Brazilian Company Takes Farming Innovation In An Upward Direction

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Paulo Cabral | Paulo Cabral@PCabralReporter

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October 9, 2019

A vertical farm in Sao Paulo has been experimenting with indoor vegetable growth and it uses artificial pink lighting, also known as Pink Farms.

CGTN’s Paulo Cabral reports.

This is a farm but not your usual kind. Everything here happens indoors and since the plants don’t have sunlight inside to grow.

They are supplied with 100 percent artificial pink lighting also known as Pink Farms.

The principle here is hydroponic agriculture: the plants don’t grow in soil but in a kind of foam soaked in water and nutrients.

After the seeds are planted they move to a first stage of growth in a dark room.

Eventually, they are transferred to these rooms setup with pink lights- made of 80% red and 20% blue- ideal for plant growth.

“We think this is important because we will have in the next years a huge growth in the population so we need to find better ways to grow food for them,” Rafael Pereira, the founder, and partner of Pink Farm said.

“And controlled environment agriculture is one of the ways we have to increase this productivity.”

The products in this farm cannot be considered formally organic because they are not planted on actual soil. But since they are grown in a confined and controlled environment there is no need for the use of pesticides. And the vegetables are totally clean: ready to be eaten right after being picked.

Some shops in Sao Paulo are already selling Pink Farm products. These so-called baby greens – similar to sprouts – are attracting some buyers here.

“This is a totally innovative method,” Marcel Honda, manager of Natural da Terra said.

“We had never seen anything like this. We had already seen hydroponics Sales are still picking up because people still need to get to know these products. So we have been organizing tastings here at the shop and once people try it they buy it.”

“I had never tried this and really liked it,” Rodrigo, a customer said. “Tastes great with this mustard sauce.”

“I am very strict about the quality of food I bring home, Jarbas Pereira, a lawyer said. “And I see this is great. My wife has already bought some.”

For now, this vertical farm is a small scale project that’s just begun to show some commercial results. But as demand for food grows and space to produce it becomes more scarce, opportunities for high-tech farming may become more important to fulfill people’s needs in the future.

US: Colorado - A New Building Rising Behind Stanley Marketplace In Aurora Will Be An Commercial Greenhouse

New York-based Gotham Greens coming to Colorado, will open 30,000-square-foot facility in 2020 that will serve retailers throughout state and region

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Michael Ciaglo, Special to the Denver Post

Gotham Greens co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri gives a tour of their new 30,000 square foot greenhouse next to the Stanley Marketplace Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Aurora. The greenhouse is less than an acre but will produce the equivalent of over 25 acres of conventional farming.

By JOE RUBINO | jrubino@denverpost.com

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October 23, 2019

In a budding industry, Aurora has been handpicked as a landing spot for a green giant. Gotham Greens, the Brooklyn-born company at the forefront of the urban farming industry, is coming to town.

By the spring of 2020, Gotham Greens will be growing arugula, basil, bok choy and a variety of other herbs and leafy greens out of a 30,000-square-foot greenhouse nestled behind Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St. As recently as last week, the site wasn’t much more than a slab of concrete spiked with steel beams, but when it opens it will be a state-of-the-art facility set up to produce fresh food 365 days per year.

“Where we’re standing will be filled with plant growing beds,” company co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri said while walking the construction site last week. “Our proprietary growing method uses 95% less water and 97% less land than traditional farming.”

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Indoor farming isn’t a new idea in the Denver area. Nonprofit fresh produce provider The GrowHaus will celebrate its 10th anniversary next month. It operates a trio of indoor farms in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood. Altius Farms has been harvesting and distributing its own brand of aeroponically grown leafy greens and herbs since late 2018. It’s roughly 7,000-acre greenhouse sits on the roof of a restaurant in the S*Park development in Denver’s River North Art District. That project is owned by Westfield Co., the same developer behind Stanley Marketplace that has now brought in Gotham Greens.

What will set Gotham Green’s Denver operation apart is its scale. Its greenhouse is designed to serve the entire state and even some parts of bordering states, Puri said. Whole Foods has already signed on to carry Gotham Greens lettuce mixes, herbal dressings and other goods in all of its Colorado stores, according to the CEO. By growing its products close to consumers, the company also limits the carbon footprint of its business.

“What’s remarkable about this system, is it’s a climate-controlled greenhouse that employs a lot of technology — hydroponic, automation, computer control systems, advanced drip irrigation techniques,” he said. “It will produce a yield equivalent to a 25-acre farm.”

RELATED: Denver urban farming trend grows from a Sloan’s Lake condo tower to a Larimer Square parking garage

Stanley Marketplace is the western front of an ambitious expansion effort. Founded in 2009, Gotham Greens opened its first greenhouse in Brooklyn until 2011. It expanded to Chicago in 2014 and has grown its presence in New York over the last few years but 2019 has been its busiest year to date.

With new greenhouses in Providence, R.I., and Baltimore expected to open by the end of the year, the company will soon crack the New England and Mid-Atlantic markets. When those facilities are up and running, Puri will oversee a company with more than 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space and 350 employees. That’s before the Aurora facility opens and brings on 30 full-time workers, he said.

Colorado — and the Denver metro area specifically — were a good fit for Gotham Greens because many consumers in the state value sustainably grown, eco-friendly food products, Gotham Greens co-founder and chief financial officer Eric Haley said. Haley should know. He grew up in the south metro area and graduated from Cherry Creek High School in 1999.

The Shipping Container Farm Helping To Feed A Dubai Community

The Sustainable City neighborhood is now home to a vertical farm that is already sowing the seeds of success

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Stuart Oda, founder and CEO of Alesca Life, believes vertical farming is set up to succeed in the Emirates. Antonie Robertson/The National

Old factories, warehouses, and disused shipping containers have paved the way for a global agricultural revolution that is reaping rewards in a Dubai neighborhood.

As more and more indoor farms sprout up in cities across the world, including New York and London, the UAE is firmly on the vertical farming bandwagon.

The Sustainable City in Dubai is the latest community to harness the production of fresh leafy greens and herbs in an urban environment, including lettuce, arugula, and basil.

Nestled among the residential neighborhood, Beijing-based Alesca Life Technologies set up a hydroponic shipping container farm in the area two months ago.

READ MORE

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“The profile of the farmer is changing dramatically…today’s farming tool is the smartphone, not the plow,” Stuart Oda, founder of Alesca Life told The National.

“Where traditional farmers are dependent on the cadence of nature and seasons, urban farms can control nature.”

Over the past few years, the UAE’s urban landscape has proved to be the perfect host for soil-less food production.

With only a small percentage of the UAE’s land considered arable due to its harsh climate, more than 80 percent of food available in the country is imported, according to the Ministry of Economy.

As the UAE’s vertical farming industry continues to grow organically, this twenty-first-century approach to traditional farming has the potential to bring this figure down.

Buildings dotted among Dubai’s skyscrapers are brimming with life. Keeping the outside elements out, forward-thinking agricultural companies are using climate-controlled technology to turn empty indoor spaces into farms.

Although still in its infancy in the UAE, vertical farming has the potential to meet the growing global food demand by allowing for year-round harvest opportunities.

Bringing food production to cities, indoor farms create consumer convenience. But the benefits reach far beyond that.

Using hydroponics, the method of growing plants without soil via nutrient-rich solutions, they have an environmentally-friendly impact too.

Today’s farming tool is the smartphone not the plough

Stuart Oda

Mr. Oda said urban farms use “90 to 95 percent less water, fertilizer and land” compared to traditional agricultural methods and “no chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides”.

"Annual water use for global food production is about 2.3 million cubic meters...this can be drastically reduced," Mr. Oda said.

“By eliminating the need for long haul transportation for import and export of major foodstuff, it cuts down on CO2 emissions too.”

And by growing up, in vertically stacked layers indoors, vital land is saved, he said.

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The shipping container farm is also delivering an impressive yield in The Sustainable City. Antonie Robertson/The National

Controlled through a smartphone app, sensor boxes inside the farms monitor the environment and crops.

Running about “24 harvest cycles each year”, Mr. Oda said the Sustainable City shipping container produces fresh crop batches every two weeks and has already produced 26,0000 lettuces alone.

About 4,000 seedlings can grow at any one time in biodegradable peat moss sponges and each week, 720 leafy greens are sold to residents and cafes within the community for about Dh40 a kilogram, depending on the crop.

“We get to customize a lot of these things so we can reduce our environmental footprint," he said.

“We turn off LED lights when outside heat is optimal and use a drip-feed water cycle system.

“We can even customize a crop’s texture and flavor profile by adjusting the light and watering cycle to simulate a change in seasons.”

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The vertical farm produces fresh batches of crops every two weeks. Antonie Robertson/The National

Alesca Life is not alone in taking an innovative approach to farming in the Emirates.

In 2018, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment issued a rallying cry to the private sector to encourage innovation in agriculture.

One company that took heed was Uns Farms. Last year it opened one of the city’s largest urban farms in Dubai.

Located in an old warehouse in Al Quoz, the 30,000 square foot space harvests more than 1,000kg of leafy greens daily and supplies produce to Union Coop, Emirates Coop and Aswaaq supermarkets across the country, as well as restaurants and hotels.

In the next few months, Emirates Airlines is also expected to open its own vertical farm facility near Dubai World Central airport. Covering 130,000 square feet, it will have a production output equivalent to 900 acres of farmland. The first products are expected to be delivered to Emirates Flight Catering’s customers, including 105 airlines and 25 airport lounges, in December.

Updated: October 22, 2019

A New Vertical Farm Is Coming To Compton. Is This The Solution To The World’s Global Food Crisis?

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A look inside the Plenty farm in South San Francisco. The company will open a farm location in Compton in 2020. (Plenty)

By JENN HARRIS STAFF WRITER

October 25, 2019

South San Fransisco — At a nondescript gray building about 10 miles south of the Mission District, a team of a couple of hundred people is trying to make vegetables taste better.

This is the headquarters for Plenty, a company in the business of vertical agriculture — using hydroponics (growing plants without soil) to farm in an enclosed space — which is a long-in-development new frontier of farming that is starting to get to a place of technological efficiency that will allow it to scale commercially. In a space the size of a basketball court, the farm is growing kale, arugula, bok choy, beet leaves, fennel, and mizuna.

At Plenty, the mission is to make plants that taste so good, you’ll want to eat them over everything else.

Chief executive and co-founder Matt Barnard, 47, claims that Plenty not only uses 1% to 5% of the water used to grow comparable crops on a traditional farm but also uses a fraction of the land — and he’s doing it all in a 100% renewable facility powered by a combination of wind and solar energy.

After launching the South San Francisco farm this summer, the company will announce Friday that it has inked a deal to open a second vertical farm, this time in Compton. It will take just a few months to get the 95,000-square-foot facility up and running, but the farm is not expected to bring produce to market until late 2020.

Once completed, Plenty will supply produce to dozens of Southern California restaurants, including Nancy Silverton’s Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza, as well as hundreds of grocery stores.

The farm will be the largest of its kind in the greater Los Angeles area and one of what Plenty hopes is at least 500 farms around the country in densely populated urban areas with 100,000 or more people.

“By doing that, we increase access and availability through high-quality produce, change behaviors and get people to eat fruits and vegetables in lieu of snack food,” Plenty spokeswoman Christina Ra said.

Besides restaurants and grocery stores, the company also hopes to make inroads in local schools. Plenty is in talks with the city of Compton schools to create a partnership that will bring the farm’s produce and technology to kids in the area.

The company declined to say how much it will cost to build and operate the new facility, but Barnard said he plans to create dozens of jobs by hiring locally.

“Compton has rich agricultural roots and Plenty Farms is continuing that tradition,” Compton Mayor Aja Brown said in a statement.

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Employees check on produce in a processing room at the Plenty farm in San Francisco. (Plenty)

In the center of the San Francisco warehouse, the Plenty farm is wrapped in a foil-like material that reaches from the concrete floor to the ceiling like an alien fortress. Giant dehumidifiers hum loudly on the outskirts of the rooms.

Once the farm is running at full capacity next year, Plenty claims it will be able to grow enough produce for more than 100 grocery stores. The growing capacity in Compton will be even greater.

Visiting the farm requires hair nets, beard nets, full jumpsuits, booties, gloves and special glasses; the vibe is less American Gothic and more like a movie about a world-ending virus.

The crown jewel of Plenty is the growing room, where plush greens sprout out from tall vertical towers that blend into each other like rows of continuous living walls. Opposite the plants are glowing strips of LED lights. Once the plants spend a few days in the growing room, the towers move along a track out into a processing room. A robotic arm turns the towers on their side, slices off the produce, then sends the greens to a room for packaging.

People manage and sterilize the machines, but no human hands actually touch the produce at any point in the farming process.

“There’s no need to wash our product,” Barnard said. “You know those bags of lettuce that say triple washed? They are washed in bleach. We don’t think people should have to eat pesticides or bleach.”

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An employee checks on some produce at the Plenty farm in San Francisco. (Plenty)

Barnard, who grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, sees vertical agriculture as a way to address obesity, drought and food shortage problems — along with eliminating the need for your salad spinner. According to a 2018 USDA report, the earth will need almost 70%more food, 30% more water and more than 50% more energy production by 2050.

In a conference room at the farm, Barnard and Olivia Nahoum, the senior product development and sensory manager for the company, have set out a tasting of sorts. Using tweezers, Nahoum places borage flower, pea herb, wasabi flower, wasabi leaves, and purslane on a plate and instructs me to try them.

Tasting the pea herbs, fairy-sized green leaves attached to tinier stalks, is like biting into a raw snap pea with a freshness and earthiness likely better than the real thing. Purslane tastes of an ice-cold glass of sweet and sour lemonade on a hot summer’s day. Borage flowers, gorgeous sky blue blooms with white centers, evoke

a mojito, with pure sugar and notes of fresh cucumber. The wasabi flowers look innocent enough, but the delicate petals pack a peppery punch. The wasabi arugula leaf was the strongest of the bunch, offering up a nose-tingling slap of wasabi.

But the bulk of what Plenty grows is not fancy herbs. I also sampled baby kale that was soft and sweet, an unbelievably peppery arugula and a mixture of green and purple bok choy that made me think of baked potatoes.

Those greens have impressed Los Angeles chef Nancy Silverton, who is on the board of the company as a culinary advisor and collaborator.

“I was so blown away,” Silverton said of her visit to the farm. “The idea that this not only can be done, but I was so surprised by how good everything tasted.”

Chef Dominique Crenn, who is also on the Plenty board, uses a purple butterfly herb that Plenty grows to add a bit of tartness to her black cod dish at her San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn.

In order to tweak flavor profiles, scientists adjust what Barnard refers to as the light recipe of a plant. When you’re outside, everything is up to mother nature; Barnard said the climate, soil and overall growing environment “algorithm” determine a plant’s flavor. Inside, he and his team are adjusting the lights, air temperature and humidity to coax the maximum amount of flavor from the produce.

“For our kale, we can take the flavor spectrum and move it from bitter to sweet so that it’s more balanced and easier to eat healthy food,” Barnard said. “Now that we have brought the farm inside, we can control the things that control flavor and change the recipe in order to make plants that people like.”

Plenty has a plant and flavor science team in Wyoming that tests seeds and varieties to figure out which have the most flavor potential. In the last year, the facility tested 700 kinds of produce. Although most of what Plenty produces are leafy greens, Barnard said they are working on strawberries as well.

It may sound like something out of “Blade Runner,” but Chris Dardick, lead scientist and plant molecular biologist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, says this type of flavor manipulation is feasible.

“Scientifically, I don’t know how much data or evidence there is yet on that, but from our own experience, fruit crops that develop sugars and flavors are influenced by environmental conditions like the amount of sunlight,” Dardick said. “Those properties can be manipulated if you have control over lighting conditions and temperature.”

He is doing his own work with vertical farming and sees immense potential.

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Inside the Plenty farm in San Francisco. (Plenty)

“One of the ways we [USDA Agricultural Research Service] got interested in vertical agriculture was the idea being we could take an orchard and bring it indoors,” he said. “We work on fruit crops, particularly temperate trees like peaches, plums, apples, and pears.”

Most of those fruit are challenging to farm indoors because of their size, shape, and need for dormancy. The research Dardick is doing may make it possible to grow these fruit year-round, without the need to wait between planting a seed and the fruit flowering.

Plenty is not the only company to attempt vertical agriculture. There’s Bowery Farming and Farm One in New York, Buckeye Fresh in Ohio, and Canadian Grocer in New Jersey. NASA started testing crop systems with shelves of hydroponic systems at the Kennedy Space Center in the late 1980s. The scientists grew wheat, soybeans, potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes and a couple of attempts at rice in a controlled chamber as a way to test a volume-efficient approach to farming in space.

Raymond M. Wheeler, who was on the team that tested the crop system in the 1980s, said they used high-pressure sodium lamps similar to the orange-colored street lights you see on many city blocks to grow the plants. The lights, he said, were far from efficient, so Wheeler was encouraged by Plenty’s LED light system, the company’s focus on flavor, and what that could mean for growing plants in space.

“If someone can come up with a very flavorful, very nutritious leafy green or a range of types, that would be perfect,” Wheeler said. “You have to get people to eat on space missions so any way you could kind of help that out by enhancing flavor, the texture, the colors, all these things and the nutrients are all a good thing.”

Although the benefits of vertical farming are generally touted as positive, some critics point out that the energy it takes to fuel a hydroponic facility can be excessive. According to Paul Zankowski, a senior advisor at the USDA, it all depends on a farm’s location.

“It all depends on where it is grown and the energy factors of that city,” he said.

Plenty is still working out what will be grown at the Compton farm and where it will be available. The company is currently selling salad boxes of greens for $4.99 at small retailers in the Bay Area like Good Eggs and Bi-Rite, and some of the produce is available at restaurants like the San Francisco robot burger joint Creator.

“We’re looking to compete with the whole middle section of the grocery store — all that dead stuff with highly processed sugars and lots of calories,” Barnard said. “We want to compete straight up on flavor.”

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Jenn Harris is a senior writer for the Los Angeles Times Food section. She has a bachelor’s in literary journalism from the UC Irvine and a master’s in journalism from the University of Southern California. Harris covers restaurant news, dining trends, chefs and cocktails. She’s also the unofficial fried chicken queen of Los Angeles. She once visited 22 bars and restaurants in a single day for a story. If you want to see what she’s eating now, follow her @Jenn_Harris_ on Instagram.

Can Container Farming Help Meet The Rising Demand For Local Food?

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October 24, 201

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© Andrii Zastrozhnov |

With the demand for local produce constantly rising due to environmental, economic and quality reasons, Johnathan Bulmer, MD at Cleveland Containers, has urged for more pick up on container farming

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He suggests that, with Brexit also looming and causing uncertainty as to where the weekly food shop will come from, container farming can produce many of our favorite fresh produce in the UK. The fully contained structures allow for year-round growth no matter the weather or available land.

Bulmer said: “Most of us are eating produce that has traveled thousands of miles from its source. One of the reasons why UK supermarkets sell fruit and vegetables which aren’t often produced in the country is that farmers face the challenge of providing seasonal produce all year round – which isn’t possible with changing weather conditions.

“But with container farming, farmers can actually control the climate, along with soil, quality, heat and even light exposure. The containers use technology to be retrofitted with heating and water systems, and gas and electrics can also be installed to offer a whole host of benefits for crops and farmers alike.”

This modern twist has helped farmers to produce goods all year round, avoiding common restrictions such as extreme weather, pests, and seasonal struggles.

Bulmer estimates that container farms can produce up to 4,000 heads of lettuce every ten days, using no soil and 97% less water than a conventional farm.

“Crops are protected from nasty pests, eliminating the need for pesticides which can also cause health problems in those who consume them,” he continued.

One company, Freight Farms, has produced its ‘Leafy Green Machine’, which it claims to cut water demand by up to 98% using hydroponic container techniques, which could help to reduce demand on freshwater reserves.

Benefits of local produce

By cutting the distance that our food has to travel, greenhouse gas pollution from air freight is minimized, and the shorter distance means that it’s sold sooner after it’s grown and picked.

This benefits not only the taste due to it being fresher, but producers can also pick from a wider variety of fruit that has great flavor but doesn’t usually travel well so it isn’t sold.

He said: “There are a host of other benefits to container farming for local produce. It benefits the local economy, reduces the seasonality of foods, and also cuts down on plastic waste which is often multi-wrapped to protect it from travel.

“This boost in freshness can reduce food wastage and encourage more nutritional diets with simple, fresh ingredients. And you also don’t get the problem of land being in the wrong place or relocation restrictions, because container farms are so flexible. They can be easily stacked, which means farmers also won’t need to empty their pockets and pay for extra land to expand – you build up.

“We’re seeing a huge amount of farmers deciding to go down the container route in this country. The flexibility and option to mass-produce fruit and vegetables within such a short space of time, along with savings on waste usage means they can save costs, but produce seasonal fruit and veg all year, without being limited by space,” Bulmer said.

“There is a billion-dollar consumer demand for local food – let’s work together to achieve it.”

Cleveland Containers offers one of the largest nationwide stocks of new and used shipping containers, available throughout the UK.

Based in Middlesborough, its models for sale or hire come in all sizes to fit different needs. From 6 to 45ft, its specialized containers can be used for storage, office containers, site accommodation, farming, hospitality and more.

US: New York State - Youths Get Hands-On Lessons In Food Production

Boys And Girls Club Gets Indoor Hydroponic Farm

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Steve Barnes October 23, 2019

The equivalent of a 2-acre farm that grows 500 heads of lettuce a week hides inside a 40-foot-long metal box in a parking lot near the police station in downtown Troy.

The container farm, as it's called, or Freight Farm, after the Boston-based company that first introduced hydroponic growing systems in repurposed shipping containers, is a project of the Boy & Girls Clubs of the Capital Area. The $90,000 container farm was a gift from the SEFCU credit union, which for the past two years has operated a similar container farm at its offices near the Harriman state office campus in Albany.

Launched over the summer and overseen by two adult staffers, the farm gives young people who participate in the Troy club's after-school programs hands-on experience planting, growing, harvesting and selling fresh produce. Although the farm now grows only greens, including two types of lettuce plus kale and Swiss chard, seeds are available for a variety of items, from radishes and beets to herbs and flowers. They are being considered for future crops, according to the club.

"It's sustainable, year-round and ideally will generate income while giving our teens good experience with fresh produce," said Justin Reuter, CEO of the BGCCA. The organization, formed earlier this year by a merger of clubs in Albany and Troy, serves 5,200 young people annually and recently opened facilities in Cohoes and Green Island.

The unexpected gift of the container farm came out of a conversation early this year, during what SEFCU's president and CEO, Michael Castellana, described as a "good news/bad news meeting" with club leaders, who had asked for a $50,000 donation to pay for a summer program.

"I closed the folder and said, 'Absolutely not,' " Castellana said, a response that was startling because, he said, "We hardly ever say to no them." Instead, aware of the hit SEFCU's own container farm had become among employees and the food pantries its produce was donated to, Castellana proposed giving one to the BGCCA. The offer, he said, initially left club representatives slack-jawed.

"Once they closed their mouths, they said, 'Absolutely yes,' " he said.

Hydroponic growing is hardly new, having been used commercially at least since the 1930s when Pan American Airways established a hydroponic growing operation for vegetables on a Pacific atoll that was used as a refueling station for flights from the U.S. to Asia. But container farms like the one run by the boys and girls club are less than a decade old. Freight Farms, which started manufacturing in 2013, has installed about 200 worldwide.

The only three Freight Farms in the Capital Region, according to a company spokeswoman, are owned by SEFCU, the BGCCA, and Carioto Produce and Seafood in Green Island, which acquired one almost three years ago.

The lettuces raised in the boys and girls club's container farm — butterhead, or Boston, and a red-leaf variety called Lollo Rosso — and the other greens take eight weeks to grow from seed to harvest. Seeds are planted in trays in a soil-like medium of ground coconut shells, where they are watered for three weeks. The small seedlings, with a pyramid-shaped plug of growing medium around their roots, are then transplanted into one of 256 foam-lined vertical columns, each 7 feet tall, that hang in facing rows along the sides of the container farm, 10 heads to a column. Nutrient-laden water, fed from the top by a computerized system, trickles down the columns, and, overnight, LEDs shine specially calibrated light on the plants. With staggered planting, the farm, in theory, can produce more than 600 heads a week, though production hasn't yet ramped up to that volume.

The greens become part of the approximately 1,100 meals a day the BGCCA serves at its locations, and club staffer Patricia Doyle, who manages the farm, said the fact the food is home-grown seems to have generated more receptivity among members than preteens and adolescents might otherwise grant leafy produce.

"When you grow something, you're more apt to eat it," she said. "They're proud of it."

The 10 to 12 club members who work on the farm put their initials on the columns they've planted, following their heads through to harvest.

"I was interested because I like science and nature, and it attracted me because I wanted to do something for my community," said club member Kelyse Bell. The 13-year-old moved to Lansingburgh earlier this year from North Carolina, where she learned gardening from her grandmother.

"This is better for the environment, too — you grow more in a faster time than you would on land on a normal farm," said Bell.

The club sells its lettuces, for $2 per head, at the Troy farmers market on Wednesday afternoon, and, in its first of a hoped-for list of restaurant customers, to Brown's Brewing, for use in its taprooms in Troy and North Hoosick. Much of the approximately 200 heads Brown's buys each week is the base for salads for private events in its Revolution Hall banquet facility, adjacent to the brewpub on River Street in downtown Troy.

"The taste is amazing, the leaves are all intact, there's no dirt, insects, chemicals or anything like that," said Paul Minbiole, operations director for Brown's Brewing and one of those involved in the decision to start purchasing the club's lettuce. He said, "It's processed and delivered to us the same day. You can't get much fresher than that without picking it yourself."

Being able to give a social-services nonprofit for youth the opportunity to expose its members to farming is part of SEFCU's larger mission of offering nontraditional growth opportunities and benefits for the communities it serves, said Castellana.

"SEFCU is committed to trying to change lives by trying to minimize obstacles that people have in their life," he said. "Hunger is one of the most significant and overlooked obstacles that people have, and this is one way to start to address that."

Bell said she is pleased by what she's learned about one of the futures of farming in just a few months since she started coming to the Troy club.

Demonstrating her new knowledge, Bell said the container farm operates at 60 degrees, with 55 to 60 percent humidity, and a higher level of carbon dioxide than in outside air.

"We're only supposed to be in here for about 45 minutes at a time," she said. "The air is good for plants, but people need more oxygen."

sbarnes@timesunion.com - 518-454-5489 - blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping - @Tablehopping - facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic

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Steve Barnes

Steve Barnes has worked at the Times Union since 1996, served as arts editor for six years, and since 2005 has been a senior writer.

Since 2006, Steve has passed along his knowledge, or at least his opinions, to young writers as a journalism instructor at the University at Albany.

Contact him at (518) 454-5489

Past Articles from this Author:

• Steamer 10 aims at adults with 'Last Five Years'

• The Poke Bar opens in Colonie

• 'MasterChef Junior' Live coming to Palace

Grand Rapids Next-Gen Farmer Cohort 2019 - 2020

Square Roots | 10.16.19

Next-Gen Farm / Farmers / Program / Perspectives

Each year, a new cohort of farmers participates in the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program, taking a step along their journey to becoming leaders in urban farming. Here’s a glimpse into why they’re drawn to urban agriculture.

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Michigan Next-Gen Farmers: Alyssa Patton, Amal Jennings, Savie Sonsynath, Winn Hermanski, Rebekah Box, Jarad Jaent, Katie LaRue, Jacob Smaby, and Joshua Van Kleeck

Rebekah Box

(@_farming_nomad)

“My family has a history of farming. My grandparents were sweet corn farmers and I grew up gardening with my parents every summer. After moving into my first apartment, I quickly realized that having a garden of my own was going to be far from easy. I was determined to make access to fresh, locally grown food easier for those in similar situations. With this, my love for gardening and educating others on how to grow their own food has flourished and given me a clear path to a future career. While job searching, I came across the application for the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program at Square Roots in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From their mission statement and further research, I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to help others in urban areas and to gain the skills and knowledge needed to educate future generations.”

Winn Hermanski

(@winn.hermansk)

“While studying at the University of Oklahoma’s Entrepreneurship and Venture Management program, I developed a business plan to create affordable housing and job opportunities for the homeless. Shipping containers would be retrofitted to create tiny homes and a hydroponic farm to sustain the community. While working on this business, I discovered Square Roots and felt like the company was poised to disrupt the broken agricultural system.”

Katie LaRue

(@travelinglarue)

“While in college, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica where I fell in love with food. There were markets at every corner, meals were prepared with real food, and meal times were respected in the home and at the workplace. I later moved to Stuttgart, Germany to pursue a Masters in Sustainable Agricultural Food Production. I learned the inner workings of what it takes to feed a growing population sustainably and found Square Roots after moving back home to Michigan. I hope the Next-Gem Farmer Training Program will enable me to continue disrupting the current food system.”

Savie Sonsynath

(@savevone)

“Born and raised in Michigan, I’m a first-generation Lao-American. It’s a culture centered around food and community, and I see a lot of value in integrating my two cultures. While pre-med at Ferris State’s Biology program, I discovered the importance of nutrition on human health. This, paired with my strong cultural foundation, lead me to seek a platform to engage the public about food choice. Square Roots’ mission to connect people with real and local food deeply resonates with me, and I plan to use this opportunity to connect with the community over the healthy food options available.”

Jacob Smaby

(@jacobsmaby)

“As an educator at heart, I started my career studying to be a high school English teacher at Grand Valley State University. After spending time working with kids in the public school system, I realized my true passion is teaching future generations about environmental issues. With the knowledge gained through the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program, I hope to inspire upcoming generations to change the way we feed our cities and communities.”

Jarad Jaent

(@jaradjaent)

“I grew up in the West Michigan area and spent most of my time camping, hiking, and exploring nature. My passion for the outdoors became something that I wanted to pursue a career in. Throughout my experience at Hope College, I struggled to imagine how a business degree with biology and environmental science minors could lead to the career I wanted. After meeting the cofounder of H.O.P.E Gardens and helping the non-profit establish gardens at elementary schools in the Grand Rapids area, I realized that urban agriculture was something I wanted to be a part of. I'm excited to join the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program and can’t wait to see what doors it opens in the future.”

Joshua Van Kleeck

(@vankleeckjoshua)

“Born in Michigan, I grew up raising fruits and vegetables with my brother to sell at our roadside stand and local farmer's markets. I developed a passion for horticulture and business and went on to study business at Northwood University. In college, I discovered Square Roots and was immediately intrigued, thinking it could be an amazing fit. When I heard Square Roots was coming to Michigan, I jumped on the opportunity to join the Next-Gen Farmer Training Program in this pioneering endeavor.”

Alyssa Patton

“Throughout my childhood, I was surrounded by farmland in Allegan, Michigan. My family even had a small garden with chickens. Soil farming was all I had known until my internship with Hunger Education and Resource Training where I was exposed to aquaponics, sustainable agriculture, and rooftop gardens. I began to question how people in cities could grow or have access to fresh food and I developed a passion for community development and farming. I couldn’t be more excited to join Square Roots in its endeavor to bring fresh, local produce to cities."

Amal C. Jennings

(@squarerootsgrow.lens.amal)

“While studying chemical engineering at the University of Oklahoma, I developed an interest in environmental stewardship and sustainable practices. I started working for Provision Organic Farm in Oklahoma City and later went on to work for CommonWealth Urban farms of OKC. After seeing the many challenges that small, organic, urban farmers face, I turned my interest to climate-controlled indoor farming and found the Square Roots Next-Gen Farmer Training Program.”

Learn more about our Next-Gen Farmer Training Program.

Vertical Farming Is On The UP In London

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Phoebe Young - 24 October 2019

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The growing techniques are centuries-old, the agricultural technology is cutting (v)edge and the aesthetics look as if they are from the far-off future. 

Say hello to an amazing, vertical hydroponic farm that produces ultra-fresh and highly-nutritious crops. What’s even more exciting is that Square Mile Farms have set up in Paddington Central, London’s busy work and social hub. 

They have picked this unlikely location because their aim is to bring sustainable agriculture into the urban environment in the form of vertical farm crops.

What is Vertical Farming and how does it work?

Square Mile Farm’s crops are grown vertically as a means of optimising space, maximising yields, reducing waste and producing nutritious plants. This means that they do not have to compete with natural habitats for space or resources. 

Their crops are grown ‘hydroponically’ in a controlled environment. This means that they are cultivated using small amounts of nutrient-rich water and no soil. Square Mile are producing fresh, nutritious produce including kale, fennel and basil in their vertical garden, which is nestled on the rooftop of 2 Kingdom Street.

Why Paddington Central?

Paddington Central joins the previously industrial gap between Paddington Station and the West End and is home to some of the world's biggest organisations. It's not exactly the first destination you'd think of for a farm.

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Crops are grown ‘hydroponically’ in a controlled environment

How will farm and community connect?

The farm hopes to integrate itself with the community in Paddington, and inspire the city dweller to latch on to the growing trend of making food production sustainable, nutritious and local again. It will do this through organising events centred around food, well being and the environment. 

Johnathan Ransom, Square Mile Farms Co-owner, explains that “Square Mile Farms is a business passionate about the food we eat, the impact it has on our environment and the growing demand to bring the farm back to the centre of the community it feeds. We take pride in offering professional insights and specialist expertise, as consultants, nutritionists and growers.”

Square Mile Farms is a business passionate about the food we eat

Workshops and events at Square Mile Farms

The farms will partly achieve this through hosting events. These will include talks on topics like The Basics Of Healthy Eating and Managing Stress and Anxiety. Guests will learn how what they eat affects their physical health and mental well being. A seminar on minimizing Food Waste will also take place.  

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To give you an idea of what will be on the cards, they recently held talks on ‘Nutrition: Essential For Sports; and ‘Nutrition: Good Food, Good Mood’.

Ongoing workshops about How To Grow Your Own Microgreens are another way in which Square Mile will get the fingers of these city dwellers greener. Attendees will be offered a personal session with the farm’s chief grower, who will be on hand to discuss everything from equipment, to the different varieties of microgreens and the conditions they require. Guests can also visit the farm by appointment to learn more about the project and take away some greens! 

Events at the Square Mile Farm are priced from £5 to £25. For more information and to book an event please visit www.paddingtoncentral.com

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These 5 Start-Ups Are Revolutionizing The Concept Of Urban Farming In India

Growing urbanization has pushed farms out of the towns to the peripheries. But a new breed of farmers is taking farming by storm by helping us harvest superfoods sans chemicals and pesticides in our kitchen. Meet some of the urban farmers from around the country who ensure that these tiny shoots or microgreens provide a palate full of health, wealth and goodness.

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Image credit: Entrepreneur India

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Tahira Noor Khan

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Junior Feature Writer

October 21, 2019

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Hamsa V and Nithin Sagi broke away from their lucrative IT jobs with Infosys to pursue their dreams. Sagi had earlier taken up food photography and later partnered with Hamsa to open Growing Greens. The company is a business-to-business venture that sells microgreens, edible flowers, salad leaves, sprouts and herbs to five-star hotels, high-end restaurants and cafes in Bengaluru. “When we had started back in 2012, hotels would import microgreens from other countries due to the lack of local produce,” shares Hamsa. 

Microgreens are young, small-sized, approximately one to three inched, tall vegetable greens with an aromatic flavor that chefs mostly use to decorate and dress food. These young plants are said to have concentrated nutrient levels that can go 40 times higher than the normal size produce. 

Sagi and Hamsa did thorough market research before starting Growing Greens. They interacted with various chefs to understand their requirements and, in the process, were introduced to microgreens. Hamsa recalls, “Chef Manu Chandra helped us immensely in our journey. He was also our first client.” Growing Greens has grown gradually and consistently over the years. Sagi shares, “We started from a small terrace and today we are farming in four acres of land. We plan to take it up to 10 acres in the next two to three years.”

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Hamsa V and Nitin Sagi, Founders, Growing Greens

Soil-less Cultivation for Urban Dwellers

The impediment to farming in a city is the lack of availability of space. But technology, with all its wonders, has made farming possible in small spaces through urban vertical farming and hydroponics. Instead of soil, a nutrient-rich water solution is used to grow the plant in hydroponics or soil-less farming. Urban vertical farming is a method in which such hydroponic or other technology used planted plants are grown vertically, one over the other in a small space. As there is no soil, the weight on the wall or a roof is significantly reduced and there is no structural damage caused to the building.

Urban farming also ensures more control over the way food is produced. Hamsa shares, “We do not use any pesticide or chemicals on our food. We also provide live microgreens to hotels and restaurants, i.e., microgreens that are not cut but with their roots intact.”

Mumbai-based banker turned farmer Linesh Pillai was introduced to urban farming in 2010 when he was in Poland. Disturbed by the high levels of contamination in food here upon his return, Pillai decided to grow his own vegetables. He started Terra Farms in 2012 and later renamed it as Urban Fate Farms or UGF Farming. He divides the operations of his company into four verticles broadly—Education, Dead Space Activation, Retailing and Zero Carbon Food Project. Under education, UGF visits schools and organizations to teach people how they can easily grow their own vegetables in the city. The Dead Space Activation is done for big hotel chains and high-end restaurants where UGF sets up a hydroponic plant and handholds them through the entire process until they learn to do it themselves. Some of their clients are Hyatt Moscow, Hyatt Delhi, Olive Bar and Kitchen Mumbai. Under retailing, UGF sells their live microgreens and leafy greens at Hypercity, BigBasket and Big Bazaar. 

Zero Carbon Food Project tries to minimize carbon emissions created by our food habits. Pillai shares, “We have created a greenhouse at Don Bosco School, Manori. Growing the food where it is consumed reduces the carbon emission otherwise caused in logistics and cold storage.” UGF currently operates in Mumbai, Bengaluru and USA. The company plans to expand and open its office in Dubai by June 2020.

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Linesh Pillai, Founder, UGF Farming

Start Your Kitchen Garden

Homecrop, founded by four graduates from Vellore Institute of Technology Manvitha Reddy, Sharmila Reddy, Sai Krishna and Krishna Reddy, brings urban farming to your backyards, terraces and balconies. The company sets up edible farms for urban households who want to grow their own vegetables. Manvitha feels that “people can become more empathetic and understand a farmer’s challenges by growing one’s own vegetables.”

Homecrop’s journey has not been an easy ride. Manvitha divulges, “It was very hard to convince people to pay someone to set up a kitchen garden for them.” The organisation now has a dedicated set of clients in Hyderabad. It also sells its DIY farming kits online pan-India through its website as well as through Amazon. Manvitha is grateful that she and her co-founders who have no background in farming are incubated at a-IDEA (Association for Innovation Development of Entrepreneurship in Agriculture), the technology business incubator hosted by ICAR-NAARM (Indian Council of Agricultural Research; National Academy of Agricultural Research Management) in Hyderabad. 

“The incubation gave us the levy to experiment and learn. There was a lot of trial and error but we are lucky to have received solid mentoring,” claims Manvitha. However, in terms of funding an urban farming enterprise, things are still bleak in India. Homecrop not only sets up customized edible farms for its clients but also provides impeccable maintenance services. For the first two months, it regularly pays visits to the client’s garden who can later opt for ad hoc visits.

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Krishna Reddy and Sharmila Reddy, Co-founders, Homecrop

Home-grower of Hydroponic Produce
Somveer Singh Anand, much like Pillai, is also a banker turned farmer. Upon his return to India from New York where he was working as a banker, he again like Pillai, found it impossible to source organic and uncontaminated food. Using his knowledge to develop indoor hydroponic technology suitable for Indian climatic conditions, Anand started Pindfresh in 2016. Anand confesses, “Selling mutual funds and insurance policies as a banker in the US was dreadful. I did not enjoy what I was doing.”

Pindfresh sets up indoor and outdoor hydroponic plants for people who want to farm using the technology. Anand’s knowledge of hydroponic did come in handy but there were other obstacles to overcome before coming out with the perfect technology. “The climatic conditions in the US and in India are completely different. What worked there did not work here. So, I had to control lighting, humidity and temperature. It is all science and once I got it right, the first feat was achieved,” professes Anand.

Pindfresh manufactures the pipes, lights and all the other equipments required to set up a hydroponic plant. The company earlier would outsource these components for the plant but were dissatisfied with the quality. Anand shares, “The quality of individual components would affect the overall quality of the plant. So we started manufacturing everything in-house to provide top quality to our customers. It gave us better quality control.”

Pindfresh is headquartered in Chandigarh but that doesn’t stop the company from being available to its customers across India. “We get on a video call and guide our clients accordingly. We are also just a call away for any query. We believe if the client has invested their money in something, they should get the maximum value out of it,” he declares.

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Somveer Singh Anand, Founder, Pindfresh

Ensuring Food Traceability

Akash K Sajith, Founder, Living Food Company started the business after a personal tragedy befell him when both his parents were diagnosed with cancer. Taking charge of things, he informs, “There are 1.5 million cancer deaths in our country and only one-fourth of them are caused due to tobacco while the remaining three-fourth are due to contaminated food.”

Sajith, who has worked for Myntra and Lookup in the past, had a fair understanding of how start-ups function. With his knowledge, he gave his heart and soul to his new venture Living Food Company. The company is the largest B2C player selling microgreens to households. He shares, “We didn’t want to sell microgreens to just five-star hotels and big chefs as my main aim was to deliver healthy, organic and quality food to Indian households.”

80 per cent of Living Food Company clients are B2C consumers. Sajith started Living Food Company by selling microgreens and then later expanded it by selling fresh oven to table sour bread, spreads, probiotic drinks, among other products. Sajith wants to bring the missing transparency in the food sector. “Currently, no vendor gives you the traceability on where your food is coming from, where it is grown, and under what conditions they are grown. With Living Food, I want to bring about a change in the system,” he declares.

From his wide experience of working with start-ups, Sajith has learnt to never give up even in the face of adversity. He shares, “In the first six months, Living Food had 500 consumers which in the next six months had risen to 4,500. We are consistently growing.” He is happy that Living Food Company is changing the food sector in India, even though in a small way. The company has its own farms where it grows fresh microgreens and vegetables.

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Akash K Sajith, Founder, Living Food Company

To Heart’s Delight

They might have traded away their lucrative careers but none of them are regretful about it. A common thread that binds all these urban farming entrepreneurs is the high degree of job satisfaction. Anand who relocated from Mumbai to New York to Chandigarh, says, “I’ve realised you don’t need much in life. I am happy that my small business is able to generate employment and give something worthwhile back to society.”

Pillai has a retirement plan chalked out for himself. “I am working towards building my retirement abode. It will be a self-sustaining house with no electricity and power connection. I will generate my own electricity through solar panels and engage myself in rainwater harvesting,” he mentions.

Taking pride over the best decision of her life, Hamsa confesses that farming has made her more content and happy. But her journey as an urban farmer has been riddled with challenges. “Farming is a difficult profession that requires a lot of patience and perseverance. There are many things that are not in your control like natural calamities. We have had forest fires in our farm and our crops have been spoilt because of heavy rains but I do not ever regret getting involved in farming,” she happily shares.

Benefits of Hydroponic or Soilless Farming

• 80 per cent less water used than regular farming.

• Minimum 20 per cent faster plant growth.

• Allows indoor, terrace, roof and farming in small spaces.

• Better space optimization.

• The plant is protected from all the contamination and toxins that can enter it through the soil.

New Trend Is "Growing Local" To Provide Fresher Produce, Reduce Energy Costs, And Help Eliminate Contamination

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According to Brian Halweil, author of Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket, food travels an average of 1,500 miles to get to your plate.

Additionally, the longer foods are out of the soil, the less nutritious they become, losing on average 45 percent of their nutrition before being consumed.

Researchers at Iowa State University also looked at a typical meal and found it gobbled up 17-times as much energy in transportation as that same meal raised locally.

Dr. Jennifer Wilkins, a researcher at Cornell University, said that 20 percent of all fossil fuel use is just for getting food on our table.

"GrowPods" - proprietary, automated micro-farms, can significantly reduce transportation and energy costs associated with food production, and provide fresher, healthier food than traditional farming and distribution methods.

Placing a GrowPod-type system near where food is consumed not only reduces transportation costs but also uses 90 percent less water than traditional agriculture.

GrowPods provide year-round cultivation, and incorporate automated climate controls and optimized LED lighting to grow more plants per square foot - with yields up to 8 times greater than outdoor farms - while using just a fraction of the water.

GrowPods also provide:

• Portability - GrowPods can be set up virtually anywhere
• Scalability - Expanding is easy - just add additional pods
• Security - Controlled access and entry notification
• Pesticide and Bacteria Free - Sealed environment protects from contaminants and pests

These types of Plug & Grow systems are designed for easy operation - allowing users with all levels of experience to rapidly start growing nutritious, robust, and profitable crops.

Perfect for entrepreneurs, farmers, schools, grocers, restaurants, and non-profits.

For information, visit: www.growpodsolutions.com , or call (855) 247-8054

Growing Food Anywhere With Freight Farms

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By SOLIDWORKS October 8, 2019

Freight Farms was founded by Brad McNamara and Jon Friedman in 2010, before the “ag-tech” industry existed. McNamara and Friedman were pioneers who envisioned the need for urban agriculture as a competitive industry to make local food a reality around the globe.

Their initial focus was on rooftop greenhouses, but it quickly became clear that there was a need for a modular and scalable design that could yield produce 365 days a year. To perfect logistics and reduce costs, McNamara and Friedman designed their new technology to be housed inside shipping containers, which are widely available, even in areas unsuitable for traditional farming methods.

Now Freight Farms is at the forefront of the fast-growing ag-tech industry and the first company to build a farm inside a shipping container. Its customers include restaurants, hotels, entrepreneurs, small businesses, corporate campuses, universities and non-profits in addition to traditional farmers. The company is constantly working on new technology to modernize farming.

The Leafy Green Machine

The mission of Freight Farms is to empower anyone to grow food anywhere. Its miniaturized commercial-scale farm, the Leafy Green Machine, fits inside an intermodal freight container, so it’s protected from the elements and erratic changes in climate.

The hydroponic, atmospherically controlled, tech-connected farm was the first containerized farm on the market. With maximization of every bit of cubic space, the Leafy Green Machine produces about a thousand baby heads of lettuce or 500 full heads of lettuce a week with an ebb and flow system (intermittent water flow) for seedling propagation and initiation and a vertical drip system for mature plants.

The plants begin in horizontal beds and are harvested from vertical beds. These ergonomic beds enable easy access to plants—no more stooping to work with seeds and plants in the ground!

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SOLIDWORKS Makes Every Stage More Efficient

When designing within a literal box, it’s vital that every piece of equipment and its interaction with the operator and the plants is seamless. SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD was instrumental in the design of the Leafy Green Machine as the team was able to test designs with meticulous accuracy and make modifications without creating expensive physical prototypes.

Freight Farms also uses SOLIDWORKS on a daily basis to quickly grasp the reality of a space. Using SOLIDWORKS mates they quickly identify interference points, and they block out the size of a head of lettuce or other plant to determine how the space must change to accommodate each week of the growth cycle.

According to Freight Farms Designer Derek Baker, SOLIDWORKS’ sheet metal feature is a game changer because it helps him understand the constraints the fabricators encounter when building a part: “When I have that understanding, I’m able to bring that part to conclusion just so much quicker.”

The Internet of Things and Farming

Internet of Things (IoT) farm management and automation have become a way of life with Freight Farm’s easy-to-use digital platform that lets you manage, analyze, and remotely control your farm from any location.

The platform enables you to know exactly how things are running by viewing the current status of all your growing equipment including real-time views of temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and pH levels. You also receive alerts if your farm’s temperature falls above or below your threshold.

Farmers are now no longer confined to where they can farm—urban, suburban, or rural—Freight Farms makes geography a non-issue. Even the unpredictable ways of Mother Nature are minimized with the Leafy Green Machine.

The potential impact of the Leafy Green Machine excites Baker: “I want to make food accessible to the world, and that’s what I would hope people will think about when they think about me or Freight Farms.”

CAN (ON): Container Farm To Provide Food Hub With Year-Round Fresh Produce

The Growcer, an Ottawa-based start-up enabling local food production with hydroponic container farms, has partnered with Abbey Gardens to make locally and sustainably grown food available year-round for the Haliburton community.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, The Growcer, Abbey Gardens, community members, and project partners, FedDev Ontario and Laidlaw Foundation, came together for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the addition of the hydroponic container farm to the community. The new addition will allow Abbey Gardens to provide fresh produce year-round through its Food Hub initiative.

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The team (from left to right: Jamie Laidlaw (Laidlaw Foundation), Patti Tallman (The Haliburton County Development Corporation), Heather Reid, (Abbey Gardens), Alida Burke, Corey Ellis (The Growcer), John Patterson (Abbey Gardens)) in front of the Growcer system at the ribbon-cutting ceremony in Abbey Gardens, in Haliburton, Ont. Photo credit: Morgan Hector.

Abbey Gardens is a local farm and social enterprise in Haliburton, Ont. that focuses its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and foster sustainable initiatives. It runs a Food Hub that sells fresh food from its two-acre market garden as well as goods from local businesses. However, what can be grown on its two-acre farm outside is limited by the climate and length of the growing season in Haliburton, which is shorter than its counterparts in southern Ontario. By adding a Growcer system, Abbey Gardens extends its growing season by months enabling them to supply their community with fresh and sustainable green produce year-round.

With the new system, Abbey Gardens plans on establishing a year-round produce subscription box and partnering with local restaurants to supply produce. The addition of a hydroponic growing system will also add to the educational opportunities available for the community about sustainable growing techniques.

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The Growcer system will allow Abbey Gardens to extend its growing season to be all year-round. Photo credit: Morgan Hector.

Beyond selling food, The Food Hub operates as a social enterprise and profits go directly back into Abbey Gardens to help support educational programs for the local community and facilities. For Abbey Gardens, partnering with The Growcer was aligned with the organization’s interest in supporting local entrepreneurs in Canada.

“We’re super excited to have invested in the Growcer here at our property both as a demonstration for year-round growing and to be able to provide leafy greens to our community", said Heather Reid, Operations Director, Abbey Gardens.

“Growcer is extremely excited to partner with Abbey Gardens in order to bring fresh, local produce to the Haliburton community year-round. We support their strong focus on sustainability and cannot wait to see the ripple effect this will have for food accessibility”, Corey Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO, The Growcer, commented.

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For more information:
The Growcer
www.thegrowcer.ca

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Abbey Gardens
abbeygardens.ca

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Publication date: Tue, 22 Oct 2019

Abu Dhabi Prepares For The Future of Food

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This is a historic year for Agriculture Technology (AgTech) in the UAE. This March the Abu Dhabi government approved an AED 1 billion package to support the AgTech sector. The package is part of Ghadan 21 (Tomorrow 21), which is a three-year AED 50 billion program designed to accelerate the capital’s economic growth and reduce dependency on oil revenues. It is led by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which was created in 2018 with the mandate to increase foreign direct investment. In this article, we are going to take a deep dive into the initiative.

What is it?

The stimulus consists of cash and non-cash benefits, which include rebates of up to 75% of R&D costs subject to eligibility and commercialization criteria.

Who is eligible?

Local and international companies are eligible. The program is focused on three specific sectors in the AgTech industry that have been identified for their strategic significance: precision farming and agriculture robotics, indoor farming, and bioenergy (algae).

But why?

The government has taken this major decision primarily for three reasons.

Firstly, the government seeks to establish Abu Dhabi as a global center for innovation in agriculture, especially in desert environments. This is achievable because the AgTech industry is in its early stages globally. As such, there is an opportunity to become global leaders if we become knowledge exporters. R&D is underfunded globally, which is why the initiative targets R&D and seeks to attract the best talent from around the world.

Secondly, agriculture is a high-risk industry due to the sheer number of variables that cannot be controlled, which is why governments around the world provide various levels of assurances and support. AgTech promises to decrease these risks in the medium term. However, developing and localizing these solutions to the UAE’s environment adds a degree of complexity. This is why the government’s initiatives are crucial for the success of this industry as a whole.

Finally, the government recognizes the urgency of addressing food security and diversifying the economy. Currently the UAE imports over 90% of its food, and the country’s population is forecast to increase from today’s 9.4 million to 11.5 million by 2025. Demand for food, especially high-quality produce, is set to rise sharply. A booming AgTech industry should meaningfully reduce dependence on imports.

What is expected?

Like any investor, the government seeks the highest return for its investment. The government measures success by analyzing which initiative will have the largest GDP multiplier (i.e. where 1 AED will generate the biggest knock on effect). In addition to reducing dependency on food imports and oil revenues, the package is expected to generate a contribution of AED 1.65 billion to the GDP and create more than 2,900 jobs in Abu Dhabi by 2021.

Are there any other benefits?

In addition to funding R&D, the initiative allows it to be easy to setup in AD with world-class infrastructure etc. and attract global level talent here to make UAE a global center of excellence for this industry.

Additionally, …

Government funding alone does not ensure success. Regulations need to keep pace with technological and commercial innovation. The ADIO acts as a bridge for industry to discuss the regulatory environment. These discussions have played in a key role in recent regulatory changes for the agricultural industry.

The Abu Dhabi government consolidated regulation of the agriculture sector through the establishment of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA). This new organization has taken on the roles of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, the Abu Dhabi Farmers’ Services Centre, and the Food Security Centre – Abu Dhabi. It is responsible for overseeing agriculture, food safety, food security, and biosecurity. The founding of ADAFSA is another step in accelerating the emirate’s efforts to drive scientific research and agricultural development while helping to build partnerships between the public and private sectors, according to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy prime minister and minister of presidential affairs. He told local media:

“Food security continues to be a national and strategic priority that entails concerted actions between the government and private sectors in order to ensure a well-integrated food security strategy that is conducive to unlocking the value in the agriculture and food supply chains, and ensuring all segments of society have access to all food supplies”.

Like any new industry, businesses in the AgTech industry will inevitably discover that some aspects of the existing regulatory framework do not meet their commercial needs. This is natural as regulators cannot predict future industry requirements with 100% accuracy. However, it is encouraging to see that the government is proactive about increasing their understanding and are taking decisive actions. We are more optimistic than before about the AgTech industry’s prospects in the UAE.

For more information, please visit www.investinabudhabi.ae or follow them on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Digant Raj Kapoor
People Manager

Sources

1. Gulf News – 11 March 2019

2. The National – 11 March 2019

3. Arabian Business – 11 March 2019

4. ADIO Website – seen on 26 August 2019

5. Zawya – 15 May 2019

6. AgFunder News – 25 March 2019

7. World Future Energy Summit – 27 March 2019

This Startup Is Building A Massive Indoor Farm In A Rust Belt Steel Town

Fifth Season will begin selling spinach, lettuce, and other leafy greens—all grown inside with the help of robots—early next year.

[Photo: courtesy Fifth Season]

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BY ADELE PETERS

10.22.19

In a vacant lot next to one of the last remaining steel mills in Braddock, Pennsylvania, a town just south of Pittsburgh, a massive new indoor farm is taking shape. The farm, from a startup called Fifth Season, will begin selling spinach, lettuce, and other leafy greens early next year, using a robot-based system that the founders say is cost-competitive with growing and transporting the same crops from a traditional farm.

It’s more affordable, they argue than some others in the vertical farming industry. “We looked at vertical farming and realized that the industrywide struggle to make the economics work was a huge factor, and something that would really prevent the industry from truly taking off,” says Austin Webb, co-founder, and CEO of Fifth Season, which incubated its first farm at Carnegie Mellon University. “The per-unit economics don’t work. Companies are losing money for every pound that they sell. And that obviously needs to change.”

[Photo: courtesy Fifth Season]

Like others in the space, the startup touts the advantages of growing indoors. It’s possible to use only a tiny fraction of the water that’s used to grow greens in fields; most lettuce is currently grown in drought-prone California and Arizona. (In Arizona, farmers will also soon start losing access to water from the Colorado River.) Growing indoors eliminates the need for pesticides. It eliminates food safety hazards like E. coli contamination. And if crops are grown close to end markets—in this case, restaurants and stores in Pittsburgh—it also eliminates the emissions from trucks traveling thousands of miles and the problem of less-than-fresh produce that may be more likely to be thrown out because it’s already starting to wilt. “When we look at the food distribution system, we looked at it and saw an overly complicated broken system, where no one’s connected to their food, and there’s a lot of food waste,” Webb says.

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[Photo: courtesy Fifth Season]

Some past efforts at indoor farming have failed because of high costs, such as FarmedHere, near Chicago, which shut down in 2017 in part because of the cost of labor. “When you look at vertical farms and labor is 40% to 60% of their cost—labor for them is actually more than the all-in delivered cost of Western-grown field produce—it’s just not going to work,” he says. The company’s system, which it has running now at another location and which it’s recreating at the new location, uses around 40 robots. “Together, they’re completely integrated so that our facility is, in a sense, one robotic system.”

Robots plant seeds in trays and deliver trays to grow rooms, where automated systems control everything from the amount of nutrients the plants receive to the schedule of lighting and the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. When a crop is ready, it goes into an automated harvesting system, and then to an automated packaging system, and the trays are sent back to be automatically cleaned and sanitized and then replanted. “We essentially looked at it and said that we should create an automated fulfillment center,” says Webb. “The difference being that instead of pallets of boxes, it should be trays of plants.” Solar panels on the roof and a battery backup system means that the facility can continue operating even if extreme weather takes out the electric grid.

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[Photo: courtesy Fifth Season]

Other companies in the industry are also developing automated systems, including Plenty, a Softbank-funded Silicon Valley startup that now has a suite of state-of-the-art custom robotics. Plenty hasn’t shared the details of the cost of its system. But Fifth Season estimates, as an example, that its own robot used for storing and retrieving plants may cost two to three times less. It also uses space more efficiently than some other companies; because everything is automated and humans don’t need to access rows of produce on scissor-lift equipment, the aisles between plants can shrink, growing more produce in the same amount of space. (The new farm is 60,000 square feet, a little smaller than the 69,000-square-foot farm run by another company called Aerofarms.) During its first full year of operation, it expects to grow half a million pounds of greens and herbs, with prices in line with organically grown produce. At that price point, the payback period of the full system will be less than two years.

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[Photo: courtesy Fifth Season]

In Braddock, where the population has shrunk more than 90% since its high point in the 1920s to around 2,000 people today, the new farm can provide some new jobs, despite the automation. Three shifts a day will employ 20 workers each. “These are manufacturing-like jobs where we’ve got folks that are helping us operate our machinery,” Webb says. “We’ve got folks that are monitoring the health of the equipment. All of that is something where someone can come from a previous job and you’re not necessarily saying you’re going to do something that’s totally completely different, such as sit at a computer and write code.” As the company expands, it will also hire more engineers and plant scientists.

The startup hopes to replicate the new facility, designed as a modular system, throughout the country. “We’re able to take what we’re building in Braddock and take those blueprints and really hit the repeat button quickly,” he says.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adele Peters is a staff writer at Fast Company who focuses on solutions to some of the world's largest problems, from climate change to homelessness. Previously, she worked with GOOD, BioLite, and the Sustainable Products and Solutions program at UC Berkeley, and contributed to the second edition of the bestselling book "Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century."

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Container Farming In The City

Air Date: Week of September 27, 2019

stream/download this segment as an MP3 file

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Corner Stalk Farm grows an acre’s worth of lettuce in a shipping container that only takes up 320 square feet. (Photo: Jay Feinstein)

Modern industrial agriculture is a resource-intensive endeavor, requiring massive amounts of land, water, and energy. Some urban farmers are thinking outside the box by bringing their farms inside the box in the form of shipping containers. Living on Earth's Jay Feinstein and Aynsley O'Neill took a trip to Corner Stalk Farms, in East Boston, Massachusetts to find out more.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Industrial agriculture today is a resource-intensive endeavor, requiring big machines, plenty of land, water, and energy to produce much of the food on a typical American dinner table. And as the public trends more toward plant-based foods, some are thinking outside the box by bringing farms inside the box. By retrofitting old shipping containers with grow lights and hydroponic gear, what would take about an acre of land to grow vegetables such as lettuce can be fit into just 8 by 40 feet. Living on Earth's Jay Feinstein and Aynsley O'Neill took a trip to Corner Stalk Farms in East Boston, Massachusetts to find out more.

GPS: Your destination is on the right.

O’NEILL: The only other time I've been to East Boston was to go to the airport. So I'm a little surprised at how busy it is. And I see these shipping containers. I mean, right in the middle of these houses and behind the auto body shop...but, here we are!

FEINSTEIN: You know, the funny thing is a farm like this would not have even been legal until 2013, when Boston revamped its zoning code.

O'NEILL: I didn't even know that someone would make a farm illegal.

FEINSTEIN: Yeah, I know, right?

O'NEILL: Do you think that's the guy upfront?

FEINSTEIN: Yeah, I think so.

O'NEILL: He's a little less sunburned than most farmers.

COONEY: My name is Shawn Cooney. And I'm the partner and owner of Corner Stalk farm in East Boston, Massachusetts, and we started in 2014. So this is it. So we...there's not too much to it. I mean, it's basically you've seen the whole of the farm by walking the 120 feet or so.

FEINSTEIN: That's amazing.

COONEY: And we've got four units that are you know, basically growing lettuce year-round. And, you know, that's it. Do you wanna go inside?

O'NEILL: Yeah!

FEINSTEIN: We'd love to.

COONEY: Cool.

O’NEILL: Well, it's definitely a few degrees cooler in here.

FEINSTEIN: And these lights are blinding. I mean, these red and blue lights, LEDs, it’s something like out of a sci-fi movie.

O'NEILL: Are those the plants in those columns all up and down?

COONEY: Right. You really need just an industrial area, you need a, you know, a place where you can basically bring as many plants as possible into as little amount of square footage as possible. So we kind of look at it as cubic feet. In a real farm, you're talking about square footage and acreage. Here, it's really cubic feet. We've got so many feet on the floor, but we plant plants up to ten high.

FEINSTEIN: So, show us around.

COONEY: Okay, so basically, you walk in and we're in a complete self-contained farm. We've got a climate control system, and a lot of fans keep the air moving so that everything's happy. And the plants get a little bit of stress. If you just leave them without any movement, the plants actually get weak.

O'NEILL: Wait, so they need exercise? They're lifting weights, they're jumping jacks, they're?

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The shipping container uses a combination of red and blue LED grow lights and hanging hydroponics to grow their plants. (Photo: Jay Feinstein)

COONEY: Uh, pretty much yeah, it's stressing the plants is what it's really called in the industry, but they do need to be moved around for them to have a good texture to them, so that the cell walls are thick enough, so that it's not just eating a piece of water.

O'NEILL: And you can maintain it all using a box on the side of the container.

COONEY: Yeah, there's a tiny little antique style computer that's, that's very industrial. And you can log into it from the outside world. If you want to fiddle around with settings, or just check on everything, you can do that from home, you can do it from from vacation, you can do it, whatever.

FEINSTEIN: So how did you get into this?

COONEY: I started three software companies and sold them. And I started doing business plans, looking for the next thing, and one was the ag tech farming. This kept coming up is something that was interesting. Dug a little further, did a little more business planning, and it won. My wife and I self funded it, and we have loans and the loans are from the US Department of Agriculture, like a regular farmer would get his loans.

FEINSTEIN: So what are you growing in here?

COONEY: Well, mainly we grow lettuce. That's our business. And we've grown tomatoes, we've grown lots of flowers, we've grown all kinds of herbs, and God knows what else. But it turns out that as a business, you have to sell what people buy every day. And what people buy every day is our greens, even our restaurants, that's what they want.

O’NEILL: Well, so you sell to individuals and you sell to restaurants.

COONEY: We sell, we sell to both, we sell probably 50/50. We sell to a bunch of nice restaurants in the Boston, downtown Boston area. We deliver to them. And we sell to regular consumers.

FEINSTEIN: But still most of your customers, are they still in Boston? Because that's hyper local, when you think about it. You growing in Boston, you're selling in Boston?

COONEY: Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, they're all in the metro Boston area. A lot of Cambridge customers. But it is, you know, it is basically a hyper local thing. The reason we keep the customers is it's a better product than what you can by at, you know, pretty much anywhere. Basically what it comes down to is it looks better. It tastes better, and it's got more nutrients, and it feels better. It's got better texture. So that's kind of what people are buying.

FEINSTEIN: Tell us more about hyper local, it's sort of a buzzword nowadays. People say it's better for your health; it's better for the environment. Is that true?

COONEY: Pretty much, yeah, it's true. And it's got a downside. The downside is it's probably a little more expensive also. But it is - any vegetable, once you harvest it, loses some somewhere around 7% of its nutrient value every day from the day they're harvested, up to a point. And they lose a lot of their texture, and their attractive qualities. What we sell is still alive, we sell the lettuces with the roots on them. You get a much better life cycle lot of them that way. So they're, they're basically not losing any nutrients. And they maintain their freshness. If you ever had the experience of buying a nice box of brand name, cut lettuce in a plastic bin, that looks great, and you get home and then two days later, it smells funny and you've got black sludge on the bottom. That won't happen with what we're selling.

O'NEILL: I was wondering because there are times when I have bought, like you said, cut lettuce from the grocery store. And it's a race against the clock.

COONEY
I mean, that's one of our biggest customer satisfaction points, and our selling points was that you get to use it all. It's not like you're buying a $10 package of lettuce and using $3 worth. You know, with us you buy a $10 package of lettuce and you get to eat $10 worth of lettuce. But you can go on vacation, you can go on a business trip, and you can come back and still have something in there that's perfectly palatable.

FEINSTEIN: What type of environmental cost are you saving?

COONEY: Regular farming is a "grow as much as you possibly can and sell it when it's ready, as fast as you can". We’re an on-demand business, because we don't grow extra. We’re growing pretty much what we're selling, give or take a little bit. You know, and one of the things we definitely don't do is waste any water. No matter how good you are at growing outside, you could never grow with the kind of water use we have. We use, say 1000 plants we can grow in one unit, we probably use 25 gallons of water a week. So you couldn't water your patio plants for a week with 25 gallons and keep them alive.

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Shawn Cooney and his wife Connie (not pictured) own Corner Stalk Farm, in East Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo: Jay Feinstein)

O’NEILL: So what was the inspiration behind deciding to build a farm inside? And I don't mean in a greenhouse. And I don't mean in a window box or anything like that? What was the shipping container idea?

COONEY: Part of it is, it's a durable, clean environment that can put up with the stresses that farming puts on a space. And basically there's all kinds of stuff that goes on in here that would basically bring down a building. You know, it would ruin the walls, you couldn't clean it. If something ever happened in here, we had some kind of a mold infestation or something. You could shut everything off. And you can sanitize this place just like you would the clean room in a restaurant or a food processing center.

FEINSTEIN: To what extent do you use chemicals in here?

COONEY
We do use them once in a great while. We can't be organic because we don't grow in dirt, it’s a water based environment, but we adhere to the organic principles. Generally, the way we control any kind of a pest in here is kind of preemptive. We basically use ladybugs. We ship them in once a month or so, and sprinkle them around, and they pretty much do the policing of any kind of bugs in here. And when we have had to use something it's called chrysanthemum oil.

O’NEILL: May I ask? May I try some of the lettuce?

COONEY: Sure. Okay, well we harvested some

FEINSTEIN: What is it?

COONEY: This is the Salanova Red Butter. There's not many people who actually have favorites, but if they do, this is the one that they want. So go ahead, have a taste.

O'NEILL: Sure looks like normal lettuce...

[SFX CHEWING]

O’NEILL: I don't mean to sound incredulous, but I'm a little incredulous. Might I have another one?

COONEY: Sure.

O'NEILL: Alright.

COONEY: Finish them all.

FEINSTEIN: It's very green.

O'NEILL: It's very green.

FEINSTEIN: I’m gonna try this too.

[SFX CHEWING]

FEINSTEIN: Wow, you can taste like it was grown right here. It was.

O'NEILL: It's definitely fresh. I mean, you literally just clipped it right in front of us. But it's... that's... I've never had lettuce like this. This I would eat. on its own, I don't even feel like I need to be you know, putting salad dressing on it. Or, oh, I need a crouton or something.

FEINSTEIN: And this is a weird thing to say too. But it kind of feels alive.

COONEY: You guys want to try something a little, little further on the edge? This is called wasabi arugula. And I grow it for a couple of restaurants. And they use it instead of wasabi on their crudo and their raw fish and their raw meats. So here, take a leaf of that and be prepared.

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Jay Feinstein (left) and Aynsley O’Neill (right) prepare their notes and audio equipment outside Corner Stalk Farms. (Photo: Steve Curwood)

FEINSTEIN: All right, I'm prepared. I don't know what to expect here.

[SFX CHEWING]

FEINSTEIN: It does taste like wasabi. But it it's a little milder, but I love it actually.

O'NEILL: I myself am a little terrified. I have an all time low tolerance for wasabi.

[SFX CHEWING]

O’NEILL: Well, it is a bit much for me, but it is really good. And I'm a little astonished that it's not coming in those tiny little balls of green mush.

COONEY: It's actually a real arugula, and it just happens to have that flavor profile. It's not related to wasabi at all. It's the same as the arugula you buy in the plastic package, family wise.

O'NEILL: Well, I know that some people will call arugula "rocket". And that was certainly, you know, a blast off of flavor.

COONEY: Yeah, this is much closer to the rocket family part of arugula than the general arugula you buy in the store.

O'NEILL: So what do we owe you now? 10 bucks for the lettuce, and how much for the arugula?

COONEY:10 bucks for the lettuce, and the arugula is free.

O'NEILL: Well, I think we're all ready to head out. Thank you again for showing us around.

COONEY: Oh, you're welcome.

FEINSTEIN: Thank you so much.

COONEY: Thanks for coming. I appreciate everyone's time.

CURWOOD: That’s Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill and Jay Feinstein with farmer Shawn Cooney at the shipping container called Corner Stalk Farms. And by the way, we ran some numbers, and found that the shipping container farm is using 99 percent less water than a traditional farm would use to grow the same amount of produce. The farm is also saving on the order of 5 metric tons of carbon dioxide in shipping for each crop, which is roughly what would be emitted to truck the same amount of lettuce from California to Boston. Around 300 of these types of shipping container farms have been sold as of now. This story is part of our series, Cool Fix for a Hot Planet. For pictures and more visit our website, LOE.org.

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Links
Corner Stalk FarmFreight Farms, the creators of the shipping container farms used by Corner Stalk

How Urban Farming With Hydroponics Can Help Feed The World While Saving Water

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By Michael Stahl

October 8, 2019

weather.com

A New York City rooftop is an unlikely place for a farm. But stretching across much of a 20,000-square-foot rooftop in Gowanus, Brooklyn is a bounty of bright green butterhead lettuce, aromatic basil, various tomatoes, and other produce.

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Inside a Gotham Greens greenhouse | (Julie McMahon/Gotham Greens)

Unlike a traditional farm, the sprouting plants here grow without soil. They flourish atop vast racks with water trenches running through them that are slightly angled so that gravity helps the irrigation water shuttle around the closed system, instead of using energy-sucking pumps to move water around. Nutrients that the plants need are dissolved into the water, which comes from the local municipality’s supply. Any water runoff is purified, nutrient re-enriched, and released back into the channels.

The crops here grow year-round and under relatively little stress, because conditions in the greenhouse, including the amount of sunlight and the temperature, are monitored closely by sensors. Water evaporation is also minimal.

This futuristic food production space is one of five greenhouses in New York and Chicago operated by Gotham Greens. Founded in Brooklyn, Gotham Greens grows fruits and vegetables in urban greenhouses that are outfitted with hydroponics technology and other cutting-edge features, such as a closed irrigation system that minimizes water requirements.

“[This system] allows us to use about 95% less water than conventional field farming,” says Gotham Greens co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri. “We use less than a gallon of water for every head of lettuce we produce.”

On a traditional farm, it takes more than 15 times that amount of water to grow a head of lettuce. With Americans consuming about 930 million pounds of lettuce each year, according to the Produce Market Guide, if such hydroponics systems were adopted just across the lettuce industry, they could save billions of gallons of water each year in the United States alone.

Agricultural innovations like these, along with industry expansion, could also help ease the concerns that, due to population growth, the human race will become unable to adequately feed itself. By the year 2050, the planet’s population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion people, boosting food demands by approximately 60%. A 2018 study found that, if effectively deployed in cities around the world, urban agriculture could produce as much as 180 million metric tons of food a year, including up to 10% of the planet’s legumes, roots and tubers, and vegetable crops. The study showed such widespread urban agriculture integration would have a range of benefits, including reduced energy use and drastic cuts to water consumption.

A hydroponic red oak leaf lettuce | (Getty Images/sutiporn somnam)

In order for the world’s food producers to keep up with a growing population’s food demands, they’ll have to increase agricultural development one way or another. If the status quo is maintained, the required boost in agriculture production could generate a 15% uptick in freshwater use. But the earth’s supply of fresh water — about 70% of which is already utilized by global agriculture — is under threat, due in part to global warming. Higher temperatures create a host of problems for the world’s water system, including faster evaporation, the disappearance of inland glaciers that feed freshwater supplies, and more extreme weather events that contribute to greater freshwater runoff.

Advancements in hydroponic technology, however, have led to the development of recirculating hydroponic systems, which minimize water use by recycling unused irrigation water. Gotham Greens has such a system in its greenhouses.

“As water just continues to become a more scarce resource around the world,” Puri says, “we believe this form of agriculture is going to play a greater role in modern agricultural systems.”

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Viraj Puri, CEO of Gotham Greens | (Julie McMahon/Gotham Greens)

Gotham Greens did not invent its closed irrigation system, but its approach is particularly efficient, Puri says. To help educate the public about innovative farming techniques, Puri’s company offers tours of its greenhouses and has invested in urban agriculture education initiatives. Puri has also participated in panel discussions to educate the public about the positive impact that urban farming can have on the world, despite the increased competition his disclosures could bring to his business.

He says he’d welcome “a more system-wide, cohesive effort to support this form of farming.” Puri has been encouraged by the U.S. government’s examination of new, sustainable farming practices as well, which could lead to greater implementation of them.

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Seedlings at a hydroponics farm | (Getty Images/Eternity in an Instant)

Urban agriculture also allows for consumers in cities to get fresher products because they don’t have to travel thousands of miles. Currently, almost all lettuce eaten in the U.S. is grown in two water-starved states: California and Arizona. Urban agricultural companies provide lettuce to communities without the environmental impact that comes with shipping lettuce thousands of miles via fossil fuel-burning, refrigerated trucks. Plus, more farming with hydroponics translates to less land that will be needed for agriculture, which could, in turn, mean the reestablishment of previously lost natural habitats.

Urban agriculture does have its drawbacks. Growing food in cities, which are comparatively more highly polluted environments than rural areas, leads to leads to food contamination concerns.. And while urban farms increase property values, they raise economic concerns about the displacement of people who lived in such areas before the high-tech food producers came along. Critics also say that the products from such farms are more expensive, raising questions of access to those with limited financial resources.

And while energy use varies widely from site to site, the artificial lights and other climate control measures often used by urban farms may at times consume far more energy than traditional farms. Another limitation of urban agriculture is embedded into its very essence: the fact that the farms are built in cities, which have a dearth of available space to begin with. One study found that if every vacant lot in New York City were suddenly dedicated to farming, those farms would yield enough produce for just 160,000 people — and there are over 8 million people living in New York City.

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People in Time Square | (Getty Images/Alexander Spatari)

“Urban agriculture is really exciting for a lot of reasons, but when you look at a city like New York, we’re never going to be able to grow all of our food needs within the city limits,” says Ricky Stephens, director of digital strategy at Agritecture, a consulting firm focused on urban agriculture project development.

Still, Stephens says urban agriculture should be part of a more localized food system, as its benefits go beyond environmental conservation to an awareness about the value of food and community.

“I think the beauty of urban agriculture is that it really brings that understanding of a local food economy directly to the consumer,” he says. “You’re actually seeing it and you’re maybe interacting with the farmers, maybe you know the farmers.”

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(Getty Images/julief514)

The ability of Gotham Greens to use up to 95% less water than traditional farms do in producing some of its food ranks the company on the highest end of the spectrum of water conservation across the urban agriculture industry, Stephens says. Gotham Greens, he says, is “one of the most successful urban farming models that exist[s].”

One hope of developers like Stephens is that urban agriculture will catch on in cities around the world, and Gotham Greens is an impressive example of how to do it.

That expansion is already underway.

By the end of 2019, after opening new farms in five states, Gotham Greens itself will manage over 500,000 square feet of greenhouses. And food production businesses that have adopted hydroponics and other new technologies like that of Gotham Greens have been popping up around the world. Some new companies are even growing farms in shipping containers, demonstrating that fresh food production can truly happen just about anywhere these days.

Pure Flavor® To Launch RedRoyals™ At PMA Fresh Summit

Leamington, ON (October 10th, 2019) While increasing its acreage of traditional greenhouse commodities of Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, and Eggplants season after season, Pure Flavor® continues to focus its strategic growth efforts on bringing new specialty items to market to meet retail, foodservice, and consumer demand. After years of research & development, the company will be unveiling its new RedRoyals™ Cherry Tomatoes on the Vine at the PMA Fresh Summit in Anaheim, CA October 18-19.

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“We are excited to be bringing a new variety to market that we believe will be a game-changer”, said Jamie Moracci, President. After researching consumer trends, trialing dozens of varieties and conducting community sensory testing, the team selected a fantastic variety with a unique burst of sweet and unmistakable flavor.

RedRoyals™ Cherry on the Vine are flavor-rich with a vibrant sweet crunch, these royal wonders are the perfect accent to any eating occasion. Hand-picked with the utmost care, their majestic sweet flavor is nurtured on the vine by our family of growers who carefully select the perfect tomatoes for your delight. As the king of the tomato crop, RedRoyals™ deserves a crown.

Read more about RedRoyals™: https://www.pure-flavor.com/redroyals/

Watch the RedRoyals™ Promotional Video: https://youtu.be/OubFFSCOKi4

Pure Flavor® has been busy developing additional products to strengthen the brand’s product offering in the marketplace this year. The company has been working with their growers, seed companies, and retail partners to bring new items to market. The following items will be on display at Fresh Summit:

“It’s been a great year for launching new products & brands, we look forward to showcasing them all at Fresh Summit in Anaheim at Booth 4451 and in the New Product Showcases”, said Chris Veillon, Chief Marketing Officer.

To learn more about Pure Flavor® and what the company is promoting at the upcoming PMA Fresh Summit Trade Show (Booth 4451), please visit Pure-Flavor.com/PMA2019 

-30- 

About Pure Flavor® -

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 Pure Flavor® is a family of greenhouse vegetable growers who share a commitment to bringing A Life of Pure Flavor™ to communities everywhere. Our passion for sustainable greenhouse growing, strong support for our retail & foodservice customers, and focus on engaging consumers is built on a foundation drawn from generations of growing expertise.

We are the next generation of vegetable growers, inspired to put quality, flavor, and customers first by providing greenhouse-grown vegetables from our farms that are strategically located throughout North America.

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SOURCE:      Chris Veillon | chris@pure-flavor.com

            Chief Marketing Officer | Pure Flavor®

            T: 519 326 8444 | Twitter: @PureFlavor

WEBSITE:      https://www.pure-flavor.com/redroyals/

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VIDEO:           https://youtu.be/OubFFSCOKi4

Photo Credit: Pure Flavor® © 2019

Farmshelf CEO Counts On Manufacturing Scale To Become Big Hydroponic Feeder

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By Dale Buss

October 2, 2019

These days, Farmshelf basically is only helping grow basil in the back rooms of some of America’s best restaurants. But Founder and CEO Andrew Shearer is pursuing a vision of using manufacturing scale to bring down the cost of his hydroponic horticultural systems to transform his Brooklyn-based startup into a primary engine of the global food system.

And already Farmshelf has experienced the backing of another manufacturer based an ocean away and in an entirely different industry: Mini, the BMW-owned car brand, took Farmshelf under its wings as part of its Urban-X startup-incubator program and then invested in the company, along with angel investors including a handful of Fortune 500 CEOs and celebrity chefs.

Farmshelf sells internet-connected hydroponic systems that come complete with everything needed to grow herbs and vegetables indoors. For $8,250 apiece, customers can purchase Farmshelf’s bookshelf-sized units – there are more than 75 in the market already – and grow food in a “cost-effective, sustainable and easy way,” as Shearer tells Chief Executive.

The systems come with plant pods, nutrients, and the Farmshelf operating system. “You get the pods in the mail and put them into the system, plug it into the wall and add water once a week,” Shearer explains.

So far, restaurateurs and other low-volume customers mainly are growing herbs and leafy greens on Farmshelf. “Herbs is the largest focus because it is the most valuable crop, and it drives a bigger impact on dishes from a flavor and freshness perspective,” Shearer says.

But Shearer’s ambitions are carrying him far beyond. Actually, Farmshelf’s system already can grow about 50 crops, also including strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, radishes and “microgreens,” he says. “We can also grow potatoes and carrots and other things, but we’re focusing on highly nutritious foods that don’t transport well. That makes the most sense. It’s not a zero-sum game; we need to feed a growing population.”

And in that regard, he’s thinking much bigger for Farmshelf as a future food-supply solution. So far, for instance, Farmshelf has been a business-to-business proposition, but Shearer wants “to enable consumers to grow their own food where they are.”

“Today, we’re shipping food 1,500 miles to get to the end-user,” He says. “And urban agriculture struggles with logistics problems. In megacities, the last mile is the biggest problem, with highly perishable goods that don’t transport well. So our solution is internet-connected hydroponic farms that provide plants exactly what they need when they need it.”

Prototyped systems will boost Farmshelf yields by at least half, Shearer predicts, while scaling manufacturing will bring the cost of the system down drastically. “That’s how we can create a solution that will work in Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles, New York or Antarctica,” he says. “It’s not just urban agriculture but distributed agriculture.”

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Dale Buss

Dale Buss is a long-time contributor to Chief Executive, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and other business publications. He lives in Michigan.

Scottish Start-Up Looking To Build Dozens of Vertical Farms Across UK

A Scots start-up plans to build dozens of indoor vertical farms across the UK. Edinburgh-based Shockingly Fresh is currently developing five sites countrywide to introduce low cost naturally-lit vertical farms using special hydroponic towers to grow multiple crop cycles of leafy veg such as salads and herbs.

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They believe the increased yields from their farms will help British growers boost crop production and reduce the UK’s reliance on costly off-season imports from the EU. Plus the enclosed environment will mean less pesticides and cleaner crops, they say.  

They’ve already secured rights to one site in Scotland and four in England – covering a total of 50 hectares – with their site in Worcestershire awaiting full planning consent.

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Now they’ve launched an investor seed round to kick start their expansion to more than 40 sites countrywide over the next five years.

Shockingly Fresh has teamed up with technology providers Saturn Bioponics and specialist salad growers ValeFresco to roll out their plans.

Pak choi, lettuce, herbs
Over the last three years, ValeFresco and Birmingham-based Saturn have grown vertical crops of pak choi, lettuce, and herbs for a range of customers – with positive results.

“With pak choi we saw a three to four-fold increase in yields per crop cycle, with a third more cycle per year, giving an overall five-fold increase in annual yield,” says Saturn Bioponics founder and CEO Alex Fisher.

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“The crops are cleaner, the season is longer, there is less disease and pest risk and they are easy to harvest.

“Consumers are well-accustomed to strawberries grown under cover and this is a natural next step,” Fisher adds.

Natural light
Unlike the majority of vertical farms, which use fully enclosed systems with heating and artificial light, Shockingly Fresh is promoting Saturn’s lower input, naturally lit approach which they say achieves most of the results at a fraction of the cost.

“We selected Saturn’s technology because their set-up requires far less up-front capital than a fully-enclosed vertical farm, yet delivers most of the benefits which are already driving the high demand for hydroponically-produced crops” says Garth Bryans, COO at Shockingly Fresh.

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“This makes it much easier to get projects off the ground.

“A fully enclosed farm can achieve a higher annual yield, but when you add in additional lighting and heating costs as well as the high capex, their typical costs per kg are higher than a naturally lit set up can achieve,” Bryans continues.

“We have identified a significant market – particularly around the early and late season ‘shoulder months’ – which is currently filled by imported crops from Europe. We believe our sites will enable British growers to compete on a level field,” Bryans says.

50 hectares across four sites
Shockingly Fresh has already submitted a planning application for a 1.2ha site at Offenham in Worcestershire and has land agreed under heads of terms for a further 50 hectares across four sites countrywide.

They are now actively seeking more sites in the UK – to be funded by new investors – and are also advancing with a major project in Oman.

“Our funding round will enable us to secure and develop more than 40 sites in the UK – and we are keen to speak to brownfield site owners as well as traditional agricultural land holders,” Bryans says.

“The hydroponics market is set for significant expansion in the years ahead, so there is plenty of room for a number of players to grow.

“With our system we can significantly extend the shoulder months and offset the need for early and late season imports – plus we can bring in heating to extend the season further if the market is there,” Bryans concludes.

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For more information:
Shockingly Fresh
www.shockinglyfresh.com

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Saturn Bioponics
www.saturnbioponics.com 

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Publication date: Tue, 08 Oct 2019

Revolution Farms Hires Head Grower

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Tammam Serage to Lead Hydroponic Growing at Grand Rapids’ Sustainable Lettuce Farm

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., October 9, 2019 – Revolution Farms, a leading indoor hydroponics farm in Caledonia, announced today that Tammam (Tam) Serage has taken over as head grower at the farm. Serage came to Revolution Farms from Shenandoah Growers in Harrisonburg, Va., where he most recently served as the farm’s corporate grower. Tam has more than 25 years of practical experience in the efficient and sustainable production of organic herbs, microgreens and decorative plants.

“As we continue to scale the farm, Tam’s experience and knowledge will ensure we can grow the very best salad greens possible, while simultaneously improving our sustainability initiatives,” said John Green, CEO of Revolution Farms. “His extensive hydroponics expertise will help us continue to make our product better and more nutritious, ensuring it’s the best salad option for Michigan and Midwest consumers.”

Serage previously worked as head grower at farms in Maryland and Delaware, as well as serving in multiple growing roles at farms in Alabama and Saudi Arabia. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Horticulture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, as well as an Associate of Science from Virginia Western Community College. 

Revolution Farms’ 85,000 sq.ft. indoor farm, located on 76th St in Caledonia, has the capacity to produce more than 500,000 pounds of fresh lettuce and salad greens for Michigan and the Midwest region every year. Its leafy greens go from farm to store in as few as 1-2 days, less than half the time it takes for lettuce grown and shipped from California, Arizona and Mexico to make it to Michigan store shelves.

“Revolution Farms has the momentum and the people behind it to innovate hydroponic farming, and expand growing operations on a large scale for Michigan and beyond,” said Serage. “My passion is identifying and incorporating new technologies and sustainable growing techniques that will produce healthier greens at greater yields. I am thrilled to join John and the Revolution Farms team to be part of this fast-growing farm.”

Revolution Farms is built on a mission to disrupt the fresh produce industry by growing and harvesting hyper-local salad greens for consumers year-round, using advanced indoor farming methods and technologies. Its lettuce is currently available at more than 100 SpartanNash stores across Michigan – including Forest Hills Foods, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s and Family Fare stores, as well as through Doorganics for direct consumer delivery and VanEerden for use in restaurants and foodservice.

About Revolution Farms

Revolution Farms is leading the hydroponics revolution in Michigan with one of the largest and most advanced indoor hydroponic farms in the United States. Located in Caledonia, Mich., its 85,000 sq.ft. greenhouse produces fresh, local lettuce and salad greens for consumers across the Midwest. Revolution Farms was founded to leverage the social, economic, and environmental benefits of hydroponics in a state-of-the-art facility. More info at www.revolutionfarms.com.  

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