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lef Farms Launches New Clamshell Packaging To Meet Overwhelming Customer Demand
lef Farms Launches New Clamshell Packaging To Meet Overwhelming Customer Demand
(LOUDON, NH) – While lef Farms may be a new name to some, it has already earned a strong reputation in New England’s retail and food service community by providing the most unique blends of locally grown, fresh baby greens on the market. That recognition didn’t come by accident. It came by applying the knowledge from its founders’ 40 years of growing experience, paying close attention to market trends and, most importantly, listening to what its customers have to say. And what they were saying loud and clear throughout 2017 was “We want clamshells!”
To answer that passionate call, lēf Farms is excited to introduce its newly designed clamshell packaging. While the fresh and tasty contents of its packages won’t be changing, lef has adopted this much more popular packaging format by going to clamshells.
“There’s no doubt that everyone loves our baby greens that, up until now, were available in distinctive black bags. Consumers expressed to us they were having difficulty finding our products in a consistent location within their local stores, as produce managers often placed them away from the traditional salad wall,” begins lef Sales & Marketing Manager, Donald Grandmaison.
With the improved clamshell packaging, retailers are now able to consistently incorporate lēf products into their store planograms in a location where consumers are more apt to look for tasty local greens. Switching over to clams also helps reduce the amount of food waste by protecting our greens during transit, as well as during the stocking and restocking of product dispensers at store level.
“Within the baby greens space,” Grandmaison continues, “our retailer partners indicated they were much more in favor of clamshells because they were easier to attractively stack, load, and restock product as compared to bags. So, to us, putting our greens into clamshells made perfect sense.”
Beyond the ease of displaying our greens at retail, the new lef clamshells also protect our delicate greens as they make their way to the homes of salad lovers all across New England. The clams also provide consumers with more convenience, as they stack easily inside any refrigerator. Plus, the re-sealable closure helps reduce wilting and food waste by keeping the greens as fresh as when they first came home from the store.
Like the original bags, lef’s new clamshells carry a clean and simple design, accented by a color band to differentiate each of the unique blends offered. So, lef’s Smooth greens, which are a buttery blend of baby romaine, oakleaf lettuce, pac choi, and mizuna, will continue to have a blue band. Its Spice mix, a robust mix of baby arugula, red mustard, leaf lettuce, mizuna, and cress, will still carry a red band. And lef Balance, a delicate blend of red and green baby kale with a subtle, sweet flavor, will still have the same tan color band as before.
lef’s new design also takes advantage of unique clear labeling, allowing consumers to see more of its scrumptious baby greens before they buy.
“This was another important area for us to address in our repackaging efforts,” states Grandmaison. “Consumers are passionate about their produce. And they want to see as much of what’s inside the packages before they buy. This knowledge helped shape our approach to the graphic design of our new clams. The more open our design, the more customers can see how much our locally grown greens visually outperform any product out there,” smiles Grandmaison. “Our new clamshells offer nearly 95% product visibility, which literally speaks about our commitment to transparency in everything we do.”
As with all of lef’s business decisions, the move to clamshells also needed to take into consideration environmental implications. Although its initial bags were recyclable, lef’s new clamshells are made of a much more commonly recycled material, food-grade PETE 1 (polyethylene terephthalate) – making them more easily recovered by most community programs.
lef Farms is a 75,000-sq. ft. greenhouse growing facility, producing nearly than 1.5 million pounds annually of the freshest and healthiest baby greens for New England. www.lef-farms.com
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A Growing Opportunity Has Dracut, New York Students Filling Salad Bar
A Growing Opportunity Has Dracut, New York Students Filling Salad Bar
By Amaris Castillo, acastillo@lowellsun.com
02/05/2018
A group of Dracut High School students in late November planted lettuce seeds at Justus C. Richardson Middle School in Dracut, which would produce food to be incorporated in the high school s salad bar. The students are also members of the school s Environmental Action Club. SUN PHOTOS / AMARIS CASTILLO
DRACUT -- A group of Dracut High School students in late November bent their heads over a row of soil press seed plates on a long table at Justus C. Richardson Middle School. Slowly and carefully, the teens (also members of the school's Environmental Action Club) planted the first set of lettuce seeds in each hole that, in time, would produce organic food meant for the high school's salad bar and prepared meals for students.
"It's been growing as hoped and expected, and they have harvested lettuce," Dracut High School principal Richard Manley said last week of the students' progress in the district's greenhouse.
Dracut High students are using the indoor grow technology through a collaborative effort between teachers, the middle school, and the Food Services Department.
(SUN / AMARIS CASTILLO)
The company that brought forth the technology is New York-based 2445 Organics.
According to Andy Maslin, the founder of 2445 Organics, this system takes the "ag farm back into the school" rather than a school busing students to a farm for the experience. It's the first time his company is branching into Massachusetts.
"This is allowing the farmers to become year-round sustainable and allowing the schools to grow their own foods year-round," Maslin said.
Maslin said his New England distributor, Todd Bard, CEO of EvanLEE Organics, worked to bring the opportunity to Town Manager Jim Duggan. Bard has previously conducted business with the town.
"It's a job creator. It's got agricultural and educational components to it, and I think it's a fantastic opportunity," Duggan said.
How A School Kitchen Garden Can Transform An Entire Community
2018
How A School Kitchen Garden Can Transform An Entire Community
A school initiative is encouraging whole multicultural communities to improve their relationship with food. (Sunshine North Primary School)
"They say food brings people together. What we’ve found is that this program has brought our community together."
By Yasmin Noone
29 JAN 2018
There’s a small kitchen garden situated in the cultural melting pot of Sunshine North in Melbourne’s west that’s changing the way the community interacts with food.
It’s not in a local park or in an expensive gardening centre tended to by masses of horticulturists.
No. This edible garden of influence – cared for by children, teachers and parents – is located on the grounds of the low-socioeconomic, multicultural Sunshine North Primary School.
The kitchen garden at this school, operating as part of the nationwide Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, goes one step further than educating kids about plants and food.
It aims to help a very diverse group of students to read and write, and encourages parents - many of whom are newly arrived migrants - to integrate into Australian society.
“We are a very multicultural community,” Sunshine North Primary School principal, Ken Ryan, tells SBS Food.
“There are 300 children at the school and 35 different nationalities here. We have a very big Vietnamese community and the second largest community is from Burma.
“For many of our students, they start at our school at the beginning of their life in Australia. But the thing is, only one-in-10 students speak English at home. So the starting point for the children’s formal education when they come here is usually quite low.”
School kitchen gardens aren’t just about kids dipping their fingers in the soil.
The school, which became involved in the kitchen garden program around 11 years ago, has developed the program into something extra special. The teachers have integrated kitchen garden lessons into the school curriculum, which incorporates science, math, critical thinking and English.
The recipes are used to teach children and their parents basic reading, comprehension and maths, while science lessons are conducted in the garden.
Conversational English skills are practiced while children are eating their cooked lunch. As they sit together around a table – that they set – kids discuss the experience of cooking and chat about what the food tasted like.
Students from kindergarten through to Year six participate in gardening and cooking classes, utilizing 80 percent of school-grown produce as they prepare meals (with teacher supervision) in the school kitchen.
Community-wide benefits
The program has also helped parents from non-English speaking backgrounds who haven’t felt confident volunteering for academic-based activities at the school.
They get involved with Sunshine North Primary community by lending a hand in the garden.
“Everyone cooks and everyone eats, no matter what language you speak, so we engaged the parents in the garden and in the kitchen,” says Ryan
“Parents now come into the school and look after the garden or feed the chickens. The program is the result of a whole community effort.
“They say food brings people together. What we’ve found is that this program has brought our community together.”
aims to help a very diverse group of students to read and write, and encourages parents to integrate into Australian society.
A healthy lesson for all ages
Ryan explains that the kitchen garden – consisting of seasonal herbs, fruits and vegetables – is also teaching parents and children about health and wellbeing, and on the dangers of fast food in Western society.
“It used to kill me to watch some parents coming into the school, with a McDonald's meal for their child at 10 am which they wanted to be served to them for lunch at 1 pm, thinking they were doing the right thing.
“I thought, ‘we need to change the learning around Western food and how important food is in general in a child’s wellbeing’.
“We can now clearly see that at our school, this program helps both children and their parents to make good choices about their food.
“They are learning, [as a community] to grow their own food and understand that the food you grow yourself tastes different to the food you buy.”
1,630 kitchen gardens nationwide…and counting
Sunshine North Primary is only one of the many schools around Australia participating in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.
Since 2004, the program has been implemented in 1,630 primary schools, high schools and early learning centres nationwide. The program is among the most popular in primary schools – 1,065 primaries are involved – while 70 special schools and 237 early learning centres also participate.
The foundation reports that Victoria is by far its biggest supporter, with kitchen gardens now in almost 560 schools and centres across the state.
However, there are 48 kitchen gardens implemented in the Northern Territory, 59 in Tasmania, 71 in the ACT, 139 in South Australia, 213 in Queensland, 170 in WA and 377 in NSW.
It's also about teaching immigrant parents and children about health and wellbeing, and on the dangers of fast food in Western society.
Why kitchen gardens create good food habits
Rebecca Naylor, CEO of the Kitchen Garden Foundation and Program, attributes the program’s national popularity to its ethos – kitchen gardens teach children why eating well is important, what good food actually looks and tastes like, and where food comes from.
“Kids habits are formed early in life,” says Naylor.
“If we can build habits for kids early on, that help them engage with growing food, cooking that food, eating seasonal fresh delicious food and then sharing that with others, then their relationship with food will be different than if they were never exposed to that experience.”
Since 2004, the program has been implemented in 1630 primary schools, high schools and early learning centres nationwide.
Naylor explains that when kids are involved in the program their willingness to try new foods also increases.
“Many kids don’t necessarily know where food comes from so their experience of food is shopping in the supermarket – not putting a seed in the ground and growing a pumpkin or beetroot.
“We know, even for us as adults, many of us have a fairly distant relationship with our food. But if your experience of food, [early on] is going to school, putting a seed in the ground and watching it grow in an environment where you also learn maths, English and language, then you are more likely to want to try that purple dip with the beetroot you’ve grown, as opposed to not wanting to try a meal put in front of you that you have no association with.”
Evidence-based success
The program is reaping positive education, community engagement, health and wellbeing results. A national evaluation of the program, funded by the Department of Health and Ageing and conducted between 2011-2012 by University of Wollongong researchers, found it to be a positive learning experience for students. Over 97.5 per cent of teachers involved also thought it benefited their student’s learning.
An earlier university study, done from 2007-2009, discovered that the program encouraged students to make positive health behaviour changes. These changes, the research showed, were then transferred to their home and community environments.
The program is reaping positive education, community engagement, health and wellbeing results.
Barriers to access
The success of the kitchen gardens program begs one question: why doesn’t every school across Australia have a kitchen garden, run by this foundation or another?
Naylor says there’s often an assumption that schools might need a big space for a kitchen or garden to be involved. While this was once true, the program has been altered to adapt to the needs of any size school of any socio-economic standing.
“To be fair, it’s true to say that schools that have a lower socioeconomic make-up often find it harder to get a program like this up and running because they have less of an ability to draw on the school community for fundraising – for example.”
However, Sunshine North Primary School got one running.
“It all comes down to the vision and leadership at a school. There needs to be someone involved in the school who has the ability to see how a program like this can be used right across the school community and curriculum.”
Naylor also calls on state governments to exercise leadership and encourage all schools of the value of kitchen garden programs for children of all backgrounds and wealth status.
“We need governments to say that running a kitchen garden of this type in your school is what they want to see happening.
“It will give schools the permission they need to engage in the work that is required to set a program like this up.”
How do you provide tasty, delicious and high-quality meals, whilst keeping prices affordable? It’s a problem Shane Delia is facing both in his business and with his Feed the Mind project. The answer for Shane is to look for local solutions, and he enlists the help of Stephanie Alexander to supercharge the school garden as a means to provide healthy ingredients that don’t need to be ordered from the shop. Watch the episode on SBS On Demand here.
Shane Delia's Recipe For Life airs 8pm, Thursdays on SBS, then on SBS On-Demand. You can find the recipes and more features from the show here.
BrightFarms Innovates With A Crunchy Iceberg Baby Leaf!
BrightFarms Innovates With A Crunchy Iceberg Baby Leaf!
A new take on a salad classic, BrightFarms Sunny Crunch is now on shelves in partner retailers.
New York, (February 2, 2018) – BrightFarms is announcing the launch of Sunny Crunch, a packaged salad that features a unique baby leaf iceberg not typically found in US supermarkets.
With a mild flavor profile that’s aimed at families and kids, Sunny Crunch combines the crisp texture of iceberg with the flavor and color of a leafy green. BrightFarms’ innovation team spent months researching and testing non-traditional lettuce varieties before landing on Sunny Crunch. It will be grown and distributed to local supermarkets from each of the company’s current greenhouse facilities.
“Iceberg lettuce is an American classic that continues to command a strong position in the salad category,” said Abby Prior, BrightFarms VP of Marketing. “Sunny Crunch adds a new level of flavor and excitement to a variety that many of us grew up with. We’re very excited to be introducing it to our retail partners as an exclusive offering.”
Through the use of controlled hydroponic growing systems, BrightFarms is able to bring innovative products to market in a relatively short amount of time. The company is testing a number of other leafy greens and herbs and plans to roll out additional new products this spring.
For more information about BrightFarms and Sunny Crunch, please visit www.brightfarms.com.
About BrightFarms
BrightFarms grows local produce, nationwide. BrightFarms finances, builds, and operates local greenhouse farms in partnership with supermarkets, cities, capital sources, and vendors, enabling it to quickly and efficiently eliminate time, distance, and costs from the food supply chain. BrightFarms’ growing methods, a model for the future of scalable, sustainable local farming, uses far less energy, land and water than conventional agriculture. Fast Company recognizes BrightFarms as “One of World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” and one of the “Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Food” in the world. For more information, please visit www.brightfarms.com.
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Media Inquiries:
Megan Foard
Abel Communications for BrightFarms
Philips Lighting North America launches new GreenPower LED Interlighting with greater efficacy and plug and play installation
Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LIGHT), a global leader in lighting, announced the new Philips GreenPower LED Interlighting Generation 3 (Gen 3) is now available for the North America market.
February 6, 2018
Philips Lighting North America launches new GreenPower LED Interlighting with greater efficacy and plug and play installation
Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LIGHT), a global leader in lighting, announced the new Philips GreenPower LED Interlighting Generation 3 (Gen 3) is now available for the North America market.
Designed to be placed within the crop canopy, the bi-directional or sideways-facing LEDs of the Interlighting system direct growth-stimulating light on the most vital parts of crops to boost the yield of high-wire tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. The added light is particularly valuable during the darker months of November through February. Moreover, the new Interlighting Gen 3 will do this highly efficiently as it offers a system efficacy of 2.7 to 3.0 μmol/J.
“We are excited to roll out the new Interlighting Gen 3 module to the North America market. It has been very well received by growers in Europe since being introduced to the European market at the IPM show last year,” said Ron DeKok, Business Development Director Horticulture at Philips Lighting. “Growers in Canada and the U.S. are eager to have access to the Gen 3 model because it offers a higher light intensity compared to the previous Interlighting module and it’s much easier to install.”
Installation ease and flexibility
The new system is designed to simplify the installation process with a plug and play connector and flexible cable connections. The Philips Interlighting Gen 3 is available in two lengths, 2.0 meter and 2.5 meters, and two light intensities—a high output version and regular output version. The high output version operates at 81 to 100 watts with an efficacy of 3.0 μmol/J; the regular output module operates at 64 to 79 watts with an efficacy 2.7 to 2.8 μmol/J.
Proven highest yields
After seeing strong results achieved by the tomato grower Herdi as well as record yields of 107 kg achieved last season by Proefstation Hoogstraten, Belgian tomato grower Tomaline decided to install the GreenPower LED InterLighting system in the new greenhouse it will build. “The very high light output of 220 μmol/s and resulting high efficacy of 2.8 μmol/J will give us exactly what we need to increase our yield,” said Kris van Haute co-owner of Tomaline. “The system comes as either a 2 meter or 2.5 meter version allowing us to tailor it to our specific situation and create a uniform light distribution right until the end of the row.”
Developed in cooperation with growers
Udo van Slooten, Business Leader Horticulture at Philips Lighting said, “These latest innovations in our horticultural applications are a result of the long-term collaboration between Philips Lighting and our customers across the world. By working closely with them, we were able to identify exactly how we could further advance the system. As a result, we have developed and introduced the new Philips GreenPower LED Interlighting Gen 3 system providing greater ease of installation and a higher light efficacy which in turn results in higher yields”.
For further information, please contact:
Barbara Perzanowski
Marketing Communications Specialist
Philips Lighting – Horticulture LED Solutions
E-mail: barb.perzanowski@philips.com
About Philips Lighting
Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LIGHT), a global 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 http://www.newsroom.lighting.philips.com
AEssenseGrows Software Delivers 40% Faster Growth with Automated Sensor-Controlled Indoor Farming
AEssenseGrows Software Delivers 40% Faster Growth with Automated Sensor-Controlled Indoor Farming
The Guardian™ Grow Manager Makes It Easy to Manage Precision Control Through Any Device
NEWS PROVIDED BY AEssenseGrows, Inc.
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AEssenseGrows, a precision sensor and software technology company specializing in fully automated aeroponic platforms for consistent indoor high-yield plant production, announced the release of its Guardian Grow Manager intelligent software, now including a complete range of water, nutrient, air, and environmental controls that help customers achieve up to 40 percent faster growth with higher year-round yields.
AEssenseGrows Software Delivers 40% Faster Growth with Automated Sensor-Controlled Indoor Farming
AEssenseGrows produces modular aeroponic grow systems that are constantly aware of plant status through a blanket of precision sensors controlled by the Guardian Grow Manager software. Optimal delivery of nutrients to indoor plants is guaranteed with confidence from recipe through execution, with the constant attention to detail that automation provides. Every sensor reading is processed and mirrored to the AWS cloud, providing a perfect data record for any grow cycle and any plant variety. The company's AEtrium System produces top-shelf pesticide-free crops while reducing the requisite amount of water, nutrients and labor of traditional farming.
"The Guardian Grow Manager is what we rely on to generate a consistent, high-quality product," said Matthew Willinger, master grower at Fitchburg, in Oakland. "I can focus on plant health while the Guardian executes my orders perfectly. The reduction in time and labor is allowing us to be ultra-competitive."
The software provides fully automated intelligence to guarantee nutrient dosage is precise and consistently applied perfectly with every irrigation cycle. Wireless controlled sensors ensure that the Guardian constantly senses, doses, tracks, and analyzes an entire grow operation to specification.
In addition, AEssenseGrows has been licensed to integrate California's Metrc system into the software, meaning users will soon have "seed-to-sale" visibility end-to-end for their operations. The state selected Metrc as its track-and-trace system for tracking commercial cannabis activity and movement throughout the distribution chain.
"The Guardian software makes managing a large facility easy. With all the information of our entire grow at our fingertips we can see up-to-the-second sensor data from anywhere in our facility," said Andrew Lange, CEO of Black Diamond Biotech. "The software makes it easy to maintain the perfect nutrient and light levels and, by integrating the Guardian software into our climate control system, we can maintain the perfect environment for huge consistent yields."
The Guardian Grow Manager features:
- The ability to access, manage, and operate anywhere
- Full facility awareness and control
- Nutrient recipe control and automatic adjustments
- Predictable and repeatable grow results
- 24/7 real-time monitoring
- Complete data monitoring, AWS storage, and back-up in the cloud
- Easy system maintenance
The software delivers total control over photoperiod, nutrient concentration, nutrient dosing ratio, fertigation period (day and night), pH, hydrogen peroxide dosing, air temperature (day and night), humidity, carbon dioxide monitoring, carbon dioxide concentration, air movement, light intensity, water temperature, pump pressure and reservoir water level.
"Our customers have quickly recognized the benefits of having complete control of their grow environments at their fingertips," said Robert Chen, president and CEO of AEssenseGrows. "Advances like the Guardian Grow Manager have turned aeroponics from a theoretically effective method of indoor farming to a practical one. We help our customers compete with automated, low-cost manufacturing so they can be aggressive competitors."
AEssenseGrows will demonstrate its advanced aeroponics systems at the Global Forum for Innovations in AgricultureFeb. 5-6 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at CannaCon Feb 15-17 in Seattle, Wash., and at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit March 20-21 in San Francisco, Calif.
AEssenseGrows offers free webinars on key issues concerning indoor farming. The next, on integrated pest management, will be at 10 a.m. Pacific Time Feb. 14, and reservations can be made on the company's website.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-startup was recently selected by Ackrell Capital as one of the firm's Top 100 Private Cannabis Companies for 2018.
AEssense, Inc. (pronounced "eh-sense") founded in 2015, is a new precision AgTech company based in Sunnyvale, CA. AEssenseGrows provides accelerated plant growth SmartFarm platforms and software automation delivering pure, zero pesticide, year-round, enriched growth to fresh produce and medicinal plant producers globally. With AEssenseGrows, you can precisely control your production operations at your fingertips from anywhere in the world.
For more information for AEssense, visit AEssenseGrows.com.
Phil Gibson
AEssenseGrows, Inc.
669.261.3086
pgibson@aessensegrows.com
SOURCE AEssenseGrows, Inc.
Related Links
Balderton Capital Leads $25M Series A In ‘Urban Farming’ Platform Infarm
Infarm, a startup that has developed vertical farming tech for grocery stores, restaurants, and local distribution centres to bring fresh and artisan produce much closer to the consumer, has raised $25 million in Series A funding.
Infarm, a startup that has developed vertical farming tech for grocery stores, restaurants, and local distribution centres to bring fresh and artisan produce much closer to the consumer, has raised $25 million in Series A funding.
February 5, 2018 | Steve O'Hear (@sohear)
Balderton Capital Leads $25M Series A In ‘Urban Farming’ Platform Infarm
Infarm, a startup that has developed vertical farming tech for grocery stores, restaurants, and local distribution centres to bring fresh and artisan produce much closer to the consumer, has raised $25 million in Series A funding.
The round is led by London-based VC firm Balderton Capital, with participation from TriplePoint Capital, Mons Investments, and previous investors Cherry Ventures, QUADIA and LocalGlobe.
It brings the total raised by the Berlin-based company to $35 million, including a $2.5 million grant from the European Commission as part of the Horizon 2020 program.
Related Articles
Infarm wants to put a farm in every grocery store
Infarm says the new capital will be used for international expansion and to further develop its 5,000 sqm R&D centre in Berlin. This will include bringing its vertical farming system to Paris, London, and Copenhagen, in addition to other German cities later this year. The startup is targeting 1,000 farms to be operational across Europe by the end of 2019.
Founded in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli, and brothers Erez and Guy Galonska, Infarm has developed an “indoor vertical farming” system capable of growing anything from herbs, lettuce and other vegetables, and even fruit. It then places these modular farms in a variety of customer-facing city locations, such as grocery stores, restaurants, shopping malls, and schools, thus enabling the end-customer to actually pick the produce themselves.
The distributed system is designed to be infinitely scalable — you simply add more modules, space permitting — whilst the whole thing is cloud-based, meaning the farms can be monitored and controlled from Infarm’s central control centre. The whole thing is incredibly data-driven, a combination of IoT, Big Data and cloud analytics akin to “Farming-as-a-Service”.
The idea, the founding team told me back in June last year when I profiled the nascent company, isn’t just to produce fresher and better-tasting produce and re-introduce forgotten or rare varieties, but to disrupt the supply chain as a whole, which remains inefficient and produces a lot of waste.
“Behind our farms is a robust hardware and software platform for precision farming,” explained Michaeli. “Each farming unit is its own individual ecosystem, creating the exact environment our plants need to flourish. We are able to develop growing recipes that tailor the light spectrums, temperature, pH, and nutrients to ensure the maximum natural expression of each plant in terms of flavor, colour, and nutritional quality”.
Two years since launch, Infarm says it is now operating more than 50 farms across Berlin in supermarket aisles, restaurants kitchens, and distribution warehouses. This includes introducing in-store farming into EDEKA and METRO locations, two of Germany’s largest food retailers, in which dozens of “quality herbs and leafy greens” are grown and sold at what the startup describes as affordable prices.
Noteworthy, with an output of up to 1,200 plants per month from a single farm unit, Infarm claims it has already enabled some locations to become completely self-sufficient in their herb production.
“This is the beginning of the urban farming (r)evolution: it will redefine what it means to eat well, reshape the landscape of cities, and re-empower the people to take ownership of their food,” says Erez Galonska in a statement. “Our ambition is to reach cities as far as Seattle in the United States or Seoul, South Korea with our urban farming network”.
Pegasus Food Futures Will be Showcasing Their Pioneering Hydroponic Farming Capability At The Global Forum For Innovations in Agriculture, in Abu Dhabi on February 5th and 6th.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, February 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/
Pegasus Food Futures Will be Showcasing Their Pioneering Hydroponic Farming Capability At The Global Forum For Innovations in Agriculture, in Abu Dhabi on February 5th and 6th.
With the world population set to grow from 7.3 billion to 8.5 billion by 2030 and 11.2 billion by 2100, an agricultural solution to the growing food needs of the population is essential.
- Hydroponic farming is an innovative, soil-less system that uses up to 90% less water than conventional farming, uses less land producing high yields of sustainably high quality, reasonably priced crops.
- Farms in arid areas such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries can make the most of the long hours of sunlight, providing the region with crops and reducing the need to rely on expensive imports.
- Visit the Pegasus Food Futures stand at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre and hear farming, technology and business specialist James Yau give an expert talk on Combining Operations and Finance to Provide Best Fit Solutions: Bringing the Offline of Traditional Farming Online at the Controlled Environments and Indoor Farming conference session at 11.30am on 5th February.
Leading owner and operator of hydroponic farming facilities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Pegasus Food Futures will be showcasing their pioneering hydroponic farming facilities at the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) Exhibition in Abu Dhabi on February 5th and 6th at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre.
With the world population set to grow from current levels of 7.3 billion to 8.5 billion by 2030 and 11.2 billion by 2100, ensuring long-term food security has never been more important. Providing an affordable and reliable food source that is also environmentally sustainable is essential to meet the needs of the growing population. Pegasus Food Futures provides solutions for these global food supply challenges through its operations and innovations in farming, livestock, feedstock and food production.
Their primary goal is to provide security for our food and agricultural future. Through continued investment into hydroponic farming technology, techniques and innovation they aim to support food security by growing sustainable and consistent produce that offers consumers a high quality, reasonably priced and fresh harvest each and every time.
Hydroponics explained
The hydroponic system is a soil-less culture for crops in which water and nutrients are delivered directly to the roots of the plant, dispensing with the need for the plant to expend precious energy growing long roots through the soil to reach these vital ingredients. Produce is grown in advanced, environmentally- friendly greenhouses, equipped with technology that controls and monitors each plant's nutrient intake with optimum accuracy. The design of the hydroponic farming systems ensures that the system uses up to 90% less water than traditional agriculture. Not only does this preserve precious natural resources, it also helps to reduce costs. This is particularly important for farms located in arid regions like the GCC, where water is scarce. Hydroponic farms in such regions can make use of the long periods of natural sunlight and produce affordable crops that reduce the need for the region to rely on expensive imports. Moreover, the controlled conditions mean the crops require no pesticides and produce consistently high yields.
A hydroponic farm can continue functioning for more than 100 consecutive years, resulting in a secure, stable source of both food and employment for the local area.
The Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture
Pegasus Food Futures will be exhibiting at GFIA on Feb 5th and 6th and the farming and business expert James Yau will be giving a talk on Combining Operations and Finance to Provide Best Fit Solutions: Bringing the Offline of Traditional Farming Online at the Controlled Environments and Indoor Farming conference session at 11.30am on 5th February.
James Yau has 20 years' experience in management consulting in North America and Asia. In early 2009, he established and operated more than 10 farms within Asia Pacific. In 2013, he founded a retail chain to sell safe, high quality food produce in Hong Kong. During 2016, he partnered with a well-established Hong Kong wholesale company and penetrated the south China region which now trades over 65 million kilos annually. With extensive knowledge of financing and operating farms combined with technological expertise, James offers a unique opportunity to learn about how to bring traditional farming online.
Exhibition attendees can visit the Pegasus Food Futures stand in B20 and attend James' talk in the Conference Theatre, with the session starting at 11:30 pm, Monday, 5 February.
Keep an eye on the Pegasus Food Futures social media channels from for updates, news and pictures from the show (Instagram @pegasusfoodfutures, Twitter @pegagsusff, Facebook @pegasusfoodfutures)
Currently, hydroponic farming comprises only 1% of world agriculture. There is huge room for expansion of this innovative, sustainable solution to the problem of the growing demand for food. Pegasus Food Futures are keen to expand their portfolio and will be on hand to talk to farmers and investors alike.
About hydroponic farming
The System
The Pegasus Food Futures System (PFFS) combines intellectual property, seed germination processes and bespoke nutrient formulas that produce superior crops compared to competitors. From 2013 this system has been refined and adapted with continued investment into innovation ensuring that Pegasus Food Futures remains the market leader in the Europe, Middle East and Africa.
With further farms under construction in Europe, the PFFS has been further modified through research and development, investing in people and recruiting new skills into the team. The system and team now have an impressive track record in hydroponic farming technology and the ability to produce a wide range of fresh salad items, soft fruits, herbs, and vegetables.
The PFFS needs to also incorporate other key elements which will ensure all of our farms work under a defined efficiency and produce a stable, sustainable, high quality produce each and every harvest.
The controlled environment
Having the right environment is essential for the hydroponic farm. Key elements to a proper environment include humidity, temperature, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and air circulation/exchange. Most crops grow and bloom according to the amount of light they are given. Generally produce require 10-12 hours of sunlight per day. PFFS uses natural lighting (sunlight) and this is achieved by building our farms in locations where there is an abundance of natural sunlight throughout the year.
All living things need space in which to live, grow, and reproduce. Different crops have different spacing requirements so the growing frames are specifically designed for each crop that is grown.
The water that supplies the plants is tightly monitored and controlled, from the pH to the nutrient balance, which varies throughout the growing cycle. The PFFS uses a unique formula for nutrients, specific to each crop and stage of the growing cycle, enabling the ideal produce to be grown.
About Pegasus Food Futures
What's New?
In 2017 Pegasus Food Futures acquired farms in Abu Dhabi, Ras-Al-Khaimah and two sites in Portugal. For more highlights of 2017, visit: http://pegasusfoodfutures.com/highlights-of-2017/
Social media and web
Web: http://pegasusfoodfutures.com/
Investors: http://go.hydroponic-investment.com/invest
Instagram @pegasusfoodfutures, Twitter @pegagsusff, Facebook @pegasusfoodfutures
About GFIA
Cultivating Change.
Born with the belief that continuous innovation in agriculture is the only way to sustainably feed nine billion people by 2050, the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture has emerged as a global authority on sustainable food production, driving innovation through exhibitions and conferences across the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Since 2014, GFIA events have welcomed over 20,000 visitors and worked with over 50 globally significant partners committed to using the Forum as a catalyst for change.
Global Vision. Local Relevance.
Showcasing the latest game-changing innovations and technology, each GFIA exhibition and conference offers stakeholders a pioneering forum and marketplace to foster meaningful dialogue, collaboration, recognition and year-round action between regional food producers, buyers, innovators, policy makers and investors.
Abu Dhabi.
At the centre of the arid world and with a rapidly growing population, the MENA region's need to address food security is more urgent than almost anywhere else. Hosting a large exhibition and free conference programme, GFIA Abu Dhabi will present the latest innovations and technologies to regional food producers across six key areas: indoor farming and hydroponics; date palm production; aquatech; livestock and animal health; smart honey production; and sustainable crops.
Part of UAE Innovations Month, GFIA Abu Dhabi is held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and enjoys strategic support from Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
For more information, visit: http://innovationsinagriculture.com/
SOURCE Pegasus Food Futures
Living Greens Farm is Changing The Way Produce is Grown
Living Greens Farm is Changing The Way Produce is Grown
Living Greens Farm, located just south of the Twin Cities in Faribault, MN has developed its own patented aeroponic vertical growing system that, according to its own estimates, uses 200 times less land and 95 percent less water than traditional farming.
Launched in 2012, the company currently grows fresh lettuces, herbs and microgreens on vertical platforms indoors in its Faribault Industrial Park facility, without the use of herbicides or pesticides.
“We didn’t invent aeroponics,” said Dana Anderson, founder and president at Living Greens Farm. “But we invented how to commercialize it. We feel aeroponics is the fastest and most disease-resistant way to grow.”
Historically, farming has always been dependent upon the mercy of Mother Nature. But with this high-tech type of indoor farming, a computer controls all light, temperature, humidity and nutrients, thereby eliminating the uncertainties of day-to-day weather changes.
Plus, with aeroponics there is no growing medium like soil or water used; the plant roots are simply open to the air and regularly misted with a nutrient solution. Plants are initially grown outside of the machines before they are placed into the rows under the misting system technology, thus maximizing space and giving the plants the room they need to grow. The company has 10 patents for its traversing misting system, allowing it to grow more food in a much shorter amount of time.
“It’s proprietary technology that we invented here,” Anderson told The Product News. “We’ve invested five years of time and about $5 million into the research and development side of our business. Beyond the aeroponics piece, there was also the invention of the traversing misting system. There are many moving irrigation systems for field crops and it’s easy to understand when you see irrigation systems moving across a cornfield. But what we own is a moving irrigation system for roots and that allows for fewer nozzles and improved reliability. Instead of installing hundreds of thousands of nozzles in a full-scale facility, we just have to install hundreds.”
The company recently completed a major expansion project and added 30 more growing systems to its already existing 10 systems, so it will be producing substantially more produce. Normally, in 15 to 17 cycles per year, the farm harvests around 1,500 plants per cycle.
“We are building a rather large farm — one of the largest indoor farms in the world — in Faribault,” Anderson said. “It has four times more grow space, and larger expansion in terms of production because we are adding more grow lights, so we think it’s actually going to be more like a 10 times increase in total revenue and total sales and production. It’s 21,000-square-feet of grow space and that will produce about 1 million units, or heads of lettuce, per year. Aeroponics is very fast in germs of growing plants and it’s actually the fastest way to grow, according to NASA. That is a big deal for indoor farming because if you can grow four or five more cycles a year, that is of course more revenue per square foot — 40 percent more revenue per square foot of grow space — and that means the operation is more efficient.”
Living Greens Farm is definitely changing the way food is grown and it may eventually go worldwide, duplicating its Minnesota operation in other countries and producing additional types of crops. According to the company’s website, its goal is “to make the world a better place by growing healthy, sustainable, fresh produce.”
And Living Greens Farm Chief Executive Officer Dave Augustine said, “Things like this are totally necessary to feed the human population in the future.”
By Richard Lutes
Source: The Produce News
http://www.theproducenews.com/digital_editions/pn101617issue/index.html
Kitchen Farms and Cultivators: The “Urban Farm” is Shrinking… Right Down to Kitchen Size
By Barbara Langford, President HydroPro Sales Inc
Is a “Kitchen Farm” in your future? Would you jump at the chance to grow all of your leafy greens and herbs fresh, pesticide-free and healthy right in your own kitchen? The concept to provide fresh healthy food for your family right from your kitchen is hard to resist. Can you actually control what you eat, providing your family with healthy HYPER LOCAL greens, herbs and small vegetables and fruits, that you grow yourself? Yes, you can.
Controlled Environment Agriculture or as the pros call it, CEA, is coming to a kitchen near you, perhaps your own. Controlled environment growing involves growing hydroponically in water or aeroponically, in mist, inside, in a building where factors like temperature, humidity, lighting, nutrient and water levels, CO2 levels and more, are constantly monitored and controlled. These facilities can be huge, housed in gigantic warehouses, or shrunk down to shipping container size. They can make a big impact on local food sources. CEA facilities are highly efficient when compared to traditional in-ground farming using a fraction of the water, and zero pesticides. Plus, they provide local fresh food, often in urban areas, reducing the carbon footprint of produce having to travel days to reach a market.
The “Cultivators” a Farm in Your Kitchen
Taking these methods, shrinking them down, even more, kitchen appliance makers are using the lessons learned by the big growers and are creating CEA appliances, known as “cultivators” for your home. Ranging in size from a dishwasher to a refrigerator, you now have the option of growing all your leafy greens, herbs and small vegetables and fruits right in your kitchen, living room or garage. It doesn’t matter if snow is falling or it’s 105 degrees outside, you can grow with minimum effort and automated success. OH.. and by the way? NO tilling, weeding or pests to deal with. You will grow clean and pure without backbreaking labor in a small space that will give you maximum results!
These units are being developed by companies everywhere and there are some beautiful examples of what your kitchen can look like with the addition of a kitchen farm cultivator. Some of these units are quite pricey but when you see them in designer kitchens, you’ll see why!
Tabletop Mini Farms
Kitchen farms can be as simple as a tabletop unit too, although, without the temperature, co2 and humidity control found in the self-contained closed units. The tabletop farms are experiencing great popularity as entry-level automated hydroponic growing systems that can provide leafy greens and herbs in an attractive home accessory way. Anyone who loves plants and gardening will enjoy seeing their fresh herbs and leafy greens growing inside, featured under high efficiency LED lights, even during a snowstorm! The winter “pent-up gardener” syndrome can be alleviated when one has a pretty crop of lettuce, spinach, bok choi or herbs, happily growing on the kitchen counter. No need to wait to peruse the Seed Catalogs! Buy now… Plant now.
The unit shown here is the Micro Farm by Keisue. Keisue specializes in LED lights, and for many years, studied how light spectrum effects plant growth. The LED lights in the Keisue unit have been specifically chosen to be the right frequency and intensity to provide exactly what leafy greens and herbs need to thrive. Watch out though, having these tabletop Micro Farms can become addictive! Once one is obtained, more may follow. Click the image to the left for more info and to purchase this affordable (and adorable) micro-farm.
Keisue is also involved in the production of enclosed, controlled environment kitchen farm cultivators, as seen above. These units can provide a continuous supply of fresh greens, up to 4 heads of lettuce or other greens per week! For more information, direct your inquiries here.
The video below is a great representation of how the kitchen cultivators work using crop rotation. Seeds and seedlings are cultivated in the bottom of the cultivator and, as they mature, moved to different levels to complete their growing cycle. There are always plants starting and always plants finishing under LED grow lights that provide the perfect light for maximum performance. Even microgreens, one of the most nutritious superfoods you can eat, can be grown in the cultivators. (or on your countertop) These fast crops finish in 8 to 10 days (!)
If controlling the quality of your food source is important to you, growing your own, right in your own kitchen may be your best bet! We have info on many systems that can start you off but not break the bank. Please contact us for more info.
Berlin Urban Farm-In-A-Box Raises $25 Million For European Expansion
The company, founded by three Israeli filmmakers-turned-entrepreneurs, plans to use the funds to roll out mini, in-store farms with Edeka, Germany’s largest supermarket chain. It is also working with Metro (B4B.DE), the country’s No.2 grocer.
Berlin Urban Farm-In-A-Box Raises $25 Million For European Expansion
February 5, 2018 Eric Auchard
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Berlin-based urban farming start-up Infarm has raised $25 million to expand its indoor growing system - a soil-less technology better known for furtively growing marijuana - into major supermarket chains and restaurants across Europe.
The company, founded by three Israeli filmmakers-turned-entrepreneurs, plans to use the funds to roll out mini, in-store farms with Edeka, Germany’s largest supermarket chain. It is also working with Metro (B4B.DE), the country’s No.2 grocer.
Infarm wants to help cities become self-sufficient in food production, lowering farming’s environmental footprint.
A single, two-square-meter unit can be located in stores or dining rooms, or the same units can be chained together in central distribution centers to grow hundreds of different varieties of plants, each with its own micro-climate.
“We decided it would be more effective to distribute the farms themselves and farm directly where people live and eat,” Co-Founder and Chief Executive Erez Galonska said.
Industrial-scale U.S. rivals claim to be removing waste from long-distance agricultural supply chains, while Infarm is trying to break down the need for a supply chain itself, Osnat Michaeli, another co-founder, and Infarm’s chief marketing officer told Reuters.
Plenty Inc of South San Francisco, which operates vast indoor fields growing fruit, vegetables and herbs, raised $200 million in a 2017 round led by Softbank (9984.T) Vision Fund, marking the largest-ever agricultural tech venture funding.
Infarm said it will have 1,000 miniature urban farms operating across Europe by the middle of next year, starting with locations in Paris, London, Copenhagen and additional German cities by the end of 2018.
The compact plant growing system sits on stacked shelves, using hydroponics - a way of growing plants without soil - in a climate and LED-lighting controlled glass case. It grows everyday and exotic herbs like small-leaf Greek basil or Peruvian mint and leafy greens which customers are selling for prices at or below that of plastic-packaged herbs.
“We have replaced 15 grams of herbs in plastic boxes with living plants priced around 1.50 euros,” said Michaeli. “It’s the same type, similar price, but it’s alive.”
The new round of investment was led by Balderton Capital, one of Europe’s top early-stage venture investors, and joined by debt-financing firm Triple Point Capital and Mons Investments.
The company plans to invest further in its Berlin-based urban farm and research lab to expand its product catalog beyond some 200 herbs currently to include tomatoes, chillies, mushrooms, fruits and flowering vegetables, the company said.
Reporting by Eric Auchard; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
What Does The Future of Conventional Agriculture Look Like? Does it Include Vertical Farming and Indoor AG?
Leading Japanese indoor ag tech companies to visit the heart of U.S. agricultural research and biotechnology community to attend controlled environment networking event.
What Does The Future of Conventional Agriculture Look Like? Does it Include Vertical Farming and Indoor AG?
Leading Japanese indoor ag tech companies to visit the heart of U.S. agricultural research and biotechnology community to attend controlled environment networking event.
If you are involved with the vertical farming or indoor agriculture industries, then you should plan on attending Ag Tech Worlds Collide. Scheduled for Feb. 21, 2018, at North Carolina State University, this event will tackle the big questions currently being addressed in the vertical farming and indoor agriculture industries worldwide.
Urban Ag News and the Japan Plant Factory Association in coordination with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry are pleased to announce this joint networking event with U.S.-based agricultural organizations and operations. Participating Japanese organizations/companies include: Japan Plant Factory Association, Keystone Technology Inc., Shinnippou 808 Factory, Nihon Advanced Agri Corp., ESPEC MIC Corp. and MIRAI.
Presentations focus on CEA impact
Key presentations at this controlled environment agriculture (CEA) event will be made by Dr. Chieri Kubota, professor of controlled environment agriculture at The Ohio State University, and Dr. Ricardo Hernandez, assistant professor in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at North Carolina State University.
Dr. Kubota’s presentation will discuss “Optimizing input and output in controlled environment agriculture.” Dr. Kubota received a PhD. in horticultural engineering and M.S. in horticultural science from Chiba University in Japan. She worked for six years as a faculty member at Chiba University, 16 years in the School of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona and recently joined the faculty at The Ohio State University. At Chiba University Dr. Kubota studied under and worked with Dr. Toyoki Kozai, one of the most published and greatest minds in indoor agriculture.
Dr. Kubota’s research program focuses on the development of science-based CEA technologies. She has been very active in interdisciplinary collaborations contributing to horticultural crop production under controlled environments. Her research includes value-added CEA crop production, vegetable grafting, hydroponic strawberry production and CEA LED lighting applications.
Dr. Hernandez will discuss “Using vertical farming/indoor ag to support traditional farming.” He is a faculty member in the Department of Horticultural Sciences in the area of horticultural energy at North Carolina State University. He has a B.S. in agronomy–crop consulting from New Mexico State University. His M.S. is in entomology–biological control from Texas A&M University. His PhD. is in plant sciences–plant physiology from the University of Arizona. He has a doctoral minor in entrepreneurship from the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship, Eller School of Business and a minor in ag and biosystems engineering from the University of Arizona.
Dr. Hernandez’s research is focused on making CEA tools and techniques an integral part of sustainable agriculture and horticulture.
Event registration, location specifics
Ag Tech Worlds Collide will be held in the York Auditorium of the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, N.C. Entry to this event is $25 and includes morning coffee service and lunch. Attendance is limited and the event will sell out quickly. Click here to register.
Infarm Grows Produce In Supermarket Aisles
Infarm Grows Produce In Supermarket Aisles
There are more than 50 indoor vertical farms in Berlin alone
KEN SCHUCHTMANN
James Hurley
February 5, 2018, The Times
Retailers can earn brownie points with environmentally and ethically minded consumers already by boasting about selling local produce, but what if supermarkets could go one better and grow their own crops in-store?
It might sound fanciful, but some of Europe’s leading venture capitalists have invested $25 million in a start-up that produces vertical indoor “farms” that can be located in everything from supermarket aisles to restaurant kitchens, schools and distribution warehouses.
Infarm already operates more than 50 farms across Berlin and says that 1,000 units will be operational by 2019, including about 200 farms in London.
Erez Galonska, co-founder and chief executive of Infarm, said: “Rather than asking ourselves how to fix the deficiencies in the current supply chain, we wanted to redesign the entire chain from start to finish. We decided it would be more effective to farm directly where people live and eat.”
Infarm installations can be found in Edeka and Metro stores in Germany, two of the country’s largest grocers, with herbs and leafy greens being cultivated.
The company says that a single farm unit of two square metres can produce 1,200 plants per month and that some stores have become self-sufficient in herb production.
The plants are fed and nurtured by an internet-controlled system that uses sensors to monitor light, temperature, acidity, and nutrients for each crop.
Guy Galonska, co-founder of Infarm, said: “We collect 50,000 data points throughout a plant’s lifetime. Each farm acts as a data pipeline, sending information on plant growth to our platform, allowing it to learn, adjust, and optimise.” Thus different varieties of crops can be adapted for different supermarket locations to suit customer tastes.
Infarm was founded in 2013 by the Galonska brothers and Osnat Michaeli. Its vertical farms use “hydroponics”, a system that grows plants in oxygen and nutrient-enriched water instead of soil.
Osnat Michaeli, Erez Galonska and Guy Galonska have big plans
Erez Galonska said: “Our ambition is to reach cities as far as Seattle in the United States or Seoul, South Korea.”
The funding round was led by Balderton Capital, the London-based venture capital firm. The investment will help to pay for the planned international expansion.
Daniel Waterhouse, a partner at Balderton, said: “Urban living is growing unrelentingly across the world and societies are at a point where they have to confront big existential questions, such as how to feed their growing populations sustainably.
“ Infarm is right at the forefront of a new wave of companies setting out to tackle the inefficiencies in the food supply chain by making it possible to grow fresh produce right in the heart of our communities.”
Two Companies Taking A Vertical Leap In Newark
Two Companies Taking A Vertical Leap In Newark
By Sarah Fensom
Salad may not be the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of Newark. With its long history of environmental pollution and food deserts, Brick City is not a paragon of health.
Yet in recent years, it has embarked on a quest for wellness. In 2015, a ShopRite opened in the Central Ward, where there had previously been a scarcity of supermarkets. The following year, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center established the Beth Greenhouse, a small hydroponic farm that sells affordable produce in the South Ward.
In 2017, the former Hahne's department store building on Broad Street became home to Newark's first Whole Foods. And even former Newark mayor and current New Jersey senator Cory Booker has gone green, sharing snaps of his plant-based meals on social media and talking publicly about his veganism.
Getting in on the act are AeroFarms and Radicle Farm, two relatively new companies that are growing farm-fresh salad greens not in fields but in the city itself. The larger of the two, AeroFarms, runs several facilities in the Newark area, including a sustainable 70,000-square-foot vertical farm in a former steel plant in the Ironbound section. There, 2 million pounds of greens and herbs are produced each year, using an aeroponic growing method.
The other, Radicle Farm, operates in an 8,000-square-foot greenhouse in Branch Brook Park and grows greens hydroponically in horizontally-oriented plots using a method called nutrient film technique (NFT).
Both methods cut down on the environmental costs of field farming by using less water, less energy, and less space. Growing indoors allows the two companies to bypass fickle weather patterns and maintain the ideal conditions for their crops year-round, increasing both the yield and the freshness of their greens. AeroFarms and Radicle are showcasing two models for efficient, sustainable food growth, all the while helping to place Newark at the forefront of urban farming -- as unlikely as that may seem.
AeroFarms is the vanguard of the vanguard. Based on annual growing capacity, its Ironbound facility on Rome Street houses the largest indoor vertical farm in the world. With projects in development in China, the United Arab Emirates, and Europe, the company has its sights on the world but is still very focused on Newark.
"We embody Mayor Baraka's initiative 'Hire. Buy. Live.,' " says Marc Oshima, the chief marketing officer and a co-founder of AeroFarms. "In Newark alone, we have four farming operations and employ over 120 people -- 40 percent of which live in Newark, with 80 percent within a 15-mile radius."
The company's roots have spread throughout the city, with a research and development farm in a former downtown nightclub on Market Street; a 30,000-square-foot farm on Ferry Street, in what was once Inferno Limits, the paintball and laser-tag arena; and a smaller, 50-square-foot vertical farm in the dining hall of Phillips Academy. The school farm, which has been up and running since 2011, was a catalyst for the company to move its headquarters from Utica, N.Y., to Newark several years ago.
Later this year, AeroFarms is set to open a 78,000-square-foot vertical farm -- its biggest yet -- in Camden.
AeroFarms worked with RBH Group, the developers behind Teachers Village, on its Rome Street facility, with substantial backing from Goldman Sachs and Prudential Investment. (While it has raised some $50 million from investors, AeroFarms has yet to make a profit.)
"We looked at just about every ward and every property, and then we found the opportunity with RBH in the Ironbound and we thought it was somewhere we could make an impact," says Oshima. "There's a food desert right there."
One way AeroFarms is trying to stamp out food deserts is by giving Newark residents immediate access to their products, Oshima says.
"Wherever our farms are, people can come in and get greens all year round."
Many of the supermarkets that sell AeroFarms's retail brand Dream Greens (a 4.5 oz. package retails for $3.99) are extremely close to the farm, as well, reducing the toll that transportation takes on both the environment and the quality of the food.
The distribution center for ShopRite, one of AeroFarms's key partners, is just minutes from the Rome Street farm. "ShopRite puts a lot of emphasis on sourcing produce from local farms in the communities where our stores operate, and AeroFarms offers fresh produce we can source right here in Newark for our local ShopRite store," says Derrick Jenkins, vice president of produce and floral for ShopRite. "AeroFarms is a local business making an investment in Newark, and ShopRite believes it's important to support our neighbors and the city."
AeroFarms was co-founded by Oshima (the only Jersey native of the bunch), David Rosenberg, the company's CEO, and Ed Harwood, the chief science officer. Oshima and Rosenberg, who met in business school, formed a company called Just Greens in 2004. Research into the latest sustainable agricultural methods led them to Harwood, a former professor at Cornell's School of Agriculture, who was perfecting methods of aeroponic farming.
AeroFarms' patented growth method uses neither sun nor soil. The seeds rest on a special reusable cloth, developed by Harwood, which is made of BPA-free recycled plastic. They're housed in mobile modules that can be stacked many stories, effectively creating high-rises for plants.
Unlike with hydroponic methods, the seeds don't sit in water but are instead misted with a solution of nutrients, water, and oxygen deployed by a special nozzle (also developed by Harwood). Because the system is closed, fertilizer isn't leached into the waterways.
The method uses 95 percent less water than traditional farming and 40 percent less than hydroponics. In lieu of sunlight, energy-efficient LED lights supply the exact spectrum, intensity, and frequency that each individual plant needs for photosynthesis. This light system also ensures tyrannical control over each plant's texture, color, flavor, nutrition, shape, and size.
The farms also employ big data, monitoring more than 130,000 data points every harvest. Computer-generated algorithms enable the 250 varieties of greens and herbs the company grows to grow fast, some reaching maturity in two weeks, about half the time as those in the field.
Radicle Farm, though a much smaller operation than AeroFarms, also represents the future of farming. Co-founders Tony Gibbons and Jim Livengood started the company in Newark in 2014 and expanded quickly, adding a 50,000-square-foot facility in Utica in 2015.
Radicle grows a variety of microgreens, such as spinach, kale, tatsoi, and Russian mizuna, which have gained a reputation for their extraordinary flavor. As a measure to ensure freshness and maintain a diminutive carbon footprint, it keeps things exclusive, limiting its delivery zone to a 300-mile radius.
Before Radicle, Gibbons, a native of Maplewood, was immersed in the fine dining world, serving as the maitre d' at the celebrated Manhattan restaurant Gramercy Tavern for nearly a decade. He'd also dipped a toe into sustainable agriculture, establishing Garden State Urban Farms with his mother, Lorraine, in 2008 (together they helped launch the Beth Greenhouse).
Livengood, who grew up in South Orange, was a grant writer at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City before joining up with Gibbons. While working on an indoor growing exhibition, he became fascinated by traditional agriculture's concerns and hydroponic agriculture's benefits.
"In terms of conserving water and land," says Livengood, "hydroponics sounded like an elegant solution."
He began looking for companies that were using hydroponic and sustainable growing methods and eventually found Gibbons.
When Garden State Urban Farms received a grant to turn the Branch Brook Park greenhouse into a working farm, the space hadn't been used in 20 years and was in bad shape.
"It looked like Jumanji when I first went in there," says Gibbons. With an opportunity to transform the historic space, the duo didn't initially have business in mind.
"Our original goal was just to get it up and running," says Gibbons, "but then, because of how much room was available, we decided to launch Radicle and use the greenhouse as a commercial space."
Still, the operation is a relatively small one, with only five people -- most of whom come through training programs from halfway houses -- working in the space.
"It's important for us to work with the community and give our employees job skills," says Gibbons. "We hire a small number of people and train them to do a lot of things. Most of our employees can do 80 percent of what we do here."
The nutrient film technique that Gibbons and Livengood use in the greenhouse involves irrigating and fertilizing the plants with a recirculating solution that contains all of the nutrients necessary for proper growth. No soil is used; instead, the plants sit in long, pod-like channels with a shallow film of the solution lightly bathing their root systems. Because the fertilizer is contained within the growing system, it doesn't enter the local water table and harm the ecosystem.
The method uses only 10 percent of the water that field farming does. It also cuts down on the use of fossil fuels -- the minimal amount of machinery Radicle employs is powered electrically -- and space.
"It accounts for the needs of the plants, so they're not sprawling out, looking for water like they would in the field," says Livengood. "We can also grow more -- we get five times more yield per square foot because we're growing year-round, and the plants themselves grow two or three times as fast."
As with aeroponics, this hydroponic system can be used to grow any plant, but it is particularly efficient with greens. "Focusing on greens allowed us to start quickly," says Livengood.
Ensuring that their greens taste good is a priority for the Radicle crew, who are always experimenting with what they grow and with various blends in which their products can be sold.
"Selling mixes allows us to be creative with what we send our customers," says Gibbons. Their "Chef's Selection" blend, for example, combines red and green romaine lettuce with bitter mustard greens, as well as peppery arugula and mizunas. The result is a fiery mixture of piquant flavors.
The "Petal Power" adds a visual pop, with edible flowers joining beet greens, baby chard, and romaine.
This attention to look and flavor has helped Radicle develop a niche fan base among fine restaurants in New York and Jersey City.
"In the very beginning," says Gibbons, "we had success with restaurants in New Jersey that were Italian in an authentic way, which makes sense because Italian cooking is defined by going to the market and getting fresh food."
Arturo's, an osteria and pizzeria in Maplewood, was one of Radicle's first clients. "When they first started, their production was limited to primarily delivering to us and Gramercy Tavern," says Fred Shandler, the owner
of Arturo's. "To see how far they've grown and leveraged that experience into Radicle Farm is pretty impressive. Their product and overall operation are really solid. We'll regularly receive awesome basil or a micro green (that's delivered while still in its root system) and literally use it the same day."
Radicle sells its blends straight from the farm to consumers through Fresh Direct and several grocery stores across New Jersey, such as Whole Foods. A 4-ounce package sells at the same price point as AeroFarms's Dream Greens, $3.99.
Global Expansion Tipped For ‘Breakthrough’ Indoor Farming Venture
80 Acres Farms regards itself as a supply chain disruptor; choosing to focus on delivering high quality produce without the food miles by converting indoor urban spaces into ultra-efficient controlled environment agriculture (CEA) farms.
Global Expansion Tipped For ‘Breakthrough’ Indoor Farming Venture
by Gill McShane
30 January 2018
Samantha Bergman shows 80 Acres Farms' freshly picked lettuce at high-end U.S. retailer Dorothy Lane Market in Dayton, Ohio.
80 Acres Farms' shelf space at Clifton Market in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is just 2.4 miles from the company's farm.
Setting its sights on going global in the future, progressive indoor farming business 80 Acres Farms is about to launch on the mainstream U.S. market with a 12-month offer of locally-grown micro-greens, culinary herbs, leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers that have been bred, grown and harvested for nutrition and taste, rather than transportation. PBUK speaks with co-founders Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston, and their first major investor, Shawn Harris from start-up facilitator Orange Wings in the Netherlands.
80 Acres Farms regards itself as a supply chain disruptor; choosing to focus on delivering high quality produce without the food miles by converting indoor urban spaces into ultra-efficient controlled environment agriculture (CEA) farms.
Since its creation in late 2015, the company has worked tirelessly with major U.S. universities and Dutch technology company Priva to fine-tune its hydroponic growing systems. At a time when they saw other indoor growers facing challenges, 80 Acres Farms believes it has made phenomenal progress and is approaching a major breakthrough.
“This is the first real proven indoor farming business that is on the verge of getting the process completely right,” claims Harris. “We can now confidently say that we will be part of this game-changing trend to deliver fresh, healthy produce from around the corner.”
Harris invested in 80 Acres Farms in 2016 and sits on the board of directors. She set up her start-up accelerator Orange Wings after stepping down late last year as chief executive of another firm she founded – Nature’s Pride, Europe’s biggest exotic fruit and vegetable importer.
Having developed four urban indoor production sites with experienced growers in Ohio, Alabama, Arkansas and North Carolina, 80 Acres Farms has been selling its produce commercially for almost a year. In the last few months, Harris says the business has secured early commitments from some highly respected retailers and one of the biggest foodservice companies in the United States.
Using local depots, each production site will pick its produce at the peak stage of ripeness to deliver daily to local restaurants and various regional and national retailers located within 100 miles. Further details have yet to be disclosed.
Ultimately, 80 Acres Farms aims to deliver its accessible, nutritious, tasty and affordable local food concept to other parts of the world, particularly areas that are unable to either produce outdoors or in conventional greenhouses for 12 months of the year.
Disrupting the supply chain
According to company CEO Zelkind, the key factor that sets the business apart from others is the indoor status of its farms and its product mix, added to the fact that the team not only has food industry experience but has run food companies on a commercial scale.
Importantly, Zelkind says 80 Acres has built an indoor system that grows affordable produce all year round under a completely controlled environment.
“It’s the next generation of controlled environment agriculture,” he claims. “80 Acres grows products much faster than in the traditional outdoor environment or even in a greenhouse environment. We can control all the factors, like CO2 levels, and when and how much to deliberately stress the plant to get the right level of nutrition and flavour.”
Co-founders Zelkind and Livingston have spent decades running companies in the food industry. Before 80 Acres Farms, Zelkind was president and chief executive officer of Sager Creek Vegetable Company when it was a division of Del Monte Foods Inc., San Francisco, while Livingston was chief operating officer at the same firm.
In establishing 80 Acres Farms, the duo says they are bringing back the “backyard fresh taste” of produce to many communities around the United States all year-round.
Livingston points out that currently fresh produce often travels long distances.
“Because of these distances traveled, our food is now being bred, grown and harvested for transportation rather than nutrition and taste,” adds Zelkind. “80 Acres Farms drastically disrupts current produce supply chains.”
Indeed, being local to its customers in four U.S. states means 80 Acres Farms can pick produce when it’s ripe, and plant varieties that are bred for flavor and yield, rather than transportation and survival in an unpredictable environment.
“This is a huge differentiating point,” Livingston says. “We can deliver ‘just-picked’ quality produce to a retailer or restaurant year-round. We have partnered with and continue to partner with commercial and research institutions to gather nutritional information and to grow produce that has much more nutritional value.”
Thanks to the proximity to customers, Zelkind claims the products offered by 80 Acres Farms are also “more nutritious than most organics”. “We view ourselves as the next generation of organics,” he explains. “We don’t use pesticides – organic does.
“We are considering getting an organic certification but at this point, we are better than organic. We abide by most organic practices but we go way beyond what organic does. We are closer to the customer and we offer fresher products.”
Already, Zelkind explains that the first chef and consumer feedback is about how the produce offered by 80 Acres Farms is much tastier and fresh.
“I have visited stores with Mike and Tisha and I have heard customers talk about their experience with the products and the taste difference, which is why they keep coming back – it just makes you feel good,” Harris explains.
As such, Zelkind and Livingston believe the company’s target consumer market is wide open to anyone who likes high quality, fresh, tasty and pesticide-free produce, whether that be millennials or baby boomers.
Expansion plans
From its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, 80 Acres Farms now plans to build many more sites across the US, while aiming to expand globally. Each individual farm will deliver a product mix driven by the needs of local customers. On top of that, the company is building its biggest farm that will use 100% renewable energy when completed.
“80 Acres has very ambitious goals, but there is a lot to prove before that kind of expansion is warranted,” Zelkind notes. “We believe in keeping our heads in the clouds and feet firmly planted in the mud!”
For now, that means scaling with its customer base and striving to delight its growing consumer base. To that end, 80 Acres Farms has an exciting R&D product portfolio in the pipeline that includes root crops, which will complement its current range of micro-greens, culinary herbs, leafy greens and vine crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and hops.
“No one has yet figured out how to grow vine crops profitably indoors, in a completely controlled environment,” Zelkind comments. “We are the first and only ones in the world doing it so far but we can do it better. That’s the most exciting part. That’s the challenge for the next few years.”
Of course, one of the drawbacks of indoor farming is that it isn’t possible yet to economically grow all fruits and vegetables. “You won’t be able to do so for a long time to come,” admits Zelkind. “But there is no intention to replace traditional farmers. 80 Acres wants to work with these farmers and supplement what they can grow locally.”
Getting the process right
While the concept of indoor agriculture is logical and straightforward when broken into its subunits, Zelkind says bringing together all the components is not simple.
Firstly, to achieve the optimal growing environment you need multi-disciplined engineering, an understanding of plant science, and good farming experience. Then to grow crops profitably you must be able to understand manufacturing practices, automation and how to scale production.
Once you have that, you need the ability to brand and sell your products in a crowded marketplace. Plus, to run and build the business, you need the right people with the right experience. To set up the farms in the first place also requires a great deal of capital investment.
So, starting in late 2015 with a small R&D facility, 80 Acres Farms teamed up with international academics and scientists to figure out how to grow high quality plants with the right nutrition and flavour levels in the most effective way.
Since then, the company has developed a strong in-house engineering team and a large pool of data analysts who manage a production system guided by various sensors and other technologies to understand and optimise plant growth and development.
Following much trial and error, 80 Acres Farms is now on the fourth iteration of its production systems, which are installed across its current production sites in four states of the US. From here on, the company remains committed to driving the industry forward.
“This is a new industry and we all have so much to learn,” concludes Zelkind.
What is Controlled Environment Agriculture?
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is designed to optimise the growing conditions for food and aquatic production in an enclosed area, such as a greenhouse or building.
By controlling variables, such as: light, carbon dioxide, temperature, humidity, water, nutrients and pH levels, plants receive the correct amounts of water and nutrients, which often results in greater yields, all year-round. Production technologies include: hydroponics, aquaculture and aquaponics.
CEA operations can vary from fully-automated glasshouses with computer controls for watering, lighting and ventilation, to low-tech facilities that use cloches or plastic film to cover rows of field-grown crops, or basic plastic-covered tunnels.
CEA focuses on raising efficiency and maximising resources, including: space, water, energy, labour and capital. Given its nature, CEA also reduces the incidences of pest and disease, and allows the grower to recycle inputs like water or nutrients.
80 Acres Farms has developed a CEA system for urban indoor buildings where it claims the growing environment is completely controlled and guided by sophisticated technology. The company uses hydroponic technology to locally produce year-round and pesticide-free commercial volumes of micro-greens, culinary herbs and leafy greens, as well as vine crops, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and hops.
Aquaculture And Urban Farming Key To UAE Food Security
Aquaculture And Urban Farming Key To UAE Food Security
More than 40 innovations to be exhibited at Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture
February 1, 2018
Binsal Abdul Kader, Senior Reporter
Abu Dhabi: The UAE will promote innovations in aquaculture and urban farming to ensure food security, a top official told Gulf News on Thursday.
“Aquaculture and urban farming have a lot of potential in the UAE,” said Mariam Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Food Security, on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the details of a global conference on food security to be held in Abu Dhabi next week.
“We are working on [aquaculture projects] and will announce the target [in this sector] soon,” she said.
Aquaculture is the farming of fish and other aquatic organisms in controlled conditions, even in the desert.
Al Muhairi said technologies are available in the market and some private companies in the UAE have already proven the viability of aquaculture. “We can now start looking into the commercialization of these technologies,” she said.
The minister said she was looking forward to the innovations in aquaculture and urban farming to be exhibited at the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) that opens on Monday at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec).
She said urban farming also has a lot of potential in the UAE as food can be grown in closed environments. “People need to know what urban farming is,” she said.
The minister plans to instill this idea in people so they can do it in their homes. “We can conduct awareness campaigns and ensure it is implemented,” Al Muhairi told Gulf News.
The organizers of the GFIA said more than 40 innovations in the agriculture sector will be on display at the event to be held under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (Adfca).
Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, commented that the UAE companies can learn about the latest innovations and technologies in the agriculture sector at the forum.
Suhail Mohammad Faraj Al Mazroui, Minister of Energy and Industry, commented that it is an opportunity to discuss global best practices to achieve water and energy sustainability.
Saeed Salem Al Ameri, director-general of Adfca, said Shaikh Zayed’s vision and values of promoting sustainability would be reflected at the GFIA.
Khalifa Ahmad Al Ali, director-general of Abu Dhabi Food Security Centre, said leading public and private sector leaders and experts would analyze the performance of local food production sector and come up with a practical roadmap to accelerate growth.
GFIA this year also includes the region’s first International Conference of Arab Beekeeping Organisation. Dr. Ahmad Al Ghamdi, chairman of Arab Beekeeping Organisation, said the initiative would help develop the bee industry in the Arab world.
Thamer Al Qasimi, chairman of the GFIA 2018 Organising Committee, said GFIA is based on the notion that the ongoing drive for innovation in the agriculture sector is the only way to feed nine billion people sustainably by 2050.
The United Arab Emirates is Building a $354 Million City With Driverless Cars, Greenhouses, and Solar-Powered Villas
For much of the 20th century, the United Arab Emirates was known as one of the world's biggest oil producers and, as a result, greenhouse-gas emitters.
The United Arab Emirates is Building a $354 Million City With Driverless Cars, Greenhouses, and Solar-Powered Villas
Sustainable City outside Dubai, UAE.Dubai Sustainable City
January 30, 2018
For much of the 20th century, the United Arab Emirates was known as one of the world's biggest oil producers and, as a result, greenhouse-gas emitters.
But in the past two decades, the UAE government has made an effort to lower its own dependency on fossil fuels, shifting toward more environmentally-friendly sources to power its cities.
The UAE aims to have 75% of Dubai's energy come from clean sources by 2050. If the city pulls that off, it would have the smallest carbon footprint in the world.
As part of this larger goal, local company Diamond Developers is building a city 18 miles outside central Dubai that's designed to produce more energy than it consumes. Called Sustainable City, the development is expected to cost $354 million and be fully complete by 2019.
Find out more below:
In 2013, Diamond Developers started building Sustainable City, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
Dubai Sustainable City | Source: Arabian Busines
The 113-acre city aims to curb CO2 emissions as much as possible. Cars are banned from most neighborhoods.
Dubai Sustainable City
Residents are only permitted to take public transport, drive electric-powered smart cars, or take horse-drawn buggies.
Dubai Sustainable City
Instead of gas stations, there are 250 charging stations.
On January 22, Dubai's transport authority signed an agreement to operate electric driverless cars in the new city. Homeowners also get a free electric golf cart or a $10,000 subsidy toward buying another electric vehicle.
Dubai Sustainable City
Residents can also ride the city's electric buses for free.
Every home's roof features solar panels.
Dubai Sustainable City
And a 98-foot-wide park with 2,500 trees also helps reduce air pollution.
Dubai Sustainable City
Diamond Developers is building the city in two phases.
Dubai Sustainable City
The first phase — which opened in 2015 — includes 500 villas, 89 apartment buildings, 11 dome greenhouses that cut through the center of the development, 32,300 square feet of outdoor urban farms, and 1.16 million square feet of office and retail space.
Dubai Sustainable City
The retail space includes fitness centers, community pools, and an equestrian centre with 32 stables.
Dubai Sustainable City
There are also two man-made lakes with recycled water, according to The Khaleej Times.
The second phase is under construction and will feature a school, mosque, a science museum, a country club, and a mall.
Dubai Sustainable City
Also as part of this phase, a new hotel that uses less energy than it generates will go up — the first of its kind in the Middle East, according to developers. They also claim that the city's new research center will produce more energy than it consumes.
In recent years, the UAE has worked toward similar city-from-scratch projects. Some have been more successful at attracting residents than others. Only around 300 people live in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, though it was planned for 40,000 residents.
Dubai Sustainable City
Source: Business Insider
Sustainable City has garnered more interest from UAE residents (or at least those who can afford to live there, since homes start at $1 million). Approximately 1,800 people have bought homes, while around 900 rent.
Dubai Sustainable City
Source: CNN
The metropolis signals that the UAE is trying to march toward a more sustainable future.
World Vegetable Map 2018: More Than Just a Local Affair by Rabobank
World Vegetable Map 2018: More Than Just a Local Affair by Rabobank
FEBRUARY 1, 2018 URBAN AG NEWS
The 2018 World Vegetable Map shows essential vegetable trade flows and highlights some key global trends in the sector, such as the growing importance of production in greenhouses and vertical farms, as well as the popularity of organic vegetables.
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> Click here to download the World Vegetable Map
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Map summary: more than just a local affair
The global vegetable market is still predominantly a local market. Only 5% of the vegetables grown are traded internationally. But that share is increasing. Easy market access is vital for export-focused vegetable-producing countries like Mexico, Spain, and the Netherlands. Over the last decade, Mexico has further expanded its prominent position on the North American market, and internal EU trade has continued to grow.
Market for fresh (prepared) vegetables up, demand for canned vegetables down
An estimated 70% of all vegetables grown in the world are sold as whole fresh vegetables. This market is still on the increase, mainly outside of the US and the EU. Processing of vegetables (freezing, preserving, and drying) is a good way to prevent wastage, but global consumption of preserved (canned) vegetables has decreased over the last decade. At the same time, demand for frozen vegetables has increased by an average of 1% per year. Demand trends seem most favourable for vegetables that are convenient to eat and prepare and/or do well on (social) media because of considered health effects or their visual appeal. Examples are all kinds of (prepared) salads as well as sweet potatoes. EU imports of sweet potatoes (mainly from the US) have tripled in just four years’ time.
Organic vegetables most popular in wealthy nations
Organic foods are gaining market share around the world. The share of organic fruit & vegetable sales (in total fresh fruit & vegetable sales) has already passed 10% in wealthy countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, and Denmark (see Figure 1). In the US, this share is 9% and quickly growing. Income is not the only determinant for organic vegetable consumption. In the Netherlands, where the average income per capita is similar to that of Sweden and Austria, the market share of organic vegetables is only 5%. The reasons behind this are not clear, but it is likely related to supermarkets’ decisions on the category, price, availability, and quality of conventional vegetables, as well as cultural factors.
Sources: UN-Comtrade, Eurostat 2017
Figure 1: Share of organic fresh fruit and vegetable sales vs. income, 2016
Free trade agreements vital
As most fresh vegetables are highly perishable, easy market access is essential. In Latin America and Africa, vegetables are mainly sold regionally. Growing circumstances (climate, water availability), production costs, exchange rates, and trade agreements can trigger vegetable trade flows. Distortions in NAFTA or EU trade agreements (such as Brexit) will negatively affect vegetable trade. In the last decade, Mexico has further extended its very prominent position as North America’s vegetable garden. Spain and the Netherlands are key vegetable exporters within the EU (see Figure 2). Morocco has emerged as an up-and-coming vegetable supplier for the European market.
Figure 2: Intra-EU trade
Source: UN-Comtrade, Eurostat 2017
Up-and-coming import markets
A significant change in the world of vegetables is the rise of new vegetable-importing nations. Vegetable imports used to be concentrated in North America, western Europe and Japan. But gradually, countries like India, China, and the United Arab Emirates have upped their vegetable imports. Russia has also shown an increase in trade, despite the 2014 import sanctions for vegetables from the EU, the US, and a number of other countries. Currently, Belarus, Morocco, China, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are important vegetable suppliers to Russia.
The rise of controlled production in greenhouses and vertical farms
Globally there is a growing need for vegetables that are available year-round, produced in a safe and resource-efficient manner, and are of a consistently high quality. Consequently, vegetable production in greenhouses and vertical farms is rising. The area of greenhouses is estimated at 500,000 hectares, including roughly 40,000 hectares of glasshouses. Recently, we have seen vertical farms popping up in various places around the world, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere close to large consumer concentrations.
Vertical farming entails growing crops (often leafy vegetables) in a controlled environment using artificial lighting. As investments and electricity costs are relatively high, it is (still) challenging to run an economically viable vertical farming business. That said, discerning customers are willing to pay a premium for locally grown vegetables grown in a contained environment.
For more: https://research.rabobank.com/far/en/sectors/regional-food-agri/world_vegetable_map_2018.html
New Jersey: Governor Murphy's Team Wants to Put The Garden Back in Garden State
MURPHY’S TEAM WANTS TO PUT THE GARDEN BACK IN GARDEN STATE
CARLY SITRIN | JANUARY 30, 2018
Governor’s advisory committee wants more state support for agri-tourism, a revived Jersey Fresh program, and to get more people involved in farming
Agriculture has always been a keystone of the state’s economy; if no longer dominant in dollars, it certainly still plays a significant role in the Garden State’s image. The Department of Agriculture’s transition report underscores that fact, with its advisory committee hoping to enhance New Jersey’s public image by supporting agritourism efforts and bringing back the sidelined and underfunded Jersey Fresh program.
The new Murphy administration appointed a transition committee for each of the state’s cabinet-level departments, seeking advice and information on what the departments’ stakeholders — experts, analysts, business leaders, officials of non-profits, etc. — view as priorities for the administration. The report on agriculture was among a number that were released publicly last week: These are just advisory reports — Murphy has no obligation to follow their advice.
Make New Jersey Fresh Again
One of the recurring themes throughout the report is the need for strong state branding — starting with the Jersey Fresh program.
The report takes former governors to task for drastic funding cuts over the last decade that have reduced the marketing program's budget from a peak of $1 million down to $50,000, an amount they say barely covers the cost of the inspection and grading efforts.
The advisory committee calls for Murphy not only to revive the program, but also to permit farmers to sell home-baked goods, farm beer and cider, and industrial hemp. As it stands, New Jersey is the only state where selling home-baked goods is prevented by law.
Another rebranding effort would focus on the 2.25 million acres of wineries in the southern counties of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, Monmouth and Salem which the report targets as a growing tourist space.
The report calls for the creation of road signs and other promotional materials dubbing that region the "Coastal Plains Wine Corridor” which they believe could become the "Napa Valley of the East." The advisory committee recommends putting the Economic Development Authority and Rutgers Agricultural Experiment Station program (NJAES) in charge of this effort, giving interested wineries access to EDA loans for winery expansion, vineyard establishment, and necessary equipment.
More Farmers
The report also emphasizes the need to get young people interested in farming again. According to the report, New Jersey farms are facing a decline, with the average age of a New Jersey farmer at 60. What's more, because the state resources set aside to preserve farmland come with the exception that the land should remain in farming, that creates a need for a new generation of farmers.
To combat this issue, the advisory committee recommends pouring more resources and budgetary support into the research efforts at the NJAES, which is the main source of technical support for farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural professionals in the state. The report also seeks to get young people involved though Future Farmers of America (FFA), 4H, and vocational tech programs.
The report also recommends making changes to encourage urban, niche, and beginner farmers by extending tax benefits to farms under five acres and removing barriers to urban farming such as the department of health regulation that prohibits small farms from accepting food stamp benefits like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and WIC.
The issue of food deserts in some New Jersey cities is also targeted in the report, which advises directing the department of agriculture to work with education programs and establish EDA loan programs to get beginner farmers the equipment and information they need to start urban farms.
Food Security
According to the report, the number one priority for the Murphy team should be immediately restoring the “heat and eat" benefits that would make it easier for those participating in the SNAP program, which is overseen by the federal Department of Agriculture, to also receive help paying heating bills. While in office, Gov. Chris Christie repeatedly vetoed budget language that would have restored the program and according to recent Benefits Data Trust research, some 160,000 Garden State residents have seen their SNAP benefits dip by about $90 a month due to Christie's actions.
It also recommends streamlining food insecurity programs like SNAP, WIC, school breakfast and lunch, adult-care food programs and food assistance for disaster relief into two departments (Agriculture, and either Human Services or Health) and making them easier to apply to.
Deer and Insects
The report also touches on some issues that are more difficult to categorize like deer-hunting permit changes and funding for an insect laboratory.
Deer in the state are largely overpopulated and have been negatively impacting farmers by contributing to annual crop losses of up to 40 percent, according to the report. In response, the committee recommends a “strategic deer management plan” that would “develop target population numbers for a sustainable herd” — all of which really means more deer hunting. Some of the proposed regulations include allowing bow hunting during summer months and creating an all-season, all-zone, “Earn-A-Buck” program similar to ones in states like Indiana and Virginia where more does and antlerless deer can be taken per buck until the population “has reached a scientifically acceptable level.” This would be a change from the current law which restricts doe counts in some zones and in some seasons unless a hunter is in possession of an unlimited doe tag.
The committee also supports repairing and funding the Phillip Alampi Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory, a facility constructed in the mid 1980's for research related to raising and releasing insects like weevils and beetles to control invasive species in New Jersey.