Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Innovation Power of Start-Ups, Research Institutes And SMEs in The Future of Food And Biomass Production
Whether for digitisation in agriculture, urban and marine farming, improved crop efficiency or the production of sustainable protein, start-ups, SMEs, and research institutes play a major role in bringing innovation into the market.
Which technologies are available today and who are the major inventors actively contributing to the development of the nine innovation areas of food industry? At the conference "Revolution in Food and Biomass Production (REFAB)" in Cologne, 1 - 2 October 2018, leading founders and researchers will share their novel products and developments to help shape the future of food production.
The digitisation of the agriculture is one of the promising fields where the number of start-ups increases, blooming with their solutions to support farmers achieving more efficiency and protecting their crops from unexpected climatic conditions. India is a great example of a thriving innovation ecosystem. Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (IN) is a representative of the digital movement in agriculture. They will present the possibilities of these technologies to shape the future of Indian farming at the REFAB conference.
At the same time, European research on robotic solutions for precision farming has advanced remarkably, which will be presented by the Centre for Robotics in Industry and Intelligent Systems (PT) and the Flourish (CH) EU funded project. Meo Carbon Solutions (DE) with ISCC certification system is the first government-approved certification for sustainability and greenhouse gas savings that can be used gobally for all types of biomass and its derivatives.
Worldwide, the interest in the development of microorganisms as biostimulants, biocontrol agents and agricultural probiotics has grown rapidly over the last two decades. Solutions on how to use the potential of microorganisms for biostimulation purposes and their delivery onto the field will be presented by French start-ups BIOVITIS (FR) and Kapsera (FR). Integration of mycorrhizae and nano-biostimulants and challenges and opportunities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi applications will be presented by a well-known research institute TERI-Deakin Nanobiotechnology Centre (IN) and the Austrian start-up Evologic Technologies (AT) accordingly.
Home, urban and vertical farming will play a central role in the future food supply of metropolitan areas. While Farmers Cut (DE) and Click & Grow (EE) provide home gardening solutions with fully automated cultivation methods, SPREAD (JP) contributes to the vertical farming movement in Japan by achieving profitable operation of their large-scale vertical farms. German leading research Institute Fraunhofer Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits- und Energietechnik UMSICHT (DE) will present their findings within the inFARMING® project.
LED lighted greenhouses, desalinization of seawater (in combination with aeroponic, hydroponic and aquaponic systems) as well as solar technologies and closed biomass cycles open up completely new areas for food production under the most extreme conditions. Several companies are already successfully commercializing these systems, such as Teshuva Agricultural Projects (IL), the Sahara Forest Project (NO) and SEKEM Development Foundation (EG), which have exhibited how food can be grown in desert. Going one step further, the European Space Agency (NL) and Wageningen University & Research (NL) will showcase their already successfully tested food production in moon and Mars soil simulant.
Improved plants are of major importance for food security in the future, where climate change will create overall harsher conditions that make it difficult for farmers to protect their crops. What are current developments of global genetically modified (GM) crop cultivation, how can improved photosynthesis result in increased crop yield and how can GM methods be applied to tree breeding and the development of vegetables? Nova-Institut (DE), Wageningen University & Research (NL) and SweTree Technologies (SE) will provide answers to these questions at REFAB conference.
The proteins of the future should have reduced climate impacts. Upscaling of sustainable insects, solar proteins, artificial meat and plant-based proteins will be crucial. A number of exciting products are already on the market and science is preparing us for even more. Success stories will be presented about two different CO2-based foods (Solar Foods (FI) and Kiverdi (US)), the famous plant-based “Impossible Burger” (The Good Food Institute (US), cellular agriculture, including meat from cells (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) and the old, well known source of protein: insects (Ynsect (FR), VITO (BE), KU Leuven (BE), AgriProtein (ZA)).
Organic farming and smallholder production methods will greatly benefit from many of these new developments by increasing efficiency while respecting their original ideals and principles. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps (US), BioInnovate Africa Programme (KE) and Berlin-Institut für Bevölkerung und Entwicklung (DE) will present their experiences and knowledge how smallholders and organic farming can become ready for the future worldwide.
Leaving land-based food production, the ocean has much to offer besides traditional fish farming and, as of today, we only use a fraction of its potential. New concepts of sustainable aquaculture dissolve the borders between land and ocean. Aquaponics Iberia (PT) and Smart Floating Farms (ES) develop concepts for the urban aquaponic systems while the latter integrates these with other technologies, such as hydroponics, aquaculture and solar energy as modular floating platforms for local food production.
Additionally, the potential of microalgae in food and feed is a topic of large discussion and will be elaborated on by the Wageningen University & Research (NL). An example of cultivation and processing of seaweeds (microalgae) up to final fabrication of food products will be presented at REFAB by Seakura (IL).
Last but not least, new biotechnological and chemical processes enable biorefineries to produce proteins, flavours, fibres, chemicals and plastics sustainably and efficiently from various biomass. Biorefineries and biotechnology are the future for the production of these products. At REFAB, applied state-of-the-art technologies are shown by Godavari Biorefineries (IN), using waste streams from sugar and sugar cane, and Phytowelt GreenTechnologies (DE) will present how the production of flavours with biotechnological methods has succeeded.
These and more projects and prominent companies will be presented at the conference “Revolution in Food and Biomass Production (REFAB)”, 1-2 October in Cologne, Germany. Altogether, 56 speakers and exhibitors will show the future of food and biomass production (www.refab.info).
Already 172 participants from 22 countries are registered. Dr. Bronner’s (US) and BIOCOM AG (DE) are bronze sponsors of the conference. The Fachagentur für Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. (DE) supports the event as premium partner.
Revolution In Food And Biomass Production (REFAB) – Solutions And Alternatives To Secure Our Food And Biomass Supply Of The Future!
What high-tech strategies are emerging for big farms and smallholders to sustainably supply a growing world population?
The conference “Revolution in Food and Biomass Production (REFAB)”, October 1 and 2 in Cologne, Germany gives a unique opportunity to meet the pioneers and forerunners of the future of food and biomass production. With the “Future Protein Award“, the conference will also address one of the main global problems: the protein supply security.
3 Keynote Speakers: Conference "Revolution in Food and Biomass Production (REFAB)” (http://www.refab.info), 1-2 October 2018, Cologne Germany
Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Rafaël Schneider - Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (DE)
Thomas Arnold - European Commission, DG RTD (BE)
Michael Carus - nova-Institut (DE)
will give a comprehensive overview of the challenges and the opportunities of the future of food and biomass production at the conference Revolution in Food and Biomass Production (REFAB)” (http://www.refab.info), 1-2 October 2018, Cologne Germany.
10:15 Dr. Rafaël Schneider, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (DE): Food and Nutrition Security: Global Challenge – Site-Specific Solutions
Dr. Rafaël Schneider will elaborate on the social issues of the global nutrition security:
"Food security has long been regarded as a matter of balancing supply with demand. In the past, policies were limited to increasing agricultural production and/or slowing population growth. This perspective has fundamentally changed. Nowadays concepts and policies address four central ingredients, or pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability."
10:40 Thomas Arnold, European Commission, DG RTD (BE): Innovation from Across – can Cross-Pollinating Sectors, Actors and Conversations Unfold Solutions Towards Systemic Change?
Thomas Arnold believes that innovation across sectors and disciplines and communities can unfold solutions towards systemic change in food and biomass production: He will present how 9 innovation areas develop and what potential their interaction holds for us:
"Co-creation and cross-creation in the Anthropocene: Such examples highlight the importance for science, policy and business to move beyond silos. With complexity, uncertainty and unpredictability as the new normal, co-creating and cross-creating solutions on the right side of history may become increasingly important if we want to turn the emerging Anthropocene into a success."
11:05 Michael Carus, nova-Institut GmbH (DE), Sustainability Assessment of New Food and Biomass Technologies
Michael Carus will present more detail on the environmental footprint of food production and the necessity to evaluate new technologies before they disperse in the market:
"Little is known about the sustainability of different foods. This must change in order to reduce the environmental footprint of the food industry. The same is true for new technologies: they promise higher efficiency and lower environmental impact. This must be scientifically tested and proved at an early stage in order to set the right co
Register now for the conference!
Introduction and overview
Thomas Arnold, European Commission, DG RTD (BE)
Michael Carus, nova-Institut (DE)
Precision farming, robotics, drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Dr. Joachim Stiegemann, CLAAS E-Systems (DE)
Tobias Menne, BASF (DE)
Dr. Filipe Neves dos Santos, Centre for Robotics in Industry and Intelligent Systems (CRIIS) (PT)
Dr. Srinivasu Pappula, Tata Consultancy Services (IN)
Prof. Dr. Stefan Pelzer, Evonik Nutrition & Care (DE)
Dr. Anil K Rajvanshi, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) (IN)
Dr. Marcus Remmers, DSM (NL)
Inkyu Sa, Flourish (CH)
Dr. Norbert Schmitz, Meo Carbon Solutions (DE)
Egbert Schroeer, Microsoft (US)
Biostimulants – nitrogen fixation, mycorrhiza, bio pesticides
Dr. Alok Adholeya, TERI-Deakin Nanobiotechnology Centre (IN)
Dr. Antoine Drevelle, Kapsera (FR)
Dr. Jonathan Gerbore, BIOVITIS (FR)
Dr. Wieland Reichelt, Evologic Technologies (AT)
Alternative protein sources – insects, bacteria, artificial meat and CO2utilization
Matt Ball, The Good Food Institute (US)
Leen Bastiaens, Vlemish Institute for Technological Research - VITO (BE)
Prof. Dr. Ir. Leen Van Campenhout, KU Leuven (BE)
David Wilco Drew, AgriProtein (ZA)
Lisa Dyson, Kiverdi (US)
Dr. Heiko Rischer, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (FI)
Hella Tokos, Ynsect (FR)
Pasi Vainikka, Solar Foods (FI)
Future of organic and smallholder farming
Julius Ecuru, BioInnovate Africa Programme (KE)
Rajnish Gupta, Tansa (ID/IN)
Björn Lagerman, FriBi Holding (SE)
Dr. Gero Leson, Dr. Bronner's (USA)
Biorefineries and Biotechnology
Bente Nersten, Borregaard (NO)
Samir Somaiya, Godavari Biorefineries (IN)
Elisabeth Stanger, Lenzing (AT)
Dr. Peter Welters, Phytowelt GreenTechnologies (DE)
Agriculture under extreme conditions (desert, ice, outer space) and in combination with solar energy
Joakim Hauge, The Sahara Forest Project (NO)
Christophe Lasseur, European Space Agency (NL)
Avner Shohet, Teshuva Agricultural Projects (TAP) (IL)
Max Trommsdorff, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (DE)
Dr. Mohamed Ahmed Wageih, SEKEM Development Foundation (EG)
Dr. Wieger Wamelink (co-author Joep Frissel), Wageningen University & Research (NL)
Improved plant varieties for the future
Niels de Beus, nova-Institut (DE)
Jeremy Harbinson, Wageningen University & Research (NL)
Magnus Hertzberg, SweTree Technologies (SE)
Dr. Venkata Kishore, Bayer (NL)
Dr. Pia Skoczinski, nova-Institut (DE)
Home, urban and vertical farming
Timo Bongartz, OSRAM (DE)
Volkmar Keuter, Fraunhofer Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits- und Energietechnik UMSICHT (DE)
Mark Korzilius, Farmers Cut (DE)
Matthias Lepp, Click and Grow (EE)
Hiroumi Takahara, SPREAD (JP)
Martin Veenstra, Certhon (NL)
10 reasons to join the conference “Revolution in Food and Biomass Production”, 1-2 October 2018
Maritim Hotel Cologne, Germany, www.refab.info
++ Precision Farming ++ Biostimulants - agricultural probiotics ++ Urban and vertical farming ++ Agriculture under extreme conditions ++ Improved plant varieties ++ Alternative protein sources ++ Organic and small holder farming ++ Mariculture or marine farming ++ Biorefineries and Biotechnology ++
Meet at the conference: ++ AlgaePARC/Wageningen University (WUR) ++ Aquaponics Iberia ++ Association for Vertical Farming ++ BaFa Neu ++ Bayer ++ Bergischer Abfallwirtschaftsverband ++ BIO - Biotechnology Industry Organization ++ Bioeconomy Science Center c/o Forschungszentrum Jülich ++ BioInnovate Africa Programme ++ Biolchim SpA ++ BioPark Regensburg ++ BioSolar Cells ++ Biovitis ++ Boerenbond & Landelijke Gilden ++ Borregaard Lignotech ++ CLAAS E-Systems ++ C.A.R.M.E.N. ++ Cargill ++ Certhon ++ CLIB2021 ++ Click and Grow ++ Dr. Bronner’s Europe ++ Dr. Gupta Verlag ++ EABA - European Algae Biomass Association ++ EIT Food CLC Central ++ European Commission DG for Research & Innovation ++ European Space Agency ++ EuropaBio - The European Association for Bioindustries ++ European Biostimulant Industry Council (EBIC) ++ European Professional Beekeepers Association (e.p.b.a.) ++ Evologic Technologies ++ Evonik Nutrition & Care ++ Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe (FNR) ++ Farmers Cut GmbH ++ Finanzen Verlag ++ Flourish - Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems ++ Forschungszentrum Jülich ++ Fraunhofer Institut ++ Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE ++ FriBi Holding ++ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) ++ Godavari Biorefineries Ltd. ++ Hempro International ++ IAR Association Industries & Agro-Ressources Cluster ++ InfraServ Knapsack KG ++ Innovation Norway ++ Insec Tec ++ K.J. Somaiya Institute of Applied Agricultural Research ++ Kapsera ++ Kiverdi ++ Klasmann-Deilmann ++ KU Leuven ++ Lenzing ++ LIBERTAS - Europaeisches Institut ++ LooBio Media ++ Maschinenfabrik Reinartz ++ Meo Carbon Solutions ++ Microsoft ++ Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) ++ NMI - Natural and Medical Institut, University of Tübingen ++ Osram ++ Phytowelt GreenTechnologies ++ Pilot Pflanzenöltechnologie Magdeburg ++ Priva Horticulture BV ++ RIA NOVOSTI Deutschland ++ Royal DSM NV ++ Schweizer Agrarmedien AG ++ Seakura ++ SESVANDERHAVE nv ++ Smart Floating Farms ++ Soil & More Impacts ++ Solar Foods ++ SPREAD ++ SWARM Nutrition ++ SweTree Technologies ++ Tansa - Farmer of the Future ++ Tata Consultancy Services ++ Technologie- und Förderzentrum (TFZ) ++ TERI Deakin Nabiotechn. Centre ++ Teshuva Agricultural Projects ++ The Good Food Institute ++ The Sahara Forest Project ++ thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions ++ Toulouse White Biotechnology ++ TU Dresden ++ University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern ++ Universität Kassel – CESR ++ VITO ++ VTT ++ Ynsect ++ Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW
Special summer price until the 7th of September: 2 day ticket for only 600€ incl. Gala Dinner, for participants from developing countries and students: 520€ incl. Gala Dinner
70 % of the participants are from the industry
Already 145 participants from 20 countries registered - 400 are expected
Face-to-Face meetings through the online match-making tool
9 innovative pillars of Food and Biomass production in one conference programme creates business synergies
Exhibition with already 15 exhibitors
Cast your vote for the new “Future Protein Award” and enjoy the award ceremony at an atmospheric gala dinner in front of the impressing backdrop of the Rhine and the Cologne Cathedral
54 top presentations
Media partnerships with already 15 established trade journals and research magazines
Register now here www.refab.info/registration!
See you at Maritim Hotel in Cologne.
Join the revolution, visit the conference, meet the leading entrepreneurs of the new industry!
See you in Cologne.
Kind regards,
Michael Carus
CEO nova-Institute
AUTOMATION
AUTOMATION
AeroFarms
Green Automation Americas LLC Expands Markets in North America
The company claims its hydroponic systems use little water and create large yields.
Wellington, Florida – The average American consumes 27.2 lbs. of leafy greens per year – a staggering number when you multiply that figure with the latest US census figures. The Green Automation hydroponic greenhouse systems were developed over ten years ago in Helsinki, Finland and are now producing fresh, pesticide-free leafy greens and herbs here in North America.
“With feet on the ground now, here in the U.S. where more than ever the end customer seeks nutritious, locally-produced fresh food, the timing is perfect. Consumers are more exacting about consuming food that is produced naturally, without pesticides and on a year-round basis. Our fully automated and inclusive seed-to-harvest system not only uses 95 percent less water than traditional field farming but can achieve tremendous product yield for a fraction of the labor costs,” says Tero Rapila, co-Founder and CEO of Green Automation Export in Finland.
Over 70 percent of the lettuce sold in the U.S. grows in California, an area of the country plagued with water-shortage issues. With traditional farming methods, over 15 gallons of water is required to grow one pound of lettuce. The labor force required to harvest, package and ship lettuce throughout the country has become more and more cost prohibitive. The Green Automation system tackles all these issues, and provides an extremely efficient and profitable solution for the investor and greenhouse growers.
Green Automation systems are up and running in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Illinois. The size of these vary from 1-3 acres, producing more than one ton lettuce per acre each day and can provide the local grocery stores with fresh lettuce within twelve hours of harvest.
Sarbanes Announces Federal Grant to Support Maryland Urban Farming and Environmental Education Program
Representing The 3rd District of Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes
Funding Will Help Local Nonprofit Provide Hands-On Urban Farming Classes and Environmental Learning Experiences for Maryland Students
September 18, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) today announced that ECO City Farms, a local urban farming and education nonprofit, will receive $97,844 in federal grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide Maryland students with immersive urban farming classes and hands-on environmental learning experiences.
Funding comes from the EPA’s Environmental Education Program, which offers grantmaking opportunities to education programs that promote environmental stewardship and outdoor learning. The grant will support ECO’s “Growing Young Stewards Through Urban Farming,” a program that educates Maryland students about sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation, and encourages youth to play a larger role in protecting local ecosystems.
“This new federal grant will allow ECO City Farms to provide more Maryland students with hands-on urban farming and sustainability education and better connect them to our natural world,” said Congressman Sarbanes, a longstanding environmental education advocate who authored the No Child Left Inside Act. “By providing our students with access to outdoor learning experiences, we can instill them with environmental values and inspire a lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship.”
To learn more about ECO City Farms, visit: http://www.ecoffshoots.org/about-us/
For more information about the EPA’s Environmental Education Program, visit: https://www.epa.gov/education/environmental-education-ee-grants.
Second Greenhouse Heated By Cryptocurrency Mining
Miami-based United American Corp announces the completion of its second BlockchainDome and the full commissioning of 1,500 additional miners for a total of 2,500 miners (3.8 megawatts) now in service in two BlockchainDomes. Pre-installation of 1.5 megawatts of electrical service for adjacent greenhouses heated by the BlockchainDomes is now also complete.
The latest BlockchainDome incorporates a number of improvements in construction and deployment from the first dome which includes mass pre-fabrication of a number of dome components and in-house CNC manufacturing of the mining rig docking stations. Construction logistics have also been refined to include pre-installation of foundations and utilities for future domes resulting in overall lower construction costs and shorter construction timelines.
"We have taken everything we have learned from the construction of the first BlockchainDome and used this knowledge to make the implementation of this subsequent BlockchainDomes faster, cheaper and of better quality," stated UnitedCorp CEO Benoit Laliberte. "Along with the generation of heat from the BlockchainDomes for agricultural purposes, our goal remains to be the low cost and environmentally sustainable standard for the industry."
UnitedCorp's technology uses the heat from cryptocurrency mining to support greenhouse agricultural operations through the BlockchainDome Heat Station system which keeps greenhouses at 20oC year-round. This represents a simple design solution compared to various alternatives whereby the cost of generating this heat from a single source is shared between multiple use cases.
Commercial greenhouses in cooler climates like in the Province of Quebec typically require a significant amount of thermal energy to supplement daytime solar energy, particularly during the period of September to May, and many older greenhouses utilize inefficient heating systems for this purpose. The dry heat produced by the BlockchainDome Heat Station is also used in the summer to reduce greenhouse mold and fungus caused by condensation thereby reducing or eliminating the need for chemicals to treat this problem and creating a more organic growth environment.
UnitedCorp believes this "Heat Campus" approach for heat generation and utilization is the future for agriculture and any other industry that can make use of low-cost heat with the ultimate goal being to get as close zero waste as possible. This is not only good economically but allows businesses to "green" their operations by significantly reducing the amount of electricity the combined operations require from the grid.
For more information:
UnitedCorp
5201 Blue Lagoon Drive, 8th floor,
Miami FL 33126
www.unitedcorp.com
Publication date : 9/25/2018
KSU Farm To Install Growing System, Expand Crop Production
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil and exposing the roots to a mineral nutrient solution. Amhydro, the company installing the new system at KSU, referred to hydroponics as “the future of food” on their website.
SEPTEMBER 24TH, 2018 CAMAYAK
In an effort to increase crop sustainability, KSU will be implementing a hydroponic system on its Hickory Grove Farm. Photo credit: Andres Lopez
Kennesaw State is currently installing a new hydroponic growing system on its Hickory Grove Farm to increase crop production sustainably.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil and exposing the roots to a mineral nutrient solution. Amhydro, the company installing the new system at KSU, referred to hydroponics as “the future of food” on their website.
Hickory Grove farm, managed by the School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality, produces over 20,000 pounds of produce that are used at KSU’s two dining halls, Stinger’s and The Commons, according to KSU’s website.
“The farm wanted to branch out to provide a wider variety of leaf crops,” said Amhydro Vice President Joe Swartz. “The culinary school and dining commons were more in the need for lettuce and greens, so the director chose to install a Nutrient Film Technique leaf crop system to provide a practical educational curriculum as well as food for the school system.”
The construction of the new Amhydro NFT leaf crop growing system began on Thursday, Sept. 13.
“It is a closed loop, recirculating system so that all water and nutrients that are supplied to the plants is captured and recirculated so that nothing is wasted,” Swartz said.
Nutrient-rich water continuously flows down the channels, past exposed plant roots. Any unused solution is captured at the end of each channel, funneled back to a reservoir and automatically remixed for nutrient balance and recirculated with the help of a pump, Swartz said.
This system will allow the farm to grow a wider variety of pesticide-free crops such as lettuce, basil, mint, cilantro, kale, chard, chives, arugula and more, Swartz said. The NFT system will also allow crops to grow at a steady and consistent quantity all year round.
“In traditional field agriculture, the entire crop matures and is harvested in a very short period of time known as harvest season,” Swartz said. “Hydroponic production allows the grower to schedule out a weekly amount of production so that the crops available are consistent from week to week.”
Compared to soil-based farming, hydroponics produces predictable quantities and quality for higher crop yields and profits, produces ten times the crops per area, reduces pathogen risks by growing crops without pesticides or manure and reduces transportation costs by growing in or near urban centers, according to Amhydro.
Heavy use of pesticides has been reported to cause several adverse health effects ranging from mild allergies to cancer depending on the extent and duration of exposure,according to a research study done in 2017 by the International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Biotechnology.
When farming with soil globally, portions of the nitrogen-filled fertilizers, along with eroded sediments, inevitably wash into waterways such as rivers, lakes and the ocean where it causes “dead zones” from eutrophication, according to Livestrong.
This is a process whereby nitrogen feeds an algal bloom, but when the short-lived algae die, decomposing bacteria then consume most of the available oxygen, suffocating aquatic life, according to Livestrong.
Additionally, Livestrong states that use of artificial fertilizers in place of animal or “green” manure can eventually deplete soils of organic matter, making them lose their ability to hold water and more subject to erosion.
“Hydroponic systems use approximately 90 percent less water than conventional agriculture so that it places much less stress on the environment,” Swartz said. “This type of system also supplies all water, nutritional and environmental conditions conducive to year-round crop growth. This means that you can locate farm production in areas such as cities that were not traditionally suitable for farming.”
Swartz said they plan to have the NFT system ready for planting in the next few weeks.
Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms Is Using Hydroponic Technology To Transform Agricultural Practices In Nigeria
Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms has harvested its first set of tomato produce which was planted using hydroponic technology. Not only is this technology well positioned to revolutionize Nigeria’s tomato industry, it could also contribute to the overall growth of the agricultural sector.
Owned by Captain Idahosa Okunbor, it is located on 27 hectares of land in Benin, Edo state. It also consists of 28 hydroponic greenhouses which are 5,440 square metres each, making it the largest of its kind in West Africa.
Hydroponic technology is a method of growing plants in a controlled environment using mineral nutrients in the water. This method of farming doesn’t require soil or direct rainfall. The technology is created using different systems involving irrigation, fertilisation and pest control, to obtain an increase in a plant’s growth and nutrients, as compared with traditional open field methods.
In a speech during the harvesting ceremony, Chief Executive of Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms, Captain Idahosa Okunbor said the company’s target is to meet up local demand and export of tomatoes by producing an estimated 4,200 tonnes valued to generate $6 million yearly.
“The Nigerian economy has grown three times its size and the agricultural sector has contributed 27 percent of this expansion. However, the agricultural sector accounts for only 9 percent of exports while crude oil accounts for over 70 percent. It is estimated that Nigeria imports $360 million worth of tomatoes annually, this first Wells Hosa Greenhouse project is not even scratching the surface, we still have a lot of work to do around the country to ensure self-sufficiency and import substitution whilst generating our own dollar inflows through exports,” he said.
This project is set to create direct employment for about 500 people and another 2,000 people indirectly. Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms also has plans of replicating this scalable and modular means of farming in other parts of the country to engage in the production of various types of vegetables.
With this technology, farmers will no longer go through any soil setup or testing troubles. No mulching, tilling, changing of soil or weeding is required. Plants can grow anywhere and it uses about 20 times less water than soil-based farming. It requires the use of 20 percent less space for growing and the farmers can have complete control over nutrient balance by using Dyna-Gro Nutrition Solutions.
The system of water is such that it can be reused to enable farmers to conserve water. The farmers need not worry about using pesticides because the environment is sterile and controlled. Harvesting will also be a lot easier and the farmer can grow crops all year round if indoors.
Growing Mixed Greens At The Largest Aquaponics Facility In The World
Superior Fresh in Hixton, Wisconsin, produces 1.8 million pounds of lettuce and leafy greens — and 40,000 pounds of fish — within 123,000 square feet of production space.
Treena Hein
Very unique greens are growing right now in a greenhouse in Hixton, Wisconsin.
An aerial shot of Superior Fresh in Hixton, WisconsinPhoto courtesy of Superior Fresh
These greens are distinctive in several ways — first and foremost, they float on a rather large water tank of 850,000 gallons. Indeed, they are located at what the company says is the largest aquaponics facility in the world and utilize salmon waste in their growth. They are also certified organic.
Superior Fresh has been growing various greens and Atlantic salmon since 2017 with an eventual projected greenhouse harvest of 1.8 million pounds and fish harvest of 40,000 pounds per year. The greenhouse is quite large (123,000 square feet with more than 1,100 LED lights) and employs 40 people, including the adjacent packaging facility.
Baby romaine, spring mix, head lettuce, red leaf lettuce, swiss chard, bibb and green romaine are currently being marketed by Superior Fresh to various retailers, schools, hospitals and restaurants between Minneapolis and Chicago. “Our goal is to keep everything within 400 miles of our farm so that our customers get the freshest product possible,” says chief operating officer Brandon Gottsacker. “We currently package both washed and raw product in plastic clamshells, bags and wholesale cases.”
Superior Fresh has 123,000 square feet of greenhouse space, outfitted with more than 1,100 LED lights.Photo courtesy of Superior Fresh
Semi-decoupled system
Some aquaponics systems have a setup wherein the plants grow in floating beds right in the fish tanks, but Superior Fresh uses what it calls a semi-decoupled system. The system has interconnected but separate greenhouse and aquaculture operations, with the same water usually flowing through both, then cleaned and recirculated. Gottsacker says there are several benefits to this system. “It allows us to have a large-scale, high-production environment for completely different organisms, fish and plants,” he says. “In addition, water parameters ranging from temperature to nitrates and micronutrients are measured and adjusted as needed, but in our setup, we have the option to completely decouple the systems. That is, we can circulate the water continuously or control the greenhouse environment independently from the fish system but still utilize all the available nutrients from fish waste.” The plants are grown in standard floating foam boards, which Gottsacker and his team are optimistic will last for years.
Article Continues After Advertisement
Superior Fresh head grower Adam Shinners says running an aquaponics greenhouse in Wisconsin had initial challenges with fine-tuning the nutrients, handling pest and disease pressure and also managing light, but at this point, he and his team have had many months to optimize processes. The goal, as it is in any greenhouse, is to achieve a consistent environment to ensure consistent product, but it’s obviously more complex due to the fish factor. Shinners had had to ensure that the nutrient mass balance between fish waste load and plant uptake is accurate, consult with pest and diseases experts to ensure good management practices minimize risk, and work closely with Superior Fresh’s LED supplier to help understand the best lighting strategy, “with plant yield, energy consumption and plant morphology in mind.”
The pests that Superior Fresh greens have had to contend with include mites, thrips and aphids, all of which must be controlled using beneficial insects in order to maintain organic product certification. “We are currently using Swirski mites and Chrysopa as our beneficial insect of choice to control for thrips and aphids,” Shinners says. “
This practice is seasonal and pressure-dependent. When the pressure is low to undetectable during the winter months, the usage is discontinued. When pressure increases during the summer months, using these beneficials seems to control the population of these pests very well.” With all that water in the greenhouse, mildew is another challenge, but it’s being addressed well with precise humidity control and the use of preventative biological fungicides. These are sprayed through an atomizer, Shinners explains, ensuring good leaf coverage while using a minimal amount of product.
Lettuce and leafy greens grown at Superior Fresh include baby romaine, spring mix, head lettuce, red leaf lettuce, swiss chard, bibb and green romaine.Photo courtesy of Superior Fresh
Production challenges
At the same time Superior Fresh has handled the basics of greenhouse production, the greenhouse team is also working to ensure the right varieties are grown at the right times of year to maximize quality and yield. “We have been testing varieties for over a year now, so we are slowly collecting data as to which varieties we should grow at certain times,” Shinners says. “We offset the natural decrease in biomass during the winter by injecting carbon dioxide into the air and extending the photoperiod to 20 hours using our LEDs.” The LED spectrum provided is suited for greens production: blue and red wavelengths, at a rate of 12 to 14 mols, depending on how much sunlight is available on a given day.
Water for the greens is drawn from two wells on the property, flowing first to the fish and then to the greens, with 99 percent recirculation. The remaining 1 percent is removed along with fish waste and used to irrigate alfalfa fields onsite. All fish processing waste and greenhouse waste is also composted onsite and applied to these same fields.
An ozone system is used to treat the water, but only unwanted bacteria are targeted. “Beneficial bacteria are a very important piece of the puzzle when integrating fish and plants and we do not want to kill them,” Gottsacker explains. “The ozone helps flocculate the solids, which helps keep the water free of unwanted or unnecessary bacteria.”
The nutrient level from the fish waste is very consistent and now displaces about half the fertilizer that would otherwise be required on an ongoing basis. Initially, however, Shinners says the fish waste was not high enough in macronutrients to meet the demands of the greens. This has changed as the fish matured and feeding rates have increased, and some micronutrients are added into the greenhouse fertigation system.
Superior Fresh packages washed and raw product in plastic clamshells (pictured), bags and wholesale cases.Photo courtesy of Superior Fresh
In terms of other hurdles, Gottsacker says one of the biggest has been, “trying to get buyers and/or distributers to understand what we are offering. … Many buyers have a difficult time changing their conventional ways.
All of our customers have been incredibly responsive to this futuristic style of growing and truly enjoy coming to see the farm and all the foods that we are producing. The hardest part is getting the attention of buyers and getting them to make a change as well.” He adds that because salmon are a coldwater fish species that require very good water quality, keeping that in check “requires constant monitoring and is incredibly challenging.”
Gottsacker gives huge credit to the staff. “Everyone here puts in farmer’s hours when needed no matter what day of the year it is,” he says. People with farming mentality were hard to find, but today we have a great group of people onsite every day that do a great job keeping our fish and plants thriving.”
He adds that if Superior Fresh only focused on a few varieties of lettuces, it could hit its goal of 1.8 million pounds a year very quickly. However, Gottsacker explains that “we as a team have the vision to grow what people want. … This vision comes with some production volume sacrifices but shows our customers that we can grow them what they want.” He notes that standalone aquaculture systems, especially for salmonids, take two or more years to see any cashflow, but by farming both fish and plants, Superior Fresh was “able to alleviate the long lead time to positive cashflow with produce sales early on in the development of the business.”
Looking forward, Gottsacker says that “as people begin to recognize the positive benefits that comes along with growing food the way we do, they become life-long customers.”
Treena is an Ontario-based national and international award-winning writer who focuses on science, technology and industry issues.
"Greening" The Green Monster: Fenway Park Farms
The Boston Red Sox, Recover Green Roofs, and Green City Growers took “going green” to a whole new level
Image Credit: Green City Growers/https://greencitygrowers.com/fenway-farms/fenway-farms-faq/
The Boston Red Sox, Recover Green Roofs, and Green City Growers took “going green” to a whole new level when they transformed Fenway Park (the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball history) into prime real estate for urban farming.
Fenway Farms, the result of their successful collaboration, serves as a benchmark for large-scale urban farming operations. The rooftop garden project started as an initiative sponsored by the Boston Red Sox, who felt compelled to give back to fans and members of the local community in the greenest way imaginable. By turning the rooftop of the Green Monster, a beloved section of the ballpark's seating area, into an urban farm, the team was able to repurpose an underutilized space into a creative way to give back to their community.
Fenway Farms is situated atop a 5,000 square foot roof right above the Red Sox front offices. Completed within a month, the farm installation process only cost $200,000, proving that "going green" doesn't always need to be a costly project.
The farm grows close to 6,000 lbs. of organic produce and herbs every year using a milk crate container growing system. While most of the produce collected from the gardens supplies Fenway Park's in-park restaurants, a significant portion of the fresh produce is donated to the local community through the non-profit food rescue organization Lovin’ Spoonfuls. Fenway Farms further promotes environmental stability by mitigating the effects of air pollution, conserving energy, lessening the impact of the “Urban Heat Island Effect,” and managing stormwater runoff.
Fenway Farms is a true team effort. Recover Green Roofs designed, built, and installed the rooftop farming system, while Green City Growers handles all aspects of farm management. The collaborative work of both companies has won them prestigious environmental awards. In 2017, Recover Green Roofs received the Intensive Institutional Award of Excellence and Green City Growers received the Walden Woods Project’s Environmental Challenge Award in recognition of their work on Fenway Farms.
'Green Monster' Is Taking On A Whole New Meaning At Fenway Park
The luscious green produce at Fenway Park
Stacy Buchanan
August 31, 2018
On a hot summer day at Fenway Park there’s a different kind of team, hard at work, on a very different type of field. High above Yawkey Way, along the 3rd Base side of the stadium, you’ll find Fenway Farms, a 5,000-square-foot working farm that's growing produce that is being served at Fenway and donated to a local food rescue. Instead of Wally or home runs, we’re talking about peas, kale, and scallions, to name just a few of the many varieties of produce growing here.
Jessie Banhazl, CEO & Founder of Green City Growers
Stacy Buchanan
The relatively lightweight milk crate farm was installed by Recover Green Roofs and is managed by Green City Growers (GCG), who also maintain the largest rooftop farm in New England atop the Whole Foods in Lynnfield. GCG was introduced to Linda Henry after winning an award through the Henry Foundation, which led to the Fenway Farms partnership. A spot had already been designated by Henry as a potential green roof, and a little bit of that magic that lives in Fenway must have been at work because the space happened to be furnished with perfect growing conditions for a rooftop farm.
The milk crate system at Fenway Farms
Stacy Buchanan
“The milk crate system was chosen because it is very mobile and modular, like Legos,” says Jessie Banhazl, CEO & Founder of Green City Growers. There are over 2,000 milk crates and the small boxes can be arranged to take up every available space, which is helpful given the unusual angles and shape of the roof. But there’s big return for such a relatively small farming space – the farm currently cultivates about 6,000 pounds of produce annually!
“I’m so spoiled now,” says Fenway’s Executive Chef, Ron Abell. “The care and nurturing [GCG] put into it, the organic nature, it’s incredible.” When asked his favorite part of having Fenway Farms in his operation, Abell says, “The food travels 100 feet and it’s in my kitchen. You don’t have to do much to it and it tastes amazing.”
“Luckily, baseball season happens to align perfectly with the growing season in New England,” Banhazl explains, so the farm operates primarily while the park is in full swing. That means fans can often see the farmers at work, harvesting produce or tending to the crops. It is also one of the most popular stops on the park tour, where approximately 10,000 people a week get to see “the best farm team in baseball” as the guide punned to the group who passed through during our visit.
Fenway’s Executive Chef Ron Abell picks peppers from the rooftop farm
Stacy Buchanan
The farm is split into two spaces. There’s an area of closely controlled farm rows that maintain the strict standards required by the park’s food production company, Aramark, and grows about 35% of the produce served in the EMC Club throughout the season. Then there’s the vineyard vines deck, which grows produce around its perimeter and between event spaces. This area hosts youth and community engagement programs, like the Fenway Rooftop Sessions, and 100% of the produce grown here is donated to Lovin’ Spoonfuls, the largest food rescue agency in New England.
Patrons of the ballpark tour admire the rooftop farm
Stacy Buchanan
Chef Abell, in his 12th season at Fenway Park, creates a new menu at the EMC Club for every home stand. “I like to experiment,” he says. “Being this close to the produce really gets your creative juices flowing and opens your mind to what you can do with it. Like kohlrabi – we use it in root vegetable hash, shaved on to salads, and even pickled – it’s great!”
The culinary team strives to be as zero-waste as possible, using as much of the produce grown as possible – carrot tops in pesto, beet greens in salads, and a variety of preserving techniques for whatever can’t be used fresh during the baseball season. Late-season tomatoes are roasted and frozen for stocks and braises, chilies are turned into hot sauce, and cucumbers and green tomatoes are pickled. “What we harvest here can make its way around to almost anywhere in the ballpark,” Chef Abell said. Look out for items, such as a kale Caesar wrap made with kale from the farm next time you’re at Fenway.
Fresh herbs growing in the vineyard vines club
Stacy Buchanan
The choice of what to grow on this small-scale farm is an annual collaboration between Green City Growers, Chef Abell, and his team. The variety is impressive, producing everything from hearty greens and root vegetables to French breakfast radishes, and of course, copious amounts of scallions for Chef Abell’s infamous scallion pancakes. There are even strawberries that grow twice a season, to the delight of the park’s pastry staff.
Chef Abell garners a lot of creative inspiration and culinary satisfaction from the rooftop farm
Stacy Buchanan
We were lucky enough to visit Fenway on one of the biweekly days when the folks from Green City Growers work on the farm. A few farmers picked the day’s impressive haul, which included 30 pounds of kale, 20 pounds of Swiss chard, and 20 pounds of scallions, as well as heirloom tomatoes, Italian and Oriental eggplant, chives, thyme, mint, sorrel, and parsley.
Heirloom tomatoes growing in milk crates
Stacy Buchanan
They were also planting new mid-season crops of carrots and radishes. One of the farmers is Production Site Specialist Carissa Unger, who talked about the particularly good soil used here. “It’s the best soil I’ve ever worked with. It’s wet and fluffy.” The proprietary organic blend from the Vermont Compost Company was specifically chosen for its light weight, yet superior nutrient and moisture retention. The quality of the soil is one important reason why the farm can successfully grow large plants, such as heirloom tomatoes, in tiny 12x12-inch milk crates.
Production Site Specialist Carissa Unger turns the soil
Stacy Buchanan
This isn’t just another trendy undertaking by a high-profile organization. It’s real food that’s grown and served right at Fenway Park. That’s not to say that the posh location has no bearing on the success of the project. It’s obvious that the budget is plentiful and the maintenance top-notch. Not many projects of this scale go from concept to fruition in about 8 months, but that kind of dedication is exactly what’s making Fenway Park a leader in sustainability initiatives.
The drip irrigation system is the most efficient and sustainable style, distributing the water directly to the roots of the plants, avoiding waste through evaporation. The system also has weather sensors that deactivate the irrigation when it rains. Other sustainability benefits include improved building insulation, help with storm water runoff, and reduced pest-management needs. While the farm still has to contend with some flying pests, not a single four-legged digging creature has made its way up onto the roof, making it a bit easier for the farmers to protect and maintain the crops.
The drip irrigation system at the rooftop farm
Stacy Buchanan
The only unfulfilled wish the team has is even more space to grow a larger percentage of the produce consumed at the park. The obvious success of the project means some form of expansion isn’t out of the question. But for now, partnerships with local farms, such as Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, provide larger quantities and produce that can’t grow in milk crates.
And make no mistake, the term 'Green Monster' will continue to take on a whole new meaning in this unique corner of 'America’s Most Beloved Ballpark'. We encourage you to take a hike up to farm to see what’s on deck during your next Fenway visit.
The rooftop farm at Fenway
Stacy Buchanan
The Rise Of The Urban Rooftop
With space at a premium, cities are exploring new ways to make better use of their rooftops.
The rooftops of our cities are wowefully under-utilised, despite the constant-battle for land (Image credit: Shutterstock)
With space at a premium, cities are exploring new ways to make better use of their rooftops.
Our cities have never been denser, taller, or busier than they are now, and with that, comes the constant battle for land. Whether you’re a city dweller, developer, transport planner, or farmer, you’re forced to compete for dwindling amounts of available space. And with two-thirds of the world’s population predicted to live in cities by 2050, the stress on urban infrastructure looks set to outpace even the most carefully-laid plans. But if we look at aerial images of any city center, we can quickly spot plenty of unused space – the rooftops. Speaking to Scientific American, Steven Peck from a non-profit called Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, describes the roofscapes of our cities as “the last urban frontier – (representing) 15 to 35 % of the total land area.”
So what can we use this precious resource for? In a growing number of high-density cities, some of it is dedicated to recreation – everything from bars and pools, to soccer pitches and running tracks can now be found atop skyscrapers. Others host smog-eating roof tiles or questionable wind turbines, while in China, a large shopping mall has 25 villas on its roof. But when a rooftop offers access to sunlight, there are two more obvious candidates for its use – agriculture and solar power.
Green Cities
Green roofs have been growing in popularity for more than a decade, and in some cases, growing in scale too – atop a convention center in Manhattan sits the city’s largest, covering an area of 89,000 m2. Usually comprised of planted beds, or carpet-like tiles that encouraged the growth of low profile vegetation, green roofs can provide a habitat for birds and insects in an otherwise hostile environment. They also act as thermal insulation for the building, and reduce storm water runoff that can otherwise cause havoc in urban sewers.
Green roofs come with the added benefit of mitigating the dreaded urban heat island effect, whereby, as a result of heat-absorbing materials like asphalt and concrete, cities can be several degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. In contrast, trees and green spaces can absorb shortwave radiation, and use it to evaporate water from their leaves – a kind of ‘double cooling’ effect. There are countless studies that back up this idea. One of the most interesting came from researchers at the University of Georgia. In 2015, they showed not only that ‘green’ cities are cool cities, but that networks of small urban green spaces, such as parks, gardens and green roofs, were more effective at reducing a city’s temperature than a singular park of the equivalent size.
In some European and US cities, councils now offer significant financial incentives to developers who install a green roof – in Hamburg, building owners can receive subsidies of 30–60% of its installation costs. And from 2020, green roofs will be considered compulsory for all new, large-scale builds in the city. (CONTINUED...)
uilding-intergrated PVs are growing in popularity. But are they always the best option? (Photo by Thomas Imo/Photothek via Getty Images)
As food security and urban nutrition creep ever-higher on the agenda for the United Nations, there’s also a worldwide movement of using green roofs for hyper-local food production. In regions with suitable climates, hundreds of different vegetables, fruits, herbs and salad leaves can be grown on rooftops. Beehives and chicken coops are also becoming commonplace amongst the high-rises. But not all rooftop farms are equal, as we’ll discuss.
Power Up
But first, what about solar power? With so many cities now divesting from fossil fuels, and the costs of solar panels dropping dramatically, photovoltaic (PV) systems have become the ‘go to’ option for generating distributed power in built-up areas. And, even with standard commercial panels, the energy gains are dramatic. The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have estimated that rooftop PV systems could generate almost 40% of electricity demands nationwide. NREL also developed a very cool visualization tool called PVWatts to help people discover if solar panels would work for them. In 2012, Dutch researchers calculated that building-integrated photovoltaics could deliver 840 TWh of electricity – that’s more than a fifth of the total annual demand for all of the EU-27 countries.
In 2011, a fascinating map was published by the City University of New York. Assembled from images taken by a LIDAR-enabled (Light Detection and Ranging) aircraft, it showed that at the time, 66.4% of New York’s buildingshad roof space suitable for commercial photovoltaic systems. Furthermore, they estimated that, even with NYC’s changeable weather, rooftop installations could meet close to 14% of the city’s annual electricity consumption.
And cities have certainly taken note of this data – in many cases, making such installations compulsory, as in Sao Paulo, where Brazil’s Ministry of Cities announced that future low-income housing developments should include rooftop photovoltaics.
Which one to choose?
There’s no doubt that in both cases, a network of ‘productive rooftops’ could benefit the local community by supplying a portion of a necessary resource – either food or electricity – while also reducing their environmental burden. But is one better than the other? (CONTINUED...)
This was the question posed by researchers from MIT and the University of Lisbon in a recent paper in the journal Cities. Focusing on the rooftops of a mixed-use neighborhood in Lisbon, they carried out a Cost-Benefit Analysis for four scenarios – 1. Open-air rooftop farming, 2. Rooftop farming in low-tech greenhouses, 3. ‘Controlled environment agriculture’ (farming in high-tech greenhouses) or 4. Solar PV energy generation. Starting with existing data on everything from installation costs and resources used, to carbon footprint and yield, they modelled the impact that each installation would have on the local community over a period of 50 years.
The researchers took a footprint of one square meter of roofing, considered a population of 17,500 residents, and for the farms, looked only at a single crop – tomatoes. The fruit is not only incredibly popular in the Portuguese diet – with an average of 10.4 kg eaten per year, per person – there’s also a large body of data available on their growing requirements and yields. For solar power, they considered standard single-crystalline silicon PV modules, arranged on flat or pitched roofs. They also assumed that the PVs installation would act as part of the grid – in other words, though generated locally, the electricity would be distributed via existing infrastructure.
Urban farming might add value to a neighbourhood far beyond what had been previously assumed (Photo by John S Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Here are a few highlights from their study:
The benefits of food production varied according to the supply chain, except for high-tech rooftop farms, which were predicted to be profitable regardless. Open-air and low-tech greenhouses were found to only profit when the crops are sold directly to consumers.
If the demand for tomatoes in Lisbon was to be met through rooftop farming, you’d require 1.89 square meters for organic field cultivation (#1), 0.37 m2 for soil-less cultivation in unconditioned greenhouses (#2), or 0.15 m2 for controlled-environment agriculture (#3)
A rooftops farm could potentially create five times as many local jobs as a rooftop PV system, but would involve much higher operation and maintenance costs
The electricity yield for PVs installed on south-oriented unshaded rooftops was calculated to be approximately 300 kWh/m2/year.
So, both options seem pretty good. But it’s when we look at the bigger picture that the differences start to show. I’ve written about the questionable profitability of urban farming in the past, but that was only ever as measured on individual farmers, which – I say, with the benefit of hindsight – doesn’t make all that much sense in the context of a city.
This study, however, takes a broader, and much more sensible view – it looks at rooftop installations as part of an interconnected network. And it’s which measures the overall value – in terms of economics and the environment – to both the building owner, and the community around it. And by looking at it that way, they concluded that for Lisbon, the use of rooftops for food production could yield significantly higher local value than solar PV energy generation or standard green roofs. Of course, this is very site-specific – in another city, you might come to exactly the opposite conclusion, but that’s kind of the point. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to make cities more sustainable, and anyone who tells you otherwise is massively over-simplifying a complex issue.
There are lots of things that will help anywhere – e.g. moving from private cars to mass transit, making renewable energy the default option, being smarter with how we use water, reducing our reliance on concrete, minimizing our waste footprint, and reserving single-use plastics for very, very specific applications. But when it comes to ‘other’ questions, like should we use our rooftops for energy generation or farming, the answers are a lot less black-and-white. By adopting research like the study I’ve featured here, we can get much closer to making the right decision for our specific circumstances. The authors said that their study “…aims to provide decision-makers with a basis for systematic and integrated comparison of these productive uses of rooftops.” Now, all I hope is that some of those decision makers start using it.
Entrepreneurship Intensive For Farmers
Stone Barns Center is excited to announce a groundbreaking Entrepreneurship Intensive for Farmers. This immersive, experiential learning program will give farmers the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with UC Berkeley’s William Rosenzweig, additional experts, and each other as they develop their entrepreneurial skills.
Farm owners and managers run complex, nuanced businesses. Those seeking to do so in a manner that is both economically and environmentally sustainable must apply creativity, vision, and grit to their work. There now exists a variety of progressive farmer training programs and apprenticeships. This initiative will complement these types of programs, and support farmers in applying the principles of entrepreneurship to their farm businesses.
Each farmer will finish the week-long program with a practical and useful business framework in hand that complements their expertise in regenerative agriculture and empowers them to apply proven entrepreneurial practices to their farming business. Participating farmers will have expenses covered and are expected to attend the entire program (December 9-14, 2018).
APPLY NOW
THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTENSIVE WILL HELP FARMERS:
Learn, practice and integrate the key principles and practices of mission-driven, values-centered entrepreneurship
Imagine a clear long-term vision and define concrete steps to successfully achieve it
Design and present a compelling, financially viable business plan to attract and engage employees, partners, landowners, lenders and investors
Identify new business opportunities and unmet needs in a region’s farming ecosystem and identify how to capture value
Learn how to cultivate a vibrant community of customers, build strategic partnerships and structure successful agreements
Explore the latest in practical farm-tech and digital strategies
Develop an understanding and paths towards creating a thriving livelihood
Learn more about the facilitators, Will Rosenzweig and Adrian Rodrigues.
APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS
You are a farmer actively involved in the day-to-day management of a farm practicing or moving towards regenerative agriculture
You have been in a farm management role at that farm for at least three years
You are comfortable with basic farm business practices, including crop planning and tracking income and expenses
Your business generated at least $15,000 in revenue in the most recent tax year
You can commit to completing 5-10 hours of preparatory work in November and to monthly peer-learning check-ins (by telephone) for one year after the intensive
You are able to participate in the entire five-day intensive at Stone Barns Center in Tarrytown, NY from December 9 – 14, 2018
HOW TO APPLY
We’re looking for up to 24 exceptional farmers to be part of the inaugural cohort. All farmers will receive scholarships to participate. The application includes contact information, short written (and optional video) responses to three open-ended questions, an optional photo, and a resume/CV.
Applications are due by Saturday, September 22 and applicants will be notified by Friday, October 12.
APPLY NOW
Questions? See our FAQs or contact us at GFI@stonebarnscenter.org or 914.366.6200 x150
Grow Your Veggies At Home, Without Soil
Koay (left) and co-founder Johanson Chew turned a hobby into a career. (Photos by Low Yen Yeing/EdgeProp.my)
Growing your own vegetables could be fun and help you get the freshest greens to your dining table, but not everyone has the luxury of space to have their own vegetable plot at home.
However, with the hydroponic system, city dwellers could enjoy harvesting their own vegetables even with limited space.
With rising concerns over food safety and security, planting your own vegetables makes perfect sense and City Farm co-founder Jayden Koay believes that growing your own food at home will be the trend of the future for urbanites.
“The best way to keep your vegetables fresh is to keep them alive. The best is to pluck the vegetable, cook and serve it straight away,” he tells EdgeProp.my.
The two-year-old City Farm was initially established to offer fresh vegetables to the public but has evolved into a solutions provider to urbanites who want to become “city farmers”.
The outfit was formed by three electrical engineering graduates from the Malaysia Multimedia University including Koay. Growing their own food was first a hobby but quickly turned into a business. They believe that with the right knowledge and equipment, everyone can be urban farmers.
Unlike conventional planting, hydroponics is a soilless cultivation method of growing plants in a water-based and nutrient-rich solution as well as other inert medium such as rockwool, clay pellets and peat moss as a support to the roots.
Koay notes that the traditional way of using soil could cause soil contamination in the long run, due to the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. A polluted plot of land could take around 20 years to undergo natural soil treatment.
Part of the vegetables in City Farm are grown using Nutrient Film Technique.
“As the population grows and new agricultural land becomes scarce, fresh produce will be less and the quality of the produce will degrade. We will then be heavily exposed to preserved vegetables and processed food but all these can be avoided if we could self-supply,” he says.
Challenges
The challenge in maintaining a vertical farm is in ensuring the quality of the water; hygiene management; and pest control.
The hydroponic method may be cleaner and easier to manage than soil planting but it could still attract pests such as mosquitoes and spider mites, hence discipline is required to manage the vertical farm.
The seedling transplantation is another tough process as the seedlings are vulnerable to environmental changes and water quality. The ideal environment is a cold yet well-ventilated environment.
“Those using the balcony to grow their vegetables could choose the wicking system and opt to grow local vegetables which could stand our hot weather. The balcony is suitable for hydroponics as it has good ventilation,” Koay offers.
As for indoor hydroponic systems, air-conditioning and lighting are essential to create a controlled environment. Consumers could choose to plant highland vegetables or micro greens.
For commercial usage, hydroponic vegetables take about four weeks to harvest, but for self-consumption, the vegetables could be harvested in the second or third week.
Micro greens (left) and Ice Plant (right) grown in the hydrotrays
Don’t start planting your favourite veggie
The common mistake among beginners is the tendency to grow their favourite vegetable from the get-go which are often difficult to care for, rather than easier options.
“They will then feel disappointed and give up after a few tries, hence the best way is to start with easy-to-grow vegetables such as Choy Sum, kangkung and Bok Choy as well as herbs such as basil.
“They could move on to the more difficult plants such as tomatoes and chili padi or highland plants such as butterhead and chamomile once they are more equipped with experience and knowledge.
“So far, butterhead lettuce is one of the most challenging vegetables on my list as it requires extra care and grows slowly. The leaves will easily turn yellow or have burnt tips without proper care, hence the price is higher than other lettuces,” Koay says.
According to him, the average cost of hydroponic vegetable planting is around RM40 per pot, including the seeds, nutrients and the reusable equipment.
To encourage the concept of “farm to table”, City Farm has collaborated with 12 café operators in providing hydroponic solutions at their eateries, enabling patrons to purchase the fresh vegetables or pick the vegetables for the restaurant to cook on the spot.
The freshest way of eating vegetables: from farm to table.
“Currently, we have completed two vertical farms in two cafes. One is in Petaling Jaya, the other is in Seri Kembangan,” he says.
The vertical farm comprises multi-tier shelves of hydro trays with planting pots and LED lighting. It enables the café operators to grow at least 28 pots of vegetables, depending on the type of vegetables. Leafy salad greens such as butterhead, Arugula and Green Coral are the most popular vegetables that consumers will purchase off the rack, says Koay.
The vertical farm could also serve as a green wall in the cafe, creating a green and natural indoor environment, he adds.
Besides helping restaurants set up vertical farms, City Farm also organises monthly classes teaching city folk to grow their own vegetables.
Growing your own vegetables provides the pleasure of reaping the fruit from your labour. It can be fun and you do not have to worry about it being unsafe for your health.
This story first appeared in the EdgeProp.my pullout on Sept 7, 2018. You can access back issues here.
VEGETABLES DINING SPACE HYDROPONIC CITY FARM MALAYSIA MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY
Imagining The Impossible: The Futuristic Designs of Vincent Callebaut
New Atlas takes a look at Vincent Callebaut's most interesting architectural designs.
July 24th, 2018
New Atlas takes a look at Vincent Callebaut's most interesting architectural designs (Credit: Vincent Callebaut Architectures)
Sometimes outlandish, often fantastical, but always compelling, Vincent Callebaut's projects range from realizable ideas like towers covered in greenery to conceptual works depicting a near-future in which architecture, technology, and nature are blended to make cities a more pleasant – and sustainable – place to live.
The Belgian architect heads his firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures in Paris, France. Over the years he has developed a recognizable design language that draws inspiration from nature and makes liberal use of honeycomb patterns and complex geometry. He seems poised for greater prominence now though, as at least two of his projects are due to be built in the next few years.
Let's take a look at some of his most interesting designs.
5 Farming Bridges
Now that the so-called Islamic State has been expelled from Mosul, Iraq, the reconstruction of the city can begin. The 5 Farming Bridges proposal involves rebuilding a like number of bridges destroyed during the fighting and using them as residential units and urban farms. Existing rubble would be used as building material, with flying drones and spider-like robots doing the actual construction.
Manta Ray
The Manta Ray proposal envisions a manta ray-shaped ferry terminal in Seoul, South Korea. The remarkable-looking building would float in place to deal with seasonal flooding and sport a huge roof covered with a solar power array, along with a wind turbine farm. Biodegradable waste and high-tech water turbines would transform the river's kinetic energy into power too – all of which would allow the ferry terminal to power itself and send a surplus to Seoul.
2050 Paris Smart City
Created for a competition seeking ideas to turn the City of Light into a City of Green in the coming decades, 2050 Paris Smart City calls for 15 new sustainable towers to be built on the rooftops of existing buildings on the city's famous Rue De Rivoli. The towers would feature residential units and sport dragonfly-shaped solar panels on their facade, providing all required electricity for the project.
Nautilus Eco-Resort
The Nautilus Eco-Resort is a paradise imagined for the Philippines that would allow well-heeled tourists to vacation without polluting the planet (excepting on the flight there, presumably). The whole thing would be arranged into a shape inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and include a dozen spiral hotel towers that rotate to follow the sun. Nearby, a like number of sea snail-shaped buildings would include exhibition spaces and hotels, while at its center would be a large timber building covered with vegetable gardens and orchards.
Tour & Taxis
Callebaut's Tour & Taxis sees the Belgian architect propose a return to his home country to transform a former industrial area in Brussels into a vibrant sustainable community. The area would comprise three ski jump-shaped high-rises that would be topped by solar panels and covered in greenery. Other notable elements include wind turbines, rainwater harvesting, and the production of fruit and vegetables.
Hyperions
Hyperions consists of a cluster of connected timber towers in New Delhi, India, that are named after, and take design cues from, the world's tallest living tree. It will boast extensive greenery and enable occupants to grow their own vegetables on balconies, as well as the facades, the rooftops, and in specialized greenhouses. The interior is taken up by apartments, student housing, and office space, and it will all be powered by solar panels. According to Callebaut, this one is going to be built and is due to be completed by 2022.
Agora Garden Tower
It can be difficult to imagine how exactly all these renders would translate into brick and mortar buildings, but Taipei's Agora Garden Tower shows the way. Sporting a twisting form inspired by DNA's double helix shape, the building twists 4.5 degrees each floor, turning a total of 90 degrees in all. Once completed, it'll feature 23,000 trees, as well as a rainwater capture system and solar power.
Are Hot Springs The Future of Farming?
A small Colorado town is using its hot springs for an unusual purpose: growing food year-round. And with geothermal energy in abundance, this could be a model used across the US.
By Daliah Singer - 10 September 2018
The tomatoes aren’t cooperating. Instead of growing up the trellis, the plants are weaving all over the garden bed and arching, menacingly, toward a young grapevine. On a hot August afternoon, Pauline Benetti and Diane Kelsey are trying to coach the fruit upward by tying its stems to the wood-and-metal trellis.
It’s high season for the juicy red spheres, but these two volunteers – both shorter than the vines they’re trying to wrangle – aren’t just struggling with these plants for the final farmers’ markets of the summer. They want to train the tomatoes to grow in the right direction inside this greenhouse all year long.
Their work is part of a five-year effort by the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership (GGP) in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The volunteer-run nonprofit, in coordination with the south-west Colorado town, is transforming the world's largest and deepest geothermal hot spring into something much more than just a travel destination: it’s using the renewable energy source to grow food year-round for the community.
Pagosa Springs is well-known in the western United States for its unique approach to geothermal energy, which is energy harnessed from the Earth’s heat. Geothermal food growing, though, is a new enterprise.
You might also like:
• How vertical farming reinvents agriculture
• Are forgotten crops the future of food?
• The most extreme geothermal plant in the world
In the center of the small downtown, on the banks of the San Juan River, sit three conspicuous, geodesic greenhouses, each 42ft (13m) in diameter. They stand in stark contrast to the old-timey buildings on the road above. All will house gardens, but each has a different mission.
The project’s three greenhouses use geothermal energy to help grow plants even in Colorado’s cold-weather months (Credit: Daliah Singer)
The first, the Education dome, was built in 2016. It is the only one of the trio that’s currently operational. Volunteers stop by to prune and plant every day; more than 300 students have visited the site to learn about the plants and to practice their maths or science skills; and the public is welcome from 11:00 to 14:00 on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
“Everything we do is [focused on] teaching sustainable agriculture to the next generation and growing food year-round – which is pretty special” at an altitude of 7,150 feet (2,180m), says Sally High, a former environmental educator and GGP board treasurer.
The geothermal water comes from town wells via a lease agreement with Pagosa Springs. A heat exchanger inside each greenhouse uses the geothermal liquid to heat domestic water, which is piped through the floor of the greenhouse in cold-weather months. The geothermal fluid then resumes its natural path.
Inside of the Education dome, volunteers prune and plant every day (Credit: Daliah Singer)
The closed-loop system is as close to non-consumptive as possible – meaning almost no water is consumed during the process, with most of it returning to the ground – and allows the greenhouse to maintain a consistent temperature that ranges from 58F (around 14C) on the coldest winter nights to 90F (32C) on a sweltering summer day. (A pond, fans, misting system, and windows also help regulate the temperature.) That means the squash, kale and beets can grow in any month – a major benefit in a high-elevation mountain town where the average frost-free growing season spans less than 80 days.
The method will be similar in the Community Gardens greenhouse, which is expected to open before the end of 2018. Local civic organisations and community groups, such as food banks and veteran-focused associations, will have their own garden beds in which they’ll grow food to help feed their communities.
The Innovation greenhouse, slated to open in 2019, has a different purpose. It will house an aquaponic growing environment, raising fish and plants together in a symbiotic system in which the fish waste acts as a food source for the plants while the plants filter the fish’s water, one that uses about one-tenth of the water required for conventional soil growing. It’s a controlled environment, so the dome will be closed to the public except during special demonstrations or tours.
Our geothermal resource is underused and undervalued – Sally High
“Farmers’ markets are seasonal. This takes Colorado’s agriculture [towards being] very local and year-round,” says High, who sees Pagosa’s greenhouse endeavor as both an economic and tourism driver for the town. “Our geothermal resource is underused and undervalued.”
First discovered in the 1800s, the hot springs are popular for therapeutic purposes (Credit: Getty Images)
The Ute Indians first discovered the area’s therapeutic waters in the 1800s. More than a century later, in 1982, the town, with help from the US Department of Energy (DOE), launched a geothermal heating system that uses the geothermal water to provide heat to about 60 local businesses and residences and melt snow on the sidewalks in the small downtown. (There are around 20 such systems in the country, including in Boise, Idaho, and San Bernardino, California.)
“It’s a 24/7/365 power source; it’s not intermittent, like solar or wind,” High says. “This direct-use project… it’s absolutely replicable.”
Pagosa Springs isn’t alone in growing food geothermally. But the process is still rare in the US. In its most recent look at geothermal direct-use installationsin the country, which dated to February 2017, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) counted just 29 greenhouses.
“One thing that’s unique about geothermal is, in addition to the ability to provide power, it can provide these other services to a community that allow them to be more self-sustaining,” says Katherine Young, NREL’s programme manager for geothermal energy.
Since 1982, the hot springs have been used to provide heat to buildings in downtown Pagosa Springs (Credit: Daliah Singer)
Most conversations about geothermal energy focus on Iceland, where the natural resource accounts for about 25% of the country’s total electricity production and where 90% of homes are heated geothermally. Other European countries have access to mostly intermediate- to low-temperature geothermal resources, which restricts them somewhat, as higher heats are better suited to electricity production. Even so, at least 13 countries tap into them for greenhouses, among other uses.
But the US hasn’t fully realised its geothermal potential. According to the DOE, “the US leads the world for installed geothermal capacity, with more than 3.7 gigawatts” – most of which is concentrated in the West. But a 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found that technology investment could open up access to more than 100 gigawatts in the next five decades, providing more than 10% of the country’s electricity demand. (The DOE announced a $4 million [£3.1m] investment in six deep direct-use feasibility studies last year.)
There’s a ton of heat everywhere beneath the US, and it can be harnessed – Katherine Young
“There’s a ton of heat everywhere beneath the US, and it can be harnessed everywhere,” Young says. “It can play a significant role in the US energy economy.”
Thus far, the GGP project has been primarily grant-funded – including a recent $174,500 (£135,000) infusion from the Colorado Water Plan and Colorado Water Conservation Board – and volunteer-driven. But as the final domes inch closer to completion, the team wants to hire a site manager, its first employee. Funds will come from private donations as well as by selling produce from the Innovation dome to local restaurants and at farmers’ markets. (Visitors can also buy tomatoes and lettuce from the Education dome on the two days a week it’s open; some of that produce winds up at the farmers’ markets, too.)
This past summer, vegetables grown in the Education greenhouse’s salad garden were part of the meals in the free summer food programme for kids in need. Community events at Centennial Park, where the greenhouses sit, have ranged from cooking classes to breakfasts to educational speakers.
Vegetables grown inside of this greenhouse helped feed local children this summer (Credit: Daliah Singer)
For local youth like Tucker Haines, the Education greenhouse affords more than just an opportunity to learn about eating – and growing – fresh foods. Every Monday last school year, the 13-year-old would walk from Pagosa Springs Middle School to the GGP park. His maths teacher thought hands-on learning might help the formulas and fractions finally click with the students. Tucker and his classmates measured the garden beds and plants and kept calendars which outlined when the seeds were going to germinate; they also planted and harvested kale, red cabbage and cauliflower. “My regular math class I couldn’t quite understand,” Tucker says. Suddenly, though, the numbers started to make sense. “It made math enjoyable,” says his mother Nancy Haines.
Tucker’s experience is the kind of broader community benefit High and the rest of the GGP were hoping for when they set out on this mission a decade ago. “It’s this living laboratory that we have right smack in the middle of town,” says Cindy Schultz, Pagosa’s associate planner. “It gives people a sense of what’s possible.”
Join 900,000+ Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
A Quick Guide To Growing Plants In Coco Coir
Takeaway: Coir is commonly used in hydroponic media. Here’s a bit more about where it comes from and how to use it in your grow room.
Coco coir is a natural product made from the inner fiber of the thick husk that surrounds a coconut. It’s rot-resistant, durable, and lightweight. These characteristics perfectly serve the species, Cocos nucifera, because they help coconut trees find new habitats by allowing the giant seeds float across the sea to distant beaches.
Most imported coir comes from the southern coast of India and from nearby Sri Lanka, where it’s a byproduct of harvesting coconuts for food and fiber. Inexpensive and sold in compacted bricks, coir is used to make products like thick doormats, brushes, rope, upholstery-stuffing, and planting baskets. It is also increasingly popular as a soil amendment.
Coir has some nice advantages as a soil amendment. (In soil mixes, use up to 40 percent coir fiber.) It lasts longer, and it’s naturally free of bacteria, plant disease, fungal spores, weeds, seeds, and pathogens.
Join thousands of other growers who are already receiving our monthly newsletter.
Coir has a great water-holding capacity, too. It holds 30 percent more water and is easier to rewet than peat moss. In addition, it creates airspace and allows better drainage in formerly compacted soils. In loose, sandy soils it holds nutrients to prevent them washing out.
Coir is also slightly alkaline, with a pH of 5.8–6.8. This reduces the need to use dolomite lime to neutralize acidic soil in the garden. The pH is ideal for release of its nutrients to roots. Coir is rich in potassium and micronutrients, including iron, manganese, zinc, and copper.
The high potassium content means that a gardener could use a fertilizer lower in potassium and still get good results. The other nutrients are a bonus; kind of like adding a vitamin pill to their diet. Because the pH of coir is more neutral than that of peat, some gardeners may find that coir does not work as well for acid-loving plants, such as azaleas and blueberries.
Coir can also be far more user-friendly than peat moss or rockwool. Rockwool, which was used for insulation before the creation of fiberglass batts or rigid foams, can lead to tiny particles getting into a grower’s eyes, mouth, nose, and lungs if proper protection isn’t worn.
It also requires a lot of energy to produce and take a long time to degrade when trashed. Peat moss is healthier, but mining peat disrupts wetland bog environments. As mentioned above, coir, on the other hand, is renewable.
Before use, compressed coir bricks must be soaked in a big container as they expand five to seven times in volume. A five-kilogram block, rock hard and impossible to cut, turns into 60 liters of fiber. A knee-high bucket per block works well, and a child’s inflatable wading pool is perfect for large bales. Soak the bricks for an hour, or overnight, then pull and tease it apart. Any coir you don’t use will retain its properties for many years, so just store it in a dry place.
Of course, coir is not perfect for all growing purposes. It tends to build up salt levels over time, so try to find coir labeled as “low-salt.” Also, if substituting coir for another amendment, be aware of the differences if produces. You might also need to increase nitrogen and decrease potassium when fertilizing. Still, don’t hesitate to try coir. It’s low cost, good for the environment, and can solve some grow media issues.
Written by Barbara H. Shaw
Barbara Shaw gardens, writes, and makes junk art in Oregon. She earned degrees in zoology, physiology, and journalism, and writes about science, health, growing things, and energy management. She also delights in reading, cooking, photography, eco-travel and has visited 60 countries. Married to a sports journalist, she embraces being a grandmother.
Meriden Aquaponics Firm Scores $500K Investment For New Haven Expansion
PHOTO | TRIFECTA ECOSYSTEMS
JULY 16, 2018
Meriden-based Trifecta Ecosystems, an aquaponics technology company and indoor farm, has received a $500,000 investment to grow its aquatic systems in the New Haven region.
New Haven-based water provider South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA) announced Monday its investment will allow Trifecta Ecosystems to build a custom-controlled aquaponics system, an urban farming technology platform, and workforce training programs in the Greater New Haven region.
RWA, a nonprofit that provides water to 430,000 people in 15 municipalities throughout Greater New Haven, said the funds are aimed at creating sustainable agriculture and fish-farming practices in the area.
With board approval, RWA says it could invest another $1.5 million into the project.
Spencer Curry, CEO and co-founder of Trifecta, says the initial investment will allow his firm to grow a new aquaponics system in the New Haven region "that will combine food production, aggregation, processing, research, and workforce training at integrated locations, helping pave the way for statewide adoption."
"This investment will allow our company to continue towards our mission of creating the City that Feeds Itself, by providing communities the tools they need to grow their own food, cost-effectively, scalable, and repeatedly."
Under aquaponics farming, produce can grow naturally without chemical fertilizers in a system that uses less water because it is recycled. Aquaponic farms, which have a smaller physical footprint, reduce carbon emissions by using up to 95 percent less water vs. traditional growing methods.
Building a new aquaculture, which raises aquatic animals such as fish with hydroponics, in the region will help sustain farming and kick-start economic growth, RWA said.
"We believe the science of aquaponics holds real potential for Connecticut in addressing land management issues and overcoming resource challenges facing traditional agriculture," RWA CEO and President Larry Bingaman said.
Engineers Change The Future of Farming
In all honesty we have experienced issues of power failures which has caused our plants to die. My engineering mind said we need to find a way to fix this.
BY KARABO LEDWABA - 17 July 2018
Engineers Mogale Maleka and Tumelo Pule have come up with hydroponic farming system that will change the future of agriculture in SA. Image: Mduduzi Ndzingi
Two mechanical engineers have used their technical expertise to make soil-less farming more efficient by building a system that relies on 20 hours less of electricity than what is currently being sold on the market.
Business partners Mogale Maleka and Tumelo Pule, who are both 25 years old, ventured into hydroponic farming, also known as soil-less farming, after graduating with their honours degrees from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2016. This type of farming does not require the use of soil but relies on water and fertilisers to hydrate and feed plants.
"In all honesty we have experienced issues of power failures which has caused our plants to die. My engineering mind said we need to find a way to fix this," said Pule. Hydroponic farming helps farmers avoid having their produce harmed by pests found in soil, diseases and weeds. It uses 90% less water than soil farming and allows for more plants to be grown in smaller spaces.
This type of farming is possible because plants such as spinach, lettuce, herbs and strawberries do not need to be submerged in the soil to grow. In these instances, soil is mainly used as an anchor for the plant and science allows for farmers to use other methods to keep the plants stable.
"Hydroponic systems need to feed the plant with water and nutrients continuously, which means that within an hour of electricity being gone, the plant will wilt and eventually die," said Maleka.
Their hydroponic planter is able to situate the water and fertilizer in a small reservoir without drowning the plant.
This means that water only needs to be pumped for four hours in a day, while traditional systems need water to pump for 24-hour periods to continuously feed and hydrate the plant.
The entrepreneurs said hydroponic systems are the future of farming.
"It is our belief that farming will need to rely on hydroponics because of issues such as urbanisation, climate change and an increasing population growth," said Pule.
Maleka said they had previously used the traditional hydroponic systems but found that they were not effective when combined with South Africa's load-shedding problem.
It took them seven months to finish their prototype, which cost them R28000.
"We were lucky enough that the University of Johannesburg believed in us and have given us a seed fund for our hydroponic planter," said Maleka.
The young innovators have plans to commercialise their product by selling it to farmers and eventually to households that want to grow their own produce.
Sipho Mahlangu from UJ's Process Energy and Environmental Technology Station (UJ PEETS) said the hydroponic planter was fascinating and innovative and that they would be assisting them in finding more funding to take it forward.
Growing The ‘Pure Food Revolution’ In Washougal Wind River Produce Uses Unique, Sustainable Farming Practice Known As ‘Aquaponics’
By Dawn Feldhaus | August 30, 2018
Aaron Imhof (left), the "master builder" of Wind River Produce, in Washougal, checks lettuce while holding peppers grown in Carl Hopple's backyard. Hopple (right) founded the organic farm that uses aquaponics, in the Columbia River Gorge, in 2017.(Dawn Feldhaus/Post-Record)
Annie Stanton, a Clark College student who volunteers at Wind River Produce, plants Salanova Red Butter and Breen Romaine lettuce. Tomatoes and peppers are also grown in the greenhouse
Annie Stanton, a Clark College student who volunteers at Wind River Produce, plants Salanova Red Butter and Breen Romaine lettuce. Tomatoes and peppers are also grown in the greenhouse. At the top, greenhouse manager Jennifer McMillan opens the heads of red romaine lettuce to allow for air flow. At right, a variety of lettuce is grown at Wind River Produce in Washougal. (Dawn Feldhaus/Post-Record)
A variety of lettuce is grown at Wind River Produce, in Washougal, without using pesticides or fertilizers. The plants absorb nitrates and return aerated water to fish that were involved in the growth process. (Dawn Feldhaus/Post-Record)
A Washougal-area farm in the Columbia River Gorge has taken the soil out of the process and added in fish.
Wind River Produce owner Carl Hopple calls it “the pure food revolution,” but it’s more commonly known as aquaponics, a combination of aquaculture, or farming fish, and hydroponics, which grows plants in water instead of soil.
Aquaponics takes the best of both worlds, growing fish and plants in a system in which fish waste can nourish the plants and the plants can filter the water, keeping the fish healthy.
Here’s how it works: The fish produce waste, which contains ammonia. Microorganisms convert the ammonia to nitrites, and then to nitrates for the plants. The plants absorb the nitrates and return aerated water to the fish.
The farming method is more sustainable than traditional practices, using 10 percent of the water required in conventional agriculture and operating without a need for chemicals or pesticides.
Hopple, a residential and commercial developer with Fosburg Enterprises LLC, of Vancouver, grows lettuce, tomatoes and peppers with Aaron Imhof, the “master builder” of Wind River Produce, Jennifer McMillan, the greenhouse manager and Annie Stanton, a Clark College student who volunteers at the Columbia River Gorge-area farm.
Hopple discovered aquaponics in 2013 when he was working on a greenhouse project for one of his development company customers.
He met Imhof and Imhof’s wife, Kate Wildrick, owners of Ingenuity Innovation Center, in St. Helens, Oregon, during a greenhouse tour.
“They had a greenhouse with one of Murray Hallam’s backyard aquaponics systems in it, and had lemons growing in the early spring,” Hopple said. “I was fascinated with the system, and I enjoyed meeting them so (I) set up a time to come back and tour the facility and get to know them better. I also wanted to know more about this new way of farming that I had never heard of.”
Hallam, an aquaponics expert from Brisbane, Australia, offers in-person workshops and seminars, as well as an online aquaponics design course.
Hopple started Wind River Produce in 2017 and has since branched out, partnering with regional food groups and trying to bring the aquaponics message to the Pacific Northwest.
Wildrick, who provides community outreach services for Wind River Produce, said the Ingenuity Innovation Center is partnering with the Oregon Food Bank and developing an aquaponics training program for veterans.
“We also travel internationally to build aquaponic farms for vulnerable children and families in an effort to prevent sex trafficking,” Wildrick said. “We partner with the Fly Fishing Collaborative.”
The Ingenuity Innovation Center will be working in partnership with Wind River Produce to provide community education and outreach with sustainable projects.
‘It is possible to change the way we produce our food’
Hopple said anyone can participate in the aquaponics industry, whether they are building a small backyard system to feed their family, or building a 50-acre facility to feed the city.
“It is possible to change the way we produce our food, and Wind River Produce can teach them how,” Hopple said. “Food produced in an aquaponics system is higher in nutrition and more efficient with the resources we have.”
The Washougal farm owner wants to take his message far and wide to create a movement.
“By educating the public on the facts, we can create a pure food revolution,” Hopple said. “This, in turn, will help to make healthy choices available to all.”
Hopple estimates the cost for a 10-by-12 foot aquaponics system, with a greenhouse, training and support to run it, would be $5,000 to $6,000.
“That is a good supplemental food source for a family of four,” he said.
Hopple sells lettuce and other vegetables at the Camas Farmer’s Market, from 3 to 7 p.m., Wednesdays, through Oct. 3, in front of the Camas Public Library, 625 N.E. Fourth Ave.
For more information about Wind River Produce, call 360-903-7418, email carl@windriverproduce.com or visit windriverproduce.com.
Post-Record staff writer
6 Places Where Soil-Less Farming Is Revolutionizing How We Grow Food
by Greg Beach
If it seems like “hydroponic systems” are everywhere, that’s because they are. Hydroponic farming is one efficient way to grow fruits and vegetables in small spaces without the use of soil. Instead of dirt, plants grow down into water, to which farmers have added the necessary nutrients for plant growth. These are then absorbed, along with water, through a plant’s roots. Light is provided either by the sun or specially designed grow lights, with many sustainable systems powered by renewable energy sources. Aquaponic farming incorporates fish into the soil-less system, using the closed-loop nutrient cycle from fish digestion to their advantage. Some systems even feed nutrients to plants through the air! From water-less deserts to the sun-less underground, soil-less farming is offering new possibilities to feed an increasingly urban, growing global population in a more Earth-friendly way.
1. Stores
Target has collaborated with MIT to create a hydroponics garden in several of its store, offering produce directly to customers.
With consumers increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, many stores have realized that going green is good for business. Big-box store Target began a series of trials in spring 2017 in which vertical, hydroponic gardens were installed in various Target locations to provide customers with the freshest possible produce. In collaboration with MIT Media Lab and Ideo, Target designed a system that is capable of growing leafy greens and herbs with minimal water usage. The company hopes to someday branch out into other crops, such as potatoes, zucchini and beets. MIT may even offer Target use of rare heirloom tomato seeds for its project. Meanwhile, IKEA has teamed up with Denmark-based SPACE10 to design high-tech hydroponics systems in-stores and in homes.
2. Deserts
Sundrop Farms uses solar energy to desalinize water that is then fed into its hydroponics system.
In preparation for a future dominated by climate change, in which oil becomes a lesser part of the world’s energy diet, Saudi Arabia has taken several major steps to build a more sustainable system in its challenging desert region. One such move is the rethinking of many traditional farming practices, especially focused on reducing water usage. A farm in the town of Jeddah uses neither water nor soil, rooting plants in mid-air while providing their nutrients through a mist. Designed by AeroFarms, the system is the first aeroponic farm in the Middle East and hopes to someday acquire all its water needs through capturing humidity in the air.
Related: The future of food: how dry farming could save the world
If a desert farm chooses to go hydroponic, there are ways to grow without draining freshwater supplies. In arid South Australia, SunDrops Farms grows 15% of the country’s tomato crop through a solar-powered hydroponic system. To eliminate the use of precious freshwater, SunDrops sources its water from the nearby saltwater gulf, which is then desalinated through the reflected heat of the sun.
In a very different kind of desert, soil-less farming helps growers from the Arctic to Antarctica make the most of a short growing season.
3. Cities
Farm 360 grows sustainable, local food in a hydroponic system that provides local jobs.
As the global population becomes more urban, cities are investing in more local food production systems that offer economic development opportunities and reduce a city’s carbon footprint. In a warehouse on the Near East Side of Indianapolis, Farm 360 are growing vegetables on a hydroponic system that is exclusively powered by renewable energy and uses 90 percent less water than traditional farming methods. The harvest is sold in local grocery stores while the farm supports dozens of living-wage jobs to residents of the neighborhood.
In even the most isolated urban areas, soil-less farming finds a home. With its ability to receive vital supplies and support a functioning economy severely restricted by the Israeli blockade, Gaza has stepped out onto the rooftops to grow its own food. Beginning in 2010, a United Nations-funded urban agriculture program equipped over 200 female-headed households with fish tanks, equipment, and supplies to build and maintain an aquaponics growing system. This initial spark has encouraged others to create their own and to teach others of this valuable skill.
4. The Underground
Tiny mushrooms sprouting at the underground farm La Caverne.
Farming without soil can often take place beneath the soil. In Paris, Cycloponics runs La Caverne, a unique urban farm that grows mushrooms and vegetables in an underground, formerly abandoned parking garage. The farm’s hydroponics system uses special grow lights to ensure the vegetables have what they need to survive. The mushrooms grow in a special medium and, through their respiration, provide valuable CO2 for the plants to thrive. La Caverne may have found inspiration from Growing Underground, London’s first underground farm. On 2.5 acres of unused World War II-era tunnels, Growing Underground produces pea shoots, several varieties of radish, mustard, cilantro, Red Amaranth, celery, parsley, and arugula.
Related: 7 agricultural innovations that could save the world
Honorable mention: shipping container farms. Although these may be mobilized on the surface, they may as well be underground due to the closed roof of most shipping containers. The solar-powered hydroponicsLA-based Local Roots can grow the same amount of vegetables, at cost parity, with 99 percent less water than traditional farming.
5. On the Water
GreenWave grows seaweed and shellfish in an innovative design system.
Some soil-less growing operations take it a step further, leaving the ground behind entirely and opting for a farm floating on water. Barcelona-based design group Forward Thinking Architecture has proposed a progressive solution to the decreasing availability of arable land by creating floating, solar-powered farms. Using modules that measure 200 meters by 350 meters, Forward Thinking’s design allows for expansion and custom configuration of farms. Each module has three levels: a desalinization and aquaculture level at the bottom, then a hydroponic farming level, topped off by a level of solar panels and rainwater collection. The company estimates that each module would produce 8,152 tons of vegetables a year and 1,703 tons of fish annually.
Related: NexLoop unveils water management system inspired by spiders, fungi, bees and plants
Greenwave takes an alternative approach to soil-less, floating farming by combining the cultivation of shellfish and seaweed, both profitable crops that also help to clean the aquatic environment and absorb greenhouse gases. The farm requires little external input, pulls carbon dioxide from the air and water, and consumes excess nitrogen that could otherwise result in algal blooms and dead zones.
6. Your Home
Urban Leaf offers a kit to turn glass bottles into miniature, soil-less gardens.
Yes, you too could get in on the soil-less action. Whether you prefer to DIY or you’d rather something more straightforward, there are options for every style.
Lead image via Depositphotos, others via MIT OpenAg, Sundrop Farms, Esther Boston, Cycloponics, GreenWave, and Urban Leaf