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Hydroponics: Pros and Cons of Hydroponic Gardening
Hydroponic farming is one of the most misrepresented farming methods around the world. I mean, it sounds like an alien if not a futuristic concept growing food without a single grain of soil.
Hydroponic farming is one of the most misrepresented farming methods around the world. I mean, it sounds like an alien if not a futuristic concept growing food without a single grain of soil.
One of the major reasons hydroponics has been gaining a foothold is because studies have shown that this farming type may soon overtake conventional field farming. For example, it has recently emerged that hydroponically grown plants are of high quality, require less space and are not as resource-intense as their field counterparts. Goes without saying that urban and indoor gardening has witnessed new horizons with no sight of the ending.
What is hydroponics?
Hydroponics is a soilless farming method where planting takes place in a controlled aquatic-based environment. To many, the concept of soilless plant growing may seem like a smack to the plant’s nutritional needs. However, they actually do exceptionally well as they are sufficiently supplied with water and nutrients, which are essential for any plants to thrive.
To provide these nutrients, a nutrient solution is fed to the plants through the roots resulting in normal and healthy plants. With that said, there are multiple hydroponics systems and others don’t necessarily require substrates.
How does it work?
There are different hydroponics systems although the basics are the same. The systems allow the roots of the plants to directly come into contact with nutrients and oxygen without factoring in the soil. As a replacement for the soil, the system uses clay pebbles, stonewool, coco coir, or vermiculite to support the roots.
For the nutrients, there is a water-based solution that’s rich in nutrients delivered directly to the plants through the roots. As a solution to the light which is essential for growth, some hydroponic systems utilize natural lighting while others solely rely on artificial lighting.
Most often people tend to mostly focus on the bias which essentially overshadows the positive characteristics. However, just like any other culture system out there, it has its good side and its ugly side.
Initially, it can prove extremely difficult to kick-start and maintain hydroponic gardens but once you have honed the skills the pros outweighs the cons.
What are the pros and cons of hydroponic gardening?
Pros
One of the most outstanding benefits of hydroponic gardening is the fact that it happens indoors. As such, planting can be done irrespective of the season and production can take place all year round. Additionally, the plants yield double compared to the soil-based farming thanks to the constant growth cycle.
With increasing concern of the food security around the world, public and private sectors are looking for farming methods that can outperform traditional farming methods. Although water and water-based solutions play an important role in producing better yields, hydroponics systems use less water as its possible to re-use and recycle.
In addition to using less water, the system doesn’t produce run-off which can destroy and degrade the environment. Even better, hydroponic farms don’t require deep wallets for upkeep and maintenance compared to traditional farms. For example, since it’s done in controlled environments susceptibility to soil-borne diseases and pests is limited.
Thanks to the compact spaces, hydroponics gardening is ridiculously cheap in terms of labor as a few individuals can harvest and replant in a snap.
Cons of hydroponic gardening
Although hydroponics farming comes with a bit of disadvantages, the advantages far outweigh the bad side. One of the major letdowns of hydroponic farming is the high initial set-up costs.While most small-scale farmers can buy or build relatively cheap equipment, large-scale farms require specialized equipment that comes with a steep price tag that can run into millions.
The second letdown although not a deal breaker is that the farms require constant monitoring and supervision. These large farms are like toddlers who need pampering in terms of constantly keeping track of the lighting, nutrient solution, and oxygen levels. We have to agree in unison that such a modern farm is prone to unusual factors that aren’t common in traditional farms. For example, a power outage in a single day could lead to untellable losses.
The take home
As it appears, hydroponics has clear advantages and some disadvantages. However, I think that the benefits outweigh the demerits since it is a great alternative for food production in areas with poor soil. It’s also a hallmark of other great characteristics like efficiency, it is less costly, and more economical in space.
About Dan:
Dan Chabert – Dan is an entrepreneur, husband and ultramarathon distance runner. He spends most of his time co-managing home sites like Contractor culture, That Sweet Gift, Borncute, health sites such as Runnerclick, Nicer Shoes and The Gear Hunt. He has also been featured on runner blogs all over the world.
India - June 4-8, Pune: 3rd Greenhouse & Hydroponic Technical Management Course
India - June 4-8, Pune: 3rd Greenhouse & Hydroponic Technical Management Course
Delish Veggies, Graeme Smith Consulting and Future Farms have announced the 3rd Greenhouse and Hydroponic Training Program in Pune, India, after their two training courses in 2017.
The course will again be conducted by two highly experienced Australian industry presenters – Graeme Smith and Rick Donnan. Graeme consults throughout the world, Chairs the ISHS Working Group – Hydroponics and Aquaponics – and is a past Chairman of Protected Cropping Australia. Recent international greenhouse projects include Hyderabad, Abu Dhabi, China and Rajasthan. Rick is the co-principal of Growool Horticultural Systems and is the Q&A columnist for Practical Hydroponics & Greenhouses magazine and provides consultancy services.
Hands-on training at the first training course held in Pune, India
The course assists participants to improve their ability to understand the key principles in a commercial greenhouse and hydroponic production by:
- understanding the principles of controlled production systems
- using correct strategies and technologies to manage greenhouse climates and irrigation
- understanding plant growing requirements and plant production techniques
- developing new strategies for plant protection and integrated pest and disease management
- understanding plant nutrition and fertigation programs
- identifying the risks and opportunities of climate change.
Topics include:
- Media types and characteristics
- Nutrition and nutrient management
- Water quality and treatment
- Environmental management
- Greenhouse business and marketing plan
- Greenhouse design and layout
- Plant structure
- EC and pH
- Plant physiology
- Irrigation management
- Plant health
- Pest and disease control.
The location for the 3rd training course is again Pune, India, to be held from 4-8 June 2018. The course cost is Rs 50,000 excluding 18% GST. Lunch, morning and afternoon tea will be provided throughout the course.
To register your interest, contact the Course Coordinator:
Uday Mathapati on +61 9130098714
or email udaymathapati@gmail.com
or visit www.delishveggies.com for further information.
Publication date: 3/22/2018
Eco-Friendly East Austin Community Turns Homeowners Into Urban Farmers
Eco-Friendly East Austin Community Turns Homeowners Into Urban Farmers
By Promoted Series Correspondent
4.17.18
The revolutionary homes of Whisper Valley are ushering in a new era of eco-smart living, and the amazing features don't stop at the zero-energy capable homes themselves. Besides things like geothermal loop fields and solar PV panels for low-cost, energy-efficient utilities, the East Austin community has its own custom organic farming program called Whisper Lettuce.
Lettuce, an urban farmer, has teamed up with Whisper Valley to manage organic gardens that grow fresh, nutritious, food on-site and deliver it right to residents' doorsteps. Phase I is already producing fruits and vegetables, and additional gardens and orchards will be added in Phase 2, so every neighborhood will have its own gardens.
Here's a look at what else Whisper Lettuce offers:
Eat better, feel better
Convenience is key in today's hectic world, and Whisper Lettuce is helping by offering weekly produce box delivery and on-demand bulk produce delivery. Need a little more help? Sign up for the meal kit deliveries, which come with both omnivore and vegetarian recipes. And don't let those scraps go to waste — take advantage of the composting service, and learn more about the gardens as a whole during the classes and workshops.
Bring the farm home
Already have a green thumb (or want to cultivate one?) Grow your own mini-farm, right in your backyard. Size options range from 40-120 square feet, or have a custom garden designed to fit your preferences.
Subscription options abound
The pricing and service for backyard mini-farms depend on each homeowner's desired level of service and the size of their backyard garden, but there is a farm subscription to suit every resident's needs.
Hands-on farmers can opt for the Urban Farm kit, which includes all seeds, materials, and instructions needed to grow a successful garden without the ongoing help of the Lettuce team. Need a little help from time to time? Go ahead and ask the Lettuce team, which is always willing to offer supervision and guidance.
For those who just want to sit back and watch their garden grow, go with the Complete Care subscription. The Lettuce team will weed, service, and harvest each garden to ensure a bountiful harvest year after year. Produce grown in backyard mini-farms can be kept by the homeowner or returned to the network for "credits" that are good toward subscription prices.
Whisper Valley is a 2,062-acre mixed use development of more than 700 acres of parks, open space, amenities, and residences, with planned retail including farm-to-table restaurants, garden offices, and boutique shopping. It's all located off Texas SH-130 and FM 973, about eight miles east of downtown Austin.
Phase 1 took off in the early fall of 2017, and home sales have exploded (as in, two to three times the per builder sales rate in a normal Austin master-planned community). Developed by Taurus Investment Holdings, Whisper Valley was named the 2017 community of the year by Green Home Builder and was named Best New Community by the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin. It features an impressive Discovery and Community Center with interactive 3-D displays and a tech center to learn about the development.
For more information or to schedule a tour, visit Whisper Valley's website, call 512-710-3799, or email info@whispervalleyaustin.com.
Malaysia Aims To Double Its Urban Farming Communities To 20,000 By 2020
Malaysia Aims To Double Its Urban Farming Communities To 20,000 By 2020
Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek mingles with a trader after launching the ‘Program Sentuhan Kasih Tani-Pertanian Bandar 2.0.’ in Kuala Lumpur. Bernama pic.
By SERI NOR NADIAH KORIS and HIDAYATUL AKMAL AHMAD - April 22, 2018
PUCHONG: The government aims to create 20,000 urban farming communities around the country by the year 2020.
Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said to date there are around 11,000 urban farming communities around the country.
“Urban farming is a government initiative programme to ensure a complete food supply chain and beef up food security in the country,” he said after launching the ‘Program Sentuhan Kasih Tani-Pertanian Bandar 2.0.’
He said the urban farming concept would give good impact to everyone as they get to have continuous supplies for their own basic needs such as chilies, lemon, lemongrass and others.
“From my point of view urban farming can help reduce the cost of living.
“This can happen when the urban communities start to take advantage of small vacant spaces around their homes,” he said at a press conference at Sekolah Menengah Puchong Perdana here today.
“It can be done when people take advantage of small plots of land at their homes.”
Also present at the event was the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) management agency chairman Datuk Dr Satim Diman.
Shabery also urged Mardi to make Puchong as a model for urban farming communities in the country.
Seperately, Ahmad Shabery also expressed his gratitude to be named as the candidate for the Kemaman Parliament seat for the 14th general election (GE-14)
“I believe that this is my responsibility to serve not only my community in Kemaman but also the fishermen and farmers around the country.
He said the decision made by the Umno Supreme Council was based on several considerations and evaluation by the people.
“I believe that the decision is made is due to certain considerations and the people should look at a broader context as this country needs a stable government from a strong party.
Tradepoint Atlantic Welcomes Gotham Greens to Sparrows Point
Tradepoint Atlantic Welcomes Gotham Greens to Sparrows Point
From steel to greens: leading urban agriculture company expands to Baltimore with 100,000-square-foot state-of-the-art greenhouse facility at historic steel mill.
BALTIMORE, MD (May 08, 2018) – Tradepoint Atlantic, a 3,100-acre multimodal global logistics center in Baltimore, Maryland featuring an unmatched combination of access to deepwater berths, railroads, highways and storage space, announced today that Gotham Greens, a rapidly growing agtech startup and leading local produce brand, will open a state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse at the site of the former Bethlehem Steel mill.
Gotham Greens’ expansion to Baltimore represents the third city in its growing network of high-tech urban greenhouses, after New York and Chicago. The initial phase of the new greenhouse facility will occupy over 100,000 square feet in the northern part of Tradepoint Atlantic, and is scheduled to open in early 2019. Gotham Greens’ Baltimore facility will create over 60 full-time jobs and will bring a reliable, year-round, local supply of fresh produce to serve retail, restaurant and foodservice customers throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
The climate-controlled farm will be powered by 100% renewable electricity and recycled irrigation water using proprietary methods that yield more than 30 times that of conventional farms, with higher levels of food safety and environmental sustainability.
"We are thrilled that Tradepoint Atlantic has attracted an innovative and growing company like Gotham Greens to Maryland," said Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. "Their unique approach to urban agriculture, in an area once known for steelmaking and shipbuilding, will be an asset to the community and our state's economy. Tradepoint's prime location provides a competitive advantage for fresh food businesses like Gotham Greens to reach a significant mid-Atlantic customer base. Gotham Greens' locating at Tradepoint is yet another example of how Maryland – and Baltimore – is open for business."
“Gotham Greens’ decision to locate at Tradepoint Atlantic is yet another step forward towards bringing 17,000 quality jobs to eastern Baltimore County,” said Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. “Tradepoint Atlantic continues to establish itself as a major economic force for the region, attracting diverse businesses with their desirable proximity to the mid-Atlantic market.”
Gotham Greens’ flagship greenhouse, built in Brooklyn, NY in 2011, was the first commercial-scale urban greenhouse facility of its kind in the United States. After opening new locations in New York, the company expanded to Chicago in 2015 by building the world’s largest rooftop farm. Spurred on by its industry-leading agtech expertise and the growing demand for local and artisanal food, Gotham Greens has grown from a single urban farm operation into a multi-state greenhouse developer and operator, dedicated to bringing premium-quality produce to communities across the country. At the time of opening for the new Baltimore facility, Gotham Greens will own and operate 500,000 square-feet of technologically advanced greenhouses across eight facilities in five states.
“Baltimore is the ideal home for Gotham Greens’ expansion to the mid-Atlantic region. We’re thrilled to bring our brand of premium-quality, safe and sustainably-grown produce to supermarkets, restaurants and communities throughout the region,” said Viraj Puri, Co-Founder, and CEO of Gotham Greens. “We’re honored and humbled to join the rich heritage of Maryland farmers, growers, and food producers. Urban agriculture, at its core, is about reconnecting with the community through food, jobs, and economic development. To that end, we’ve found a great partner and are proud to be part of the American industrial turnaround story taking place at Tradepoint Atlantic.”
“We are very excited and extremely proud to welcome Gotham Greens to Tradepoint Atlantic,” said Eric Gilbert, Chief Development Officer of Tradepoint Atlantic. “Today marks a true milestone, in the continuing revitalization of Sparrows Point, where a community synonymous with the production of steel will now be home to a leading agriculture tech startup producing locally-grown, premium produce while bringing green jobs to the community. Gotham Greens is another example of the diverse tenant base we are bringing to a site once dominated by a single industrial user. This diverse tenant base will provide stability to a community hard hit by decades of decline in American industry.”
JLL, a professional services, and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate, serves as the exclusive broker for Tradepoint Atlantic.
About Gotham Greens
Gotham Greens is a global pioneer in urban greenhouse agriculture and a leading consumer brand of premium-quality local produce and fresh food products. Gotham Greens’ produce is always locally grown using ecologically sustainable methods in technologically-sophisticated urban greenhouses. The company provides its diverse retail, restaurant, and food service customers with a reliable, year-round supply of fresh produce grown under the highest standards of food safety and environmental sustainability. The company owns and operates over 170,000 square feet of greenhouse across four facilities in New York and Chicago and currently has an additional 500,000 square feet of greenhouse under development in four US states. Gotham Greens employs over 150 full-time team members and was founded in 2009 in Brooklyn, New York. www.gothamgreens.com
About Tradepoint Atlantic
The 3,100-acre multimodal global logistics center in Baltimore, Maryland, offers a gateway to markets around the United States and the world, featuring an unmatched combination of access to deep-water berths, rails and highways. Ground-breaking agreements signed with federal and state environmental regulators in 2014 to remediate the legacy from a century of steel-making, and the financial backing of investment firms Hilco Global and Redwood Capital Investments, as well as the robust support of local and state government, enable the redevelopment of the site through further infrastructure improvements. At full buildout, Tradepoint Atlantic is projected to generate 11,000 permanent jobs, $2.9 billion in annual economic impact, and add a point to Maryland’s gross domestic product as one of North America’s most strategic commercial gateways. www.tradepointatlantic.com
LumiGrow Supplies LED Fixtures to Lettuce Work Foundation Greenhouses
LumiGrow Supplies LED Fixtures to Lettuce Work Foundation Greenhouses
April 20, 2018
By Maury Wright
Editor in Chief, LEDs Magazine
US lettuce grower with a caring social mission has installed LumiGrow SSL enabling full production of leafy greens during cold Ohio winters.
LEDs continue to thrive in horticultural lighting applications as a new lettuce-growing installation attests. LumiGrow has announced that the Lettuce Work Foundation in New Albany, OH has installed Pro 325e fixtures in its lettuce greenhouses that both provide fresh produce to local consumers year-round and aid young adults with autism in entering the workforce. The solid-state lighting (SSL) has enabled better yield during the cold and short days of winter.
Interested in articles & announcements on horticultural lighting?
The Lettuce Work Foundation began commercial growing operations in 2014 with a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) or greenhouse facility. The grower always sought to supply customers, including Kroger and Giant Eagle, with leafy greens for spring salad mixes year-round. But even in the CEA environment, yield suffered in the winter with crop cycles stretching from five weeks to ten, and some weeks transpiring with nothing to harvest.
We will cover CEA, vertical farming, horticultural lighting recipes, and many other topics at our 2018 Horticultural Lighting Conferences. The Horticultural Lighting Conference Europe is slated for May 14–15 in the Netherlands. The Horticultural Lighting Conference US is scheduled for October 9–10 in Portland, OR.
The winter slowdown was doubly troubling for the grower because the business had been created with the goal of providing opportunity to help young adults living with autism. Winter meant less work and fewer opportunities to help the youngsters transition from high school into the workforce. Short days, cloudy skies, and cold, snowy conditions reduced yield and increased mold and mildew in the crop.
Lettuce Work owners Doug and Julie Sharp and greenhouse manager Brent Langenkamp contemplated installation of lighting but found the evaluation of systems and technologies a daunting challenge. But LumiGrow took a proactive role in helping the operation plan an SSL installation, whereas other suppliers had expected the grower to know what they needed and how to install supplemental horticultural lighting.
Indeed, LumiGrow lighting specialist Ashley Veach created a custom plan for Lettuce Work based on the configuration of the operation’s four hydroponic bays. “She helped us figure out how many lights we needed as well as the optimal layout for our custom facility, unlike the other companies that asked us how many units we wanted,” said Doug Sharp.
The results through the first winter of operation with supplemental lighting have exceed the expectations of the Lettuce Work team. “Even though we're only currently using 75% of the space in the greenhouse, we're outperforming last winter,” said Sharp. “This January alone, our revenue was nearly 80% higher than it was that month last year. It's been phenomenal. The color is definitely better, too.”
The Lettuce Work Foundation has installed LumiGrow LED-based horticultural lighting, improving year-round produce yields while providing employment for young adults living with autism.
The results are being felt by the customer as well. Sharp said, “We don’t have to scale back the quantities we deliver in store. We had to ration cases last year. If you skip a store a week or two, you may not get back in there. We haven’t had to deal with that at all. Now, if someone wants extra, we can provide that. It’s really stable. It reduces the risk of us losing a customer because we can provide the same quantities we deliver in the summer.”
Of course, any installation of horticultural lighting comes with both an upfront investment and with the recurring cost of powering the lighting. And with LED-based fixtures, the upfront investment is significantly higher compared to legacy lighting — although the energy efficiency of SSL pays back that upfront premium over time.
Lettuce Work was able to get a state grant to cover part of the purchase of 195 Pro 325e fixtures. Moreover, the Columbus Foundation and Autism Speaks also provided funding to help benefit the student workers.
The choice of LED horticultural lighting proved critical in recurring costs. An electrical contractor had warned the Sharps that electrical costs might reach $1500 per month. But over the initial winter, the bills were typically in the $450 range. And that allowed the greenhouses to be lit for 13-hour growing days.
Of course, there are many methodologies to grow lettuce and other leafy greens indoors. We covered a project from Texas where a grocery store is growing its own greens and herbs just outside the back door using vertical farming in a recycled shipping container. And large-scale vertical farms are filling warehouses with layered crops. The greenhouse approach, however, allows you to turn off the lights in the summer.
Industry experts will deliver more details on horticultural lighting recipe research and system design topics at our upcoming Horticultural Lighting Conferences. To get insight into the content of our conferences, you can peruse the feature articles we published on the presentations at the US conferences in each of the last two years. The 2016 conference featured Robert Colangelo of Green Sense Farms and Cary Mitchell of Purdue University. The 2017 conference featured Steven Newman of Colorado State University and Tessa Pocock of the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Urban Growing Tips
Urban Growing Tips
April 27, 2018
Microgreens have become "the thing" to grow while urban growing. There's a ton of secrets popping up everywhere. It most likely explains the big leap in interest among new growers under age 34. According to the 2016 National Gardening Survey conducted by the Harris Poll, an estimated 6 million Americans started growing last year.
We could classify the people who are under 34 and growing urban areas as Millenials, but that's not the goal of this article. New growers are commencing to grow because they want to see where their food comes from.
We went and spoke to an urban farmer that works with us. Alex told us this, "there was nothing better than harvesting and using items that you produced yourself." We agree too!
Here are some tips that will make your life a lot easier.
While in the stage of germination, extreme heat or cold, often plays a factor in poor germination. It is easy to obtain good germination rates with temperatures ranging from 55 to 75 degrees F.
Due to variation from variety to variety, referring to your seed packet can be helpful, as this information is usually provided for you. If you are encountering any problems with the germination of your seeds, don't be discouraged. One advantage of growing a tray of microgreens, versus a field of lettuce, is your small investment of time, space, and energy. Simply start another tray, change any variables that you suspect are hindering the germination, growth and see what happens.
Furthermore, rot is an issue that tends to happen more often than you think. There are two main reasons why rot can become a problem, The first is that your greens have too much moisture with too little sunlight. In the heat of the summer, we usually water once early in the morning and then again in the evening. This works well when conditions are hot and sunny. However, if a cold front were to move in for a few days, bringing clouds and temperatures in the 60s, watering this same way would quickly result in patches of rot setting into your trays.
With cooler, less sunny conditions, watering once in the morning would suffice. Problems with both over and under watering are your best access to learning what each crop prefers. You have to take time to notice the conditions your greens thrive in and play with the variables, Another possible reason for rot in your trays is quality of water that you are using tap water usually contains chlorine, which microgreens hate. This is easily remedied with most drinking water filters. The pH of your water being excessively high or low is another factor to be aware of.
Nutrients that would normally be accessible to your greens get locked up and become unavailable. There is a bit of a range of pH preference in the common microgreens varieties, but most like a pH of around 6.5. Testing is easy once you acquire the proper equipment. The pH monitors range from liquid solutions to portable digital units. Keeping your pH in check can solve many problems. Not only will you notice stronger growth and increased yields, but most importantly, you will have healthier microgreens that are less susceptible to rot and disease.
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Tags: microgreens vertical farming growing microgreens urban farming
Smithers-Oasis Company Announces Partnership With Agrilyst
Smithers-Oasis Company Announces Partnership With Agrilyst
Smithers-Oasis Company, a worldwide leader in providing solutions throughout the plant and flower supply chain from propagation to consumer, announces its partnership with Agrilyst, leading provider of a software as a service (SaaS) product for greenhouses and vertical farms that allows growers to track crops, labor, inventory and other metrics.
Oasis Grower Solutions products will be included in Agrilyst and offered to growers that subscribe to the software, which helps them manage their crops and provides data-driven insights to make more profitable production decisions.
“With Agrilyst, we bring to the industry an understanding of how to leverage data, making it easier for growers to manage and scale their businesses,” said Allison Kopf, CEO of Agrilyst. “Including Oasis® Grower Solutions products in our platform will enable indoor growers to know when and what to order so they can perform optimally.”
The Agrilyst platform puts the power of precision agriculture in the hands of any grower, no matter what its size. The cloud-based platform leverages knowledge from other growers and offers a mobile app for ease of use. Indoor growers are able to extract data that helps them take control of their operations and improves their supply chain management.
“Using Agrilyst, growers can spend their time and expertise focused on their flowers and vegetables, rather than trying to maintain their supply chain,” said Bill Riffey, general manager, grower operations, Americas, Europe and Africa. “As the industry moves more and more towards indoor growing because of climate changes, it is important for Smithers-Oasis to be involved in the latest technologies that innovative growers are using to help grow their businesses.”
Oasis® Grower Solutions horticulture products provide for the strong, healthy, clean start and post-harvest care and handling of plants and flowers throughout their lifecycle to ensure the best user experience. The entire plant journey includes the breeder, propagator, growers, retailers, distributors and finally, the end consumer.
For more information
Agrilyst
www.agrilyst.com
Smithers-Oasis
www.smithersoasis.com
Publication date: 5/3/2018
Urban Farm Tax Credit Plan Gets Illinois House Approval
Urban Farm Tax Credit Plan Gets Illinois House Approval
By SAM DUNKLAU • APR 30, 2018
City Farm vegetable garden and the Chicago skyline
PIUSH DAHAL VIA FLICKR / HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY-SA/2.0/
The Illinois House has voted to allow tax breaks for those who take vacant land and use it for urban farming. The aim is to give an economic boost to the state’s low-income areas.
The idea comes from state Representative Sonya Harper, a Democrat from Chicago. She explained during the debate that the people she represents on the south and west sides of the city live in food deserts. That means they don’t have easy access to fresh food.
But what those neighborhoods do have is vacant land.
“Now what people are doing is they’re putting that land back to productive use, and actually reviving the local economy and bringing jobs to an area that is depressed and does not have them," she said.
Harper’s bill would allow city governments across the state to offer special incentives like tax abatements and lower utility rates. But there would be limits on the dollar amount of those incentives. Some Republicans say less tax money coming on those properties could result in higher taxes for everyone else.
The Chicago Democrat says the aim is to give people in low income communities a reason to grow their own food and create jobs.
“One of the biggest reasons why we use urban agriculture is to put our vacant land back to productive use, especially in communities that are food insecure or food deserts," she explained. "In those same communities we have tracts and tracts, and even acres, of vacant land that’s just sitting there.”
The bill now moves to the Illinois Senate.
Growing Microgreens At Home
Growing Microgreens At Home
May 1, 2018
Are you interested in growing microgreens at home? I hadn't a garden in ages and I've gotten better at growing since. When I first started I had a fruitful experience learning. I attempted and failed but eventually, it all worked out. A lot of people we're asking me if they could grow indoors without a hydroponic system or vertical farm? The answer is yes.
Microgreens are most commonly harvested from leafy greens such as kale, arugula, beet greens, onions, radish greens, watercress, chard and pak choi and herbs such as cilantro, basil, chervil, parsley, and chives. The taste of microgreens depends on the original vegetable. Microgreens have a very strong and concentrated taste of the original vegetable. This means that cilantro microgreens will still taste of cilantro but in a stronger, more vegetable and condensed format.
Here are some instructions viaFarmingmybackyard
Get a tray or box. Shallow trays are best, but my personal favorite is those clear plastic salad tubs with lids. It’s a little harder to trim, and you may not get ideal airflow, but the lids are nice for keeping the seeds moist while they germinate.
Spread 2 inches of potting soil in your container. Pre-moisten your potting mix and don’t pack it down. Keep the soil nice and fluffy when you add it in.
Sprinkle your seeds over the top of the soil. Don’t worry about spacing! You will be harvesting so soon that a nice little carpet is what you’re going for. You don’t need to put a second layer of soil over the seeds, although some people do. Other people say it decreases germination rate. This is something you may want to test personally and see what works best for you.
Water lightly and cover your container. Covering helps keep in moisture, and the darkness helps the seeds germinate. You can use another tray, a light dishtowel, the lid to a salad box. It’s all good.
Remove cover after the seeds sprout. After a few days, your seeds should have sprouted. Remove the cover and put them near a light source. I don’t have a good south facing windows, so mine go on top of the microwave to take advantage of the under the counter grow lights.
Carefully water your baby plants. The best option is to bottom water, which is setting your tray or box (with drainage holes!) in a sink of water and letting the plants soak it up. If you top water, be careful not to flatten the tiny plants.
Cut your microgreens with scissors. Most are yummiest after they develop their second set of leaves, and are about 2 inches tall. You can let them go longer, especially the larger seeds such as popcorn and pea shoots. Don’t leave your seeds too long or they aren’t as delicious.
Keep the soil moist after harvesting. Sometimes you can get a second crop from seeds that didn’t germinate the first time! Always give it some time and see if you get a round two.
Eat your microgreens! You can eat them on sandwiches, in stir fry, on pizza, in green smoothies, in salads, or as a garnish. They are best fresh, but if you must you can store them in a glass jar in the fridge for a few days.
These are simple and easy instructions. If you have any more questions don't hesitate to reach out.
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Homes Or Gardens? Developers And Urban Farmers Grapple Over Vacant Land
Signs hung up in front of a vacant lot in Weeksville, Brooklyn, in 2014 by members of 596 Acres, an organization that maps vacant lots in New York City and advocates for community stewardship of that land. Murray Spenser Cox
Vacant lots dot lower-income neighborhoods across the country. In many cities, urban growers have planted in those lots, repurposing abandoned city land into gardens with farmers markets and healthy food.
But cities often still register such plots as “vacant,” which allows them to be snatched up by housing developers. In communities where both housing and fresh food are needed, the fight over valuable vacant land is prompting policy reform — and tense collaboration — between developers and gardeners.
“People who live near [vacant lots]should have a say in how they’re developed, and most of the time people want to grow gardens, parks and farms,” says Mara Kravitz, director of 596 Acres, an organization that maps vacant lots in New York City and advocates for community stewardship of that land.
On average, 15 percent of land in most U.S. cities is vacant, according to a study by the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. In New York City alone, there are more than 15,000 parcels of vacant land. In Brownsville, Brooklyn, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, roughly 12 acres of public land are classified as “vacant,” though some of that land has been converted into thriving gardens and farms.
In fact, Brownsville has more than a dozen gardens and farms, the most of any Brooklyn neighborhood. They are an important source of fresh produce for community members. Just 40 percent of Brownsville residents live within walking distance of a supermarket.
But this network of gardens is threatened by housing developers, in part due to a need for affordable housing in the community. A recently completed development plan for Brownsville would add 2,500 affordable units to the neighborhood, built atop dozens of vacant lots, according to the city’s designation. But some of that development would displace gardens — and not all the housing being developed in Brownsville is necessarily affordable.
Take Marcus Garvey Village, a 625-unit, mixed-use housing complex, co-developed by L+M Developers. The developers also bought a few vacant lots in the vicinity several years ago, one of which is currently a 20,000-square-foot farm owned by Project Eats, a nonprofit farming coalition. L+M actually funded the farm, which hosts twice-weekly farmers markets and has its own café.
But now the farm has an expiration date. The developers are expanding Marcus Garvey Village, and by 2019, the crops will be replaced with mixed-use housing, which may cause a rift in the farm-developer relationship and deprive residents of a source of fresh produce.
“Our mission is to bring good, organic food to food desert areas,” says Josh Weisstuch, assistant project manager at L+M, when asked about why the developers agreed to build the temporary farm in the first place. But he adds that “the threat [to gardens]is the constant drive for profit in housing, generally.”
This tension between urban growing and urban growth in Brooklyn exists in other cities, too. Take Chicago, where low-resource communities are sometimes forced to choose between housing and fresh produce. Three years ago, Kofi Ademola and his neighbors in Woodlawn, on Chicago’s south side, turned the vacant lot on their road into a community garden. A developer was “sitting on the land,” as he describes it, but gave them permission to grow. They grew a peach tree, then an apple tree, and then added garden boxes.
But then one day the developers announced they were going to start building, Ademola says, and soon all that remained of the 15-year-old garden was the stump of the former apple true and the uprooted peach tree.
New York City is attempting to rectify the tug of war between affordable housing and healthy food sources. In December, council members passed the city’s first urban agriculture bill, designed to ensure that farmers and gardeners in the community have a say in how community land is used. Before the bill, civil disobedience was the only way local gardeners could make their voices heard. In December 2016, for instance, the Isabahlia Ladies of Elegance Foundation, an urban gardening organization in Brownsville, protested against a developer who sought to buy their garden — a community anchor since the 1990s — for just $4 because the Department of City Planning listed the lot as vacant. The gardeners won the fight, with some support from the city council.
Karen Washington, an urban agriculture activist in the Bronx, is optimistic about the city’s plan. As the former president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition, she spent nearly two decades turning empty lots into community gardens in her borough, with support from local politicians and neighbors.
Washington has witnessed a successful partnership between an urban garden and a developer in her Bronx community. The Kelly Street Garden, in Longwood, is part of the Kelly Street affordable housing development. Both are products of Workforce Housing Group, whose founder, John Crotty, helped add 81 affordable units and also turned a vacant lot into a community garden for the residents.
This story comes to us from the Food & Environment Reporting Network, an independent, nonprofit investigative news organization. Lea Ceasrine is a student at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, studying health and science reporting. She has covered urban farming in Brownsville for BKYLNER.
Urban Agriculture 2018 - 1st International Conference On Urban Agriculture And City Sustainability
Urban Agriculture 2018
1st International Conference On Urban Agriculture And City Sustainability
9 - 11 October, 2018
New Forest, UK
View Call For Papers Introduction and Topics Benefits of AttendingAbstract Submission Registration Publication of Papers Location Travel Venue and Accommodation Additional Information Delegate Comments
Introduction
The aim of the Conference is to review and discuss ways in which urban agriculture can contribute to achieving sustainable cities.
As urban populations continue to increase it is essential to consider ways of reducing their impact in terms of use of natural resources, waste production, and climate change.
The increasing number of people in cities requires new strategies to supply the necessary food with limited provision of land and decreasing resources. This will become more challenging unless innovative solutions for growing and distributing food in urban environments are considered.
The scale of modern food production has created and exacerbated many vulnerabilities and the feeding of cities is now infinitely more complex. As such the food system cannot be considered secure, ethical or sustainable.
In the last few years, there has been a rapid expansion in initiatives and projects exploring innovative methods and processes for sustainable food production. The majority of these projects are focused on providing alternative models that shift the power back from the global food system to communities and farmers improving social cohesion, health, and wellbeing. It is therefore not surprising that more people are looking towards urban farming initiatives as a potential solution.
These initiatives have demonstrated that urban agriculture has the potential to transform our living environment towards ecologically sustainable and healthy cities. Urban agriculture can also contribute to energy, natural resources, land and water savings, ecological diversity and urban management cost reductions.
The impact urban agriculture can have on the shape and form of our cities has never been fully addressed. How cities embed these new approaches and initiatives, as part of new urban developments and a city regeneration strategy is critical.
The Urban Agriculture conference will address these challenges and search for new solutions.
Conference Topics
The following list covers some of the topics to be presented at Urban Agriculture. Papers on other subjects related to the objectives of the conference are also welcome.
Development and Planning
- Urban metabolism
- History of urban agriculture
- Integrated urbanism
- Sustainable land use
- Urban and peri-urban enterprises
- Green infrastructures and sustainable urbanism
- Continuous productive urban landscaping
- City food chains
- Food sovereignty
- Urban distribution and processing systems
- Market gardens
- Sustainable urban drainage
- Water resources and irrigation systems
- Sustainable food systems
- Organic farming
- Food security
Urban Farms
- Patchwork farms
- Pop-up farms
- Roof top farms
- Green roofs
- Vertical greening and farms
- Hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics
- Hydrogardens
- Composting in cities
- Allotment systems
- Permaculture and agricultural forestry
- Urban animal farms and bee-keeping
- Greenhouses
- Food networks
Socio-Economic Aspects
- Community supported agriculture
- Community cohesion and job creation
- Community gardens
- Communities as co-producers
- School and young urban farmers
- Education and training
Innovation and Benefits
- Closed loops systems
- Transport and distribution
- Waste food recovery and recycling
- Renewable energy resources
- Healthy cities
- Care farming
- Ecological water systems
- Biofuel production in cities
- Quality of streets and urban environment
- Reduction of Urban Heat Island
- Farm to fork
- Eco-cities and eco-villaging
- Show cities
- Air pollution reductions
- Organic farming
All Aboard The Urban Farm
The floors are lined with pot plants, tomato vines, and coriander leaves. Hanging baskets swing from the handrails and the driver’s seat is blanketed in a green layer of mint, basil, and thyme. Upstairs, the deck is filled with a fine, ultrasonic mist.
All Aboard The Urban Farm
The Farmbus is no regular red double-decker: inside it’s a top-spec sustainable strawberry factory. Katie Strick hops on
April 19, 2018
Matt Writtle
The floors are lined with pot plants, tomato vines, and coriander leaves. Hanging baskets swing from the handrails and the driver’s seat is blanketed in a green layer of mint, basil, and thyme. Upstairs, the deck is filled with a fine, ultrasonic mist.
This is no ordinary double-decker, though. This is the Farmbus, a new sustainable urban farm for the capital housed inside a converted red London bus. It opened last week at Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant and Castle, and it’ll be open throughout the summer as a pick-your-own farm and plant shop. The first batch of strawberries is expected in the next fortnight.
The Farmbus offers a unique way to grow sustainable produce in the capital and was created in response to Londoners’ pressing environmental and social concerns, says co-founder Sam Cox. Previously an architect, he teamed up with plant scientist Hugo Horlick to create Rootlabs, a company looking at innovative growing systems in urban environments. This is its first project.
The bus may have a retro feel but the concept is hi-tech. The strawberry farm on the top deck uses a technology called aeroponics, a food-growing method that doesn’t require soil. Instead, plants are close-suspended in the air and their roots are exposed to a fine, nutritious mist.
Inside the Farmbus (Matt Writtle)
Not only does this allow Cox and Horlick to grow strawberries much more densely than they could with traditional methods but it’s also low-impact. The whole system runs on just 45 litres of water — 95 per cent of the water used is recirculated back into the system — and low-powered LED lighting keeps resources at a minimum, Cox explains.
“In the UK we import a huge amount of soft fruit and strawberries each year and we’re looking at how we can produce these in a very sustainable way.” Farmbus’s climate-controlled growing house is proof to the public that you can grow “substantial amounts of sustainable produce within a very small footprint,” continues Horlick. They hope to install solar panels on the roof in the coming months to help reduce that footprint further.
Strawberries are not the only fruits of Rootlabs’ endeavors: the Farmbus will also produce herbs for people living nearby and for the restaurants at Mercato Metropolitano, and they’ve recently built a hydroponic hop growing system in partnership with German Kraft, the market’s on-site sustainable brewery. It’s made using recycling beer barrels and the hops will be used to produce beer.
Community is at the project’s core: throughout the summer, Cox and Horlick will deliver a programme of workshops for the public on hydroponic food growing, indoor gardening advice and houseplants. There will also be free workshops for local schools and a monthly plant consultancy where Londoners can come in for advice on growing at home and find out what they might be doing wrong.
Cox hopes the “striking” structure of a red double-decker bus will draw people in. “There’s this fantastic landscape of urban growing in London, so we really wanted to create something engaging for the public.” The classic design also seemed a fitting structure in which to house such an iconic British fruit.
The Farmbus will be parked in Elephant and Castle until the end of summer, after which Cox plans to move it to another London site or even get it moving with a biodiesel engine. “We’re really interested in how we can improve environments through the use of planting, whether that’s for environmental benefits or general health and well-being of our cities and its populations. It’s about resource efficiency and how we can reduce the amount of materials and inputs we have to have.”
All aboard the sustainable food revolution.
More about: | Food | London | Pop Up | Fruit | Vegetables |Shopping
The Rise Of The Agrihood: Farmscape Helps Companies And Communities Grow Their Own
The Rise Of The Agrihood: Farmscape Helps Companies And Communities Grow Their Own
Georgina Wilson-Powell
17 April 2018
Imagine, you come home from work, head out into the garden and pick your salad for supper. Or how about swinging past the neighbourhood urban farm at the weekend and pick some fruit for Sunday lunch.
Farmscape, California’s largest urban farm venture, has been building these kind of options for city-slickers and companies for over 10 years, but recently interest has exploded.
Let’s talk agrihoods.
An agrihood is a farm experience in the middle of a city. Think an urban farm meets a suburban community centre. It’s the new definition of a mixed use development, instead of a shared tennis court, there’s an orchard and growing space.
“In America, when they started building stuff, the standard was to have everybody have a ton of lawn. Everyone has a front and back lawn, despite the fact that doesn’t really work. It works in certain environments; it definitely doesn’t work in California,” explains Lara Hermanson, the Principal at Farmscape.
Farmscape manage over 700 projects across California, of all shapes and sizes
“Then there would be a pool, a health club and a community centre that no one would really use and the homeowners’ association would be paying for that in perpetuity. What we propose is instead of building around that, is build the development around a farm where the residents, when they pay for the landscaping, also get fresh food.”
As we want to reduce our food miles and guarantee quality of our fresh produce, agrihoods have shot up in popularity. In 2014, Farmscape worked on one such project, it now has 10 on the go.
“They’re very easy to get through city councils and there’s a lot of positive feedback from neighbours about them. It looks a lot prettier and more pastoral than big walls and very, almost corporate-looking landscaping. They’re a big hit,” says Hermanson.
This growing boom also coincides with a wider desire to be surrounded by more nature in our cities and a rise in a more plant based diet. An agrihood helps tick all those boxes.
“A lot of work is done for us by the weather, by the soil”
How it works
Farmscape don’t just manage agrihoods for forward thinking tech bros in Silicon Valley.
Their clients range from residential growers looking for help to create a versatile, permaculture inspired back garden or tiny veg beds on rooftop gardens, to restaurant gardens and enormous plots of commercial land – Farmscape installed and now manage an edible garden at the Levi’s Stadium in LA for instance. They advise, build and manage the spaces or help you manage it, so that everyone gets consistent, colourful, Californian food.
They have over 700 projects across California, growing food for Fortune 500 companies, Michelin-starred chefs and World Series champions. Farmscape have it down to a fine art and won’t accept every new location as a potential growing space.
“We say no to as many projects as we say yes to, because we know they won’t be very viable. We don’t want to give somebody a garden where they’re going to have to be constantly fighting nature. For instance, if you have a bunch of 40ft trees encircling your very small backyard, we’re not going to take your project on, because the trees are habitat for birds and wildlife, the tree roots will invade the garden and cast a lot of shade,” says Hermanson.
While keen gardeners are inundated with online information about how and when to grow crops, there’s nothing like having a local expert on hand and Farmscape hold clients’ hands so they become confident in how to grow their own fruit and veg.
Californians love their tomatoes, heritage crops and micro greens says Hermanson
Getting growing
“There’s no better place in the world for growing food," says Hermanson. "There’s a reason Napa and Sonoma are famous food areas and why restaurants in San Francisco are so good. A lot of work is done for us by the weather, by the soil. Our climate is so fantastic."
Farmscape help clients grow salad greens, tomatoes, tiny root crops like radishes and colourful carrots – anything that will grow in small raised bed.
“Everyone’s favourite is tomatoes. Tomatoes are the big year-in, year-out,” says Hermanson.
The service also advises on heritage crops, which have grown in popularity over the last few years. These crops are a little more finicky about where and when they grow so they advise mixing a few heritage crops with more ‘work-horse’ crops.
"Similarly, we have some regular green beans and some heirloom beans, so you get some interesting ones but you’re still going to get enough so you feel like you’ve got your money’s worth," she says.
With a huge rise in plant based eating – another California food trend that’s gone global – Farmscape’s managed plots slot in perfectly for time-poor, health-conscious, eco-aware Californians who want to know their food is local.
“Our ethos is very much wrapped up in plant-based diets and that’s the principle people want to pass onto their children. This sort of backyard growing focuses on seasonal ingredients and helping plant-based diets,” she says.
So time you want to explore the 'hoods of LA or San Francisco, head down to an agri-hood and find the green soul of California.
How You Can Respond to Complex Consumer Demands for Fresh Veggies
How You Can Respond to Complex Consumer Demands for Fresh Veggies
April 8, 2018 | By: Janeen Wright | Email
Consumers want different colors, shapes, and most of all, lots of flavor in their vegetables. Photo credit: PanAmerican Seed
Demand for greenhouse-grown produce is steadily rising, with sales in the U.S. expected to reach more than $4 billion by 2020, according to a report by Rabobank’s Food & Agribusiness Research & Advisory group.
Consumers’ push for new choices will put pressure on breeders and growers in this expanding market. Considering that most consumers often can’t tell one variety from another, the growers who will have a competitive edge will be those who differentiate.
Proximity to retail will give greenhouse growers an advantage as the locally grown movement plays more into this market.
“We have had many requests from new and old growers wanting to put up indoor facilities in their region to capture local vegetable sales,” says Joe Messer, North American Manager for Hem Genetics, which recently jumped into the vegetable arena with its ‘Sweet Valentines’ tomato.
Geography is not the only driver of hyper-localism. It’s also about the farm-to-table freshness consumers value, because they equate it with higher quality. lēf Farms in Loudon, NH, has experienced this with local chefs who want something different to set them apart from the kitchen next door.
“We have had great success with our restaurant pack,” says Sales and Marketing Manager Donald Grandmaison. “The chefs like having unique blends of greens delivered just 24 hours after harvest because they can serve a higher-quality product and reduce food waste.”
Flavor Sells
Pinpointing what consumers value in their fresh produce will be the key to getting noticed in the fresh produce market. Currently, flavor ranks at the top of consumer preferences and has become one of the distinguishing factors that make a superb vegetable variety stand out from bland look-alikes.
It also comes down to growers becoming familiar with regional market differences in their area, including specific trends and tastes, says Arjen de Haan, Technical Manager-Europe for Oasis Grower Solutions, a supplier that develops new products and solutions aimed at hydroponic growers.
“Growers have often catered to a generic market in the past, but those growers scoring better will be the ones that aim toward regional taste and culture,” he says.
Gotham Greens is one of the pioneers in urban agriculture, with greenhouse facilities in New York City and Chicago. It has experienced regional success by supplying highly perishable leafy greens and herbs to urban consumers. The company can differentiate its products from other brands and growers because it can offer a fresher, better-tasting product with greater transparency.
“Locally grown produce offers the additional benefits of greater shelf life, increased sell-through, overall greater customer satisfaction, and decreased food safety risks,” says Viraj Puri, Co-Founder, and CEO of Gotham Greens. “Recent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses like Salmonella and E. coli have only propelled consumers’ demand for greater transparency around how and where their food is produced.”
Yet, it’s still not enough to claim that produce is locally grown. Growers also need to communicate why their growing practices matter in the production of safe food.
“Consumers want transparent labeling and information on the company growing their food and its ethics,” says Sakata’s Product Development and Marketing Manager for Home Garden and Farm Market Vegetables Tracy Lee. “Consumers also want information on the health benefits of fresh produce. This can be a challenge for companies because making health claims is a tricky business.”
Trending Now: Grab-n-Go, Novelty, and Ethnic Veggies
Increased consumer awareness of how their food is grown has also fueled their interest in organically grown vegetables. According to data from the Organic Produce Network, sales of organic fresh produce items reached nearly $5 billion in 2017. Despite organic vegetables’ rise in popularity, organic doesn’t always equate to healthiest, and there is still some confusion about what organic really means.
Equal in value to consumers is uniqueness and convenience. Mini cucumbers, snack peppers, cherry tomatoes, etc., offer easy, grab-and-go options.
“Heirloom vegetables also work well for fresh-produce sales, and ethnic and novelty vegetables are gaining popularity,” says Josh Kirschenbaum, PanAmerican Seed Vegetable Sales Account Manager. “Incorporating different colors, shapes, and flavors into traditional vegetables is becoming more mainstream.”
PanAmerican’s HandPicked Vegetable and Herb Collection is geared especially for those who supply fresh market farms. One convenience product it is currently developing is a seedless sweet pepper. If grown in a greenhouse, isolated from standard peppers, the fruit will be free of seed. This allows consumers to cook the peppers whole without having to worry about removing the seeds.
Sales of fresh, leafy greens have skyrocketed. lēf Farms’ restaurant pack is popular with local chefs who enjoy receiving fresh greens that are delivered just 24 hours after harvest. Photo by lēf Farms.
Greens Are Where It’s At
Consumer demand for leafy greens, such as arugula and romaine lettuce, and micro and baby greens has exploded. Sakata Vegetables is one breeder focusing on the leafy greens and baby greens markets, to find varieties that exhibit superb flavor when grown indoors.
“In addition to flavor, growers want items that will add a percentage of color to their greens, such as red or gold varieties like yellow-stemmed chard. They are also looking to expand into other areas,” Lee says.
Some of these areas include a focus on herbs such as oregano, basil, and rosemary, and hydroponic leafy greens and herbs that are sold with the roots intact.
“By selling greens and herbs this way, growers avoid many of the food safety concerns that occur with cut leaves, and the consumer gets a fresh product that lasts longer than cut products,” Kirschenbaum says.
As growers venture into these new areas and try to make a name for themselves selling greenhouse-grown vegetables for the fresh market, they will need to adopt the more flavorful, distinctive vegetables consumers crave.
Sharing their stories and focusing more on benefit-driven communication will improve their chance for success.
Berries for Fresh Produce Sales
Berries have also become popular products for fresh produce sales. Consumer awareness is increasing about the vague histories of some imported berries as far as pesticide-use and other production and harvesting methods are concerned. This has led to more demand for berries such as greenhouse-grown strawberries raised on benches/gutters in a clean environment because they are more sustainable and labor friendly than field-grown strawberries, according to Adri Gillissen of ABZ Seeds, the company known for the Delizzimo strawberry.
TOPICS: April2018, Edibles, Gotham Greens, Lef Farms, PanAmerican Seed, Sakata, Vegetables
Vermont Tomato Farmer Leads Defense of Organic Principles
Vermont Tomato Farmer Leads Defense of Organic Principles
SARAH PRIESTAP Dave Chapman
The weather forecast in East Thetford on a recent Friday called for snow flurries, but stepping into a greenhouse on Dave Chapman's Long Wind Farm evoked a very different season.
The air was warm and moist, and, as far as the eye could see, robust tomato plants climbed 11-foot guidelines toward the light. Their thick stalks dripped with crimson fruit that exploded summer-sweet and juicy in the mouth.
These are the sort of tomatoes that Vermonters expect to find on a farmers market stand in late July: fully ripe, with delicate skins that break easily to reveal richly hued flesh and rounded flavor. They're nothing like the big, pale, rubber ball-textured slicing tomatoes, or the pints of sweet but characterless grape tomatoes that are shipped these days thousands of miles to supermarkets year-round.
Long Wind Farm sells pints of multicolored, jewel-toned cherry tomatoes whose quirky, artist-designed labels describe them as grown in Vermont and certified organic. A grinning tomato raises its fists proudly over the slogan "Real tomatoes ... with real attitude!"
What the label doesn't currently specify is that Long Wind grows its tomatoes in soil. To Chapman and many organic farmers, that's a given. It's a foundational and non-negotiable principle of organic farming, they believe, that producing healthy food both requires and contributes to a healthy environment achieved by carefully managing the soil.
This is why Chapman believes that produce grown hydroponically — not in soil but in water — should be excluded from organic certification. And he's spent countless hours over the past few years trying to remedy what he and many other organic farmers see as egregious misinterpretation of USDA Organicseal standards. Right now, consumers might find that seal on tomatoes that sit beside Long Wind's in the organic produce section with no disclosure of their hydroponic cultivation.
For farms large and small, the right to use the label "organic" is crucial. In fact, the stakes could not be higher, economically and environmentally.
According to the North American membership-based Organic Trade Association, organic food sales in the United States reached $43 billion in 2016 and claimed more than 5 percent of total food sales. This reflects an 8.4 percent, or $3.3 billion, increase over the previous year, a rate that greatly surpassed the 0.6 percent growth rate in overall food sales.
Whether hydroponics are allowed to carry the organic seal affects the entire market, because they are generally less expensive to produce than their soil-grown equivalents. With organic certification, they are likely to undercut produce like Chapman's on price, leaving consumers with two apparently comparable options at different price points.
The hydroponic issue is at the center of a high-profile debate that has expanded into a full-out battle over the integrity of the National Organic Program, the federal regulatory body that oversees certification standards and their enforcement. Chapman has become a leader in the movement to uphold what he sees as the original intention of organic standards — even if that means creating a new add-on label to help consumers understand what they're buying.
Before organic-certified hydroponics came to his attention, "I wasn't very political," Chapman admitted. As he dug "deeper and deeper," he said, "I realized it was the tip of the iceberg."
It all comes down to consumer transparency, he believes.
In a December 21 Washington Post article headlined "Organic food fraud leads Congress to weigh bill doubling USDA oversight," Chapman was quoted as saying, "There are systemic problems ... This is not just a few bad eggs. Unfortunately, consumers have no idea what they're getting with 'USDA Organic' anymore."
"What they're growing is not more affordable organic," he told Seven Days, referring to hydroponic producers. "It's fraud."
Starting With Soil
Soil at Long Wind Farm SARAH PRIESTAP
Chapman, 65, has been an organic farmer for almost 40 years. He started out with a "classic Vermont mixed vegetable farm," as he described it. Then, in 1990, seeking a viable agricultural business that allowed for more family time, he decided to specialize in soil-grown, organic greenhouse tomatoes.
In one of his East Thetford greenhouses, a bumblebee buzzed through the verdant canopy as he knelt to gather a handful of moist, rich soil. "There are a lot of good things happening here," he said, pointing out wriggling worms, sow bugs and a fine tangle of white roots. "We're trying to feed the life in the soil. The basic principle of organic farming is to feed the soil, not the plant."
Long Wind now produces close to one million pounds of tomatoes annually in two and a half acres of state-of-the-art, soil-floored greenhouse structures. Over the years, Chapman has added more varieties — he's now up to about 10 — and has gradually extended the season longer into winter's dark and cold. This is the first winter he and his 25 employees have produced and sold tomatoes without interruption to restaurants and retailers throughout the Northeast and Pennsylvania.
Chapman is aware that not everyone thinks he should be growing tomatoes year-round in Vermont. He has had his doubts, too, he said, and almost scrapped it all at one point to grow spinach, which requires less energy. But he has worked hard to reduce the operation's environmental footprint, including transitioning to carbon-neutral energy sources. The farmer's current priority is replacing the propane he still uses with air-source heat pumps.
"We would have been a lot further along," he said ruefully, "without all this distraction."
Accidental Activist
The mild-mannered farmer and tai chi instructor seems almost surprised to find himself in the national spotlight.
Chapman cofounded the Keep the Soil in Organic movement in 2013 with fellow organic farmer David Miskell of Charlotte, when it became clear that the USDA was allowing organic certification of hydroponics.
They saw that leniency as a direct contradiction of the text of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, which was championed by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and legislated the establishment of the National Organic Program and the USDA Organic seal. That act specifies that "an organic plan shall contain provisions designed to foster soil fertility."
In 2012, Chapman recalled, he began to notice "a lot of cheap, pretty tomatoes from Mexico in the stores." He learned from research that they were being raised hydroponically: grown in water or, in some cases, in other non-nutritive material such as coconut husk fiber, and receiving all necessary nutrients through a prepared solution. Such produce did not have to be labeled hydroponic, according to U.S. regulations.
Chapman doesn't deny that hydroponic tomatoes have hurt his business in the past — although, he noted, it has since rebounded. He is also careful to state that he is not against hydroponic agriculture in general. "Whether you like hydro or not, it's here," he said. But he believes that, if produce isn't grown in the earth, "it's just not organic. They should come up with their own label for it."
For organic farmers who believe in the broader benefits of a soil-based food system to humans and the Earth, the lower cost of hydroponic produce poses a risk they cannot ignore.
"The worst-case scenario is, we are silent and all of the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, basil and berries will be hydroponic and nobody knows," Chapman said. "In that process, we will lose all the real organic producers, just like what is happening with smaller organic dairies trying to compete with the huge CAFOs [concentrated animal feeding operations]."
And, Chapman concluded, in the end, "Eaters will lose, because they won't have a choice to buy real soil-grown organic."
Starting with a simple petition five years ago, Chapman propelled hundreds of organic farmers, environmentalists and other organic food and agriculture supporters into action. He helped draw demonstrators to rallies in Vermont, California and even Costa Rica, and he led the charge to gather more than 100,000 signatures urging the USDA to "keep the soil in organic."
But the movement suffered a crushing defeat last November in Jacksonville, Fla., at a meeting of the National Organic Standards Board. The 15-member citizen advisory board includes organic farmers, processors, environmentalists and consumer advocates appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to make recommendations to the USDA National Organic Program.
In an eight-to-seven vote, the board declined to make a recommendation to prohibit hydroponic organic certification, effectively supporting the continued certification of both hydroponic and aquaponic farming operations that, according to Chapman and others, had sneaked in under the radar over the years.
Changing Standards
Long Wind Farm tomatoes
SARAH PRIESTAP
Proponents of hydroponics — or, as they prefer to call it, "containerized growing" — hailed the NOSB vote as a victory for increased availability of organic food grown using diverse methods. They point out that hydroponics are grown with only organic inputs, such as pesticides and fertilizers approved by the National Organic Program, sometimes in settings where soil growing might not be an option.
But many in the organic farming community, such as Chapman and his mentor, Eliot Coleman, say this practice misses the point completely. To embrace hydroponics is to define "organic" solely as the absence of synthetic inputs, rather than recognizing the positive contributions that soil-based organic agriculture can make to overall environmental health.
"Fertile soil is the cornerstone of organic farming," declared Coleman, a Maine farmer, writer and organic leader. "It's just ridiculous to say it isn't necessary."
Coleman also pointed out that good soil management has always been specified in the USDA's organic standards. "The thing that has caused all of this is not the USDA standards," he said. "It's that the USDA has decided not to enforce them."
The National Organic Program is not legally bound to act on the recommendations of the NOSB, except for those related to the national list of allowable ingredients in organic food. (Even that requirement was recently thrown into question by a precedent-setting USDA decision to permit carrageenan in organic processed foods despite a previous NOSB vote against it.) Still, for those fighting against organic hydroponic certification, the November vote was devastating.
The bigger picture is troubling, too. A series of Washington Post investigative articles last year made credible allegations regarding noncompliance with certification standards by specific large organic dairy and egg operations. The stories also revealed that some of the organic imports flowing in increasing volume from as far away as China were receiving fraudulent certifications from USDA-accredited bodies.
On top of those broader organic certification enforcement issues, the USDA announced in March that it would withdraw the strengthened organic animal-welfare standards that passed during the Obama administration but had yet to be enforced. The USDA press release on the decision cites the growth of the industry under existing organic livestock and poultry regulations, an "approach that balances consumer expectations with the needs of organic producers and handlers."
One thing many consumers expect is low prices. And hydroponic agriculture can deliver them.
What's Wrong With Hydroponic?
From the perspective of some, nothing. Just ask Dave Hartshorn, who has worked on both sides. For the last 25 years, the Waitsfield farmer has raised vegetables and berries organically on 20 acres at his Hartshorn Organic Farm. He's also in his sixth year as a partner in a half-acre hydroponic farm.
The labels of Green Mountain Harvest Hydroponic's lettuce, basil and other greens clearly state they are grown hydroponically. (The watercress, Hartshorn noted, grows naturally in water.) Hartshorn said he uses many of the same organic-approved production inputs and methods on his hydroponic crops that he does on his soil-based outdoor acreage, but he and his partners have no plans to seek organic certification for the hydroponic products.
"It hasn't been our fight, and we don't want it to be our fight," he said.
Hartshorn's goal as a farmer has always been "to produce a crop people want in the safest possible way." It's getting harder and harder, he said, to farm sustainably outdoors with climate extremes such as more frequent flooding and severe hail, as well as new pests. Last year was his worst year ever farming outdoors, he said, and tighter food-safety and water quality-protection regulations "make it even harder."
"We're hedging our bets," Hartshorn said. He believes hydroponic has real potential, affording protection from climate fluctuation and pests, and promising year-round production that enables him to offer steady, better-paying jobs.
With solar-powered electricity and a biomass heating unit, the hydroponic operation produces 20 times the revenue from one-half acre that his soil-grown organic crops do from 20 acres. Green Mountain Harvest Hydroponic currently supports 10 full-time, year-round employees. Hartshorn and his business partners looked into greenhouse growing in soil, he said, but it just didn't produce the numbers. "We need to make a living farming," he added.
Both ways of farming "have their own merit," Hartshorn said. "I'm proud of my organic produce, and I'm proud of my partnership that produces hydroponics."
As for the organic farmers who would ban hydroponics from organic certification, "I respect those guys. I know how it is," he said. "I hate to see a fight between farmers. We're all trying to do the best we can here in Vermont."
A New Label
Long Wind Farm tomatoes SARAH PRIESTAP
At the end of March, Chapman chaired a two-day meeting at Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee with nearly two dozen organic farmers and others involved in organic agriculture. They had traveled from around the country to hash out standards for a new, independently managed add-on label to the existing USDA Organic certification.
The group has dubbed itself the Real Organic Project, but its label will have a different name, currently under development.
Like the USDA seal, it will be awarded to producers who pass an inspection by a program-accredited, independent certifying organization, such as the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, which is also currently one of about 80 USDA organic certifiers. To qualify, farmers must first be certified USDA Organic.
The additional label will go beyond the hydroponic issue to represent core organic principles that Real Organic Project members believe the federal program has abandoned or ignored. Those principles include committing to growing produce in the ground and giving animals real access to pasture, as well as prohibiting CAFOs.
Iowa crop and dairy farmer Francis Thicke is on the standards board for the new effort. He also recently completed a five-year term as one of the 15 appointed volunteers on the NOSB, where he voted against certifying hydroponics last November. Thicke has been an organic farmer for 30 years, holds a PhD in soil fertility and served as national program leader for soil science for the USDA Extension service.
"To be clear," Thicke told Seven Days, "the Real Organic Project is not about abandoning the National Organic Program. This is an add-on organic certification."
"Much of the NOP certification program is still sound and reliable," he said. "For example, the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances has been carefully vetted by the NOSB over many years."
The new label, Thicke explained, "will cover areas that the NOP has failed to set rigorous standards for, or where it has refused to adequately enforce existing NOP standards."
As a result, he continued, "Consumers have no easy way of knowing if organic tomatoes on the grocery store shelf are hydroponic, or if organic dairy products are from dairy CAFOs. [Our] label will give consumers the option of selecting organic food that has been produced in accord with real organic farming methods."
Chapman and others involved in the Real Organic Project are not without their critics, even within the old guard.
Among them is Grace Gershuny of Barnet, a longtime organic proponent who worked at the USDA on the original standards. Advocating for another set of standards, she said, "is like shooting yourself in the foot."
Gershuny argues that the overall goal should be to encourage production of as much organic food as possible, not to complain about one type of production that only applies to some crops, or worry about a few bad actors who aren't following the rules.
"What we're talking about is a subset of greenhouse production. Soil is important, and it will continue to be important for the vast majority of what is produced organically," Gershuny said, noting that the crops that cover the most acreage, such as wheat, corn and soy, are not suitable for hydroponic cultivation.
"The organic label can't fix all the problems in our food system," Gershuny said. What people really need to do is "fight like hell to change the way farm policy is structured."
Despite the growth in organic food sales, Gershuny pointed out, only about 1 percent of total global agricultural land is devoted to organics.
Part of the pushback is against "corporate large-scale versus righteous small-scale," she believes, "but that horse left the barn a long time ago. We need those [corporate] guys to be organic. We need to convert as many acres of land to organic production as soon as possible. Those farms are still doing better than conventional."
Shotgun Marriage
If organic advocates don't always agree with one another, the relationship between the organic farming movement and the USDA has always been uneasy, too.
Coleman of Maine was among many farmers who felt skeptical about allowing the federal government to define organic farming after passage of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.
"A lot of people were just blown away that the great USDA was paying attention to organic," Coleman said. "But I knew back then that, the minute you define organic in the law, you open it up to people trying to undercut it."
It took more than a decade for the USDA to develop standards and set up a system for enforcing them. The USDA Organic seal set the first consistent national criteria for production and processing of domestic and imported organic foods. Prior to that, states had their own organic programs with different requirements.
The original legislation also called for the creation of the NOSB. Its founding chair was Michael Sligh, a farmer and now director of the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA's sustainable agriculture program, based in Pittsboro, N.C. "We knew we needed to balance authority and share power," he said. "It was a public-private partnership from the beginning, but it was always a shotgun marriage."
Over the years, many of the old organic guard noted that the smaller-scale organic farming voice on the NOSB declined with the growth of organic and the rise of larger producers and processors.
"There's a lot more politics and money involved — all these other forces influencing how people vote," said Enid Wonnacott, executive director of NOFA-VT, where she has worked for 31 years. "Many members have felt powerless. The system kind of lost honor."
In addition, Wonnacott and Sligh said, loss of funding and staff have weakened the National Organic Program itself. "There is definite lack of USDA leadership and oversight and credibility," Sligh said.
"This was happening before Trump," Wonnacott noted, "but it's gotten worse."
Both Sligh and Wonnacott are working with the Real Organic Project, but they each admit to concerns about the delicate navigation of launching a new add-on label.
"If this wasn't the fastest-growing market in agriculture, we wouldn't be here," said Sligh, referring to sales of organic foods. The question is, he added, "how do we grow the market while protecting the integrity?"
Through his rural development job, Sligh works with many farmers around the globe for whom the U.S. is their single largest market. "These coffee farmers and banana farmers, for the first time in their lives, have a good market," he said. "They are still benefiting from organic."
"In a perfect world, we would try to fix the USDA label and not add another label," Sligh said. "I don't want to abandon the vast majority of farmers for whom [the USDA Organic label] is working, or cause harm to the thousands of farmers who are out there following the letter of the law — or further confuse consumers who will just throw their hands up in the air."
Wonnacott agreed that the decision to create an add-on set of standards has not been an easy or simple one. It's been giving her flashbacks to the '90s, when she was involved in helping develop the federal organic standards. "It feels a bit like [the movie] Groundhog Day," she said.
"What we don't want to have happen is two classes of organic farmers," Wonnacott said. "It's hard to create a new label that's better than X without throwing X under the bus."
Standing for Consumers
Compromised as the federal organic label may be, it's still worth defending, in the view of Charlotte Vallaeys, a senior policy analyst for Consumers Union, the advocacy division of Consumer Reports. She appreciates that farmers are standing up for the transparent, meaningful organic program that she believes consumers deserve.
"The Real Organic Project came out of multiple serious problems with the USDA organic program," Vallaeys said. "Those problems shouldn't be ignored. The problem is with the USDA; it's with the big certifiers and producers who are ignoring the standards."
Vallaeys and her colleagues actively work to defend what they believe are strong consumer labels. While the USDA Organic label has "taken hits," Vallaeys conceded, "we as an organization feel that the organic label is still a meaningful label, a very strong one, and that its integrity is worth protecting."
Through its national surveys of consumer behavior, Consumers Union has gained insight into the reasons why people buy organic, Vallaeys said. Along with the main driver of protecting their own and their family's health, more than half of consumers who said they buy organic often or always think about how animals are treated. About half think about the environmental impacts of food production.
"It's a very good label because it has meant so many things," Vallaeys said. "It's not just 'no pesticides, no antibiotics.'"
One result is particularly relevant to the hydroponic debate. The Consumers Union 2018 food-label survey showed that a majority of those who buy organic regularly said they expect organic-labeled food to have been grown in well-managed soil by farmers who protected its health. "And that's because that's in the [organic] standards," Vallaeys said.
For labels to matter, she added, it's critical that they stay consistent over time. They can get stronger — as would have happened if the Obama-era animal-welfare standards had been implemented — but they should never get weaker.
Regarding the proposed add-on label, Vallaeys said it could be beneficial given the issues with the USDA Organic label. There are already many add-on labels such as "certified humane" and "fair trade," she pointed out.
"In an ideal world, you'd be able to say to consumers, 'The absolute gold standard, the one label to look for that just captures everything that's good about how we want food to be produced in this country, is USDA Organic,'" Vallaeys said. "That would be lovely, but that's not happening. So the next best thing is add-on labels."
More Choices
Dave Chapman SARAH PRIESTAP
The past month has been especially busy for Dave Chapman, who really would prefer to get back to growing tomatoes. He estimated that he has spent more than 50 hours a week working on the new standards for the add-on label, as well as talking with the media, sending out detailed updates to his mailing list of several thousand, and flying to Washington, D.C., for congressional meetings as a policy committee member for the Organic Farmers Association. That's a lobbying group sponsored by the Rodale Institute.
"I was up at 3:30 this morning thinking about it all," Chapman said with a weary smile. "But this will pass. We're going to hire an executive director."
The Rodale Institute is also working on its own add-on label, called the Regenerative Organic Certified label, built around standards of soil health, animal welfare and fairness regarding the health and safety of farm workers.
"They're beautiful. They're the North Star," Chapman said of the regenerative standards, "but almost no farmer I know qualifies."
The labor standards, he noted, are very tough to meet, as are tillage requirements for many vegetable farmers.
The standards that the Real Organic Project team is developing, he said, are what the USDA Organic label should be — with stronger animal-welfare requirements and explicit prohibition of hydroponic cultivation. That isn't to say farmers should not aim higher, but it sets a higher floor to start. With the current USDA label, he said, "The floor has dropped so low that it's become subterranean.
"We need a platform everyone can stand on," Chapman continued. "All we're going for is transparency. It's not going to change the world, but at least [our label] will give people the information to make choices."
Fungi Fun: NJ Whole Foods Features An In-Store Mushroom Farm
A new Whole Foods Market store in Bridgewater, New Jersey, is growing oyster mushrooms in a small display farm right in the produce section, according to Supermarket News. The farm will grow about 120 pounds of mushrooms each week.
Fungi Fun: NJ Whole Foods Features An In-Store Mushroom Farm
AUTHOR Cathy Siegner
March 27, 2018
A new Whole Foods Market store in Bridgewater, New Jersey, is growing oyster mushrooms in a small display farm right in the produce section, according to Supermarket News. The farm will grow about 120 pounds of mushrooms each week.
The system is operated by Smallhold, a Brooklyn-based indoor farm that distributes its technology to restaurants. Whole Foods is the company's first retail partner, Supermarket News reported.
The oyster mushrooms are started at nearby farms, including a Smallhold location, and are moved to the lighted store display in the final stages of growth. Shoppers can then choose between yellow, blue and pink oyster mushrooms after they are harvested by a Whole Foods or Smallhold employee.
Whole Foods managers say the mushroom display is a draw for shoppers who know they will get the freshest possible product from the in-store mini farm. And because there's no need to transport the mushrooms, the retailer can offer them at a lower price point and still cover costs.
This unique installation is both educational and practical and also reflects Whole Foods' position as a mission-driven company trying to set standards of excellence for food retailers. The project embraces three of the company's six core values: selling the highest quality natural and organic foods, satisfying and delighting customers, and caring about the community and environment. And because Whole Foods shoppers are already hungry for transparency and locally grown food, this seems like a savvy and low-risk plan for the retailer to play up its strengths in a visually compelling way.
Mushrooms are a good choice for an in-store mini farm because they're a high-margin, high-output crop, Adam DeMartino, co-founder and COO of Smallhold, told Supermarket News. According to The Packer, a record 109 million pounds of certified organic mushrooms were produced in 2016-17, 20% more than the previous season.
While the new Whole Foods outlet in Bridgewater recently opened, it's anyone's guess whether future in-store mini farms will be featured in Whole Foods under Amazon's ownership. Amazon seems more interested in centralizing supply and marketing operations and having some grocery outlets handle non-food items — such as electronics and apparel — to fulfill online orders. Because of these changes, exhibiting in-store produce-growing displays for the satisfaction and delight of customers could end up being a lower priority for Whole Foods going forward. Still, this new tech could help quell shopper concerns that Whole Foods is changing too quickly and losing its identity under its new parent company
The natural and organic grocer isn't the only retailer that's embarked on in-store growing projects. A Hy-Vee store in Iowa produces 15 pounds of lettuce, basil and mint weekly from hydroponic "grow walls" both outside the store and in the produce area. As mainstream consumers become more familiar with, and interested in, vertical farming and hyper-local produce, supermarkets could invest in these systems to capture environmentally conscious shoppers and differentiate from competitors.
Recommended Reading:
- Supermarket NewsNew Whole Foods cultivates mini mushroom farm in produce section
There’s An Urban Farm Hiding In Brookline Village
There’s An Urban Farm Hiding In Brookline Village
By Emma R. Murphy
emurphy@wickedlocal.com
Posted Apr 3, 2018
Unbeknownst to passersby as they make their way down Route 9 by Brookline Village, is that tucked away in one of the tall, grey buildings that line the road are vibrant microgreens, growing in carefully maintained grow tents.
New to Brookline, Legitimate Farms is an all-indoor, all-hydroponic urban farm growing a variety of microgreens, including mustard, daikon and lavender. The duo behind Legitimate Farms, Mike Becker and Skippy – just Skippy – moved into their space at 71 Boylston St. in August, and began harvesting in late January.
Though just a two-man operation, the farm yields an impressive amount of food. With about 80 shelves of microgreens, the farm produces about 40 pounds of food a day, according to Becker.
This is one of the beauties of microgreens, according to Becker. Rather than wait for the greens to mature to vegetables, the microgreens are ready for harvest in just days – 12 to 14 – and the flavor packs a bold punch.
“The flavor of the microgreen is the flavor of the whole plant concentrated in a tiny plant,” Becker said.
The pair also experiments with other plants and hopes to offer sunflower, which they described as “buttery, delicious and a complete protein.”
From hobbyists to professionals
Before launching Legitimate Farms, Becker and Skippy were not professional farmers; horticulture was more of a hobby. However, the urban farming community is a relative open book according to Becker, and the pair found it was quite easy to learn about different techniques and tools for farming microgreens.
At Legitimate Farms, Becker and Skippy continue that mindset. They are just as eager to share their produce as they are their methods – some of which they’ve developed themselves.
When asked how they came up with the name, Legitimate Farms, Becker and Skippy explained that it resulted from having to clarify that the greens growing on their shelves are really food.
“People always ask us if we grow weed and we have to explain that we’re not, so we say we’re a legitimate farm and it just stuck,” Becker said.
Though growing microgreens started as a hobby, it is social consciousness that fuels the mission behind Legitimate Farms.
Where to find their microgreens
The farm does not currently have a retail license, but those interested can buy through Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, for a $30 membership which buys a half pound box of microgreens per week. Legitimate Farms also sells in bulk to restaurants for $10 per pound. Additionally, Becker and Skippy set up a farm stand at their Boylston Street location from time to time, where those interested can buy a small container of greens for $2, and a large container for $8.
Their purpose is to make food accessible to all income levels.
“We want our food to be for all people,” said Becker.
Addressing food insecurity is personal for Becker, who is from the Philippines where access to food is a growing problem. According to Becker, rice, which is a major crop in the Philippines, is not enough to meet the massive population, forcing the country to import rice from China, which has led to quality issues.
It is a problem that has long been on his mind, Becker said.
Armed with the firm belief that healthy, organic food should be cheaper than fast food, Becker and Skippy plan to accept EBT/SNAP cards.
A vision for the future
As Legitimate Farms gets underway, Becker and Skippy envision expanding to other locations like Washington Square and Fenway, so that each location can serve its micro-community within a 1-to-5-mile radius.
Given the abundance of food that their farm yields, and the small space required, Skippy and Becker feel Legitimate Farms could serve as an example for municipalities like Brookline in how to supplement food served at schools and in the community, by setting up similar farms in Town Hall and other buildings.
“I’d like to see one level of the Hancock building be a farm,” Skippy said.
More African Farms Turning To Hydroponics
More African Farms Turning To Hydroponics
As climate change begins to pose new challenges for conventional outdoor food production methods, hydroponic farming is fast gaining popularity in South Africa. Considering the current drought in the Western Cape and other parts of South Africa, you may say it is a forced shift, but it does bode well for the environment and our scarcest resource on planet earth – water.
For anyone who cares about our resources, it’s not difficult to obtain research about the “carbon footprint” of food transportation and the many other ways in which we harm our environment through producing our food. It is clear that we cannot continue on the way we have always produced food.
NFT Hydro, as the manufacturers and suppliers of Hydroponic NFT Systems and equipment, has become a key part of this shift change in South Africa & Africa. We have seen a significant up-take in growing hydroponically from our South African urban farmers, rooftops growers in our cities and commercial farmers searching for alternative methods of farming to meet the demand for higher yield and the consumers’ concern for the environment.
These urban growers and emerging farmers in South Africa are able contribute to food security through the KHULA farmers App (meaning GROW) which allow farmers to list their produce and track real time inventory levels from emerging farmers as well as basic production forecasting. The App also includes a crowd-sourcing marketplace where farmers can satisfy market demand and incoming orders.
That being said, some of our African neighbours have been even quicker on the uptake of Hydroponics than South Africans, the vast majority of whom, not surprisingly, are women.
NFT Hydro export on a regular basis into Africa as well as the rest of the world, attesting to the quality of our products proudly manufactured here in South Africa.
For more information:
Lynn Gunning
NFT Hydro
Tel: +27 (0)83 737 8602
Lynn@nfthydro.co.za
www.nfthydro.co.za
Publication date: 4/4/2018
Motorleaf Uses AI to Predict Crop Yields for Indoor Farmers & Greenhouse Growers
Between unpredictable weather, pests, and degrading soil quality, farming is an extremely difficult way to make a living. Indoor farming, though less weather-dependent, carries its own set of burdens.
Motorleaf Uses AI to Predict Crop Yields for Indoor Farmers & Greenhouse Growers
April 16, 2018
"Republished with permission of The Spoon", Read the original article at The Spoon
Photo: Motorleaf
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Between unpredictable weather, pests, and degrading soil quality, farming is an extremely difficult way to make a living. Indoor farming, though less weather-dependent, carries its own set of burdens.
Montreal-based startup Motorleaf wants to lighten the lift for indoor farmers by improving crop yield predictions and optimizing growing conditions. The company hopes that their software, which CEO and co-founder Ally Monk likens to a “virtual agronomist,” will take the uncertainty out of farming.
To do this, Motorleaf first gathers data on the grow environment through machine vision, agricultural sensors, and historical information. It then applies algorithms and AI to help farmers determine the adjustments they need to make to the indoor grow environment to optimize their crop. Which means farmers can monitor CO2 levels, light spectrum, and other atmospheric conditions remotely through wireless devices or laptops.
Customers can opt to install Motorleaf’s own hardware (a suite of IoT-enabled sensors), though they can also just connect the Motorleaf’s software to the farm’s existing pre-installed hardware to measure and remotely adjust environmental inputs. Its interoperability makes Motorleaf an easy tool for larger greenhouse operations, ones who already have their own monitoring hardware in place, to install. “At the end of the day, we are a software company,” said Monk.
Motorleaf isn’t the only company helping indoor farmers help manage the lifecycle of their crop. In fact, it’s not even the only company which sees itself as a “virtual agronomist.” What sets it apart, however, is its ability to predict crop yield. Monk claims that Motorleaf is the first company to use AI and machine learning to increase the accuracy of yield estimations.
This is a lot more important than an average person (read: the author) might think. Commercial greenhouses pre-sell produce before their harvest based on estimations given by agronomists — though they’re not always accurate. It’s extremely difficult to guarantee the quantity or quality of their crop before it’s harvested, and miscalculations can lead to loss of profits for both the buyer and producer and also generate huge amounts of food waste.
Motorleaf claims that their software can cut yield prediction error by more than half — at least for some crops. Monk explained that each plant needs its own specialized software for yield prediction, likening farming to a recipe. “Maybe they think there’s a right recipe to growing kale; they need this many nutrients, this much light,” he explained. “We very strongly disagree with that. We think that any farming protocol needs to be dynamic, because if something happens in a greenhouse — which happens all the time — why would you stay rigid? You have to adapt.”
So far, their AI has only been proven to work for estimating tomato yield. However, they’re also deploying algorithms for peppers and silently developing technology for five other crops.
Photo: Motorleaf.
I was surprised to learn that indoor farming environments could be so volatile. After all, that’s the whole point of bringing them indoors, right? Apparently, not so. Monk explained that variable factors like sunlight, outside air temperatures, and human error can all affect greenhouse conditions. Even the plants themselves can do unexpected things that can affect their climate change.
Motorleaf got $100,000 Canadian dollars from the FounderFuel accelerator in the summer of 2016, and later that month Motorleaf raised $850,000 (US) for their seed round of funding. The startup is currently working with clients in Canada, USA, South Africa, South America, Mexico, Holland, Poland, New Zealand and the UK, and aims to be in Spain, France and Germany by early 2019.
Monk concluded our call with what he called “a crazy thought,” one he had when he saw celebrity-branded color palettes. “Why can’t I have a Jamie Oliver taste palette? Why can’t I buy a radish that’s the exact kind he likes to cook with?“ he asked. Farmers could use Motorleaf’s software to manipulate crops into having a certain taste and look, one that would be specific to, and branded by, celebrity chefs. Consumers could purchase produce that had the same taste profile as those preferred by their favorite chefs, and even integrate them into those chef’s recipes.
In the age of celebrity-branded meal kits and baking mixes, this idea isn’t too far-fetched. We’ve even seen companies like Bowery use AI to tweak the flavor, taste, and color of fruits and vegetables.
Motorleaf hasn’t started developing any of this technology yet, but Monk used it chiefly as an example to show how AI can open up “a whole slew of possibilities” for farming. He hopes that one of its applications will be to take the unpredictability out of farming, and put the power back in the hands of the growers.