Grow Lights Are Major Focus of Cultivate’19 Educational Sessions

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Growers and researchers discuss the benefits of using grow lights when it comes to growing controlled environment crops.

If you are contemplating installing supplemental grow lights in your controlled environment production facility, then Cultivate’19 was the place to learn how the lights are being used. Both growers and university researchers presented information on the results they have gotten with grow lights, particularly light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Grow lights a must for producing greenhouse strawberries

Sarah Gunn, head grower at De Jong Greenhouses in Pella, Iowa, discussed how she has been using LEDs to produce greenhouse strawberries from November through January. The company, which grows primarily ornamental plants, has been trialing greenhouse strawberries for eight years. For the last three years the company has been selling its strawberries through a produce distributor to local grocery stores. Gunn said the price point during the months the company produces the berries has been good enough to justify the costs associated with growing the crop.

Gunn said the strawberries which are grown in 12-inch containers can hold three to four plants. She advised growers to start with certified bare root plants. Greenhouse strawberries are a labor intensive crop requiring removal of runners (stolons), old leaves and harvesting fruit every two to three days.

Gunn said that two-thirds of the United States doesn’t have sufficient light levels during the winter months to grow greenhouse strawberries. The optimum daily light integral (DLI) for strawberries is 15-25 moles per square meter per day (mol·m-2·d-1). Gunn is using LEDs to deliver a DLI of 12 mol·m-2·d-1. Extending the day length to 13-16 hours can help boost fruit yields. Plants should not be lit for longer than 16 hours.

The company purchases bumblebees to pollinate the strawberry plants. Because different light spectrum can affect bumblebees, Gunn advises growers to find out how grow lights can impact the bees behavior.

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Growers in two-thirds of the United States don’t have sufficient light levels during the winter months to produce greenhouse strawberries.

Photo courtesy of Chieri Kubota, Ohio St. Univ.

De Jong uses a template for berry size and color to determine when the berries are ready to harvest. Since strawberries were the first food crop the company had grown, a consultant was hired to implement food safety protocols. 

Gunn said cultural practices and biocontrols are being used for greenhouse pests and diseases. Pests include two-spotted spider mite, aphids and thrips. Prior to growing greenhouse strawberries Gunn said she never had to deal with lygus bugs, commonly referred to tarnished plant bugs. Diseases issues include powdery mildew, Botrytis and leather rot (Phytophthora cactorum).

Multiple crops grow well under LEDs

A panel of growers and a university researcher discussed the experiences they have had growing under LEDs.

John Bonner, owner and CEO at Great Lakes Growers in Burton, Ohio, has been hydroponically growing leafy greens and herbs since 2011 when he started with 300 square feet of greenhouse production. His operation has expanded to 160,000 square feet. Bonner who started with high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps has replaced most of those fixtures with LEDs. Once the company’s current expansion is completed Bonner expects to be able to annually produce 6 million heads of lettuce.

James Darrow, general manager at Jolly Farmer in New Brunswick, Canada, began research with LEDs in 2012. He said Jolly Farmer provides at least 25 moles of light per day by LEDs during the winter. After installing LEDs Darrow said adjustments had to be made in how often crops were irrigated, fertilizer applications and crop timing. Many of the bedding crops, especially begonias, needed to be fertilized more often when grown under LEDs.

The economics of using grow lights

Horticultural researchers Neil Mattson from Cornell University and Marc van Iersel from the University of Georgia discussed the Lighting Approaches to Maximize Profits (LAMP) project. Funded by the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative, LAMP aims to determine how growers can maximize their return on investment when considering installing grow lights.

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Researchers involved with the Lighting Approaches to Maximize Profits (LAMP) project are working to help growers maximize their return on investment in grow lights while optimizing plant growth.
Photo courtesy of Marc van Iersel, Univ. of Georgia

The team of researchers involved in this $5 million, four-year project is studying the best way to optimize crop growth and quality in cost-effective ways. The research includes simulation of different lighting scenarios and the use of sensors to monitor crop growth and physiology. Researchers are studying how much light crops require and assessing supplemental lighting needs and options.

This article is property of Hort Americas and was written by David Kuack, a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, TX.

Growing Niche-Market Hydroponic Crops: Ginseng, Bay, and Tarragon

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Lynette Morgan | July 19, 2019

Takeaway: A patient hydroponic grower can make some money with high-value niche crops like ginseng, bay, and tarragon. Dr. Lynette Morgan examines the pros and cons of growing each cultivar.

For many, indoor gardening is an exciting hobby, one which often leads to the possibility of setting up a profitable business using new skills and knowledge. While hydroponics is the basis of many successful commercial enterprises, selecting the right crop is essential and, given the high intensity, but limited area of many indoor gardens, niche market crops are usually a good option.

Crops that currently receive the highest returns on local markets include those such as ginseng, bay, tarragon, and saffron, all of which are suited to both hydroponics and indoor cropping. While a high rate of return per pound may look lucrative, growers also need to take into account the difficulty of the crop, yields per square foot, time to harvest, and availability of information on hydroponic cultivation.

Some of the most highly priced, niche crops are relatively low yielding and slow to mature, so growers need to weigh up all these factors before deciding which to grow.

French Tarragon

French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) has long been a staple hydroponic herb and is relatively easy to grow. It is a perennial bushy plant with slender branching stems and smooth olive green, narrow leaves. The flavor of tarragon is strong, sweet, aromatic, and reminiscent of anise and licorice and has been growing in popularity as a culinary flavoring.

While French tarragon does receive considerably higher prices per pound than most other herbs (currently around $16/lb), it is slow to produce good yields and can take up to a year before regular harvests of fresh cut product can be taken and the foliage is light in weight.

French Tarragon, being a long-lived perennial plant, is suited to free draining media bed systems with substrates such as perlite as the plant is intolerant of high moisture levels. A warm, well-lit environment is required to prevent tarragon plants going into dormancy which halts growth and, in an indoor garden, tarragon can be grown year round.

Tarragon has similar nutritional requirements to other slower growing herbs such as rosemary and thyme, with an EC of 1.6-1.8 for mature plants and 1.0-1.2 for young plants, cuttings/root divisions, or plants just coming out of dormancy.

Bay

Bay leaves, sold both fresh and, more commonly, as a dried product, are produced by the Bay tree (Laurus nobilis) a native of the Mediterranean region where it can reach heights over 40 feet. Under hydroponic cultivation for fresh herb production, young trees are regularly trimmed to restrict height. Fresh bay leaves currently receive around $30/lb and are used to flavor a wide range of dishes.

Bay is a slow-growing tree, best suited to being individually planted into containers with a drip irrigation system. Small plants are generally started as cuttings and potted on as they grow in size. The growing point of young plants needs to be removed to encourage branching and stem development for higher yields of individual leaves as the plants grow to a harvestable stage.

Bay trees are fairly hardy and can survive cool conditions, but for maximum growth, they do best in a warm, dry, high-light environment with EC levels maintained in the 2.4 – 2.6 range. While bay is relatively disease free, it is prone to attack by mealy bugs which can either be manually removed for small plantings or sprayed regularly with neem oil.

Read also: 3 Types of High-Value Cash Crops to Grow Hydroponically

Ginseng

American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolium L.) is a relatively new crop to hydroponic production and one which has considerable potential to increase both yields and quality of the harvestable product. Dried ginseng root is reported to receive around $500-$600 per lb, however the plant is slow growing and low yielding compared to most other fast turn-around hydroponic crops.

One of the main advantages of ginseng is that it must have a very low light, cool environment and is thus suited to indoor production where these factors can be easily controlled. American ginseng is native to the cool, shady hardwood forests of eastern US and Canada and since the 18th century, has been hunted down and dug from the wild to supply markets, often exported to Asia.

However, the high prices and demand for ginseng combined with its slow rate of growth and reproduction has meant that wild populations are often dug at an early age before flowering and seed production has occurred, thus the plant faces extinction in the wild. Due to the high prices paid for wild ginseng, cultivation of this crop has become more widespread with most systems still being soil based.

Cultivated plants are a long-lived crop, with the roots becoming larger each year until harvest, often in the fourth year — at this stage roots are usually forked and around four inches long and one inch thick. Mature plants are between one to two feet tall and enter into a dormancy phase in autumn when the leaves turn yellow and stems die back.

Propagation of ginseng is somewhat time consuming as the seed requires at least 12 months of after-ripening (stratification at low temperature) before germination will occur. However, for quicker crop establishment, growers can start with one- to two-year-old roots which are precisely spaced to maximize plant density in the growing area. While starting a crop from young roots is more expensive than raising planting stock from seed, it reduces the time to harvest and allows only healthy roots to be selected for planting out.

A potentially profitable option for indoor hydroponic growers with limited space is to not grow ginseng for harvest of the mature product (which then needs to be carefully dried before sale), but to propagate from seed and sell only one- to two—year-old roots to other growers. Ginseng seedlings can be grown at a much higher density than mature plants and respond well to hydroponic nutrition — this allows the production of high-health planting stock which has not been in contact with soil and is well suited to further soilless production.

Starting with stratified seed which is usually for sale in fall, this needs to be sown a half-inch to one-inch deep, with an average germination rate of 70 per cent. Seed beds containing a mix of fine grade perlite and coconut fiber and a high-quality, low-mineral water source are suitable for the germination process

Hydroponic Systems for Ginseng

Hydroponic systems for ginseng have had limited research, however, there is potential to improve yields and growth rates through climate and root environmental control as well as optimal nutrition. Ginseng requires low light levels (heavy shading is used for outdoor crops) with light saturation occurring in both seedlings and mature plants at about 150 micromoles m-2 s-1 (1) which is around 7.5 per cent of full sunlight. Too much light will reduce yields, burn leaves, and lead to plant decline, while excess shade depresses the yield potential. Much of the photo assimilate produced by the ginseng leaves ends up in the thickened root system, however, the yield of the roots can be increased by up to 25 per cent if the flowering stems are removed as they form.

Temperatures for ginseng are similar to those for other cool-season crops, around 68-73°F (20-23°C). Growing mediums for ginseng must be free draining, but at the same time not impede the development of the forked roots — coconut fiber, or mixtures of fiber and perlite under drip irrigation are suitable.

Overly wet substrate conditions should be avoided as these attract fungus gnats, the larvae of which can damage the roots and introduce infection. Some research has also indicated that for high quality root production, ginseng can be grown aeroponically without the requirement for any growing medium. Spraying roots for 30 seconds every 10 minutes in the light period, and for 30 seconds every 30 minutes during the dark has been stated as a suitable frequency. Ginseng can be prone to root rot and physiological disorders, so the use of disease-free root stock is recommended along with high quality water sources and solution disinfection.

There is little information on suitable nutrient ratios or elemental levels for hydroponic ginseng, however, a low EC of 0.5-1.1 has been suggested for solution culture system. A high concentration of potassium has also been stated to result in an increase in ginseng root growth.

Harvesting ginseng roots at the end of the growth period occurs when they have reached a fresh weight of around an ounce. Harvesting needs to be carefully carried out as damaged roots receive lower prices than intact ones. After harvest, substrate grown roots need to be washed then dried in drying rooms with forced air to ensure mold growth does not occur. Once dried, roots can be packed and stored until sold.

Profitable hydroponic crops for indoor growers are worth a little investigation into market prices and cultivation techniques, taking into account yields, growing space, and time to maturity. However, many opportunities and a diverse range of crops exist within niche markets, even if some trial and error may be needed to perfect a new commercial enterprise.

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Written by Lynette Morgan

Dr. Lynette Morgan holds a B. Hort. Tech. degree and a PhD in hydroponic greenhouse production from Massey University, New Zealand. Lynette is a partner with Suntec International Hydroponic Consultants and has authored several hydroponic technical books. Visit suntec.co.nz for more information. Full Bio

Heliponix Capturing Innovation And Hearts In Indiana's Great Southwest

See The First GroPod One In-Person At The Purdue University Graduate Student Plant Science Symposium on August 1 At The Beck Agricultural Center.

Heliponix is an Agriculture Technology company that sells the GroPod to consumers. The GroPod is a revolutionary smart appliance that grows fresh produce in your home any time of year with an organic seed-pod subscription without any preservatives or pesticides.

The business model is similar to the keurig k-cup model, but is also a practical solution to counter the environmental damage wreaked by conventional soil agriculture since it uses hydroponics which grows produce faster with 95% less water. This is important because the human population will reach 9.8 Billion in the year 2050 which will increase food demand by 70%. This will likely not be met with current agriculture practices in the US accounting for almost 80% of all freshwater consumption and 50% of land use.

Heliponix was co-founded by Southern Indiana natives, Scott Massey and Ivan Ball. Although they did not know each other before completing their respective engineering degrees at Purdue University, they met each other as co-working on a NASA funded research study at Purdue.

There, there research energy efficent LED lighting spectrum optimization to reduce the energy consumption of the hydroponic growing systems on the International Space Station. As undergraduate students, they had the idea to create an IoT (internet of things) appliance that would automate the complex process of hydroponics so every-day consumers would have the ability to grow their own produce at home. They then competed in business plan competitions at various universities and research institutions to raise several hundred thousand dollars in funding to commercialize their proprietary technology. Purdue University was among their first investors through their venture division focused on innovations within the agricultural and biological engineering domain.

Heliponix won first place in the Evansville Regional Pitch Competition after debuting considerable traction bringing the GroPod to market as well as the their first production model from their manufacturing facility that will have the capability to produce several thousand GroPods.

Scott Massey said: “We considered many other cities when deciding where to locate a high-tech appliance company such as Heliponix. Fortunately, the Ohio River Valley is fertile in engineering talent and manufacturing plants to produce our exact product. We will continue creating high-paying jobs as we define an entirely new frontier for agriculture. In the not so distant future, the majority of culinary herbs, microgreens, and leafy green vegetables will be grown indoors as consumers favor the flavor, health, and food safety benefits of fresher food. That’s why we are excited to advance to the state finals since our company truly has so much growth potential for our region.” 

I Ate The Freshest Lettuce You’ll Find In N.J. And It Was Grown In A Metal Garden

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July 23, 2019

By Olivia Rizzo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Visitors exit the Robbinsville Hydroponic Farm, a vertical hydroponic shipping container – called the Leafy Green Machine (LGM). TT Michael Mancuso

A giant lime-green storage container parked behind Robbinsville Township’s Senior Center is not what I imagined I’d be looking at when I learned the town had a public garden. But that’s exactly what it is and the magic happening inside the 40-foot-long space might surprise you.

Affectionately called the “leafy green machine” by the staff that runs the garden in a box, it operates on a hydroponics system, which, after stepping inside, made me feel like I was inside a sci-fi movie with its eery lights and machinery.

The storage container-turned-garden, which cost the town $104,000, was first installed in 2017. Its main focus is to provide local residents with fresh vegetables that are able to be grown year-round in nutrient-rich water without the need for dirt or pesticides.

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Lettuce being prepared for packaging at Robbinsville's hydroponic garden.

“This is really a great urban solution to bring localized greens to residents,” said Kyle Clement, the farm’s coordinator. Clement was hired shortly after graduating from Rutgers to oversee the farm’s production.

Despite its tiny size, the storage container allows them to grow the same amount of crops as a 32,000-square-foot plot of land, which amounts to about 500 heads of lettuce harvested a week. The majority of the produce — lettuce and kale, and eventually herbs like basil — is donated to the town’s senior center and the Mercer Street Friends food bank. The rest is sold to residents who sign up through the town’s program and pay $20 for four weeks of veggies.

I got a tour of the space on a recent afternoon. The inside of the container was mostly dark and was almost solely lit by blue and red LED lights. The closest I’ve come to have an experience like this is when I took a darkroom photography workshop in middle school.

The sides of the storage box are lined with rows and rows of white vertical shelves, which is where the heads of lettuce grow.

As Clement walked me through the process of farming, he pulled one of the inward-facing shelves off its stop to reveal the most perfect and symmetrical heads of lettuce that I’ve ever seen.

The reason these veggies look so perfect has to do with their growing process, which goes a little something like this:

Everything is grown from seeds. They first start out in the seed nursery for about three weeks until the lettuce bulb is big enough to fit into the vertical rack. From there, the entire growing process is controlled and monitored by the farm’s computer system.

“The sensors take all of the readings of water, temperature and pH levels, which are sent to the farm computer, and the computer reads it and adjusts the environment as needed,” Clement said.

The vertical growing system requires no soil and uses a drip water method that conserves 90% of the water used. Any water that isn’t absorbed by the vegetables is collected by the box’s irrigation system to be reused.

Instead of sunlight, the LED lights provide the energy the plants need to grow. The red and blue wavelength lights provide optimal light to the leafy vegetables growing in each garden.

Once the vegetables are fully grown, they are harvested by Clement and a team of volunteers each week. The heads of the lettuce are pulled from the vertical stacks and are cleaned on a workbench before being bagged and prepared for customers.

On my way out of the tour, Clement handed me a bag of lettuce and a flyer promising me the best vegetables I had ever tasted. So I obviously had to put the claim to the test.

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I went home and made myself a salad for lunch. I added some tomatoes and cucumbers with chicken and balsamic dressing. This is pretty much my go-to salad recipe but the super fresh greens really pushed it to the next level.

To start, washing off all the heads of lettuce was super easy because there was no lingering dirt particles clinging to the leaves, so I managed to get things prepared in only a couple of minutes.

The taste and texture were also great and I give that credit to knowing the lettuce was just harvested a few days ago and hadn’t been sitting on a truck and going through shipping for weeks at a time.

When I was done with my lunch I still had enough lettuce left over for at least one or two more meals, and I definitely intend on making them last. Robbinsville residents who want to sign up can register online. Customers will be able to pick up their vegetables at the senior center.

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Have a tip? Tell us.nj.com/tips.

Namibia: Farm Shalom Thrives In The Desert

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STAFF REPORTER KHOMAS

2019-07-01

WINDHOEK - The stretch of land east of Swakopmund is vast, extremely arid and it appears lifeless but in the Namib Desert where one would not have expected an agronomic venture is where Farm Shalom thrives, growing a variety of veggies such as peppers, spinach and different types of flowers.

Most of the desert wildlife consists of arthropods and other small animals that live on very little water although this desert that stretches all the way to northern Namibia is inhabited by larger animals in the northern part of Namibia where its vast expanse stretches all the way to Angola.

Namibia is the driest sub-Saharan country and is the most severely affected by climate change, with rising temperatures, rainfall variability and increased droughts and severe flooding but AvaGro grows flowers and vegetables on a commercial basis in the Namib Desert.

The head of agronomist at AvaGro Ranjit Patil told New Era upon enquiry that the eight-hectare Shalom farm located 10 kilometres outside Swakopmund on the banks of the Swakop River has 27 greenhouses “where we grow cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.”

On this piece of land turned into farmland in the oldest desert in the world, Patil and his team the majority of whom are Namibians employed as salaried workers, also grow roses and gerberas, beetroot, eggplant, herbs and spinach ‘’using open field cultivation.”

“We use high tech agriculture as climate change threatens traditional farming methods. These high-tech agriculture methods are tried and tested in India and we are replicating success here in Namibia. This involves setting up greenhouses to create a controlled environment and use of hydroponic methods like the growing media, cocopeat. Cocopeat has high water holding capacity, is heat stabilising and has high levels of porosity, which makes it ideal for farming in challenging environmental conditions,” narrated the head agronomist who holds a Master’s degree in agriculture.

“We also use soil optimisation methods for the crops we cultivate in the open, by adding manure and grass to the soil,” Patil further elaborated when queried how they have managed to utilise the desert into productive land.

“Namibia is the driest sub-Saharan country and is most severely affected by climate change, with rising temperatures, rainfall variability and increased droughts and floods. The desert soil causes limited fertility and irrigation, requires highly capital-intensive methods of production and reduces crop production,” he said in response to a question from this newspaper.

“Climate-adapted cultivation methods are needed to secure sufficient food availability in the country. High-tech agriculture with media cultivation (cocopeat) is an effective solution to overcome challenges of soil through greenhouse efficiencies. Since in India we have similar climatic conditions so it’s a win -win situation to share our expert skills with fellow Namibians,” says an upbeat Patil. 

The Indian company bought the plot in 2015 and set up its first greenhouses in 2016 and 97 percent of its staff compliment of 30 employees are Namibian creating much-needed jobs for locals.
On the challenges faced he says, “climate is a key challenge that we address with precision agriculture. We address the challenge of skill through customised training programmes,” and the company uses a hydroponic system, cocopeat, to optimise growth to offset water scarcity.

Productive-wise “We harvest six tonnes of tomatoes, three tonnes of peppers and 10,000 pieces of cucumber per greenhouse (350 square metre) per season (comprising six months). We have two seasons per year and harvest on a regular basis,” says the head of agronomist at Shalom Farm.

“We work with smallholder farmers, agri-preneurs and established medium and large-scale cultivators to develop bespoke production plans to advance food sovereignty. In terms of market access, we have off-take agreements with local wholesalers and retailers,” he said on market access.

“At Shalom, we’re contributing to the shift from traditional farming to precision agriculture. This involves applying efficient water-use systems, augmenting the soil and using hydroponic mediums to grow crops. At Shalom, we are showing what is possible with the right mix of determination, technology and skills. If we can foster sustainable agriculture in the desert, where constraints – water, soil and climate – are amplified; we can do it anywhere,” he said.

New Zealand: $2.75m of Funding to Make Northland Hydroponic Horticultural Capital

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Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announces $2.75million of Provincial Growth Fund money for Maungatapere Berries, which grows fruit hydroponically, west of Whangārei.

Northern Advocate

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13 Jul, 2019

Northland could become the hydroponic horticultural capital of the country with a $2.37-million Provincial Growth Fund loan going to a Whangarei company to expand its already huge hydroponic operation and create 45 new full time jobs.

The $2.37m PGF partnership was announced by the Minister of Regional Economic Development, Shane Jones, at Whangarei business Maungatapere Berries that will create the first centre for growing excellence in the New Zealand hydroponics horticulture industry.

The partnership will enable Maungatapere Berries, owned by the Malley Family, to develop the first phase of a high-tech education, training and employment operation, as part of a 20ha hydroponic orchard expansion, doubling its workforce to 360 over the next five to eight years.

As new generation growers Patrick and Rebecca Malley said they are excited at the potential of hydroponics as one of the greatest untapped opportunities for the future of sustainable horticulture in Northland.

Maungatapere Berries director Patrick Malley and berryfruit manager Aroha Heta.

"Our plan, as part of the PGF partnership, is to further build on the extensive work the family's business has already undertaken in hydroponics providing permanent employment opportunities for locals in horticulture,'' Patrick Malley said.

"We aim to use it as a template designed to create better paying jobs and lifelong careers for young Northlanders as well as improving the social and economic benefits for local communities.''

The hydroponic orchard will focus on berryfruit and other fruit varieties that flourish when grown hydroponically in Northland's warm semi-tropical climate. He said the hydroponic centre of excellence will become a sustainable farming reference site for Northland growers with the aim of introducing and increasing the production of hydroponic fruit crops in the region and improving the economic opportunities for the Northland region.

The Malley family first started developing part of their 37ha kiwifruit orchard into a hydroponic berry operation four years ago, focusing on growing high-quality, good-tasting fruit to supply the New Zealand domestic market all year round.

They have continued investing and expanding their operation, which employs 45 fulltime staff and an additional 180 staff during the peak season, and includes an advanced packhouse servicing the domestic market, with future plans to export.

He said ongoing research into new fruit crops combined with greenhouse innovation and a strategy to build deep capability has the potential to develop a large environmentally sustainable horticultural industry that supports real growth in living wage employment and social equality for Northland.

How India's Hydroponic Farmers Are Building Businesses

Urban hydroponic farmers are making it possible to eat fresh, pesticide-free produce, with no soil use

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BY JOANNA LOBO

PUBLISHED: Jul 13, 2019

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Herbivore Farms, in Mumbai's Andheri, is spread across 1,000 sq ft and grows about 2,500 plants

In the middle of an industrial building in the Andheri East neighbourhood of Mumbai is a farm. It is spread across 1,000 sq ft and grows 2,500 plants. It is no ordinary farm. The hum of an air conditioner greets visitors into the room, tube lights replace sunlight, and there’s no soil on the patch.

Herbivore Farms is an example of a newly popular and successful type of urban farming—hydroponics. Simply put, it is growing plants in water. Soil is replaced by a water solution that is rich in macronutrients like nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous, calcium nitrate and micronutrients like manganese, zinc etc. A ‘grow system’ controls the balance of nutrition, humidity and temperature, uses less water than soil-based farming and increases yield without chemicals or pesticides.

“There are many advantages to urban farming. The land requirement is quite low, water consumption is 80 percent less, the water is recycled and saved, it is pesticide-free and in cases of high-tech farms there is no real dependency on the weather,” says hydroponic farmer Ajay Naik of Letcetra Agritech in the Sattari district of Goa.

Hydroponic farming is setting up roots all across India. Sakina Rajkotwala and Joshua Lewis, of Herbivore Farms, have come into focus in the last year. In Manori, Linesh Pillai started Terra Farms as a pilot project before taking the idea countrywide. Delhi has Triton Foodworks; Noida has Nature’s Miracle; Chennai has Sriram Gopal’s Future Farms and Rahul Dhoka’s Acqua Farms; and Gurugram-based company, Barton Breeze, has six farms across Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

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Sakina Rajkotwalla quit her job at Magic Bus to start Herbivore Farms;
Image: Ronit Sarkar

“Hydroponics and other soil-less farming techniques can help us take our agriculture and farming industry to the next level,” adds Naik.

The new farmer
The path to hydroponic farming is paved with good intentions: Sustainable farming and the desire to eat fresh, organic, zero-carbon food.

Rajkotwala and Lewis’ journey began after they quit their jobs at Magic Bus and Directi, respectively, and decided to seek out their purpose in life. The question of ‘who we are’ led them to examine what they eat and how to grow it, and a stint at an Auroville farm, and eating fresh produce, turned out to be the change they sought. “It was a revelatory experience, as it opened our minds to the importance of food,” says Lewis. “We wanted to replicate that farm model—pluck vegetables and eat them fresh—in the urban space.” Hydroponics made the most sense, and they started with a small farm on Rajkotwala’s terrace in Juhu in 2017 and moved to Andheri in 2018.

Herbivore Farms’ set-up is a good example of how a hydroponic farm functions. It consists of a covered germination chamber that uses biodegradable sponge to sprout plants, a nursery where net cups (small planters) are filled with clay pebbles for support and structure, and the grow systems where the plants become fully grown. It involves metal stands, PVC pipes attached to a covered nutrient tank that pumps water to the plants, and tube lights. Once the plant grows roots, it is transferred to a system with higher nutrients in the water, where it is fully grown and harvested.

Everything, from the humidity and temperature levels to the amount of light, nutrients and water, is controlled. Although most hydroponic systems function in a similar manner, every farmer has his/her own customised grow systems, lights, seeds, and growing methods. The farms can be indoors or outdoors (a greenhouse). The vertical system ensures produce is plentiful (vertically stacked plants means there are more of them in the same area) and growth is quick, sometimes within seven days, as they get light round the clock.

At Herbivore, the produce—it comprises sorrel, basil, microgreens, edible flowers, lettuce varieties, Swiss Chard and peppermint—is packed into boxes and sent to customers via a subscription model. Most other farmers sell their produce at markets, gourmet stores, restaurants, cafes and salad bars, and to businesses.

Pillai of UGF Farms (earlier Terra Farms) in Manori, doesn’t just sell his produce at markets in Mumbai, he also sets up grow areas in restaurants, hotels and community spaces and has done so in over 30 locations in five cities, including Moscow. He does this to reduce the journey of the food from farm to consumer. Pillai started his own farming journey in 2014, converting 500 sq ft into a prototype, which he now replicates. The farms he sets up produces microgreens, microherbs and leafy greens. “It is food that grows in a space where it is consumed and never goes through logistics. Today, food takes much longer to get to our plates and in the interim, most valued nutrients are lost. By this method, food is consumed right after harvesting… it cannot get fresher,” he says.

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Terra Farms, which is started by Linesh Pillai in Mumbai’s Manori last year

In Chennai, Rahul Dhoka has an 80 sq ft terrace farm producing kale, bok choy, Italian basil, thyme and mint, all for his family of six. The industrial biotech graduate started out in the organic business before turning to hydroponic farming last year. He now has three farms run by friends and family but his focus is on his hydroponic farming consultancy, Acqua Farms.

Experiments with food
Some soil-free farmers aren’t content with just growing their own vegetables and selling them. They want to spread the good word through workshops, sales of kits and systems, and advice.

Dhoka believes in encouraging more people to become farmers. “After we started in 2016, we got many requests for helping people build systems that could work in confined spaces such as balconies and terraces,” he says. Acqua Farms sells affordable ready-to-grow kits priced between `750 and `7,500, which include pipes, cups, growing media, four varieties of seeds, nutrients for three months, and an instruction manual. “We offer consultations for two harvests. Customers send us updates every week and we give instructions and modify things,” he says.

What Dhoka and other consultants are also selling is the idea that ‘anyone can do this’. There could a downside to that notion. “Today, people seem more hell bent on selling equipment and setting up farms but not helping you grow them. There’s a common misconception that it’s modern and easy to do and once you set up a system, everything takes care of itself,” says Rajkotwala. When Herbivore Farms began, the duo had no external help or experience, and persevered through trial-and-error, online tutorials, videos and articles. Hydroponics, she believes, is a continuous learning process. It isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept.

It’s why Vijay Yelmalle started the Center for Research in Alternative Farming Technologies (Craft) in 2016 in Navi Mumbai, training over 2,000 aspiring urban farmers in hydroponics and aquaponics, the latter being a system in which water from a fish tank is pumped to the roots of plants growing above it. Yelmalle has a 15-acre plot in Raigad where he is prototyping systems for aquaponics and hydroponics. His company is incubated by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Training takes place on the weekends and includes talks about the basics of agriculture, organic farming, the produce market and suppliers, hydro- and acqua-ponics, and how to build simple systems. Trainees are then added to WhatsApp groups that include field experts. “Urbanites who come here have read about hydroponics; they have vacant land or homes, and want to start their own business. They think agriculture is very easy. My intention is to make them aware of all aspects, good and bad, and let them decide. If they go ahead—about 40 per cent do—I provide support,” he says. “This is not a part-time job and you cannot pass it on to someone else.”

For the serious farmer, there are no fixed templates to learn from, and most prefer doing their own research and experiments. Legal issues and permissions are an unexplored area. There isn’t enough material on how to grow Indian vegetables using this method, which is why most farmers end up growing ‘exotic vegetables’ with imported seeds. Many of the components required to build these grow systems have to be imported too, increasing the carbon footprint of what is a low-carbon cultivation method. The initial investment into the farm can be quite high; the cost of setting up one acre of land can start from ₹30-35 lakh.

“The only disadvantage of this method is that it is capital-intensive,” says Dhruv Khanna of Delhi-based Triton Foodworks. “But, from a business point of view, at conservative figures you can break even in three years or less.” He and his friends started out by growing strawberries on a 750 sq m set-up at Sainik Farms, near Delhi, in 2014.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride since: An investor came in but left soon, one of the four original founders dropped out, and their first greenhouse was pulled down by the municipal authorities, who believed they were building a house.

Triton then picked up turnkey projects to supplement the income from selling farm produce. In 2018, they set up an outdoor hydroponic farm in Gurugram, selling vegetables under the label Chop Chop by Tritons. They cut costs by using local material, customising their lights, stands and systems; they import only the cooling systems for the greenhouse. “We have saved over 2.5 billion litres of water using our technique in four years,” says Khanna. “Our vertical systems grow food in just one-eighth of the area required for traditional farming.”

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Terra Farms, which is started by Linesh Pillai in Mumbai’s Manori last year

The bigger picture
Hydroponics is beneficial, not just to the consumer who gets to eat pesticide-free, fresh produce, but also to the farmers who are not dependent on erratic weather, natural water levels, and soil contamination. “Climate change poses a major challenge to food production,” says Naik. “Hydroponics can be conducted in controlled environments and within the safety of greenhouses. The cherry on the cake is better quality food.”

Rajkotwala and Lewis believe this sustainable form of farming can make a difference to the country’s agricultural sector. Herbivore Farms is working on figuring out how to grow local Indian produce through hydroponics and how to make their current produce relevant to people or “teach people how to use Swiss chard to make palak paneer”.

Meanwhile, Pillai puts the onus on the city, community, and individual to make the change. “One can produce as much as 100 kg a month in as little as 1,000 sq ft of space all year round. A typical window in a home can produce up to 1 kg every week. Just imagine what we could achieve if every household could grow that much.”

Green Life Farms Harvests First Crop In State-of-the-Art Hydroponic Greenhouse

Lake Worth company to begin commercial operations, selling premium baby leafy greens to local customers, later this summer 

Lake Worth, FL (July 18, 2019) – Green Life Farms has harvested its first crop of baby leafy greens at its flagship hydroponic greenhouse in Lake Worth, an important milestone as the company prepares to begin selling to supermarkets, restaurants, cruise ships and other distributors. The facility has recently achieved Substantial Completion, and the team is now harvesting its first crops, which include Baby Arugula, Baby Romaine, and Baby Spinach. Green Life Farms expects to begin growing produce for customers later this summer.

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Green Life Farms has harvested its first crop of baby leafy greens at its flagship hydroponic greenhouse in Lake Worth, an important milestone as the company prepares to begin selling to supermarkets, restaurants, cruise ships and other distributors. The facility, pictured above, has recently achieved Substantial Completion, and the team is now harvesting its first crops, which include Baby Arugula, Baby Romaine, and Baby Spinach. Green Life Farms expects to begin growing produce for customers later this summer. Photo credit: Hydronov

“Planting and harvesting our first crop puts us one step closer to delivering produce that is grown locally using sustainable farming practices and free from pesticides and contaminants,” said Mike Ferree, Vice President, Green Life Farms. “We have no doubt customers will be thrilled with the care and dedication we’ve put into the growing process once they smell, touch and taste the baby leafy greens.”

The hydroponic greenhouse, slated to be the largest indoor hydroponic produce grower in the southeast, occupies nearly three acres and will yield approximately 750,000 pounds of premium leafy green produce throughout the year. The greens will be grown, harvested and packaged onsite; they will then be picked-up or shipped directly from the farm. Unlike with conventional farming practices, Green Life Farms’ baby leafy greens are grown without soil, then harvested and packaged hands-free, reducing the risk of contamination and preserving flavor and freshness.

Green Life Farms plans to offer a large selection of products to its customers later this summer, including Baby Spinach, Baby Arugula, Baby Kale, Baby Romaine, Red Romaine Mix, and specialty blends, Southern Style Greens and Gourmet Asian Blend. All Green Life Farms products are free from pesticides and GMOs and grown using sunlight and oxygenated water.

Construction of the Green Life Farms’ flagship facility began in 2018. In preparation for commercial operations, Green Life Farms hired its sales director and head grower earlier this year. The organization is currently hiring a Production Area Supervisor and Growing Area Supervisor. Once those roles are filled, Green life Farms will look to fill out the roster of greenhouse and production staff, totaling 14 additional people in the state-of-the-art facility. 

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Green Life Farms has harvested its first crop of baby leafy greens, pictured above, at its flagship hydroponic greenhouse in Lake Worth, an important milestone as the company prepares to begin selling to supermarkets, restaurants, cruise ships and other distributors. Green Life Farms expects to begin growing produce for customers later this summer.

Green Life Farms’ hydroponic greenhouse features innovative Deep-Water Floating Raft Technology (FRT) from Hydronov, an industry leader in the hydroponic space with more than 30 years of experience. FRT helps to conserve water, using the oxygenated clean water in which the plants grow as a conveyer system, eliminating the costs and maintenance associated with mechanical conveyers. Green Life Farms will be able to produce 18 harvests each year and use 90 percent less water than conventional farming.

Green Life Farms produce will set new standards for cleanliness, freshness, and taste. Grown locally, using sustainable farming practices, combined with the most advanced AgTech practices, and kept free from pesticides and contaminants, Green Life Farms baby leafy greens are good for the body, family, community, and planet.

For more information about Green Life Farms, visit GreenLifeFarms.ag. Please contact Elayne Dudley at Elayne@GreenLifeFarms.ag for sales and Raymond John at Ray@GreenLifeFarms.ag for investor relations. 

About Green Life Farms
Green Life Farms is constructing a 100,000 square foot state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse in Lake Worth, Florida, with additional expansion planned in Florida and beyond. By incorporating agriculture with technology, Green Life Farms will provide consumers with premium-quality, fresh, local, flavorful and clean baby leafy greens that are good for their bodies, families, communities and planet – year-round.

Media Contact:                                                                     
Tessa Ali, Montagne Communications                                   
603-644-3200 ext. 16                                                              
tessa@montagnecom.com

Investor Relations:
Raymond John
561-886-7277
Ray@greenlifefarms.ag            

Hydroponic Farming: Why Soil-Free Agriculture Might Be The Way Forward

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By: Isha Arora | Published: July 14, 2019

Research has put the market value of hydroponics at $8.08 bn in 2019, prompting entrepreneurs to believe that soil-free agriculture might be the way forward. We talk to some of them

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Farms can be set up in a space as small as a cubicle-sized room fitted with a tech support system that creates an artificial environment conducive for growth.

Think farming and cultivation and even your mind pictures flat expanses of open land pulsating with life — fresh harvest of rice, wheat, paddy or vegetables.

Thick canopy of branches with birds fluttering from one bough to the other on a sun-kissed morning, away from cities’ bustle and haze of smoke, completes the idea of idyllic surroundings. But talk urban farming, and the picture is quite different.

Farms can be set up in a space as small as a cubicle-sized room fitted with a tech support system that creates an artificial environment conducive for growth. These hi-tech, sustainable farms, operate on the science and principles of hydroponic farming — a soil-free farming technique.

In hydroponic farming, plants grow naturally, drawing nutrients out of reservoirs filled with nutrient-rich and water-based solutions, under optimal positioning of lights and regulated temperature conditions. While the technique became an instant hit in the West, where people initially used hydroponics and its farming variants to grow marijuana, it did not take too long to catch the fancy of scientists, entrepreneurs and practitioners of agriculture across the globe. In India, hydroponic farms are omnipresent — found in the arid tracts of Jaipur, landlocked Delhi-NCR, in humid weather conditions of Goa and various places in the southern parts of the country.

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“It is a process of fast multiplication of high-quality planting material producing about 35-60 mini-tubers per tissue culture plantlet. Mini-tubers are progeny tubers produced on plantlets and developed artificially. Through this technology, it is possible to produce seven-10 times more mini-tubers from in-vitro plantlets (produced in a test tube or culture dish), as compared to cultivation under net house conditions with multiple mini-tubers of desired size. The technology can also be exploited for other important crops like tomato, strawberry, brinjal, chilli, spinach,” says Tanuja Buckseth, scientist (vegetable science) at Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR-CPRI), Shimla.

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Somveer Singh Anand, co-founder and CEO of Pindfresh

Under hydroponics, terrestrial plants can be grown in multiple ways. The most common ways involve exposing roots to nutritious liquid, or in some cases, the roots can be physically supported by an inert medium such as perlite or gravel. Hydroponic DIY kits are available aplenty online. These devices enable people to set up equipment within the confines of houses and grow vegetation. The two most commonly deployed systems in hydroponics are Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) and Deep Water Culture (DWC). In NFT, a shallow stream of water containing dissolved nutrients is re-circulated through bare roots in a watertight thick tube, which forms a mat-like layer from which the roots absorb nutrients. An abundant supply of oxygen is provided to the roots through the process.

Under DWC, roots are left suspended in nutrient-rich, oxygenated water. The solution is saturated with oxygen infused by an air pump in the presence of porous stones. The method is touted to be more suitable for plants’ faster growth, given the high level of oxygen that roots receive.

The great traction that the advanced farming technique has received over the years has Dublin-based market research company Research And Markets put the global market value of hydroponic systems at a whopping $8.08 billion in 2019. Going ahead, the market is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 12.1% to reach $16.03 billion by 2025. The value of crops produced globally through hydroponics is expected to touch $32.13 billion this year at an anticipated growth rate of 5.1% from 2019 to 2025.

Influx of players
There has been a conspicuous rise in the number of “urban farmers”. These are basically entrepreneurs, who didn’t take long to recognise immense growth opportunities lying untapped in the hydroponic farming space. A majority of them did not enter the space with the intention of making profit as hydroponic farming is cost-intensive.

These individuals’ wish to venture into the space stemmed from their eagerness to explore and identify alternative means of agriculture, given unavailability of fertile and mineral-rich soil. “We were inspired by the large number of people around us vying for greenery in their houses and surroundings. But they didn’t know how to go about it, given that the weather conditions aren’t always favourable,” says Somveer Singh Anand, co-founder and chief executive officer of Pindfresh, a Chandigarh-based start-up that makes, uses and sells semi-commercial hydroponic equipment in the form of DIY kits.

“Another issue that struck a chord with us was that in a place like Mumbai, where nearly 30% of the population doesn’t have access to toilets, the muck goes into the soil. Now, if we’re growing fruits and vegetables in the same soil, it is obviously going to be contaminated with toxic substances,” he adds. Started in April 2017 by Anand and his team, Pindfresh has grown in leaps and bounds since inception, even as the hydroponic equipment the firm sells cost anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 3.5 lakh. There are cheaper alternatives available in the form of grow bags and pipes with compartments containing nutrient-rich solution, which boost growth, that cost anywhere between Rs 1,200 and Rs 2,500. The start-up also conducts workshops free of cost to impart knowledge and training on hydroponic farming. “We turned profitable within months of inception and are growing at a consistently lucrative growth rate, generating about Rs 5-6 lakh in revenue per month,” Anand adds.

Delhi-based Triton Foodworks, which started as an experiment in urban farming by four friends — Deepak Kukreja, Dhruv Khanna, Ullas Samrat, and Devanshu Shivnani — in September 2014 deploys NFT, DWC, and media-based hydroponic systems to grow fruits and vegetables. Media-based systems involve the use of mediums like rockwool, coco coir, expanded clay, perlite, gravel and vermiculite for growth of plants. The company has grown seven varieties of lettuce, basils, pok choy, swiss chard, spinach, cherry tomatoes, snack cucumbers, bell peppers, sweet peppers and mint as of now. They plan to add radishes and turnips to their basket very soon.

Goa-based Letcetra Agritech is another market player that grows organic vegetables using hydroponics and sells them across hotel chains, supermarkets and farmers’ markets. Set up in 2016, the firm helps set up commercial hydroponic farms for large-scale growers as well.

“We supply to most restaurants that serve salad greens in north Goa. We also have tie-ups with a few super markets and retail consumers. We started by growing only lettuce and today we grow around 15 different varieties of vegetables. Most of the start-ups in this domain are focusing on consultation and sale of hydroponics units. Our focus is on growing good quality, nutrient-rich, pesticide-free vegetables and making these accessible and affordable to everyone,” says CEO Ajay Naik. Letcetra Agritech plans to replace at least 30% of the traditional farms in India to urban farms in the next five years.

Gurgram-based Barton Breeze is focused on setting up hydroponic farms with a major chunk of investment from the clients. “We grow 28 varieties of crops and manufacture components for hydroponics setups. However, about 65-70% contribution to our topline figure comes from development of new farms that we undertake for our clients,” says Shivendra Singh, who co-founded the start-up in 2016 with the aim of restoring the nutritional value of our produce. The company’s topline grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 300% in FY19 from FY18, signalling the high demand for hydroponic setups in our country.

Comparisons with traditional agriculture
While the modern farming practice is a boon at a time when rampant soil contamination and massive influx of harmful pesticides and insecticides into agricultural fields is increasingly becoming a cause of great health concerns, hydroponic farming suffers from two major setbacks. One, it involves a complex setup and the running and maintenance costs are huge. The technique requires some amount of expertise to be practised from scratch. For instance, the ICAR-CPRI in Shimla has been following aeroponic seed production system since 2011. This is hydroponics in a lot of ways, except that the process doesn’t need a medium like sand, gravel or water. It produces disease-free, quality plantation material to boost yield of potato varieties in the country.

Buckseth says the initial cost to set up an installation for producing one million mini-tubers (area:1500 sqm) was Rs 100 lakh. The expense can certainly not be borne by a traditional farmer, and the technique can hence be only utilised by entrepreneurs and government agencies with ample investment. “Aeroponic technology, standardised by the institute, is being commercialised under an MoU signed between the parties after royalty payments. The technology is essentially for progressive farmers/ firms/ FPO etc. But since the initial cost of setting up the whole process is very high, a number of surveys have to be conducted and prior market knowledge is a must,” Buckseth says. Besides, all the start-ups and agencies involved in hydroponics currently have the backing of an agriculture scientist or expert in the field. This kind of expertise is certainly not commonplace, making the technique cumbersome.

On the flip side, there are multiple pros that hydroponic farming has in comparison to traditional agriculture. For one, it reduces the water requirements of plants by a marked extent, since the medium in which they grow is solvent-based. Secondly, monoculture is not an issue with hydroponic farming and the practice is readily possible in areas where climatic or geographical conditions pose a barrier. “Hydroponics has four big advantages over traditional methods, which made the technology so popular. It uses 80-90% less water, 80-95% less land, harmful pesticides can be avoided and vegetables can be grown all year round,” says Naik.

The yield of hydroponic farming is also substantially higher than that of traditional agriculture. “Yields are almost 2.5 times more than it is through the traditional means. People can claim more, but it is almost 2.5 times in real. That’s primarily because one can grow more number of plants compared to ground agriculture, and the plants grow at a faster pace,” Singh says.

Road ahead
While hydroponics farming does hold the promise of changing the face of urban farming, entrepreneurs fear that lack of knowledge and expertise can play spoilsport in its growth rate. “Every hydroponic expert would say that the minimum investment in a hydroponic farm would be `30 lakh, while the maximum would go up to as high as Rs 4 crore. Who has that kind of money? I sell hydroponic setups for Rs 50,000, and I manage to sell just three in a month. That’s the only negative. People usually don’t have any expertise, and are just wanting to sell,” says Anand. He cautions not without reason. Hydroponic set-ups do entail massive investment and if not treated with care and knowledge, the money can certainly go waste.

In such a scenario, Anand suggests getting the basics right. Go back to the textbooks, get ample knowledge on the subject and then invest in relatively cheaper hydroponic set-ups to produce first for home, and then for the rest. Singh had adopted a similar strategy before he set up Barton Breeze. “We started as a small pilot project in Dubai, where we learned first, did all the R&D, testings and trials at our own cost and then presented the idea to our investors,” he recalls. “Even in India, when we started out, we set up the first farm at our own cost, since we were still experimenting. We didn’t want our clients to incur any expense for us,” he adds.

Buckseth suggests getting trained officials on board before venturing any further into the new technology. “The initial cost in this practice is high, which once invested can only be recovered by the quality produce, which otherwise will be more than the traditional system. Therefore, trained officials may be hired for proper functioning,” she says.

Rest assured, looks like greener pastures and clean produce are finally home.

Tech Businesses Seek To Shatter Stereotypes About Women In Farming

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Reuters . Rome | July 06,2019

When Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja-Kuye started Nigeria’s first vertical farming company she already had years of experience advising governments under her belt - yet as a woman, she still struggled to be taken seriously. ‘In the beginning, even my staff, when they first come on board, are more likely to listen to my husband before me,’ said the founder of Fresh Direct Nigeria, which grows vegetables hydroponically - farming in water instead of soil. ‘These challenges make you hungrier,’ she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Women make up nearly half the global workforce in farming, but many say their contribution has long gone unrecognised, particularly in developing countries. 

Adelaja-Kuye is among a small but growing group of women entrepreneurs who are helping to change that, many using new technologies to produce food in more sustainable ways. The 35-year-old, who started farming in the heart of the Nigerian capital Abuja in 2015 and uses shipping containers, said she wanted to support those who did not conform to the stereotype of the poor, uneducated subsistence farmer. Four of the six staff at her farm are young women who previously worked as household help.
‘I want young people to see agriculture as a solution for them, one that makes good money,’ she said. ‘If I’m changing the narrative of who a farmer is, I’m happy with that.’

She has that in common with Awa Caba, a computer scientist who co-founded a platform for Senegalese women farmers to sell their produce online. Caba’s company Sooretul - meaning ‘it’s not far’ - sells more than 400 products from about 2,800 rural women online. ‘My background is not agriculture,’ she said. ‘But it’s more sensitive for me to use my knowledge as a woman to target underprivileged groups, and give them more access and income. ‘My vision is to have a pan-African e-commerce platform where you can find different agricultural products produced by women in Africa.’

Sarah Nolet, who works as a consultant to the agricultural technology industry, said more and more women were getting involved in the growing sector. ‘When you take agriculture, it’s male dominated, and tech is often male dominated,’ said Nolet, the Sydney-based chief executive of AgThentic, which consults on innovation in food and farming. ‘So you would think AgTech would be worse. But we actually see, especially in Australia, a lot of female founders starting AgTech companies.’ Globally, women make up 43 per cent of the agricultural workforce, but they tend to have less access to land, credit, technical advice and quality seeds, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, they could increase yields by 20 per cent to 30 percent, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said. But much depends on having the right role models. ‘We have to change mindsets and show women in lucrative, high-value markets, with access to technology, and innovation,’ said Tacko Ndiaye, the FAO’s senior gender officer.

In 2018, companies working on food and agricultural technology globally raised a record $16.9 billion, according to AgFunder, a San Francisco-based online investment platform for these businesses.
Yet estimates based on available gender information show only 4 per cent of that went to start-ups with one or more female founders, said Louisa Burwood-Taylor, head of media & research at AgFunder.
‘However you slice the data, there’s clearly a very big gap in the level of female entrepreneurship in food and agriculture technology,’ she said. ‘The reasons for this gap are broad including educational and investment biases, so we are investigating how they can be overcome.’

Benjamina Bollag, who co-founded Britain-based Higher Steaks with stem cell scientist Stephanie Wallis, is among those who did receive funding - at least $200,000 since setting up 18 months ago.
Higher Steaks hopes to bring laboratory-grown pork to consumers within the next three years.
Several companies are seeking to produce cell-based meat, promising less waste and dramatically fewer greenhouse gas emissions than livestock, but most are focusing on beef or poultry.

Bollag said being a woman in a male-dominated industry had its difficulties, but added, ‘there are times when it was helpful too, where people were like, ‘actually, we want to diversify so we will pick you’.’
Ensuring women’s voices are heard in farming was a key motivation for Rose Funja, whose company uses aerial surveillance to help farmers in Tanzania avoid crop losses to insects, disease and other pests.
Funja, one of the country’s only female drone pilots, said she made a point of going to farms in person because that was the best way to meet the women who worked on cultivating the crop while the men tended to focus on sales.

‘They let me know what their actual needs are and how these technologies can help them. So we have been able to have very good conversations with them as compared to men,’ she said.
‘They (the women) say they feel safe to talk to another woman about their needs.’

Uganda: How farmers Grow Vegetables In Hydroponics

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JULY 6 2019

 By Lominda Afedraru

Providing quality nutritive food to millions of people by 2025 will be a major challenge for Uganda. 
Increasing population, decreasing land, water holding and global warming are some of the major impediments for agriculture, the backbone of this country. Various biotic and abiotic stress factors are threatening the open field agricultural production systems throughout the world in varying degrees.

The soil fertility status has attained almost the saturation level in most parts of the country as the productivity is not rising proportionally with the amount of inputs. With the infertility challenges, scientists across the globe, including those in Uganda have come up with a technology where farmers can grow a number of horticulture crops ranging from vegetables, fruits and flowers, among others in a greenhouse using hydroponics to substitute soil.

Farming 
Papius Tumusingiize, an expert in agricultural convergence technology is lead investigator of the technology involving growing of tomatoes in smart greenhouse using hydroponics. According to Tumusingiize smart hydroponics system involves self-monitoring analysis of the greenhouse farm using a computer which is connected to technological systems inside and outside the green house. The green house has a system of censures which is connected to the computer.

“What the farmer needs to know is to engage a scientist to set the growing conditions for the plant in the computer,” says Tumusingiize.

Types of censors 
Tomatoes grow best under optimal temperature of between 20 and 28 degrees Celsius which the computer will maintain. 
Whereas the temperature outside may be so cold during rainy season below 16 °C or too hot due to heat rays at more than 35 °C, the solar radiation censors will control the temperatures automatically.

There is an exhaust fan installed to control the temperature as well, in case of high temperature the fun will automatically switch on to blow the excess condition. For cold conditions the aeration open outlets will close and for excess heat the shed net established inside the greenhouse structure and on top of it outside will automatically cover the structure.

There are also rain censors which control the conditions when there is a storm which may lead to destruction of the greenhouse structure. This is through an automatic closer of the open ventilators which are in most cases open to allow fresh air inside the greenhouse.

Another component is the installation of wind vane which will indicate the direction of wind flow and the anemometer used to measure the speed of the wind.

In case of too much wind, the computer will read it and the vent will close to avoid its entry into the greenhouse to avoid destruction of the structure and the plants.

Inside the greenhouse there are humidity and temperatures censors as well to regulate the condition inside. Another component of the greenhouse is the carbon dioxide censor used to measure the carbon dioxide rate meant for the plants for photosynthesis to take place.

“Greenhouses work on the principle of the greenhouse effects where the sunshine heats and sunlight penetrates the curtains and it is reflected back to produce heat. Too much heat in the greenhouse will cause wilting of the vegetables. This is the reason farmers must ensure they adopt the technology as it is with all the sensors connected to the computer,” Tumusingiize says. The computer has to be on all the time and in case of any power failure, there has to be back up generate to provide continuous source of energy.
Tumusingiize and team have set up two greenhouses at Kabanyolo each sitting on six by 54 metres but the space occupied by the tomato farm is five by 50 metres.

Prices 
A farmer wishing to establish such a smart hydroponic greenhouse structure will need to part with $200,000 (about Shs700m).
However, there is a cheaper option where farmers can establish their hydroponics on a flat piece of land and simply tie strings for the plants to grow and run through on them for continuous harvesting.

The computer is powered by climate control panel machine specifically manufactured to regulate electricity flow in agricultural greenhouses. It reads the climatic conditions suitable for the plant growth and sends it to the computer.
At the moment the greenhouse structures are a demonstration site where farmers mainly from Wakiso District in Namulonge and those from Ssese Island have so far come around for sensitisation and lesson learning.

Requirement 
The scientists are purchasing a box of hydroponics with three seed planting outlets at Shs3,000 from Sri Lanka and from each box they are expecting 125 minimum tomatoes. The boxes are packed with sow dust which farmers can acquire locally.
It is fed through drip irrigation of a mixture of concentrate comprising Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Zinc and Baron. In case of another green vegetable such as strawberry the growth nutrient mixture is different.

Seed preparation 
Tumusingiize categorises tomato seed as determinants which grow in four months and after harvesting the stalks are uprooted and replaced with new set of seedlings. 
These include local varieties such as Tengeru and MT56 with one kilogramme sold at Shs350,000 each. Other varieties are Nenoveta and Galleria where each packet comprising 200 and 600 seeds goes for Shs50,000 and Shs60,000 respectively.

Agronomy 
After transplanting continuous drip irrigation watering is required and this means constant water supply in the computerised tanks which are used to mix the nutrient ingredients which runs through connected pipes to hydroponic boxes. There is a water controlling machine used to regulate water usage in case there is water shortage, the machine will stop operating.

The yield of these varieties grown under this condition is so high because each plant is capable of producing 25 kilogrammes with minimum of 125 tomatoes in one harvest. Trellising is important because as the plant grows it has to be bend downwards and stretched to grow horizontally all the hydroponic structure for more fruiting to occur. One tomato plant measures 12 metres long for the one year season.

Lead Photo: An agronomist explains how to plant tomatoes using hydroponics technology. Photo by Lominda Afedraru

Biomimicry Helps Urban Farmers Scale Up

The Biomimicry Institute sat down virtually with Felipe Hernandez Villa-Roel, CEO and founder of Hexagro Urban Farming, to ask him about his experience as an entrepreneur and Biomimicry Launchpad participant.

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What motivated you to start HEXAGRO?
Hexagro started as a bachelor’s thesis in Product Design when I started to analyze the problems that organic farmers in Costa Rica are facing in terms of productivity, sustainability, and health. These challenges are related to the high amounts of pesticides used by adjacent traditional farms, soil degradation, and climate change, so I began researching methods that didn’t use soil as a growing medium.

I analyzed the latest trends on soilless food production, starting from the indoor farming sector and through vertical farming, which proposes a more efficient way to grow food with less effort through new technologies like LED lighting and hydroponics in vertical configurations. I concluded that the main issue with these solutions was their scalability,  since they followed a centralized model which is capital-intensive, requires infrastructure and expert personnel, and is difficult to set up and launch. The thesis made an analysis of nature’s strategies to reduce space while maximizing productivity with a modular structure that was then translated into the first version of Hexagro’s Living Farming Tree.

What was your experience in the Biomimicry Launchpad? What did you learn and how did you apply that to your business?
This project became a team and then a finalist in the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, thanks to the inspiration taken from nature to develop the first product iteration. After that, we were invited to participate in the Launchpad program. From 2015-2016, we participated in many training sessions and had access to expert mentoring. This gave the team the tools to define a clear business model, which changed the approach of the first design iteration and led to a second design iteration that gave the basis for the current pre-industrial product. Today, the team continues to take inspiration from Nature’s Unifying Patterns to create solutions that follow the principles of biomimicry for every aspect, from product development to marketing and business development. Hexagro Urban Farming was incorporated as a for-benefit company in Milan, Italy, after the participation in the finals of the Launchpad in late 2016.

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The Hexagro team

Tell us about your work to incorporate the Living Farming Tree in hotels and workplaces. What are you hoping to accomplish?

Our vision for Hexagro is a future in which anybody, anywhere, can access healthy food through urban farming. In order to get there, the team has determined a strategy to enter the market and launch its first product, the Living Farming Tree (LFT). Urbanization is booming, and at the same time we are spending around 90% of our time indoors where the conditions are not always meant for people’s well-being. This disconnection from nature within working spaces has direct consequences in employees’ health and psychology and can lead to lack of productivity and engagement, which could have direct consequences for companies. We are reconnecting employees to nature and their work through a “gamified” urban farming experience in which users follow the instructions from a digital interface to perform various maintenance tasks during the cultivation process, aiming to achieve a successful harvest of medicinal herbs for fresh infusions to improve well-being and productivity. Our LFT educates and increases the awareness of indoor farming technologies, while reducing the costs of office greenery maintenance. It engages people with their company and becomes a “gravitational center” for social gathering and relaxation.

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The Living Farming Tree (LFT) utilizes a “gamification” strategy to engage employees in offices to become active participants in their own health.

What are the benefits to a modular, decentralized system?
Our team took inspiration from nature to create a system that could adapt to any space available and provide the maximum diversity with the lowest inventory. The Living Farming Tree has a standard configuration, but our plug-and-play components, along with our 3D-printed node and IoT automation systems, allow our system to adapt to any space available indoors (horizontally or vertically) to make it productive.

What is your ultimate hope for Hexagro?
We envision a new and regenerative food system based on the circular and sharing economy, helping people to grow plants and make a profit through a Smart Urban Farming Network. This nature-inspired model can increase accessibility to healthy food, decentralize indoor farming production, create new economic opportunities, and reconnect people to people through food.

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For more information:
Biomimicry Institute
info@biomimicry.org
biomimicry.org

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Publication date: 7/5/2019 

Farming Smart in Northern Manitoba

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Food accessibility has long been an issue in more remote regions of Canada. This northern initiative puts new indoor farming technology to good use in the OCN community.

July 02, 2019

Written by Q&A with Joan Niquanicappo and Stephanie Cook of OCN Smart Farm

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Since the first seeds were planted in 2016, members say the OCN Smart Farm has successfully grown over 70 different varieties of vegetables, flowers and fruits.

For the Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) in northern Manitoba, new smart farming technology is improving their access to fresh, healthy food in a big way.

Presented at the Canadian Greenhouse Conference (CGC) last fall, operations manager Stephanie Cook and general manager Joan Niquanicappo of the OCN have been heading a vertical farming pilot project that offers affordable, fresh produce to those living in remote regions.

According to the presentation, a study by the Opaskwayak Health Authority showed that close to 50 per cent of the OCN community suffered from diabetes – an alarmingly high rate. In partnering with the University of Manitoba, they hoped to conduct a health research study to explore whether functional produce from the smart farm, along with the right educational resources, could help lead to change in the community – all while ensuring that the farm could be a viable business in its own right.

Partnering with technical specialists from Korea Agriculture System & Technology (KAST), the first seeds were planted on the smart farm in February of 2016. Over 70 different varieties of plants have been successfully grown since.

Following their presentation at the CGC, Greenhouse Canada magazine followed up with Cook and Niquanicappo on their smart farming journey.

Q: What prompted you to begin a vertical farming operation?

Niquanicappo: The concept of a year-round produce growing facility was intriguing. For the OCN to initiate a project of this scope, the ability to produce fresh vegetables – and functional vegetables at that – this was exciting. It was astounding to find that vegetables could help combat chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and its complications. A hydroponic system, utilizing recyclable water, no soil, no pesticides/chemicals, independent of weather, and all using smart technology – the opportunities were endless.

Q: What problems did you enounter during the initial set-up?

Niquanicappo: Beside the initial stage fright, the main problem was to have all the equipment CSA approved. There were growing pains in that short period of time from December 2015 to March 2016, but we were able to overcome them. The logistics of preparing the equipment to Canadian standards was time-consuming, and the cost of utilizing tradespeople was very high. The training of local people to assemble, maintain and operate the smart farm was not a problem, but it was still very new, so there was a bit of uncertainty on our part. We have since successfully grown 70 different types of vegetables, flowers and fruits.

Q: How do you control or prevent diseases and insect pests?

Cook: We follow strict sanitation procedures, including Hazard And Critical Control Points (HACCP) developed by KAST and adapted to our Smart Farm for caring for the plants personally and procedurally. We ensure that our Smart Farm is sanitized regularly.

As our Smart Farm operates in our community hall, whenever an event is held, we wait two days before entering the farm. Our pest control consists of natural remedies such as lemon juice with water or vinegar and water to help with arachnids, arthropods, dipterans, aphids and other pests.

Q: How do pricing and freshness compare to imported products?

Cook: When we started selling our produce, it was being distributed to community members who had been coming back for the freshness, so the price remained constant throughout the year. Unlike imported vegetables, our produce is grown locally for freshness, and available all year round.

Q: Since the farm’s inception, how has the community responded?

Cook: The community members cannot wait for each harvest. They welcome the produce with curiosity, both to newly introduced varieties and to common produce such as lettuce and herbs.

Q: What’s next for the smart farm?

Niquanicappo: We will be using the smart farm to combat diabetes. We are going to conduct a research study with community members living with diabetes or pre-existing diabetic conditions. We also want to explore ways in which we can make our operations sustainable through the sale of the smart farm equipment, service and maintenance packages, as well as supply sales.

From members of the OCN Smart Farm: On November 9, 2018, the OCN lost a close and valued colleague, Isaac Jung. Jung was instrumental in forming the relationship between the OCN and KAST, which resulted in the creation of the OCN Smart Farm. Isaac will always be remembered as a true partner of the OCN. He will be missed.

Editor’s note: Responses were edited for length and clarity.

The Hydroponic Threat To Organic Food

USDA’s organic certification of hydroponically grown produce is an example of conquest and colonization.

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DAVE CHAPMAN

July 5, 2019

In the last seven years there has been a quiet redefinition taking place in the USDA National Organic Program that oversees organic standards. Large scale industrial producers have insinuated themselves into organic certification to transform what the green and white label stands for.

Original organic was based on a simple equation:

Healthy soil = healthy plants = healthy animals = healthy planet.

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Hydroponics is a system that relies entirely upon processed inputs to feed the plants. The old organic adage is, “Feed the soil, not the plant.” The guiding principle of conventional agriculture is: “Feed the plant, not the soil.” Obviously, hydroponic production is the most extreme example of this philosophy. Photo by ACME/Flickr

This equation leaves out the discussion of WHY these things are true, but it is a good roadmap for what organic agriculture is all about. The first given is always “healthy soil.” As we look deeper, we cannot study these parts separately, because plants and animals are integral parts of healthy soil system. No plants means no healthy soil. The same is true with animals. Soil and plants coevolved for 350 million years, and neither can be healthy in isolation from the other. The dance between plants, microbial life, and animal life in the soil is necessary for all.

Western soil science got started with the work of German chemist Justus von Liebig (1803-1873). From Liebig’s perspective, soil was a passive storage bin for plant nutrients. However, in Charles Darwin’s 1881 book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, these ideas were challenged by a vision of the soil as a living ecosystem. But Liebig’s viewpoint dominated Western soil science until the 1980’s when the role of organisms in soil formation became better understood. Liebig himself turned away from his “storage bin” paradigm in the later part of his life, but our agricultural sciences continued to follow his earlier writings.

If we take away plants, soil can no longer be living. Plants provide the energy via photosynthesis for all animal and microbial life in the soil. These photosynthates are provided first as root exudates that feed the fungi and bacteria in exchange for which they gain the minerals that in turn feed the plants. The visible life forms are as important as the invisible microbial community. Soil animals go from burrowing woodchucks and gophers to snails, slugs, and elongate animals such as earthworms, flatworms, nematodes, soil mites, springtails, ants, termites, beetles and flies. All of these species together create a community that is often called the soil food web.

Organic farming is based on protecting and enhancing this web of life. By cultivating the diversity of life, we create a stable ecosystem in the soil. Diseases or pestilence are symptoms of a loss of balance. So the organic farmer’s first job is to enhance the diversity of life in the soil community. This is done by providing materials and techniques to help build a soil carbon sponge.

Conventional agriculture is based on a very different strategy of control and simplification. By making systems that are as simple as possible, it becomes easy to control the inputs and outputs. The inputs are processed offsite to provide plant available nutrients. “Soil” becomes a device for holding roots. It is thus easier to make these systems replicable, much like the model of a McDonald's restaurant. McDonald’s simplifies their systems as much as possible to serve the same hamburger to every customer around the world. In such a system the expertise is contained in the corporate staff who design the processes and provides the raw materials. The problem is a loss of nutrition in the final product. McDonald’s serves lots of calories that soothe customers’ cravings, but they fail at providing a healthy diet. The end result is the phenomena of customers who are simultaneously malnourished and obese.

Similarly, in a conventional agriculture system, the yields are high per acre, but, as Vandana Shiva has said, the yield of health per acre is low. As it turns out, we are part of that co-evolution of soil and plants and animals. Human nutritional needs are complex and beyond our full understanding at this point. But organic farmers believe that by embracing those natural systems, we can feed ourselves well, even if we never fully understand why.

As Einstein once said, there is a simplicity that comes before complexity that is worthless, but there is a simplicity beyond complexity that is priceless.

These simplified conventional systems have been promoted by an industry that profits by selling remedies to the unintended consequences of such crude simplicity. Their high yields are unsustainable without the liberal use of poisons. Plants grown in a soil devoid of biological complexity are very vulnerable to disease and insect attack. And of course, the more we use such poisons, the less healthy the soil becomes, so more pesticides are needed, and on and on.

In livestock production, the epitome of conventional agriculture is a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) where animals are isolated from the land. Their food is grown far from where they live, so their manure is lost to the production system. There is no honoring of Albert Howard’s Law Of Return: “what comes from the soil must be returned to the soil.”

In vegetables and berries, the epitome of conventional agriculture is hydroponic production. Hydroponics is a system that relies entirely upon processed inputs to feed the plants. The old organic adage is, “Feed the soil, not the plant.” The guiding principle of conventional agriculture is: “Feed the plant, not the soil.” Obviously, hydroponic production is the most extreme example of this philosophy.

The practices of organic farming are ancient, but not all traditional farming systems could be called organic by the definition of such pioneers as Albert Howard. Some traditional agriculture was not sustainable and ultimately led to the downfall of civilizations. But organic principles have been practiced in the intensive farming of southeast Asia for over 4000 years. They were learned by Howard in India and subsequently taught in the West. Since then, soil science has confirmed Howard’s ideas to an astonishing degree. Every day we learn more and more about how soil communities function and about why such a system need not depend on pesticides to thrive. Every day we learn more about the connections between the soil microbiome and our own microbiome.

From this logic we derive a conclusion that is important to remember: that the absence of pesticides in a successful organic system is the result of how we farm, not the definition of it.

The organic movement has long believed that food grown in a healthy soil is the foundation of human health. In recent years it has become clear that agriculture is also deeply involved in the climate crisis, both as the problem and as the solution. Conventional agriculture contributes directly to the destruction of the living soil, leading to the spread of deserts and the warming of the planet. We have the skills and understanding to farm without chemicals in a way that will build a soil carbon sponge that can cool our warming planet. Our impediment to achieving this is social and political, not technical.

The inclusion of hydroponics in organic certification is thus not an example of innovation and improvement. It is an example of conquest and colonization. It is simply a hostile takeover of organic by economic forces. It has been widely resisted by the organic community, but the USDA continues to embrace hydroponics as organic just as they embrace CAFOs as organic. Their redefinition of organic is in opposition to the law and to international norms. The US once again becomes the rogue nation throwing away our mutual future so somebody can make a buck.

At this time, huge quantities of hydroponic berries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and greens are being marketed as “Certified Organic” in partnership with the USDA. And there is no way of identifying what is hydroponic in the organic label.

The Real Organic Project was created to challenge this process. Our efforts include the creation of an add-on label so that real organic farmers and eaters might be able to find one another in a deceptive marketplace. To learn more, please visit us at realorganicproject.org.

Dave Chapman

Dave Chapman runs Long Wind Farm in Vermont and is the Executive Director of the Real Organic Project. He is a founding member of the Vermont Organic Farmers. He has been active in the movement to Keep The Soil In Organic. He is proud to be a current member of the Policy Committee of the Organic Farmers Association. He served on the USDA Hydroponic Task Force.

Futuristic Farming Takes Root In Georgia

by: Martin Staunton

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June 27, 2019

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV)

Agriculture is Georgia’s number one industry, but there is one local farmer innovating the way growers do business in the Peach State.

Grant Anderson, owner of BetterFresh Farms, says traditional farming goes back countless generations for his family in Effingham County. But many family, friends, and neighbors near Guyton thought he was taking a huge risk when he walked away from his job in finance to start BetterFresh Farms two years ago.

“A lot of them thought I was a little crazy,” Anderson said with a chuckle, recounting their reaction to his decision to grow lettuce hydroponically.

The Agriculture Commissioner’s Office reports BetterFresh is the first commercial hydroponics farm to be established in Georgia. Anderson is investing in a new hydroponics container that’s state-of-the-art and it will double his lettuce production.

The new equipment was built in Canada by a company called Local Food Champions. Jason Carrier, President and owner, was on hand for delivery, his first to the Peach State.

“This is absolutely the future and this is bigger than all of us,” Carrier said. “So we are hoping we can get out there and feed some people. Farm to table in record time. This is farming for everybody.”

Hydroponics requires no soil, 90% less water than pivot irrigation, and eliminates the need for chemicals to control weeds and insects. Anderson only needed enough land to place two growing units — each is roughly the size of a shipping container — to bring this futuristic farming method to Effingham County.

“It doesn’t require the soil. It just requires the moisture to germinate,” he explained. “From there, we give it a nutrient recipe that supplies it enough nutrient to grow for a few weeks until it matures to a point where we can move it into our towers.”

The grow towers are the real game-changers for farming when it comes to harvest.

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“It takes the seasonality out of harvesting, which is huge from a farm operation, as far as being able to cash week-in and week-out every year and not worry about the bumper crop or the drought that may impact your crop,” Anderson said. “We have consistent volume each week.”

BetterFresh Farms is moving operations to Candler County after joining a partnership with the City of Metter and Georgia Southern University, launching an Agri-Business Incubator. It’s got the backing of the Agriculture Commissioner’s Office under their “Georgia Grown” branding.

“Georgia Grown is going to be a tremendous partner, as far as the marketing of our product and helping people becomes aware of how we do what we do,” said Anderson.

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City leaders in Metter say their new partnership with Anderson does more than just bring his farm to their town, it helps them lead the way in terms of one of the future paths for farming. Heidi Jeffers, the Tourism & Business Development Director for the City of Metter, says hydroponic farming can be a powerful weapon in the fight against hunger.

“It changes how we feed our people in Georgia and all over the United States. Hydroponics is a great technology that’s coming about with some great new changes and we are certainly excited to have this in Metter,” Jeffers said, adding that the city is proud to partner with a farming pioneer in Georgia.

“We’re excited to be on the cutting edge of hydroponics,” she said. “With this, it’s completely organic, uses less water, and really changes, a game-changer for this type of produce.”

Thinking of his ancestors, Anderson believes it might have taken some real convincing to bring them onboard when it comes to launching BetterFresh Farms, but he says he’s sure they are proud he’s carrying the family tradition in agriculture forward.

“It may not be the way my ancestors would have envisioned farming working out, but I feel like, with time, we’re all supposed to try and improve,” he said. “I feel like this was my opportunity to maybe pick the torch up and run with it.”

Georgia grown hydroponic crops a hit with Savannah chefs

The choice of lettuce as a crop was a no brainer for Anderson, given his proximity to Savannah and the hundreds of restaurants in business in the Hostess City.

“Virtually every restaurant needs lettuce,” Anderson said. His clients rave about his product being locally grown and organic.

Chef Andrew Wilson with the Emporium Kitchen and Wine Market is most pleased to have a produce vendor who can customize his crop to meet the needs of his recipes.

“The really cool thing is that, not only can say that we are supporting a local farm, but I can also say that they are growing what I ask them to grow specifically for this menu, which in turn means specifically for you the guest. It’s like you’re getting exclusivity,” Wilson explained.

One of Savannah’s newest pizza parlors, Squirrel’s Pizza on Bull Street, is nuts about BetterFresh lettuce.

“It flies outta here. The product that comes in, we can barely hold on to it,” said Jimmy Powell, Managing Partner with Squirrels. “We’re making phone calls the next day asking for special deliveries and requests.”

Anderson says his customer list is growing. He adds that he’s never missed a delivery in two years, and even though he’s up against giants in the industry — he likes his chances for future growth.

“Personally, I believe I have a competitive advantage, even if I am a small fish in a big pond, so to speak,” Anderson said with a grin on his face and a gleam in his eye.

Learn more about his work at betterfreshfarms.com

Automated Containers Make Organic Urban Farming Feasible

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June 27, 2019

(NewsUSA)

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The future of agriculture can be found in commercial containers, in which plants can be grown hydroponically.

Hydroponic farming has many benefits, including saving the resources involved in soil cultivation and avoiding the uncertainty of weather conditions, according to Seedo, an innovator in the field of commercial growth containers.

Approximately 40 percent of the costs of produce in large city supermarkets are used to cover logistics and shipping. Commercial containers such as those from Seedo would expand the potential for urban farming to anywhere, anytime. Plants can be cultivated 24/7, regardless of location.

For example, the automated urban farm is ideally suited to the growing market for medical cannabis and medical cannabis products. Seedo is the technology behind the world's first automated medical cannabis farm, which will yield significantly more plants than traditional controlled greenhouses.

Another opportunity for the Seedo technology is to improve the agriculture of at-risk countries, where global warming and other concerns threaten consistent farming and food production.

In some areas, farmers can use Seedo equipment and technology for growing not only medicinal herbs, but also greens such as lettuce, kale, and wheatgrass; herbs such as parsley, dill, and basil; and vegetables such as cherry tomatoes and bell peppers, and even strawberries. In the home, individuals can set up a small unit that grows plants easily and effectively without intervention.

Seedo, a pioneer in agriculture and technology with 20 years of experience, is now delivering indoor growth systems to homes and businesses across the country. Currently, Seedo has sold more than 3,000 home units through pre-orders.

The Seedo products use artificial intelligence software to control and monitor plant development from the moment the seed is planted. The software tracks each plant's development, and responds by taking action to optimize growth. The hermetically sealed systems are designed to yield consistent results regardless of the local climate.

Growers need only to plant seeds or seedlings and monitor the growth process via the Seedo app.

Other features of the Seedo system include a unique lighting system that self-adjusts based on an individual plant's stage of growth, and a smell-proof cover with built-in CO2 cartridges to prevent smell leaks.

Equally important to note is that all produce cultivated with Seedo's technology (both home and commercial) is pesticide-free, of high quality, and has a significantly extended shelf life.

Visit seedo.com for more information about investing in the growth industry of indoor gardening, and to learn more about the Seedo technology and products.

Seedo is a publicly traded company with the ticker symbol OTCQB:SEDO.

The Hydroponic Threat to Organic Food

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JUNE 26, 2019

by DAVE CHAPMAN

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Real Organic Demonstration photo: linley_dixon.

In the last 7 years there has been a quiet redefinition taking place in the USDA National Organic Program that oversees organic standards. Large scale industrial producers have insinuated themselves into organic certification to transform what the green and white label stands for.

Original organic was based on a simple equation:

Healthy soil = healthy plants = healthy animals = healthy planet.

This equation leaves out the discussion of WHY these things are true, but it is a good roadmap for what organic agriculture is all about. The first given is always “healthy soil.” As we look deeper, we cannot study these parts separately, because plants and animals are integral parts of healthy soil system. No plants means no healthy soil. The same is true with animals. Soil and plants coevolved for 350 million years, and neither can be healthy in isolation from the other. The dance between plants, microbial life, and animal life in the soil is necessary for all.

Western soil science got started with the work of Justus von Liebig (1803-1873). From Liebig’s perspective, soil was a passive storage bin for plant nutrients. However, in Charles Darwin’s 1881 book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, these ideas were challenged by a vision of the soil as a living ecosystem. But Liebig’s viewpoint dominated Western soil science until the 1980’s when the role of organisms in soil formation became better understood. Liebig himself even turned away from his “storage bin” paradigm in the later part of his life, but our agricultural sciences continued to follow his earlier writings.

If we take away plants, soil can no longer be living. Plants provide the energy via photosynthesis for all animal and microbial life in the soil. These photosynthates are provided first as root exudates that feed the fungi and bacteria in exchange for which they gain the minerals that in turn feed the plants. The visible life forms are as important as the invisible microbial community. Soil animals go from burrowing woodchucks and gophers to snails, slugs and elongate animals such as earthworms, flatworms, nematodes, soil mites, springtails, ants, termites, beetles and flies. All of these species together create a community that is often called the soil food web.

Organic farming is based on protecting and enhancing this web of life. By cultivating the diversity of life, we create a stable ecosystem in the soil. Diseases or pestilence are symptoms of a loss of balance. So the organic farmer’s first job is to enhance the diversity of life in the soil community. This is done by providing materials and techniques to help build a soil carbon sponge.

Conventional agriculture is based on a very different strategy of control and simplification. By making systems that are as simple as possible, it becomes easy to control the inputs and outputs. The inputs are processed offsite to provide plant available nutrients. “Soil” becomes a device for holding roots. It is thus easier to make these systems replicable, much like the model of a McDonald’s restaurant. McDonald’s simplifies their systems as much as possible to serve the same hamburger to every customer around the world. In such a system the expertise is contained in the corporate staff who design the processes and provides the raw materials. The problem is a loss of nutrition in the final product. McDonald’s serves lots of calories that soothe customers’ cravings, but they fail at providing a healthy diet. The end result is the phenomena of customers who are simultaneously malnourished and obese.

Similarly, in a conventional agriculture system, the yields are high per acre, but, as Vandana Shiva has said, the yield of health per acre is low. As it turns out, we are part of that co-evolution of soil and plants and animals. Human nutritional needs are complex and beyond our full understanding at this point. But organic farmers believe that by embracing those natural systems, we can feed ourselves well, even if we never fully understand why.

As Einstein once said, there is a simplicity that comes before complexity that is worthless, but there is a simplicity beyond complexity that is priceless.

These simplified conventional systems have been promoted by an industry that profits by selling remedies to the unintended consequences of such crude simplicity. Their high yields are unsustainable without the liberal use of poisons. Plants grown in a soil devoid of biological complexity are very vulnerable to disease and insect attack. And of course, the more we use such poisons, the less healthy the soil becomes, so more pesticides are needed, and on and on.

In livestock production, the epitome of conventional agriculture is a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) where animals are isolated from the land. Their food is grown far from where they live, so their manure is lost to the production system. There is no honoring of Albert Howard’s Law Of Return.

In vegetables and berries, the epitome of conventional agriculture is hydroponic production. Hydroponics is a system that relies entirely upon processed inputs to feed the plants. The old organic adage is, “Feed the soil, not the plant.” The guiding principle of conventional agriculture is: “Feed the plant, not the soil.” Obviously, hydroponic production is the most extreme example of this philosophy.

The practices of organic farming are ancient, but not all traditional farming systems could be called organic by the definition of such pioneers as Albert Howard. Some traditional agriculture was not sustainable and ultimately led to the downfall of civilizations. But organic principles have been practiced in the intensive farming of southeast Asia for over 4000 years. They were learned by Howard in India and subsequently taught in the West. Since then, soil science has confirmed Howard’s ideas to an astonishing degree. Every day we learn more and more about how soil communities function and about why such a system need not depend on pesticides to thrive. Every day we learn more about the connections between the soil microbiome and our own microbiome.

From this logic we derive a conclusion that is important to remember: that the absence of pesticides in a successful organic system is the result of how we farm, not the definition of it.

The organic movement has long believed that food grown in a healthy soil is the foundation of human health. In recent years it has become clear that agriculture is also deeply involved in the climate crisis, both as the problem and as the solution. Conventional agriculture contributes directly to the destruction of the living soil, leading to the spread of deserts and the warming of the planet. We have the skills and understanding to farm without chemicals in a way that will build a soil carbon sponge that can cool our warming planet. Our impediment to achieving this is social and political, not technical.

The inclusion of hydroponics in organic certification is thus not an example of innovation and improvement. It is an example of conquest and colonization. It is simply a hostile takeover of organic by economic forces. It has been widely resisted by the organic community, but the USDA continues to embrace hydroponics as organic just as they embrace CAFOs as organic. Their redefinition of organic is in opposition to the law and to international norms. The US once again becomes the rogue nation throwing away our mutual future so somebody can make a buck.

At this time, huge quantities of hydroponic berries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and greens are being marketed as “Certified Organic” in partnership with the USDA. And there is no way of identifying what is hydroponic in the organic label.

The Real Organic Project was created to challenge this process. Our efforts include the creation of an add-on label so that real organic farmers and eaters might be able to find one another in a deceptive marketplace.

To learn more, please visit us at realorganicproject.org.

This essay originally appeared on Independent Science News.

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More articles by:DAVE CHAPMAN

France: Carrefour Inaugurates A New Urban Farm On The Boulevard de Charonne In Paris

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It was at 103-105 boulevard de Charonne in the 11th arrondissement of Paris that the Carrefour Group’s second urban farm was installed.

The 800 M2 store run by Cédric Lobo was opened in August 2018. The store was created on the site of a former biscuit factory. As part of a partnership of the Carrefour group with the start-up Agripolis, the terraces (300 M2) of the store were developed by Agripolis. T

The company headed by Pascal Hardy is specialized in the transformation of roofs or flat surfaces into an urban farm. On the terrace of the Boulevard de Charonne store, two techniques were favoured to grow about fifty varieties of fruits and vegetables.

The first, hydroponics, allows tomatoes to grow on a substrate – in this case, glass wool – and in a closed hydraulic system. The second, the aeroplane, used for leaves (salads, spinach, aromatic, strawberries …) favours a column system. The roots develop in the open air column.

Since last week, the first strawberries grown on the terrace of the store are offered for sale at a price of € 3.90 for a tray of 250 grams. “All our trays left very quickly. Our clients followed the progress of our project on social networks. The promise of these strawberries is clear: they are grown without pesticides and are picked at maturity because they are not transported, “enthuses Cédric Lobo.

The production of strawberries but also salads, herbs, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers are maintained by Camille, a young market gardener from Agripolis who, in close collaboration with the head of the store’s fruit and vegetable department, takes care of the harvest.

In a few weeks, Cédric Lobo has the project to open the terrace of the store to customers to show them closely how these fruits and vegetables are grown. “By next year, we hope to grow melons,” says the store manager. From one day to another, production exposed to climatic hazards can vary. “This is the main difficulty, but as long as you explain it, customers are ready to accept it,” says Cédric Lobo.

Source: lsa-conso.fr

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Career Opportunity: Head Hydroponics Grower - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Career Opportunity: Head Hydroponics Grower

Company: Mac & Fulton Talent Partners

Location: Grand Rapids, MI  

Career Opportunity:

M&F Talent has a client in CEA crop production that is looking to onboard a new Head Grower. The position will focus on the commercial production of leafy greens and herbs in hydroponics systems. Our client is passionate about sustainable development as well as the creation of more nutritious food sources Moreover, they are on the cutting-edge of greenhouse cultivation techniques and have plans for exponential growth in the coming years.

Company Bio:            

Mac & Fulton Talent Partners is the most knowledgeable and attentive recruiting agency in cannabis, hydroponics, and horticulture. As such, our business aligns itself with those individuals passionate about pushing the industry forward with skill, knowledge, and integrity.

M&F Talent approaches each of our business relationships with a partnership mentality based on trust and transparency. Looking to the future, we will continue to push for progression in the industry by setting high standards of follow-through and timeliness. With both clients and candidates, this level of excellence will help lay a solid foundation for growth and progress.

Our client is looking for a passionate and dedicated Head Grower to compliment their already growing team. This key position is responsible for all growing operations including water chemistry, food safety, biologicals, and growth strategies.

Contact & Info:

If you, or someone you may know, would like to learn about these exciting job opportunities in more detail, please follow this link:

Head Hydroponics Grower: https://mandfconsultants.com/jobs/head-grower-hydro-produce-michigan/.

To learn more about Mac & Fulton Talent Partners, please visit their website at www.mandfconsultants.com or contact them at info@mandfconsultants.com.

Russia: City Farming In Tomsk

Growing Strawberries In The Basement of a Block of flats

The Orlov family started an unusual business two years ago. Despite Siberian frosts, they successfully grow strawberries year-round with the help of their own engineering inventions.

In the basement of a regular 5-storeyed block of flats, the city farmers grow their berries, without a single ray of sunshine and natural warmth.

“The agricultural method is based on hydroponics and aeroponics”, explains Alexander Orlov, demonstrating the small farming facility. “These are important factors, but lighting is even more vital. The technology was worked out by my son; it is his know-how that formed the basis of our business”.

The family have various technical devices, but the main factor is lighting, due to which the berries get all the needed warmth and light for growth, aroma and color.

The inventive son, Kirill Orlov, is a professional engineer, who specialized in applied mathematics in Tomsk University. His lamps allow for reduced energy consumption and stabilize the temperature regime. One lamp lasts 7.5 days, if used 18 hours a day. With these lamps, strawberries grow and ripen faster, productivity increases up to four times.

“I had already retired when one day my son came and suggested growing strawberries. He experimented with light before and grew greenery like onions, parsley and spinach quite successfully. The volume wasn’t big and nobody had thought he was going to start big production”, shares the father, Alexander Orlov.

The local government supported the idea; they liked the systematic approach and the idea of growing and selecting strawberries in Tomsk all year round. The first grant that was received for the complex creation came from the local government. Currently the growers have three rooms, two of which are occupied with beds for 3000 berry bushes and various systems, and the third one contains the enterprise management system: water conditioning, fertigation and irrigation unit and other equipment.

“We get a lot of positive feedback from customers on our Instagram page, both private persons and restaurant business representatives. Parents write that they are happy that our strawberries cause no allergic reaction with children”, shares Mrs. Alla Orlova.

“Our dream is to create the best greenhouse not only in Siberia but also in the world”, shares Kirill. “We have an opportunity to pick a suitable land plot for the construction and we want to show that Siberia can boast the most advanced agricultural technologies and contemporary profitable greenhouses. Any plant can be grown with our technology, not only strawberries but also greenery and tulips that we purchase in huge amounts form the Netherlands. I feel we can do it with the support of the family. Further development will be related to expansion of our interest and gradual fulfillment of the plans”.

The vegetation period in Orlov’s greenhouse lasts 45 days, after which harvesting is done every day all year round. 40 thousand bushes can produce 40-60 tons of berries per year.

Source: rg.ru

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Publication date: 5/15/2019