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1mn sqm of Land For Indoor Farming To Boost Qatar’s Agri Sector
Al-Khalaf said the 1mn sqm project will involve more than four local farms, and could operate by the end of 2019 or early 2020 if plans pushed through as scheduled.
1mn sqm of Land For Indoor Farming To Boost Qatar’s Agri Sector
April 02 2018
Nasser Ahmed al-Khalaf.
Qatar agriculture sector's self-sufficiency efforts will get a further boost with a plan to develop 1mn sqm of land for indoor farming, prominent Qatari agriculturist Nasser Ahmed al-Khalaf told Gulf Times.
“Now we are developing other farms and we have under study some other projects, which can reach 1mn sqm in total,” said al-Khalaf, the owner and managing director of Agrico.
A private Qatari agricultural development company, Agrico was established in 2011 with the aim of helping the country achieve food security. Agrico operates a 120,000sqm (12 hectare) organic farm in Al Khor.
Al-Khalaf said the 1mn sqm project will involve more than four local farms, and could operate by the end of 2019 or early 2020 if plans pushed through as scheduled.
“Currently we are putting the feasibility study and the drawings,” he noted, adding that such initiative can significantly increase the country’s fresh produce and help efforts for self-sufficiency.
Al-Khalaf said Agrico invested in research and development, trying to develop indoor farming in the past two and a half years to produce fresh vegetables all year long in Qatar.
“We have modified technology developed in the Western World, and adapted it even further to have a very unique system anywhere in the world,” he stressed.
The Qatari agriculturist cited a significant increase in the production of fresh vegetables this winter, covering more than 20% of the country’s total consumption.
“The final figures will not be known until the season is finished,” he said. “Some farms will finish by end of April, the remaining will finish by end of June but some other farms are producing all year long.”
Agrico built an additional 120,000sqm of “seasonal greenhouses” to grow more fresh vegetables during the winter season amid the blockade on Qatar, in addition to its 120,000sqm facility, which operates year-round.
According to al-Khalaf, these seasonal greenhouses will stop operating during the summer but actual greenhouses (using 120,000sqm of land) will continue to produce, about five tonnes of fresh vegetables daily.
He added that Agrico and other local farms are producing more herbs now such now as coriander, spinach and parsley, among others, to meet the growing demand in the country.
Fruit production may take more time since it will require more land unlike vegetables.
Al-Khalaf added most of the farm owners in the country are continuously expanding their cultivation area and growing more varieties of vegetables.
Food Safety & Clean Water Technologies
Food Safety & Clean Water Technologies
Foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli are a constant concern among food producers and distributors. Raw and incompletely composted manure can transport these pathogens onto fresh produce, while handlers and animals can contaminate produce with a variety of other pathogens.
The Food and Drug Administration provides industry guidelines to meet required standards for minimizing microbial food safety. For those in the produce industry, the challenge is to easily reach these standards without expending a significant amount of time and resources.
EcoloxTech has developed a 100 percent safe and reliable no rinse produce sanitizer through the use of Electrolyzed Oxidizing Water. Cleared by the FDA for no-rinse sanitation of produce if generated from EcoloxTech systems, electrolyzed oxidizing water saves time and water use in sanitizing produce, leaving no harmful residues, alterations in taste, odors, or discolorations.
No potable water rinse is required after using electrolyzed oxidizing water. The USDA has also approved its use for organic produce handling and production.
“We can wash our product, and it doesn’t harm the product because its salt based. “ said Dinesh Ragbir, owner of Healthy Organics, a certified organic produce company in Vero Beach, Florida. “We’re happy using it. It washes and sanitizes. It’s an easy system for us to use.”
Using just table salt, water and electricity, electrolyzed oxidizing water kills bacteria, bacterial spores, and viruses 100 times more effectively than chlorine bleach. Studies have proven electrolyzed oxidizing water to be highly effective in killing E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella enteritidis, Listeria monocytogenes, and spore-forming bacteria. The electricity induces a chemical reaction in the salt water to create a powerful oxidant solution. EcoloxTech has perfected this reaction to identify optimal formulas and settings of voltage, amperage, and flow rates.
EcoloxTech is a US-based company founded by Morten Larsen, a Marine Engineer who used to advise the White House on advancing environmentally friendly technologies and previously served as an engineer for the United Nations in Africa, and Dr. Scott Hartnett, a graduate of Nova Southeastern University School of Medicine who has worked as a physician and surgeon in the Mercy Health System in Philadelphia and specialized in minimally invasive surgery at the University of Miami Hospital. Larsen currently serves as CEO of EcoloxTech, while Dr. Hartnett serves as Chief Medical Officer.
Other produce sanitizing agents, like chlorine bleach, come in concentrated form, are irritant to eyes and skin and must be prepared using personal protective gear. Electrolyzed oxidizing water is safe, non-irritant and is generated on-site with EcoloxTech systems, therefore eliminating the need for purchasing, storing, transporting, preparing, and disposing of toxic chemicals. Sanitation of produce using EcoloxTech electrolyzed oxidizing water does not require a potable water post-rinse as is required when using chlorine bleach.
Electrolyzed Oxidizing Water is a green, sustainable alternative to add to small and large-scale produce washers and can be used by greenhouse growers to safely reduce biofilm and pathogens in irrigation systems. Despite being more effective than alternative sanitizing agents, its non-toxic, non-irritant, and requires no safety or protective equipment to use.
Click this Link to see FCN 1811.
FCN 1811 is EcoloxTech FDA approval as a "No-Rinse" sanitizer, meaning, you can sanitize your produce, meats, poultry and shell eggs without the normally required post-rinse. Saving you time and water.
Billionaire Larry Ellison to Launch Hydroponic Farm Business on His Private Hawaiian Island
Billionaire Larry Ellison to Launch Hydroponic Farm Business on His Private Hawaiian Island
By Daisy Prince
March 26, 2018
Larry Ellison ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES
Software giant Larry Ellison leapt into the health/sustainability arena with the launch last week of a new company, Sensei, a network of hydroponic farms in Lanai, Hawaii.
“As a society, we’ve become so detached from knowing our food, knowing where it comes from and why we eat what we eat,” said cancer specialist Dr. David Agus, who worked with Ellison to develop the company.
“With Sensei we hope to increase transparency and restore our relationship with food,” Agus, the founding director of the University of Southern California’s Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine, said in a recent statement from Sensei.
Sensei Farms will start with 10 greenhouses, each measuring 200,000 square feet, with the expectation they will yield 1.7 million pounds of produce annually, Oracle founder Ellison told the Honolulu Star Advertiser in an interview. That amount is more than enough to supply Lanai, the private Hawaiian island that Ellison bought 98% of in 2012 for $300 million.
The plan is to farm fruits and vegetables from seeds imported from around the world and sell them in Hawaii, which imports about 85% of its food, according to the Sensei statement.
The first crops are Black Trifele tomatoes and Komatsuna mustard greens, grown hydroponically, meaning the plants are grown in water rather than soil.
This method only requires about 10% of the water needed for conventional farming methods and doesn’t use any harmful chemicals, according to the statement. Sensei will use Tesla solar panels for its greenhouses. Sensei will use software and technology to monitor the nutritional value of the crops and collect data on the yield so that researchers can maximize the nutrient and taste potential.
“For so long, agriculture has been one of the least digitized industries,” Daniel Gruneberg, Sensei’s president, said in a statement. “Now, we can combine software, sensors and robotics to make giant leaps in sustainable farming and perhaps, more importantly, the quality of our food.”
Canada: ‘Seed Voyage’ App Connects The Home Grower With The Urban Consumer
Canada: ‘Seed Voyage’ App Connects The Home Grower With The Urban Consumer
Linked by Michael Levenston
Seed Voyage Featured on CTV Toronto. Feb 2018
A grower could make about $500 on 100 square feet per summer
By Dushan Batrovic, Shawn Sowten
Seed Voyage Website
(Must see. Mike)
From their site:
Our platform is designed with one thing in mind – to connect growers and eaters so that they can buy and sell their locally grown produce. The home gardener signs up on seedvoyage.com and inputs two key things – their address and the foods they are growing. The local eater signs up and inputs their region of interest (for example, within 5 km of their house) and the foods they are interested in buying. When the produce is ripe and ready for harvest, the grower will send notification and any eaters with matching preferences will be alerted.
They will confirm purchase and pick up the goods at the growers house. All transactions are electronic so need to make change at the door. There are no fees for signing up, only a small transaction fee when goods are sold. Simple as that.
It’s a no-brainer; amazing quality and flavour. Homegrown foods picked at exactly the right time with no ripening on trucks. Even a generic veggie that is picked a few hours before eating tastes great. But specialized varietals like my Cherokee Purple tomatoes, which I grew last summer…amazing! You’ll start to wonder how those red spheres in the grocery store are even allowed to be called tomatoes. In the end, these are foods that are ultra-local and grown by passionate gardeners feeding their families. The difference in flavour and quality will blow you away.
Growth Industry
Growth Industry
Photo: Buck Ennis
Mission Chinese grows its own mushrooms in its Lower East Side restaurant—without doing any work. The eatery’s staff does not have to add water or worry about sunlight. Those tasks are done remotely by Smallhold, a company in Brooklyn that provides farming modules and manages growing conditions with custom tech.
“It’s a passive unit as far as restaurants are concerned,” said Adam DeMartino, co-founder, and COO of Smallhold. “We control the humidity, carbon dioxide, temperature and other parameters in the mini-farms through our web interface. So a week after a bag of mushrooms at the fruiting stage is put into the modules, restaurants get fresh produce ready to be harvested and eaten.”
Smallhold’s customizable mini farms start at $3,000 for a 6-foot-tall unit that’s 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep. The mini-farm produce 20 to 30 pounds of mushrooms per week.
“Not every restaurant in New York City has the space to do something like this, but there’s value in having customers see their food being grown fresh,” said DeMartino, who also is setting up mini-farms at Whole Foods stores in Gowanus and Bridgewater, N.J. “Local produce is more desired now, and mushrooms are in demand as more people are health-conscious and turning vegan. That demand is more than we can handle right now.”
A version of this article appears in the March 26, 2018, print issue of Crain's New York Business.
Organic Farming Must Be Promoted Akin To Green Revolution, States Singh
Organic Farming Must Be Promoted Akin To Green Revolution, States Singh
27 March 2018
Our Bureau, New Delhi
Organic farming should be promoted with the same spirit as the Green Revolution, as India is the country with the most organic producers. This was stated by Radha Mohan Singh, minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Government of India, during his address at the Conference on Organic World: Advantage India, which was organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) and took place in New Delhi recently.
He added that the country should progress to be an organic and chemical-free nation. The prime minister also urged farmers to cut the use of heavily-used fertilisers like urea by half to improve soil health.
Organic farming is a way of farming, which excludes the use of chemical fertilisers, insecticides, etc. It is primarily based on the principles of use of natural organic inputs and biological plant protection measures.
In the last six years, India has been increasingly supporting the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) for its national market, developing a unique example of large-scale government-facilitated PGS programme, coordinated by its National Centre for Organic Farming, under the agriculture ministry.
The government cannot promote organic farming alone. There are many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and organisations that have a crucial role to play. The data needs to be systematically collected through scientific methods, certification should be improved.
A joint study by ASSOCHAM and EY, which was titled The Indian Organic Market: A New Paradigm in Agriculture and released during the conference, revealed that the market size for Indian organic packaged food is expected to cross Rs 871 million by 2021 from Rs 533 million in 2016, growing at a rate of 17 per cent.
“The substantial growth of this sector is attributed to an expanding urban population base, rising health concerns, growing consumer spending on food products and deterioration of food quality,” it noted.
“Organic packaged food and beverages is an emerging niche market in India and its primary consumers are high-income urbanites. As demand for organic food in the metro cities increase, the companies in this sector are witnessing notable growth with the entry of several new players in the organic food market such as Conscious Foods, Sresta, Eco Farms, Organic India, Navdanya and Morarka Organic Foods,” said the study.
India-based Sresta Natural Bioproducts Pvt Ltd has emerged as the market leader, with a 37 per cent value share of the packaged organic food market and a 7.8 per cent share of the packaged organic beverage market.
“It has increased its share in the organic food market in recent years, while smaller niche players have taken a significant share away from it in the organic beverage market,” the study stated.
“In addition to the growing domestic market, India is the second largest exporter of organic products in Asia, after China. The increasing export market, coupled with the government’s support, has made organic cultivation in India highly successful”, said Amit Vatsyayan, partner, EY.
Indian organic food exports were estimated at $299 million in 2015-16, with a total volume of 2,63,688 metric tonne (MT).
“The major export destinations were the US, the European Union (EU), Canada and New Zealand. It is assumed that most of the remaining quantity is sold in local markets. Oilseeds comprised half of India’s overall organic food export, followed by processed food products at 25 per cent,” the study stated.
It added that India currently holds the ninth position among 178 countries that actively practice organic agriculture. At present, the country is home to over 8,35,000 organic producers, 699 processors, 669 exporters and 1.49 million hectare (ha) area under organic cultivation.
However, with only a meagre 0.4 per cent of the total agricultural land area designated for organic cultivation, the industry presents an extensive scope for expansion.
India has a remarkable potential to produce all varieties of organic products, owing to the existence of various agroclimatic zones within its borders. The total area under organic certification was 5.71 million ha in 2015-16. This included 26 per cent cultivable area with 1.49 million ha and 74 per cent (4.22 million ha) forest and wild area for collection of minor forest produce.
Among the states, Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under organic certification (4.62 lakh ha), followed by Maharashtra (1.98 lakh ha), Rajasthan (1.55 lakh ha), Telangana (1.04 lakh ha), Odisha (0.96 lakh ha), Karnataka (0.94 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.77 lakh ha) and Sikkim (0.76 lakh ha).
“These states had a combined share of 90 per cent of the area under organic certification in 2015-16,” highlighted the study.
In terms of organic crops, the combined share of the top 10 categories of organic food crops is around 99 per cent. The top four categories (with a share of about 85 per cent) include sugar, oilseed, fibres and cereals and millets.
“According to our findings, metropolitan cities have witnessed a 95 per cent increase in demand in the last five years,” said Vatsysyan.
“Many organic food companies are adopting the online route to expand their consumer base. The brick-and-mortar organic stores are usually located in metro and mini-metro cities. These companies are reaching out to the rest of the consumers through online channels,” he added.
Many organic food companies are coming up with new product categories and varieties to provide consumers with sufficient choices.
Apart from fruits, vegetables, teas, pulses and spices, companies have also introduced ready-to-eat snacks, cookies, medicinal plants and herbs and juices.
Additionally, increased organic alternatives can be observed in established product categories.
Urban Farming Campuses To Bring Food Closer To Consumers
Ambitious plan: Nuffield Scholar Jan Vydra hopes a planned urban farming campus in Melbourne will be followed by others in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. Picture: David Geraghty
Urban Farming Campuses To Bring Food Closer To Consumers
BETHANY GRIFFITHS, The Weekly Times
April 12, 2018
FIRST-generation Melbourne farmer wants to share his knowledge on urban farming by building a university-like campus in every major Australian city.
Jan Vydra, from Australian Fresh Leaf Herbs, is drawing on his 2016 Nuffield Scholarship research to develop spaces where other farmers and growers can learn about urban farming and see how it works in a real-life setting.
“What we really want to do now is take that concept and build a campus in each capital city, so we can localise produce and provide jobs to people in the industry that’s in a different format,” Mr Vydra said.
Each facility will include vertical farms, teaching spaces and commercial production sites. The Victorian “campus”, which has been designed and already attracted investors, will be the first with plans for others in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney to follow.
Mr Vydra is hoping to break ground at the end of this year.
“We really want to leave a legacy. As much as we want to run a great company and we want to keep our investors happy, we also want to give back to the industry and I think we’re positioned well because we’ve gone through all the trial and error of the technology over 10 years,” he said.
Mr Vydra is the co-founder of Australian Fresh Leaf Herbs, a 3.5ha farm producing $14 million turnover annually across 60 different products.
The business was founded in 2008 with William Pham growing 2000 bunches of basil.
Two years ago Mr Vydra completed a Nuffield Scholarship funded study tour. “I was looking at how we can cultivate more horticulture produce per square metre with less natural inputs,” Mr Vydra said.
“I also picked up a lot of different things about agriculture and how we could actually do it better in Australia and not just about urban farming.”
Visiting Indonesia, Japan, Israel, Holland and the US, Mr Vydra took away lessons on the community and cultural impact of urban farming, as well as how purchasing habits of consumers have changed.
“Something I’m focusing on is how can I get really close to my consumer and how can I get what they need, and how can I be that authentic and trusted producer,” Mr Vydra said.
NatureFresh™ Farms Kicks Off 2018 Growing Season With Wide Variety
It is an exciting time of year at NatureFresh™ Farms – the company’s Leamington, ON greenhouses have started full production for the 2018 growing season!
NatureFresh™ Farms Kicks Off 2018 Growing Season With Wide Variety
Leamington, ON (April 13th, 2018) – It is an exciting time of year at NatureFresh™ Farms – the company’s Leamington, ON greenhouses have started full production for the 2018 growing season! In addition to greenhouse-grown Peppers, Tomatoes, and Cucumbers, NatureFresh™ Farms is now offering Organic Sweet Bell and Mini Sweet Peppers. There is plenty of fresh news to celebrate in Ontario this season!
As one of the largest Bell Pepper growers in North America, NatureFresh™ Farms continues to offer Red, Orange, and Yellow Sweet Bell Peppers for North American consumers. The 2018 season is especially exciting for Bell Pepper growing at NatureFresh™ Farms because of their recent expansion of organically-grown offerings. Along with Organic Sweet Bell Peppers, NatureFresh™ Farms is now growing Organic Sweet Mini Peppers for North American consumers.
With production now beginning in Ontario, the popular TOMZ® Snacking Tomato line will be grown in both Ontario and Ohio greenhouses. Using the same growing processes and methods at both facilities, NatureFresh™ Farms is committed to providing the same exceptional flavor and great quality that consumers expect from TOMZ® grown in both Ontario and Ohio. The TOMZ® Snacking Tomato line includes Red Grape, Orange Grape, Yellow Grape, Cocktail, and Red Cherry Tomatoes, as well as the exciting new Tomberry® Tomatoes! The TOMZ® line is sold in vibrant, convenient packaging, which will be easy to spot as products hit store shelves this season.
NatureFresh™ Farms also provides consumers with high-quality, consistently fresh Long English and Mini Cucumbers. With a recent expansion to boost production, Cucumbers from NatureFresh™ Farms will be available year-round!
Produce grown in NatureFresh™ Farms Ontario greenhouses will consistently be shipped to North American retailers starting in April 2018. But what Niels Klapwijk, the company’s Retail Account/Procurement Manager, is most excited about this season is the wide variety of Ontario-grown produce options now being offered by NatureFresh™ Farms: “By increasing the variety of commodities grown at our farm, NatureFresh™ is further defining itself as a leader within the fresh produce industry. This form of growth for the company is very exciting.”
With a diverse range of commodities now being grown in Leamington, ON, NatureFresh™ Farms continues to develop its greenhouse operations to successfully serve retail partners and respond to the evolving needs of the consumer
"Radiant Heat SON-T Reaches Deeper Than Convection Heat LED"
Dutch grower Lans Zeeland has the first large greenhouse where tomatoes are cultivated under full LED. The ClimaLED3 system from QWestland provides white light and is equipped with a small fan that aids the lamp in reducing heat.
Full LED at Lans Zeeland:
"Radiant Heat SON-T Reaches Deeper Than Convection Heat LED"
Dutch grower Lans Zeeland has the first large greenhouse where tomatoes are cultivated under full LED. The ClimaLED3 system from QWestland provides white light and is equipped with a small fan that aids the lamp in reducing heat. In terms of design, the lights look more like SON-T luminaires than the red / blue bars used in most LED experiments. In the context of the monitoring project, which is financed by Kas als Energiebron (Greenhouse as Source of Energy), Wageningen University & Research, Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture, follows this cultivation at Lans and additional measurements have been carried out into the temperature and light distribution in the greenhouse.
By means of a thermal imaging camera and ventilated temperature sensors, it turned out that the fan blowing down which reduces lamp heat would indeed result in a higher head temperature under the lamps. The smoke tests also showed that the air movement from the lamps does not extend beyond the head of the crop. This makes the temperature of the head under LED lighting higher than at the bottom of the crop. This difference is even higher than with SON-T and that is contrary to expectations. Apparently, the radiant heat of SON-T lamps reaches deeper into the crop than the convection heat of the LED lamps. In itself, this does not have to be a problem, but it is important to take this into account in the heating strategy.
Heat usage
Furthermore, the greenhouse with LED lamps has, in comparison with a nearby greenhouse with an almost equal consumption of electricity, realized a 1 °C higher greenhouse temperature and a 6% lower RH with 10% less heat usage. This is striking because it is usually assumed that LED lighting actually leads to more heat consumption.
All lamps are suspended below the girder. This way they have to bridge a distance of 5 meters. And since the LED lights shine a bit more down than the wider-beam SON-T lighting, this gives a less even light distribution at head height (1.9 m below the light). Deeper in the crop the light distribution of the lamps is more or less the same. Whether the uneven light distribution is a disadvantage for production has not been established yet. Over time, all the crop heads will be straight under the light once. Moreover, it has been found that the temperature right below the lamps is ± 1 °C warmer than between the lamps. This can be an advantage when the crop gets more light.
This project is funded from the Kas als Energiebron program, the innovation and action program of LTO Glaskracht Nederland and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.
Read more about this project at this link. (In Dutch)
For more information:
Kas Als Energiebron
www.kasalsenergiebron.nl
Publication date: 3/29/2018
Could Urban Farms Be The Preschools of The Future?
The vision for Nursery Fields Forever. Courtesy of aut- -aut
Could Urban Farms Be The Preschools of The Future?
EILLIE ANZILOTTI MAR 7, 2016
A group of architects proposed a new design to help raise environmentally responsible kids.
Under the distant gaze of a city skyline, cows and chickens wander through rows of sprouting vegetables; clear glass greenhouses dot the periphery. It sounds like an ordinary urban farm, but on this particular site, the wardens are toddlers.
The farm, Nursery Fields Forever, is the vision of aut- -aut, a group of four architects hailing from Italy and the Netherlands. Their proposal for a preschool on an urban farm took first prize at this year’s AWR International Ideas Competition; the challenge centered around designing a nursery school model for London.
“The dominant preschool system keeps children in classrooms, where plants barely peek out from the window,” and animals are only visible in places like zoos, Jonathan Lazar, one of the architects, tells CityLab, adding:
The absence of direct experience has completely misled children’s perception of the world and of its most basic processes. It’s not rare to find children who ignore that the milk they drink comes from cows or that beans don’t sprout in cans.
Urban settings especially, Lazar says, obscure natural processes that are fundamental to our understanding of the world we inhabit. Nursery Fields Forever aims to dissolve the gap between education and environment, offering instead “a real hybrid between a farm and a school where children’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development would be encouraged by interaction with plants and animals,” he says.
This is not just a glorified enrichment program attached to a standard educational model. Nursery Fields Forever would do away with classrooms entirely in favor of learning outdoors and in greenhouses throughout the property; the curriculum would rotate seasonally to “unfold along a trajectory based on natural cycles,” aut- -aut’s website describes.
A diagram of the project. (Courtesy of aut- -aut)
The preschool farm is a relatively novel concept, though the Agricultural University of Norway successfully piloted a similar venture, the Living School, in 1996; the program is still ongoing today under the name Living Learning. Introducing environmental awareness to early childhood education has long been supported by research. A 2012 article in Environmental Research Letterscites studies dating back to the 1970s that suggest:
Children are a frequent target audience as attitudes towards the environment start developing at an early age and—once formed—do not change easily. They are less likely to have well-established environmentally harmful behaviours to “unlearn”; have a longer period to influence environmental quality, and are possible effective agents promoting environmentally responsible behaviour in others.
Establishing a venture like Nursery Fields Forever would suggest a sense of obligation on the part of the designers to undo the damages of earlier generations’ environmental disregard. Intervening at an early age could preclude obliviousness to the negative impacts of prepackaged, processed foods and outsourced labor, says Lazar, and engineer a degree of self-conscious environmentalism back into the fabric of the city.
It’s a mentality seen also in the urban farms and gardens that have lately ramped up their efforts to educate the next generation. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden debuted its revamped Discovery Garden in 2015 as part of its Campaign for the Next Century—developed party in response to a growing interest in sustainable urban practices. The New York Timesreported that the new iteration is “geared toward immersing children in nature” without any of the “unfortunate dumbing-down-of-nature quality” seen often in children’s gardens.
At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Discovery Garden. (Barbara Nemcova/Flickr)
And in Atlanta, Patchwork City Farms hosts afterschool programs for local schoolchildren with the aim of instilling in them a sense of self-sufficiently and responsibility. Echoing Lazar’s sentiment, Patchwork’s founder Jamila Norman insists that farming is a great way to teach the next generation about how people and the environment interact. “Kids are sometimes grossed out by the things that come out of the ground,” she told Modern Farmer. “We have to teach them that it’s better like this.”
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Paris To Turn A Third Of It's Green Space Into Urban Farms
Paris To Turn A Third Of It's Green Space Into Urban Farms
April 10, 2018
Paris to turn a third of its green space into urban farms
Written by Katy Wong, CNN
France's famously beautiful capital is not a place you'd expect to find chickens, beehives, and rows of neatly planted cabbages -- but urban farming is flourishing in Paris.
It all started when the city's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who was elected in 2014, declared her intention to make Paris a greener city. The Paris government responded to her call in 2016 by launching Parisculteurs, a project which aims to cover the city's rooftops and walls with 100 hectares (247 acres) of vegetation by 2020. One-third of the green space, according to its plan, should be dedicated to urban farming.
So far, 74 companies and public institutions have signed a charter to partner with the city in developing urban agriculture.
"Paris not only intends to produce fruit and vegetables but also (plans to) invent a new urban model ... Citizens want new ways to get involved in the city's invention and be the gardeners," says Penelope Komites, deputy mayor of Paris, who is in charge of the city's parks and green spaces.
"Three years ago, people laughed at my plan. Today, citizens are producing (produce) on roofs and in basements. We are also asked by numerous cities around the world to present the Parisian approach."
Farm to plate
Located a 20-minute drive from the Eiffel Tower, next to the Porte de Clignancourt metro station, in 2014, La REcyclerie built one of the biggest urban farms in the city -- before Paris had even started its project.
This cozy café in a converted former train station is at the heart of a 1,000 square meter (about 10,760 square feet) farm. It produces over 150 different herbs and crops, such as peas and potatoes, all of which are used in the café. Chickens eat any leftovers, while a flock of ducks roams the vegetable garden feasting on slugs.
At La REcyclerie, crops harvested from the urban farm are used in the café. Credit: Simon Lemarchand
The farm is perhaps best known for its three beehives. La REcyclerie has partnered with beekeeper Volkan Tanaci, founder of CityBzz honey -- to maintain and set up the beehives. The CityBzz honey scooped a silver medal in the 2017 World Beekeeping Awards, granted by the International Federation of Beekeepers' Associations, and took home gold at the first honey contest hosted by the Metropolis of Greater Paris.
"It's incredible that our urban honey is better than the rural one, but that's because we don't use any pesticide in our flowers and plants," says Marion Bacahut, head of programming at La REcyclerie. "We want to show people it's possible to farm in an urban environment and it is easy to live in an eco-friendly way. We are playing a big role in making the city greener."
High-rise farming
Since the Parisculteurs project launched in 2016, 75 projects have been approved by the city of Paris, covering 15 hectares of spaces. The projects will create more than 500 tons of produce.
La Chambeaudie Farm, run by agriculture start-up Aéromate, is located on the 500 square meter (5,380 square foot) roof of a medical center owned by Paris Metro (RATP) in the 12th arrondissement -- a district in the east of Paris on the right bank of the River Seine.
Michel Desportes and Louise Doulliet, the co-founders of Aéromate who are both in their 20s, submitted a proposal to the City of Paris when Parisculteurs launched. Their application to lease the rooftop from RATP, with a contract between the two parties in place, was approved after six months.
By using a hydroponic system on rooftops, it can reduce harmful emissions in the cities and produce higher yields with less water consumption. Credit: BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Théo Manesse, the business development manager of Aeromate, says becoming an urban farmer hasn't been easy, due to the level of government oversight required. "In France, every detail must be managed -- you have to do things perfectly." But he adds: "It's complicated and challenging, but really fun."
Today, La Chambeaudie grows more than 40 varieties of plants and herbs, which are sold to restaurants and grocery stores. The farm uses a hydroponic system, which grows plants in water enriched with nutrients, rather than soil -- the water can be recycled to reduce waste.
Aeromate recently set up a second farm on the rooftop of Tishman Speyer, a real estate group, at Place de La Bourse in central Paris, and plans to establish a third farm at The Duperré School of Applied Arts, a public college of art and design.
Making a living through urban farming
Komites says urban agriculture will not only improve Paris aesthetically and environmentally -- it will also provide employment opportunities. Season one of the Parisculteurs scheme, she says, "has created 120 full-time jobs." Aeromate's three staff work fulltime on their farming projects, and Manesse says he expects La Chambeaudie to become profitable this year. "We are creating jobs and just want to keep growing."
La REcyclerie is hoping to show citizens in Paris that it is possible to farm in an urban area. Credit: Simon Lemarchand
At La REcyclerie, the majority of income is earned by the café. "We welcome 600 people every day," says Bacahut, adding that the café will open greenhouses this spring, which will be used for farming workshops.
Today, Paris counts about 15 hectares (37 acres) of urban agriculture. To reach its goal of 30 hectares before 2020 is a challenge. But there are plenty of projects in the works.
In 2019, the Chapel international project will open a 7,061 square meter (about 76,000 square feet) farm, that it says will be the largest cultivated rooftop in Paris. Its produce will be distributed by Franprix, a grocery store chain in Paris.
"We've seen a real craze among Parisians to participate in making the city more green," says Komites. "Urban agriculture is a real opportunity for Paris. It contributes to the biodiversity and to the fight against climate change."
Crop Enhancement Company BioLumic To Invest $7 Million In Business
Crop Enhancement Company BioLumic To Invest $7 Million In Business
JILL GALLOWAY
March 29, 2018
BioLumic chief executive Warren Bebb and founder Jason Wargent have received some significant financial backing.
BioLumic chief executive Warren Bebb and founder Jason Wargent have received some significant financial backing.
Palmerston North-based company BioLumic, which has developed a world first system of using ultraviolet (UV) light on crops, will invest $7 million to grow the business.
Chief executive Warren Bebb said the company would be able to employ more people as a result of the funds from a group of American and local investors.
He said a few days of light improves growth development, more consistent yields and disease resistance in seedlings.
The patents existed and it was charged out per seedling, but while the system was being developed he would not say how much each treated seedling cost.
READ MORE:
* BCC launches Young Enterprise Scheme for 2018
* Palmerston North startup BioLumic attracts significant overseas funding
The light system was being trialled and developed in a Massey University-owned glass house at its plant growth unit.
"We are already in large scale trials with growers in Mexico, the United Kingdom and California and achieving yield gains of up to 22 per cent."
Warren Bebb, BioLumic chief executive, in the glasshouse where seedlings are treated with UV light. | PHOTO: DAVID UNWIN/STUFF
Bebb said just one treatment made a huge difference to plants, making them more robust to wet, as well hot, sunny weather.
He said the exciting thing about the investment as it would allow them to further ramp up the company, which currently has 10 employees.
"It is a great connection for us. They are strategic partners but it also puts us in touch with customers."
"We have an agronomist in Mexico at the moment, but this will allow us to have another one based in the United States, who will cover Europe as well. And it also allows us to employ more engineering staff ."
Bebb said the money would allow BioLumic to do more research and development.
He said the investment would be used to aggressively expand the BioLumic team in both New Zealand and its US office in California, and to intensify the global deployment of its UV technologies.
The investment will lead to more job opportunities and research and development.
PHOTO: DAVID UNWIN/STUFF
BioLumic was founded by Dr Jason Wargent, a world-renowned photobiologist specialising in UV/plant interactions, and spun out of leading AgTech research from Massey University in Palmerston North with support from local incubator Building Clever Companies (BCC) and seed funding from MIGAngels. The technology is the result of more than a decade of Wargent's research into UV photomorphogenesis, a process whereby a precise UV treatment induces plant root and leaf development and activates secondary metabolism.
It is focused on lettuce, broccoli, strawberry and tomato seedlings which are kept in a glasshouse and dosed regularly with UV light.
Agtech is one of the hottest global growth markets, and New Zealand is already a world leader in agricultural production. It is estimated that more than 8.6 billion people will populate the planet by 2030, and the world will need to produce 50 per cent more food by 2050.
"It is an exciting development but they we would not have got anywhere without help from the BCC and and the Manawatu Investment Group," Bebb said.
The contributions came from Finistere Ventures, Radicle Growth, Rabobank's recently-launched Food and Agri-Innovation Fund, along with New Zealand investors that have already contributed money.
- Stuff
What Would Make Urban Agriculture in New York City More Equitable?
Last year, City Council Member Rafael Espinal introduced a bill that would have set up a comprehensive plan, calling for an in-depth analysis of potential spaces, zoning laws, and building codes, as well as the expansion of the availability of healthy food in low-income neighborhoods.
What Would Make Urban Agriculture in New York City More Equitable?
The city needs policies to support both well-funded, high-tech farm operations and community-run urban farms.
Photo courtesy of Bushwick City Farm.
BY LISA HELD
03.05.18
Reverends Robert and DeVanie Jackson, founders of the Brooklyn Rescue Mission Urban Harvest Center in New York City, are proud of the fig trees and raised beds in their organization’s urban garden. Since 2002, local students and senior citizens have tended the crops that help stock the mission’s food pantry. A mile and a half away, Bushwick City Farm, which started in 2011 with volunteers reclaiming a vacant, garbage-strewn lot, now provides free, organically grown food to in-need community members.
Despite deep roots in their communities, both of these urban farms are at risk of collapse. The Jacksons may lose their land in March unless a crowdsourcing campaign can raise the $28,000 they owe the bank for the lot, located in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. And though the owner of Bushwick City Farm’s lot originally told the farmers they could use the space, in August, he changed his mind and gave them 30 days to vacate. The owner has yet to enforce that order, but that could change at any moment.
“We’ve got 30 chickens there, and we didn’t have anywhere to go; we felt like we were participating in the community and he wasn’t,” said Bushwick volunteer James Tefler. “The neighborhood rallied around us and we had meetings with city government representatives.”
Those representatives, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, have been responsive to their plight, but so far it’s unclear what the city might actually be able to do to help. And it’s just one example of why some city lawmakers have been pushing to establish a new urban agriculture policy that would provide guidance to and support local growers.
Photo courtesy Bushwick City Farms.
Last year, City Council Member Rafael Espinal introduced a bill that would have set up a comprehensive plan, calling for an in-depth analysis of potential spaces, zoning laws, and building codes, as well as the expansion of the availability of healthy food in low-income neighborhoods. The law the council ended up passing, however, was barely a shadow of the original proposal. It required the city simply to create an “urban agriculture website.”
Espinal said the original bill did not pass because many of his fellow lawmakers “felt as if there weren’t many barriers getting in the way [of urban agriculture]. We had some disagreements, and we agreed to move forward by taking what we see as a first step, by pushing the city to start a conversation.”
So while the website will be set up as a portal for growers to get information on things like regulations and resources, Espinal plans to continue to work on new legislation that will further his original goals. “The city has to sit down and really figure out ways that it can be a partner in helping urban ag grow,” he said. “There’s a whole ecosystem of opportunities and positive effects it can have on the city.”
Harvest time at Brooklyn Rescue Mission. Photo courtesy Brooklyn Rescue Mission.
But in a city where community farms are struggling to hold onto land while commercial indoor farms backed by venture capital are booming, can legislators create and pass policy that tackles the complexities of the landscape and supports a more robust, representative system?
Growing Community, and Commerce
While many other cities around the country, including Detroit, Austin, Boston, Cleveland, and Portland, Oregon, have passed progressive laws to support the expansion of urban farming, New York’s landscape is complex and crowded. New Yorkers have been working in “farm gardens” since at least 1902. In the 1970s, however, the community gardening movement took off in a new way as activists transformed the many vacant lots that spanned the boroughs. The city supported that effort by creating the GreenThumb program in 1978, which now oversees approximately 600 gardens across a total of 32 acres.
Over the past decade, as urban farming has expanded around the country, community gardens and commercial farming at a larger scale have also grown. In its Five Borough Farm report published in 2012, the Design Trust for Public Space identified 700 total farms and gardens in New York across four categories—community gardens, institutional gardens, community farms, and commercial farms—producing food in the city. In a 2014 follow-up report, that number had risen to 900.
Since then, commercial farm growth has been particularly significant. At the time of the first report in 2012, there were three in the city: Brooklyn Grange, Eagle Street, and Gotham Greens. Brooklyn Grange has since debuted a second, larger farm at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Gotham Greens now has three massive greenhouse farms—two in Brooklyn and one in Queens.
Photo courtesy Gotham Greens.
In addition, Bowery, Edenworks, Square Roots, and Local Roots are all indoor farms that began growing and selling produce within the past few years. And all of that development has occurred with little city involvement. This rapid rise of large-scale, well-funded farm operations in the Big Apple, alongside the growth of demand for community gardens, is part of what complicates New York’s policy work.
A Path Toward Policy
“The kids get in here and start touching soil, [and] they change. It might keep them out of jail, or they may get a Ph.D.,” Rev. Robert Jackson said of the 770 student interns the harvest center has hosted since 2002, as he threw vegetable scraps to excited chickens, which are famous in the neighborhood.
On a walk to the mission, local community leader Kenny Mbonu stopped the Jacksons on the street and began, unprompted, to talk about their impact. “These people are true pioneers in community food and in creating green spaces,” he said. “My kids held chickens for the first time at the farm. You should have seen their faces.”
Reverends Robert and DeVanie Jackson. Photo courtesy Brooklyn Rescue Mission.
While arguments for supporting urban growing often focus on food access, a 2016 literature review published by Johns Hopkins found that “urban agriculture’s most significant benefits center around its ability to increase social capital, community well-being, and civic engagement with the food system.” At the same time, the report found that urban agriculture can negatively impact communities through gentrification, and recommended that the development process include a community’s most vulnerable residents in the decision making.
Which is why advocates say involving community leaders and small growers in the policy process is so important. A public hearing on urban ag policy held last fall left a bitter taste in community organizers’ mouths; advocates said the meeting was largely skewed toward for-profit, primarily white growers, while community growers of color were underrepresented.
Luisa Santos, who testified on behalf of the Design Trust for Public Space at that meeting, called for a citywide task force that would review the proposed plan. A diversity of growers on that task force is key, she said, as is acknowledging resource gaps between community and commercial growers.
Protecting access to land, especially spaces community members have already invested in, is also an issue an urban agriculture plan could help with, Santos said. Espinal said he hears from constituents “all the time” about land issues. Many community gardens have been lost in the past two years to develop or have been taken over by the city to build affordable housing.
Photo courtesy Bushwick City Farms.
And simple clarity would help everyone involved in the system, from community gardeners to large-scale commercial farms, Santos said. “One of the great opportunities with an urban agriculture plan is just making sure that there is a policy for what you can and cannot do in relation to growing food, for yourself or to sell.”
Moving forward, Espinal said he envisions a future plan that would create opportunities for commercial growers to work together with and help community growers. “My main goal in the next few months is working with all stakeholders, figuring out what are the issues and barriers, and putting a policy document together.”
Santos said the Design Trust felt the legislative change was a disappointing setback, but that it didn’t destroy the possibility of “achieving a comprehensive agriculture plan” in the future, and that the organization is now putting together a task force to work alongside elected officials.
In the meantime, growers like the Jacksons will keep digging in the dirt and distributing food for as long as they’re able, tending to the hole in the hoop house has, and cutting back the cherry tree.
“We had an agreement with the birds,” Rev. DeVanie Jackson said. “They get the top and we get the bottom. But now, they’re getting everything.”
Food Deserts, Food Justice, Food Policy, Local Eats, Urban Agriculture
Pure Flavor® - IFCO Partnership Ensures Year-Round Delivery of Quality Fresh Produce Across North America
Pure Flavor® - IFCO Partnership Ensures Year-Round Delivery of Quality Fresh Produce Across North America
Use of Shared and Reusable “Smart Packaging” Maximizes Operational Efficiency
Tampa, Florida (February 27, 2018) - Pure Flavor®’s use of IFCO Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) has had a positive impact for the Leamington, Ontario-based, a vertically integrated provider of a wide variety of fresh produce products year-round to retailers across North America. After six years of collaboration, Pure Flavor®’s use of IFCO RPCs has continued to grow rapidly to include packaging for a wide range of products, including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and eggplants.
“IFCO is a valuable partner,” said Jason Veno, Packaging Operations Manager for Pure Flavor®. “Not only do they provide us with ‘smart packaging’ that protects and cools our products extremely well, they maximize our operational efficiency by ensuring we have an adequate supply of RPCs year-round, even during peak growing seasons. That predictability means we can continue to serve our customers and their shoppers efficiently, effectively and on time”, said Veno.
IFCO now provides Pure Flavor® with over one million RPCs annually. They are used to package fresh produce at locations in San Antonio, Texas, Romulus, Michigan, and Leamington, Ontario, and are then shipped to retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
“IFCO’s partnership with Pure Flavor® is based on thoughtful collaboration and the shared goal of providing consumers with a constant supply of high quality, safe, nutritious and affordable produce each- and every- day,” said Daniel Walsh, President, IFCO North America. “Our RPCs are tailor-made for growers like Pure Flavor® that want the best possible efficiency and sustainability for their packaging, and we are proud to work side-by-side with such a visionary company. We are also proud of our presence and expansion in the Canadian marketplace, as well as the supporting infrastructure we have established there to better serve our many Canadian customers.”
IFCO and Pure Flavor® have developed a forecasting model that tracks the company’s produce orders and growing seasons and ensures on-time delivery of the right number and type of RPCs throughout the year. In addition, some RPCs are stored on-site, providing the Pure Flavor® operations group with greater flexibility to manage its product flow.
Ongoing collaboration between Pure Flavor® and IFCO will continue to optimize supply chain operations, as well as reduce the companies’ environmental footprint in the months and years ahead.
IFCO and Pure Flavor® will be exhibiting at the upcoming Southern Exposure Convention & Trade Show in Tampa, FL on March 3rd. IFCO will be located at Booth #120. Pure Flavor® will be located at Booth #605. Retail partners are encouraged to stop by the Pure Flavor® booth to learn more about the company’s greenhouse vegetable products as well as the expansion to Georgia with a new 75-acre high tech greenhouse facility.
Additional information -
Pure Flavor® is a family of greenhouse vegetable growers who share a commitment to bringing A Life of Pure Flavor™ to communities everywhere. Our passion for sustainable greenhouse growing, strong support for our retail & foodservice customers, and focus on engaging consumers is built on a foundation drawn from generations of growing expertise. We are the next generation of vegetable growers, inspired to put quality, flavor, and customers first by providing greenhouse-grown vegetables from our farms that are strategically located throughout North America. http://www.pure-flavor.com/
IFCO is the leading global provider of reusable packaging solutions for fresh foods, serving customers in 50+ countries. IFCO operates a pool of over 290 million Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) globally, which are used for over 1.4 billion shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, bread, and other items from suppliers to grocery retailers every year. IFCO RPCs ensure a better fresh food supply chain by protecting freshness and quality and lowering costs, food waste and environmental impact compared to single-use packaging. IFCO is a Brambles Company. www.ifco.com.
Water Uncertainty: What Innovations Can Help Smallholder Farmers?
Water Uncertainty: What Innovations Can Help Smallholder Farmers?
Smallholder farmers are arguably the most susceptible group of people to climate change and, in particular, unpredictable rainfall patterns.
March 22 was World Water Day, an annual initiative by UN Water to highlight the importance of water. The theme for World Water Day 2018 is exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges the world faces in the 21st century.
“In recent times, the weather has become less predictable,” says Simon Jan de Hoop, Vice President for Research & Development at East-West Seed (EWS).
“This impacts on testing new vegetable seed varieties for drought or flood resistance. This is a very difficult process because if you test under controlled conditions, how representative is that of real farming conditions?”
Instead, de Hoop says, plant breeders can focus on natural plant features which perform well in both high- and low-rainfall situations. He says East-West Seed has done so for several years, selecting genetic material that results in stronger root systems.
Under water-logged conditions, these plants have greater stability to withstand the higher water content in the soil. During droughts, strong root systems are better able to find and push up water and nutrition from the soil to the shoots and fruits.
“In Thailand the Petch Dam F1 varieties of hot pepper is an example of selective breeding of desired genetic material to improve the root systems,” de Hoop says.
Water efficiency
While genetics and breeding are important to helping farmers through water challenges, de Hoop believes there should also be a greater focus on water efficiency. Water efficiency will become increasingly important, especially in areas with low rainfall, according to de Hoop.
He points to studies which have found that vegetables not only produce higher yield volumes than other crops, such as rice, but also provide greater protein and calories per cubic meter of water respectively.
Greater certainty
Looking toward the future, de Hoop says farmers will need to move to farming systems where crops are grown with less water and which allow for better control of pests and diseases.
“I believe there is going to be a greater focus on protected cultivation technologies, such as greenhouses and irrigation systems, to reduce the uncertainty around external factors like rainfall patterns,” he says.
Although this sounds far removed from the typical smallholding farm, he says that in principle this is possible for small-scale farmers.
Protected cultivation technologies can help reduce reliance on rainfall, as well as the incidences of pests and diseases. Due to their relatively high capital investment costs, however, de Hoop says farmers won’t be able to incorporate these without support. He says India, for example, have effective public subsidy schemes that allow farmers to invest in greenhouses.
“It is important to remember that all technologies, regardless of how advanced they are, require the user to know how to implement them effectively. This is why training and skills development, such as provided by East-West Seed’s Knowledge Transfer, are crucial to the successful adoption of these innovations,” concludes de Hoop.
For more information:
East-West Seed
No. 50/1 Moo 2, Sainoi-Bang Bua
Thong Rd, Amphur Sainoi, Nonthaburi
11150, THAILAND
T: +66 (02) 831 7700
F: +66 (02) 923 7794
inter@eastwestseed.com
www.eastwestseed.com
An Overview of Aquaponic Systems: Hydroponic Components
An Overview of Aquaponic Systems: Hydroponic Components
D. Allen Pattillo
Aquaponics is the union of hydroponics and aquaculture for a fast, efficient method of producing both plant and fish crops.
This publication discusses how an aquaponics system works, showcasing the model used at Iowa State University.
It provides information on construction and design, with photos used to clearly illustrate how the system works.
Pages / Length: 10
Publication Date: 03/2017 Download - Or Read it Here
US (AR): Students Develop Hydroponic System For Non-Profit Farm
US (AR): Students Develop Hydroponic System For Non-Profit Farm
Laura Gray and Sarah Gould, both pursuing their bachelor's degrees in biological engineering at the University of Arkansas, did not anticipate that their participation in the 2017 Social Innovation Challenge would turn into a year-long thesis project. But that's exactly what has happened; the two juniors are working with Tri Cycle Farms to implement their proposal, developed in the fall semester during the annual competition, for a hydroponics system to improve Tri Cycle Farms' ability to address food insecurity in Northwest Arkansas.
Led by Rogelio Garcia-Contreras, director of social innovation, the initiative is part of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Its purpose is to allow students, faculty and staff to connect with local organizations that are tackling social and environmental issues within the community. Once a year, the Social Innovation Initiative hosts a Social Innovation Challenge, in which students partnering with an organization can partake in a competition to present entrepreneurial, market-based, viable, and sustainable solutions to problems posed by the organization.
From left, Laura Gray, Don Bennett and Sarah Gould at Tri Cycle Farms. Photo by Abigail Grossman
Jennie Popp is the associate dean of the Honors College and co-chair of the Service Learning Initiative. She has helped to organize and formalize service learning through the Initiative at the University of Arkansas. "Service learning gives the students real-world experience to test the knowledge they learn in the classroom. It can also lead to internships and job offers from the organizations with whom the students work," said Popp. Popp has also served as a judge for the Social Innovation Challenge for the past two years. She describes the challenge as being extremely beneficial to students who are looking to make a change in the community while having the opportunity to discover an important, worthwhile thesis topic.
When asked why the challenge piqued her interest, Gould answered, "I like to get involved and stay busy. Laura and I were really excited about all the projects listed in the informational email, so we set up a meeting with Rogelio to learn more about the challenge." Gould and Gray described that activism, nonprofit involvement, and the idea of having the opportunity to learn not only about how to physically structure the project, but also how to look at it from an economic perspective, were all reasons why they wanted to join the challenge.
Gould and Gray partnered with the non-profit Tri Cycle Farms, located on Garland Avenue in Fayetteville. Tri Cycle Farms is a community farm working to address food insecurity by growing food and teaching others how to grow food. "One in four children in the state of Arkansas are food insecure," said Don Bennett, founder of Tri Cycle Farms. Bennett said that once he learned this, he began doing research into the food system in Washington County. "I found a purpose," he said. Tri Cycle Farms redistributes about 50 tons of food per week and works to teach garden and farming education to people within the community.
Gould and Gray chose to partner with Tri Cycle Farms because they believed that with their engineering background, they could implement a hydroponics system within a greenhouse, also known as a hydro-house, to improve crop yields and reduce water usage. "Tri Cycle Farms does a lot of community activism and wants to use the hydro-house as not only an effective way to grow plants but also as an educational opportunity for students," said Gray. Once the hydroponics greenhouse is finished, Bennett would like to call it the "Seed-to-Sell Learning Project." He wants the house to provide opportunities for student groups and interns to obtain service learning hours from working in the hydroponics house and helping it develop.
Gray and Gould both emphasized the value of the Social Innovation Challenge in getting their project launched.
"We knew, regardless of the challenge outcome, we wanted to continue our work with Tri Cycle Farms," said Gould. "While we did discover this project as our thesis, the reward of finishing it is so much more than us, or our thesis. It has such a lasting impact on the community."
When asked how the challenge helped them in their professional experience and with their personal growth, Gray answered, "Being engineering students, we are not exposed to very much business. It forced us to think more about the economic side of things. We went from having zero experience to having the opportunity to apply so many concepts we learned to the real world."
Gould and Gray continue to work on the hydroponics greenhouse system for Tri Cycle Farms, which will be used as a service learning project for future students when it is complete. The two students are also able to continue working towards their thesis project while helping the community.
"Although Laura and Sarah did not win the Social Innovation Challenge, they have demonstrated success by making a commitment and a connection to our organization," said Bennett. "In the end, Tri Cycle Farms won. Laura and Sarah have committed over a year and a half to this project."
Source: University of Arkansas
Publication date: 3/29/2018
BrightFarms To Invest Up To 17 Million In Texas Green
180,000 Square Foot
BrightFarms To Invest Up To 17 Million In Texas Greenhouse
BrightFarms has selected Abilene as the site of its first hydroponic greenhouse farm in Texas. Construction is slated to begin this summer, and shoppers will find their greens and herbs in area grocery stores by early 2019.
The company will receive approximately 21 acres in Access Business Park in Texas, valued at $632,700, to construct the 180,000 square foot greenhouse. The project aims to begin construction in summer 2018 and be fully operational by early 2019.
The state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse will be constructed at an estimated cost of up to $17 million and create as many as 30 “green-collar” jobs for local residents, each paying a living wage and offering health benefits. The incentive requires the company to meet minimum performance criteria for jobs and investment over the next five years.
BrightFarms
Operating greenhouse farms to help meet the growing demand for year-round local produce, BrightFarms’s sustainable growing methods use 80 percent less water, 90 percent less land and 95 percent less shipping fuel than conventional agriculture. As the future of scalable, sustainable local farming, this model eliminates time, distance, and costs from the food supply chain.
Founded in 2011 in New York, New York, the company currently has facilities in Rochelle, Illinois; Culpeper County, Virginia; Bucks County, Pennsylvania and is in the process of opening a new location in Wilmington, Ohio.
By constructing greenhouse farms near major metros, the company’s produce is grown locally and picked at the height of freshness, delivering to supermarkets within 24 hours of harvest. By comparison, the majority of produce found on grocery shelves travel 5-7 days and thousands of miles.
Brand for retailers
BrightFarms has established a successful brand that has gained the attention of major grocery retailers, with current partners representing more than 60 percent of the U.S. grocery market. As a result, the company has put forth a plan to phase its growth over the next few years to serve customers across the U.S.
In October 2017, The Governor’s Office of EDT (Economic Development and Tourism) contacted the Abilene Industrial Foundation (AIF), on behalf of BrightFarms, to identify an ideal site as part of its efforts to expand into the southern market. The AIF works on behalf of the DCOA to promote the growth, development, and diversification of the economy in Abilene by attracting new industries.
Texas
BrightFarms asked targeted Texas communities for greenfield sites to construct its next greenhouse operation. The AIF worked with the DCOA to formulate a response, highlighting the land that was recently made available next to the Abilene Regional Airport. This area, Access Business Park, is being developed as Abilene's next-generation business park that aims to be the home for new industry in the coming years.
"Abilene's central location, available land and incentive program plays an influential role in attracting this project to the city," said Justin Jaworski, Executive Director for the Abilene Industrial Foundation.
Spin-off businesses
It is estimated that BrightFarms will generate $23.1 million in direct economic output over the next 10 years. Spin-off businesses in the community will produce $12.9 million in economic output in this same time frame, as a result of local operations. In total, the company will support $36 million in new economic output over this time. Economic output is the value of goods and services produced in the economy and can be thought of as revenues for businesses.
Kent Sharp, CEO of the Development Corporation of Abilene, said the company will contribute approximately $12.5 million in payroll to the local economy in its first 10 years. "The project itself will generate an additional $3 million in revenues to local taxing entities over this period of time, with $1.5 million accruing to the City of Abilene," he added.
As a result, the DCOA approved a 10 percent match of the investment, up to $1,700,000, leaving the remaining 90 percent to be provided by the company. "The involvement from the DCOA to incentivize this company to locate in Abilene is a testament to all the great things our city has to offer businesses," said DCOA Board President John Beckham.
For more information:
BrightFarms
What Does The New Regenerative Organic Certification Mean For The Future of Good Food?
Organic is not enough. Or that’s the thinking behind the new Regenerative Organic Certification(ROC) that was officially launched at the Natural Products Expo West trade show last week.
What Does The New Regenerative Organic Certification Mean For The Future of Good Food?
Several new labels introduced last week seek to move beyond USDA organic. Can they shore up sustainable practices, or will they sow consumer confusion?
BY ARIANA REGUZZONI | 03.12.18
Organic is not enough. Or that’s the thinking behind the new Regenerative Organic Certification(ROC) that was officially launched at the Natural Products Expo West trade show last week. The Regenerative Organic Alliance, a coalition of organizations and businesses led by the Rodale Institute, Patagonia, and Dr. Bronner’s, has joined the seemingly unstoppable engine propelling sustainable agriculture beyond the term “organic,” or, as some believe, bringing it back to its original meaning.
“[The USDA] Organic [label] is super important—thank goodness it was put into play,” says Birgit Cameron, senior director of Patagonia Provisions, an arm of Patagonia that aims to solve environmental issues by supporting climate-friendly food producers. “The ROC is absolutely never meant to replace it, but rather to keep it strong to the original intention.”
Like other newly proposed certifications—including the “The Real Organic Project,” which was also announced last week—one of the Alliance’s primary goals is to require growers to focus on soil health and carbon sequestration. But, as Cameron explains, it is also an attempt to be a “north star” for the industry as a certification that encompasses the health of the planet, animal welfare, and social fairness.
As producers move up through its tier system (bronze, silver, and gold) they will eventually set an even “higher bar” than any other labels offered right now. According to Jeff Moyer, executive director of the Rodale Institute, this built-in incentive to constantly improve on-farm practices is something the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) organic requirements lack.
“When you play with the federal government, you have to give up some things,” Moyer says. “Organic is a fairly static standard … once you become certified you’re in the club and there’s no incentive to move beyond that.”
Mechanics of a New Regenerative Label
There are still nuances that need to be worked out, but, as it stands now, USDA organic certification (or an international equivalent) is a baseline requirement for ROC certification—a company or farm must at least be USDA Organic certified to earn the ROC label. However, the Alliance—instead of the USDA—will oversee ROC certification. ROC-certified producers must also meet the requirements of one of the existing certifications for animal welfare and social fairness, such as Animal-Welfare Approved or Fair Trade Certified.
And the Alliance’s goal is that ROC will be enforced through the same third-party certifier with whom producers are already working, such as Oregon Tilth or CCOF. Proponents say that requirements will be regularly reevaluated and updated as new practices emerge, and that in this way, it will be a living document.
USDA organic requirements are also meant to be updated through the National Organic Standards Boards (NOSB), a group of farmers, industry reps, and scientists that meets twice yearly in a public setting to discuss and vote on recommendations for the National Organic Program.
The Alliance is part of a growing group of activists and producers disillusioned with the NOSB’s decisions last year to allow soil-free crops–such as those grown using hydroponics–to qualify as certified organic and the withdrawal of a rule that required improvements in animal welfare.
Many view the co-opting of the word “organic” by large corporations and mono-crop farms as more evidence of the label’s erosion. They also worry about the influx of fraudulent organic food being imported into the country. And the fact that the current USDA and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have both moved away from many of the values embraced by the organic movement in the last year seems to be spurring this new movement along.
The groups behind these labels are also slowly introducing the term “regenerative” to the mainstream. While there is not yet one official definition of the term, Kevin Boyer, project director at the newly established Regenerative Agriculture Foundation, an education and grant-making organization, summed regenerative ag up as “any system of agriculture that continuously improves the cycles on which it relies, including the human community, the biological community, and the economic community.”
Boyer says he knows of at least four other regenerative labels that are currently in the works, but ROC is the farthest along. (Not all will use organic certification as a baseline.) This influx of new standards contributes to the urgency the Alliance feels to get out in front of the crowd.
“The more popular it gets, the more vulnerable it is to having someone who is not part of the regenerative agriculture community come in and use it,” says Boyer.
Last year, the Alliance held a public comment period facilitated by NSF International, a certifier with whom they have an established relationship. The certification has also gone through two revisions so far, but the Alliance deliberately chose not to pass it through a large committee of reviewers. Instead, they want to “put a stake in the ground” now by presenting it to the public.
Despite goals that are broadly supported by many people in the sustainable agriculture community, ROC has garnered skepticism among those who believe it is working in a vacuum and further confusing a marketplace where consumers are already overwhelmed by an abundance of third-party labels such as Non-GMO and Rainforest Alliance Certified.
“I think ROC did a really beautiful job in addressing all the things that regenerative agriculture is supposed to care about, but it has to be a conversation with the whole community and built in a way that truly promotes the inclusion the movement has had since the very beginning,” says Boyer.
Adding Confusion in a Crowded Marketplace?
Bob Scowcroft, the retired executive director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation and a 35-year activist and leader in the organic farming movement, also has concerns about splintering support for organic food. At the Ecological Farming Conference in January, he was dismayed to hear a panel of ROC underwriters tell an audience of successful organic farmers, some of whom undoubtedly spent thousands of dollars on USDA organic certification, that it wasn’t enough.
“I try to remind people … organic is only 4.8 percent of the food economy,” he says. “Ninety-five percent of the economy is still sprayed [with synthetic pesticides] or [made up of] CAFOs, so we’re going to shred each other? We can only afford to do that when organic is 45 percent of the economy.”
Scowcroft welcomes a “certain amount of agitation” within the umbrella of sustainable agriculture and believes that everything can be improved, but he says adding yet another label into the mix—especially one that is wrapped up in a strong marketing platform instead of extensive research—might not make any significant improvements.
“Regenerative agriculture is probably the 262nd term for organic. We really don’t want to do this again,” said Scowcroft.
Rather, he would like to see more energy and faith put into the systems that are already established. He points to the increased awareness within the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service about cover crops and soil runoff as evidence of the shared value for some “regenerative” requirements. And he supports more research on soil fertility, carbon sequestration, crop rotation, and perennial grasses.
As Scowcroft sees it, the finish line of the “30-year march” toward a better food system isn’t even close to being crossed, but there are many important placeholders that have already been set. Programs like the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative and Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grants have ushered in tremendous positive changes, he says, asking why anyone would want to give up on a system that is still malleable and able to get even stronger.
“The model is already there to bring that language to the National Organic Standard Board to further the conversation on eventual improvement,” Scowcroft says. “There shouldn’t be anything stopping anybody from doing that.”
Photo courtesy of Lee Health.
For other good food advocates, however, the NOSB’s recent decision not to ban hydroponic operations from organic certification was just the latest example of the fact that the board itself is now composed of a number of representatives of large corporations that would like to see the standards further watered down.
“Some folks fought so long and hard to get [federal organic standards] only to see these things trying to displace them,” says Boyer. “I credit the organic movement for creating an atmosphere that even allows this conversation. But, especially here in California, you don’t have to drive very far to see an organic farm that is not fulfilling the ideal organic vision.”
Some ranchers, like Julie Morris of Morris Grassfed Beef in California’s San Benito County, say the organic label has never worked for her family’s operation. Unlike ROC, Morris says the original organic standards were written for fruit and vegetable growers and did not take adequately into account livestock practices. Morris Grassfed’s pastures are certified organic, but their beef is not because they work with smaller butchers who can’t always afford certification.
On the other hand, Morris is excited about the coming wave of regenerative standards because, she believes it will consider more of the practices she and her husband already use on their land, with their animals and their employees. For years they have been “first-person certified”—a term Morris uses to describe how they earn customers’ loyalty by showing them first-hand how they run their ranch. But, as more people seek out these kinds of products she says those direct connections don’t always happen.
“Consumers want to know that we nurture the earth, raise our animals humanely, and pay our workers fairly,” she said. “We will now have a chance to share that and be transparent.”
In the meantime, the Alliance hopes that farmers will also choose to get on board because of the potential market pull and the additional premium they could receive for something with the ROC stamp. As Cameron explains, the Alliance is counting on the fact that a significant portion of consumers is already searching for something that exceeds organic.
At this point, however, any premiums are speculative. The Alliance is still in the process of deciding whether the label will be consumer-facing or will just come into play in business-to-business interactions. Patagonia, for example, could say they will only buy cotton from farms that are regenerative organic certified, which would be a boon to the farmers, but not much of a step toward educating the public.
“[Producers] may or may not advertise to consumers,” says Moyer. “If the market says ‘this is confusing me,’ they might not.”
Like Morris, Loren Poncia, rancher, and owner of Stemple Creek Ranch in Marin County, California, is intrigued by the possibility that this one certification could help consolidate several of the certifications he already earns. And since his pastures are already certified organic and part of the Global Animal Partnership, Stemple Creek might be a prime contender for ROC. But it will also depend on how laborious the certification process is. It’s a challenge, Poncia says, to manage the ranch, the business, and also keep up with all the certifications.
“Unless customers are coming to me and asking, ‘Are you certified by this?’ it’s probably not going to motivate me to get another certification,” he says.
Another sticking point for some people is the question of specific practices versus outcomes. Right now, ROC, like other certifications, is primarily practice-based rather than measuring specific data-driven outcomes. At first, glance, focusing on practices might help regulate the methods (i.e., inputs, tillage, irrigation) a farmer or rancher might employ and get them to their goal more quickly. But Boyer from the Regenerative Agriculture Foundation argues that the opposite tends to happen. He says that a practice-based standard restricts farmers by telling them what they can and cannot do instead of fostering innovation.
“A lot of people are good at ticking the boxes, but nothing new comes out of that,” Boyer says. “That doesn’t grow the movement.”
On the other hand, an outcomes-based standard encourages farmers to “employ their creativity.” It makes loopholes less appealing because there is more freedom for farmers to utilize practices that are specific to their operations and, therefore, more successful.
One thing that everyone agrees on is that the Alliance has more work to do. The next step is to run pilot programs with interested farmers—many of whom are already on their way to reaching the standards.
Top photo courtesy of The Rodale Institute.
IndoorFarming Company Bringing News Jobs To Breathitt County, Kentucky
Indoor Farming Company Bringing News Jobs To Breathitt County, Kentucky
By Morgan Henry
March 29, 2018
FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ)-Governor Matt Bevin announced Thursday that startup indoor farming company Hydroponic Farms USA will invest more than $44.5 million in Eastern Kentuckys Breathitt County and create 121 jobs with the construction of a new facility on a reclaimed mine in Jackson.
Bevin says “The announcement of 121 full-time jobs in Breathitt County is wonderful news for Eastern Kentucky and its skilled workforce. It has been our administrations mission to provide better job opportunities in every part of our state, and this investment is evidence that we are achieving that goal. We are truly grateful for this vote of confidence in the commonwealth. Hydroponic Farms USA will be a great fit for the Jackson community, and continues the economic momentum that is building in Eastern Kentucky.”
Hydroponic Farms USA will build a nearly 42-acre facility with 35.5 acres of production space. The facility will use hydroponic and aeroponic technology to grow leafy greens, tomatoes, peppers and other produce. The 121 jobs will include leadership, production and post-production roles. Company leaders plan to break ground following their land purchase and approval of permits.
Tim Davis, the managing member of Hydroponic Farms USA, says “Appalachia has much to offer the world in terms of natural beauty and abundant resources, but what really makes this place special is its people. We knew the moment we set foot in Breathitt County, that this was not only a perfect place to build our business, but also a place we could proudly call home. Our investors have been humbled by the overwhelming support of Kentucky's state and local government representatives. Moving forward, we are committed to building positive relationships with all of our new neighbors in Breathitt County and doing our part to create real opportunities for people. With the agronomic and technological expertise provided by our partners at Green Ag Technologies, we are proud to bring the future of farming to the area and make a significant impact on the produce industry.”
Hydroponic Farms USA says it is working to develop and implement advanced hydroponic and aeroponic technology and innovation. To do so, the company formed a partnership with Oz Agribusiness Projects and Investments Ltd. and Green Ag Technologies LLC to manage and operate the facility.
Hydroponic Farms USA will follow a similar business model to Kentucky Fresh Harvest, which broke ground in Lincoln County in January 2017 and also is managed by OAPI. Currently, the company is working with major retailers and wholesalers to secure contracts to supply their customers with fresh produce year-round.
Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles says the project is a good fit within the commonwealths evolving agricultural profile.
Kentucky has a long tradition of being a leader when it comes to agricultural innovation, Commissioner Quarles said. Whether it is no-till corn, industrial hemp or hydroponic farms like this one, Kentucky agriculture continues to thrive. Todays announcement is the result of the hard work done by Governor Bevin and Think Kentucky to attract new and exciting businesses to our old Kentucky home.
In addition, Hydroponic Farms can receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network. Through the Kentucky Skills Network, companies can receive no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives. In fiscal 2017, the Kentucky Skills Network provided training for more than 120,000 Kentuckians and 5,700 companies from a variety of industry sectors.