Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
Hort Americas Expands Services With Canadian Branche
Supported by GE Current’s grow lights, designed and engineered in Montreal, Hort Americas Canada has the resources and knowledge to enhance production capacity in vertical farms and greenhouses
Speaking French and English
An exciting new step for Hort Americas. Since 2009 the company, headquartered in Bedford, Texas, has been providing leading knowledge in commercial hydroponic production, vertical farming, greenhouse production, urban agriculture specifically on topics like engineered substrates, fertilizers and LED grow lights.
Now they cross borders and expand their business with a Canadian branche. The new local team in Montreal will help Canadian growers out. "We're providing local support on horticultural lighting, growing systems and whatever growers might be dealing with. Either in French or in English", the team says.
The team explains how the Quebec expansion and their physical presence in Canada is their effort to deliver the best personalized service for growers across the border. "Our Canadian team will offer the same value-added services and products while bringing to the table deep technical skills in horticulture lighting solutions", they say.
Supported by GE Current’s grow lights, designed and engineered in Montreal, Hort Americas Canada has the resources and knowledge to enhance production capacity in vertical farms and greenhouses. "Our team advises and supports growers with their projects through light plans, design optimization, energy savings evaluation and crop-specific DLI and spectrum selection."
Hort Americas Canada also partners with Grodan by distributing their stone wool growing media solutions. "We are pleased to work with a team who is dedicated to creating the optimal environment for roots resulting in healthy and strong plants. In fact, most recently, Grodan launched the new NG2.0 substrate technology optimizing yield growth while using less water, nutrients and space," says the team.
"We're passionate about horticulture and strive to assist growers in their quest for hydroponic solutions enhancements and technology advancements. If that is in English, or if it is in French!"
For more information:
Hort Americas Canada+1 438 521 3752
canada@hortamericas.com
www.hortamericas.com
Publication date: Mon 25 May 2020
What Will The Urban Greenhouse of The Future Look Like?
The market for fresh produce in China is looking very interesting. With a growing middle class, and safely produced, healthy food being high on the agenda in light of the current pandemic, all the ingredients are there for growth
The market for fresh produce in China is looking very interesting. With a growing middle class, and safely produced, healthy food being high on the agenda in light of the current pandemic, all the ingredients are there for growth. So it's no surprise that China was chosen as the location for the second Urban Greenhouse Challenge (UGC). Twenty student teams went head to head, planning concepts, combining agriculture and architecture to create some very interesting projects. Yesterday, the ten teams that would go to the final were announced in a webinar, which also offered a glimpse at what the future of urban farming might look like.
Team USP wants to involve city dwellers in the process of growing food through innovations such as cryptocurrency CoraCoin and application CoraApp.
Northwest A&F University Team designed an immersive ‘future agriculture’ complex that provides a new and replicable solution for urban agriculture, developed in pursuit of a more harmonious mode of coexistence between people and nature in the post-COVID-19 world.
First up to provide their opinion on this were selection committee members Tiffany Tsui, independent consultant, and René Gommersbach of Rabobank. Highlighting the aspects that make the Chinese market particularly interesting, as she had already done in an earlier UGC event, Tiffany called the food industry one of the most interesting fields for investment in the coming years, with Chinese consumers looking for safe, environmentally friendly food. "It will be the next big area for investment," she noted, pointing to the changing supply chain in China, where consumers are more and more buying their food through e-commerce rather than at the traditional wet markets.
The KAS Greenhouse combines high-quality food production, waste reduction and social engagement in form of education- and employment opportunities for urban migrants and farmers.
The Turtle from TeAMSpirit combines Chinese tradition with innovative urban solutions. Powered by a green power plant, it is a food center, business hub, research institute and meeting place all in one.
"Having a social heart is not enough"
Investing in the emerging urban food sector, which has circularity and sustainability high on the agenda, may require having a 'social heart', as presenter Jan Meijroos put it, but that's not enough, René points out. "You have to earn your money, having a social heart is not enough. In the first two, three, four years, you will lose money, but after that you must get your spin-off."
Argos offers an embodiment of sustainable architecture and circular solutions in food production, where people come in contact with vertical farming and sustainable living.
CoExist's project Shennong’s Farmers is an Experiential Knowledge Hub and Excellence Center linking people, products, and local traditions through an innovative hands-on learning experience open to all.
Scaling up circularity
Speaking of circularity, that's what selection committee members Wenqing Jin (Wageningen Plant Research) and Chris Monaghan (Metabolic) paid special attention to. "Circularity requires a certain amount of water or resources," Wenqing said, noting that scale is actually the biggest challenge in becoming circular. Chris added that the teams in the challenge weren't quite fully circular yet in terms of their concepts, but they had "come a long way", with teams focusing on different ways to achieve that. Chris particularly pointed out the need to reuse nutrients from the wastewater system to feed crops in a modern urban and regional food production system.
The Bagua is a food and educational hub, a stacked semi-closed greenhouse that integrates the latest technologies to grow healthy food within planetary boundaries. Inspired by Taoism, flows of resources and synergies between production and consumption help restore the balance between humanity and nature.
Water more valuable than energy
"Circularity is more about the flow of how resources are reused, rather than focusing on the technology", Chris noted. One of those resources that plays a major role in vertical farming right now is energy. However, according to Wenqing, this will change soon enough. "In the future, we will have plenty of electrical energy. At the moment energy is a bottleneck in vertical farming, but I believe that one day, clear water will be more valuable than electricity, so that should become a priority."
AIGreen's HerbTopia revives Lingnan style architecture to create an entertaining, educational, and collaborative environment, with innovative technical solutions around herb production.
Not just tomato towers
Chris then expanded on his thoughts about seeing circularity as a whole system. "Cities will not be resilient for food just by building towers with lettuce or tomato production", he said. "The COVID crisis has emphasized the need for a resilient approach: it's not just about high-tech agriculture."
Green Rhapsody's The Cube is an agro-food complex that serves as the city's living room and as a prototype for future sustainable solutions, including an agricultural theme park and psychotherapy based on gardening activities.
Inside the mind of a generation
Finally, Sigrid Wertheim-Heck (Aeres University of Applied Science Almere) and Stephan Petermann (MANN) shone their light on the challenge. Sigrid pointed at the blurring that's happening between the rural and urban areas, with cities moving into the rural area and vice versa. As a result, there's a balancing act going on between indoor and outdoor production. Commenting on the entries, she calls the challenge "a unique peek inside the mind of a generation", praising the optimism of the teams. "Not everyone is embracing food, circularity and sustainability right now," but the young team members are a breath of fresh air in this respect.
InnerCity designed an innovation hub inside of a modular building that adapts to its surroundings and provides more energy than it consumes. Crop production is determined by data collected directly from the customers.
Ten finalists
Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for: the announcement of the 10 teams that would move on to the finals of the challenge. Rio Pals and Marta Eggers, the organizers of the challenge, discussed how they managed to keep things interesting while it wasn't possible to meet live due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Then Tiffany Tsui took the floor again to address the teams and announce the finalists.
Pictures of the ten winning concepts are sprinkled throughout this article, and you can click through this list to learn more about them:
In the final phase of the competition, the teams will get intensive pitch training. They'll have to present their ideas in a social media pitch, a video pitch, and a longer, written pitch. "Now the real work starts", as Marta put it.
For more information:
WUR Urban Greenhouse Challenge
studentchallenges@wur.nl
urbangreenhousechallenge.nl
Publication date: Tue 23 Jun 2020
Author: Jan Jacob Mekes
© HortiDaily.com
ONLINE WORKSHOP - The Ohio State University Empowerment Plant Workshop, July 9-10, 2020
The goal of this Workshop is for growers to empower crop production through a balanced growing method, through an integrated approach based on physics and plant physiology, for high yields, quality, saving energy, and profitability in greenhouse controlled environments
— Live Education —
The Ohio State University, in partnership with Gotham Greens and Hort Americas, will be organizing the Plant Empowerment Workshop Online on July 9-10, 2020 (10 am – 2:30 pm EDT).
Advanced learning and discussion for growers towards “an integrated approach based on physics and plant physiology, leading to a balanced growing method for high yields, quality, saving energy, and profitability in greenhouse controlled environments
Instructor: Dr. Peter van Weel
Author of ‘Plant Empowerment’
Expert in greenhouse climate control
Former PI at Wageningen UR, The Netherlands
Host: Dr. Chieri Kubota
The Ohio State University
Ohio CEA Center
The goal of this Workshop is for growers to empower crop production through a balanced growing method, through an integrated approach based on physics and plant physiology, for high yields, quality, saving energy, and profitability in greenhouse controlled environments
Textbook (optional): ‘Plant Empowerment’ available at www.plantempowerment.com
Plant Empowerment Workshop Online
10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (EDT), July 9-10, 2020
Thursday, July 9, 2020 | 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (EDT)
Part 1: Introduction to Plant Empowerment, The Theories
Basic knowledge about physics and physiology that play an important role in a greenhouse and for plantsPlant empowerment, from experience-based control to sensor-based control
Friday, July 10, 2020 | 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (EDT)
Part 2: The Practical Applications of Plant Empowerment
Introduction to the sensors, the software tools and the value of data analysis
Registration is open through July 1.
Workshop fee is $20 per person.
Register now!
For more information, contact Dr. Chieri Kubota, kubota.10@osu.edu
Dr. Anu Rangarajan From Cornell University Joins The GLASE Webinar Series - Thursday, June 18 - 2 PM EDT
CEA Workforce Development Study: What Makes a Successful Indoor Farmer Operations Manager?
June 12, 2020
The National Science Foundation-funded research project entitled “Strategic FEW (food, energy, water) and Workforce Investments to Enhance Viability of Controlled Environment Agriculture in Metropolitan Areas” (CEA Viability in Metro Areas) seeks to help the CEA industry develop a skilled workforce that will allow it to scale.
As part of this project, Anu Rangarajan’s team has conducted research to understand the workforce/labor needs of the broader hydroponics industry (greenhouse and indoor vertical farms). The project has surveyed dozens of stakeholders. In 2019, twelve industry members were brought together in an intensive Designing a Curriculum (DACUM) workshop whereby participants reflected on the skill sets required to be an Indoor Farm Operations Manager.
The chart is currently being reviewed by peer growers worldwide, who are being asked to respond to how important each skill set is and how frequently it is conducted. Based on stakeholder input the chart will be used as a starting point for prioritizing training modules.
Next, a deeper analysis of each skill will be conducted in order to translate this research into a teachable vocational curriculum. In this presentation, we will share preliminary research findings, outline our ongoing efforts to develop a solid empirical basis for CEA workforce development training programs and invite GLASE webinar audience members to participate in this important study.
Title: CEA Workforce Development Study: What Makes a Successful Indoor Farmer Operations Manager?
Date: June 18, 2020
Time: 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. EST
Presented by: Anu Rangarajan and Whyte Marschall
Click here to register
Erico Mattos
Executive Director
Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE)
Phone: +1 302-290-1560
Email: em796@cornell.edu
TAGS Business GLASE Greenhouse Greenhouse Technology Indoor Farming Technology
Vertical Farming webinar
Special thanks to our Industry partners
Growing Up: The Rise of Vertical Food Production
Vertical farming is a novel food production system that doesn’t require arable land, but instead makes use of derelict spaces in an urban environment. Instead of growing crops the traditional way, in fields, utilizing the sun or greenhouses, vertical farming grows crops by stacking them vertically, in cities, utilizing UV lights
Today the population of the world is approximately 7.8 billion, and it is predicted to grow by another 2 billion people by 2050. Arable land is continuously lost due to industrial development and urbanization, and as such the increasing food demand of the growing population alongside the decreasing of arable land is an enormous challenge. There is thus a need for realistic strategies for implementing novel food production systems around the world. Could the answer lie in vertical farming?
What is Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming is a novel food production system that doesn’t require arable land, but instead makes use of derelict spaces in an urban environment. Instead of growing crops the traditional way, in fields, utilizing the sun or greenhouses, vertical farming grows crops by stacking them vertically, in cities, utilizing UV lights. This method of indoor farming meets all seventeen requirements of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. These goals are a plan to attain a better and more sustainable future for the world’s population and address current global challenges. Furthermore, vertical farming also incorporates all of the Urban Future program’s ten tracks, who believe that cities are key to a sustainable future for our planet.
Furthermore, it has been proposed that rooftop greenhouses be developed in schools in Barcelona, Spain. It is believed that schools can play an important role in environmental sustainability and the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology in Barcelona has developed a procedure to install rooftop greenhouses in compact cities. The implementation of urban agriculture proposals supports the development of novel methods for environmental sustainability in our ever-growing world.
How Does it Work?
There are three main models for vertical farming:
Hydroponics, where plants are grown in a nutrient-rich basin of water.
Aeroponics, where crops’ roots are periodically sprayed with a mist containing water and nutrients.
Aquaponics, which involves breeding fish to help cultivate bacteria that is used for plant nutrients.
Aeroponics uses less water overall but is technically more complicated. Interestingly, the water used in hydroponics can be recycled several times after it has evaporated from the plant and recaptured from the humid air.
Pros and Cons of Vertical Farming
Vertical farming is able to yield more crops per square meter than traditional farming or greenhouses can. Furthermore, vertical farming is not weather or season dependent, and as such year-round crop production is possible. Vertical farming also uses 70-95% less water than traditional methods and as the crops are produced in a well-controlled indoor environment it is possible to eliminate the use of chemical pesticides and grow organic crops with a faster harvesting method. This is key, as one of the biggest problems with fresh vegetables is the time it takes between harvest and consumption. A faster harvesting times could mean that more vitamins and nutrients are also maintained within the produce.
Vertical farming is a relatively new venture and as such, the financial and economic feasibility remains uncertain. Yet several vertical farming companies have been set up in the past decade utilizing old warehouses and disused factories with structures to grow vegetables and herbs. One certain disadvantage is the initial cost of real estate in cities, which could impede the viability of urban locations. In addition, labor costs in cities tend to be higher. Although, maybe most impeding is the total dependence on power for lighting, maintenance of temperature, and humidity, and as such the loss of power for just one day could see a significant loss in production.
Conclusion
Vertical farming has the ability to provide fresh and safe food in sufficient quantities, independent of climate and location. Today, we are well aware of climate change and the immediate need to change our current way of life, as such vertical farming and food production has the potential to become a necessary solution in global food production.
References
The United Nations. Sustainable Development Goals. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
Urban Future Programme’s Ten Tracks. https://www.urban-future.org/about/
What You Should Know About Vertical Farming. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-you-should-know-about-vertical-farming-4144786
Association for Vertical Farming. https://vertical-farming.net/
How Vertical Farming Reinvents Agriculture. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170405-how-vertical-farming-reinvents-agriculture
Nadal A et al. (2018) Rooftop greenhouses in educational centers: A sustainability assessment of urban agriculture in compact cities. Science of The Total Environment. Jun 1;626:1319-1331
Western South Dakota Aquaponic Farm Floats Fresh Food
A Butte County couple is putting fish to work in a new aquaponic greenhouse, growing fresh, locally-grown lettuce that now lines Northern Hills grocery shelves
May 23, 2020
Photo: Lacey Peterson, AP | Chris Garro shows off the long root under some herbs growing at the aquaponic greenhouse at Garro Farms in Nisland, S.D. (Lacey Peterson/Black Hills Pioneer via AP
BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) — A Butte County couple is putting fish to work in a new aquaponic greenhouse, growing fresh, locally-grown lettuce that now lines Northern Hills grocery shelves.
He is a Black Hills and Wyoming native, she’s from northeast Iowa, and together, Chris and Alexa Garro, owners of Garro Farms, have mastered the art of mimicking a natural ecosystem that combines traditional aquaculture with hydroculture in the ultimate symbiotic system.
It just so happens that the work fish naturally do, eating and producing waste, is the perfect fertilizer for growing plants. And boy do those fish grow a lot of plants when they get to work.
The best of both worlds
Aquaponics uses the best of all the growing techniques, utilizing the waste of one element to benefit another, mimicking a natural ecosystem.
Alexa told the Black Hills Pioneer it represents the relationship between water, aquatic life, bacteria, nutrient dynamics, and plants that grow together in waterways all over the world. Taking cues from nature, aquaponics harnesses the power of bio-integrating those individual components — exchanging the waste byproduct from the fish as a food for the bacteria, to be converted into a perfect fertilizer for the plants, and return the water in a clean and safe form to the fish — just like mother nature does in every aquatic ecosystem.
“If we were to let this system just hang out and never touch it, it (the bacterial symbiotic process) would happen naturally,” Alexa said. “It’s kind of like nature wants to make it work, and then we just provide the facilities.”
The system has found shortcuts around common agricultural issues.
While gardens can be located in your backyard, industrial farms are often thousands of miles from where their food is consumed. This requires extensive transportation, refrigeration, and packaging to get the food from farm to table.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, by instead using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent. While hydroponics solves many soil-based issues, it also offers its own problems.
Traditional hydroponic systems rely on the careful application of expensive, man-made nutrients made from mixing together a concoction of chemicals, salts, and trace elements. For the Garros, through aquaponics, they merely feed the fish and monitor the system carefully, and grow fresh, bountiful greenery that you could have on your table the day after harvest.
The Arpan setup
Garro Farms, located approximately 18 miles northeast of Belle Fourche on Arpan Road, is home to the 2,400 square-foot commercial-scale greenhouse. Chris, utilizing second-hand materials, built the greenhouse with the ultimate goal — to supply fresh produce to the Northern Hills and Wyoming areas all year long.
“It took some imagination to get it to this,” Chris said. “And I hope other people follow suit, too.”
Although there are numerous types of aquaponic systems, the Garros selected deep-water culture, or raft-based growing, that uses a foam raft which floats in a 12-inch deep channel filled with fish effluent water that has been filtered to remove solid wastes. Plants are placed in holes in the raft and the roots dangle freely in the water.
Photo, Chris and Alexa Garro have opened a commercial-scale aquaponic greenhouse to offer fresh, locally-grown lettuce and herbs to Northern Hills and Wyoming communities pose at the farm in Nisland, S.D. (Lacey Peterson/Black Hills Pioneer via AP)
In 2018, Chris implemented a smaller backyard experiment in aquaponics and found the plentiful rewards it could provide. He said the property had only a limited amount of available space, forcing him to get creative, making aquaponics the perfect solution to offer healthy, high-yielding fresh produce.
The system’s water starts out in a 500-gallon in-ground tank and is pumped into the tank where the fish thrive. From there, the nutrient-rich water flows through a solids filter and into a bacterial conversion tank before being piped into the “beds” where the plants roost while they grow.
“And then back again,” Alexa said. “So, it’s all a big cycle. The plants clean out that nitrate, and it comes back to the fish.”
The system circulates approximately 4,500 gallons of water each hour, Chris said.
And the system works well.
“Almost every single thing that comes out of this, there’s no waste byproduct,” she said, adding that other than adding iron to the water, Garro Farms doesn’t provide any additives to the process. “Otherwise, it’s completely self-sustaining. The older the system gets, the more efficient it works, and the more balanced it gets.”
“We figured out how to basically get as much production in this size (of) greenhouse as we would get out of something four times this size,” Alexa said. “So, by taking the square footage and doing a certain crop rotation that he did, that’s how we get (the amount of production).”
Currently, the farm grows six types of lettuce — green oakleaf, rouxai, adriana, salanova red incised, green incised and butter crunch. They also cultivate microgreens, grown under natural sunlight in the greenhouse, including pea shoots, purple-stemmed radish and sunflower. But that’s not all; the Garros are experimenting with herbs like cilantro and culinary sage.
“To be this new and have the right levels and everything producing was a stroke of genius on Chris’ part,” Alexa said.
Without the rotation the Garros utilize, Chris said it would be next to impossible to get the amount of growth production.
“We can do between 50,000-74,000 heads of lettuce out of here a year,” he said. “And if I had done it the conventional way and not moved anything, if we just put in the water and let it grow … they need quite a bit of room when they get bigger and we’d of cut that (production) in a quarter.”
From the time the seeds are planted, the plants are full grown and ready for market in about 35 days, Chris said.
“We’re not using any special seed or anything like that,” he said. “We’re trying to provide ideal conditions, and if you give something ideal conditions, … it just does better.”
What about the fish?
As one of the main components in an aquaponic system, the fish are an important focus for the Garros.
Chris said he stocked his 1,500-gallon fish tank, which is above ground and separate from the water tank, with 50 pounds of fathead minnows three or four months ago.
The type of fish is atypical for an aquaponic setup, Chris said.
“This is pretty experimental, too, because I haven’t read about anybody doing that with bait fish,” he said.
Due to the proximity to the Belle Fourche Reservoir and wanting to keep product procurement as local as possible, the farm gets the minnows from the Wheel In Bait Shop.
The local supply is handy but, Alexa said the fish species is particularly hardy when it comes to handling the area temperatures, whereas other fish species typically used in other aquaponic setups like tilapia, koi or goldfish would struggle in the South Dakota conditions.
So, what happens when the fish get too big and the balance is thrown off?
“The cool thing about it is we’ll trade these out for smaller ones with the bait shop,” Chris said.
A 50-pound batch of minnows will likely thrive in the greenhouse for around six months before needing to be traded out for smaller ones, he said.
“Most people factor in because they either do a huge, massive, million-dollar scale building, or they have a little backyard system,” Alexa said. “So, they either want to eat the fish or they’re factoring it into their revenue plan. For us … it’s so weird fitting that middle ground where we’re not a million-dollar facility but we’re not a 500-gallon backyard system. What worked for everybody else will not quite work here, especially in South Dakota in the wintertime.”
Pandemic curveball meets ingenuity
The current pandemic conditions put a slight kink into the Garros’ plans.
Chris said that the pandemic conditions related to COVID-19 have caused a supply shortage for some of the supplies needed for the greenhouse, requiring them to operate on a smaller level until more supplies arrive.
Photo, Alexa Garro examines the lettuce crop grown at Garro Farms' aquaponic greenhouse in Nisland, S.D. (Lacey Peterson/Black Hills Pioneer via AP)
“And we don’t even have this thing (the aquaponic bed) like a quarter of the way full, and this is (producing) about 860 heads (of lettuce) a week,” Alexa said.
In about a month, Chris anticipated the greenhouse would likely be at around three-quarters capacity.
Even through the rough conditions, Garro Farms is rising above and plowing through the roadblocks. The farm’s produce is already on the shelves of Lueders Food Centers in Spearfish and Belle Fourche, Lynn’s Dakotamart in Belle Fourche, Bee’s Knees Natural Foods in Spearfish, Grocery Mart in Sturgis and Bearlodge Bakery in Sundance, Wyoming.
Soon, that will likely expand. Alexa said they’re in talks with some restaurants all the way to Rapid City, hoping to provide locally grown, healthy options everywhere.
“We had such a good response from everybody. All the stores we’ve sold to … they’re selling out weekly,” Chris said.
The bigger picture
The couple, who, between the two of them, has ranched in Montana, worked in the Bakken oil fields, done professional construction work, and worked in radio and news outlets, decided they wanted a new direction in life.
“It’s good work, and I didn’t mind it,” Chris said. “But, doing something like this, to me, is a bigger thing. Growing food, to me, is more important.”
The farm expects to be able to keep a consistent level of inventory in terms of production, year-round.
“The way that we’re going to get away with that is the grow lights,” Chris said. “In the wintertime, I’ll probably put them over all the beds. You need 10-15 hours of sunlight (each day).”
The couple was uniquely drawn toward growing lettuce. Chris said that around 95% of the country’s lettuce comes from the California region.
“There’s no reason we can’t grow this locally like this,” he said.
“Lettuce is just one crop that you can’t really get it in mass in the winter in South Dakota,” Alexa said. “This is something that everybody that I talked to had the same problem, ‘I buy lettuce, it goes bad; I buy lettuce, it’s not really what I wanted.’ We just kind of went, ‘lets focus on this and get it going.’”
The pandemic conditions have highlighted to the couple the importance of having a local supply chain.
“If we can do this here, I think it’s possible pretty much anywhere,” Chris said.
Chris said he hopes to continue to grow the business, bring on staff, and someday, produce for most of western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming.
Although the farm sold its first batches of lettuce to local stores in mid-April, the couple is already expanding on the greenhouse, planning a 12-foot addition to the front to accommodate a packaging area.
Over Thirty Years Ago Leo and Suzette Overgaag Left Santa Barbara For The Beautiful Coachella Valley To Start Their Own Family Farm
Their dream was to raise their family, support the community and grow the freshest living produce on the market
Over thirty years ago Leo and Suzette Overgaag left Santa Barbara for the beautiful Coachella Valley to start their own family farm. From a shoestring budget and borrowed equipment to break ground, our greenhouses have grown into more than 10 acres of hydroponically grown greenhouse space.
Their dream was to raise their family, support the community, and grow the freshest living produce on the market. Originally growing European cucumbers, the Overgaag’s enjoyed cooking with fresh herbs but noticed the cut herbs available at the grocery store often wilted in a day or two. In the mid-1990’s they delivered the first full line of living herbs sold in the refrigerated section of the grocery store lasting up to three times longer than their fresh-cut counterparts.
Delivering a premium culinary experience with our fresh, living herbs from our family farm to your family’s table is our passion. We have spent years creating the ideal environment to grow culinary herbs with detail to tenderness, exquisite flavor, enticing aroma, and enhanced shelf life. From our deliciously sweet peppery basil to our velvety smooth sage, fresh herbs are a simple and healthy way to make any beverage, appetizer, meal or dessert extraordinary. Enjoy some of our family’s mouth-watering recipes shared or add to your favorite recipes at home.
We are proud to be the first culinary herb grower in the United States to be certified as a sustainable grower by a recognized third party certifier. In order to receive this honor, standards on earth-friendly and labor-friendly practices must be met. We utilize renewable resources such as solar power energy to help power our production and geothermal energy to heat our greenhouses on cool winter nights. A hydroponic growing method enables us to use up to 70 percent less water than field grown crops at a time where the current drought in California is top of mind to so many of us. All our employees are treated with respect, have opportunities for growth, and competitive benefits. North Shore offers tuition reimbursement for higher education or language classes as well as an annual college scholarship for the children and grandchildren of our team.
We are passionate about educating children on where their food comes from and how to cook with fresh, healthy ingredients as well as utilizing agriculture to improve test scores.
In our own community we partner with the YMCA and local schools to donate products, provide monetary donations, educate, and provide greenhouse tours.
BrightFarms Offering Free Virtual Tours Around Pennsylvania Greenhouse To Help Show Where Leafy Greens Grow
Seeing empty shelves at the grocery store lately may have you thinking a lot more about where our food comes from. Our Vittoria Woodill takes us to a local place where they grow those healthy leafy green
May 19, 2020
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Seeing empty shelves at the grocery store lately may have you thinking a lot more about where our food comes from. Our Vittoria Woodill takes us to a local place where they grow those healthy leafy greens.
You may have seen their label in the grocery store but do you know where BrightFarms greens grow up before they make it to your house?
BrightFarms is a national indoor farming startup with four major greenhouses around the country. And in our backyard, their Selinsgrove greenhouse in Synder County is the largest greenhouse for leafy greens in the state of Pennsylvania.
It’s also the place they’ve picked to film their free virtual tour since their school tours have stopped. Kids and adults can learn how their leafy greens are grown hydroponically with grower Charlie Gagne.
BrightFarms is also doing some really cool stuff for the community.“Each of our farms has partnered with a regional food bank,” Gagne said. “I know our farm has donated 1,000 pounds of lettuce so we think that’s really exciting, being able to give back when we can.”
So, don’t let this chance go to waste to learn more about where our food comes from and support local farms.
Watch the video to learn more about BrightFarms.
VITTORIA WOODILL
Gotham Greens Doubles Their Acreage Within Six Months
Newest in their 'collection' is the one in Denver. For decades the area next to an abandoned runway at the former Denver Stapleton Airport site had been sitting vacant
Viraj Puri: "Patient approach has allowed us to scale rapidly and sustainably"
In the last six months, US greenhouse company Gotham Greens has more than doubled their footprint by opening four new greenhouses. Newest in their 'collection' is the one in Denver. For decades the area next to an abandoned runway at the former Denver Stapleton Airport site had been sitting vacant. Only 3 years ago it was reopened as an urban marketplace and now the area is revived with the 30,000 square foot greenhouse. "We enjoy pursuing innovative adaptive reuse projects that can transform otherwise underutilized real estate into productive agriculture, whether on rooftops or at grade", says Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO of Gotham Greens.
Lettuce on NFT
It's a remarkable sight in Denver, Colorado. Next to the 140,000 square foot building in what formerly aircrafts were manufactured, a 30,000 square foot greenhouse has appeared. The glass & steel venture is equipped with an NFT-system from which annually 2 million heads of lettuce will be harvested, including two new lettuce varieties: Crispy Green Leaf and Rocky Mountain Crunch. These products will all find their way to grocery retailers across seven states, including Whole Foods Market, Choice Markets, Alfalfa’s and more.
Restaurant and foodservice customers
“We will also partner with restaurant and foodservice customers in the area and supply our products to restaurant and retail customers located at Stanley Marketplace as businesses begin to reopen”, says Viraj, something that has been impossible of course due to the COVID-outbreak. He adds how he never envisioned to open their Denver greenhouse during a global pandemic. “Our entire team worked extremely hard to commission this new greenhouse during the pandemic and we’re proud to be providing people across the country with healthy, fresh food options they can get excited about. Given the current pressures on our country’s food system, one thing is clear: the importance of strengthening our national food supply through decentralized, regional supply chains.”
That has been the vision of Gotham Greens from the start: ever since 2010, when they opened their first greenhouse in Brooklyn, New York, they’ve focused on delivering fresh, locally and sustainably grown produce to customers and our communities. Over the last couple of months they intensified their expansion, resulting in doubling their total growing acreage. “We built four greenhouses between 2011 and 2015. Rather than focusing on rapid expansion at that point in time, we took a more thoughtful approach to ensure our business model could scale profitably and sustainably in multiple environments and geographies. That patient approach has now positioned and allowed us to scale rapidly sustainably”, says Viraj. “In the past 6 months, we have more than doubled our footprint by opening four new greenhouses in a strategic and measured way. These include greenhouses in Providence, Rhode Island, Baltimore, Maryland, Chicago, Illinois, and now Denver, Colorado.” In total their annual production now grows to nearly 35 million heads of lettuce and distribution to more than 30 states nationwide.
According to Viraj, the end of there expansion is nowhere in sight. “Looking ahead, our goal is to bring our brand of high-quality, sustainably grown local produce and innovative greenhouses to more cities across the country.” In the past they selected quite some remarkable locations for this: on top of a grocery store, on a manufacturing plant, or on the former site of a steel manufacturing plant for example. Viraj explains how a combination of factors drive their decisions for selecting these new locations. “Customer market size opportunities, zoning, land conditions, and logistics and distribution access, just to name a few. Whether building in a rural area provides a bigger challenge? All greenhouse developments are challenging, and we are becoming more experienced with every subsequent project”, he says. “We enjoy pursuing innovative adaptive reuse projects that can transform otherwise underutilized real estate into productive agriculture, whether on rooftops or at grade.”
He adds how their business model has enabled them to remain nimble during these unprecedented times “Now more than ever, we are committed to delivering high-quality, long-lasting and nourishing produce to people when it’s needed most.”
For more information:
Gotham Greens
Publication date: Wed 20 May 2020
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
© HortiDaily.com
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UAE Agri-Tech Growing With New Multi-Million Dollar Fundings For Smart Farms
When Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus and private equity expert Sky Kurtz started in Silicon Valley, he had no idea his investor and entrepreneur journey would lead him to farm tomatoes in the middle of the Arabian desert
HALAL INDUSTRY BY PETRA LOHO
08 MAY 2020
INSIGHT
SALAAM GATEWAY
When Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus and private equity expert Sky Kurtz started in Silicon Valley, he had no idea his investor and entrepreneur journey would lead him to farm tomatoes in the middle of the Arabian desert.
While a New Zealand composite materials business brought Kurtz to Dubai, what made him stay was to help the United Arab Emirate build food security.
“There’s a need to move to more resource-efficient agriculture everywhere, not only in the UAE,” Kurtz told Salaam Gateway. “The Middle East is just an extreme case with less arable land and little water.”
Food security largely covers three dimensions — the availability, affordability, and accessibility of food. The UAE’s biggest challenge is availability, given its agricultural limitations.
Conscious of the importance, the UAE established a State Ministry for Food Security in 2017, leading to the UAE National Food Security Strategy 2051 formulation.
The strategy aspires to champion agribusiness trade facilitation, enable technology-based production and food supply, promote international trade partnerships, enhance nutritional intake, and reduce waste, according to the ministry’s website.
Supporting the strategy financially, in March 2019, the Abu Dhabi government announced a 1 billion dirhams ($272 million) incentive package to support the development of the domestic agri-tech industry.
Offering rebates up to 75% of R&D costs, along with other monetary and governing privileges, the scheme targets three agricultural segments to increase production: precision farming and agrarian robotics, bioenergy, and indoor farming.
SMART FARMS
Having co-founded his tech-enabled agribusiness focusing on year-round generation of fruits and vegetables already in 2016, Kurtz’s Pure Harvest Smart Farms hasn’t enjoyed grants from this government package yet, albeit being a perfect match.
However, in April, the firm raised $20.6 million in additional funding and secured a further $100 million commitment from Kuwait’s national investment company Wafra to finance the company’s local and regional expansion.
“We want to grow very quickly. That’s why we raised such a large sum of capital,” Kurtz said. “Access to funds is a competitive advantage in this capital intensive business as we’re building food infrastructure.”
Initially, Pure Harvest received a $5.6 million seed funding from Shorooq Investment Partners and aligned with the UAE government by securing a 5.5 million dirhams ($1.5 million) investment through the Mohammed bin Rashid Innovation Fund in October 2018.
Kurtz’s fundraising success reflects on a worldwide trend: the global funding to agriculture technology start-ups grew by 43% year-on-year, to almost $17 billion in 2018, according to AGFunder, an online venture capital platform. The U.S., China, and India accounted for almost 80% of all agri-tech funding.
GREENHOUSE PROOF OF CONCEPT
Pure Harvest operates a high-tech, semi-closed, and climate-controlled greenhouse.
“We see ourselves as an energy company,” said Kurtz. “We harvest solar power and turn it into healthy calorie sources as cheaply as possible.”
Growing the product hydroponically, Kurtz views Pure Harvest exceedingly similar to a vertical farm.
“The big difference is we use natural light. We have more than most plants can utilize,” Kurtz said, alluding to the Middle East’s equator proximity.
However, the entrepreneur feels his business model is to a greater extent financially viable than vertical farming.
“Our costs for certain products are under one dollar per kilogram,” the Pure Harvest CEO added. “Vertical farms produce typically between $3.50 and $5.50 per kilogram.”
Kurtz claims to have one of the world’s lowest manufacturing costs, of any food production system, including the most ambitious Dutch producers.
“We are producing at a competitive cost structure now at our pilot farm. At scale, we believe we can do even better,” Kurtz said.
Pure Harvest’s pilot facility harvests about 600 tons bumblebee-pollinated and pesticide-free-grown tomatoes annually.
The company grows a variety of 17, soon to be 20, different kinds of tomatoes — from small, snack-able ones to exotic and aromatic Japanese pink ones.
“Tomatoes are a truly dynamic and technically challenging crop to grow,” Kurtz explained. “Growing greens is a lot easier, and the tomato market is super competitive with both local, regional and international competition – making it a great test case.”
“It was a matter of proving our concept from a technical but also commercial standpoint,” Kurtz explained, referring to the firm’s institutional investors seeking an ROI-making mass-market product as the company matures.
NO WASTE OF WATER
“We don’t waste anything. We capture it and use it somehow. Whether that’s heat energy, cooling capacity, or water,” Kurtz said.
When the greenhouse is closed, Pure Harvest controls and captures evaporation, the treated condensation is reinjected into the irrigation system to water the plants.
According to Kurtz, Pure Harvest uses a little over 30 litres of water per kilogram of production, compared to the around 250 litres of traditional farms.
This is a saving that is crucial for a water-scarce country like the UAE, listed the third most insecure country in the Middle East, after Yemen and Kuwait on the Pardee RAND Food-Energy-Water security (FEW) index.
The country’s renewable water resources are less than 100m3/capita/year — or one-tenth of the 1,000 m3/capita/year water poverty line — according to an article by Hameed et al. published by MDPI, a peer-reviewed journals issuer.
STRAWBERRY FIELDS AHEAD
Forming a partnership with Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, the founder and CEO at the Alliances for Global Sustainability, Pure Harvest secured over 30 hectares to design more greenhouses.
“We’ll build out Sheika Shamma’s land in multiple stages to a production capacity equaling around 24 hectares,” Kurtz said, noting the current farm is just under one hectare.
The geographical expansion plans will see Pure Harvest also build in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Extending the product line, Pure Harvest will start growing greens and strawberries in the UAE soon.
MORE INVESTMENT
Early April, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) announced it would provide 367 million dirhams ($100 million) to four firms – two local, two American – to establish new R&D and farming facilities.
“The UAE has been keeping the investments in the agricultural R&D in focus for a transformative food system,” Dr. Dino Francescutti, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) UAE representative, told Salaam Gateway.
“By determinedly facilitating R&D among its stakeholders, the UAE will be able to develop and benefit from new technologies, increase productivity and efficiency of its limited agricultural resources, thus contributing to the country’s food security and resilience.”
One of the four recipients of ADIO’s $100 million is Madar Farms, a vertical farming pioneer operating a R&D farm growing seven different microgreens in Masdar City.
Founded in 2017 by Kuwaiti Abdulaziz AlMulla, Madar will build the world’s largest commercial-scale indoor tomato farm located in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi that lies between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Farming vertically is certainly going up. From $2.5 billion in 2017, the vertical farming market size will likely surpass $20 billion by 2026, according to a research report by Global Market Insights.
Vertical hydroponic farms require artificial lighting, heating, and cooling systems, ventilation, shade and nutrient dosing, the Produce Marketing Association writes in the 2019 Fresh Produce Industry: United Arab Emirates report.
This explains why many UAE farms are hesitant to adopt the new technology regardless of the government support offered, fearing the increased set-up and electricity costs, according to the trade organisation.
There are more challenges to deal with, though.
“The agri-tech products developed in Asia, Europe, or North America were created to be successful in their environments and cannot simply be copied and pasted here in the UAE,” Madar Farms brand manager Haifa Alrasheed told Salaam Gateway.
“Effective localisation is the key to success as dust, humidity, and heat can take their toll.”
The tomato farm, designed by the Dutch producer Certhon will be installed with more than 5,000 LED fixtures and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2020. Certhon also equipped Pure Harvest’s pilot farm.
“This 5,000 square meter (0.5 hectares) facility will enable us to grow approximately more than a ton of fresh tomatoes every day,” Alrasheed said. “The domestic production only covers about 8% of the total consumption.”
“We’ll also triple the microgreens supply, sold through four online portals,” Alrasheed explained. Demand dependent, the current daily capacity is up to 10 kilograms.
UAE CONSUMPTION
By one calculation, the UAE’s food consumption is to grow at an annualized rate of 3.5% from 8.7 million tons in 2018 to an estimated 10.3 million tons in 2023, according to Alpen Capital’s September 2019 “GCC Food Industry” report.
In 2016, the UAE consumed 1.5 million tons of vegetables, with tomatoes being a favorite.
Domestic tomato production grew to over almost 79,000 tons in 2018, nearly 80% up from 2016, according to FAO statistics.
Despite the increase, the UAE is still not self-sufficient and must import to meet the demand.
With a 27.4%, 13.5%, and 12% share in dollar value, Jordan, India, and the Netherlands were the top three source markets for the UAE in 2018, according to the U.N. Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Iran and Malaysia followed with a 10.5% and 7.7% share, respectively.
COVID-19 CHALLENGING FOOD SECURITY
Now, the COVID-19 pandemic amplifies just how fragile food security is beyond the lack of arable land and water scarcity.
“The diffusion of the pandemic poses major food security and supply chain threats worldwide,” the United Nations’ FAO UAE representative Dr. Francescutti said.
Labour shortages to produce, harvest and process food; an increasing farmer’s struggle to access the markets; the decreased perishable commodities supply, and transport restrictions blocking deliveries cause the risk, the FAO expert explained.
Sky Kurtz’s solution to mitigate such food supply chain risks is simple. “Support the homegrown champions,” he said, appealing to both the UAE leadership and to consumers.
(Reporting by Petra Loho; Editing by Emmy Abdul Alim emmy.abdulalim@salaamgateway.com)
Lead photo: Photo: Vertical farming at Madar Farms in the UAE. Photo supplied by Madar Farms.
© SalaamGateway.com 2020 All Rights Reserved
Nature Fresh Farms Proudly Announces The Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre
The Leamington Kinsmen Recreation Complex is a multi-use facility used by the public for sports, fitness, and community events
Leamington, ON (May 14th, 2020) – On Tuesday, May 12, 2020, the Municipality of Leamington approved sponsorship and naming rights for Leamington’s recreational complex to Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre.
Nature Fresh Farms is a greenhouse grower with over 200 acres of greenhouse facilities. Growing in the Leamington community for the past 20 years, Nature Fresh Farms has become one of the largest independent, vertically integrated greenhouse vegetable farms in North America. Along with their new partnership with the Municipality of Leamington, the current Leamington Kinsmen Recreation Complex will now be named the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre, helping to support the programs and activities offered at the complex.
Nature Fresh Farms is thrilled by the renaming and their future involvement with the facility. “Our partnership with the recreational complex fits perfectly with our ideals of promoting a healthy lifestyle and nutritional eating,” shared Vice President, John Ketler. “We are thrilled to support a centre that is committed to providing the community with services and programs encouraging healthy and active lifestyles.”
John Ketler, Vice President, Nature Fresh Farms
The Leamington Kinsmen Recreation Complex is a multi-use facility used by the public for sports, fitness, and community events. The 179,000 square foot facility, originally opened in 1985, has a 25-metre swimming pool; two ice rinks; a full gymnasium; fitness studio, training rooms, and meeting rooms, including a variety of programs for all ages available to the public.
Peter Quiring, Founder and President, Nature Fresh Farm
“As a family-run business, we understand the value of family and the importance of community facilities that help bring them together,” said Founder and President, Peter Quiring. “The recreation centre is the heart of a town, a place for the community to gather for sports and activities and enjoy each other’s company. It is an important part of our community and we’re very excited to be a part of it.”
The sponsorship by Nature Fresh Farms was confirmed by Leamington officials Tuesday evening.
“We are very pleased to partner with Nature Fresh Farms,” said Mayor Hilda MacDonald. “Our recreation complex is a vital gathering place for Leamington residents, and with the support of Nature Fresh Farms, we will be able to enhance recreational offerings for the community in a facility they’ll be excited to use.”
-30-
About Nature Fresh Farms -
Continuously expanding, Nature Fresh Farms has become one of the largest independent, vertically integrated greenhouse vegetable farms in North America. As a year-round grower with farms in Leamington, ON, Delta, OH, and Mexico, Nature Fresh Farms prides itself on consistently delivering exceptional flavor and quality to key retailers throughout North America, while continuing to innovate and introduce more viable and sustainable growing and packaging solutions.
SOURCE: Nature Fresh Farms | info@naturefresh.ca T: 519 326 1111 | www.naturefresh.ca
Superior Fresh's Brandon Gottsacker Discusses Future of Leafy Greens
At just 34 years old, Brandon’s journey to the sector is impressive. Taken under the wing of renowned scientist, Dr. Steve Summerfelt, Brandon traveled the world, learning various aspects of aquaculture and hydroponics. Returning to Wisconsin, he quickly began developing Superior Fresh alongside Todd and Karen Wanek
Tue. May 12th, 2020
- by Anne Allen
NORTHFIELD, WI - Although I have only been writing about the produce industry for just over two years, I’ve seen some truly incredible things. The word innovation holds more weight for me now, and I take care when I use it. But nothing quite prepared me for the innovative minds behind Superior Fresh, a one-of-a-kind aquaponics operation in the heart of Wisconsin. Using the nutrients from its Atlantic salmon farm to grow—what I personally can attest to—superior organic leafy greens, this up-and-coming company is about to take the produce industry by storm. I had the opportunity to sit down with Brandon Gottsacker, President, to learn more about how this company is changing the way the world grows food.
At just 34 years old, Brandon’s journey to the sector is impressive. Taken under the wing of renowned scientist, Dr. Steve Summerfelt, Brandon traveled the world, learning various aspects of aquaculture and hydroponics. Returning to Wisconsin, he quickly began developing Superior Fresh alongside Todd and Karen Wanek.
Brandon Gottsacker, President, Superior Fresh, LLC“
Todd and Karen lived overseas for many years and were fortunate to see first-hand how food is grown and how unsustainable certain methods of agriculture can be. They wanted to make a difference in the daily lives of so many people by ensuring a clean and healthy food supply and working to fix our broken food system. My passion for aquaculture and their vision for sustainable food led us to develop Superior Fresh. Our mission is to bring the best products to market. They procured some farmland in Northfield, Wisconsin, with this vision in mind. While they were at it, they wanted to restore the surrounding land to its native habitat of prairie, savanna, and woodlands,” Brandon told me.
Next to Superior Fresh’s organic greenhouse lies its fish house, in which nearly 600,000 Atlantic salmon swim in clean, fresh water being fed a non-GMO organic diet. Through a closed-loop water system, water from the fish is cleaned and filtered to remove impurities while maintaining its nutrient-rich benefits. The water is next circulated to the greenhouse, where plants absorb those benefits and the clean water is returned to the fish house. The two operate in a symbiotic fashion where they act as each other’s cover crop in an extremely efficient model.
Utilizing responsible, sustainable methods, the team behind Superior Fresh grows certified-organic produce that adheres to the highest food safety standards
“We focused on creating value from what otherwise is considered a waste stream in the world of aquaculture,” Brandon explained. “Utilizing the nutrient-rich water from the fish gives us the ability to grow high-quality, certified organic vegetables. We’re using 1/30 the amount of water in comparison to soil farming, growing the healthiest, best-tasting products while restoring the surrounding ecosystem.”
Although Superior Fresh is a relatively new company—its farm was built in 2017—it already has its eyes set toward expansion. Currently, the company has two phases of greenhouses with six acres under glass.
Superior Fresh continues to advance its operations through partnerships, such as its distribution deal with c-store Kwik Trip
“Our phase three greenhouse is an additional seven acres, which will bring us to thirteen acres total and continue to bump our production of certified organic leafy greens,” Brandon noted. “What's nice about our facility is that everything is very consistent. We're harvesting organic product from our greenhouses daily, and we do that year-round. If we're harvesting out of our facility every day, it should be getting to the consumer every day. We want to make sure that the end consumer gets the best quality product possible and get the benefit from a maximum shelf life. That's a huge bonus to being local.”
One of Superior Fresh’s first customers was indeed close to home, as it supplied its products to c-store Kwik Trip.
Superior Fresh has two phases of greenhouses with six acres under glass and is working on its phase three greenhouse, which will add another seven
“There are a lot of small towns in Wisconsin, which means that quite a few people rely on places like Kwik Trip for their food. Being able to provide organic products that are fresh, healthy, and delicious to so many consumers that would normally have to drive many miles to get that opportunity speaks volumes to the mission of Superior Fresh,” Brandon remarked.
Brandon’s enthusiasm for sustainable, organic farming is infectious and led us to a discussion about regenerative ag reimagined and what the company's next steps are. (Hint: We're diving into which new products Superior Fresh is trialing.) Intrigued? Stick around next week for Part Two of our discussion—you won’t want to miss it.
Superior Fresh
Successful CSA Strategies For Small Farms
With grocery store shelves empty in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, customers all around the United States are beginning to consider their regional food systems in a new light
BY ALLIE HYMAS
With grocery store shelves empty in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, customers all around the United States are beginning to consider their regional food systems in a new light.
“We have never seen this kind of demand,” Vera Fabian of Ten Mothers Farm near Hillsborough, North Carolina, says. “If ever there was a time to be getting into the CSA business, this would be the moment.”
For the last ten years, Fabian and her husband, Gordon Jenkins, have been raising organic vegetables using the Community Supported Agriculture model. Today, Ten Mothers Farm supplies boxes of vegetables on a seasonal subscription basis to 184 households, and they’re pleased with how this format has allowed them to feed their local community, both in good times and bad. “Something that gives me hope in this time is that people are trying to figure out how to have more resilient communities, whether we’re talking about climate change or the coronavirus.”
Ten Mothers Farm’s CSA strategy and offers timely lessons for farmers who wish to build their business around this model and those who simply want to try this approach to reach customers during the stressors of a health crisis. For Fabian, running a CSA is more than just a method of moving her products. “We are more motivated than ever to feed more people and spread the word. If more businesses were run like a CSA then the world would be in a different place!”
Gordon Jenkins, Vera Fabian and Luke Howerter run Ten Mothers Farm. Photo credit: Scott Kelly.
The Ten Mothers Farm Story
The Ten Mothers Farm website explains their name: “there’s an old saying from India that ‘garlic is as good as ten mothers,’ which to us means that food is medicine, as nourishing and powerful as ten whole mothers.” Having met as employees at the Edible Schoolyard in Berkley, a school started by Alice Waters, Fabian, and Jenkins bonded over a mutual love for cooking and an interest in farming, both as a means of social justice and for supplying food.
While Jenkins’ food journey began in the restaurant industry, Fabian discovered gardening with the intent to participate in agricultural relief work in sub-Saharan Africa.
“I wanted to save the world, but simultaneously I found that I loved cooking, which felt like a frivolous thing, and I felt conflicted between the two of them,” Fabian says. “I studied abroad in West Africa in a women’s garden cooperative and I observed these women solving these huge problems of hunger and education through growing food.” Upon her return, Fabian was gripped with the sense that organic agriculture would be her opportunity to make an impact. “I thought maybe my love of food and desire to fix problems could come together.”
The couple took a diligent, methodical approach to begin their farming journey. After working for food-related nonprofits for five years, Fabian and Jenkins took their saved resources and years of research and apprenticed themselves to Bob Cannard at Green String Farm and then to Eliot Coleman at Four Seasons Farm.
“These were two farmers that we really looked up to and knew we would get a great education from. We learned a ton and shook the city life off,” Fabian says.
Having weighed their options between finding land in Jenkins’ home state of California and Fabian’s of North Carolina, the couple chose the more affordable land prices and water accessibility of North Carolina and spent two years working at Maple Spring Gardens, learning how to farm there.
In 2015 Fabian and Jenkins felt prepared to start their own operation and began renting land from a local family. “For our first three years we started really small,” Fabian says. “Farming is definitely an expression of your personality, and we are pretty careful, methodical people. Farming is so risky and we wanted to reduce as much of the risk as possible.” With Fabian working halftime off their farm for a nonprofit agricultural organization serving refugees from Burma, the initial Ten Mothers Farm endeavor was rolled out with the bigger timeline in mind. “We had thought we would be a market farm, but the markets around here are difficult to get into, so we said ‘Okay, I guess we’ll be a CSA!’” Fabian says. Having operated the CSA successfully for five years, she is grateful that circumstances dictated this model for this business. “It’s especially great during this moment in time!”
“We started with 34 CSA families, and we’ve gradually increased it as we felt ready,” Fabian says. Ten Mothers Farms served 54 households the second year, 74 the third year, followed by 125, and this year they will feed 180 families. “We sold a little bit to restaurants too, but the demand for the CSA has felt strong, so over time we’ve focused more on the CSA and less on restaurants.”
Junie with the whole farm and rows of green in early November. Photo credit: Scott Kelly.
Collaborative Land Purchasing Success
The first iteration of Ten Mothers Farm was on a rented quarter acre. “It was really just a big garden,” Fabian says. “Those first three years we stayed at a quarter acre — but we got better, so we were able to grow more food.” Throughout Ten Mothers Farm’s early years Fabian and Jenkins were searching for land in a pricey real estate market. Aware that they could access a more suitable property by joining forces with other buyers of a similar mindset, the couple chose to search for land with several friends. “It was challenging,” Fabian says. “We almost gave up.”
Their search became more heated when the owners of their rented land sold the property. “At the eleventh hour, when our lease was almost up in the summer of 2018, we happened to find a piece of land that was perfect both for us and the friends we were searching with, and we all bought it together!” To make the purchase, Fabian, Jenkins, and their friends formed an LLC through which the purchase was made and then subdivided the land with a parcel for each of them and a parcel held in common. “We’re all folks that want to have a land-based life but also people who want community out there and not be isolated.”
In the winter of 2018, Ten Mothers moved to its new location. “It was a bare field!” Fabian says. “There was no electricity, no water, no infrastructure of any kind. We quickly did the work of turning this field into a farm.” Fabian and Jenkins are currently building a house on the land and hope to move in June. “There are a lot of wonderful things about sharing the land,” Fabian says. “What we were able to afford as just the two of us would have been really small and unsuitable for farming. ”
Fabian says their space-saving strategies at Ten Mothers Farm have come from limited access to land, but their efficiency can actually offer encouragement to others who might never be able to afford a large property. “For our 180 shares, we farm only one acre of land. Being able to farm on such a small footprint means that it’s so much more accessible to people.”
Selecting Varieties to Offer in a CSA
In choosing varieties, Ten Mothers Farm started with what they enjoyed cooking and eating. “For a CSA, we have to grow a ton of different things to keep our customers happy,” Fabian says. “We grow 60 different vegetables.”
Fabian recommends CSAs keep close tabs on what their customers want.
“Every year, towards the end of the year, we send out a survey and use that survey directly to crop plan for the coming year. That way we’re growing more of what people want and less of what they don’t want.” Always mindful to make sure their products pencil out financially, Fabian notes that there are vegetables they can’t offer because the numbers don’t work, or their methods won’t allow them to grow or harvest those offerings. “For example, we don’t grow potatoes because we’re not a tractor farm,” Fabian explains. “The labor just doesn’t work out.”
As long as a vegetable offering can be produced with financial, space, and labor efficiency, it’s just a matter of taste.
“We are into strange vegetables!” Fabian says with a smile in her voice. “One year we tried molokhia, or Egyptian spinach, which does beautifully in the hot, humid summers that we have, but people hated it! It’s just too weird!”
They’ve found at Ten Mothers Farm that customers enjoy experiencing one or two new vegetables occasionally among a steady offering of recognizable staples. “Most of the time people want to see the things they love and know how to cook.”
Amid the changing climate, Fabian thinks about how certain varieties of vegetables offer more resilience and have adapted to their bioregion better than other foods that may enjoy customers’ favor. Using their weekly newsletter, Fabian is constantly working to educate CSA members on how to use new foods or varieties that are particularly hardy to their bioregion.
“We’re constantly explaining why we grow things and when, and as people have that kind of background information they become more open to trying things and more understanding when they don’t have broccoli in July.” They also host events at Ten Mothers Farm to teach their customers about the farming process. “That really brings it all to life; some of our CSA members haven’t been to the farm yet, and it’s our goal to get them all out here.”
Overcoming Challenges
Fabian encourages farmers to consider starting a CSA to be aware of its unique quirks. “It’s a lot of logistics: lots of crop planning and then executing to make sure you have enough vegetables for everybody. It’s a lot of different crops.” Fabian recommends that potential CSA farmers get used to staying aware of details and putting in place good tools to help keep abreast of the various tasks and considerations. “Making sure you’ve packed the right boxes and didn’t pack boxes for people on vacation.”
The second element Fabian brings forward is marketing and customer service. These elements are both critical to this direct-to-consumer, subscription-based model and will either make or break the business. “When we talk to new and beginning farmers we recommend you go with your personality,” Fabian says. “We happened to really like customer service stuff. We like answering our questions and writing the weekly newsletter. But if you don’t like customer service, you probably shouldn’t do a CSA.”
Fabian also recommends that new CSA operators pad their estimated timeline and hold it loosely. “Everything has taken longer than we’ve planned.” She says. “We try to be patient and not too hard on ourselves when things haven’t happened as quickly as we’d hoped.”
Jenkins and Fabian had part-time off-farm work and slowly built up their customer base before making a big land purchase – an excellent example of how being flexible with the timeline is necessary for smart business planning. “Farming and land are so long-term. We’re talking about either the rest of our lives or at least the next 30-40 years. You have to have a long-term vision or else you’ll get frustrated that it’s not all happening in a year or two.”
Collaboration has been another winning strategy of Ten Mothers Farms. While Jenkins’ and Fabian’s landmates are not partners in the farm, they are working on adding another business partner, Luke Howerter. Fabian says adding additional opinions and voices must be done thoughtfully, but such collaborations can make big things happen on the farm. “You have to keep reminding yourself what can we do together that we can’t do alone: it’s a lot of things! We’re more resilient as three people than just as two of us.”
Regenerative Farming is Giving Back
“Farming regeneratively for us means giving back more than you take,” Fabian says. “ We try to think about how we can give back more both in terms of the land and the people. We often leave humans out of the equation when we talk about sustainable agriculture. One doesn’t really work without the other.”
In addition to structuring Ten Mothers Farming practices and land-use strategies around environmental considerations, Jenkins and Fabian are mindful of how their farm can care for those who work there. “A lot of customers ask ‘is this GMO’ or ‘is this sprayed,’ and our methods address those issues, but they might not be asking if the person who grew their food is making a living.”
Given the legacy of extractive agriculture, both of the soil in extensive tobacco farming and of humans in the enslavement of African families, Jenkins and Fabian are hyperaware of how their farming model needs to put nutrients back into the soil and resources into the community. “If you’re going to farm organically in NC you have to be giving back a lot more than you’re taking because you simply can’t grow anything if you’re not giving back a lot.”
In their first year on their current property, the Ten Mothers Farm team amended their soil according to soil test results and found their soil nutrition was still so low that their spring crops would not grow. “We spent the past year doing so much to increase soil fertility.”
No-till farming is another aspect of how Ten Mothers is practicing regenerative agriculture. “We started out no-till for practical reasons: we heard it reduced weed pressure, we didn’t have money for a tractor, we weren’t particularly interested in tractors and we preferred small hand-scale tools. It turns out doing those things is really great for the soil!”
Thanks to their small footprint and their on-the-ground approach, Ten Mothers Farm has been able to improve their soil quickly through major additions of compost and close observation of soil and plant health.
“I think a lot of growers hear about no-till and they’re skeptical. They assume it wouldn’t be too labor-intensive or just wouldn’t work. We’re so used to tillage it’s hard to give it up.” Fabian says. “A turning point for us was when we were able to visit Singing Frogs Farm. They were a small, no-till operation and their soil and vegetables were beautiful and they were making it work. Then, we knew it was possible! Now, so many small farms are switching to no or low-till. We visited Singing Frog Farm in California just to see an example of how it was done, and they have such great soil. It’s so productive. They made it feel totally possible, and now we’re seeing so many farms doing no-till.”
Fabian recommends the No-Till Growers podcast to hear directly from farmers practicing no- or low-till methods.
Building Trust is the Best Strategy
Fabian is always excited to hear about farmers who want to try the CSA model. “Make sure it’s something you’re excited about – you’re asking people to become a member of your farm, and that’s a big commitment,” Fabian says focusing on just one or maybe two sales strategies have worked for them. “We’ve been able to build a loyal customer base through the CSA because we weren’t trying to do a bunch of markets or different income streams. It takes a lot to keep customers engaged each year. If you spread yourself thin, your CSA members will notice and your retention rate will decrease.”
Fabian’s secret sauce for CSA success is gratitude, trust, and sharing. “Your members are making it possible for you to farm,” she says. “Part of them coming back the next year and the next year is giving them the feeling that they’re deeply appreciated members of the CSA. They have to learn a whole new way of meal planning, cooking, and eating, and you have to be their coach. You have to share your love for your produce and the farm with your customers. Part of what they’re buying when they join a CSA is you, your story and your passion for the food and the work.”
To this end, Fabian says it’s tempting to take on too many members at once, but this should be avoided. Doing well with a small batch and working out the kinks in production and distribution will establish the trust that will lead to more customers. “Build a loyal customer base and they will be your marketing; they will get their friends and neighbors on board.”
Having established trust also helps when crises like the COVID-19 pandemic arise. Showing customers online and in a newsletter the additional sanitation practices should be a reinforcement to the work that’s already been done all along in maintaining a good relationship between producer and consumer. Fortunately for Ten Mothers Farm, while farm sales outlets like restaurants and farmers’ markets are drying up, the boxed CSA model is already compliant with increased health restrictions.
Fabian says, “I’m very inspired to see how farmers around here are figuring out ways to cooperate more to sell their goods during these uncertain times.” In addition to their partnership with additional local farms to include a flower and grain share in their boxes, Ten Mothers Farm is working on adding meat and maybe eggs from other local sources, both to help their fellow farmers and to safely provide customers with more local food. Fabian and Jenkins are also working out ways to offer boxes to unemployed members for little to no cost. “Everything’s happening so fast, and we certainly haven’t figured this all out yet, but it’s clear that we’re all going to have to cooperate more and be more generous in the days ahead.”
About Eco-Farming Daily
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Nature Fresh Farms Hires New Marketing Director
Nature Fresh Farms has hired seasoned marketer Stephanie Swatkow as its new director of marketing
MAY 07, 2020
Nature Fresh Farms has hired seasoned marketer Stephanie Swatkow as its new director of marketing.
Beginning her career in advertising with Young and Rubicam, Swatkow worked with global agencies, including MacLaren McCann and JWT (Enterprise Creative Selling) before joining the design firm Mamone & Partners. Bringing over 20 years of advertising and marketing experience to Nature Fresh Farms, Swatkow has worked with many brands including Ford, Kraft, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Airmiles, LCBO, Fairmont, HomeSense, and Birks. Through her experience in consumer-packaged goods, automotive, and retail sectors, Swatkow has a deep knowledge of brand development and management.
“I am happy to welcome Stephanie to our management team and look forward to working together in further developing the Nature Fresh brand. The depth of her marketing knowledge and leadership will benefit our entire organization,” said Director of Business Development Ray Wowryk. “We have experienced some tremendous growth recently, and we are excited to have Stephanie guide us toward continued success in growing the Nature Fresh Farms market.”
With its recent growth, Nature Fresh Farms identified the need to reinforce its marketing team with the addition of seasoned leadership. In her role as director of marketing, Swatkow will work strategically alongside the senior management team to redefine marketing plans and drive major marketing initiatives.
“Stephanie is a welcomed addition to our marketing team and has proven to be a wonderful asset to our company,” said Vice President John Ketler. “We look forward to her sharing her insight and creativity, so we can continue to enhance our operations and exceed our customer’s expectations.”
About Nature Fresh Farms
Continuously expanding, Nature Fresh Farms has become one of the largest independent, vertically integrated greenhouse vegetable farms in North America. As a year-round grower with farms in Leamington, ON, Delta, OH, and Mexico, Nature Fresh Farms prides itself on consistently delivering exceptional flavor and quality to key retailers throughout North America, while continuing to innovate and introduce more viable and sustainable growing and packaging solutions.
Signify Installs Poland’s First FULL LED Lighting In A Pink Tomato Greenhouse
Signify provides growers horticulture LEDs, which allow them to increase growth predictability, quality, and yield, and which allows growers to grow fruit and vegetables in their greenhouses all year round
April 8, 2020
Warsaw, Poland – Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, has installed LED lamps in a Tomimaru Muchoo pink tomato greenhouse for the first time in Poland. This innovative full LED system was implemented on a 2ha plantation belonging to Łukasz Budyta Greenhouse Complex, which was fitted with Philips GreenPower LED toplighting modules and Philips GreenPower LED interlighting modules. Electrical installation design works on the project were carried out by Philips Horti LED Partner – company Lek/Habo.
Modern greenhouse lighting
Signify provides growers horticulture LEDs, which allow them to increase growth predictability, quality, and yield, and which allows growers to grow fruit and vegetables in their greenhouses all year round. As LEDs are more energy-efficient than high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps, it also helps growers to reduce electricity consumption.
“When designing the greenhouse lighting, we wanted to minimize the installed grid power while maintaining levels of light that are appropriate for the plant’s need. LED lighting is the most energy-efficient, and at the same time – which is equally important to us – the most environmentally friendly solution,” said Łukasz Budyta, owner of Łukasz Budyta Greenhouse Complex.
Compared to 1000W HPS lights, Philips GreenPower LED lighting produces the same amount of light while consuming 50% less energy and producing little radiation heat. This allows growers to independently control the temperature and amount of light deployed, and thus more effectively control climate conditions in their greenhouse. The use of LED modules can shorten production cycles, increase yields and allow better use of growing space. Modern lighting ensures economical and at the same time eco-friendly greenhouse cultivation.
“Philips GreenPower LED lighting is an innovative approach to year-round cultivation of vegetables and fruit in greenhouses. We are constantly following the trends and trying to meet the requirements of our business partners, and our technology for grow light with LEDs in greenhouses is perfectly in line with the eco-friendly approach of modern farms,” said Maciej Król, Horti LED C&EE Business Development Expert, Signify.
Pink tomatoes all year round
Łukasz Budyta Greenhouse Complex focuses on growing pink tomatoes. As the first farm in Poland, it uses LED lighting in a greenhouse in Piotrowice near Karczew.
The greenhouse is illuminated with a full LED system, providing a light intensity of 140 µmol/s/m2 from toplighting modules and 60 µmol/s/m2 from interlighting modules, which allows intensive and energy-efficient winter cultivation.
The setup of their lighting installation is the result of successful trials carried out in 2015-2017 at the micro-greenhouses of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW). In their own full-size production facility located in Piotrowice, Łukasz Budyta Greenhouse Complex wanted to repeat the results achieved in the test installation.
Łukasz Budyta Greenhouse Complex is located near Warsaw, providing easy, direct access to the vast market of the Polish capital and the rest of the country. The first pink tomatoes grown using Signify’s Philips LED fixtures are now available in stores in Warsaw
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For further information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
Signify Press Officer in Poland
Dorota Sławińska
Tel: +48 605 342 517
E-mail: dorota.slawinska@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. With 2019 sales of EUR 6.2 billion, we have approximately 32,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We have been named Industry Leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for three years in a row. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
Hands-Free Cultivation At Fresh Local Produce of Ohio
Green Automation is proud to announce the realization of another project in North America
Green Automation Group's latest project in North America is completed. The fully automated growing system for hydroponic baby leaf lettuce has been installed at Fresh Local Produce of Ohio and is already producing fresh, tasty and sustainable leafy greens for local distribution in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.
Our Hands-Free Cultivation in the controlled environment of a greenhouse checks all the boxes for safe and sustainable growing.
WELLINGTON, FLA. (PRWEB) APRIL 06, 2020
Green Automation is proud to announce the realization of another project in North America. The installation of Green Automation’s fully automated growing system at Fresh Local Produce in Hudson, Ohio was completed this winter. Fresh Local Produce of Ohio started their production of fresh baby lettuce in February and can already be found on the shelves of several grocery stores in the area. Fresh Local Produce is selling under the brand “Free! Leafy Greens”.
The name Free! Leafy Greens is referring to everything this baby leaf lettuce is free of; Free of chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, free of GMO, free of chlorine washes and even free from any hands touching the lettuce. “This is what we call Hands-Free Cultivation,” says Anthony Umina, Managing Member of Fresh Local Produce. “Food safety is at the top of everyone’s priority list today, retailers, restaurants and consumers alike. Our Hands-Free Cultivation in the controlled environment of greenhouse checks all the boxes for safe and sustainable growing” continues Umina.
“With food safety being at the focus of attention in the industry today and an essential component of any successful food production operation, we as a company are taking it upon ourselves to join the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Initiative and raise our food safety standards. By doing so we have implemented a comprehensive food safety system and are preparing for our first voluntary SQF audit to obtain the Food Safety and Quality Certification,” explains Gina Frontino, Food Safety and Quality Assurance Manager at Fresh Local Produce. “In addition to the food safety measures in place, the fully automated growing system brings an extra level of food safety to the operation, as it eliminates any human contact with the lettuce. No-one touches our leafy greens during the entire growing process. We like to call that Worry-Free lettuce,” says Frontino.
The company’s strong focus on responsibly and locally produced lettuce is aligning well with the ongoing trend toward and growing demand for fresh, safe and locally grown lettuce. “Our lettuce is in the stores within 24 hours of harvesting. It does not get much fresher than that, and you can taste the difference,” says Eric Highfield, Chief Agricultural Officer at Fresh Local Produce.
“When choosing the growing system for their operations, Fresh Local Produce asked the right questions,” says Patrik Borenius, CEO Green Automation Americas. “They looked at yield numbers, plant density, labor efficiency and the costs involved to achieve an economically viable operation. Our fully automated growing system with moving open-gutters achieves the highest plant density and operates efficiently on a commercial scale. Fresh Local Produce also chooses a strategic location for their greenhouse. The site is close to the interstate allowing for efficient distribution of their fresh greens and with a population of over 50 Million within 6 hrs. truck drive. In addition, low energy cost was secured at the site and there are opportunities to expand the operations at this location,” explains Borenius.
Free! Leafy Greens are grown and harvested every day, 365 days per year. The new greenhouse operation measures 2 acres and the site is prepared for future expansions. “Right now, we are ramping up the production of phase 1. We will take one step at the time and determine when the time is right to expand,” says Anthony Umina.
About Green Automation Group
Green Automation Group Ltd, headquartered in Finland, and it’s subsidiary Green Automation Americas LLC, based in Florida, develop, manufacture and market the most advanced greenhouse automation systems for lettuce and herb production. The systems are designed for commercial greenhouse operations with a growing area of 1 acre / 0.4 hectares and above. http://www.greenautomation.com
About Fresh Local Produce
Fresh Local produce of Ohio grows and distributes leafy greens under the brand “Free! Leafy Greens”. Free! Leafy Greens are hydroponically grown baby leaf lettuce locally sourced in Summit County Ohio! Our state-of-the-art greenhouse provides a perfect growing environment for our baby leaf, 365 days a year. Our mission is to show our customers what clean and responsibly produced lettuce should taste like. Currently serving OH, PA, and IN communities!
Nature Fresh Farms Sales Welcomes New Team Member To Sales Staff
Zanelle Hough began her career 14 years ago in Logistics working for a South African exporter
Leamington, ON (March 31, 2020)
Nature Fresh Farms Sales expands its team, welcoming Retail Sales Account Manager, Zanelle Hough to their sales department.
Zanelle Hough began her career 14 years ago in Logistics working for a South African exporter. Wanting to gain more experience in sales, she shifted to the Walmart Global Procurement team as a Logistics and Procurement specialist sourcing South African product for the various Walmart and Sam’s Club retail stores in the USA and Asia. Two years later Zanelle fully transitioned to a sales role working for a South African exporter called Freshworld, an organization that specializes in direct retail programs throughout the world. In addition to the retail accounts, she has managed the SunkistTM Global account for various customers throughout Asia and North America.
General Manager, Frank Neufeld shared his enthusiasm for the new extension to their team: “We are very pleased to welcome Zanelle to the Nature Fresh Farms Sales team. Having many years of experience in the produce industry, she will be a great asset in supporting our rapid growth and assisting our customers in the best possible way,” said Frank. “As business continues to expand it’s essential to find key individuals who will help bring Nature Fresh Farms to even greater heights.”
As Retail Sales Account Manager, Zanelle’s responsibilities will include generating sales from new and existing accounts, raising awareness of company offerings while increasing our market share, and building strong relationships with her retail partners. With Zanelle based in Leamington, ON, she will continue to help support the rest of the sales team with her invaluable experience.
“As our company continues to expand and gain market share, we are investing in the growth of our team. Adding Zanelle to the sales team provides us with a strong individual that can continue to help propel us forward,” shared Director of Sales, Matt Quiring. “Culturally, this is a great fit as well. You can see immediately when someone fits into your company’s culture and it excites me for what the future holds!”
With further developments on the horizon, Nature Fresh Farms is thrilled with the growth of the company and the new addition to the team. As business continues to expand, the company is excited to offer new opportunities for professional development.
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About Nature Fresh Farms -
Continuously expanding, Nature Fresh Farms has become one of the largest independent, vertically integrated greenhouse vegetable farms in North America. As a year-round grower with farms in Leamington, ON, Delta, OH, and Mexico, Nature Fresh Farms prides itself on consistently delivering exceptional flavor and quality to key retailers throughout North America, while continuing to innovate and introduce more viable and sustainable growing and packaging solutions.
SOURCE: Nature Fresh Farms | info@naturefresh.ca T: 519 326 1111 | www.naturefresh.ca
Betting The Farm: Soil-Free, Indoor Farming Might Be The Future of Healthy, Local food
Unlike companies like Amazon and FedEx that have recently brought the industry back to the grounds of the old Bethlehem Steel Plant with their distribution warehouses in Sparrows Point, Gotham Greens arrived and built a farm. An indoor, soil-free, tech-forward, 100,000-square-foot one
Lisa Elaine Held - April 2020
On a 30-degree day in January, heads of butterhead, red oak, and Tropicana green-leaf lettuce are soaking up the sun in a balmy 75-degree greenhouse so close to 695, it’s visible to drivers approaching the Francis Scott Key Bridge. “It’s pretty dreamy in here,” says Nicole Baum, director of partnerships at Gotham Greens, as a blue divider lifts and the aroma of fresh pesto welcomes us into the “basil room.”
Unlike companies like Amazon and FedEx that have recently brought the industry back to the grounds of the old Bethlehem Steel Plant with their distribution warehouses in Sparrows Point, Gotham Greens arrived and built a farm. An indoor, soil-free, tech-forward, 100,000-square-foot one.
Started on a Brooklyn rooftop in 2011, the New York City-based company is one of a hearty group of businesses now growing vegetables indoors in Baltimore year-round, turning the city into what could be, given its proximity to so many markets, a Mid-Atlantic hydroponic produce hub.
From small-scale, DIY endeavors to massive, state-of-the-art operations like Gotham Greens, these businesses say they’re increasing access to healthy, local produce while eliminating the greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient losses, and food safety concerns inherent in shipping, say, California romaine across the country to the East Coast. They also see their controlled-environment agriculture as important to food security in the era of climate change.
How they will affect the region’s food system, however, is still uncertain.
“I used to be a hacker for the Feds,” says Larry Hountz from inside his brick rowhouse off Patterson Park, where he sits on a leopard-print stool, offers guests velvet slippers, and talks about the farm he operates in his spare bedroom upstairs.
Those computer skills helped him build City-Hydro in 2013, where he now grows dozens of varieties of microgreens out of his own home. A traumatic brain injury suffered in a car accident had made focusing at a computer difficult, and urban farming seemed like it could provide opportunities for both healing and business. When he looked into indoor hydroponic systems fit for city living, though, he didn’t like what he found. “It was a lot of non-food-safe plastics and fertilizers and just things that didn’t make sense to me,” he says.
Hydroponic farming is generally done indoors. It involves placing plants in trays or towers, with the roots dropping directly into water instead of soil. Liquid nutrients are added to the water, LEDs are used for lighting, and the environment is climate-controlled for ideal growing conditions.
Hountz and his wife, Zhanna, bought their own materials, including grow lights, green plastic trays, and wire racks. Then they researched and tested designs until they landed on an efficient way to produce their seedlings, which require little space and grow to maturity quickly. He decided to sell directly to local chefs, who love microgreens for their concentrated flavor and delicate appearance. In their 10-by-15-foot room, the trays are stacked vertically, with water the only input, no pesticides, and energy-efficient lights above each.
In January, micro leeks for Cinghiale were sprouting out of coconut husk pads below micro peas headed to The Pendry and Foraged. But the farm has been significantly scaled back since its most productive days. After news coverage thrust their surprisingly simple, yet effective, system into the spotlight, the couple shifted the bulk of their business to selling the system they invented to other eager growers. “This week alone, I think we sold 60,” Hountz says, showing off a tower of boxes behind the kitchen filled with supplies that needed to be unpacked and assembled for customers. “We import a million coconut pads a year.”
They also offer free training and post YouTube videos for individuals who want to build their own farms instead of buying them, and as people from across the country visit the house to learn and report back with success stories, Hountz sees little need for what he considers big, corporate growers. “The only way we’re going to feed people [around the world] is with small, individually owned farms,” he says. “This works, and we have the people out there to prove it.”
While some hail hydroponics as an exciting new farming frontier, others are worried about the implications of growing without soil, like on the nutritional value of the vegetables produced. In the hydroponic production of full-size produce, however, growers feed their plant’s tailored fertilizers, which can lead to higher levels of some nutrients compared to soil-based farming.
Research also shows nutrient levels in all vegetables degrade over time, and produce sold in East Coast grocery stores is typically shipped long distances, especially during winter. Because hydroponic growers can harvest year-round in any locale, they are technically able to get fresher greens to consumers more quickly.
But skeptics like farmer Dave Chapman, executive director of the Real Organic Project, say soil is a complex ecosystem, home to fungi and microorganisms that interact with plant roots in ways not yet fully understood. “We are not smart enough to get the nutrient balance exactly correct,” he says. “The more we learn, the more we realize we don’t know.”
How these farms will affect the local food system is still uncertain
Then there’s the environmental impact. Hydroponic systems vary considerably, so it can be hard to make comparisons. Local distribution, no matter the farming method, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation. Hydroponic farms generally use significantly less water and require less space, and therefore land, to produce more food. They do, however, require some energy use for systems such as lighting and climate control. Traditional outdoor farms, of course, work off natural light, but they often pollute the environment via man-made fertilizers and pesticides used to control variables and inefficiencies inherent in nature.
Organic outdoor farmers, however, have long confronted these challenges without chemicals, in ways that benefit the environment. “Organic farming is based on healthy soil,” Chapman says, back to its earliest roots, which in turn, farmers and experts say, leads to healthy plants. “The slogan is ‘feed the soil, not the plant.’”
Recently, he and other farmers have been at odds with corporate hydroponic growers who lobbied for their crops to be eligible for USDA organic certification simply based on the absence of added chemicals. Operations like Gotham Greens avoid that debate altogether: Instead of calling their produce organic, they simply state that they do not use pesticides.
In the end, some see ultra-automated, large hydroponic farms as threatening to those that are small and family-run. Others view them as an exciting way to replace the sprayed greens from far-flung places that sit on supermarket shelves.
Somewhere in the middle is Jon Shaw, a local farmer whose name comes up in most conversations surrounding hydroponic produce in Baltimore, which may be surprising to those who know him as the organic guru behind Karma Farm in Monkton.
While Shaw and his son, Nat, fully believe that soil’s magic leads to the incredible sweetness of their winter carrots, they also see hydroponic growing as complementary to their outdoor organic production. “It became clear to us that the winter was our weakness,” says Nat, who runs the farm’s hydroponic operations. “It seemed like this perfect marriage to combine hydroponics with the outdoor farm to have local, seasonal food all year.”
Like Hountz, Nat is a tech-savvy tinkerer who built proprietary systems for Karma Farm after discovering the made-to-order versions didn’t quite work as advertised. In his basement farm, where he was growing multiple basil varieties in January, he’s like a scientist showing off the gadgets in his lab, complete with timers, pumps, fans, dehumidifiers, and beneficial insects released to deal with harmful pests.
He also tends to two hydroponic farms inside shipping containers. One sits next to a Karma barn and is filled with specialty herbs like borage and cilantro, growing in vertical towers. The other is on the grounds of Sandlot, chef Spike Gjerde’s outdoor beach bar at Harbor Point, and it’s equipped to produce trays of leafy greens, which can be eaten at many restaurants, including Woodberry Kitchen.
For the Shaws, perfecting the shipping containers was a long process. Many growers find these systems difficult to master due to design flaws and the sensitive calibration of technology. So far, greens, herbs, and microgreens are the only vegetables that hydroponic farmers see as efficient enough to grow to make a profit. “It took us about two and a half years to figure out what we could grow and what will sell consistently,” Jon says.
In West Baltimore, a new, 3,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse that’s under construction is all about training farmers. Public charter school Green Street Academy specializes in workforce development for “green careers” and is already home to an orchard, chicken coop, fish farm, pollinator meadow, and hoop house for vegetables.
But one challenge to educating young people in agriculture has long been the school year, which is out of sync with the growing season, says JJ Reidy, CEO, and co-founder of Urban Pastoral, a local sustainable development company that’s helping Green Street build agricultural infrastructure. A greenhouse that continues to operate through the winter will give students the chance to participate in every part of the growing process.
“We should be able to do 25,000 pounds of leafy greens a year,” says Reidy, who plans to purchase them for Molina and Stem, his restaurants inside R. House in Remington. He also points out that the recent growth of hydroponic farming in Baltimore means that there will likely be more internship and job opportunities available for kids. “Indoor agriculture is a burgeoning field,” he says.
“We should be able to do 25,000 pounds of leafy greens a year.”
Across from T.J. Maxx and Petco in Nottingham, a looming gray building looks like a warehouse for storing boxes, but a worker wearing a hard hat and orange vest opens an unmarked metal door and points inside. “It’s the future of farming,” he says with a grin.
One thing is for sure: it’s futuristic farming. Started in New York City in 2015 with a mission to reduce some of the environmental impacts of agriculture, Bowery, another indoor farm setting up shop in Baltimore, now grows greens and herbs—purple bok choy, baby kale, wasabi arugula—at two farms in New Jersey.
During a winter visit, the Baltimore operation was barely up and running, but it was already clear that when founder-CEO Irving Fain says, “We stack our crops vertically from the floor to the ceiling,” he is not speaking metaphorically. The design, kept tightly under wraps, involves a dizzying grid of levels, stairways, and robotic parts moving around on their own. Fain declined to share the size of the farm or how much it cost to build, but Bowery has raised about $175 million total to date. He, too, chose the Baltimore County location for its access to markets and transportation.
“In this surrounding area, there are about 25 million people that we could serve with this farm,” he says, noting that Nottingham used to be an agricultural area. “This fulfills the mission we talk about—getting fresh food efficiently and sustainably to our population.”
Fain envisions a scalable model that would allow him to build Bowery farms that distribute locally in cities all over the world, and he emphasizes the importance of the sophisticated operating system that involves sensors, cameras, and algorithms that are constantly tracking and adjusting the plants and their environment.
“It’s like our central nervous system,” he says. “We’re collecting millions of data points in real time, and that data impacts how our crops are growing.” The company also digitally tracks each plant from seed to shelf, which reduces the possibility of an untraceable food safety scare.
While the scale and sophistication may inspire awe, the light human touch needed to operate the whole thing is apparent as well. When it’s fully up and running this spring, Bowery’s farm will create about 80 local jobs.
Gotham Greens’ farm will also employ about 60 people locally. But inside, it has less of a space-age feel, primarily because the company uses the sun instead of LEDs as its main source of light, and thus, plant energy. The space is vast, with leafy greens snuggled up to each other in rows as far as the eye can see, but it looks more like a turned-up version of a typical greenhouse. The technology used to irrigate, deliver nutrients, and move rows from seed to harvest is barely visible.
Since its launch in 2009, Gotham expanded within New York and also built farms in Chicago and Providence, Rhode Island. The Baltimore farm is the seventh, coming in around $11 million to build, and an eighth will be up and running soon in Denver. With each new location, the scale has grown, from the original 15,000 square feet to this newest iteration, which is six times the size with more advanced systems in terms of sensors, data, climate control, and automation.
CEO and co-founder Viraj Puri says the company was especially interested in Sparrows Point because urban revitalization is a part of the company’s larger goals. “We’re not single-handedly changing neighborhoods and cities,” he says. “But we are helping to raise the profile of some of these areas, to attract other businesses, and be a catalyst for additional urban renewal.”
Produce from Bowery and Gotham Greens will be sold throughout Maryland and surrounding states at various grocery stores, such as Whole Foods for the latter, and both will also court chefs throughout the region. As for small, local farms, Jon Shaw isn’t worried. “We have a relationship with restaurants. . . they want to be catered to, they want specialized [products],” he says. “And I think there’s a really strong inclination from chefs that buy locally to buy from soil-based farms.”
Plus, Fain says, “When you look at the demand for local food right now, it far, far outpaces the supply.”
HEALTH & WELLNESSTRAVEL & OUTDOORSSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY HYDROPONIC FARMING INDOOR FARMING URBAN PASTORAL GOTHAM GREENS CITY HYDRO
India’s Answer To Vertical Farming Raises $5.5m Series A
India’s fresh produce industry has severe shortcomings. Bottom line: Not enough of it gets produced; nor can its consumers rely on its consistency or freshness
February 13, 2020
India’s fresh produce industry has severe shortcomings. Bottom line: Not enough of it gets produced; nor can its consumers rely on its consistency or freshness. For the producers themselves, getting their tomatoes or lettuce to market at a fair and timely price is fraught with financially hazardous uncertainty.
Does this all herald an opening for vertical farming in India’s vast urban and peri-urban areas? Not quite, says Omnivore’s managing director Mark Kahn, speaking to AFN by phone to disclose his firm’s latest investment deal: “Vertical farming is not especially relevant in India,” he said. “Land is plentiful and the cost of energy is very high.”
$5.5m for ‘India’s Plenty’
Nevertheless, he said, there is still a large and growing demand for more nutritious produce that has not been doused in chemicals and has been grown in a place not far from where it is consumed. There is also an urgent and substantial need for more climate resilience, Kahn noted. So India’s venture capital equivalent to North American indoor farms like Plenty, Bowery or Brightfarms, he concluded, is a company that galvanizes and coordinates the tens of thousands of already existing greenhouses dotted on the outskirts of India’s major cities.
That resulted in Kahn’s team at Omnivore jointly leading a $5.5 million in Series A into Clover — a greenhouse agritech platform, which partners with farmers across India with the aim of marketing premium quality, branded, greenhouse-grown fresh produce via B2B and B2C channels. Clover “is partnering with the asset owners that are largely disorganized right now. Then aggregating the high-quality produce,” said Kahn. Most of the greenhouse owners are smallholders with about an acre to work with — “not enough to make a brand,” he added. In his due diligence process, Kahn and his fellow investors saw how this platform boosted the yields, the quality, and the profit margins of fresh produce at participating greenhouses. “We visited all the farmers they were working with,” he said. “The farmers we spoke to were all making much more money. There’s a stickiness to the platform.” Consumers, meanwhile, seemed happy with the added reliability of the quality on offer.
Two towering existing investors
Fellow leaders of this round were two towering existing investors: Mayfield and Accel. Both had invested in Clover’s seed round back in December 2018 while the company was still in stealth mode in Bangalore, having been co-founded by Avinash BR, Gururaj Rao, Arvind Murali, and Santhosh Narasipura
“Clover is transforming the perishables supply chain to better serve the new-age Indian consumer who values high quality produce,” underscored Prashanth Prakash, a partner at Accel, which recently closed its sixth India fund on $550 million.
It is the first time, despite years of investing on similar turf, that Omnivore and Accel have been side by side on an investment round; the same goes for the joint presence Omnivore and Mayfield in an investor lineup — Mayfield has been investing in India since 2006 and cumulatively manages $219 million on the subcontinent. In a statement, Vikram Godse, a managing partner at Mayfield, gave his view on what drew in this gigantic Silicon Valley VC firm: “Clover operates in the highly-fragmented but large agriculture market of India. By using cutting edge technology, systems, and processes, the Clover team, led by Avinash, is disrupting the agriculture value chain for fruits and vegetables. This not only brings about economic benefits to Clover’s B2B customers but also ensures significantly improved quality of produce is delivered to the end B2C consumer.”
Any insights on greenhouses in India? Let us know at richard@agfunder.com