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Lettuce Lads Aim To Transform Hydroponic Farming
The Lettuce Lads show off their demonstration version of a high-volume, high-density hydroponics growing system at the Canmore Greenhouse on Saturday (April 6).
Photo credit: Aryn Toombs / Rocky Mountain Outlook
BY ARYN TOOMBS | APR 11, 2019
CANMORE – Soon your Bow Valley burger will be topped with fresh locally grown butterhead lettuce courtesy of the Lettuce Lads.
Crisp and nutritious greens aside, customers will be tasting the results of a giant leap in hydroponic agriculture technology.
For the past year, the Lettuce Lads have been developing patented technology that promises growth rates in excess of 200 percent of traditional hydroponics and greenhouse techniques, while requiring significantly less electricity, water and labour.
“What we’re trying to prove here is that we can grow more for less,” said Lettuce Lads co-founder Caleb Allen.
Currently in the demonstration stage, leafy greens are grown in a multi-tiered belted system where optimal amounts of light and water are provided to the plants.
Allen and head engineer Kyle West brainstormed ideas centered around making hydroponic operations more profitable for growers.
“Most hydroponic operations aren’t profitable because they have very high utility costs, high labour costs and that results from a low density setup,” said Allen.
The density of plant growth is what sets the Lettuce Lads system apart from other shipping container and greenhouse systems.
Our system can grow 246 per cent more grams per square foot than our competition,” he said.
The Lettuce Lads also said they are able to get 518 per cent more grams per kilowatt hour of power used than other systems.
The end goal they say is that they can drive down the cost of production for growers, resulting in savings for consumers as well.
“You can already buy hydroponically grown lettuce right now at Save-on-Foods – it’s like $4.50, $5 a head – so we’re going to have that quality or higher, and we’re going to reduce the cost and make it more accessible across the country,” said Matt Howlett, head of marketing and communications for the Lettuce Lads.
Provincially the greenhouse industry has seen flat growth since 2015, with a peak of 188 business province wide in that year, decreasing to 174 in 2017 and rising to 186 at the end of 2018 according to Statistics Canada.
During the same period, the consumer price index commodity price of energy rose sharply to a peak in January 2018 of 164.3 before declining to
159.6 in December.
Energy costs have a direct impact on the profitability of greenhouses because of the size of the growing spaces and way that those environments are heated.
The Lettuce Lads system does away with what they call “competition with the environment,” reducing energy costs by creating a small dense environmentally controlled space.
“If they use our technology in their existing systems they’ll be able to grow more efficiently and be able to grow year round because we’re driving up the output while driving down the utility costs,” said Allen.
Reducing labour costs is also a result of the belted system that moves plants through the multi-tiered growing space to where the farmer is located, instead of the farmer having to go to the plant.
“Traditional hydroponics in shipping containers requires more labour,” said Howlett.
“A farmer with traditional hydroponics would have to go into the container, sometimes have to use a stepladder in order to reach something higher up. He’s going to have to take a tray off, sometimes a 10 to 20 foot tray of produce out and put it on a worktable in order to harvest it.”
The Lettuce Lads say their system does not require the use of worktables.
“The farmer can more or less do all of their work without having to move,” said Allen. “This is plug and play. You drop the plant in and you pull the plant out.”
The end result of lower production costs is equal access to good quality food without wastage.
The next stage of development for the system is a custom-designed sensor package and the use of artificial intelligence in tracking plant growth.
The lads have connected with a horticulturalist in the United States and engineers from NEDlabs in Edmonton to build a sensor system to track microclimates throughout the growth space.
“If you imagine a shipping container, the bottom left versus the top right on the other side is going to have different humidity, different temperatures and different issues, so we want to be able to avoid that and know its coming before it happens and make sure the farmers and producers are aware of these issues and are able to fix those issues,” said Howlett.
Knowing what is being grown also means that farmers can grow the right amount of product to meet market demand, without having to worry as much about product loss.
“We want in the long run to plug [the farmer]into our overall system of saying ‘hey, this grocery store needs this amount at this time, we know you’re going to hit this amount,’ ” he said.
“We know that we can help him or her sell that.”
Current container technology has space for approximately 1,800 growing spots, whereas the demonstration Lettuce Lads system has space for
.3,500 with the eventual goal of 5,000 within a 40 foot by 9 standard space.
The current setup at their temporary lease at the Canmore Greenhouse is just over 30 feet.
For now the focus is on the production of leafy greens, with the possibility of looking at multi harvest plants like peppers and tomatoes in the future.
“We started with a rex butterhead lettuce, which is a burger lettuce, because we knew that a lot of the restaurants and the grocers around here have high demand for it,” said Howlett.
“We’ve already got letters of intent from several of those folks,” he said.
The Lettuce Lads are inviting the public to their launch at the Canmore Greenhouse located at 60 Lincoln Park on April 23 from 5 pm to 9 pm.
A short presentation and discussion about the future of hydroponic growing in the Bow Valley will take place at 7:30.
Go to www.lettucelads.co for more information.
How This Man Has Turned A Warehouse Into An Organic Farm
UNS farm to soon make of greens available at local super markets at affordable prices
April 05, 2019
Mustafa Moiz, MD of UNS Hydroponic Farms, explains functioning and benefits of Hydroponic farms at the UNS Farms in Al Quoz.Image Credit: Clint Egbert/Gulf News
Dubai: Sustainable urban farming has now become a reality in the UAE. Instead of picking up expensive organic vegetables that have travelled thousands of miles around the world guzzling aviation fuel and clocking high on the carbon footprint, we now have an alternative. We can actually have pesticide-free, zero carbon, indigenously grown, reasonably priced organic vegetables round the year.
Meet Mustafa Moiz, a young Indian expatriate and resident entrepreneur from Dubai. He is the Managing Director of UNS farm situated in a large warehouse of Al Quoz Industrial area. Utilising principles of vertical farming with eight vertical levels of farming, his farm utilises 30,000 square feet of space and is the largest urban farm in the city.
“There is a misconception that good quality, organic, pesticide-free vegetables have to be expensive. We are offering through UNS affordably priced vegetables for all,” said Moiz
UNS farm that began operation in September 2018, harvests anything between 1,000 to 1,500kg of vegetables every day and is currently supplying to gourmet chefs, hotels and restaurants. However, its produce will soon be available to individuals on supermarket shelves.
Hydroponic farmers work hard at growing viable and sustainable herbs, fruits and vegetables at the UNS Farms in Al Quoz.
The farm works on principles of hydroponics which rests on growing vegetables soil free in peat moss. Nutrition is supplied to plants through macro and micronutrients dissolved in water, through drip farming optimising the use of water. The indoor farm is temperature controlled so has the same yield throughout the year, even during the peak of summers. It is sustainable because it uses minimum water and the green, red and yellow ultraviolet solar colours that are used in the indoor farm come from energy saving LED lights.
The Moiz family which also runs a family hardware business, invested $10 million (Dh36.7 million) in this project as they completely believe in organic, sustainable urban farming. Moiz added: “Urban farming is the future of the world. Using the principles of drip irrigation and aerial farming and economising on congested city spaces, it is not only eco-friendly but is also financially and environmentally sustainable. Most cities can actually become self- sufficient in indigenous food production. This is the key to food security in our near future.”
The Uns farm currently produces tonnes of greens — baby spinach, kale, basil, lettuce and salad leaves. The farm plans to diversify into growing fruit such as strawberry and also cultivate mushrooms. It also is into cultivation of flowers.
The produce, minus pesticides and harmful chemicals, are imbued with great natural flavours. Moiz added: “The vegetables grown here taste incredible. Usually soils in general have chemicals and pesticides leeched into it over some years. But here we grow without soil and there is no contamination of any kind of harmful chemicals.”
Hydroponic farmers work hard at growing viable and sustainable herbs, fruits and vegetables at the UNS Farms in Al Quoz.Image Credit: Clint Egbert/Gulf News
Uns plans to get into mushroom cultivation soon. “Worldwide mushrooms are the favourite fungi for exotic cuisines but are not required to be grown in compost base which is not always very hygienic. We will be adhering to very high hygienic standards while cultivating mushrooms too. We want people to know that health and quality need not come at a premium, and at UNs were are working towards that goal,” added Moiz.
How does Hydroponic farming at UNS happen?
Each herb or green has its own cycle of growth from 7-14 days. The farm follows definite steps for cultivation:
• Seeds of the plants to be cultivated are procured and filled with nutrients.
• They are inserted in oasis sheets which is then soaked in hydrogen peroxide solution and kept for 10 minutes. This is done to avoid fungal and other bacterial growth. Again the seeds are sprayed with the nutrient solution which are bio stimulators enhancing the growth of the crop.
• These seeds are then taken to the growing trays where they are continuously supplied with nutrient filled irrigation solution supplied through three dedicated nutrient tanks. There are three ozone units installed in the farm that kills any kind of bacterial growth
• The farm temperature is maintained under 24 degree Celsius, the PH level is maintained at 5.80 and carbon dioxide is maintained is at 600 ppm. All of which is controlled and maintained by an automated control panel that checks optimum PH, temperature, nutrient target and humidity.
Hydroponic farmers work hard at growing viable and sustainable herbs, fruits and vegetables at the UNS Farms in Al Quoz.Image Credit: Clint Egbert/Gulf News
• The LED lights supply nourishment through the colours of the rays.
• The harvesting depends on the kind of crop. Some crops start germinating between the fifth and seventh day. The harvest can be done from tenth day and the same plant can is re-harvested up to 4 or 5 times from the same growing tray.
• The crop is taken to the harvest machine where it is sized uniformly and then is taken to the sterilising bubble washing machine where it sterilises the plants and increases the shelf life
• The crop is then taken to the dryer where it is dried in a manner that 10 per cent of the moisture is retained to maintain the freshness of the crop.
Hydroponics nutrition
The composition of the nutrients in hydroponic farming is essential as plants grow without soil. There are over 20 elements that are essential. These include elements such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that the plant absorbs from the air and water. In addition plants require essential minerals and nutrients that are dissolved in water in correct proportions and delivered to the plant through drip irrigation.
The essential minerals in solution for hydroponic farming must include”
•Nitrogen (N)
•Potassium (K)
•Phosphorus (P)
•Calcium (Ca)
•Magnesium (Mg)
•Sulphur (S)
•Iron (Fe)
•Manganese (Mn)
Hydroponic farmers work hard at growing viable and sustainable herbs, fruits and vegetables at the UNS Farms in Al Quoz.Image Credit: Clint Egbert/Gulf News
New Hydroponic Gardens Sprouting At The University of Utah
March 31, 20196
Hydroponics gardens located at the U's Lassonde Studios (Courtesy of Dylan Wootton)
The Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund here at the U, which was set up for faculty and students alike to “propose projects that enhance the sustainability of our campus and community,” has granted thousands of dollars towards a project proposed by the U’s Hydroponics Club which plans to plant hydroponic gardens in Lassonde Studios.
SCIF was set up in 2008 by ASUU when there became “an increasing demand for sustainable infrastructure on campus.” It is also student funded, costing $2.50 in student fees. Since its inception, there have been over $900,000 allocated to SCIF projects. This particular project was granted $6,000, and plans to use it to “construct a series of gardens on the first floor of the Lassonde Institute.”
Dylan Wootton, a member of the U’s Hydroponics Club, holds lettuce grown in hydroponic incubators. (Courtesy of Dylan Wootton)
Hydroponic agriculture is an innovative way to yield more crops with less water — a win-win. The Daily Utah Chronicle spoke with Dylan Wootton, a senior at the U studying biomedical engineering, about the project. Wootton is also a resident assistant on the second floor of Lassonde. Every Lassonde floor is themed, and the second floor is the “Sustainability and Global Impact” floor. As you step off the elevators at night, you can see the bluish glow of fluorescent hydroponic grow lights on the soilless, budding plants.
“Hydroponics is a unique form of agriculture where plants are grown in a nutrient-rich solution typically placed indoors,” Wootton said. What is the benefit of this? “Hydroponics enables plants to grow significantly faster — in about half the time — and more sustainably — using only 10 percent of the water — than traditional agricultural methods.” Also, the planting substances can even be recycled.
“We’re planning on using this money to build four vertical ‘Garden Walls’ that people can see when they first enter Lassonde,” Wootton explained. Speaking on the potentiality of hydroponics, Wootton discussed just how important innovative agricultural systems are to the future of food consumption. “Agriculture is one of the leading contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and uses about 70 percent of the world’s fresh water. Developing the next generation of food production can serve to significantly reduce emissions and wasted water. If climate change or the impending water crisis are issues that you’re interested in, hydroponics is for you.”
As for the next step after the grant, Wootton said they will “use [the] system to test new technologies and build innovative solutions to scaling our operations.” Additionally, their yields will continue to serve the Feed U Pantry, the U’s on-campus food bank, and provide “fresh fruits and vegetables to the campus community, free of charge.”
Hydroponic use and awareness is growing rapidly in the United States. Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk, launched an “urban farming incubator program” called Square Roots where they give young entrepreneurs a chance to start their own vertical farm. The vertical farms can yield a lot — ”everything grows inside 320-square-foot steel shipping containers. Each container can produce about 50,000 mini-heads of lettuce per year.” The USDA even gave these young entrepreneurs loans to help with operating expenses. It seems we are at least looking up in the right direction when it comes to farming innovation.
BGC, Bafi Shows Developers What To Do With Your Available Open Spaces
By: Amor Maclang
April 3, 2019
Ralph Becker of Urban Greens
MANILA-based Agri-Tech and urban farming company Urban Greens, (Urban Greens Hydroponics Systems Inc.) is announcing a project tie-up with the Bonifacio Arts Foundation Inc. (Bafi) under the direction of the head curator of The Mind Museum, who oversees all things art- and science-related in BGC.
The project is based on the creation of a prototype hydroponic setup within the premises of The Mind Museum science museum, to show off futuristic farming techniques like hydroponics to grow clean and healthy greens right in the heart of the city space.
Fresh, affordable produce in our cities is often difficult to find. Supermarkets and local markets are still dependent on vegetables grown with traditional farming methods and transported from distant farms.
Filipinos battle with rising food prices, inconsistent quality produce, and limited supply. This will prove unsustainable as the Philippine population is projected to increase from 106 million (in 2018) to 142 million by 2045—about two thirds of which will live in urban areas.
A growing movement of urban farming is providing methods towards more sustainable agriculture practices. Integrating hydroponic farms into our present and future urban spaces is one way to secure access to cleaner and fresher grown produce.
Environment-friendly farming
Urban Greens, a farming company founded in 2016, advocates hydroponic farming as a means to unlocking the ability of anyone, including urban dwellers, to grow their own food more efficiently. Hydroponic farming or hydroponics is when plants are grown without soil. Instead, the plant roots absorb the nutrients it needs from nutrient-rich water.
Compared to traditional farming that is resource-intensive and utilizes chemical inputs, hydroponics uses 90 percent less water and does not use chemical weed or pest-control products. This is critical as the world’s resources of clean water, fossil fuels and arable soil is finite. Decades of intensive agriculture production has also damaged different environments. What is often forgotten is that the health of the planet impacts the health of the people. Finding alternative systems, such as growing food in our own communities, enables our lands and resources to recover for the use of future generations.
Climate-resilient communities and farming systems
Developing climate-resilient communities must be prioritized as the Philippines ranks fifth among the countries most affected to extreme weather events from 1998 to 2017. Scientists have projected that temperatures will continue to increase until the end of the century resulted to extended droughts or intense rainfall, sea-level rise and stronger typhoons. The urban landscape creates opportunities for more protected and controlled farms from the changing climate.
Even with limited space, an urban farmer can choose to stack hydroponic systems or to plant “vertically” to maximize available space both indoors and outdoors. Options that improve the availability and accessibility of quality produce at consistent prices. Vegetables and herbs could be easily grown and harvested indoors, such as offices, restaurants and homes. One could also tend to the plants in an outdoor setting, such as under-utilized rooftops, terraces or backyards.
Urban Greens works with individuals and organizations to find the types of hydroponic system that would address their needs. The company strives to build systems that can be easily used, maintained and refitted using local materials.
Promoting healthier lifestyles and well-being
The proximity of one’s food to the place of work and inhabit encourages individuals to reconnect with nature and what they eat. Freshly picked vegetables are more nutritious and retain improved aroma and flavor. These are often lost when vegetables are packaged and transported through traffic-laden routes.
More hydroponically grown vegetables may help improve the eating habits of Filipinos. In urban areas where convenience is preferred, studies show that the total of local household food expenditures for food away from home has gradually increased from 11.5 percent in 2000 to 17.5 percent in 2012.
The per-capita consumption of Filipino households of vegetables only averages 22.4 kilograms per year. This pales in comparison to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommended level consumption of 146 to 182 kg/yr. Higher intake of fresh greens reduce the risks of major chronic diseases and avert nutritional deficiencies.
Settling roots within communities
Establishing hydroponic farms and community gardens make cities more sustainable, providing both green public spaces and access to quality nutrition. In such environment, creative synergy is able to flourish and partnerships can begin to cultivate among residents, farmers, local businesses, academe and local leaders.
As of 2018, Urban Greens has been building a prototype farm in collaboration with the Bafi. Based on its modular and scalable nature, it has the potential to be developed on a much bigger scale supplying produce to establishments and residents within Bonifacio Global City and neighboring communities. Other projects of the company include a partnership with a major real estate developer.
Urban Greens envisions that hydroponic urban farming will evolve the Philippine vegetable food scene and provide a sustainable addition to our communities.
If you want to know more about how to grow your own vegetables and become an urban farmer, Urban Greens also offers to a Hydroponics 101 Workshops for individuals and companies.
Hydroponics is the process of growing plants without soil. As only water is used, there is no need for pesticides, fertilizers or fungicides and much less water than conventional farming is used. Not needing soil or land-space makes it perfect for the urban setting.
In addition, as those greens are grown amid a highly urbanized area surrounded by numerous restaurants and condo units, this project demonstrates how to provide the vegetables and herbs needed by those establishments and dramatically reduce the time and energy used in transportation – resulting in cheaper, fresher and tastier greens. The system itself will always be connected to Internet of Things devices, monitoring the overall status and sending the data to their cloud servers, as to optimize the growing conditions for the plants. This highly modular and scalable prototype system can serve as a potential template for a much bigger urban farm setup.
Apart from the project with The Mind Museum, Urban Greens has secured a strategic partnership with one of the major Philippine property developers who has invested an undisclosed sum into the hydroponics company. The main objective of the investment is to revolutionize the hydroponics and precrafted structures business and the vision is to reinvent the farming system, and fabrication, supply and installation of technology of modular buildings, homes, event spaces and other structures making the Urban Greens the biggest vertical farm in the Philippines, and eventually in the global market. Once established, it will not only solve high cost, and inconsistent quality and supply of fresh produce, but also expand its business in branding, marketing, licensing, management, design and supply.
Urban Greens is the regional representative of the international Association for Vertical Farming and the only member in the Philippines.
Urban Greens is a 2-year-old start-up founded by former tech/ corporate biz dev, turned hydroponic enthusiast Filipino-German Ralph Becker with a big vision for accessible and high-end hydroponically grown food for big scale businesses as well as home usage.
Farm Refreshed: UrbanKisaan
MARCH 19, 2019
Urban Kisaan seeks to revolutionise the concept of urban gardens with hydroponic farming methods
A chance meeting with a scientist led this accounts person to set up UrbanKisaan, a startup involved with farming. Vihari Kanukollu a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) who met Sairam, a scientist at a spiritual retreat, broached the topic of farming and water scarcity and concerns about the future of farming in a water-scarce world.
“Dr Sairam invited me to his home. I accepted the offer. There I was spellbound and surprised at the same time when Sairam showed me his little experiment — a vertical hydroponic garden set up in his balcony that was thriving and had been providing him with a healthy yield for many months. Though I am a commerce graduate, I also closely looked at the food crisis we will be facing in the years to come and thinking what do we do. Social causes are close to my heart so I wasn’t ready to give up,” says Vihari.
Together with Sairam, a biotechnology scientist, and Srinivas Chaganti who has done Masters in Computer Science Vihari gave birth to UrbanKisaan. This two-year-old startup has emerged among the top 100 social entrepreneurs in India as per Action For India (AFI) forum; it is one of the top 8 startups to be featured by Discovery India for its documentary series Planet Healers to be aired on March 29.
Their farm in Mahbubnagar, about 80 kilometres from the city, doubles up UrbanKisaan’s research area. The leased out land gives a peek into the future of farming the world over. “Especially because it conserves water,” adds Vihari.
Soil free but nutrient-rich Vihari vouches their startup grows pesticide-free produce in a vertical hydroponic environment. Hydroponics is a method of growing terrestrial plants without soil, by using mineral nutrient solutions in water. Though the farms grow plants in water, they use 95% less water. UrbanKisaan manages everything from the seeds to its proprietary, “farm-controlling software system and also empowers people to grow their own safe, fresh and high-quality food,” shares Vihari.
What spurred Urbankissan
Sairam developed the nutrient solution for their start up. “As you all know Hydroponic farming is a soil-less farming technique that replaces soil with nutrient solution; so it can be used to grow crops indoors. With timely nutrition and light, these plants do not need pesticides. Hydroponic farms are ideal for the urban environment and can give city dwellers access to fresh produce every day right from their own kitchen or rooftop,” explains Vihari. You can grow almost anything — vegetables and berries, greens, herbs, cauliflower as well as peppers — provided you have the right potting techniques and nutrient mix.
Ensuring food safety UrbanKisaan is different from other Hydroponic farms in the way that they are developing this farming technique for urban homes that have less space. “Before getting down to start the farm and research center, we used Dr Sairam’s hydroponic home set up as the prototype and sold home kits to raise the money. Our home kits sell between ₹ 15000 to ₹ 50000, depending on how big a vertical hydroponic garden you want,” says Vihari.
At the farm, my attention goes to the over-grown plants. Have they been over-fed I asked, “No they are seed-bearing plants we grow for seed saving for our nursery,” says Vihari.
If you are still sceptical, “Come see our farm that double up as a store, in Jubilee Hills,” smiles Vihari.
Their store in Jubilee Hills opens in the first week of April.
Salmon And Baby Chard, Brought To You By A Brooklyn Farm
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
Edenworks, an aquaponics operation in East Williamsburg, already sells salads at a local Whole Foods and is looking to scale up.
March 28, 2019
Brooklyn is not what most people envision when they think of farm country.
But if you take the L train to Montrose Avenue and walk a block, past the liquor store and catty corner to Louis Tommaso funeral home, you’ll find Edenworks. It’s an indoor aquaponics operation is raising salmon, shrimp and a hybrid striped bass on the lower level, with teeny tiny salad greens known as baby greens and microgreens, upstairs. A stone’s throw away is Oko Farms, also doing aquaponics, but outdoors and with an educational focus. And Smallhold, which grows mushrooms in its Minifarms in several New York City locations, is headquartered in nearby Fort Greene.
By housing fish and crops under one roof in East Williamsburg, Edenworks is putting a modern spin on an ancient form of agriculture. Chinese rice farmers have been putting carp in their flooded paddies for centuries, and the Aztecs grew crops on “chinampas,” or artificial islands, in lakes. The fish fertilize the crops and can be eaten at the end of the growing cycle.
The Edenworks version—urban, with a focus on premium products—should appeal to the growing category of shoppers looking for local, sustainable, healthy food that comes with lots of flavor and a good backstory. The company already sells two-ounce Spicy Microgreens and Mighty Microgreens Personal Salads for $4.49 each at the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, location of Whole Foods Market. (Sorry locavores, but for now, the fish are only available to a select few at promotional or local events.)
A worker feeds Atlantic Salmon in a tank
Photographer: Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
Novel farming operations have proliferated in recent years, and several have attracted huge investments, notably indoor farms Plenty, which raised $200 million in 2017, and Bowery Farming, which pulled in $90 million in December. But profitability is elusive, and investments in such startups dipped last year, dropping 7.3 percent to $601 million, according to researcher AgFunder, even as the overall agri-tech sector raised a record-breaking $16.9 billion.
The hard part is turning small-scale operations into big ones. Several have failed, among them PodPonics in Atlanta, FarmedHere in Chicago and another Brooklyn aquaponics enterprise, Verticulture Farms. The indoor farming niche is “more challenging than many other ag-tech categories,” says Louisa Burwood-Taylor, AgFunder’s head of media and research. “Investors might be more wary until they’ve seen some of these concepts proven out.”
Welcome to the Aqualab
Edenworks co-founder Jason Green, a technologist with a background in neuroscience, believes he has a winning formula. The company closed a $5 million seed round in May, with investors including venture capitalists and food industry veterans. The bet is that Edenworks’s (relatively) simple plan to go to market, with a focus on greens before scaling the seafood, will land it alongside such aquaponics operations as Wisconsin’s Superior Fresh, which now produces 1.8 million pounds of leafy greens and 160,000 pounds of fish each year.
Green, who runs Edenworks, founded the company with construction manager and systems engineer Matt LaRosa and chief technology officer Ben Silverman in 2013, originally building a pilot system raising tilapia and a variety of vegetables. Now they’re growing only baby greens and microgreens, with itty bitty versions of red kale, chard and cabbage—and the lowly tilapia has been abandoned. That commonly farmed species, Green concedes, is never going to be a marquee item. “You can’t brand or market your way out of it being a tilapia,” he says.
Jason Green | Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
Edenworks’ ecosystem harnesses the power of the microbiome instead of pesticides, antibiotics or synthetic fertilizers. The ground-level Aqualab is where the fish live. The waste, mostly feces along with a bit of ammonia from the fish urine and uneaten food, is run through a mechanical filter to separate liquids from solids. Bacteria grown from a starter culture then convert the ammonia to nitrates, sending fertilizer-rich water to the greens in the Farmlab two flights up. For now the solids are aerobically digested, a bacterial sewage treatment process, similar to the ammonia’s conversion to nitrates. (In future facilities, Green said, they’ll be gasified to generate energy.) The result is yields more than twice industry averages and more than eighteen months of farming without any foodborne pathogens, according to the company.
A ‘Win-Win-Win?’
The next step is ramping up the operations into a larger, New York metro area farm in 2020. But scaling vertical farms, even those just focused on a single production system, has been a challenge.
“It sounds like a win-win-win,” says Henry Gordon-Smith, founder and managing director for Agritecture Consulting, an urban-farming consulting firm one L stop away. “But the challenge is anytime you combine multiple systems and make them depend on each other, things get complicated.”
To start, the technology does not scale linearly. “When you have more lights, people, systems and plans, the calculations and requirements to create the consistent micro-climate get more challenging,” he says. Running a farm indoors, as opposed to outdoors in consistently warm weather, drives up energy usage, too. Then there’s the feed problem. The vast majority of commercially available fish feed is made from seafood taken from the already fish-depleted ocean.
Microgreens growing at Edenworks | Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
Green recognizes these challenges: Edenworks is growing only baby and microgreens, high-value crops with short growth cycles. Plans for a larger facility include a more precise “climate delivery” (as opposed to “climate control”) system that will help avoid problems encountered by other vertical farms. For the time being, the company will raise only as much fish as necessary for the salad side, a ratio of 1 pound of seafood for every 10 pounds of produce, until it’s satisfied with the greens business. Automation will restrain labor costs; new farms will use renewable energy technology.
Edenworks is experimenting with plant-based feed and plans to adopt fish-free feed when it becomes globally available in the next year or so, Green says. Jacqueline Claudia, CEO of aquaculture-based company Love the Wild, says increasingly sustainable feeds options are already available at reasonable prices. Still, she adds, Edenworks is likely ahead of most of the seafood industry. “Anytime you can grow more food, in the space you have, close to market, it’s a win,” she says. “What you’re really talking about is splitting hairs.”
Gordon-Smith is also confident in the company. “I’m optimistic they’re going to be able to navigate the challenges,” he says. While the obstacles are real and not every crop can be grown this way, farms like these are a piece of more sustainable future. “As the climate gets worse, we will need adaptation strategies.”
IKEA To Start Serving Salad Grown At Its Stores
IKEA, the world's biggest furniture retailer, is preparing to serve lettuce grown in high-tech containers outside its stores as part of efforts to improve its environmental profile
April 04, 2019
A basil plant and a red lettuce grown without soil, using nutrients and water while LED-lights give it the light it needs to grow, is pictured.
KAARST, Germany (Reuters) - IKEA, the world's biggest furniture retailer, is preparing to serve lettuce grown in high-tech containers outside its stores as part of efforts to improve its environmental profile.
IKEA, which demonstrated one of the LED-powered containers at an event at a store in Kaarst, western Germany, expects to start serving home-grown salad to customers at its restaurants from pilot projects at two stores in Sweden next month.
"The conditions are perfect for maximum taste and growth and you also have the sustainability advantage because you don't have the transport," said Catarina Englund, innovation manager for the Ingka Group, which owns most IKEA stores.
The containers, managed by circular farming firm Bonbio, have four shelves, carrying up to 3,600 plants in total, fed by nutrients extracted from organic waste, including leftovers from IKEA's restaurants. Circular farming involves waste food being turned into nutrients that are used to grow new crops.
The system, known as hydroponic farming, means the plants need no soil or pesticides, and use 90 percent less water and less than half of the area of conventional farming, with the LED lights to be powered by renewable energy, IKEA said.
One of the world's biggest sellers of LED lights, IKEA also sells home hydroponic kits for hobby indoor gardeners.
Englund said about 15-20 kilograms of salad can be harvested a day from each container and the fact that the lettuce will be grown on site means production can be precisely tailored to the demand of a store, reducing food waste.
Sales of IKEA food like hotdogs or Swedish meatballs account for about 5 percent of the group's 35 billion euros ($39.34 billion) of turnover.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Ohio: Hillel Day School Students Learn Across Curriculum With Microgreens
Avi Gilbert (L) and Menachem Simon harvest microgreen crops at Hillel Academy Jewish day school, March 7. Photo: Marshall Weiss.
By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer
Hillel Academy Jewish day school, which champions a project-based approach to learning, has made indoor farmers of its fifth- and sixth-grade students.
With help from a registered dietitian nutritionist — and now from a hydroponic farming educational initiative in Israel — Hillel students began growing and harvesting microgreen crops in January.
Microgreens are edible herb and vegetable seedlings. According to a study at the University of Maryland published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, microgreens have up to 40 times more vital nutrients than mature plants.
“It’s crazy how this tiny little plant has so many nutrients,” says fifth grader Avi Gilbert as he harvests a crop of radish microgreens. “It’s really cool how we actually have a farm inside. There are a bunch of variables that are different from when it is outside.”
Dietitian and nutritionist Shari Jacobs, a parent of Hillel alumni, approached Hillel Curriculum/Instruction Director Dr. Kathy Mecoli with the idea for the farm because of Jacobs’ passion for promoting nutrition, pesticide-free growing, and eco-friendly agriculture, which reduces water use in farming.
“They’re learning science, they’re learning food safety, and nutrition,” Jacobs says.
With funding from Hillel families and alumni, a local farmer installed the school’s microgreen system and showed faculty and students how to get started.
Among their crops are arugula, kale, parsley, radish, mustard, and broccoli.
Through meticulous data collection, the students learn how to maximize their crop yields. And they’re figuring out how to learn from their mistakes.
Fifth grader Logan MacDonald recorded in his microgreens blog, “Some of the microgreens they have been growing recently started dying. The class brainstormed and realized the problem probably was because of saturation, microfiber wicks being cut into thirds, depth in the soil or the soil was too deep. The intermediate class decided to establish a clear step process of jobs to increase the likelihood of less plant death. The class decided to cut the microfiber wicks into halves instead of thirds to stop the problem.”
Mecoli says the school’s approach is to model how to learn.
“What we find is that because they’ve become such good thinkers, they can pretty much solve the problems once you set them in a certain direction,” she says.
“They’re going to be blogging a lot,” says Todd Brisco, Hillel’s instructor of integrated project-based learning. “They’re putting data on spreadsheets to see whether we’re keeping them in the blackout (germinating) period long enough. We don’t know: how long should we let them grow before we harvest, because we made a mistake of harvesting too soon.”
Chaya Simon sprays trays of seeded soil before putting them into ‘blackout’ for germination. Photo: Marshall Weiss.
Once the students get the system down, Mecoli says, they’ll train the fourth graders, who will carry the project forward next year.
Now, Hillel’s fifth and sixth graders are sharing their data with students working on the same project in Jerusalem. Hillel is the first school affiliated with Israel’s Start Up Roots program outside of the Jewish state.
Robin Katz founded the non-profit Start Up Roots four years ago to bring hydroponic farming to a school for girls from impoverished Haredi families in Jerusalem. The girls also learn how to market their products to the student body.
“In one cycle,” Katz says, “It changed the handout mentality they had, to their hands out with something to give — so proud and excited.”
Katz adds that the school also hired a chef who taught the students what they could do with the vegetables, from drinks to appetizers to desserts.
“They started with a summer camp and then they ended up revamping the whole school lunch program,” Katz says.
In Israel, Start Up Roots is taught in three middle schools, about to enter a fourth, and recently received approval from Israel’s Ministry of Education, which will help it expand.
“Entrepreneurship, life skills, and nutrition: those aren’t taught in schools and that’s such a growing problem,” she says.
Katz reached out to Jacobs when Start Up Roots began to add microgreens at a school.
“We’re learning a lot from Shari,” Katz says. “She’s implementing in a very methodical way that will enable us to really understand how to improve it, how to replicate it, expand it in the most efficient way possible.”
Jacobs is now Start Up Roots’ American educational liaison; she and Katz aim to bring the program to other schools in America.
Hillel is connected to the Shaarei Tziyon school in the Neve Yaakov settlement neighborhood of Jerusalem.
“We’ve been emailing them about things we’re doing for the microgreens, our problems,” says Hillel fifth grader Yiyi Li Kudera.
The Hillel students email their Israeli counterparts in Hebrew, guided by Hillel’s Hebrew instructor, Rina Thau.
“Now there’s a back and forth,” Katz says. “And the kids hope that they’ll meet one day.”
Katz and Jacobs have also developed a Start Up Roots microgreen curriculum that melds science and Jewish values related to food justice, such as why there are blessings over food and the obligation to those in need.
“We did a project on world issues,” says DeLaine Niesley, who teaches Hillel’s fifth and sixth graders reading and writing. “We’re finding out conditions that cause poverty, including what’s here in Dayton. Because there’s this assumption that we’re America: we don’t have that here.”
Radish microgreens grown at Hillel Academy. Photo: Chaya Simon.
“There are so many parts to it,” Mecoli says of the program. “Each day at lunch, the children put out microgreens on a tray and they go around and give everybody microgreens if they want them with their lunch.
“The little kids see it as cool because the older kids are doing this. I don’t even say anymore, ‘Go get the microgreens.’ They come to me and say, ‘Can we get the microgreens?’ So there’s a lot of independence and a lot of ownership with it.”
Once the students have mastered the science of growing their microgreen crops most efficiently and effectively, Hillel plans to bring its produce to market.
Mecoli says they’ll learn the cost to produce them, the profit, and entrepreneurship.
“Bernstein’s Fine Catering, they are committed to buying them from us to use as garnishes,” Mecoli says. “We’ll engage markets that could buy some from us every week.”
For now, they’re starting small. At Purim, the school was sending shalach manot gift packages to its Life & Legacy donors.
“We’re coming up with a little tower with three boxes of one-ounce of microgreens, and then we’re going to have crackers and hummus in one, and (parent) Rochel Simon is going to bake hamantashen that are more savory, with the microgreens in them, and then we’ve created a little card that says thank you for supporting Hillel,” Mecoli says.
For Passover, the school hopes to have parsley available for order.
TAGS: Hillel Academy of Greater Dayton Kathy Mecoli Robin Katz Shari Jacobs Start Up Roots
Qatar's Hydroponic Farms To Cover 100 Hectares By 2021
Qatar’s local hydroponic farms aim to further expand their operations in the next two years to reach 100 hectares in order to meet the growing demand for organic vegetables
A colourful display of fresh local vegetables at AgriteQ 2019. PICTURE: Joey Aguilar
March 22, 2019
Qatar’s local hydroponic farms aim to further expand their operations in the next two years to reach 100 hectares in order to meet the growing demand for organic vegetables.
"We are hoping to achieve this target by 2021 under our operations, management, and distribution,” prominent Qatari agriculturist and Agrico managing director Nasser Ahmed al-Khalaf told Gulf Times.
Agrico, a private Qatari agricultural development company established in 2011, is helping the country achieve self-sufficiency in food. It is currently developing other local farms and involved in a number of agri projects in Qatar.
Nasser Ahmed al-Khalaf at Agriteq 2019
AgriteQ 2019 attracted a large number of visitors. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam
"We are now focusing on improving efficiency and increasing yields by building more greenhouses for farm investors with the use of modern technology," he explained on the sidelines of the Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2019, which concluded yesterday at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.
The event, dubbed as ‘AgriteQ and EnviroteQ 2019’, brought together 90 local farms and more than 50 international companies under one roof, highlighting the importance of innovation in agricultural techniques, in addition to showcasing an array of new equipment and technologies.
“There is nothing to improve on our system (made in Qatar) but we want to increase the density per square metre, utilising the fertilisers and nutrients in a more efficient way to increase our production,” al-Khalaf said.
The Qatari agriculturist pointed out that the demand for organic fresh produce in Qatar rose dramatically due to people’s “high level of awareness” on the health benefits of organic foods.
Agrico currently exports products to Kuwait (1.5 tonne weekly by plane) and Oman, and it is also eyeing European markets.
“People might see Agrico in European markets this year. Why Europe? Because in the winter, they cannot produce vegetables and they cannot have this type of quality and not organic,” al-Khalaf said.
He added that the company received its US Department of Agriculture certification recently and it is on the process of applying for Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification to be able to export to Europe.
Agrico produces at least 10,000 tonnes of various vegetables such as cucumber, tomatoes, and mushrooms, among others, per day, according to al-Khalaf.
The company has also invested in aquaponics farming and will start raising organic chickens in Qatar early next year, he added.
Last updated: March 23 2019 12:32 PM
Video: 7,000 sq.m. of Hydroponic Lettuce
Lettuce is a short growing season plant, that is why it is more and more popular as a spring vegetable cultivated under the cover. It is mainly grown on substrates such as mineral wool and hydroponic systems. In heated greenhouses, lettuce can be produced all year round. Seedling production lasts from 3 to 6 weeks. Optimal germination temperature is within a range from 18°C to 20°C.
Similarly to other crops, light is one of the most important production factors. Light deficiency might be particularly harmful for seedling and lettuce at the time of the head increase.
Inappropriate lighting, can cause the internodes to lengthen and slow the absorption of nitrogen compounds. Lettuce belongs to the long day. To ensure its optimal growth conditions, it needs at least 12 hours of light access. Especially in autumn and winter periods, it is necessary to use additional lighting sources.
One of the key issues of using LED technology for lighting crops, is its ability to adjust the spectrum, to achieve favorable commercial values of a given plant.
Thanks to the LED COB Leafy spectrum, which has been developed jointly with world specialists engaged in the cultivation of lettuce, plants are characterized by much better growth and visual condition. Furthermore, lettuce stays fresh longer, even on the shop shelf.
In January 2019, Plantalux's horticulture LED COB lamps have been installed on 7000 sq.m. area, as seen in the video below.
For more information:
Plantalux
Jakub Lachowski.
+ 48 730 730 478
jakub.lachowski@plantalux.pl
http://plantalux.pl/en/home/
https://pl-pl.facebook.com/plantalux/
Publication date : 3/25/2019
What Does The Future of Vegetable Growing Look Like?
What does 2019 hold for mass fruit and vegetable production? CREDIT: INFARM
21 MARCH 2019
Thanks to technology, vegetables can now be grown in outer space and deserts, even subterranean tunnels, and soon, the most hostile environment of all: supermarkets. During your rush hour shop, instead of fighting over ready meals you may find yourself in pick-your-own strawberry bliss on aisle 12, free of plastic packaging and air miles.
Energy-efficient LED grow lights, robots and internet-connected vertical farms are some of the technical breakthroughs that are revolutionising edible gardening, notably in places with no outside space at all. And with our global population closing in on eight billion - a majority in garden-less urban apartments - this futuristic tech promises to remove pressure from our natural world (and our own to-do lists) in the nick of time.
Supermarket farming aisles
German company InFarm has more than 100 vertical microfarms already in shops across Germany, Switzerland and France with plans to bring them to the UK. Shelving units with grow lights and hydroponic trays of nutrient-rich water, they resemble shop refrigerators growing live salads, veg, herbs and fruit. Staff simply slide trays in to grow and out once customers have picked everything.
One Bristol-based start-up also hopes to bring vertical farms to high streets using aeroponics that spray roots in a nutrient mist. India Langley, of LettUs Grow, says aeroponics give plants “better access to oxygen and carbon dioxide which results in them growing much faster: we have shown a 70 per cent increase in growth rate compared with hydroponics.”
Langley is keen to highlight benefits including lack of pesticides, “by reducing food miles, we can help slash food waste and reduce the carbon footprint of fresh produce, around 50 per cent of bagged salad we buy in the UK ends up in the bin.”
InFarm, German microfarm company CREDIT: INFARM
Yield per metre can be many times that of in-ground farming, making it possible to feed dense urban populations in very little space. It sounds futuristic but soilless growing has been used for decades, the step change is the cheap-to-run LED grow lights and internet connectivity.
“Our aeroponic grow beds are fully automatable,” says Langley, excited about the fact their system has central control from LettUs Grow’s headquarters, so shop staff won’t need to worry about nutrient formulas, “it makes this technology accessible to everyone.”
Restaurant kitchen gardens
Around the world many restaurants are following suit, two Michelin-starred Atera in New York has its own indoor vertical microfarm supplied by Farm.One. In the basement directly next to the kitchen, the farm grows a large variety of unusual herbs and salads for fresh flavour and choice, reducing supply cost and environmental impact.
“By communicating with the farm we are able to get herbs picked just a couple of hours before use and they are to our exact specifications,” says James Moore, Atera’s head chef, “they have so many varieties of herbs that we can sample and use the variety we want to get the best balance out of the dish.”
Australia-based Farm Wall produce another, attractive-looking vertical farm designed to be seen in cafes and restaurants, and Evopro sell an industrial hydroponic unit in the UK for a cool £8,000. Other options include hydroponic plastic towers housing ten or more plants in a column, which, like all vertical farms, can be used with sunlight (on a rooftop for example) or LED lights.
Terminology
Aeroponics
Aeroponics is a way of growing plants without soil, where the roots are watered using a fine mist. Not only does this allow more oxygen to the roots, delivering better flavour and faster growth, but it uses up to 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture.
Hydroponics
Hydroponics is the process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil.
A new kitchen appliance
For those with no outdoor space, IKEA has an indoor vegetable growing solution to slot next to the dishwasher. Its low-cost hydroponic grow towers with the familiar Scandinavian aesthetic are easy to use. Customers scarred by attempts to keep herbs alive on a windowsill can look to these as a living pantry.
Tom Dixon, designer and mastermind behind IKEA’s ‘gardening will change the world’ show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, certainly believes in the idea. In May he and the home superstore will construct a two-tiered garden with an underground urban farm beneath a garden for wildlife and wellbeing in the Great Pavilion at Chelsea.
Robot weeding
Robot vacuums not only amuse cats, they often clean better than we ever did and the future of robot lawn mowers looks assured, but what of the neverending task of veg plot weeding? Roll forward Tertill, a weeding robot crowdfunded through Kickstarter, created by Joe Jones, inventor of best selling robot vacuum, the Roomba.
Jones explains that Tertill patrols the garden constantly with “a small weed whacker cutting down weeds that have just emerged and are under about an inch tall.” Solar powered, the device constantly weeds during the day keeping plots spick and span.
For those who find weeding challenging, Tertill could be the answer, and it’s certainly appealing for those fiddly vegetables that require regular hand weeding, such as asparagus, garlic and onions. To these Jones hopes to answer prayers of gardeners plagued by rabbits and deer with “functions that will let Tertill chase pests from the garden and collect extensive data about growing conditions and possibly individual plants.”
Automated watering and weather monitoring
Everyone forgets to water sometimes, usually in times of summer drought but Hozelock’s new Cloud Controller and irrigation systems mean you need not panic, you can water the garden from anywhere in the world using an app on your phone.
In conjunction with Netatmo, a WiFi connected outdoor thermometer and rain gauge, you can mollycoddle courgettes while on holiday. Why stop there, by installing outdoor Foscam cameras you can even watch your tomatoes being eaten by slugs.
Futuristic mass production
When it comes to vegetable technology, farming leads the way, the sector often first to adopt growing technology. In California, Naio produces three different sized electric weeding robots for crops, removing the need for herbicides. It’s the stuff of sci-fi films and Iron Ox, another farming tech start-up in California is trialing a fully computer operated indoor farm claiming to produce 30 times the quantity of lettuce of a traditional farm.
Sterling Sussex is a new hydroponic tomato farm in the UK with state of the art smart glasshouses. “We have a central computer constantly monitoring and controlling temperature, nutrition, humidity, light and CO2 levels,” explains director David Scrivens, “we use climate corridors to raise and lower temperatures, while LED lights and shading allow us to produce crops year round, even in winter.”
Drones have been trialled for spraying and large scale rooftop farms are planned for cities around the world, including London. If eating plants fed on nutrients in water doesn’t appeal, it’s worth remembering that’s how plants transport nutrients naturally from soil and the trade off is crops without pesticides or chemicals used to prolong shelf-life. As for flavour, well, there’s no technology for that, yet.
Find Jack’s blog at jackwallington.com. Follow him on Twitter @jackwallington and on Instagram @jackwallingtongardendesign
What do you think the future of vegetable growing looks like? Would you like to see these technological advances? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Minnesota Food Bank Second Harvest Heartland Turns Shipping Container Into Lettuce Farm
It's Part of a Growing Focus on Getting
Fresh Produce to Minnesota Food Shelves
By Kelly Smith Star Tribune
MARCH 18, 2019
Eric Reller, master grower with Second Harvest Heartland, took stock of the plants growing in a shipping container at the organization's warehouse in Brooklyn Park. ANTHONY SOUFFLE – STAR TRIBUNE
It’s the busy planting season for Eric Reller all year round inside a dark shipping container in Brooklyn Park.
The freight container holds a mini hydroponic farm where he plants seeds and rows of lettuce under LED lights. But the leafy greens aren’t for sale.
Instead, the lettuce is sent to Twin Cities nonprofits that provide meals to people in need through a new pilot program from Second Harvest Heartland, Minnesota’s largest food bank.
“It’s the future of food and we want to see if a food bank can be a part of that,” said Bob Branham, director of produce strategy at Second Harvest. “There’s a need.”
Second Harvest is the first food bank in the nation to do a program like this, Branham said, adding that other food banks across the country are watching to see its progress.
As one of the nation’s largest food banks, Second Harvest specializes in “food rescue,” taking millions of pounds in produce donated by farmers, manufacturers and grocers to repackage and distribute to food shelves. And part of the nonprofit’s growing focus is on fresh produce, doubling the quantity in the last six years.
Eric Reller, master grower with Second Harvest Heartland, sorted through the columns of plants growing that hang from the ceiling of the shipping container. ANTHONY SOUFFLÉ • anthony.souffle@startribune.com
Since lettuce wasn’t as feasible because it doesn’t last long and grocers prefer to sell it, Second Harvest stepped up to grow its own, buying the container hydroponic farm last year for $100,000, paid for by a donor. While hydroponic farms aren’t new, food banks aren’t often in the business.
“What’s innovative is a food bank, usually at the end of the supply chain, is putting itself at the front of the supply chain,” said Branham, a former leader at General Mills. “We don’t have access to leafy greens in food rescue.”
A new home
The farm is part of Second Harvest’s new warehouse in Brooklyn Park, which it moved into last year after closing a smaller Golden Valley site.
On Tuesday, officials will celebrate the groundbreaking for the renovation of the 233,000-square-foot facility, funded largely by $18 million in bonding money approved by the Legislature — the largest amount of public money Second Harvest has gotten. The organization is fundraising to pay the rest of the $52 million total price to buy the building and create programming.
The new renovated warehouse near Interstate 94 and Hwy. 100, which is expected to be done by 2020, will add more space for volunteers packaging meals and more than triple the space for coolers and freezers.
That will allow the nonprofit to provide more fresh produce and protein, boosting the number of meals it supplies from a record 89 million in 2018 to nearly 112 million by 2025. Food is distributed to food shelves and pantries in 59 counties in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
Second Harvest will share the space with the Brooklyn Park community food shelf, Community Emergency Assistance Programs, which will open a free food market there.
With the new space, Second Harvest is also starting a new initiative this year, seeking money to buy bulk quantities of chicken and beef from manufacturers that can be repackaged into smaller quantities for food shelves.
“It’s exciting to know it’s going to people who don’t have the opportunity for that kind of food,” Branham said.
The lettuce farm could also grow. Branham has mapped out where the full-scale farm could go in the warehouse, if the nonprofit chooses to fundraise for the larger operation. For now, Second Harvest’s small hydroponic farm harvests 8,000 pounds of lettuce a year. To grow 250,000 pounds of leafy greens a year, enough to supply food shelves and clients, it would cost an estimated $2 million.
Farm-to-table for all
Inside the 480-square-foot shipping container, which is the equivalent to the growing space of nearly 2 acres over the year, seeds are planted in coconut fiber and then transported into towers.
Reller, the master grower, has help from two volunteers to grow 21 varieties of lettuce and herbs such as basil, cilantro and parsley — all without any dirt, sunlight or pesticides in the 8-foot-tall hanging towers.
“The plants look pretty much immaculate,” Reller said, adding that they don’t have to ward off pests or cope with bad weather.
About five weeks later, lettuce is harvested and sent to Loaves & Fishes, which provides 3,000 meals a day at 30 dining sites in the Twin Cities, and Waite House, a community center in south Minneapolis that dishes up free lunch for 100 to 140 people a day.
A rendering of the new volunteer center at Second Harvest Heartland in Brooklyn Park.
Loaves & Fishes uses the lettuce to supplement donated bags of lettuce from grocery stores, which isn’t as fresh.
“By the time we get it, it is pretty far gone, so this lettuce is special because it’s so fresh,” said Cathy Maes, the executive director of Loaves & Fishes. “It’s genius.”
Pillsbury United Communities, which operates Waite House in south Minneapolis, also relies on Second Harvest’s lettuce, part of a broader movement to expand locally grown fresh foods to people in need. Pillsbury United Communities also has its own hydroponic farm in a shipping container to grow lettuce and herbs for its North Side community meals.
“How do we make farm-to-table accessible for everyone?” said Ethan Neal, the food systems manager for Pillsbury United Communities. “People, even if they don’t have money, should have the choice to eat healthy.”
Kelly Smith covers nonprofits/philanthropy for the Star Tribune and is based in Minneapolis. Since 2010, she’s covered Greater Minnesota on the state/region team, Hennepin County government, west metro suburban government and west metro K-12 education.
India: "The First Large-Scale Automated And Soilless Greenhouse In The Country"
The world is now waking up to agricultural practices which are environment-friendly and guarantee healthy produce. India is also channeling into this growing consciousness. We are witnessing an organic food revolution in the country. Taking this a step further, the D.S. Group has now brought hydroponic technology to India with its latest venture, Nature’s Miracle. The term hydroponics means “working water”. It is a soil-less technology for growing high-quality, tasty and healthy fruits and vegetables in a natural way.
Located in Greater Noida, the facility is India’s first large-scale fully automated hydroponic glass greenhouse. In this kind of farming, plants are grown without any soil and all the required minerals and nutrients are supplied through water. So how does this work? The roots of the plants are put in an absorbent inert medium, like coconut husk, a substitute for soil. At the Greater Noida facility, cocopeat is used as a seed base instead of soil. Completely pesticide-free, hydroponic farming is miles ahead of organic farming, as it nullifies the effects of harmful chemicals that might be present in the soil. Thus, consumers get the healthiest produce possible.
About bringing hydroponic farming to India, Ravi Kumar, co-founder of Nature’s Miracle, said, “We realised that hydroponics was the future and started exploring more about it. We wanted to bring this world-class agricultural technology to India. Initially we faced issues in terms of location, weather, consistency in taste etc. But now we are facing the bigger challenge of changing the mindset of consumers and making them try our produce.”
To this, Anchal Kumar, Partner at Nature’s Miracle, added, “These products are so healthy and fresh. The taste is consistent and they are a great option to snack on.”
The official launch of the brand was celebrated at the greenhouse over the course of three days, from 7-9 March. For the occasion, celebrity chefs Vicky Ratnani and Manish Mehrotra curated dishes using the fresh produce from the greenhouse.
Chef Vicky Ratnani talked to us about his views on this advanced agricultural technology and the importance of healthy produce. “Technology and innovation are there for the wellness of people. It should extend to the agricultural sector. You pay the farmer, and not the doctor. It’s a global cause. Knowing the traceability of products is important for us as chefs. But I think consumers should also know where the produce is coming from,” he said.
Food Pantry to Receive Lettuce Grown Hydroponically At UW Oshkosh’s Polk Library
by Laurie Schlosser | March 19, 2019
Books, computers and…lettuce?
A nook at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Polk Library is housing a state-of-the-art hydroponic unit. The tender green lettuce that is sprouting—especially throughout winter and spring—will provide a welcomed healthy produce option at Lutheran Food Pantry in Oshkosh.
“My hope for this partnership is that it will be a tangible example for students, staff and the community of what it looks like to have various organizations working together to benefit the community,” said Abigail (Knoll) Miedaner, of Jericho Road Ministries (JRM) Lutheran Food Pantry, recipient of the harvested lettuce.
A 2013 UW Oshkosh graduate who majored in biology and minored in chemistry, Miedaner said the lettuce can be grown from seed to harvest in as little as three weeks. Growth, though, is dependent on many variables.
She said she is very interested to find out about the variables in Polk Library and how the lettuce responds. Small plugs of rockwool growing medium that contained tiny romaine and green star lettuce plants were inserted into the hydroponics unit Feb. 27. By late March, the first crop of lettuce should be on someone’s table for dinner.
The hydroponics unit will be operated at Polk Library for the spring semester and likely be moved to another location for summer. The unit may be returned to Polk when school is back in session in fall.
“Fresh produce in food pantries is difficult to obtain and keep, especially in winter, and we have no control over the quality of the produce we receive,” Miedaner said. “One of the ways that we are seeking to address this issue is to grow produce ourselves right at the food pantry.”
The Flex Farm hydroponics machine at UW Oshkosh was donated by Aurora Health Care and is the fourth machine generating crops for the JRM Lutheran Food Pantry. The machine is the newest Flex Farm hydroponics grow machine available from Fork Farms, based in Appleton. Schools, restaurants and nonprofit businesses are among Fork Farms’ clients.
Lots and lots of lettuce!
With hydroponics, plants mature in a growing medium with a nutrient solution. The practice allows plants to grow year-round and it minimizes exposure to environmental damage, disease and insects.
Monthly cost of electricity, water and supplies is estimated to run around $50. The units produce about 150 heads of lettuce a month—equating to around 33 cents each.
The Lutheran Food Pantry serves 350-400 Winnebago County families monthly. Each client can use the pantry once per month, so leaders stress the importance of high-quality, long-lasting food being available.
UW Oshkosh senior environmental studies student Elijah Tesch, of Oconomowoc, is overseeing the planting of seeds and harvesting of the lettuce.
“My role in this project is to maintain the machine and make sure the lettuce is growing,” Tesch said. “When the lettuce is fully grown, I’ll harvest it and bring it to the Lutheran Food Pantry on Division Street.”
Tesch stops by several times a week to check on water level, pH and nutrient level of the water. Once a month, he’ll harvest and then re-plant the hydroponics unit.
Lights are on 24 hours a day to start. A timer reduces the amount of light to 18 hours per day and then 14 hours a day, as it mimics a natural light cycle.
Focus on sustainability
There are some unique opportunities in partnering with the University, Miedaner said, adding that they would like to try some other crops, including spinach, in the Flex Farm unit.
“The University has equipment, which would allow us to gather data that may be beneficial for us and other growers,” she said, “and would provide additional opportunities for student learning and engagement.”
Kevin Crawford, a chemistry professor who is director of the University’s Sustainability Institute for Regional Transformations, said hydroponic and aquaponic startup companies and nonprofits are appearing throughout northeastern Wisconsin. The partnership with Jericho Road Ministries gives students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience while helping address poverty issues in Oshkosh.
No Time, Space to Farm At Home? Hyderabad Hydroponics Firm Has a Doorstep Solution!
With help and guidance from the UrbanKissan, you can now grow fresh produce including lettuces, herbs, greens and exotic vegetables round the year.
by Gopi Karelia March 18, 2019
Population explosion, drastic climate change, and the commercialization of the farming sector leading to the wear and tear of soil, the future of the country’s agricultural scenario looms gloomily above us. This is not a mere hypothesis but an actual fact. The fifth report of US-based The Global Harvest Initiative predicts that by the year 2030, agricultural production will only meet 59 percent of India’s total demand. On the other hand, a NITI Aayog report suggests that the country’s water demand will be twice the supply implying severe water scarcity. Two problems that seem almost insurmountable.
Do not worry, we have a solution! Exclaims 25-year-old Vihari Kanukollu from Hyderabad who has embarked on a mission to change the face of farming. His “farming fields”, however, will be in an urban set up.
With the help of ‘Hydroponic Farming’, a technique largely practiced in Europe and America, he hopes to reduce the burden on traditional farmers by helping urban dwellers grow their own food.
‘Hydroponic Farming uses 95% less water and no soil
Breaking down the concept of hydroponic farming in simple terms, Vihari says that this technique uses 95 percent less water and the food can be grown in any climate or location without soil.
It was during Vihari’s stint in the Finance sector in 2017, when he learnt about hydroponic or vertical farming. Talking to The Better India (TBI) about the trigger that set him on this path he says,
Though I was preparing for a career in finance, I was always concerned about social issues that impact the society at large. In 2017, I came across a report that underlined the increasing gap between demand and supply of food in India.
On researching further, the grim statistics and minimal steps taken to resolve issues startled him.
It was during the same time that he met Dr Sairam, a scientist and a family-friend, who was practicing farming in his own backyard. After conducting a series of successful experiments on hydroponic farming, the duo decided to launch their own company. Srinivas Chaganti, Vihari’s relative got on board to deal with the Internet of Things (IoT).
Thus, was born UrbanKissan, a company aiming to integrate the concept of ‘In My Backyard’ in sustainable farming.
Vihari, Dr Sairam and Srinivas Chaganti
When asked if the hydroponic method of farming is a threat to traditional farming in any way, Vihari says, “No, in fact this type of farming is an add-on to the traditional method. This is for people who want to grow their own food. Our project aims to unburden the traditional farmers by making urban dwellers contribute to the process.”
How To Be An #UrbanKissan
‘I want to grow my own food but in a hassle-free manner? I cannot grow food because I lack expertise, time and space’
If you ever had these thoughts that deterred you from farming, worry not. With help and guidance from the UrbanKissan, you can now grow fresh produce including lettuces, herbs, greens and exotic vegetables round the year. These can be grown anywhere – from rooftops to balconies.
The company offers a range of options, from a model kit of 18 to 36 plants. The kit consists of seeds, coconut waste and a mix of nutrients.
Grow your food in a hassle-free manner
Once you place an order according to your preference, the company will assist you in choosing the site and delivering logistics.The staff will come to your house and help you set up the farm.
After the farm is set up, all you need to do is take out a couple of minutes from your busy schedule every day to water the crops.
“The main role of soil is to provide rich-nutrients to the produce. We broke down these nutrients and prepared an ingredient with it. The seeds can be sown inside the coconut waste and water can be supplied from below. It requires less manual work and is a one-time investment,” says Vihari.
This method allows you to harvest and consume the produce within the same day. This way you get the benefit of fresh produce that is not only nutritionally rich, but also available all year round at a consistent quality.
Among the services provided by the start-up, the feature of marketing customer’s produce is something that the company is leveraging on to encourage indoor farming.
The scalability of this project is from individual households to commercial spaces. If a customer is willing to produce enough to be able to sell in the market we provide our assistance, adds Vihari.
So far, the trio has been successful in setting up 8,000 plants across five states. “After I read articles about heavy metal contamination in green and leafy vegetable that causes cancer, I decided to grow food in my own balcony. UrbanKissan helped me set a kitchen-garden in my house and now I know what I eat is safe and fresh food,” says Lasya, an Urban Kissan in Bengaluru
An Effort To Reduce Food Wastage
As per a World Economic Forum report, India’s annual food requirement is 230 million tonnes and the agricultural output is 270 million tonnes, which means that close to 40 million tonnes of produce is wasted each year during production, processing, retailing and consumption.
From spoiling of food to retailers stocking extra, there are several reasons that are responsible for India’s food wastage problem. We have come up with a solution where the food is produced according to customer’s demand, says Vihari.
The trio is currently developing a vertical farm in the heart of the bustling city of Hyderabad.
Commercial vertical plant in Hyderabad
The first commercial vertical plant being developed at Jubilee Hills Road No 36 has the capacity to produce 50,000 crops (10 tonnes of yield per month). The farm, spread over 2,000 sq feet, will yield vegetables equivalent to 70,000 sq ft in traditional farming, points out Vihari. In other words, almost an acre of produce is grown in the size of an apartment.
Explaining the concept of vertical farming in Hyderabad, Vihari says,
One can walk in and order growing vegetables and watch the entire process of harvesting.They can take back with them fresh produce that contains no pesticides or harmful chemicals.
Sharing the company’s future plans, the trio aims to make major cities that lack space like Mumbai sustainable. They plan to set up vertical farms in these cities and help bridge the demand and supply of food.
Urbankissan plans to set up vertical farms in other cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru
“We’re re-thinking what agriculture looks like in a world where water is scarce, people live in cities waking up to the dangers of pesticides. We want to ensure that everyone has access to safe food by building more farm next to where people live. With our produce we want to have a positive impact not only on our health, but the health of the world,” says the trio.
Want to know more and take a sustainable step? Get in touch with UrbanKissan: support@urbankisaan.com
(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)
Alberta, Canada: Hydroponic Lettuce Revolution In Bruderheim
Arthur Green
More from Arthur Green
January 29, 2019
A look at the new addition to Thiel’s Greenhouses in Bruderheim, Alberta.Thiel’s Greenhouses has invested in this new technology from Dry Hydroponics to mass produce fresh lettuce. Arthur C Green/The Record
Growing green and growing clean, in lettuce Thiel’s Greenhouses trusts.
An Ontario-Alberta-Netherlands connection has led to the sky glowing pink over Thiel’s Greenhouses in Bruderheim, Alberta.
Since 1958, Thiel’s Greenhouses have been serving the Fort Saskatchewan, Bruderheim, Lamont and Vegreville areas. The company has been focused on creating superior product quality and with the recent upgrade they look to enter a new market.
Nadine Stielow grew up in the Bruderheim area and as a little girl, she frequented the business she now has made her own. Arthur C Green/Submitted Image
Owner Nadine Stielow grew up in the Bruderheim area and as a little girl, she frequented the business she now has made her own. Stielow is taking Thiel’s Greenhouses to the next level of plant cultivation with the installation of a hydroponic system to grow lettuce.
Stielow was thrilled to give Postmedia a tour of the brand-new equipment purchased from Dry Hydroponics in the Netherlands. Stielow made the decision to purchase after visiting with Dry Hydroponics in NL where they have demonstration/trial greenhouses showcasing their product.
“I was there last January to learn from them,” Stielow told The Record.
The state of the art system uses cultivation ponds built of cement. Nutrient-rich water is added to the ponds and the crops grow in crop holders placed on floats. Arthur C Green/The Record
The Dry Hydroponics system is suitable for short-cycle crops, like lettuce, herbs and flowers according to the company’s website. Thiel’s Greenhouses will be able to produce 1500-1900 heads of fresh lettuce a week with the new equipment.
“The state of the art system uses cultivation ponds built of cement. Nutrient-rich water is added to the ponds and the crops grow in crop holders placed on floats,” Stielow said.
The design has been patented by Dry Hydroponics and allows crops to acquire sufficient amounts of water, light, nutrients, CO2 and oxygen, Stielow told Postmedia.
The designs give an ideal microclimate and allow the crops to grow in a natural way.
A shot of Thiels Greenhouses in the night sky. Residents of Bruderheim will now see a glow of pink in the evenings. Arthur C Green/The Record
‘The Ontario-Alberta-Netherlands Connection’
Thiel’s Greenhouses, which is located in Bruderheim, Alberta uses a hydroponic supplier based in Ontario named AMA Horticulture.
“I also get some of my spring plant supplies from AMA Horticulture as well,” Stielow said. “Shawn Mallen who is a specialist with that company is here helping with the setup.
Capping an incredible wk with Fri goodbye/vaarwell to my ON-AB-NL #DreamTeam
For NOW! Time to GROW #epic #finalbuild #VeniVidiVici @amahort @Dry_Hydroponics @PhilipsHorti @BallHort @AFSC_AB @Bruderheim @ThreeSixtyAB @AsGr8AsHome @1BIOBEST #liveit12:08 AM - Jan 28, 2019
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Martin Naaborg is a specialist with Dry Hydroponics and has traveled nearly 7,000 kilometers to install the system for Thiel’s Greenhouses.
“Both Shawn and Martin were here for the week to consult in the final stages of the project,” Stielow said. “AMA Horticulture is the Canadian dealer for Dry Hydroponics. Both companies are stellar in the tech support and overall help they provide to customers.”
‘Growing clean and looking to enter new markets’
Thiel’s Greenhouses has invested in this new technology from Dry Hydroponics to mass produce fresh lettuce. They will in turn market this product to local consumers and the high-end restaurants.
“To be considered organic in Canada plants must be grown in soil,” Stielow said. “I am growing clean; no pesticides will be put on our plants. I do not use chemicals in our greenhouses.”
The water heaters that were installed at an additional cost. The system is state of the art. Arthur C Green/The Record
You can walk up to any plant and eat it without a worry about it affecting your health. But this type of growing is not considered organic, Stielow added.
“Everything is being started from seed,” Stielow said. “We obtained seeds that are specifically created for hydroponic growing.”
Stielow admits that although lettuce is her company’s main focus right now, she would like to add different products as time progresses.
“I would love to try growing some new products such as bok choi and lemongrass,” Stielow said. “There are others I would like to try but I won’t go too crazy yet.”
Arthur C Green/The record
If you would like to visit Thiel’s Greenhouses, they are located on 4916 45 Street in Bruderheim. Or they can be found on the web at www.thielsgreenhouse.ca
“Our mission is simple,” Stielow said. “To supply the highest quality plants, products and services for our customers”
Hydroponic Indoor Farming is the Future of Local Food
Polly Campbell Cincinnati Enquirer
March 6, 2019
CEO Mike Zelkind poses inside a room of vertically grown tomatoes under grow lights at 80 Acres Farms in the Spring Grove Village neighborhood of Cincinnati on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. Sam Greene, The Enquirer
Farms don't often get funding from venture capitalists.
But 80 Acres Farm in Winton Place just got a big financing round from a private equity group from California.
And BrightFarms, an advanced greenhouse operation in various locations, got $55 million in investments in June, and $9 million of that is going toward expanding their operations in Wilmington.
These indoor farming operations, which mostly grow greens, herbs and lettuce, are part of a wave of a new kind of farming that is building capacity all over the country. The sector more than tripled from 2015-2017 and has now come to the Cincinnati area.
80 Acres is an indoor farm with a completely controlled indoor environment without soil, rain or sunlight. At BrightFarms, a hydroponic greenhouse, there's no soil, and sunlight is supplemented with artificial light. Another indoor farming company, Waterfields, has been growing microgreens for restaurants in both greenhouses and warehouses for years.
Labeled containers are stacked before filling and shipping at 80 Acres Farms in the Spring Grove Village neighborhood of Cincinnati on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.
Sam Greene, The Enquirer
Ironically, not far from 80 Acres and one of Waterfields' locations, there used to be a cluster of thriving tomato greenhouses. They went into a long fatal decline as agriculture consolidated in California and Florida, and there wasn't a place left for local producers. But the pendulum has swung back.
Now many consumers want locally grown food, and these farms are a natural response. They may not be the small, organic, diversified operations that local food advocates first had in mind. But they aim to address problems that have been pointed out in the current agricultural system, particularly the long delivery chain that brings most produce to market. But this is a difficult business to get into; quite a few operations have gone out of business. And while technology solves some problems, it has its own drawbacks.
Mike Zelkind, the CEO of 80 Acres, has worked for 40 years in the food industry, moving from frozen to canned to fresh food. He knows food supply chains. He likes to show graphics that detail the typical route of a bag of greens from farm to consumer. From field to packer to cold storage to trucks and distribution centers and warehouses, there is a multitude of steps. At each stop, the produce gets older, less nutritious and a little more is wasted. The lettuce and cherry tomatoes from 80 Acres need none of that to get to local customers. "The technology we use replaces all that steel on the supply chain," he said.
Seed germinating media is laid out before being filled with seeds at 80 Acres Farms in the Spring Grove Village neighborhood of Cincinnati on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.
Sam Greene, The Enquirer
The tech is impressive. The facility in Winton Place is as far from an earthy, muddy traditional farm as you can imagine. You have to wipe your feet before you enter the farm. The 1/4 acre building that replaces 80 acres of land is a series of grow zones, rooms with environments perfect for one crop.
There is an herb room, a lettuce and greens room, a place to grow cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers on vines that climb on single wires. They are experimenting with table grapes and strawberries.
Basic is in various states of growth under grow lights that appear pink at 80 Acres Farms in the Spring Grove Village neighborhood of Cincinnati on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.
Sam Greene, The Enquirer
It's all eerily lit by purple LED lights. The plants are rooted in a soil-less grow mat and fed a liquid solution that is the right recipe for that plant and its stage of growth. They have air moving over them to stress them in just the right way. The air is condensed, the water analyzed, so that the growers know what the plants have taken in and what they need. They do not use pesticides. "We grow food in a clean, consistent way," said Zelkind.
One of the advantages of indoor farming is that it eliminates some kinds of risks. An extended tour Zelkind took to talk to farmers was one inspiration for 80 Acres. "They were constantly struggling to do well in bad years," he said. Weather and other uncontrollable factors are a constant unknown factor in farming. That risk is another thing the technology seeks to replace.
Bright Farms has many of the same benefits of a vertical farm without quite as much technological control. They grow greens in huge glass houses. "When we don't have sun for heat, we use a boiler system," said Paul Lightfoot, CEO. "When the sun doesn't have enough light, we use supplemental lighting. We use a lot less water. We don't use pesticides and we're herbicide-free."
Shipping labels are rolled in a packaging area at 80 Acres Farms in the Spring Grove Village neighborhood of Cincinnati on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. Sam Greene, The Enquirer
He also points out that localized growers are able to build a product for flavor, not transport durability. "The product is grown for customers, not the supply chain." The greenhouse in Wilmington offers good year-round jobs – badly needed in Wilmington – in harvesting, packaging and maintenance. They pay a living wage and offer benefits.
The critiques of indoor farming have to do with the practice's energy use and the limitations on what can be grown.
First, there's the irony of paying for energy that contributes to global warming instead of using free sunlight. 80 Acres is working on lowering their energy use. LEDs are becoming more efficient, they're experimenting with using an anaerobic digester to convert waste into energy, and they buy renewable energy from Duke.
It's very expensive to build and maintain a indoor farm facility, (hence the venture capital) and the end product is more expensive. So only crops that can command a premium price make sense. The pristine freshness and flavor of 80 Acre or Bright Farms' local lettuce, greens and herbs do offer a value some might pay extra for. Plus they grow quickly for frequent harvests. But when it comes to "feeding the planet," it would be very difficult to grow and sell more nutrient-dense foods like potatoes or beans this way because you can't charge a premium for a fresh potato.
Byrd has found her mission at Waterfields. Byron McCauley
"For everyone who's started (in this sector), someone has failed," said Daniel Klemens of Waterfields. "There's so much price pressure from retailers, it's hard to get it right." Waterfields' goal when they started out was idealistic, but in a different way. It was to create agricultural jobs in the city. So they decided on high-margin crops that take a short time to produce. They grow microgreens and some specialty salad mixes. "We are focused on quality and consistency for our customers," said Klemens. Those are mostly chefs who want the decoration and pop of flavor that pretty tiny leaves can add to a dish.
Working with nonprofits like the Urban League and Santa Maria Community Services, they have hired 12 hard-to-employ people and given them good jobs and promotions. And their pretty little red-veined leaves show up on a lot of beautiful photos of Cincinnati restaurant food. They make no claims about feeding the hungry or changing the food systems.
But Zelkind has a lofty vision that includes fresh food in places that don't have it and contributing to a better way of distributing food. He says their precision technology has driven down costs. Their next step is a new facility in Hamilton that will be completely automated. In a competitive field, he thinks their investment in technology will make local food more easily available.
Gordon Food Service and Square Roots to Bring Local Food to Cities Across North America
The strategic partnership will see new campuses of Square Roots’ indoor farms built on or near Gordon Food Service distribution centers and retail stores across the continent, enabling year-round growing of premium quality herbs, greens, and more, which will then be available to Gordon Food Service customers.
March 6, 2019
BROOKLYN, NY
Gordon Food Service has linked up with Square Roots, a leader in urban indoor farming, to provide customers across North America with locally-grown food. The strategic partnership will see new campuses of Square Roots’ indoor farms built on or near Gordon Food Service distribution centers and retail stores across the continent, enabling year-round growing of premium quality herbs, greens, and more, which will then be available to Gordon Food Service customers.
Rich Wolowski, CEO, Gordon Food Service
“Customers want an assortment of fresh, locally-grown food all year round,” stated Rich Wolowski, CEO of Gordon Food Service, in a recent press release. “We are on a path to do that at scale with Square Roots and are excited to be the first in the industry to offer this unique solution to our customers.”
Gordon Food Service has linked up with Square Roots, a leader in urban indoor farming, to provide customers across North America with locally-grown food
The press release noted that this partnership enables Gordon Food Service to bring a modern offering to meet growing customer demand for local food across North America. It also signifies the first significant expansionto new locations for Square Roots.
Tobias Peggs, Co-Founder and CEO, Square Roots“
This partnership means we will grow delicious, local real food at huge scale,” said Tobias Peggs, Co-Founder and CEO of Square Roots. “We’re so happy to be working with a mission-aligned partner in Gordon Food Service—leveraging technology to bring real food to a huge number of people across the country, while delivering real social impact by empowering thousands of young people to become our country’s future farmers.”
Customers can scan a QR code on packaging to trace how their food was grown and who grew it
Square Roots utilizes a high-tech farming platform with its Next-Gen Farmer Training Program to train young people to become future leaders in the food industry. In addition to this tech, the company's Transparency Timeline enables customers to trace exactly how their food was grown and who grew it, simply by scanning a QR code on its packaging. Two winning tech solutions, if you ask me!
Stick with us here at AndNowUKnow for the latest in new partnerships.
Gordon Food Service Square Roots
Distribution Gordon Food Service New Partnership Square Roots Locally-Grown Rich Wolowski Tobias Peggs
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Gordon Food Service
Gordon Food Service is the largest privately-held, family-managed broadline foodservice distributor in North America-and...
Brick Street Farms is a Hidden Gem Producing Fresh Food
By Vanessa Ruffes, FOX 13 News
February 27, 2019
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (FOX 13) -
Tampa Bay is full of hidden gems, and even hidden farms.
Brick Street Farms is nestled off of 2nd Avenue South in downtown St. Petersburg, and is making the most of its modest space. It opened about two years ago. At the time, it only served its produce to local restaurants and hotels. Then, more than a year ago, the farm opened its doors to the public with retail and farm memberships.
"We specialize in all things leafy green," said owner Shannon O'Malley, who actually worked with computers before switching to farming. "So, we have about 10 to 12 varieties of lettuce. We do four to five varieties of baby kale, chard, herbs, edible flowers, microgreens, sprouts."
All the growing magic happens inside several containers, which totals roughly 1,200 square feet, but O'Malley says her farm is able to generate 430,000-square-feet worth of produce.
"We actually grow 8 to 10 acres of produce every five weeks," O'Malley says. "We might look small, but we're actually a commercial grower. We go through 50,000 plants every five weeks."
Brick Street grows its crops hydroponically, striving to do the most with the least waste, tailoring water and light conditions specifically to what each type of plant likes.
"We use an LED lighting system, which means there's no sunlight used. We control temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, nutrient levels," O'Malley says. "We make every bit of use of the vertical space, which is why we're able to cram so much into a small space."
All that effort has put Brick Street's team up to its eyeballs in leafy greens, but the farm is starting to branch out, recently digging into tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries.
It doesn't get fresher than this either. O'Malley said everything goes straight from the farm to their market on-site or to their buyers within hours.
Speaking of the market -- shoppers and farm members will find small batch products either grown on the property or locally made. In addition to produce, the market offers items like honey, vinegars, and kimchi. O'Malley says the offerings are constantly changing too.
"I definitely think this is the way of the future," O'Malley says. "People really want to know where their food is coming from. We do everything without chemicals, without pesticides, no dirt, no bugs, non-GMO, no animal products, no animal fertilizers so we eliminate all the contaminant risks with our produce."
If you're interested in a tour, you can schedule a group tour. For more information, check out Brick Street Farms' website.
The Growcer Signs Produce Supply Deal With University Food Services Firm Chartwells
A view inside one of The Growcer's hydroponics pods. Provided.
BY: Techopia Staff
March 6, 2019
ORGANIZATIONS: The Growcer Chartwells Canada University of Ottawa
PEOPLE: Corey Ellis Alida Burke
Ottawa-based hydroponics startup The Growcer will soon be installing its high-tech system for growing fruits and vegetables at colleges and universities across Canada.
The three-year-old company announced this week it has signed a partnership with food-services provider Chartwells Canada to set up mini-hydroponic farms in converted shipping containers on post-secondary campuses around the country. The produce grown inside will be sold to Chartwells, the largest supplier of food services to colleges and universities in Canada.
“Through our partnership with Chartwells, partner colleges and universities across Canada will benefit from having fresh, local and healthy produce grown only steps away from their food halls and cafeterias, no matter the weather,” The Growcer co-founder and CEO Corey Ellis said in a statement.
“We're excited that students will get to enjoy locally grown, nutritious meals throughout the entire year."
Founded by Ellis and Alida Burke when they were students at the University of Ottawa in 2016, The Growcer combines hydroponic technology with climate controls that allow users to grow fresh produce in a contained space. The company claims the system uses 95 per cent less water than conventional agricultural methods and can grow up to 100 kilograms of vegetables per week without the need for herbicides or pesticides.
The company’s products have already been used in Canada’s Arctic, and last year the firm installed one of its retrofitted shipping containers at the University of Ottawa campus in a joint venture with Chartwells.
Now a member of Invest Ottawa’s accelerator, The Growcer appeared on CBC’s Dragons’ Den earlier this year, where its founders landed a $250,000 equity offer for 30 per cent of the company, a deal they accepted on the show but did not finalize.
Ellis told Techopia Live in 2018 the company’s goal is to enable any community in Canada to be more more self-reliant when it comes to food.
“We can do a lot with the technology we have now to allow any community, not only in northern Canada, but in Canada in general, to be more self-reliant. So I’d love to see a Growcer system in every major city in Canada,” he said.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Ottawa startup The Growcer triumphs on Dragons’ Den
Jan 11, 2019