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Vertical Aeroponics: The future of Farming?
Vertical Aeroponics: The future of Farming?
- Andrew Boardwine aboardwine@florencenews.com Reporter
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- January 17, 2018
FLORENCE, S.C. — The future of growing fruits and vegetables rests vertically, growing up, instead of horizontally, growing out.
Tim Blank, Tower Gardener founder, and Kellie Altman, of G Squared Farm, tag-teamed to provide a session detailing the future of farming through vertical aeroponics on Wednesday at the S.C. AgriBiz & Farm Expo
Blank began working as a researcher in EPCOT at Walt Disney World in Orlando in 1992 and stayed at Disney until 2005, when he decided to start Future Growing, a company that became a leader in building vertical aeroponic food farms.
“I look at the one-size-fits-all vertical system as crop insurance,” Blank said. “The idea behind all of this is to use the space in your greenhouse more efficiently. When you grow up instead of growing out, you reduce capital cost and natural resources by heating and cooling a much smaller place as well.”
Aeroponics is a planting technique in which the roots hang suspended in the air while nutrients are delivered to them in a mist.
“Aeroponics is considered to be the best way to grow,” Blank said. “We’re getting more oxygen to the roots, and you don’t have to deal with the excess grown medium. Science continues to prove that this is becoming a more efficient way to grow plants at a higher rate.”
Blank creates “tower gardens” that allow the plants to grow vertically and use the aeroponic method.
He said the foundation is targeting large and small greenhouses, farms inside and outside and farms on rooftops across the nation.
“There are a lot of rooftops around the nation,” Blank said. “We specialize in being able to transform a rooftop into a garden with our tower gardens, and the idea is that the urban farmer can grow any crop and move with the market.”
Kellie Altman, of Johnsonville, has a farm that is 3,000 square feet with 40 tower gardens and said that tower gardens became her new passion after seeing the power of the nutrients they provided.
“They are set up to help you succeed,” Altman said. “It’s a company that promotes healthy living, physically and financially. Our entire family loves it, and it’s something that has made all of us closer.”
How Do You Create A Sustainable, Economical Vertical Farm?
How Do You Create A Sustainable, Economical Vertical Farm?
Princeton University’s Vertical Farming Project aims to improve the sustainability of vertical farm production systems for commercial growers.
The lack of accurate information related to vertical farming production was one of the main reasons that Dr. Paul Gauthier decided to start the Vertical Farming Project at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J. Gauthier, who is Associate Research Scholar in Environmental Plant Physiology and Modeling, began the project in April 2016 after he saw an increasing number of growers considering starting vertical farm operations.
Paul Gauthier established the Princeton Vertical Farming Project to study the challenges vertical farm growers would face in the future including manpower, technology and sustainability.
Photos courtesy of Paul Gauthier, Princeton Univ.
“I noticed that a lot of the information related to hydroponic growing was coming from the 1990s and there was a lot of misinformation,” Gauthier said. “I decided to address some of the issues that growers were having by starting a vertical farm project and showing growers how to improve the production systems. There was a lot of information about growing in greenhouses, but very little information on growing in a vertical farm. With the Vertical Farming Project I wanted to investigate the challenges that vertical farm growers would face in the future including manpower, technology and sustainability, which is one of my main goals.”
Training Vertical Farm Technicians
While Gauthier was interested in helping growers develop better hydroponic production systems, he was also interested in training Princeton students who could go on to help advance the vertical farm industry.
“Because of the interest in vertical farming and more people looking at starting vertical farm operations, there is going to be a demand for high technology jobs to operate these facilities,” Gauthier said. “When I started this project I wanted to create a program for training students about this technology. Nutrient film technique (NFT) and deep water culture are the two most common vertical farm production systems currently being used by growers. These are the systems that my students are working with and doing different projects.
Although Paul Gauthier and his students are studying more conventional crops like lettuce and kale, they are also researching crops less commonly grown in vertical farms like wheat and peas.
“One of the questions that we wanted to answer when we began the project was how long does it take a grower to break even and to start making money. We began looking at how to create a business plan using a vertical farm inside a building and not a greenhouse. We wanted to determine how long it will take using a vertical farm for a small company to break even. We also wanted to look at energy consumption and water consumption.”
While Gauthier has seen a lot of excitement from his students about growing vegetables, he said they don’t necessarily understand the limitations to growing plants.
“A typical way that I interact with the students is to have them work on the vertical farm for at least two months,” he said. “They come to the farm almost every day to monitor pH, temperature and EC. I ask them to look at the changes in the plants. I want them to learn how a vertical farm works and how plants react to changes in pH, EC and temperature.
“I then ask them to come up with their own projects based on their own interests. Every time we grow a new crop in the vertical farm we collect information on water, energy and nutrient consumption.”
Undergraduate student Jesenia Haynes is working on a research project to determine the carbon footprint of vertical farms. Haynes is studying the impact on the environment producing kale and lettuce in a vertical farm versus a conventional farm.
“What would happen if there were 10,000 vertical farms?” Gauthier said. “Would that be something that is good for the environment? Jesenia came up with a project to try to determine the impact growing a hydroponic crop could have on the environment. She is working on determining a way to calculate the amount of carbon that is created by producing a kilo or about 2 pounds of lettuce in a vertical farm. Undergraduate student Seth Lovelace is monitoring plant growth with sensors and another student will be studying the production of strawberries in a vertical farm.”
Undergraduate student Jesenia Haynes is working on a research project to determine the carbon footprint of vertical farms.
Designing An Efficient, Sustainable Production System
The vertical farm system that Gauthier designed incorporates both deep water culture and NFT systems equipped with broad-spectrum white light LEDs.
“Because I’m a plant physiologist, I know that plants use light from a broad range of wavelengths and not just blue and red,” he said. “I was focused on incorporating white light with a full light spectrum. The bottom part of the vertical farm system is a deep water pond used for research. In the NFT troughs, we are growing lettuce, basil, cilantro, kale, peppers, snow peas, and strawberries. I am also growing wheat, barley, and edible flowers.
“The reason I am focusing on a variety of crops other than leafy greens is that we can’t feed the world on just lettuce. In order to be able to feed the world using vertical farming, as a lot of people are claiming, then we have to be able to change peoples’ appetites. There are a lot of other crops besides lettuce. If we can change the flavor by altering the taste, we may be able to change the appetite and diet of a lot of people. Then we may be able to change the way we feed the world.”
One of the major issues Gauthier is studying is finding solutions that make vertical farming more environmentally friendly.
“One of the big issues with vegetable farming is creating waste,” he said. “All of this waste has to be treated. One of the main wastes of this treatment is green water. We don’t want this green water to be released and to pollute more areas.”
Another area of interest for Gauthier is to incorporate vertical farming into architectural building design.
Paul Gauthier and his students, including Seth Lovelace, are looking to determine the environmental impact aspect of vertical farming before the industry and its operations get too big.
“We are cooperating with some of the architects on campus to find a new solution to integrate vegetable farming into the architectural design not just for food, but to also integrate vegetable farming into the design of new buildings to make the vegetable production a part of our everyday life,” he said. “These buildings provide a controlled environment. Putting vegetable farming into a building could benefit what is already inside the building.
“The environmental impact aspect of vertical farming is the challenge for the next five years. It is especially important to do before the industry and its operations get too big. Once the industry grows too large it will be very difficult to investigate. What we are trying to determine and to push is to develop sustainable systems that are affordable for everybody to begin a startup. We don’t want people to have to upgrade to a more sustainable system. We are trying to develop a sustainable system right now.”
For more: Paul Gauthier, Princeton University, Department of Geosciences, (609) 480-2690; ppg@princeton.edu; https://verticalfarming.princeton.edu.
David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.
Urban Farming Could Be Humanity’s Best Hope To Solve Deforestation And World Hunger
Urban Farming Could Be Humanity’s Best Hope To Solve Deforestation And World Hunger
Urban Farming.U.S. Department of Agriculture/Flickr
Thursday, January 18, 2018
World hunger and global deforestation are two of the biggest problems assaulting humanity right now. Sure, there’s also climate change, but it can almost be considered an umbrella under which all of the global threats from nature is stemming from. There are already proposed steps to combat climate change, but in the case of deforestation and world hunger, Urban Farming could be humanity’s best hope.
According to a recent study published in the Scientific Reports, over half of Europe’s forests have been destroyed due to farming or urban development. Granted, this occurred over the last 6,000 years, but the result is still telling.
These findings mimic the widespread loss of forests, jungles, rain forests, and even coastal trees all over the globe. While there’s very little that the average person can do to address these bigger concerns, there is a solution that is within the reach of everyday people in the form of Urban Farming.
Urban Farming is basically where farmers would grow vegetables, crops, fruits, or berries within the city limits instead of through traditional farmlands. As Futurism notes, this practice essentially puts the food near the consumers who will be buying or eating them and also achieves production levels that are almost comparable to more conventional methods.
The trend of putting food production inside cities, suburbs, or even warehouse areas also addresses the escalating need for more agricultural land. This is due to the many forms that Urban Farming can take, from the simplest home gardens to the most complex three-dimensional industries that are finding their way into major U.S. metropolises.
Starting an Urban Farm is easy, as well, thanks to equipment and methods being within easy reach. As the president of the company Urban Organics, Dave Haider told the publication, there’s a huge potential in Urban Farming.
“You have to look at these facilities in cubic feet as opposed to square feet. We can really put out a lot of produce from a facility like this,” Haider said, referring to one of his vertical farms.
Greenhouse Technology Could Be The Future of Food
Greenhouse Technology Could Be The Future of Food
Published: Jan. 17, 2018 • By Trent Knoss
Professor Ronggui Yang (left) and Assistant Professor Xiaobo Yin. Photo by Glenn J. Asakawa / University of Colorado Boulder
CU Boulder engineers have received a $2.45 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop a scalable, cost-effective greenhouse material that splits sunlight into the photosynthetically efficient light and repurposes inefficient infrared light to aid in water purification. The material can also split the light streaming into greenhouses into rays that plants can use more efficiently.
The four-year research program could yield next-gen technology capable of solving food, energy and water security challenges posed by global population growth and climate change.
The study, administered under the USDA and National Science Foundation’s Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) program, will be led by researchers from CU Boulder’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in collaboration with Michigan State University’s Department of Horticulture and Department of Mechanical Engineering.
“We are excited to work on a project that addresses one of the most important global challenges with our multidisciplinary colleagues at CU and MSU,” said Ronggui Yang, a professor of mechanical engineering who will lead the team.
Greenhouses have been used since the 1960s and remain the standard for effective plant productivity compared to open-field agriculture. But the structures carry high energy costs, requiring tremendous amounts of energy for heating, ventilation, electrical lighting and water for evaporative cooling. By the year 2050, current greenhouse capabilities will likely be unable to keep up with worldwide human consumption, making an increase in productivity an urgent mandate.
Under normal conditions, plants only use around 50 percent of incoming sunlight for photosynthesis while the remaining half goes unused.
“The new CU Boulder technology will take the form of a semi-translucent film that splits incoming light and converts the rays from less-desired green wavelengths into more desirable red wavelengths, thus increasing the amount of photosynthetically efficient light for the plant with no additional electricity consumption,” said Xiaobo Yin, an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at CU Boulder.
The thin engineered material can be applied directly to the surface of greenhouse panels. The technology also makes use of the photosynthetically ineffective light by redirecting it to aid in solar-driven water purification.
“The near-infrared wavelengths can help clean brackish wastewater, allowing it to be recirculated in an advanced humidification-dehumidification interface and further reducing the greenhouse’s energy footprint,” said Yang, an American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow.
The innovation could help improve U.S. agricultural competitiveness and lead to new best practices for greenhouse systems in different climates, especially in arid regions with limited freshwater availability where crops cannot be grown profitably.
The technology expands on the researchers’ previous successful efforts to develop a suite of scalable engineered materials that can cool structures and improve solar panel efficiency, among other applications.
The researchers plan to create a pilot greenhouse facility to test the material’s properties over the course of multiple tomato production cycles and, later, expand the test to leafy greens such as lettuce and herbs.
New Technologies Allow Sustainable Farming In The Arctic
New Technologies Allow Sustainable Farming In The Arctic
Bambi Majumdar January 23, 2018
Eco-chef and foodie Benjamin L. Vidmar has used "polar permaculture" to grow food in the Arctic. (Image: Polar Permaculture)
In "The Martian," Matt Damon showed us how we can grow food even when stranded on the frigid surface of Mars. Back on Earth, this method has been successfully proven by eco-chef and foodie Benjamin L. Vidmar.
The small Arctic town of Longyearbyen is known for its spectacular Northern Lights. But now it is making news for the successful implementation of "polar permaculture" that Vidmar introduced here (which also happens to be the name of his company, Polar Permaculture).
For a long time, the town had to pay a hefty price to procure all its food and produce from outside. All that has now changed with the use of modern technologies like polar permaculture, which makes use of hydroponic systems, insulated greenhouses and compost-warmed geodesic domes.
They are also using the waste from the island to produce biogas and grow their food. The design keeps in mind the fragile ecosystem of the North Pole and ensures that the environment is well-protected. This shows how technology is changing the world of fresh produce and creating regional food security.
This emerging technology can grow fresh food even in the coldest and darkest regions on Earth. Scientists are hopeful that they can soon grow fresh food in an arid desert throughout the year.
Permaculture design techniques are inspired by nature. They have the potential to turn a simple garden into an ultraproductive food source. This could be a game-changer for those who want holistic and organic produce. With Vidmar's project, we now have evidence for indigenous growth in extremely cold climes as well.
There are many regions like Longyearbyen that suffer from poor soil and unsuitable conditions for growing food. Most of the food needs to be shipped into these areas while waste is dumped without recycling.
The polar permaculture technique looks at both these ends and offers a solution. It has helped Vidmar close the loop, reuse and recycle the waste to create a "circular economy." Food insecurity and food waste are worrisome issues. With the help of innovative technologies, it now seems a sustainable food culture is possible.
Vidmar's efforts are mirrored by Canadians Ben Canning and Stefany Nieto. They are working to produce affordable fresh food in the Arctic Canadian community of Naujaat. Remote locations like these suffer from lack of indigenous produce, and poverty is rampant, too.
Shocked by the conditions there, they partnered with organizations like Enactus Ryerson to bring about affordable, healthy food to the locals. They create greenhouses to grow fresh produce in otherwise harsh and impossible conditions. Much like Vidmar, they use techniques like insulated greenhouses hydroponic systems and compost-warmed geodesic domes, among others.
Other innovative strategies that defy the extreme climates include cold-weather container farms. Simple and brilliant, the technology transforms a shipping container into a hydroponic greenhouse.
Called the Arctic Growing System, this is slowly empowering remote Arctic communities to grow their greens on site. The future may see other remote locations benefit the same way, thereby lowering food insecurity around the world.
Understanding Coco Coir As A Grow Medium
Coconut coir usually comes in blocks. Adding temperate filter water to the blocks causes it to expand to produce a very refined growing medium for microgreens, that you can mix with your soil. It keeps the pH value from diving too low; Coir is also great for soil structure.
Understanding Coco Coir As A Grow Medium
January 23, 2018
I bet you are used to seeing coconuts in movies, where people sip out of them as they casually lay there taking the sun. Well, we have some news for you too. Coconuts can also be used in growing microgreens.
Introduction
Coconut coir usually comes in blocks. Adding temperate filter water to the blocks causes it to expand to produce a very refined growing medium for microgreens, that you can mix with your soil. It keeps the pH value from diving too low; Coir is also great for soil structure.
What Is Coconut Coir?
In the past, when coconuts were harvested for their delicious meat and juice, the coconut husk was considered a waste product. All of the material from the husk to the inner shell of the coconut was a discarded product until people realized it had many applications in gardening and home products. Everything in between the shell and the outer coating of the coconut seed is considered coco coir. There are two types of fibers that make up coir — brown and white. Brown coir comes from mature, ripe coconuts and is a lot stronger, but less flexible. White fibers come from pre-ripe coconuts and are far more flexible, but much less strong. Most of the coconut coir used for hydroponics is brown coir, as it’s processed even more after initial harvesting.
How Is Coconut Coir Made?
Before Coconut Coir is used it has through gone through an extensive process before it is used. First, they remove the coir from the coconuts. How is this done? This is done by soaking the husks in water to loosen and soften them. This is either done in tidal waters or freshwater. If done in tidal waters, the coconut coir will take up a large amount of salt. This then prompts the manufacturer to flush out at a later stage. Then, they’re removed from the water bath and dried for over a year. After the drying process, which is quite extensive, the coir is organized into bales. The bales are then chopped and processed into various formats, from chips, to “croutons”, to classic ground coconut coir.
Using Coconut Coir In Hydroponic Gardening
Coconut Coir makes transitioning from soil gardening to hydroponic gardening very easy as it handles just like regular potting soil. You can easily begin practicing a modified form hydroponic gardening with regular flower pots and grow lights. When searching be sure to choose the right type of coir for your purpose. You will find a variety of products packaged for garden, ornamental and hydroponic use.
Coconut coir prepared for hydroponic gardening has the sodium and potassium removed to provide a completely nutrient-neutral medium. This gives you complete control over the nutrient uptake of your plants. Extra special care is needed when preparing coir for use in hydroponics. While the ornamental variety is quite inexpensive, it is unsuitable for hydroponic and food production use because it might contain higher salt levels.
For hydroponic use, brown coir, the more processed fiber is preferable. It is more of an innate material that acts primarily as a support medium and presents less risk of introducing unwanted organisms to a hydroponic garden.
In the production process, salt is often introduced during the soaking phase. Some producers use fresh water and others use tidal waters. The salt must be rinsed out very thoroughly to produce a product appropriate for hydroponic usage.
The best quality of hydroponic grade coir, comes with a low salt content; however, never take any chances. Always flush the product with low EC nutrient solution in advance of using it in your hydroponic setup.
Rinse until the solution washes through clear (rather than brown or tan). Once you have clear water running through the product, test this water for both EC and pH before using the product. Amend and adjust as needed when supplying your setup with water.
If you made it to this point, you'd like some of these more recent posts.
"How to grow microgreens from seed"
"How to grow popcorn shoots without grow lights"
Philips Lighting Introduces New GreenPower LED Toplighting at IPM Essen With Higher Efficacy, Light output and a Longer Lifetime
Both new versions offer a higher light efficacy of up to 3.3 µmol/J, a longer lifetime of 35,000 burning hours and exceptional energy efficiency compared to the former toplighting module.
Philips Lighting Introduces New GreenPower LED Toplighting at IPM Essen With Higher Efficacy, Light Output And a Longer Lifetime
January 25, 2018
Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced the introduction of new GreenPower LED toplighting modules at IPM Essen that helps greenhouse growers improve the growth of lettuce, herbs, and high-wire vegetable crops. Both new versions offer a higher light efficacy of up to 3.3 µmol/J, a longer lifetime of 35,000 burning hours and exceptional energy efficiency compared to the former toplighting module. The 520 µmol/s photon flux version is designed to cost-efficiently enhance growth of high-wire tomato and cucumber crops by producing the optimal amount of light in a full LED system, while using less energy. The 620 µmol/s version is ideal for increasing light output for horizontal cultivation of lettuce and herbs.
Best choice for increasing light or decreasing energy costs
“For many years, the use of LED toplighting for greenhouse vegetable cultivation has been steadily growing. Now we can offer an even more efficient solution for a variety of vegetable growing needs,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Philips Lighting. “Whether growers are looking to apply more light to leafy greens or herbs or focus to reduce their energy costs, the improved GreenPower LED toplighting can meet both requirements.”
Uniform light distribution and long lifetime
The 620 µmol/s version GreenPower LED toplighting module may be mounted on a trellis and deliver uniform light distribution. This gives growers the flexibility to create light plans without the use of an additional C profile. The average lifetime is much longer to increase the return on investment – a rated average lifetime of 35,000 burning hours compared to 25,000 of the former toplighting module. The 400V input voltage module will replace the current 400V toplighting portfolio, and will be available before summer 2018 for the European, Asian and Australian markets.
For further information, please contact:
Philips Lighting Horticulture LED Solutions
Daniela Damoiseaux, Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Philips Lighting
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@philips.com
www.philips.com/horti
About Philips Lighting
Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting products, systems and services, delivers innovations that unlock business value, providing rich user experiences that help improve lives. Serving professional and consumer markets, we lead the industry in leveraging the Internet of Things to transform homes, buildings and urban spaces. With 2016 sales of EUR 7.1 billion, we have approximately 34,000 employees in over 70 countries. News from Philips Lighting is located at the Newsroom, Twitter and LinkedIn. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
Hydroponic Vegetables Not That Safe, Says Bangkok Food Safety Group
Hydroponic Vegetables Not That Safe, Says BangkokFood Safety Group
- 22 Jan 2018
- WRITER: ONLINE REPORTERS
Samples of hydroponic vegetables shown at the Thai-PAN media conference in Nonthaburi province on Monday. (Thai-PAN photo)
Nearly two-thirds of the samples of hydroponically-grown vegetables tested were found to be contaminated with pesticides in excess of the maximum residue limit, according to the Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN).
The non-governmental organisation working on food safety recently tested 30 samples of vegetables marked as hydroponic and sold at fresh markets and supermarkets in Bangkok and other provinces.
Nineteen of them, or 63.3%, contained pesticides at levels above the maximum residue limit. Three others were found to have residue but not exceeding the limit, while the other eight samples were free of residue.
The tests were made exclusively on vegetables grown at hydroponic farms - where crops are grown in a water-based, nutrient-rich medium, without the use of soil.
Thai-PAN coordinator Prokchon Usap told a news conference the findings suggested that hydroponic vegetables were not as safe as some consumers might have thought.
Thai-PAN conducted a similar test on fruits and vegetables grown in soil late last year and found that 54.4% of the samples were contaminated with pesticides exceeding the limit.
"Some people understand that hydroponic vegetables are safe and use less pesticides or are even free of them. That’s not true," she said.
Ms. Prokchon said the tests found 25 types of toxic chemicals such as Ametryn (herbicide), Azoxystrobin (fungicide), Carbofuran and Methomyl (insecticide and acaricide).
She said the findings would be presented to the farm operators to encourage them to better regulate the use of toxic chemicals in hydroponic vegetables.
She urged the consumers to check the details of the test at the Thai-PAN website.
National Young Farmers Coalition Issues Guide to Growing a Farm With Federal Loans
The National Young Farmers Coalition just released Farm Service Agency Loans: The Ins and Outs of Growing a Farm with Federal Loans, an illustrated guidebook for farmers looking to secure credit from USDA.
National Young Farmers Coalition Issues Guide to Growing a Farm With Federal Loans
Illustrated by Disney artist, guide is downloadable free at youngfarmers.org
HUDSON, NY (Jan. 16, 2018) – The National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) today released Farm Service Agency Loans: the Ins and Outs of Growing a Farm with Federal Loans, an illustrated guidebook for farmers looking to secure credit from USDA. This is the first comprehensive plain language guide to FSA loans since before the introduction of the popular microloan in 2013.
Cara Fraver, NYFC director of business services and former vegetable farmer, authored the guidebook with Lindsey Lusher Shute, NYFC executive director. The book is illustrated by Tamara Lusher Stocker, an artist who worked on celebrated animated films for Walt Disney Studios and developed films for Lucas Films, Ltd., and other studios.
“The Farm Service Agency remains the best place for young farmers to access their first capital,” said Shute. “The National Young Farmers Coalition collaborated with FSA on this guidebook because we wanted to make the process of getting a loan easier and more transparent.”
Shute noted the book helps farmers navigate the ins and outs of the loan process with a light touch, charming illustrations, and from the perspective and curiosity of a young farmer. Smart, comprehensive, deeply researched, and up-to-date, the book includes:
- the story of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency;
- a family tree of all the people who make loans at USDA through the Farm Service Agency;
- a description of all the ways farmers can get involved through USDA committees to influence and improve the loan process;
- case studies from farmers who received FSA loans;
- and charts with up-to-date interest rates and loan terms.
Farm Service Agency Loans: The Ins and Outs of Growing a Farm with Federal Loans, 50 pages, is available for free download at youngfarmers.org or in hard copy for $15. Its publication is funded by a cooperative agreement with USDA’s FSA Office of Program Education and Stakeholder Engagement to reach new audiences.
The National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) is a national advocacy network of young farmers fighting for the future of agriculture. Visit NYFC on the web at www.youngfarmers.org, and on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
Local Food Activist Jillian Hishaw Named A 'Changemaker'
Local Food Activist Jillian Hishaw Named A 'Changemaker'
By AMY ROGERS • January 23, 2018
For more than a decade, agricultural attorney Jillian Hishaw has been working in the southeast to alleviate hunger, help financially distressed farmers hold on to their land, and find markets for locally farmed goods.
Now Hishaw has been named a “Food Changemaker” by the Clif Bar Family Foundation.
Jillian Hishaw
CREDIT COURTESY JILLIAN HISHAW
The agricultural attorney is the founder of Family Agriculture Resource Management Services (F.A.R.M.S). In a short film about her work, she explains, “My grandfather was the inspiration behind F.A.R.M.S. because of his experience with our family-land loss.”
Hishaw works with organizations and individuals such as LeTanya Williams, who lives and farms not far from metropolitan Charlotte, in Chester, S.C. Williams explains she is a “minority, ‘double-time,’ as an African American and also a woman.” Support and understanding of farming struggles are important, “but what I really admire about Jillian is that she gathers money to purchase food from farmers – because this is not a billion-dollar industry – to give to their local pantries,” Williams says.
In November 2015, Hishaw organized a free produce giveaway for Charlotte’s low-income seniors and families. Hundreds of people attended. That same year, F.A.R.M.S. purchased 16,130 pounds of fresh produce from family farms, then distributed it to food banks, pantries, child care centers, and other community agencies.
Such organizations are often limited to stocking canned goods and other non-perishables, so these farm-fresh greens, beans, melons, potatoes and tomatoes are especially welcome. In 2016, the amount F.A.R.M.S. purchased and distributed increased six-fold – to 100,765 pounds.
The group also received a grant from the African American Community Foundation (AACF), part of Foundation for the Carolinas, to install gardens at a senior living facility in Charlotte’s Washington Heights neighborhood; then purchased produce and fresh-farmed fish for donation events to benefit single-parent households and a mental-health group home, respectively. Members of the Males Place partnered to assist with an event to provide 500 pounds of sweet potatoes to a daycare center for elder Charlotte residents.
Certainly, food donations are the public face of F.A.R.M.S, but it’s the work behind the scenes that’s just as critical. It’s estimated that black landowners are losing approximately 30,000 acres of farmland each year. Hishaw explains, “The average age of a U.S. farmer is 65 or older. They need help with succession planning, estates, and foreclosure prevention.” To foster the next generation of farmers, the group also provides internships and educational programs for students. (While there’s no monetary prize for the “Changemaker” designation, the Foundation is a current funder of Hishaw’s program.)
Most recently, Hishaw has been working as a local consultant on the City of Charlotte’s Farmers Market study.
She states, “The need for farming is essential, and until we provide our existing farmers with support – and recruit new and beginning farmers into the career sector – our food systems will continue to be broken. Urban financial support of rural areas is essential because zoning and development pressures will keep urban farms from growing, and one can only grow so much on a vacant lot.” To sustain its mission, F.A.R.M.S. is seeking volunteers, friends on social media, and business partnerships.
There’s much more to this story of giving “A Big Lift to Small Farms.” Check out this video of Hishaw with some of her partners in food advocacy. For more information, visit the F.A.R.M.S. website, 30000acres.org.
Northeast Organic Farmers Coming Together at Rutgers This January
Northeast Organic Farmers Coming Together at Rutgers This January
By ADRIAN HYDE
January 17, 2018 at 11:35 AM
More than 50 workshops on food, farming, and gardening will be offered at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ) Winter Conference at the Rutgers University Douglass Student Center, 100 George Street, New Brunswick.
The sessions run Jan. 27 and 27, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. They'll include five tracks: crops, livestock, gardening, policy and urban farming.
Anyone interested in learning about local, organic and sustainable food, permaculture and related policy issues is invited to attend.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Regenerating Our Communities, Restoring Our Land,” and nationally-recognized speakers are coming in from all over the country. This year’s keynote is Mark Shepard author of Restoration Agriculture, which explains his approach to permaculture, as practiced at his New Forest Farm in Wisconsin.
In his work, Shepard makes the “whys and hows” of permaculture compelling and accessible, including its ability to sequester gigantic amounts of atmospheric carbon. He also explains clearly the tradeoffs between annual and perennial crops.
Don Huber, PhD, will speak in a double-session about his research on the harms of glyphosate, the world’s most ubiquitous pesticide. Along with the content of his presentations, Huber provides copious references to scholarly and scientific work on the subject.
Dan Kittredge, lifelong farmer and founder of the Bionutrient Food Association, will reveal his organization’s efforts to democratize testing for food quality in a completely open-source framework.
For several years, Kittredge has been a leader in efforts to produce more nutrient-dense, high-quality foods, and early successes in the BFA’s food testing strategy suggest exciting possibilities.
In addition to Mark Shepard, other nationally-recognized, expert permaculturists will be speaking, both individually and on the “PermaPanel.” There will be something for everyone, from topics of general interest to specific practices for experienced farmers.
For more information, please visit nofanj.org or contact NOFA-NJ at 908-371-1111.
A Mobile Post-Harvest Pre-Cooling System for Post-Harvest Pre-Cooling At Grow Sites.
Chill Produce Coolers and ColdPICK have combined to design, engineer, manufacture and represent forced air and vacuum post-harvest pre-cooling systems.
Gregory Smith Managing Partner at PlaireSmith LLC
Chill Produce Coolers – CPC (www.chillproduce.com) and ColdPICK (www.coldpick.com) have combined to design, engineer, manufacture and represent forced air and vacuum post-harvest pre-cooling systems.
ColdPICK has partnered with Driscoll’s in the manufacture of the ColdPICK M1, a mobile post-harvest pre-cooling system for post-harvest pre-cooling at grow sites.
Chill Produce represents a manufacturer that offers ‘skid mounted’ vacuum chambers that are characterized by their cost efficiency, small footprints, and easy mobility.
The partnership has access to design, engineer and builds a custom cold chain footprint ranging in size from 1,000 to 100,000 LB per hour cooling/freezing capacity.
Serving ‘Urban Farming’ Sites and Commercial Grower / Shippers of medium to high respiration fruit and vegetables.
Systems can be completely mobile or fixed.
A Jeff Bezos-Backed Warehouse Farm Startup is Building 300 Indoor Farms Across China
A Jeff Bezos-Backed Warehouse Farm Startup is Building 300 Indoor Farms Across China
Inside Plenty's first farm in South San Francisco, California. Plenty
January 23, 2018
The vertical farming startup Plenty just announced that it plans to build 300 organic, indoor farms in or near Chinese cities.
- In late 2017, the company scored $200 million in the largest-ever ag-tech deal. The funding round was led by Softbank Ventures and included DCM Ventures as well as funds that invest on behalf of Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
- Due to rising concerns surrounding food safety, middle-class Chinese consumers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for organic produce.
In the past two decades, China has experienced several food scandals. Between 2001 and 2006, toxic mushrooms killed 148 people and poisoned over 500 others in Yunnan. In 2010, Hunan police shut down a large operation that produced "green beans" from dyed soybeans.
As a result, a growing number of Chinese residents are turning to organic produce, which is considered safer since its production is more regulated, according to The Guardian.
A Jeff Bezos-backed indoor farming company called Plenty will soon harvest some of this organic produce. But unlike traditional farms, it will grow crops on LED-lit 20-foot-tall towers, which do not require soil, pesticides, or even natural sunlight. The technique is called vertical farming.
Plenty says it will build 300 vertical farms in or near major Chinese cities, where it will capitalize on the country's growing middle-class demand for organic produce. The first farmwill open next year, Bloomberg reports. In Beijing and Shanghai, the company will also build centers where customers can taste produce.
To date, the Silicon Valley startup has raised $226 million. In July, $200 million came from a Series B funding round led by SoftBank Vision in the largest ever ag-tech deal. The round included DCM Ventures as well as funds that invest on behalf of Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
In a past interview with Business Insider, Plenty CEO Matt Barnard said the company hopes to eventually sell its organic produce for the same price as traditional produce. Plenty plans to drive down operational costs by automating its growing processes as much as possible.
In the spring, Plenty will open a 100,000-square-foot farm in the greater Seattle, Washington area. The 100,000-square-foot warehouse facility will grow 4.5 million pounds of greens annually, which is enough to feed around 183,600 Americans, according to the USDA. The company also has a smaller non-production facility in Wyoming, where it has tested different growing processes for over 300 crops.
Hate The Taste of Kale? Artificial Intelligence Could Help
Farmers are using technology to tweak the color and flavor of vegetables, including algorithms that can suggest changes in factors like the amount of water vegetables receive and what temperature they’re grown in.
Hate The Taste of Kale? Artificial Intelligence Could Help
Jan 10, 2018
One company is using AI to grow beautiful lettuce without chemicals
Holger Hollemann/AFP/Getty Images
Some farmers are turning to high tech solutions to improve the taste of kale.
By MARIA LAMAGNA | REPORTER
Don’t like the taste of kale? Maybe you will soon.
Kale’s distinctive flavor has been compared to a “dusty bitter blanket,” but now there’s hope for those haters from an unlikely ally: artificial intelligence.
Farmers are using technology to tweak the color and flavor of vegetables, including algorithms that can suggest changes in factors like the amount of water vegetables receive and what temperature they’re grown in.
Can AI improve the taste of kale?
One such company, Bowery, which bills itself as “the modern farming company” and was founded in 2015, has an indoor farm based in New Jersey where scientists are adjusting the taste of vegetables including kale.
“Our system is able to say, ‘Do we like what we’re seeing, do we not like it?’” said Irving Fain, Bowery’s co-founder, and CEO. The company’s algorithms analyze everything from the nutrients in the plants’ water to the type of light they are grown under. Bowery said he’s able to grow vegetables without “blemishes,” even though they use no chemicals in their growing process.
See also: Why you may want to avoid eating romaine lettuce
Besides potentially improving taste, that could have another benefit: cutting down on waste. About 6 billion pounds of fresh produce go unharvested or unsold every year, according to an estimate by Feeding America, a nonprofit based in Chicago. Some of those losses happen because of pests, disease, whether or labor shortage, but another portion gets thrown away because it has physical imperfections, which grocery-store shoppers find to be a turnoff. The produce that is misshapen or blemished goes unsold.
As far as improving the taste of kale, Fain might have a tough battle to fight. Although it is trendy, and restaurants have increased their menu items that contain the leafy green, Americans still much prefer lettuces like iceberg. The U.S. either produces or imports approximately 13.5 pounds of iceberg per capita, compared to just 0.6 pounds of kale, according to the latest government data available.
Nutritional content also varies, depending on the lettuce. In one cup of chopped raw kale, there are about 2.2 grams of protein (4% of daily value), 1.3 grams of fiber (5% daily value) and vitamins including Vitamin A (206% daily value) and Vitamin C (134%.) A similar serving size of spinach has about 2% of daily value for protein, 3% of daily value for fiber, 56% of Vitamin A and 14% of Vitamin C. Romaine and iceberg, while they are low in calories, contain very little protein or calcium.
Kimbal Musk — Elon’s Brother — Predicts a Movement of Millennial Workers Fleeing Desk Jobs For Farms
Musk noticed this trend a few years ago, which is partly why he co-founded Square Roots — an indoor farming accelerator aimed at young Brooklynites — with friend and entrepreneur Tobias Peggs in 2016.
Kimbal Musk — Elon’s Brother — Predicts a Movement of Millennial Workers Fleeing Desk Jobs For Farms
January 22, 2018
Josh Aliber, a 25-year-old urban farming entrepreneur who is part of the Square Roots program in Brooklyn, New York. Sarah Jacobs
- In an interview with Business Insider, Kimbal Musk said he sees a growing movement of young, highly educated people leaving their sedentary office jobs to become local and organic farmers.
- The number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing, according to the US Department of Agriculture's latest Census of Agriculture.
- This new crop of young farmers will likely continue to bolster the local food movement across the United States.
After more than a decade working in tech, Kimbal Musk (brother of Elon) decided to lean into his true passion: local food. He now runs a chain of local food-focused restaurants called The Kitchen, as well as Big Green, a national nonprofit that builds educational gardens in public schools.
So it might not be surprising that he expects a growing number of young Americans to join him in the local farming movement.
When asked to name a big food trend looking forward into 2018, Musk said he sees millennials flocking to careers in agriculture rather than traditional office jobs.
"For the past 20 years, I think that technology has been a wonderful benefit for us in so many ways, but it's not a very connected life. Social connectivity has really suffered because of technology. But we see urban farmers sell direct-to-consumer and be a part of their community," he told Business Insider. "I see millennials leaving their office jobs to be in the urban farming community, because they get a connection back to their community."
There is some data to back up Musk's hunch. For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers age 25 to 34 is increasing, according to the US Department of Agriculture's latest Census of Agriculture. In some states, including California, Nebraska, and South Dakota, the number of new farmers has grown by 20% or more since 2007. Approximately 69% of these young farmers have college degrees — a figure that's more than double when looking at the general US population.
Musk noticed this trend a few years ago, which is partly why he cofounded Square Roots — an indoor farming accelerator aimed at young Brooklynites — with friend and entrepreneur Tobias Peggs in 2016. The Square Roots compound consists of 10 steel shipping-container farms where farmers develop their indoor farming startups. Unlike traditional outdoor farms, vertical farms grow soil-free crops indoors and under LED lights.
Electra Jarvis, a 28-year-old college graduate who was part of the first Square Roots class, toldBI that she went from academia to agriculture so that she could directly impact New York City's local food system. She now manages her own vertical farming business called Green Food Solutions.
As The Washington Post notes, the migration of this new generation to farms could have a wide-reaching impact on the US food system. According to the USDA census, compared to older farmers, those under age 35 are more likely to grow organically, limit their fertilizer and pesticide use, and manage plots that are less than 50 acres. They are likely contributing to the recent decline in large-scale industrial farming.
"When people try real food, they don't go back to industrial food. It just doesn't taste good," Musk said.
SEE ALSO: Kimbal Musk — Elon’s brother — is leading a $25 million mission to fix food in schools across the US
How The AgTech Investment Boom Will Create A Wave Of Agriculture Unicorns
agtech into the realm of global scalability.
Softbank's Vision Fund led the $200 million Series B to bet on indoor farms while also opening doors to key partners in Asia and the Middle East to reach affluent consumers. Tech investors like Japan's Softbank are seeking to bring
JAN 16, 2018
How The AgTech Investment Boom Will Create A Wave Of Agriculture Unicorns
CONTRIBUTOR Stories for expanding horizons. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
GUEST POST WRITTEN BY Arama Kukutai & Spencer Maughan
Partners at Finistere Ventures, an agtech venture capital firm located in the Bay Area and San Diego.
A wall of kale and greens growing vertically inside a modular farming unit (James MacDonald/Bloomberg)
Mega funding rounds from companies like Farmers Business Network, Gingko Bioworks, Indigo Ag and Plenty are redefining the agtech investment landscape as we move into 2018. Consistent with the first wave of agtech startups maturing, companies are looking to scale in a sector that has around $3 trillion value at the farm gate, and multiples of that downstream. In turn, a more diverse universe of investors supporting these companies is signaling a sea change in agtech investing. The total investment in 2017 topped $1.5 billion-- setting a new record. With indoor farming, disruptive retail, along with genome and microbial tech all vying for the big dollars, there is understandable angst for the “have nots” trying to attract capital to compete with the “have mores.”
Historically, over 95% of agtech exits have occurred via M&A as technologies were incorporated into the established distribution channels and farmer networks. These were commanded by the “Big Six,” retail leaders like CPS, Wilbur Ellis and Winfield, and farm hardware specialists like AgCo, Case NH and John Deere. These established players have been the market makers for exits to date, which was highlighted in 2017 by the Blue River and Granularexits.
Vertical farms
However, things are changing. The increased exit activity, alongside increased traditional VC dollars entering the agtech market, has motivated growth investors to support market scaling as the sector matures. Softbank's Vision Fund led the $200 million Series B to bet on indoor farms while also opening doors to key partners in Asia and the Middle East to reach affluent consumers. Tech investors like Japan's Softbank are seeking to bring agtech into the realm of global scalability.
Greater capital availability will drive significant revenue growth for an elite group of companies providing a financing foundation for the first set of agtech unicorns. The spike in global interest into the agtech arena will fuel more innovation and growth. Plenty is reshaping indoor agriculture with its vertically integrated, high-tech farm coupled with an aggressive plan to rollout its fresh produce to consumers.
Exemplifying this is the recent financing by the Investment Corp of Dubai, which led the largest round in agtech to date – a $203 million round into Indigo Ag in December. We expect growth capital to gain momentum as the appetite for direct investment from large institutional groups and sovereign wealth fund investors, especially from Asia and the Middle East, is directed into the agtech market.
Government-funded research on vertical farming reflects the changing mindset of China's leaders, turning to technology to make its land productive again. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)
Farming's hot new pesticides
Over $860 million across 35 deals was invested in companies in the microbials segment, making it the single largest investment area for agtech last year. Bayer’s joint venture with Gingko Bioworks committed $100 million to reprogramming the genome of microbes. Gingko joined Indigo as the latest agtech unicorn having raised over $400 million to date. Competitors include Zymergen, which raised $160 million in a round with Softbank, in a superheated segment.
With the microbials segment supplanting digital agriculture as the hot subsector, these technologies will face the challenge of translating from the lab and greenhouse to the field. As is often the case in agtech, the “devil is in the data.” Can these companies prove their thesis and claims on yield and efficacy where it counts?
More on Forbes: The 25 Most Innovative Ag-Tech Startups
Established players like Agricen, fast movers like Innocucor, Pivot Bio, and Plant Response are getting in on the action. There is clearly also a roll-up opportunity for the plethora of new intellectual property being developed in this segment--which will likely drive additional investment activity in 2018.
Fintech in Agtech
Agtech is really a "horizontal" sector, with tech and business models from other venture-backable sectors being replicated in the agricultural markets. Payments and insurance are two segments to watch in 2018. For example, crop insurance is an $11 billion market, which has its first startup in Crop Pro looking to innovate around insuring new technologies used by farmers.
This has the potential to help address the challenge of adopting new tech that can boost yield, manage inputs and enable financing of working capital for farmers unwilling to risk scarce capital on the newest tech trends. Likewise, enabling payment processes for retail inputs and in key supply chain steps such as grain storage are the targets of companies like Bushel-- working to bring co-operatives and traditional retailers into the mobile e-commerce era.
The data sets generated in the move from manual-based legacy systems to those integrated with emerging platforms in blockchain, promise to unlock meaningful value for farmers and their partners in the supply chain.
More on Forbes: Three Questions For An AgTech Investor
Philips Lighting’s New GrowWise Control System Gives Growers and Researchers More Flexibility and Control For LED Cultivation
Philips Lighting’s New GrowWise Control System Gives Growers and Researchers More Flexibility and Control For LED Cultivation
January 22, 2018
Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announced the introduction of the GrowWise Control System which allows growers and researchers to easily create and run custom LED light recipes to meet the needs of specific crops to improve quality, productivity, and efficiency. The control system has been developed to work with the GreenPower LED production module “Dynamic”. It can be used as a standalone system or integrated into a climate or logistic computer system.
Custom light recipes to meet specific needs
“This is our first step towards digitization of Horti LED lighting systems,” said Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Philips Lighting. “The GrowWise Control System is the hardware platform that will allow us to build digital lighting control in the future. This will replace our current analog research systems.”
More control over every plant
A Philips Lighting light recipe provides the settings for the light spectrum, intensity, illumination moment, uniformity and positioning. The GrowWise Control System allows growers to create their own time-based recipes. Using a recipe, a grower can steer specific plant characteristics, from compactness, color intensity and branch development to flowering and more to improve results. With the GrowWise Control System, growers can give all the plants in their facility exactly what they need when they need it with just one LED system to enhance cultivation.
The GrowWise Control System controls 4 LED color spectra: Deep Red, Blue, White, and Far Red as well as the light duration and intensity. The system is easily updatable and has a maintainable digital system, making it future proof. The GrowWise Control System will be initially launched in Western Europe to work with the production module dynamic.
Philips Lighting will show its new products during IPM Essen, which takes place from January 23 to 26.
For further information, please contact:
Philips Lighting Horticulture LED Solutions
Daniela Damoiseaux, Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Philips Lighting
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@philips.com
www.philips.com/horti
About Philips Lighting
Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting products, systems and services, delivers innovations that unlock business value, providing rich user experiences that help improve lives. Serving professional and consumer markets, we lead the industry in leveraging the Internet of Things to transform homes, buildings and urban spaces. With 2016 sales of EUR 7.1 billion, we have approximately 34,000 employees in over 70 countries. News from Philips Lighting is located at the Newsroom, Twitter and LinkedIn. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
10 Macro Trends Driving Food Innovation
JAN 16, 2018 The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets
10 Macro Trends Driving Food Innovation
Barb Stuckey , CONTRIBUTORI write about food: innovation, business, trends, and all things delicious. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
Each year Mattson identifies a number of macro trends. Our goal is to think beyond “the next kale.” We choose lifestyle trends that have the power to influence food and beverage purchases, behavior, beliefs and, of course, innovation — the business we’re in. The reason to track trends is, ultimately, to translate them into viable business opportunities. Here are our 2018 picks.
1. Cannabis Craze
For most of my life marijuana was an illegal drug. Smoking it was risky and looked upon with suspicion. And smoking was — if not the only — the most common way it was consumed.
Increasingly, marijuana is seen as a functional food, with purported health benefits far outnumbering what consumers can get from kale, turmeric or kombucha. With a new generation growing up in states where cannabis is legal (currently about 20% of the U.S. population), new products are rapidly entering the market. Yet, the biggest challenges in launching cannabis edibles remain monumental because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level. This makes scaling a cannabis-based food or beverage difficult, if not cost-prohibitive.
Most dispensaries in San Francisco or Denver (or coming soon: your state?) carry a wide range of edible or drinkable options, many of them formulated, packaged, and marketed with savvy, like the excellent, beautiful products from Kiva Confections, Franklin Bioscience’s Lucky Edibles, and the super-fun woman-owned Kikoko Tea.
Despite the challenges, there is no question cannabis will influence the food and beverage industry, because it already has.
Cannabis 'edibles' are for sale where about 20% of the US population lives. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
2. Losing Booze
The increase in cannabis consumption and acceptance leads us to our second trend: flat to declining per-capita alcohol consumption. Many correlate this decline with consumers choosing cannabis over alcohol for the same occasions they might drink booze: relaxing at home, partying with friends, managing anxiety – you name it.
Millennials are also driving this trend given their desire to be more present and mindful in their lives, both of which are difficult when you’re drunk. Also, drinking is expensive. With uncertainty about their future, Millennials are less willing and able to spend hard-earned dollars on alcohol.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Constellation, owner of the Corona, Robert Mondavi, and other alcohol brands, and Boston Beer company, citing these consumption trends. To make sure they’re prepared for a world where consumers legally swap back and forth between alcohol and cannabis, some alcoholic beverage companies are hedging their bets.
Constellation Brands recently announced a $200 million investment in a marijuana grower, with plans to develop cannabis drinks. In Sonoma County, Rebel Coast Winery has launched its premium Sauvignon Blanc, calling it the "world's first legal cannabis-infused, alcohol-removed wine."
And the former CMO of Anheuser-Busch InBev just anointed weed the new craft beer. He also co-founded a company that sells ready-to-smoke joints, which San Franciscans can order online for delivery in about an hour. This gives new meaning to the budding space we call keyboard convenience.
Some analysts think younger consumers will swap alcohol for cannabis. The owners of Corona are investing in growing their own. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
3. Keyboard Convenience
For years, we’ve been hearing predictions around the ultimate demise of the center-store, where staples like mac-and-cheese, cereal, and bars are on their way to extinction. While consumers are excited about the fresh perimeter, we think center-store has staying power. With the convenience of shelf-stability, these categories have the benefit of being easy to buy in bulk, ship, and store indefinitely. Why wouldn’t a time-strapped household with two working parents and multiple kids trade an inconvenient trip to the store for keyboard convenience?
From the manufacturer/marketer perspective, we have seen a shift in what our entrepreneurial clients are looking for. No longer are they coming to us with dreams of selling their product line at traditional retail. They want to launch and learn online. And some of them don’t even have a long-term desire to end up at the Safeways and Krogers of the world. These Millennial entrepreneurs are changing the food industry as much as Millennial consumers.
There are unique challenges that come with e-commerce. We develop product lines specifically for this channel of distribution. I can tell you (from learning the hard way!), not every product works in e-comm in the traditional ways it used to work: from formulation to packaging to branding to marketing. Some things are obvious, like glass being less desirable for packaging than plastic. But some things are not. You simply have to box your product up and ship it via common carrier.
Amazon's Whole Foods products are now available with same-day or 2-day shipping: the ultimate in keyboard convenience. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
That’s where the old tried and true has come around to being relevant again. Our home use testing (HUT) methodology is perfect for working out product, packaging, and online ordering bugs before launch. But the ultimate benefit of e-comm is that you don’t have to test your product ad nauseam. It’s easy and cheap to launch into the channel, even through behemoth Amazon. No slotting, no huge inventory investment, no buyer meetings. It’s the best way to get consumer insights: from real consumers paying real money for real products.
4. Taking Food Personally
Over the past decade, we’ve come to embrace the fact that the food we eat profoundly impacts our health, but this wasn’t always the case. Western medicine healthcare was reactive. Eastern medicine was holistic: taking into consideration the mind, body and spirit. Taking cues from the East, today's personalized food and beverages allow consumers to follow unique diets more targeted than gluten-free, paleo, and vegan, each chosen for a consumer's one-of-a-kind physiology.
We expect this to continue, and evolve into a belief that mental health can be impacted by diet, as well. With a burgeoning understanding of the microbiome, there’s indication that the companions we have in our gut can influence not just our physical issues (such as obesity), but our mental well-being.
This is where probiotic foods, beverages, and supplements will take the leap from gastrointestinal relief, regularity and immunity benefits, to our brain. Soon we’ll be eating to stave off depression, aid in sleep, and enhance overall mood.
In fact, almost half of people surveyed by Mintel said they believe that “What I eat impacts my emotional well-being.” (Source: Better-for-you Eating Trends Spotlight on Real, September 2017). It's coming: food for mood.
5. Fast Fresh Farming (Indoors!)
Consumers increasingly desire to eat fresh and local food. But it’s challenging to grow fresh produce during the frigid winter months. One solution is to move farming indoors, and that’s now happening in great numbers at both the residential and industrial level.
With technology that meters out water and nutrients, success rates are better. Imagine growing produce inside your home, harvested just seconds before use. It’s the ultimate way to assure you’re eating fresh and clean. And it doesn’t get any more local.
Startup AVA is an indoor garden system that operates like Keurig. Consumers insert seed and nutrient pods into the AVA Byte appliance, add water, and software does the rest. Check in on your fresh herbs from the app while on vacation. It’s a way for skill-free gardeners to grow pesticide-free tomatoes and herbs.
On a commercial scale, Urban Organics uses aquaponics, which is hydroponics with a twist. Fish. The water in which the vegetables grow is also home to fish, like arctic char, who naturally fertilize the produce, making for a closed loop inside an urban warehouse in Minnesota.
Cubic Farms sells a complete hydroponic farming “system” housed in a 40-foot shipping container. Inside is an automated conveyor rotation system with lights that make it easy to grow leafy greens and herbs year-round, without pesticide.
AeroFarms grows and markets Dream Greens lettuces in vertical farms and can be installed just about anywhere. They tout flavor as one of the big advantages to having complete control over the growing process “Our kale is sweeter. Our arugula is spicier. Our herbs are brighter,” they claim.
We love the idea of shipping containers and abandoned urban buildings as the ecologically sound commercial farms of the future: located wherever they’re needed.
6. Meal Kit Migration
We know that consumers fundamentally want meal kits, but the original direct-to-consumer subscription model is not how they want to buy them. Too much commitment, too costly, too much solid waste and carbon footprint. Blue Apron and competitors Hello Fresh, Sun Basket, etc. need to find a way to sell their awesome offerings where consumers already shop for food. Chef’d is already selling meal kits at retail. When Albertson’s bought Plated, it was obvious that’s what they had in mind. Sure enough, they’ve launched Plated kits into grocery. We suspect others will soon show up there.
We also think there’s a huge opportunity for chain restaurants to reinvigorate mature brands (TGIFridays, Applebee’s, Olive Garden, etc) by creating their own meal kits, sold to lunch patrons for making later that night. Why casual dining brands haven’t done this has baffled me for years. And it’s not for lack of trying! I’ve been pitching this idea for almost a decade since The Slanted Door started selling meal kits from their takeaway shop in San Francisco’s Ferry Building.
Meal kits are here to stay, but how and who wins will be different than how and who built the segment.
7. Intrinsic Nutrition
Fat is back. Protein is hot. Sugar is out. Yes, consumers want to eat healthy, but their definition of what this means continues to change. Mostly, consumers want to eat foods that contain what we call intrinsic nutrition: nutrients that are inherent in the ingredients. Intrinsic fiber comes from beans or whole grains, not supplementation.
The next wave of innovation will be intrinsic healthy fats, protein, fiber, and other essentials from nutrient-dense foods like soy, meat, cheese, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and dairy. We know this, because we’re working on these new products now, for launch in the near future.
Another way to arrive at intrinsic nutrient benefits is fermentation. This is why we’re bullish on kombucha and other probiotic beverages, fermented vegetables such as pickles and kimchee, and fermented dairy like yogurt and kefir. The fermentation process creates healthy microbes that (someday) we’ll want to eat for mental health!
8. The Fabulous Flexitarian
What if you could tap into a growing group of consumers that make up about a third of the population? Have I got your attention? Meet the Flexitarian.
From a proprietary online consumer study we conducted in July, 2017 we’ve learned a lot about these people. There is no official definition of Flexitarian, but we consider them to self-define in two ways. First, there are those actively trying to eat less beef, chicken, pork, and dairy. And second, there’s a group that already eats a “mostly vegetarian” diet, with the occasional consumption of beef, chicken, pork, and dairy. Together, these consumers make up about one-third of the population.
It gets even more interesting when you ask all consumers—no matter what their current diet—what they plan to eat in the year ahead. A full 50% of the population claims they’ll be actively trying to eat more plant-based foods next year. The combination of these two stats indicates a growing opportunity to make plant-based eating easier for both the Flexitarian and the beef-eating carnivore.
Ripple’s new plant-based creamers address consumers’ desires for alternatives to dairy.
While many assume that vegetarians and vegans are the ones driving the growth in plant-based foods such as plant-based milks and meat, it’s simply not true. They only make up about 5 to 7% of the population and that number has remained fairly flat. It’s the Flexitarians that are driving growth, and will continue to do so in 2018 and beyond.
9. Produce Power!
Today's burgeoning ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat fruit and vegetable products go way beyond baby carrots with ranch. Consumers want to eat more fresh produce, but they’re not confident in their ability to cook with it.
Today’s produce snacking goes way beyond baby carrots and ranch. ReadyPac’s Ready Snax are pre-packed trios such as tortilla chips, natural cheese, and salsa, or fruit, cheddar, and flatbread. Mucci Farms sells snack-size Cutecumbers®, and SunDrops® grape tomatoes, packaged and marketed for kids.
Consumers want to eat more fresh produce, but they’re not confident in their ability to cook with it. Solving this conundrum are products like ReadyPac’s line of single-serve Fresh Prep’d Soup Kits, which pair fresh produce, protein like chicken breast, and concentrated soup broth. Just add water, stir, and heat. And Sunset Grown’s You Make Me pasta kits pair fresh tomatoes with dry pasta, spices, and oil. We predict many more of these meal and snack kits coming in the near future.
10. Non-Food Brands Branch Out
Licensing is one way to solve the dilemma of building new food brands because it lets companies gain access to a new brand without having to build it from scratch. Big Food has shown they're unwilling to take on this daunting challenge, preferring instead to buy brands at ridiculous multiples. Why not lean on licensing to enjoy the best of both worlds?
When Oprah enters a new industry, watch out. Now that she’s launched a line of refrigerated foods, we can expect a lot more products to launch under her partnership with Kraft Heinz.
Oprah is not the only non-food brand entering the industry. Eating Well has partnered with Bellisio to launch a line of frozen foods, 20 years after the start of Eating Well magazine. Patagonia used to sell only clothing. Today they offer brand loyalists a line of mission-driven Provisions that range from buffalo jerky to soup to smoked salmon. The question is, “What non-food brand will appear next in your cart?!”
Happy eating in 2018!
See more at www.MattsonCo.com and www.barbstuckey.com.
How Can You Grow Healthier Crops With Affordable Lighting Systems?
New research from the Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering consortium will revolutionize greenhouse lighting systems.
How Can You Grow Healthier Crops With Affordable Lighting Systems?
New research from the Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering consortium will revolutionize greenhouse lighting systems.
The Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium is a partnership between controlled environment agriculture (CEA) growers, plant physiologists, horticulturists, trade groups, produce buyers, agricultural engineers, lighting manufacturers, government agencies, and others to pioneer and commercialize breakthrough technologies that deliver greenhouse crop and energy solutions. Established in 2017 by Cornell University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer, GLASE unites world-class engineers and horticultural researchers with private and public stakeholders. The consortium goal is to transform the way lighting systems operate in greenhouses and indoor farms dramatically reducing their energy consumption while increasing crop yields and quality. To achieve these objectives GLASE is proposing a multidisciplinary approach to close the gaps between different segments of the CEA industry and to create new innovative solutions.
GLASE has secured $5 million for research over the next seven years and is inviting industry members to join the consortium and help advance the future of the controlled environment agriculture industry.
Find more about GLASE at www.glase.org.
Announcements
GLASE researchers awarded $2.4 million to explore the viability of indoor agriculture
GLASE Principal Investigators Neil Mattson and Tessa Pocock were recently awarded an “Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems” (INFEWS) $1.92 million grant from a partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The multidisciplinary team formed by researchers from Cornell University and the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) will develop a systems modeling approach to compare the economics and environmental effects of CEA versus field vegetable supply chains.
This research project also evaluates novel systems to optimize economic benefits as well as water, energy, and other resource use efficiencies in CEA vegetable production. It fosters industry-research networks and workforce development programs to facilitate the acceptance, adoption, and continued improvement of viable CEA systems in metropolitan areas.
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Proposed product information label for horticultural lighting applications
With the recent advances in light-emitting diode (LED) technology, CEA growers have multiple horticultural lighting options to choose from. However, growers are often unable to compare technologies and LED options because of insufficient information about lamp performance metrics.
A team of researchers led by GLASE collaborator Dr. A.J. Both from Rutgers University and including GLASE Scientific Advisory Board members Dr. Bruce Bugbee from Utah State University and Dr. Chieri Kubota from The Ohio State University (formerly from the University of Arizona) has proposed a product information label that facilitates the comparison of horticultural lamps from different manufacturers. A peer-reviewed article discussing the product label was published in the Technology and Product Reports section of HortTechnology in August 2017. HortTechnology 27(4):544-549.
Link for the paper and other research resources here
Events
Horticultural lighting panel at the IES Consuming Light conference
The Future of Horticulture Lighting in Urban Agriculture - Consuming Light
DATE: January 17, 2018
LOCATION: District Hall - Boston Innovation District, 75 Northern Ave., Boston, MA 02210
TIME: 5:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Horticulture lighting is one of today's fastest growing markets. GLASE researcher Dr. Tessa Pocock will be part of a facilitated panel of researchers, educators and industry experts exploring this evolving specialty and the impact that advanced lighting technologies are having on how we grow, harvest and source a wide variety of crops. Attendees will learn about horticulture lighting metrics and the way growers are using prescribed spectrum, intensity and timing to manipulate plant growth and yield. Register here
If you have any questions or would like to know more about GLASE, please contact its executive director Erico Mattos at em796@cornell.edu