that fewer people will choose to go into agriculture. According to Statista, the percentage of the workforce in agriculture from 2009 to 2019 has declined from 38.1% to 25.1%. The plant factory visit can help to pique children’s early curiosity. Wu explained: “Children are the foundation of the future of agriculture. Through our programs, they learn that agriculture can be fun, interesting, and high-tech.”
One of the teachers said at the end of the activity, “It was so well-organized. Students not only got to learn and understand the growth of a seed but also have hands-on practice.” Immersion education for kids is much needed and critical to their development. “Apart from ensuring the farm-to-table supply chain, being able to provide this type of education gives the plant factory an even greater purpose,” said Wu.
Built by JD in partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical of Japan, the plant factory gives JD an entry point at the very beginning of the supply chain and creates high-end vegetables using advanced hydroponic technology, artificial LED light source, and Internet of Things technology in a fully-closed environment. Covering 11,040 square meters, it is the largest plant factory with the combination of sunlight and artificial light in China.
(ella@jd.com)
Tags: Social Responsibility
Lisette Templin, Professor At Texas A&M University - A Pioneering Woman In Agriculture
Lisette Templin is the director and founder of the Texas Urban Farm United (TUFU - TAMU) a startup vertical farm she and a couple of students began in 2019
According to Lenny Geist and Anne Amoury, with Kansas Freedom Farms, one of many pioneering women in agriculture is Lisette Templin, a professor of health and kinesiology at Texas A&M University (TAMU) in College Station, Texas. Lisette Templin is the director and founder of the Texas Urban Farm United (TUFU - TAMU) a startup vertical farm she and a couple of students began in 2019.
As a faculty member overseeing Physical Education, Templin is keenly aware of how food choices and essential daily nutrition are to overall animal and human health.
She and her students received a small grant from the TAMU public health school to go vertical. Templin has a number of hydroponic growing towers in her new venue she and a few co-workers maintain. Some of the all-natural forage is donated to the university’s “12th Can” food bank program to alleviate local hunger...clearly one of Templin’s strongest passions.
Lisette Templin (Photo credits: Texas A&M University)
“Food as medicine must play a more urgent and vital role in the health of our children and the health of our country. Indoor hydroponic farms can play a pivotal role in transitioning people off of medication from chronic diseases as well as strengthen the immune system.
Micro and macronutrient dense food grown locally can effortlessly replace food that is highly inflammatory to the human body while providing the needed phytochemicals that promote health,” she wrote recently. Templin is in the process of applying for grants and financial support in hopes of raising $1 million (USD) to erect a two-story CEA facility that will be home to hydroponic growing operations on the top floor with a kitchen, cafeteria, classrooms, and offices on the ground floor.
Photo credits: Texas A&M Urban Farm United / The Eagle
“Hydroponic food is about the impact of delivering maximum nutrient density to the immediate local community. Hydroponic vertical growing technology's innate potential is its ability to eradicate food deserts across our country,” Templin says. Clearly, she’s a Texas trailblazer with tall towers to tend.
According to Lenny Geist, "we need more like Templin, to improve agriculture and promote environmental stewardship. It behooves the stuffed shirts to follow the determined bunch out on the “north 40” -- the bunch that likes to wear Gucci or Louis Vitton heels just as much as they do Justin or Tony Lama boots."
"They aren’t afraid of hard work, trying new things, and exploring what’s possible even if it means a setback or two along the way," he adds. "Since they see these as learning opportunities to get better and march forward toward their ultimate objectives having gained greater perspectives. Someday, these movers and shakers or any of their sure-to-follow feminine disciples may just give the old, stodgy stuffed shirts the boot. There are lots of reasons to believe this will be for the best."
For more information:
Lisette Templin,
Texas A&M, Texas Urban Farm United
lisettetemplin@tamu.edu
www.agrilifetoday.tamu.edu
29 Mar 2021
UNITED KINGDOM: “Vertical Farming” Training Centre Unveiled At Reaseheath College In Nantwich
The project aims to showcase the technological innovations within the fast growing and specialized sector and offers undergraduates and businesses applied research and technical training
March 20, 2021
The UK’s largest training and research centre for vertical farming have been completed at Reaseheath College and University Centre in Nantwich.
Vertical farming is the practice of growing plants indoors under fully controlled and sterile conditions in stacked layers.
The Vertical Farming Centre is part of the Institute of Sustainability and Food Innovation.
It’s a joint venture between Reaseheath and its academic partner, the University of Chester.
The project aims to showcase the technological innovations within the fast-growing and specialised sector and offers undergraduates and businesses applied research and technical training.
Reaseheath also plans to link with local schools, particularly in the practical application of digital and STEM subjects.
Covering 200 square metres, the main facility has three floors to ceiling growing chambers and a separate research growing room.
The project has been supported by Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, which has contributed £340,000 through its Local Growth Fund.
This government funding is available for projects which benefit the local area and its economy.
Simon Burgess, Reaseheath’s Head of Projects, Research and Innovation, said: “This is an exceptionally exciting project which offers tremendous benefits to both our students and our academic and industry partners.
“University Centre Reaseheath is extremely good at applying practical science to commercial research and this will open up a lot of opportunities, for instance through our ability to set up trials and develop the optimum conditions for growing particular crops.”
Clare Hayward, Chair of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP, added: “Innovation in agriculture is important for all our futures and central to the agenda we are progressing through our Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Commission.
“Vertical Farming comes with the promise of increased crop yields from a smaller area of land, along with many other benefits, and Cheshire students need to be able to access this 21st century technology.”
Martin Ellis, Director of iGrowing Ltd, said: “It will provide excellent hands-on access for students and businesses and enable them to fully understand the benefits, both commercial and environmental, of these growing systems.
“There is no doubt that vertical farming will play a greater part in sustainable crop production in the future.”
Crop Production Supervisor Jake Jackson, a University Centre Reaseheath graduate, is in charge of the day to day management of the new facility.
He said: “I’m extremely excited as to where this might lead.
“Who knows, in the future we may see vertical farms on supermarket roofs!”
Lead photo: Jake Jackson tends crops in Reaseheath’s new Vertical Farming Centre)
Tags: Farming, Reaseheath, vertical
Vertical Farms vs Greenhouses – The First Consideration: Location
When and where to use a vertical farm versus a greenhouse, and what factors – both economic and environmental – make the difference.
In just the past decade or so, sustainable farming has seen a high-tech makeover in the form of Controlled Environment Agriculture, or CEA, which consists of two main technologies: Vertical farms and greenhouses.
When it comes to feeding the world, it’s not a choice between vertical farms or greenhouses. We’ll need both to feed our growing global population with healthy, sustainable food, and we need to understand the ideal situation for each.
But as a business decision, it often is a choice between the two – and that’s what we hope to explain in this five-part series of articles: When and where to use a vertical farm versus a greenhouse, and what factors – both economic and environmental – make the difference.
In this first post, we’ll cover the basic differences between vertical farms and greenhouses, and why location matters so much when deciding between the two. Then stay tuned because, in the next articles, we’ll dive deeper into energy and lighting costs, automation and other expenses, environmental and crop considerations, and finally, the future of farming.
Vertical Farms vs Greenhouses: The Basics
The two technologies are often confused, but there are significant differences between them in resource use, cost, output, and, perhaps most importantly, the ideal locations for each.
Greenhouses are the more traditional technology that you’re probably familiar with: A single layer of crops, planted inside an enclosed space with walls and a ceiling made of glass or plastic to allow natural light in. They’re semi-controlled environments.
Vertical farms, on the other hand, are a much more recent invention using trays of usually hydroponic plants, stacked in floor-to-ceiling towers, with LED lights illuminating each layer, and climate control constantly adjusting the temperature, humidity and more.
In the upcoming articles in this series, we’ll dive into each part of these differences in more detail. But for now, let’s start with the first question entrepreneurs always need answering: The price tag.
Henry Gordon-Smith is the CEO of Agritecture, an independent consultancy and software creator that helps clients decide between the two technologies. As he puts it, “Vertical farming represents the most expensive, most controlled form of agriculture.”
At first blush, vertical farms are, in fact, shockingly more expensive than greenhouses – six to 10 times as costly. Gordon-Smith says vertical farming costs 2,200 to 2,600 Euro per square meter of cultivation bed space, while high-tech greenhouses cost 250 to 350 Euro per square meter of cultivation space.
Both offer a year-round source of fresh, pesticide-free, locally-grown produce, which provides better nutrition than the same foods that arrive from far away.
But what else do farmers, entrepreneurs, and investors get for all the added expense of vertical farming?
The answer is pretty simple: A more compact farm with more production per square meter, less water use, and more control over both quantity and quality. (With iFarm, this predictability is part of the package, in the form of a guaranteed yield within a precise time frame.)
For some entrepreneurs or municipalities, the cachet of implementing a high-tech farming technique that’s only been in use for less than a decade is also a factor in favour of vertical farming. But most often, the choice comes down to location.
The Ideal Location for a Vertical Farm versus a Greenhouse
The first step in determining the feasibility of building a vertical farm or greenhouse is to look at the drivers and constraints – many of which are simply location-based.
Places with limited space, such as dense urban areas, and limited access to fresh water are ideal for vertical farms. Doubly so if they have access to low-cost, renewable energy, and if they’re near a market with high demand for the crops vertical farms excel at producing: Leafy-greens, micro-greens, herbs and berries grown locally, without pesticides.
But in areas with unlimited space, lots of natural sunlight, and high-cost and/or high-carbon electricity, greenhouses may be the better option and the extra expenses of vertical farming might not make sense.
How these considerations apply in broad regions of the world is illustrated below:
Hydroponics Farming: Why Hydroponic Farms Are Trending In India?
As per reports, India’s hydroponics market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13.53% between 2020 and 2027.
Hydroponics is slowly gaining popularity in India and attracting more and more farmers. Basically, hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture, which is a method of growing plants, usually crops, without soil, by using mineral nutrient solutions in an aqueous solvent.
Hydroponic farming can be done in a small space also like a balcony which is a soil-less, water-based farming process. Rather than using soil for plant nutrition, crops are fed nutrient-rich water, negating a lot of the baggage that comes with soil-based methods.
Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in a nutrient-rich solution, skipping the soil. “It has been practised for centuries, so it is not a new technology," points out Akhila Vijayaraghavan, the founder-director of Coimbatore’s Parna Farms, adding the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are believed to have been hydroponically grown. “The Aztecs created vast hydroponic systems using rafts called chinampas," she says.
The film piqued Gopal’s interest, and he began reading about the method to grow plants without soil. “We started working with hydroponics as a project in 2012. At that time, we didn’t know much about the plight of farmers and how a technology like this could add value," said Gopal. The idea was to create awareness among the right audience and sell “through prototypes and hobby kits."
Urban farmers are taking to hydroponics, a water-smart solution to grow pesticide-free produce on rooftops and terraces. As per reports, India’s hydroponics market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13.53% between 2020 and 2027.
What is Hydroponics
Hydroponics is a branch of hydroculture, in which plants are grown without soil by using water solvent which consists of minerals nutrient solution. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots only, roots are exposed to the nutritious liquid, or roots may be supported physically by a medium like gravel.
Plants are also grown through a process called photosynthesis, in which plants use sunlight and a chemical inside their leaves called chlorophyll to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen, as shown in reaction.
6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6(Glucose)+ 6O2
The nutrients we use in hydroponic systems may come from different sources, such as fish excrement, duck manure, or chemical fertilisers.
1Advantages of Hydroponics
Plantation without soil
We can grow plants in places where the land is limited, doesn't exist, or is contaminated. In the early time period, Hydroponics was a successful technique used to supply fresh vegetables for troops in Wake Island. It has been considered as the future farming to grow foods for astronauts in space by NASA.
Better use of space and location
All those plants need are provided and maintained in a system, you can grow plants in a small apartment, bedrooms or kitchen as long as you have some spaces.
Roots of plants usually expand and spread out in search of foods, and oxygen in the soil but in the case of Hydroponics, roots are sunk in a tank full of oxygenated nutrient solution and are directly in contact with vital minerals. This means that you can grow your plants closer, and consequently huge space savings.
Climate control
Hydroponic growers can have total control over climate, temperature, humidity, light, the composition of the air. This means you can grow foods all year, regardless of the season. Farmers can produce foods at the right time to maximize their profits.
Water-saving
Plants grown by the process of hydroponically can use 10% of water, as compared to one grown on the field because water is recirculated, in this method. Plants will take up the water they need, while run-off water will be captured and return to the system. Water loss in this system will only occur in two forms - evaporation and leaks from the system.
Use of nutrients
You can have 100% control of the nutrients (foods) that plants need in this method. Before planting, growers can check what are plants requirement and what amounts of nutrients needed at particular stages and at what percentage they should be mixed with water.
Better growth rate
Do hydroponic plants grow faster than in soil? Yes, because you can set conditions favourable to the plant’s growth like temperature, lights, moisture, and especially nutrients. As plants are placed in favourable conditions, nutrients are provided in sufficient amounts and come into direct contacts with the root systems. Therefore, plants do not waste valuable energy in the search for diluted nutrients in the soil and put their complete focus on growth.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA: GCU’s Farm Fills Neighbors’ Plates, Students’ Souls
Twenty-six vegetables of numerous varieties grow here in the shadow of the six-story Agave Apartments
March 03, 2021
by Mike Kilen
GCU Outdoor Recreation Club members plant greens in the Canyon Urban Farms raised beds.
Story by Mike Kilen -Photos by Ralph Freso - GCU News Bureau
Nathan Cooper looked across the farm in the middle of the Grand Canyon University campus, where spinach and tomatoes, melons, and broccoli were growing amid students tending them. It’s always easier for farmers to tell stories standing shoulder to shoulder, looking out.
“There was this old woman in my hometown in Minnesota …” the Manager of GCU’s Canyon Urban Farms began.
A smile appeared. Every year, the woman had grown a bountiful patch of tomatoes and gave them all away. Everyone in town knew it. There was a waiting list to get her tomatoes that came from a seed variety dating back decades in her family.
“She died a couple years ago,” Cooper said. “I want to get one of her seeds and dedicate a spot to her here.”
Students Savannah Miles and Gracie Grettenberger (from left) listen as Canyon Urban Farms Manager Nathan Cooper gives them planting tips.
Canyon Urban Farms has that woman’s sentiment at its heart — growing as an act of giving. Cooper had just delivered a batch of produce to Lutheran Social Services for the neighborhood refugee population.
A year into the project, he has the quarter-acre plot to the north of Agave teeming with life – and not just with plants: Students have found it a place of contemplation, a reminder of grandma and renewed growth during a rough pandemic year.
“This was rocky soil,” Cooper told group a half-dozen students from the GCU Outdoor Recreation Club, which arrives weekly to tend the garden and learn from it. “It is turning into the best soil you will ever find.”
The 35 raised beds are filled with it, and now several in-ground raised beds are teeming with organic matter, supplied by compost bins of rotting vegetables and other waste.
He urged the students to contribute to the garden by taking a small container, toss in it waste from their rooms – banana peels, coffee grounds, egg shells – and bring it to the compost bins, where it will be heated by bacteria’s hard work, turned and broken down into the magic of beautiful natural fertilizer.
“As you work, just pick up a handful of the dirt,” he told them. “You will see how much more living it is. You can feel it.”
Students found there is nothing like the taste of a carrot fresh from the ground.
It reminded senior Payton Oxner of his grandmother’s garden in South Dakota.
“During the pandemic, that’s where they got a lot of their food,” he said.
During the pandemic, this is where the Outdoor Rec Club got a lot of its nature. With off-campus outings restricted, it was a welcome addition to step outside into new possibilities.
“COVID took so much from us, so we wanted to create community right here on campus,” said senior trip guide Gracie Grettenberger. “When you say, ‘We have a garden on campus.’ What? They want to be a part of developing it.
“Living in a dorm, we don’t have the opportunity to garden on our own. They miss this, and being able to do this on a campus is a mindful experience.”
It’s part of what brought freshman Savannah Miles to the garden, where she held a package of three different varieties of peppers to plant in an in-ground bed that Cooper called the “salsa garden,” where in weeks peppers and tomatoes can make a delicious addition to any meal.
Gracie Grettenberger of the Outdoor Recreation Club plants seeds in the in-ground beds.
“It’s a meditative activity that wipes away the stress,” she said. “It’s beautiful to make your own produce. Plus, I like dirt. I like playing in dirt.”
Twenty-six vegetables of numerous varieties grow here in the shadow of the six-story Agave Apartments, and Cooper has had to learn which areas get just the right amount of sun for each type of produce.
Some of the broccoli has bolted, but he tells a student that even the leaves can be used to juice.
Kaleb Morrow said that’s also why he and other students are interested in a garden – to go back to the ways of healthy eating, fresh from the dirt outside your room.
“It takes some time to know the intricacies, but you can grow anything,” he said.
While a student’s mobile phone sat in the dirt, leaned against a Bluetooth speaker playing singer/songwriter tunes you’d hear in a coffee shop, Cooper talked of the appeal of this garden — not only as a place to reap the fruit of your labor but as a tool of education. He urged each student to take a package of herb seeds to put in a pot in their rooms.
“You throw a seed in the ground and it comes back a living thing,” he said.
Savannah Miles prepares the ground for planting.
His goal is also to be a good steward of the earth with a self-sustaining garden, using the seeds to plant next year’s crop and using food waste to regenerate the soil.
Plans are growing as fast as the vegetables beyond its primary goal of helping feed the neighborhood.
New wheeled planters for maximizing growing location are planned for the University’s 27th Avenue office complex. A farmers’ market for community members is on his wish list, as are more gatherings on the east end of the acreage, saved as a place for teaching locations or for students to quietly gather among new life.
This virus, he said, created a lot of longing for a place like this.
“There is a lot of good that can be done from this garden.”
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at mike.kilen@gcu.edu or at 602-639-6764.
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Related content:
GCU Today: GCU’s urban farms plant seeds to nourish neighbors
VIDEO: Indoor Ag Sci Cafe Discusses Indoor Farming In Mexico With Karla Garcia, Hort Americas
“Indoor Farming in Mexico: Current Status and Opportunities”
With Karla Garcia
Microgreens FLN & Hort Americas
This presentation ‘Indoor Farming in Mexico: Current Status and Opportunities’ was given by Karla Garcia (Microgreens FLN & HortAmericas) during our 27th cafe forum on February 23rd, 2021. Indoor Ag Science Cafe is organized by the OptimIA project team funded by USDA SCRI grant program.
The Café presentations are available from YouTube channel.
Upcoming Cafes:
March 30, 11am EST – ‘USDA SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Grants Program Overview’ by Dr. Steven Thomson & Melinda Coffman (USDA NIFA)
Interested in giving a talk to share your thoughts and experiences? Contact them
USA - MICHIGAN: Indoor Agriculture Receives $100,000 Grant From MDARD
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
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.
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
Have A Look Inside Large Plant Factory on JPFA Training Course
Plant factories, or vertical farms, are grabbing the headlines lately. Learn about them on our science-based practical online course--anytime at your convenience and anywhere in the world during the course period
Have you ever visited a plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL)? The Japan Plant Factory Association is now receiving applications for its 2021 Online Training Course on PFALs scheduled for Feb. 18-March 11. The course gives you the privilege of taking an exclusive look inside a large-scale, commercial PFAL in central Japan.
Plant factories, or vertical farms, are grabbing the headlines lately. Learn about them on our science-based practical online course--anytime at your convenience and anywhere in the world during the course period.
Besides introductory classes on the basics of PFALs, the course has the just mentioned PFAL virtual tour and the following other special content:
A lecture on phenomics and the potential of phenotyping
Hands-on technical training on PFAL business management
Tailored, further explanations on previous-course lectures,
Operational and hygiene management, future of PFALs in COVID-19 times (2020 Workshop)
Its introductory classes cover not only PFAL principles and the basics like photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration, light environment and plant growth, nutrient solution and hydroponic cultivation, but also forthcoming technologies and PFAL business management.
The JPFA oversees a plant factory hub on the Chiba University Kashiwanoha campus in Kashiwa, northeast of Tokyo. The nonprofit organization has shifted from on-site to online training due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The first-rate lecturers of the coming course include Toyoki Kozai, professor emeritus and former president of Chiba University, who is known as the father of plant factories, and Chieri Kubota, professor at the Ohio State University.
Along with lectures, the training course, run on a specified platform, encourages participants to interact each other and gives them a chance to join an online live question-and-answer session.
The course is available for anybody interested in PFALs--not only JPFA members but nonmembers as well. If you are curious, check here and apply now.
Apply Now
For more information
Japan Plant Factory Association
https://npoplantfactory.org/en/
https://npoplantfactory.org/information/news/2120/
https://npoplantfactory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Renewed-Information-for-JPFA-2021-Online-Training-Course-on-Plant-Factories-with-Artificial-Lighting-PFALs-2021.1.20.pdf
Japan Plant Factory Association
The Japan Plant Factory Association, a nonprofit organization founded in 2010, is devoted to advancing the plant factory industry and controlled-environment agriculture in and outside Japan through academia-industry collaborations.
Its mission is to develop and disseminate sustainable plant factory systems in a bid to address issues concerning food, the environment, energy and natural resources.
The JPFA oversees plant factories on the Chiba University Kashiwanoha campus in Kashiwa, northeast of Tokyo. Also, it works on about 20 R&D projects and runs workshops and training courses.
How to Become a JPFA Member
Apply for JPFA membership here. For more information, visit the JPFA website or email us at training@npoplantfactory.org. We welcome your inquiries.
Price List for JPFA 2021 Online Training Course on PFALs
Want more online educational options?
USA - ARIZONA: UA-CEAC 2021 Online Short Course
Only a few weeks away from the 2021 Online Greenhouse Crop Production and Engineering Design Short Course put on by the University of Arizona's Controlled Environment Agriculture Center
Only a few weeks away from the 2021 Online Greenhouse Crop Production and Engineering Design Short Course put on by the University of Arizona's Controlled Environment Agriculture Center. This virtual program will be hosted through Zoom on Wednesdays- March 3rd, 10th, & 17th from 10 am-3 pm (MST). Come expand your knowledge, sharpen your skills, and hear innovative presentations given by industry leaders and academia experts in Controlled Environment Agriculture. Click here to register. Registration will close on February 26th.
For more information, visit ceac.arizona.edu/events/cea-short-course or email ellenworth@email.arizona.edu
Nanobubble Tech Could Revolutionize Aquaculture & Aquaponics
“There is a pressing need to develop an alternative to the current highly energy-intensive conventional aeration,” said Khanal. “Nanobubble technology has a potential to revolutionize aquaculture and aquaponic systems, with higher productivity and resource recovery.” Khanal was initially awarded CTAHR’s Team Science grant, which was critically important to obtaining preliminary data for his grant proposal to NIFA
Image from: University of Hawai’i News
The burgeoning fields of aquaculture and aquaponics hold vast potential for growing food. Yet, the efficacy of these microbial-mediated processes is governed by the availability of dissolved oxygen in water. Generally, oxygen has poor solubility in water, which has a negative effect on fish growth and plant yields.
Almost $200,000 in new funding from the USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Water Quantity and Quality Program may expand researchers’ understanding of how nanobubbles could improve aeration and oxygen supplies.
Under the grant, Samir Khanal of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR ) Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, will apply the technology to these aqueous systems. His goal is to uncover new opportunities for improving fish and plant yields—with concomitant improvements in water quality.
Image from: University of Hawai’i News
“There is a pressing need to develop an alternative to the current highly energy-intensive conventional aeration,” said Khanal. “Nanobubble technology has a potential to revolutionize aquaculture and aquaponic systems, with higher productivity and resource recovery.”
Khanal was initially awarded CTAHR’s Team Science grant, which was critically important to obtaining preliminary data for his grant proposal to NIFA.
“Thanks to the CTAHR and NIFA grants, we hope our findings will benefit existing Hawaiʻi businesses, as well as a new generation of growers, across the state and beyond,” Khanal added.
Vertical Farming: Ugandan Company Develops Solution for Urban Agriculture
We speak to Lilian Nakigozi, founder of Women Smiles Uganda, a company that manufactures and sells vertical farms used to grow crops in areas where there is limited space
We speak to Lilian Nakigozi, founder of Women Smiles Uganda, a company that manufactures and sells vertical farms used to grow crops in areas where there is limited space.
Image from: How We Made It in Africa
1. How Did You Come Up with the Idea to Start Women Smiles Uganda?
Women Smiles Uganda is a social enterprise formed out of passion and personal experience. I grew up with a single mother and eight siblings in Katanga, one of the biggest slums in Kampala, Uganda. I experienced hunger and poverty where we lived. There was no land for us to grow crops and we didn’t have money to buy food. Life was hard; we would often go to sleep on empty stomachs and our baby sister starved to death.
Growing up like that, I pledged to use my knowledge and skills to come up with an idea that could solve hunger and, at the same time, improve people’s livelihoods, particularly women and young girls living in the urban slums. In 2017, while studying business at Makerere University, I had the idea of developing a vertical farm. This came amid so many challenges: a lack of finance and moral support. I would use the money provided to me for lunch as a government student to save for the initial capital of my venture.
I managed to accumulate $300 and used this to buy materials to manufacture the first 20 vertical farms. I gave these to 20 families and, in 2018, we fully started operations in different urban slums.
2. Tell Us About Your Vertical Farms and How They Work.
Women Smiles vertical farms are made out of wood and recycled plastic materials. Each unit is capable of growing up to 200 plants. The product also has an internal bearing system which turns 360° to guarantee optimal use of the sunlight and is fitted with an inbuilt drip irrigation system and greenhouse material to address any agro-climatic challenges.
The farms can be positioned on a rooftop, veranda, walkway, office building or a desk. This allows the growth of crops throughout the year, season after season, unaffected by climatic changes like drought.
In addition, we train our customers on how to make compost manure using vermicomposting and also provide them with a market for their fresh produce.
Image from: How We Made It in Africa
3. Explain Your Revenue Model.
Women Smiles Uganda generates revenue by selling affordable, reliable and modern vertical farms at $35, making a profit margin of $10 on each unit. The women groups are recruited into our training schemes and we teach them how to use vertical farming to grow crops and make compost manure by vermicomposting. Women groups become our outgrowers of fruits and vegetables. We buy the fresh produce from our outgrowers and resell to restaurants, schools and hotels.
We also make money through partnering with NGOs and other small private organisations to provide training in urban farming concepts to the beneficiaries of their projects.
4. What Are Some of the Major Challenges of Running This Business?
The major challenge we face is limited funds by the smallholder farmers to purchase the vertical farms. However, we mitigate this by putting some of them into our outgrower scheme which helps them to generate income from the fresh produce we buy. We have also linked some of them to financial institutions to access finance.
5. How Do You Generate Sales?
We reach our customers directly via our marketing team which moves door to door, identifying organised women groups and educating them about the benefits of vertical farming for improved food security. Most of our customers are low-income earners and very few of them have access to the internet.
However, we do also make use of social media platforms like Facebook to reach out to our customers, especially the youth.
In addition, we organise talk shows and community gatherings with the assistance of local leaders with whom we work hand in hand to provide educational and inspirational materials to people, teaching them about smart agriculture techniques.
6. Who Are Your Main Competitors?
Just like any business, we have got competitors; our major competitors include Camp Green and Spark Agro-Initiatives.
Image from: The Conversation
7. What Mistakes Have You Made in Business and What Did You Learn From Them?
As a victim of hunger and poverty, my dream was for every family in slums to have a vertical farm. I ended up giving some vertical farms on credit. Unfortunately, most of them failed to pay and we ended up with huge losses.
This taught me to shift the risk of payment default to a third party. Every customer who may need our farms on credit is now linked to our partner micro-finance bank. By doing this, it is the responsibility of the bank to recover the funds from our customers and it has worked well.
8. Apart from This Industry, Name an Untapped Business Opportunity in Uganda.
Manufacturing of cooler sheds for the storage of perishable agricultural produce is one untapped opportunity. Currently, Ugandan smallholder farmers lose up to 40% of their fresh produce because of a lack of reliable cold storage systems.
Providing a cheap and reliable 24/7 cold storage system would dramatically reduce post-harvest losses for these farmers.
Is AppHarvest the Future of Farming?
In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Jan. 28, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman discuss AppHarvest, one such SPAC that is looking to disrupt the agriculture industry. Here are the details on what AppHarvest wants to do, and a look at whether the company represents the future of farming.
Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are red-hot right now, with investors clamoring to get into promising young companies.
In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Jan. 28, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman discuss AppHarvest, one such SPAC that is looking to disrupt the agriculture industry. Here are the details on what AppHarvest wants to do, and a look at whether the company represents the future of farming.
Nick Sciple: One last company I wanted to talk about, Lou, and this is one I think it's -- you pay attention to, but not one I'm super excited to run in and buy. It was a company called AppHarvest. It's coming public via a [SPAC] this year. This vertical farming space. We talked about Gladstone Land buying traditional farmland. AppHarvest is taking a very different approach, trying to lean into some of the ESG-type movements.
Lou Whiteman: Yeah. Let's look at this. It probably wouldn't surprise you that the U.S. is the biggest global farm exporter as we said, but it might surprise you that the Netherlands, the tiny little country, is No. 2. The way they do that is tech: Greenhouse farm structure. AppHarvest has taken that model and brought it to the U.S. They have, I believe, three farms in Appalachia. The pitches can produce 30x the yields using 90% less water. Right now, it's mostly tomatoes and it is early-stage. I don't own this stock either. I love this idea. There's some reasons that I'm not buying in right now that we can get into. But this is fascinating to me. We talked about making the world a better place. This is the company that we need to be successful to make the world a better place. The warning on it is that it is a SPAC. So it's not public yet. Right now, I believe N-O-V-S. That deal should close soon. [Editor's note: The deal has since closed.] I'm not the only one excited about it. I tend not to like to buy IPOs and new companies anyway. I think the caution around buying into the excitement applies here. There is a Martha Stewart video on their website talking up the company, which I love Martha Stewart, but that's a hype level that makes me want to just watch and see what they produce. This is just three little farms in Appalachia right now and a great idea. This was all over my watchlist. I would imagine I would love to hold it at some point, but just be careful because this is, as we saw SPACs last year in other areas, people are very excited about this.
Sciple: Yeah. I think, like we've said, for a lot of these companies, the prospects are great. I think when you look at the reduced water usage, better, environmentally friendly, all those sorts of things. I like that they are in Appalachia. As someone who is from the South, I like it when more rural areas get some people actually investing money there. But again, there's a lot of execution between now and really getting to a place where this is the future of farming and they're going to reach scale and all those sorts of things. But this is a company I'm definitely going to have my radar on and pay attention to as they continue to report earnings. Because you can tell yourself a story about how this type of vertical farming, indoor farming disrupts this traditional model, can be more efficient, cleaner, etc. Something to continue paying attention to as we have more information, because this company, like you said, Lou, isn't all the way public yet. We still got to have this SPAC deal finalized and then we get all our fun SEC filings and quarterly calls and all those sorts of things. Once we have that, I will be very much looking forward to seeing what the company has to say.
Whiteman: Right. Just to finish up along too, the interesting thing here is that it is a proven concept because it has worked elsewhere. The downside of that is that it needed to work there. Netherlands just doesn't have -- and this is an expensive proposition to get started, to get going. There's potential there, but in a country blessed with almost seemingly unlimited farmland for now, for long term it makes sense. But in the short term, it could be a hard thing to really get up and running. I think you're right, just one to watch.
(Assistant) Professor Crop Modelling In Greenhouses And Vertical Farms (Tenure Track)
Are you keen to contribute to the sustainable production of healthy fresh vegetables? We have a vacancy for an Assistant professor of Crop modelling in Greenhouses and vertical farms. Do you like to supervise students? Do you want to combine modelling and data analytics with plant experimentations? Then this position could be a perfect fit for you!
The chair group Horticulture and Product Physiology of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is keen to hire an Assistant Professor (0.7-1.0 ft). As an Assistant Professor, you will take a leading role in developing research and education and the opportunity to establish your own research and education in crop modeling in greenhouses and vertical farms.
This position also involves experimental physiological work at the plant organ, whole plant or whole crop level, which is necessary to build, calibrate and validate models.
In this challenging career trajectory:
You will perform research on modeling, combined with experimentation, of growth, development, and quality of horticultural crops and products (vegetables, fruits, cut flowers, and/or pot plants).
You acquire, lead and implement together with the chair holder and other staff members innovative and creative (inter-)national research projects for our group. Once acquired you also implement and lead these projects.
You supervise Ph.D., MSc, and BSc students, and you will develop and teach courses (lectures, practicals) on the modeling of key plant processes in greenhouses and vertical farms.
Your work will focus on the development of models, which are a combination of multiscale Spatio-temporal data-driven, as well as knowledge-based models. Model applications may include predictions of yield, plant development and growth, quality, post-harvest behavior, resource use and running costs for crops grown in greenhouses and vertical farms
You collaborate with colleagues and establish a personal research portfolio that is embedded in the Horticulture and Product Physiology group
You undertake research on modeling and data analytics, combined with experimentation, that leads to high-quality research output.
You will perform research on modeling, combined with experimentation, of growth, development, and quality of horticultural crops and products (vegetables, fruits, cut flowers, and/or pot plants).
Tenure Track is a career path for scientists who pursue to excel in education and research. We seek to attract scientific talent and to stimulate and support their development.
Requirements:
You hold a Ph.D. degree in plant science, mathematical science, biological science, data science, or similar.
You have experience in modeling and data analytics, as well as a keen interest in combining these activities with experimentation with plants.
You have published research in high-quality journals and are willing to develop your skills in teaching and grant proposal acquisition.
You are strong in stakeholder management because you need to communicate the importance and significance of your research.
This position requires excellent English language proficiency (a minimum of CEFR C2 level). For more information about this proficiency level, please visit our special language page.
The chair group Horticulture & Product Physiology
The chair group Horticulture and Product Physiology conduct high impact research and educate students providing the scientific basis required to answer questions that are of utmost importance for sustainable crop production and product quality in horticulture.
The research focus is on how physiological processes in crops, plants, and plant organs interact with the abiotic environment and how this affects crop production and product quality. Questions arising from horticultural practice are translated into fundamental research topics, aiming to explain mechanisms. The research and education contribute to sustainably feeding the World with healthy high-quality products.
The chair group is an international team consisting of 15 permanent staff members, about 25 Ph.D. candidates and postdocs, and a number of guest researchers. Each year about 40 MSc students conduct their thesis study (6-month research) at our group. We organize and participate in a variety of courses for BSc and MSc students to transfer knowledge on horticulture (pre-and post-harvest), environmental physiology, and product quality.
More info about the chair group can be found at www.hpp.wur.nl or see the video below:
Salary Benefits:
Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement:
sabbatical leave, study leave, and paid parental leave;
working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
the option to accrue additional flexible hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
excellent ABP pension regulations.
In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will be offered a fixed-term, 7-year contract which, upon positive evaluation based on criteria elaborated in the University's Tenure Track policy, can lead to a permanent employment contract as a professor. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive salary of between € 3.746,- and € 5.127,- (assistant professor position) for a full-time working week of 38 hours in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 11). The position can be part-time or full-time (0.7-1.0 ft).
Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.
You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the "Best University" in the Netherlands for the 16th consecutive time.
Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research center for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees. Applicants from abroad moving to the Netherlands may qualify for special tax relief, known as the 30% ruling. Our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.
Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about helping your partner to find a job, housing, schooling, and other issues.
Work Hours: 38 hours per week
Address: Droevendaalsesteeg
University of Arizona Announces Greenhouse Engineering Course
Join the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center for their 20th Annual CEAC Greenhouse Crop Production & Engineering Design Short Course on March 3rd, 10th, and 17th via Zoom
Join the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center for their 20th Annual CEAC Greenhouse Crop Production & Engineering Design Short Course on March 3rd, 10th, and 17th via Zoom. This virtual conference will increase your knowledge in Controlled Environment Agriculture and hydroponic growing and will allow you to network with industry leaders.
Each day will be jam-packed with incredible presentations given by experts in academia and the CEA industry. Topics will include Greenhouse Structures and Environments, Managing Plant Nutrition, Lighting, Fertigation Systems, Pest Identification, and Control Strategies, Hemp and Mushrooms in CEA, Organic Hydroponic Food Production, and much more! Registration is open until February 26th, 2021.
Click here for the 2021 Online Greenhouse Crop Production & Engineering Design Short Course Schedule
For more information, visit ceac.arizona.edu.