Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Restaurants Are Installing Their Own Mini Indoor Farms To Grow Mushrooms
Restaurants Are Installing Their Own Mini Indoor Farms To Grow Mushrooms
BY AIMEE LUTKIN
January 29, 2018
A company called Smallhold is changing how restaurants procure produce. They've developed a hydroponic system that can be installed to suit most kitchen spaces, or even as an aesthetic addition to the dining room. Inside these glowing blue shelves are mushrooms, whose health and growth is monitored by technology at Smallhold's headquarters. Vogue interviewed the company's founders, Andrew Carter and Adam DeMartino.
Carter and DeMartino are based in Brooklyn, in a deliberately urban environment. They're interested in changing the supply chain for cities and believe they can start a movement towards sustainable food production that eliminates some of the issues associated with transport. After meeting as roommates in college, they went their separate ways. Carter started experimenting with growing mushrooms in basements and other spaces he could find in the city. He started building out a shipping container as a larger mushroom farm; after showing his work to DeMartino, they decided to go into business together.
The "hardware" of the mushroom grow boxes, or "fruit chambers," are just one part of the equation. Temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, airflow, and light exposure are all monitored with sensors and tiny cameras inside. Smallhold can check in to see how their shrooms are doing from their laptop anywhere, which makes it easier on the restaurants where they're installed. No one has to become a champion mushroom farmer overnight.
Even the material the mushrooms grow in is sustainable. It's a substrate made from recycled materials, like sawdust, coffee grounds, or wheat berries. The mushrooms mature in a Smallhold facility before being brought to their new home in a restaurant's fruit chamber. A few days later, the guys come by and help with the harvest. Mushrooms have a relatively short shelf life after they're harvested, so making their transport part of their growth cycle means having the freshest product possible at hand.
Danny Bowien is the chef and owner of Mission Chinese Food, which proudly features a fruit chamber. Having so many fresh mushrooms to hand has even changed his menu. He now has a mushroom jerky option to top fried rice—before it was beef. That probably makes local vegans happy, and the fruit chamber itself has become part of the restaurant's look.
“A lot of people think it is art,” said Bowien. “It doesn’t look like anything you’d see in any other Chinese restaurant.”
Smallhold is a great example of how hydroponic growing can be incorporated into every meal; according to their website, they've also started to offer fresh greens and herbs as part of their mini-farms. Soon, indoor farms could be adding flavor to every dish.
‘Amazon’ Has Put The Food Retail Market On Notice, Is This The Beginning Of A Trend?
‘Amazon’ Has Put The Food Retail Market On Notice, Is This The Beginning Of A Trend?
2/1/2018
Prepared by: Gregory Smith | ColdPICK / Chill Produce
Amazon is responding to a market trend; Social Media is creating a new market paradigm. The Boomers through the Millennials have gone from reacting to ads in newspapers delivered daily, to news flashes and tweets delivered on a second to second basis.
Amazon acquired ‘Whole Foods’ and will create an online provider of food and services. Whole Foods, as a result, of the Amazon acquisition will create a new age of grocery shopping characterized by an ‘on-line’ scheduled pick-up and delivery.
This will change, fresh produce supply dramatically. The Grower / Shipper / Marketing Company needs to recalculate the road ahead to ‘supply the new end user’.
In the future this will occur; less at the retail store and more directly to the individual buyer; through purchasing via Amazon and/or the National Supermarket / Big Box retailer’s offering ‘On-Line’ programs for pick up and home delivery.
The Effect on the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grower / Packer / Shipper and Marketing Company;
1. Packaging will change to deliver fruit and vegetable in “family style” units.
a. Package weights may increase.
b. Designs need to hold up to the material handling associated with ‘mail order’ deliveries;
i. Nesting feature to accommodate automation through the delivery process.
ii. Venting that will provide ‘freshness’.
iii. An insulated ‘master shipper’ and ‘pallet system’ to accommodate multiple products.
2. Field Pick and Packing will be replaced by Line Packing to accommodate
“Family Style” packaging units.
3. Methods of Post-Harvest Pre-Cooling will need to change to accommodate Line Packing.
a. A packaging change is not an easy step for a grower/ packer/shipper and it should be noted that the material handling in the existing packing- houses will not support the ‘new’ direction of the market.
4. Change is a Positive Step. The Fruit and Vegetable Grower / Packer Shipper / Marketing Company has not changed material handling procedures in decades; dating back from wood boxes to corrugated. Pick and Pack at the grow site will be adversely affected by the different packaging required to serve the new market direction.
What needs to happen;
5. Automate Material Handling in the Cold Chain to accommodate Line Packing versus Field Packing;
i. Pre-Cool individual family oriented cartons, not pallets – this will significantly Reduce Dwell Time
1. Energy Cost Reduction
2. Improved Quality – Shelf Life
3. Improved Productivity
ii. Automation will Eliminate LABOR
iii. Cost of Automation; OFFSET by Energy and Labor Reduction 2:1
iv. Package design needs to accommodate automated material handling and a change from ‘stacking tabs to nesting’
1. NESTING design adds an extra layer of trays per pallet level – Increasing Pallet Revenue – Decrease Shipping Cost resulting in (19th truckload is free).
‘Vertical / Greenhouse’ Urban Grow Sites
“Urban Grow Sites” will locate near defined Market Destinations;
a. The “Economy of Scale” associated with ‘Packing House Throughput’ will be modified to suit the new Fresh Market Paradigm.
i. Each produce unit (head of leaf lettuce, sprout, berry) has a per acre measurement.
ii. Each of these measurements can be calculated into a truckload of production.
1. Time, energy, labor, depreciation, material handling, break bulk, weight, et.al. is associated with the Truck Load Cost.
b. The building of ‘Urban Farms’ to serve fresh produce to the differentiated end user markets is characterized by a single ‘Urban Farm’ unit that will increase production from 7% to 20% / acre of production grown on a conventional farm*Bright Agrotech
i. The cost of the ‘Urban Farm’ acre compared to the conventional cost per acre can be calculated and consideration can be given to partnerships to provide fresh produce to a ‘Client’ who grows and packs for a defined market end use.
ii. Defined Client;
1. Retailer (Big Box, National Supermarket Brand, Independent) for a defined geographic area.
2. Third party supplier; Sysco
3. Defined End User; University and Corporate Campuses.
4. Recreation Areas – Resorts – Destination Sites
The new Fresh Market Paradigm will promote the growth of the VERTICAL and GREENHOUSE grower. This growth will not be in competition with conventional fruit and vegetable farming. It will be in partnership. A partnership that will be forged by start-ups that promote the new Fresh Paradigm.
i. Instacart (www.instacart.com)
ii. Grocerkey (www.GrocerKey.com)
iii. Deliv (www.deliv.co)
iv. 84-51 (www.8451.com)
v. Boxed (www.boxed.com)
CHILL PRODUCE - CPC 'Skid Mounted' Small Footprint Vacuum Cooler
North American Growers Welcome New Tool To Manage Light
North American Growers Welcome New Tool To Manage Light
JANUARY 26, 2018 URBAN AG NEWS
“Giving growers the tools to manage light quality is one of our specialities,” says Chris Higgins, General Manager of Hort Americas. “For example, we were one of the first suppliers of LED grow lights in the US. At that time, we saw the crop advantages that growers realised when they had the ability to manipulate spectrum along with intensity.”
The company recently started a partnership with Sudlac. Sudlac’s shading products were introduced in the US last year and received much interest from a wide variety of growers. “We’re giving North American growers a new tool to manage light.”
Hort Americas was founded in 2009 although the team has been actively involved in commercial horticulture for much longer. Strategically positioned in Dallas, it is centrally located to serve its customers in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. It has also partnered with the Dutch supplier Horticoop which provides access to knowledge and products developed by leading European horticulture companies.
Proven products
The decision to partner with Sudlac was based on the European manufacturer’s proven ideas and concepts to manage light and protect the greenhouse structure, says Chris. “As a company we spend a significant amount of our time managing light in greenhouses and other horticultural production facilities.”
In the past shading products were designed to reduce the amount of light when the sun was at its brightest. “However, when we started talking to Sudlac we weren’t only looking at shading products. Additionally, we were looking at tools that would complement our product range and that would allow growers to manipulate light quality as well as light intensity in the greenhouse. Sudlac’s product portfolio includes such products and as a result has been enjoying growing success in Europe,” says the general manager.
Once Chris and his team had indeed established that Sudlac had the sort of high-quality products they were looking for the decision to form a partnership came down to people. “We also considered competitive products but ultimately it was Sudlac’s team that won us over. They are very open and easy to talk to. They have a simple philosophy, when their business partners do well, they do well. And working together for shared goals is something we always strive for.”
Wide range of climates
The main shading products imported to North America from Europe are Eclipse LD, Optifuse and Transpar. Eclipse LD is a removable shading agent that protects crops against excessive light and heat; Optifuse is a removable diffuse coating; while Transpar is a shading agent that reflects heat radiation.
“Our growers experience a vast variety of climate conditions and grow a wide variety of crops. These products are best suited to cover all possibilities,” says Chris.
The customers also range from very large to small growers with high value crops. “We want all growers to be able to enhance their crops using shading products. Early interest has come from growers with high value crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy greens and herbs as well as ornamental potted crops. We are also hearing from growers with a wide variety of niche crops that range from general ag research to high end medicinal and biopharmaceutical crops.”
Hort Americas introduced the first products to the North American market in the middle of 2017. “We are still in the process of convincing growers that this technology is going to work, and we have had a huge amount of interest so far. We expect demand to take off when the shading season starts this year!”
For more information:
Hort Americas
2801 Renee St
Bedford, Texas 76021
469-532-2383
hortamericas.com
How a Mushroom Farm Grows in a Manhattan Restaurant
Lion's Mane Mushrooms | Photographed by Caroline Tompkins
Walking into Mission Chinese Food on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a mix of textures provide plenty to look at. The pink chairs and robin’s egg-blue tabletops contrast with the stark reds, whites, and blacks of the walls and wainscoting. A chandelier glitters above, sparkling against the stock of bottles behind the bar, itself electric with aqua-hued lights.
But the most alluring sight is an overhead box at the entrance that glows neon blue. Clear plastic bags tied at the top and stretched taut sit inside. Abstract and intricate forms protrude from them—some pink, others bright yellow, a third variety bluish in hue, they look as though they have been pulled from the ocean deep.
Mission Chinese Food's mini-farm | Photographed by Caroline Tompkins
“A lot of people think it is art,” says Danny Bowien, the chef, and owner ofMission Chinese Food. “It doesn’t look like anything you’d see in any other Chinese restaurant.” Though intentionally futuristic in design, the installation is more than aesthetic—it’s a miniature mushroom farm. A far cry from the tired and bruised portobello, cremini, and shitake that frequent grocery store shelves, the fungi here radiate life.
Andrew Carter and Adam DiMartino installed the miniature mushroom farm at Mission Chinese Food in late 2017. College roommates-turned-business partners, they propose a different approach to urban farming— rather than grow and distribute produce, they design, build, and install small-scale indoor farms outfitted to provide a rolling supply of fresh mushrooms. Equal parts urban farm and tech startup, their company, Smallhold, deploys hardware and software not only to grow a bounty of fungi but to carve out alternative routes from farm to table.
By the bar at Mission Chinese Food | Photographed by Caroline Tompkins
There are few signs of life surrounding the Smallhold office in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The landscape alternates between garages, warehouses, and empty lots. The bunker-like workshop and office space look out over a gravel courtyard decorated with shipping containers; cranes swing overhead, at work on a new development. But for Carter and DiMartino, this was the place to start a farm. Taking advantage of unused urban space—no matter the size—is integral to how Carter and DiMartino want to redesign the supply chain for cities. “If we can do it here,” Carter says, “we can do it anywhere.”
Mushrooms at Mission Chinese | Photographed by Caroline Tompkins
Carter dove headlong into urban mushroom farming two years ago—he wanted to use the skill-set he’d developed working in hydroponics systems design to develop a semi-automatic indoor mushroom farm. He wanted to explore how to use technology to enable more sustainable food production and bring agriculture to urban environments—he and DiMartino see Smallhold as part of a larger movement towards a more conscious way of eating.
After a year doing research and development (it involved a lot of growing mushrooms in basements), Carter bought a shipping container to turn into a commercial facility. Just as he was building it out, DiMartino returned from a motorcycle trip across the country. The friends decided to go into business together—but not wanting to be constrained by the limitations of a single space like a rooftop, backyard, or greenhouse farm, they devised a network of miniature farms they can monitor from anywhere.
Andrew Carter and Adam DiMartino, cofounders of Smallhold
Photographed by Caroline Tompkins
The mini-farms, also called “fruiting chambers” are largely automated. Sensors and cameras monitor temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, airflow, and light exposure. Carter and DiMartino can keep an eye on any unit from a laptop anywhere. Before the mushrooms are ready for restaurants, they spend between four and six weeks maturing in a warehouse. The mushrooms grow in a substrate made of recycled materials—mostly sawdust mixed with organic matter like wheat berries and coffee grounds.
Every week, Smallhold delivers fresh bags of mushrooms to the restaurants they work with. They mature for a few days, then Carter and DiMartino come by to harvest. Freshness matters a lot for mushrooms, confirms Dr. John Pecchia, a professor of mushroom science at Penn State University. They have a short shelf life—once they’re harvested, the quality depreciates rapidly. “We’re not fighting decomposition because [the mushroom] is still living the entire time. It’s as fresh as possible,” Carter says. Smallhold grows ten varieties of mushrooms, many of which are unfamiliar to the American market, where the white button still dominates. DiMartino likes the Lion’s Mane best—furry and oblong, it could be mistaken for an oversized hamster. Pink, yellow, and blue oyster mushrooms curl out of the bags, their delicate, bubbly forms like something from Dr. Seuss.
Oyster Mushrooms | Photographed by Caroline Tompkins
An ample supply of fresh, exotic mushrooms pushed Bowien to rethink his menu. He uses a portion of the weekly harvest to make mushroom jerky that tops fried rice. Before Mission Chinese started working with Smallhold, Bowien used beef—now the dish is vegan. “I like that the mini-farm grows mushrooms,” he says. “It feels very democratic.”
Back in Bushwick, chef Tara Novell runs the food program at Honey’s, around the corner from the Smallhold offices. She always sought out wild foraged varieties of mushrooms, but Smallhold provides her with a predictable supply—indoor farming is more efficient, and consistent. She whips a variety of powdered mushrooms into chocolate cake, and makes tempura out of the Lion’s Mane. Battered and deep-fried, it tastes like chicken nuggets.
The technology remains unfamiliar—like encountering virtual reality in the 1980s, chefs and consumers aren’t used to seeing automated, indoor forms of growing. But the potential is great. “Imagine that instead of the walk-in, it’s just your own mini-farm,” Novell says. “It’s just like the Jetsons. There is no limit, you can just keep growing in these little spaces.”
Indoor Ag Isn’t Here to Replace Traditional Farms — it’s About More Than That
Vertical farming has been getting a lot of attention lately. It is being called everything from the “future of agriculture,” to the next driver of ag investment, to the solution to a warming planet. It’s almost as if it’s going to solve all of our future farming needs.
Image courtesy of NutraPonics
Indoor Ag Isn’t Here to Replace Traditional Farms — it’s About More Than That
By Allison Kopf, Agrilyst Published: January 30, 2018
Vertical farming has been getting a lot of attention lately. It is being called everything from the “future of agriculture,” to the next driver of ag investment, to the solution to a warming planet. It’s almost as if it’s going to solve all of our future farming needs.
But that’s not the truth.
Vertical farming, and indoor farming more generally, isn’t the be-all and end-all solution to everything facing the industry. It’s true that it can be capital intensive, rent dependent, and not suitable for all types of crops. But indoor farming is about more than that. It is a component of an agricultural system that’s becoming more innovative and more technology-focused every day.
At its most basic level, agriculture is a system that needs to feed a lot of people very efficiently. Right now, we have a pretty efficient system, if you look at just calories produced.
However, not all calories are equal. A large portion of corn is grown to create biofuels, we see massive challenges with food waste, and inaccessibility leads to hunger around the world. So we need to think about where we can increase efficiencies throughout the food system. Can we start relying less and less on water and land in the production of our food? Second, we need our food to be healthier, safer, and all-around better for the consumer. We know that we can grow things that are calorie-intensive, but can we also make sure they are good for us? What’s more, can we grow things in a more food-safe and secure way?
For example, can we grow lettuce in a way such as we don’t have to worry about listeria and E. coli contamination? Can we become less dependent on fertilizers? Can we do things in a more climate-independent way? Can we take a lot of the risk out of the operating side, that conventional farmers are subject to, in order to focus less on seasonality and unpredictability and more on producing healthy, tasty food at scale?
Part of the solution
This is where indoor agriculture and vertical farming can play a really interesting role in the system.
These technologies are never going to entirely replace traditional farms, but there are certain crops that grow really, really well indoors and are well-suited to these growing methods. These are things that have shorter growth cycles and are highly perishable, so you can grow closer to the point of consumption and cut out the inefficiencies on the logistics and delivery side. I’m talking about crops like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, traditionally grown in greenhouses, and lettuces, herbs, microgreens, and berries, which are being grown more and more in vertical applications.
It’s true we’re relatively limited in terms of what can be produced indoors right now, but the implications even of just these few crops could be significant. Moving to indoor production for the crops I mentioned would free up hundreds of thousands of acres of land for crops that do better outdoors, such as wheat and other cereals, while simultaneously saving water and other resources for those products. We just need to convince more farmers of the value of these technologies.
We know this will work because we’ve already seen it happen. With tomatoes.
A question of efficiency
Two things that farmers are focused on are profitability and efficiency.
If you look at tomatoes, 20 to 30 years ago almost all production was done via soil farming. But then, by the turn of the century, attitudes started to change and almost overnight we started to see a lot of new greenhouse producers start offering tomatoes, and it just took off. Today, 37 percent of all fresh tomatoes sold in U.S. retail stores are now hothouse (or greenhouse) production, up from almost zero in the early 1990s.
What happened? Farmers noticed that indoor tomato production was simply more efficient than outdoor and made the switch. Need proof? According to the USDA, the average yield of conventionally grown tomatoes in 2016 was 1.85 pounds per square foot. Greenhouse hydroponic tomato growers, on the other hand, reported an average yield of 10.59 pounds per square foot. Similarly, the average yield of the conventionally grown head, leaf, and romaine lettuce is 0.69 pounds per square foot, compared with 8.71 pounds per square foot for leafy greens grown in a greenhouse.
Almost everything in our agricultural system is about efficiency, and indoor farming is nothing more than a tool in the farmer’s toolbox that will help them in their search for new efficiencies.
Looking ahead
The population is becoming more urbanized and we’re going to have a lot more mouths to feed over the next few decades; that much we know for sure. The indoor farming industry has been predominantly dominated by greenhouse crop production in the past but now, due to decreases in technology costs and an increase in local demand for food, we’re seeing an increase in alternate growing systems, particularly fully enclosed vertical systems. With that in mind, I expect to see a lot of crop production where efficiency gains can be had — such as herbs, lettuces, and berries — start to switch to indoor production in the near term.
But I really think that vertical farming, and indoor farming in general, are simply going to be tools that help farmers do more with less. This isn’t the first step into some sort of dystopian society where all of our food is grown in laboratories. It’s a new and exciting component to the food system that will help the industry scale for the future.
Allison Kopf is the Founder and CEO of Agrilyst, an intelligence platform for indoor farms and winner of Techcrunch Disrupt 2015.
Melbourne’s Latest Cafe Innovation Brings farm-To-Table Closer Than Ever
A new Melbourne-based start-up, Farmwall, has started building vertical, edible farms that grow fresh produce inside some of Melbourne’s iconic cafes and restaurants, as part of a mission to transform cities into food-producing ecosystems
Melbourne’s Latest Cafe Innovation Brings farm-To-Table Closer Than Ever
A new Melbourne-based start-up, Farmwall, has started building vertical, edible farms that grow fresh produce inside some of Melbourne’s iconic cafes and restaurants, as part of a mission to transform cities into food-producing ecosystems. The three co-founders Geert Hendrix, Serena Lee and Dr. Wilson Lennard hope to show you that cities can live more closely to nature, and give cafes and restaurants a better – fresher – food experience.
Farmwall is hoping to revolutionise cafes in Melbourne. Image by Farmwall
As a starting point, the Farmwall team created a scaled down version of an indoor farm. “If we have to start small, how can we achieve the largest reach?” was their thinking. In the size of a bookshelf, these vertical farms provide a consistent supply of fresh herbs and microgreens, at the fingertips of the chef. By growing produce on-site, Farmwalls reduce packaging waste and high food miles while introducing quality, freshness and variety into Melbourne’s hospitality scene.
A farmwall in action. Image by Farmwall
The small-scale farms have custom-designed facades and use aquaponic principles — meaning a beautifully-designed fish tank recirculates nutrient-rich water to each growing layer, topped with LED lights, bringing “farm-to-plate in under a minute.” Weekly visits are made bringing trays of sprouted seeds from the local, aquaponic farm. Chefs do the harvesting, urban farmers take care of the rest, building connections between patrons and the origins of their food.
The founders are hoping to change cities into food-producing eco-systems. Image by Farmwall
The team is installing the first two Farmwalls into Higher Ground and Top Paddock, two award-winning cafes owned by high-profile venue owner Nathan Toleman. There is a growing waiting list of venues that are eagerly waiting to be signed up next. Grappling with population growth but finite farming land, sustainable food practices and urban farming is a growing trend across major cities all over the world. Watch this space.
Living Greens Farm is Hooked on Aeroponics
Living Greens Farm is Hooked on Aeroponics
The Faribault company produces lettuce year-round, 21 days from seed to salad.
JANUARY 23, 2018
KATE LERETTE
What do popcorn and lettuce have in common? Nothing, really. It’s how Dana Anderson describes how produce is grown at Living Greens Farm: “It’s like pushing the popcorn button on the microwave,” he says.
Based in Faribault, Living Greens Farm is one of the largest indoor farms in the world, according to Anderson, who is the founder, president, and chairman. The company uses a computer system to control elements such as light, temperature, humidity, and CO2, combined with aeroponics—a method of growing plants by suspending their roots in the air—to grow lettuce, herbs, and microgreens. Rather than using soil, plants are sprayed with a nutrient-rich solution.
“Aeroponics is the fastest way to grow plants,” says Anderson. “Harvest is less than 21 days for a head of lettuce. It’s about two times faster than traditional farming.”
While Living Greens Farm didn’t invent aeroponics, it did develop its own vertical growing and traversing misting systems. The patented systems use 200 times less land and 95 percent less water than a traditional farm, says Anderson, which is huge, given that “70 percent of the world’s fresh water is used for agriculture.”
Anderson launched Living Greens Farm in 2012 after working out of his garage for three years. He and his team raised $8 million from friends and family to help get the company off the ground.
In October, Living Greens Farm completed its first expansion, increasing growing space from 5,000 square feet to 21,000. With the additional space, the company added 32 growing units to its existing 10, increasing its production to 1 million heads of lettuce per year.
Living Greens still has plenty of room to grow; right now it’s using only about 35 percent of its space. Once the company reaches max capacity, it will have 60,000 square feet of growing space. “When all is said and done,” says Anderson, “we will be able to produce a head of lettuce for every person in the entire MSP metroplex.”
The company currently sells greens at Lunds & Byerlys, a handful of Cub Foods and Hy-Vee stores, Fresh Thyme and other major co-ops. A few stores in Iowa will begin carrying its products this year. In addition to growing its grocery-store base, Living Greens Farm is working on adding accounts with food services at local colleges and corporate offices. Anderson also is exploring licensing opportunities worldwide and expanding its operations in other markets.
“There are hundreds of people who do this type of farming as a hobby, but in terms of large commercial companies, we only have three or four major [U.S.] competitors,” says Anderson. “What makes us different is our patented systems and our impact on the economy; we keep more dollars in the state.”
Italy: Innovative Systems to Increase Productivity
"The rise and fall system makes it possible to cultivate 12 plants per square metre. We set up a greenhouse with a hydroponic strawberry crop and LED lights, but the system could also be applied to other crops," explains Cesare Ghezzi.
Italy: Innovative Systems to Increase Productivity
At Orticoltura tecnica in campo (24th-26th January 2018), Idromeccanica Lucchini presented two innovative protected crop cultivation systems. The purpose is to increase productivity per surface unit.
"The rise and fall system makes it possible to cultivate 12 plants per square metre. We set up a greenhouse with a hydroponic strawberry crop and LED lights, but the system could also be applied to other crops," explains Cesare Ghezzi.
Visitors were also interested in the intensive hydroponic vertical crop. Idromeccanica Lucchini is the distributor of an innovative system patented in the UK "Yields are 20 times those of traditional crops," adds Mattia Battistello.
There are cultivation columns containing inert material. The system automatically releases water according to temperature and humidity conditions. Nothing is wasted as everything recirculates. Operators only need to top up water if it drops below the limit.
"The system can be used in cold greenhouses too, but it works better if they are heated. Thanks to vertical cultivation, harvesting is easier and yields are higher."
"A mulching film is placed on the ground to prevent agents from climbing up. Of course the produce harvested is extremely clean."
Contacts:
Idromeccanica Lucchini S.p.a.
Via Cavriana 4B
46040 Guidizzolo (MN)
Tel.: (+39) 0376 818433
Fax: (+39) 0376 819498
Email: info@lucchiniidromeccanica.it
Web: www.lucchiniidromeccanica.it
Publication date: 1/29/2018
Ecobain Gardens Announces New Name
Ecobain Gardens Announces New Name
Saskatoon, SK, January 8, 2018
Ecobain Gardens, a major producer of natural herbs from its vertical hydroponic urban farm in Saskatoon, SK, has announced a name change to better reflect its business.
In the making of the announcement, Brian Bain, Cofounder and CEO said, “we have rebranded to become “Ecobain Naturals.” Bain continued, “Our new name better describes what we do, selling live natural, tasty and aromatic herbs to consumers through more than 450 retail locations in western Canada. These include Sobeys/Safeway & Federated Co-op locations.”
The Ecobain Natural herbs are sold in live potted, living clamshell, and bare root forms in bags to allow retailers a unique natural aromatic herb product catered to their specific demographics. Bain said, “Selling live natural herbs grown in Canada enables us to supply a fresher, more nutritional product. As well, this has the advantage of a longer shelf-life for retailers, who now do not have to rely on imported products to stock their retail shelves.
Bain continued, “Our technologically-advanced hydroponic buildings use 98% less water, which is good for the environment, and our LED lighting allows us to offer the most aromatic, tasty live herbs to the consumers, 365 days per year.”
Presently, Ecobain Naturals grows four herbs for their live herb market, including basil, mint, dill, and chives that are available in nine differing packages. Brian Bain said, “Since our business began in 2014, we have found our nine differing SKU packages including, four potted herbs, three root-attached smaller herb bags, and the larger clamshell basil are the most consistent sellers in the market.
In concluding the announcement on the rebranding to Ecobain Naturals, Brian Bain said, “Our goal is to continue to grow our business by supplying the best live natural and aromatic herbs to the consumer market while providing a very cost competitive product for retailers. Our new name, EcoBain Naturals reflects what we offer for the future.”
Ecobain Natural produces 80,000 units of live herb products each month from its 6,000-square foot facility located in northern Saskatoon. It is the hydroponic system that accommodates this, and like its vertical hydroponic buildings, with Ecobain Naturals, the only way for the business is “up.”
For more information on EcoBain Naturals, please go to the company’s website at
www.ecobainnaturals.ca or check them out on Twitter (@ecobainnaturals), Instagram and Facebook.
-- 30 --
Top 4 common Soil Types
To find out the difference among clay, sand and silts, humus, and loam soils; look broader into types. Three basic particles: sand, silt or clay compose all soils
Top 4 common Soil Types
January 29, 2018
The next time your stuck on a growing question, open up our blog post, and you'll be well on your way to becoming a master grower.
Introduction
To find out the difference among clay, sand and silts, humus, and loam soils; look broader into types. Three basic particles: sand, silt or clay compose all soils. Vast size variations among these particles affect the properties of your indoor garden. Coarse and largest, sand particles are clearly seen and felt in your hand. Smaller silt particles have smooth, flour-like texture. smallest of all, clay particles can be seen through a microscope. The amounts of these different particles determine whether your soil type is primarily clay, sand or loam.
Clay
Clay is stiff, fine grained earth consisting of hydrated aluminosilicates that become flexible when water is added. Clay is commonly mixed with other soil types to create a medium suitable for lettuce.
Top 10 plants that love to grow in clay:
Broccoli - Brussels Sprouts - Cabbage (red & green) - Cabbage (Napa & Savoy) Cauliflower - Kale - Bean - Pea - Potato - Radish
Humus
Humus is the organic constituent of soil, formed by the decomposition of plant materials, and can be bought in bags at local gardening stores. Most of these products claim to be free of bugs and other living matter, but sometimes this is not 100% true. Don't be surprised if you find a worm or green fly in the package. Humus is also sometimes known as compost, but compost is the final mixture of manure, loam soil, and some other media, with added organic matter. Humus is that added organic matter. Humus mixing is a step towards a more natural soil when mixed with clay, and sand and silts.
Sand and silts
Sand soils can be pure sand or a mixture of sand soil. The problem with sandy soil is that it drains water and minerals out too fast. It is a very dry soil and is not suitable for the lettuce grower's needs on its own. Silt soils are nearly the same as sand soils, expect they have a consistency more like clay and darker in colors. Silts hold nutrients well but do not hold water very well. Like sands, they are prone to quick drainage. Like we said, sands and silts are rarly used on their own to grow lettuce and mostly mixed with other types. Its important to know about them and how they are used.
Loam
Loam tends to be a mix of all of the above. The composition of the mix should be stated on the bag. In fact, in most cases, normal soil purchased in shops has humus, sand, silt, and clay already mixed in. When you buy a bag of soil it is nearly always going to be a loam. Loam is a very fertile soil and for control over the ratios you can even mix your own loam soils.
Loam is soil that contains:
less than 52% sand
28-50% silt
7-27% clay
If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy these post about grow media:
"How to choose the right grow media for microgreens"
"Understanding coco coir as a grow medium"
Tags: soil clay humus sand and silt loam indoor farming growing tips
Celebrating a Year of Tremendous Accomplishment!
January 25, 2018
Celebrating a Year of Tremendous Accomplishment!
This past year has been powerful in so many ways for AeroFarms. Our team has been hard at work growing, serving the community, and building out our new global headquarters – the world’s largest indoor vertical farm. We have also been expanding our organization to bring our mission of building and operating responsible farms in major cities all over the world to life. We are so proud of our team’s accomplishments and look forward to an even bolder and brighter 2018. We would like to thank all of you for your ongoing support. We will have even more milestones to celebrate in 2018, and we can’t wait to share what’s next!
AeroFarms on the Road
Over the past year, our team has traveled around the world sharing our story. Here are just a handful of the events our skilled team members presented at in 2017.
A Startup Is About To Build 300 Vertical Farms In China, Thanks In Part To Jeff Bezos
A Startup Is About To Build 300 Vertical Farms In China, Thanks In Part To Jeff Bezos
A Silicon Valley vertical farming startup sees a future in China. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine)
WRITTEN BY Chase Purdy
January 26, 2018
A Silicon Valley agriculture startup is preparing to build 300 vertical farms across China, propelled by investments from funds created by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos and Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt.
By entering the Chinese market, the startup, Plenty, hopes to tap into the country’s growing demand for organic foods. Chinese citizens have become all too familiar with food safety scandals in recent years. Perhaps the most dramatic was in 2008 when six babies perished and at least 54,000 were made sick when tainted baby formula created a kidney disease outbreak. Now that the country is experiencing a swelling middle class with more buying power, more people are willing to spend a premium to purchase organic foods, which are perceived as safer to eat (something that isn’t always true).
Plenty plans to build and fill warehouses with 20-foot-tall, plant-growing towers that sparkle with LED lights. Herbs, kale, mustard greens, and more will grow horizontally from the poles, fed by water disseminated from the top of the structures via gravity—and won’t need soil or pesticides. Plenty can’t yet grow root vegetables or fruits this way, so it’s focusing its attention next on strawberries and cucumbers.
The company is able to make the move into China in part because of a massive $200 million investment round led by the Japanese telecom company SoftBank Group in July 2017, and which included money from Bezos Expeditions and Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors.
Plenty’s business proposition is these sorts of agricultural operations can help an increasingly urbanized global population cut back on amount of water and land used in a conventional farming. Because they can be built in cities, the vertical farms can reduce and even eliminate the financial and environmental costs of transporting food long distances. Plenty is building one such farm in spring 2018 outside Seattle, Washington. It’s expected to produce about 4.5 million pounds of greens per year, enough to feed more than 183,000 people.
The type of operation Plenty wants to bring to China could fit in well with steps the government there is taking to revamp how it feeds its people. Earlier this month (Jan. 16) at a meeting about creating green zones for growing food in major cities, Chinese agricultural minister Han Changfu said in a statement (in Chinese) that he wants to change the way China approaches agriculture. “It is necessary to speed up the transformation of agriculture from yield-oriented to quality-oriented, raise the overall quality of agricultural products, promote the transformation and upgrading of agriculture,” he said in the statement.
Read this next: You next head of lettuce, grown by a robot
New Haven Farms To Expand Healthful Garden Program
New Haven Farms To Expand Healthful Garden Program
By Esteban L. Hernandez
Published 3:53 pm, Sunday, January 14, 2018
hoto: Credit: New Haven Farms
NEW HAVEN—New Haven Farms will expand its popular incubator program this spring to include 25 additional families who will manage their own garden plot and have access to fresh produce.
New Haven Farms Executive Director Russell Moore said the program has grown every year since it launched in 2015. Two new incubator sites will be placed in Fair Haven on Stevens Street, near Shelter and Clay streets, and on Davenport Avenue in the Hill neighborhood.
Fair Haven’s site will support 15 families, while the Hill is expected to serve 10. The program currently has 50 families, a majority of whom are low-income residents.
Families first participate in a wellness program operated jointly by Fair Haven Community Health Center and NHF before joining the incubator program, which provides them a plot of land to build their own vegetable garden. The goal of the wellness program is to assist people in developing more healthful eating choices to address possible health concerns. The incubator garden allows participants to continue healthful habits learned through the wellness program.
“The significance of it is not just 25 families,” Moore said. “It’s that their family members will benefit from fresh produce.”
NHF works in partnership with the New Haven Land Trust and the Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Foundation to fund the incubator program.
Moore recently visited the Fair Haven site. At the moment, it looks barren, with what he suspected were dead collard greens near the entrance. But the site will eventually be home to 15 additional families using the land, once seeding begins in March and the season starts in May.
New Haven Farms manager Jacqueline Maisonpierre, who helped to develop the incubator garden program in 2015, said the program fits well into NHF’s mission to, “promote health and community development through urban agriculture.”
The program has just about a 100 percent retention rate, though two families have moved out of the city, Maisonpierre said.
Moore said between the seven gardens, which together comprise just about one acre, New Haven Farms produced 18,000 pounds of produce. Providing produce for 50 families means more than 200 people receive help.
“We’re really getting people to change, to make large behavioral shifts in their lives so that they can live a healthier life and reduce their dependence on medication,” Maisonpierre said.
The incubator gardens teach families “that they have the powers to change their own health outcomes,” Maisonpierre said.
New Haven Land Trust Executive Director Justin Elicker said the trust supports 52 community gardens in New Haven. Elicker said NHF’s program teaches citizens how to be more healthy.
“This partnership was a great fit for both organizations,” Elicker said. “Graduates of the wellness programs have an ability to continue their connection to the community that they developed.”
Last fall, an NHF site near Ferry Street was the site of a robbery that left a seasonal worker injured. The man who was attacked is still working for NHF; Moore said the attack seemed to make his commitment to the organization even stronger.
The attack prompted a community meeting and increased police patrol. Added safety measures, including lights, were installed on a nearby post, and have helped with security, Moore said. He was happy with both the community and local law enforcement response to the incident.
“It was galvanizing,” Moore said.
The response seems to reflect what Moore said is another important effect from their gardening programs, which is people learning by example.
“One shining example can have a ripple effect throughout the community,” Moore said.
Reach Esteban L. Hernandez at 203-680-9901
10 Key Learnings From Indoor Ag-Con Asia
10 Key Learnings From Indoor Ag-Con Asia
JANUARY 24, 2018 URBAN AG NEWS
By Jacob Eisenberg, Editor of Agri-Futures
Marina Bay Sands in Singapore — venue for Indoor Ag-Con Asia
This year’s Indoor Ag-Con Asia, hosted in Singapore, was filled with idea’s, innovators and enthusiasts alike — all eager to hear new promises and perils of indoor farms and vertical farming from around the world. For a fairly nascent industry, there was a strange aura that made it difficult to separate the inspiring success stories and potential from the soul-crushing, science-based reality this sector faces as it continues to grow. While financial and operational challenges are clear, there were also a number of interesting patterns throughout the two-day event — all likely to shape the industry in 2018 and beyond.
1. There is no silver bullet system… yet
As most enthusiasts and operators in the industry would expect, there was no grand showing of a fully viable, scalable and profitable solution for a vertical farm this year at Indoor Ag-Con Asia. With so many different growing systems, ranging from high performing hydroponics to scaleable aquaponics, the silver bullet still remains elusive for the best performing and most versatile crop cultivation system.
While many of the notable presentations covered the pros and cons of certain growing systems, none were clearly comparable in the cultivation of the same crops or products. And further industry comparisons become even more difficult as many of the turn-key solution companies keep proprietary aspects of their system, well, proprietary.
As disappointing as that may seem for the event, there was a diverse range of applications for new crop varieties grown indoors. Companies and research groups continue to push the frontier of plant recipes and techniques in their growing system using new lights, better controls, and more meaningful data.
2. Governments are finally taking notice
Singapore’s Minister of State, Koh Poh Koon, browsing the exhibition hall
It seems fitting that Singapore was chosen to be the venue for this year's Indoor Ag Con Asia event. Since 2015, the Singaporean government has publicly pursued a new smart agriculture future’ with significant policy and private sector activity as a result. New small-scale ventures as well as large corporate forays into the world of indoor Ag are receiving both support and increased scrutiny to produce food efficiently without compromising its quality and safety.
“We are committed to creating a robust food and agricultural sector of the future”.
This year, Singapore’s Minister of State, Koh Poh Koon, gave the opening keynote to the event. He described the Singapore government’s stance as
“Committed to creating a robust food and agricultural sector of the future”. Singapore is a clear example of a country with fast-moving policies intended to accommodate and possibly foster indoor agriculture.
However, the Netherlands also had a large presence at the event, sharing their respective successes and challenges in the first morning of presentations. Additionally, other government representatives were in attendance, ranging from countries around the world like Israel and Malaysia. Many of them hoping to learn about new technologies to better upgrade the efficiency of their respective countries traditional agricultural sectors.
But for urban planners and zoning commissions, big questions remain in how to fit the binary of classifying these farms as industrial or truly agricultural if marketed as ‘organic’.
3. Consistency is key
Among all aspects of indoor agriculture, consistency remains a critical benefit and continued challenge in using these systems. The quality of plants produced in indoor agricultural operations was one aspect, almost religiously touted throughout the event. Advancements in better environmental controls for air, light, water and plant nutrition are helping farmers ensure a more reliable look and taste for growing a variety of produce.
However, quantity and price continue to be clear challenges for systems that operationally still have many hiccups. Though most presenters shared success in better forecasts and reliability for the quantity of crops produced in their system, there were shared concerns in the difficulty to scale quickly and meet consumer or wholesale demands in time. Setting up new precision growing systems take some time to test and fine tune, complicating a clear picture of quantity and price.
4. Microbiome and nanotechnologies are making new headway
Aside from the core operating technologies of indoor farms like LEDs, sensors and growing beds, new technologies also made an appearance. Like many technologies in this sector, the benefits focused on growing more with less, in an attempt to reduce crop loss from disease, minimize the water required, and improve crop quality and health.
Presentations highlighting recent advancements in genomic extraction offer new opportunities for farms. Microbiome analysis is one example of one method to better cultivate healthy plant ecosystems from the molecular and bacterial level. Instead of introducing synthetic solutions, companies like Metabiome, highlighted their success in optimizing natural mycorrhizae ecosystems.
Other technologies, like nanotechnologies, were showcased in one successful application to inoculate fish with the equivalent of ‘flu shots’, to prevent the spread of bacterial and fungal diseases common in aquaponic systems. And this seems to be just the start in use cases for nanotech among these indoor systems.
5. Artificial Intelligence comes big and small
One feature that was alluded to in almost all presentations throughout the event were new opportunities for automation and the insinuation of artificial intelligence (AI). While many indoor farms have started to build systems to reduce labor costs, there is still a critical need for farming operators in quality and process management of the plants.
Yet Improvements in one technique of AI, called computer vision, are bolstering new applications for anomaly detection and harvest quality in indoor systems. However, there is still a steep learning curve for computers to successfully utilize AI in practice.
While manual automation is one goal for indoor farms, Blackbox automation (e.g. where to plant and when) offers another incredible opportunity to reduce the complexity farmers face mixing and matching different systems, lights and crop varieties. With so many variables involved in operating an indoor farm, computational assistance and automated planning will likely reduce many farmer headaches — and create shared opportunities — in the very near future.
6. Growing lettuce and big data
ZipTower System showcased in exhibition hall
While most presentations focused on the quality of production inside indoor growing facilities, there was also a great deal of interest in a fairly new byproduct of these farms — data. Big data.
Much of the focus in the industry has centered around basic viability of growing certain crops like leafy greens and tomatoes. But new improvements in sensor and IoT tech is shifting focus toward actionable insights from the farm data collected. Ramy Sanad from the sensor and controls company Autogrow, described in his presentation how having data isn’t enough, it needs to a priority to “make data meaningful” for the farmer. And for some in the industry, these data could be a priceless byproduct.
Some presentations did disclose “plant recipes” or the specific environmental factors required to grow healthy lettuce and leafy greens. But conversations primarily stayed away from any data or metrics to more profitable commercial plants like strawberries.
While many indoor facilities struggle to profitably sell their product in the market, it is possible that their crop data could be even more valuable for other farmers and companies alike — that is, if they are willing to sell it for the right price.
7. The new frontier of online delivery
Aside from the long list of technical difficulties involved in indoor growing systems, reaching a reliable market also remains elusive for many small to medium scale indoor growers.
Despite the high quality output of indoor farms, meeting demand at scale and in time seems to deter many wholesalers and 3rd party distributors from long-term partnerships. However, online food delivery services in countries like the United States, Singapore and China seem to offer a new frontier of opportunities connecting farmer directly to the consumer.
As Robert Chen, President and CEO of AEssense, noted in his presentation, growing food close to online food distribution centers can help cut costs in storage and delivery. This allows the grower and the distributor to pass savings down to consumers — making their products more competitive in the market.
8. Diversifying factory farms to the niche
Presenters repeatedly recognized the need for farms to better define their value proposition as cleaner, better, more nutritious products, etc. However, some speakers at Indoor Ag-Con suggested widening the scope of indoor ag products to secondary and even non-edible crops.
Cannabis is an example, but rarely mentioned throughout the entire event in Singapore for obvious legal reasons. But it isn’t the only high value, non-edible crop that can be grown well inside. Nishida Shin, of Japan’s Nihon Advanced Agri highlighted recent success in organic food coloring from plants cultivated inside a plant factory.
The rising demand for specialized ‘organic’ products used in or around food production seems to also provide new opportunities for profitability in the sector. While the same benefits for growing food inside apply, these secondary commercial products, like natural food coloring, can be better controlled for their quality, while sold at an even higher premium in these niche markets — speeding up ROI for the facility capex costs.
9. Pain Point obscurity
In addition to unclear comparisons between systems growing similar crops, it was also challenging to ascertain specific pain points. Product feedback is critical for these systems, especially the turnkey solutions. While most of these companies work closely with their customer/farmers to improve systems, their proprietary nature prevents startups from building novel solutions, sharing feedback from customers or focus groups, or collectively improving system optimizations based on shared experiences.
Indoor Ag is an industry still early in its development, yet it remains riddled with gaps in efficiency and operational pain points. Also, obscurity helps to protect the existing IP of turnkey product systems and companies, it prevents tinkering improvements and solutions for the industry as a whole.
Though each system is different in requirements for operation and management, seeding and harvesting both remain major labor hurdles for indoor agriculture operations with fairly apparent pain points.
10. ROI is still a curse word
For many indoor farmers starting to operate facilities in this space, the term ROI still seems to conjure speculation and deep anxiety for farmers and investor alike. On the one hand, these numbers are critical to truly assess the viability of indoor agricultural operations. On the other hand, ROI forecasts are subject to change drastically (for better or worse) based on crop health, facility size, development of disruptive and scalable technologies, and market demand.
At the conference presenters of larger facilities seemed to suggest an ROI ranging between 3 to 5 years, while others in the industry continue to suggest a more conservative range of 5 – 7 years. Again, both of these estimates continue to depend on the size of the facility and the market they are growing for (and actively selling to). To date, there is still no highly profitable large scale prototype.
Motorleaf's Agronomist.ai Software Cuts SunSelect's Yield Prediction Error Rates In Half
Motorleaf has come out of private BETA with a commercially available yield prediction service for commercial greenhouses, after working closely with SunSelect (150 acres in California & B.C.) with results that disrupt how commercial greenhouse farms worldwide can now operate their business, adding significant dollars to their client’s bottom line.
Motorleaf's Agronomist.ai Software Cuts SunSelect's Yield Prediction Error Rates In Half
Motorleaf, Montreal, Canada
Motorleaf has come out of private BETA with a commercially available yield prediction service for commercial greenhouses, after working closely with SunSelect (150 acres in California & B.C.) with results that disrupt how commercial greenhouse farms worldwide can now operate their business, adding significant dollars to their client’s bottom line.
Motorleaf has launched it’s Agronomist.ai platform with a world first for greenhouse owners/operators, allowing for accurate Yield Prediction.
“After 8+ months of private BETA testing with one of North America’s premier greenhouse operators SunSelect, our latest algorithm has cut the accuracy error rates of SunSelect by half. For such a high tech greenhouse- they’ve tried every method that’s out there,” – Alastair Monk, Motorleaf CEO/Co-Founder.
SunSelect’s co-owner Victor Krahn agrees, saying: “For us (and any commercial size operation) knowing/predicting exactly what quantity of product we'll have each week is one of the top metrics we obsessively track. This data feeds into all critical areas of our operation, from labour management to price negotiation, to buyer relationships and even trickling through to in-store marketing budgets. Like most commercial greenhouses, our ability to predict something so dynamic as yield is almost impossible to get right. Our error rates bounce between 5% to over 35% in some weeks. Motorleaf is now our new standard for predicting yield.”
With the emergence of so many AgTech companies in the past couple of years, Motorleaf has been building its suite of hardware and software to leverage the data it collects via its own hardware, but can also leverage data already been collected by greenhouse clients, which in most cases is not being leveraged to its potential by the greenhouse.
Mr Krahn continues: “Working with our team of growers and VP of Operations we were impressed at the level of accuracy Motorleaf’s team provided through both touching the plants in the greenhouse and reaching through the cloud for the data our state of the art greenhouses provides every day! The integration was easy, non-invasive and I think shows amazing promise to become the new industry standard.”
Both companies are looking to expand their relationship, with Mr. Krahn adding: “I'm proud to say SunSelect is not only a client, but we will be helping Motorleaf roll out an increasing number of solutions to the benefit of every Motorleaf client worldwide. Their latest algorithm cut our yield prediction error rates in half, and goes without saying is a game changer that no one saw coming!"
Mr Monk adds: “You know your team is delivering exceptional work when the head growers at a client’s location literally don’t believe the results can be so much better than what’s normal in the industry. We have to thank the very long hours our team has put into making this a reality, especially Scott Dickson-Dagondon and Ramen Dutta (AI Director and CTO/Co-founder) – this is a very exciting time for our company and we feel for greenhouse producers worldwide.”
Find out how Motorleaf's Ai-powered yield predictions can help your business:
CONTACT US
About Motorleaf: Motorleaf is developing Agronomist.ai – a virtual agronomist for every greenhouse and indoor farmer in the world. With a varied mix of monitoring, control and predictive capabilities, Motorleaf is leveraging AI & Machine learning to deliver predictable, repeatable, improved crop production worldwide.
How Smart Monitoring Is Helping An Urban Farm to Flourish
Growing Underground, which launched in 2015 and is located in former WW2 air-raid shelters, uses hydroponic systems to sustainably produce the pesticide-free crop. The tunnels are leased from Transport for London (TfL), which was happy to see them being put to work having laid dormant for 60 years.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-01-smart-urban-farm-flourish.html#jCp
How Smart Monitoring Is Helping An Urban Farm to Flourish
January 18, 2018, University of Cambridge
Microgreens and salad leaves. Credit: Growing Underground
An innovative and award-winning urban farming facility is creating energy-efficient growing conditions in tunnels 120ft below the busy streets of Clapham in London. Microgreens and salad leaves are thriving with the help of a smart monitoring programme that records temperature, humidity and CO2 levels.
Growing Underground, which launched in 2015 and is located in former WW2 air-raid shelters, uses hydroponic systems to sustainably produce the pesticide-free crop. The tunnels are leased from Transport for London (TfL), which was happy to see them being put to work having laid dormant for 60 years.
The aim of Growing Underground is to bring edible crop production to the heart of the city while minimising the carbon impact of food transportation. The verdant trays of fennel, garlic chives, pea shoots and coriander, among others, can be picked and on a plate in a restaurant within hours. The forward-thinking company, which sells its greens through Ocado and Marks & Spencer and aims to be carbon neutral, has just been awarded the BBC Future Food Award.
Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) Co-Investigator Dr. Ruchi Choudhary, who leads the Energy Efficient Cities initiative (EECi) at the Department of Engineering, started working with Growing Underground in 2015, following an energy-optimising project completed for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This retrofit study of the greenhouses at Kew saw the development of a simulation model that incorporated the heat and mass transfer associated with plant transpiration into the dynamic energy simulation of the greenhouse structures.
"The idea was to expand the energy-optimisation project into urban farming and the collaboration with Growing Underground provided the ideal environment," says Melanie Jans-Singh, an EECi Ph.D. student investigating the integration of urban farming to cities reusing wasted resources. Rebecca Ward, a Research Associate at the EECi, who developed the greenhouse energy simulation at Kew, is also part of the team working with Growing Underground.
In March last year a range of instrumentation, including wireless sensors and web cams that monitor temperature, humidity, CO2, air velocity and light, was installed in a section of the tunnel that is currently being used for growing crops. More sensors were added this summer to help to maintain a constant tunnel temperature of between 20-25C. "There are big spatial variations of temperature in the tunnel but everywhere needs to have the same conditions," explains Melanie, who has spent the past six months building and calibrating the sensors. "Most sensors need cables. Our sensors are wireless and are designed to cope with the humidity underground."
There are two tunnels on different levels – in total 65,000 square feet of burrows with the capacity to accommodate up to 8,000 people – and Growing Underground has plans to expand the business next year.
Urban farming is growing rapidly in Japan and South East Asia, where the facilities are referred to as plant factories which are located in dedicated new buildings. "While our focus is urban farming we are looking to repurpose spaces rather than using new buildings, and these could be tunnels or rooftops that are not currently being used," says Melanie.
Data collected from the instrumentation is informing the heat and mass transfer model of this unique 'tunnel greenhouse'. "Our monitoring is helping Growing Underground to optimise the yield while reducing energy consumption. If, for example, there is a doubt about how the plants are growing at a certain spot, I can refer to the measurement of air velocity so that we can identify the precise conditions. When the plants are growing better in one area than another, the instrumentation helps us to work out why."
Real-time monitoring means that conditions can be changed according to the analysed data. Ventilation is the chief energy consumer at the Growing Underground project and monitoring data has enabled adjustments that have cut consumption for ventilation without affecting yield.
The founders of the partially crowd-funded company, Richard Ballard, who discovered the tunnels when he was a film student scouting for locations, and Steven Dring, who has a background in logistics, are able to access the data 24/7. The analyzed data itself is of value; it creates a 'lifetime performance passport' which provides the asset owners, present, and future, with a rich source of information.
"We have been very lucky to partner with the University of Cambridge. Ruchi and her team have really helped us monitor and develop the space which will enable us to eventually get the optimum growing environment," says Richard. "They have provided us with monthly reports which have allowed us to make adjustments to improve temperature, humidity and air velocity, and now we are working together to improve CO2 levels through enrichment."
The collaboration between business and academia benefits all stakeholders. Growing Underground is providing the case study for further research and the academics are delivering data that will help the crops, and the company, to flourish.
In the longer term, the EECi team would like to create a how-to guide to adding a 'greenhouse' to a space not previously used for this purpose, identifying the conditions required to turn a space into a greenhouse. "We are using this case study to create a baseline simulation tool for integrating urban farming into unused urban space," says Melanie. "The second part of my Ph.D. will focus on finding optimal spaces in cities for urban farming. I will look at the whole of London and investigate other typologies of unused spaces within cities for the purpose of urban farming."
Additional aspects will be introduced to the simulation model with the purpose of optimising energy efficiency. "We will consider how we can integrate co-benefits between plants and buildings. When a building has heating there is a lot of waste heat produced. The waste heat (and perhaps also CO2) can be harnessed for a productive purpose." Melanie will also look at how urban farming could help to improve air quality, energy use and water use.
"Once we understand the synergies through our simulation model, any city can be considered in this way," says Melanie.
Rebecca, who built the energy-optimisation simulation model for Kew, is now applying her modeling talents to Growing Underground. The EECi team visits the Growing Underground tunnels once a month to check the instrumentation, report back to Richard and Steven and, occasionally, enjoy the fruits of their labour. "The fresh salad leaves and herbs really are good," says Melanie. "They're very tasty."
Explore further: Underground air-raid shelter feeding London restaurants
Provided by: University of Cambridge
Is Hydroponics The Most Sustainable Type of Farming?
Is Hydroponics The Most Sustainable Type of Farming?
By Emily Monaco
Hydroponics seem a bit like farming technology from the future. These soilless growing systems use liquid nutrient solutions to feed plants grown on stacked towers in enclosed greenhouses, where, often, everything impacting plant growth — from the light plants receive to the moisture of their roots— is controlled by a computer. Hydroponics has been touted by some as the most sustainable growing system out there — thanks, in large part, to the fact that these farming systems can be built in close proximity to the cities they need to feed.
Abandoned factories and shipping containers have become home to such greenhouses, which are also vertical farms. MightyVine, a Chicago-based hydroponic tomato growing facility, built its greenhouses on former farmland that had had its topsoil removed to prepare it for development. This planned project was subsequently abandoned, leaving the land empty and not farmable. But by building a greenhouse, suddenly, the land was agriculturally viable again.
Yet, when the National Organic Standards Board announced its recent decision to allow hydroponic farming operations to be certified USDA organic, many proponents of the organic label reacted in dismay. (1) This, explains Dr. Linley Dixon, chief scientist of organic watchdog group the Cornucopia Institute, is because hydroponic growing does not support soil health. This major detail is not only one of the key principles of the organic farming movement, but it’s also one of the most important contributing factors to reversing the effects of climate change, according to a UN Food and Agriculture Organization paper. (2)
Grace Communications Foundation defines sustainable crop production as “growing or raising food in an ecologically and ethically responsible manner.” (3) In order to do this, the philanthropic organization explains, growers must show sustainable practices in several categories — from minimal pesticide use to a focus on soil health, to water conservation — with an overall goal of ensuring that these practices can be sustained over time.
In order to best judge the sustainability of hydroponics, then, it’s interesting to look into how these operations fare in various categories pertaining to sustainability.
5 Questions About Hydroponics Sustainability
1. Transport
Transport is one of the first benefits of hydroponics most proponents of the farming system will cite when arguing in favor of its sustainability. After all, hydroponic operations can be set up within urban centers, thus substantially reducing the need for transport (and the gas-guzzling it requires).
Wil Hemker, a scientist, and fellow at the University of Akron notes that this is particularly interesting when you consider perishable, high-value crops, such as leafy greens.
“Not all crops can be tailored to hydroponic and container growing,” Hemker says, pointing to grains and root crops as two commodities that are better grown in the ground. But when it comes to very perishable crops, growing them locally may be the best option: not only are they less likely to suffer over the course of long transport journeys, but produce picked when ripe and eaten quickly is a better source of vitamins and minerals. (4)
“To think like a developing country and keep everything local as much as we can — that just makes a carbon cycle sense in our world,” adds Hemker.
That said, Hemker also notes that transport is not necessarily the most important factor to consider when comparing the sustainability of hydroponics with that of field-grown crops. “If you look at the carbon footprint for shipping, it’s a very small percentage of overall production,” he explains. “So even though its perception might be heavy, it’s not so much when you actually do the numbers.”
2. Energy Use
While indoor agriculture currently expends more energy than field growing, the industry is seeing a number of innovations that could close this gap. “As renewable energies are coming onboard, better materials for the greenhouses for indoor agriculture are coming onboard, and that energy load will come down,” says Hemker.
This, of course, depends on the policies of individual growers. MightyVine’s technology comes from the Netherlands, where farmers have been committed to sustainable hydroponics since 2000. “Almost two decades ago, the Dutch made a national commitment to sustainable agriculture under the rallying cry, ‘Twice as much food using half as many resources,’” writes Frank Viviano for National Geographic. (5)
In this densely populated nation (1,300 inhabitants per square mile), high production is important, and it is here that many of the major developments in hydroponic technology have occurred.
Lazarski notes that the Dutch technology his company uses takes advantage of diffused glass to make the most of sunlight, making greenhouses less demanding in energy than many others in the industry. And other innovations, specifically in using renewable energy, could help reduce the carbon load of hydroponics even further.
3. Pesticide Use
As far as pesticides are concerned, hydroponics has as all other systems beat. Whether it’s conventional pesticides and herbicides like glyphosate and dicamba, or organic alternatives like copper, hydroponic operations have less need for such treatments than field-grown crops. “In a well-maintained, well-integrated indoor horticulture practice, there are no pesticides or herbicides needed,” explains Hemker.
The enclosed environment makes it easier to keep insects out, and integrated pest management techniques are not only available but widely used among hydroponic growers. Many growers even introduce natural predators into the enclosed systems to weed out any pests.
“Every tomato greenhouse has some kind of white fly in it,” Lazarski explains, noting that in order to combat them, “You bring in these little microscopic wasps on cards. They’ve evolved to hatch, fly around and look for white fly eggs, and lay their eggs on the white fly eggs. It’s almost like an alien type horror movie on a microscopic level.”
Pesticides are always available as a last resort, but as compared to field-grown produce, where the first line of defense is pesticides, there’s no contest. And even when pesticides are used in hydroponic systems, they are never leached into the environment, as can happen with conventional or organic field-grown crops.
4. Soil Health
In addressing pesticides, however, we do touch upon one key downside of hydroponic farming: a closed-loop system may not add pesticides to the soil, but that also doesn’t contribute to soil health at all.
“Soil is such a carbon sink,” says Dixon. He adds that, in not adding organic matter to the soil, hydroponics are missing out on a key way of contributing to a solution to climate change: building the soil’s ability to draw carbon out of the atmosphere. (6)
While Hemker notes that some hydroponic growers do add back to the soil by composting, for example, Dixon believes that it’s not enough. “The problem is that’s not really cycling nutrients because there’s no crop plant in the soil there to take up those nutrients,” he says.
Some operations work with local farmers to put their compost to good use, but the truth remains that contributing to soil health is a much more difficult endeavor for a hydroponic system than for a soil-based system.
5. Water Conservation
When it comes to water use, hydroponic growing tends to be a better bang for the ecological buck. The Dutch growers who have pioneered sustainable hydroponics have reduced their dependence on water for key crops by as much as 90 percent, reports National Geographic, and Hemker notes that, on average, 30 to 40 percent less water is needed to grow a pound of lettuce indoors than outdoors.
“We use 10 percent of the water of field-grown tomatoes,” says Lazarski of MightyVine’s operations. “And that’s because we catch all the water from the roof, and the snowmelt, we retain it in a basin, and then we pump it into the greenhouse.”
“As far as water is concerned, which is typically a much bigger concern in U.S. agriculture, hydroponics is hands-down the far better than conventional growing,” Lazarski adds.
That said, Dixon claims that a properly executed soil-based system can compete with a hydroponic system when it comes to water usage. “If you have soil that’s high in organic matter, it captures rainwater as well,” he says, noting that a “real” organic farm uses about the same amount of water as a container operation.
Looking Beyond the Utopia
Ultimately, comparing the ideal hydroponic and the ideal soil-based system is futile when so few operations of either kind are ideal. Large-scale hydroponic and container operations have the same problems as large-scale organic or conventional farms: They’re cutting corners when it comes to sustainability to be more profitable.
“In some ways, it’s an unfortunate debate because it pits people against each other who have many of the same goals in mind,” writes Dan Nosowitz for Modern Farmer. “Organic activists and small hydroponic farmers both want to grow food sustainably, at their core. But, as with most of the agricultural developments during the current administration, this decision isn’t about small farmers.” (7)
“I get this question all the time,” says Josh Lee, the farmer behind Green Top Farms, a salad delivery company that grows its microgreens in a New York City vertical farm. “What’s better: hydroponics or growing in the dirt? And that’s kind of a loaded question because you could just say, ‘What’s better: growing in dirt over here, or growing in dirt over here?’”
Lee is the first to admit that, while he was initially excited by the idea of a “utopia of beautiful green cities where all these towers are growing all these different crops,” and he currently believes that his work brings New Yorkers closer to their food, all is not perfect with hydroponics. “I’m very quick to shoot down any ideas about indoor hydroponic farming being the be-all-end-all solution to climate change woes,” he says.
The answer may, in fact, reside in the coexistence of both systems. Not only can hydroponic and vertical farming systems keep people closer to their food (both in mindset and in geographical proximity), but the promise of innovations within the industry lends promise to the idea of a sustainable farming future: lighting conditions can be changed and the mineral makeup of nutrient solutions can be modified, for example, to improve the nutritional makeup of certain fruits and vegetables without needing to turn to genetically modified products.
“You don’t have those engineering opportunities in the soil,” says Hemker.
Lee’s utopia of green cities may not be the answer, but it seems we can’t take hydroponic farming out of the equation when it comes to developing a truly sustainable farming solution for the future.
This story comes from OrganicAuthority.com and is written by Emily Monaco. Organic Authority obsessively covers the latest trends and news in food, seasonal recipes, nutrition, wellness, natural beauty, and more. Organic Authority has all the tips and expert advice you need for delicious good living.
6 Places Where Soil-Less Farming is Revolutionizing How We Grow Food
If it seems like “water, to which farmers have added the necessary nutrients for plant growth.hydroponic systems” are everywhere, that’s because they are. Hydroponic farming is one efficient way to grow fruits and vegetables in small spaces without the use of soil. Instead of dirt, plants grow down into
6 Places Where Soil-Less Farming is Revolutionizing How We Grow Food
by Greg Beach
If it seems like “hydroponic systems” are everywhere, that’s because they are. Hydroponic farming is one efficient way to grow fruits and vegetables in small spaces without the use of soil. Instead of dirt, plants grow down into water, to which farmers have added the necessary nutrients for plant growth. These are then absorbed, along with water, through a plant’s roots. Light is provided either by the sun or specially designed grow lights, with many sustainable systems powered by renewable energy sources. Aquaponic farming incorporates fish into the soil-less system, using the closed-loop nutrient cycle from fish digestion to their advantage. Some systems even feed nutrients to plants through the air! From water-less deserts to the sun-less underground, soil-less farming is offering new possibilities to feed an increasingly urban, growing global population in a more Earth-friendly way.
1. Stores
With consumers increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, many stores have realized that going green is good for business. Big-box store Target began a series of trials in spring 2017 in which vertical, hydroponic gardens were installed in various Target locations to provide customers with the freshest possible produce. In collaboration with MIT Media Lab and Ideo, Target designed a system that is capable of growing leafy greens and herbs with minimal water usage. The company hopes to someday branch out into other crops, such as potatoes, zucchini and beets. MIT may even offer Target use of rare heirloom tomato seeds for its project. Meanwhile, IKEA has teamed up with Denmark-based SPACE10 to design high-tech hydroponics systems in-stores and in homes.
2. Deserts
In preparation for a future dominated by climate change, in which oil becomes a lesser part of the world’s energy diet, Saudi Arabia has taken several major steps to build a more sustainable system in its challenging desert region. One such move is the rethinking of many traditional farming practices, especially focused on reducing water usage. A farm in the town of Jeddah uses neither water nor soil, rooting plants in mid-air while providing their nutrients through a mist. Designed by AeroFarms, the system is the first aeroponic farm in the Middle East and hopes to someday acquire all its water needs through capturing humidity in the air.
Related: The future of food: how dry farming could save the world
If a desert farm chooses to go hydroponic, there are ways to grow without draining freshwater supplies. In arid South Australia, SunDrops Farms grows 15% of the country’s tomato crop through a solar-powered hydroponic system. To eliminate the use of precious freshwater, SunDrops sources its water from the nearby saltwater gulf, which is then desalinated through the reflected heat of the sun.
In a very different kind of desert, soil-less farming helps growers from the Arctic to Antarctica make the most of a short growing season.
3. Cities
As the global population becomes more urban, cities are investing in more local food production systems that offer economic development opportunities and reduce a city’s carbon footprint. In a warehouse on the Near East Side of Indianapolis, Farm 360 are growing vegetables on a hydroponic system that is exclusively powered by renewable energy and uses 90 percent less water than traditional farming methods. The harvest is sold in local grocery stores while the farm supports dozens of living-wage jobs to residents of the neighborhood.
In even the most isolated urban areas, soil-less farming finds a home. With its ability to receive vital supplies and support a functioning economy severely restricted by the Israeli blockade, Gaza has stepped out onto the rooftops to grow its own food. Beginning in 2010, a United Nations-funded urban agriculture program equipped over 200 female-headed households with fish tanks, equipment, and supplies to build and maintain an aquaponics growing system. This initial spark has encouraged others to create their own and to teach others of this valuable skill.
4. The Underground
Farming without soil can often take place beneath the soil. In Paris, Cycloponics runs La Caverne, a unique urban farm that grows mushrooms and vegetables in an underground, formerly abandoned parking garage. The farm’s hydroponics system uses special grow lights to ensure the vegetables have what they need to survive. The mushrooms grow in a special medium and, through their respiration, provide valuable CO2 for the plants to thrive. La Caverne may have found inspiration from Growing Underground, London’s first underground farm. On 2.5 acres of unused World War II-era tunnels, Growing Underground produces pea shoots, several varieties of radish, mustard, cilantro, Red Amaranth, celery, parsley, and arugula.
Related: 7 agricultural innovations that could save the world
Honorable mention: shipping container farms. Although these may be mobilized on the surface, they may as well be underground due to the closed roof of most shipping containers. The solar-powered hydroponicsLA-based Local Roots can grow the same amount of vegetables, at cost parity, with 99 percent less water than traditional farming.
5. On the Water
Some soil-less growing operations take it a step further, leaving the ground behind entirely and opting for a farm floating on water. Barcelona-based design group Forward Thinking Architecture has proposed a progressive solution to the decreasing availability of arable land by creating floating, solar-powered farms. Using modules that measure 200 meters by 350 meters, Forward Thinking’s design allows for expansion and custom configuration of farms. Each module has three levels: a desalinization and aquaculture level at the bottom, then a hydroponic farming level, topped off by a level of solar panels and rainwater collection. The company estimates that each module would produce 8,152 tons of vegetables a year and 1,703 tons of fish annually.
Related: NexLoop unveils water management system inspired by spiders, fungi, bees and plants
Greenwave takes an alternative approach to soil-less, floating farming by combining the cultivation of shellfish and seaweed, both profitable crops that also help to clean the aquatic environment and absorb greenhouse gases. The farm requires little external input, pulls carbon dioxide from the air and water, and consumes excess nitrogen that could otherwise result in algal blooms and dead zones.
6. Your Home
Yes, you too could get in on the soil-less action. Whether you prefer to DIY or you’d rather something more straightforward, there are options for every style.
Lead image via Depositphotos, others via MIT OpenAg, Sundrop Farms, Esther Boston, Cycloponics, GreenWave, and Urban Leaf
This Traveling Farm Wants to Teach You How to Grow Your Own Edible Greens in Singapore
This Traveling Farm Wants to Teach You How to Grow Your Own Edible Greens in Singapore
By Coconuts Singapore Jan. 17, 2018
As urban farming gains traction in cosmopolitan Singapore, people are increasingly interested in growing their own edible gardens. But not all of us are born with a green thumb — and that’s where The Traveling Farm steps in.
A roving initiative by urban farming consultancy Pocket Greens, the pop-up space will rotate between three different locations — Bougainvillea Park (where it sits now), Raffles Place Park, and Dhoby Ghaut Green — for three months each from now till Dec 5, 2020, so you’ve got plenty of time to make your way over.
It’s not hard to recognize either. Housed in a bright orange recycled container, The Traveling Farm offers gardening workshops and programs, with videos on express gardening, tips on cultivating a lush garden, and sessions on growing your own greens.
Those keen on putting theory into practice can browse through the retail selection and bring home a variety of herbs, seeds, and gardening products.
Cloudponics GroBox and GroPro Now Available on Amazon
Cloudponics GroBox and GroPro Now Available on Amazon
Geeks News Desk Jan. 18, 2018
Cloudponics, makers of fully-automated home growing systems, today announced the immediate availability of its GroBox andGroPro products on Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer.
Additionally, Cloudponics also announced an all-new, accessible financing option for its customers via Blispay. Through the partnership with Blispay, Cloudponics offers customers a more flexible way to buy now and make simple, affordable monthly payments. This new program will extend financing options to a broader range of customers interested in growing their own cannabis via the popular GroBox platform. Cloudponics customers can go to the Blispay Cloudponics page at checkout and apply for financing, where they will receive a line of credit to complete the purchase directly on the Cloudponics website.
"We want to diversify the online availability of our unique cannabis industry brand and products and launching on Amazon.com will significantly expand the distribution and availability of the Cloudponics product suite in the U.S.,” said Nicolas Ruiz, Co-Founder, Cloudponics. “The collaboration with Amazon makes it easier for millions to shop the Cloudponics brand and start taking part in the cannabis revolution.”
“Through Blispay we are able to provide flexible financing options to many of our customers and help share the joys of home growing,” added Ruiz. “Blispay will extend financing options to a broader range of customers interested in growing their own cannabis, such as those who rely on it medically, providing them with the ability to control the quality and quantity of their medicinal supply without breaking the bank.”
The GroBox intelligently monitors and manages multiple variables such as air temperature, nutrients, humidity, water levels, airflow, light schedule and pH balance in order to create and sustain the optimal conditions for consistent, predictable, and repeatable yields. The GroBox pairs with the Cloudponics app for 24/7/365 oversight. Here’s a link to a Livestream of the GroBox fully automated grow system.
About Cloudponics
Cloudponics is the IoT hydroponics system for autonomously growing high-yielding, high quality plants. Cloudponics’ GroBox system intelligently creates the ideal growth conditions for consistent, predictable, and repeatable yields. The GroPro is Cloudponics’ professional grade controller that allows growers to remotely monitor and automate hydroponic indoor grows with nutrient dosing, pH sensoring and climate controls. Founded in 2015 and lead by entrepreneurs Pepijn van der Krogt and Nicolas Ruiz, Cloudponics is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.cloudponics.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.