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Babylon Micro-Farms Closes $2.3m Seed Round
Babylon Micro-Farms has raised a $2.3 million seed round led by Virginia-based early-stage investment group CIT GAP Funds and startup incubation group Plug and Play Ventures. The round also includes a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. This brings the company’s total capital to $3 million
January 8, 2020
Babylon Micro-Farms has raised a $2.3 million seed round led by Virginia-based early-stage investment group CIT GAP Funds and startup incubation group Plug and Play Ventures. The round also includes a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. This brings the company’s total capital to $3 million.
Combining cloud-based technology and what it describes as “remotely-managed growing services,” the Charlottesville-based startup describes its technology as a plug-and-play hydroponics system for indoor ag. The hardware piece of its product is a 32” x 66” x 96” tall machine, according to Forbes. The company claims that its 15 square-foot micro-farms can produce as much produce as a 2,000 square-foot of outdoor farmland.
The software piece of the platform offers fine-tuned nutrient and irrigation systems that can be customized to almost any plant and LED lights take the place of sunlight. It currently offers 227 seed varieties.
With the software at the helm, the “smart farms” automatically dispense the appropriate amounts of water, nutrients, and light for each crop while also collecting data on growth that allows the system to make needed adjustments. These functions are performed remotely, cutting down on Babylon’s labor costs.
Babylon leases the machines on two-year contracts with fixed monthly fees. It handles the installation and provides growing supplies.
Because it’s designed for any experience level, Babylon markets the platform to foodservice operators at retirement communities, schools, and hospitality businesses so that they can grow their own produce on-site. Co-founder Alexander Olesen said in a statement announcing the funding that he expects to see thousands of Micro-Farm installations throughout North America in the next five years and more products with a similar function built around Babylon’s core technology.
So far, the company has been focused on product development and working with a shortlist of customers to vet its product including UVA, Dominion Energy, and local restaurants, schools, and country clubs, reports Forbes. Olesen and his co-founder Grant Smith expect to see sales outside Virginia early next year with plans to go nationwide soon after.
Controlled environment agriculture is having a renewed bout of interest, according to several metrics. Young, male farmers are flocking to the industry, according to a 2019 report from Agritecture Consulting and Autogrow, which also showed that the industry is diversifying beyond just leafy greens and herbs. AFN’s top 10 most-read stories in 2019 included three stories on the topic of indoor growing systems and celebrity chef Tom Colicchio told us why he’s betting on indoor ag and adding its produce to his menus.
Some question where the industry is heading amid challenges around the cost of production and finding precious real estate in well-established densely populated urban areas. But so far, indoor ag companies seem to be diversifying their business models in creative ways to find their specific path forward. Similar to Babylon’s reliance on an easy-to-use system, Freight Farms is offering ready-to-grow container farms while Bowery and BrightFarms are selling packaged salads to local retailers.
UK Agri-Tech Firm Raises £2.3m To Advance Vertical Farms
UK agri-tech company LettUs Grow has raised £2.3 million in seed funding as demand for vertical farming technology continues to rise
9 January 2020 | by FarmingUK
LettUs Grow has designed a patent-pending indoor farm system for greenhouse and vertical farms to address global food concerns
Team | Arable, News, Renewables and Environment
UK agri-tech company LettUs Grow has raised £2.3 million in seed funding as demand for vertical farming technology continues to rise.
The Bristol-based firm raised the significant amount in an investment round led by Longwall Venture Partners LLP.It comes as the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report states that climate change is threatening global food security with severe potential risks for traditional methods of food production.
The report makes it clear that the level of risk will depend on how production, technological development, and land management evolve.
LettUs Grow was founded to mitigate these risks posed to agriculture and to lessen the environmental impacts of growing fresh produce.
The firm has designed a patent-pending indoor farming system for greenhouse and vertical farms to address global food security and sustainability concerns.
These indoor farms need no fertile land to operate, use zero pesticides and provide a 'consistent, predictable and climate-resilient food supply all year round'.
The company's offering is centered around two core products: a novel aeroponic system and an integrated farm management software called Ostara.
Growth rate increases of over 70% across a range of crops has been seen using this system, compared to current vertical farming methods such as hydroponics.
Ostara automates and controls the whole indoor farm, whilst collecting data on plants, overseeing inputs to crop growth and allowing farmers to trace crops from seed to sale, making operations more efficient.
LettUsGrow built one of the world’s most advanced indoor aeroponic growing facilities in 2019.
The investment will now allow the company to build their second aeroponic research centre, scale existing technology and accelerate new product lines to market.
Charlie Guy, co-founder of LettUs Grow:
“This investment gives us a platform to really accelerate in 2020 and scale-up the delivery of our game-changing technology to farmers across the country.
“We’re seeing rising demand from around the world for new technologies to help farmers grow crops in ways that mitigate against the effects of climate change and ever-increasing extreme weather events.”
The seed fund round also included follow-on investment from the University of Bristol Enterprise Fund, Bethnal Green Ventures and ClearlySo, with legal representation from VWV LLP.
Hydroponic Greenhouse Project To Bring Locals Food And Jobs
A new greenhouse facility will come to Torrington, CT - in addition to providing fresh, local, pesticide-free produce to residents of New England, it will also offer something else: economic opportunities to disadvantaged citizens
From left to right: Bill Rybczyk, Director of Research, Development, and Planning at New Opportunities; Joe Swartz, AmHydro; Jon Jensen, of The Corporate Advisory, Co, LLC.
A new greenhouse facility will come to Torrington, CT - in addition to providing fresh, local, pesticide-free produce to residents of New England, it will also offer something else: economic opportunities to disadvantaged citizens.
New Opportunities is a community action agency that serves Waterbury, Meriden, Torrington and 27 surrounding Connecticut towns, offering a variety of social service programs designed to eliminate poverty and assist people in need. In accordance with the mission of New Opportunities, the Agency aims to increase the self-sufficiency of its customers and support their move out of poverty toward a more middle-class lifestyle. As part of their Food 4 Thought initiative, New Opportunities is planning to build three hydroponic greenhouses in Torrington.
Years in the making
The decision to build the greenhouses didn't happen overnight. New Opportunities has been working on the development of a Controlled Environment Agriculture production facility for over three years. A business team working with the New Opportunities Foundation spent over a year evaluating controlled environment agriculture technologies and providers. After an extensive search and several interview meetings, New Opportunities chose AmHydro as the best and most experienced team to fit their needs, Joe Swartz, Vice President with AmHydro, tells us.
Food and jobs for locals
The goal of this initial project is to not only generate revenue for the foundation but also provide local residents and regional grocery chains such as Whole Foods, Stop and Shop and Big Y pesticide-free lettuce and leafy greens, living wage “green jobs” to local residents and sound economic opportunities for disadvantaged residents in the program. To achieve this goal, AmHydro has also partnered with Atlas Greenhouse, ATOM Controls, and Borghesi Builders to complete this project.
For more information:
AmHydro
1 (800) 458-6543
info@amhydro.com
amhydro.com
Evergreen Farm Oy Is Invited To G20 Ministers Meeting In Collaboration of The Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (FAO) iIn Saudi Arabia
Feeding The World
January 5th, 2020
Evergreen Farm Oy has received an invitation to G20 Ministers Meeting To showcase its Grow360 and Grain365 systems. Evergreen Farm Oy will also promote the “World First Sustainable Circular Community Ecosystems Template” located in Hiedanranta Tampere Finland which Evergreen Farm Oy is one of the main partners among City of Tampere.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia assumes the G20 Presidency, leading up to the Ministers Meeting in Riyadh on 15-18 March 2020.
The Kingdom will guide the work of the G20 under the theme of "Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All" and will focus on three aims:
Empowering People, by creating the conditions in which all people—especially women and young people—can live, work and thrive.
Safeguarding the Planet, by fostering collective efforts on food and water security, climate, energy, and environment.
Shaping New Frontiers, by adopting long-term, bold strategies to share the benefits of innovation and technological advancement.
International organizations have historically contributed significantly to the G20 agenda. Invited international organizations for 2020 include the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Financial Stability Board (FSB),
the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), the World Bank Group (WBG), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Evergreen Farm Oy’s mission is to fundamentally transform agriculture by implementing a technologically advanced and easy to use Grow360 & Grain365 system throughout the world. Thus, improving crop production while encouraging responsible, innovative farming methods that protect the environment and educate the community.
“We are extremely proud and thankful for the invitation from the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!
After years of product development, we have got one step closer to our objective to make fresh, healthy, delicious, non-GMO, chemical and pesticide-free food accessible to everyone. While doing so, we also aim to improve the quality of life of local communities by providing job opportunities and a platform for growth and education, “said Ali Amirlatifi, CEO of Evergreen Farm Oy.
Evergreen Farm is not only focusing on its technologies but also is involved with some 40 R&D projects, experiments and corporate & NGO actions which is wrapped around the development of the city district. This growing ecosystem of businesses is providing new solutions and technologies for the Hiedanranta development and to the global markets. “ Ali Amirlatifi said.
Evergreen Farm Oy is a Finnish company, located in Tampere. Evergreen Farm Oy is an award-winning technology company focused on providing clean sustainable food through agricultural innovation. By offering the World highest yield per square meter as well as cubic meter, indoor protection from the elements, a variety of crops that go beyond leafy green, and the benefits of existing technology in robotics artificial intelligence and engineering, Evergreen Farm is sure to provide a solution to the food crisis and its associated environmental impacts.
For any inquiry to Evergreen Farm Oy please contact:
Ali Amirlatifi CEO, Evergreen Farm Oy
ali.amirlatifi@evergreenfarm.fi
Mobile: +358 50 390 3333 Website: www.evergreenfarm.fi
CES 2020: The Planty Cube Aims to Make Vertical Farming More Modular And Automated
Like other vertical farms out there, the Planty Cube environment contains rows and shelves of planters stacked inside a shipping container
While many questions remain around exactly what role vertical farming will play in the future of agriculture, there are a few things we can count on with certainty. These indoor farms will become more and more automated over time, as well as modular. They will also be more user-friendly to the average consumer or small business, something evident by the number of indoor farming offerings at CES 2020 this week.
Among those offerings is the Planty Cube, a smart hydroponic indoor farm made by a Seoul, South Korea-based IoT company called n.thing. The grow system is modular enough to work in a number of different settings, from an apartment to a cafeteria, and automated enough that pretty much anyone can operate it.
Like other vertical farms out there, the Planty Cube environment contains rows and shelves of planters stacked inside a shipping container. Plants rely not on soil and human hands cultivating them, but instead on a computerized system that delivers the right “recipe” of nutrients, water, and light from LEDs to help photosynthesis. Humans have little involvement with the actual plants during the grow process. Most of the work on the farm, such as adjusting the LEDs, controlling temperature and humidity, and monitoring plant health, is done by the Planty Cube system, which uses sensors to collect data on the plants and can be controlled remotely by a smartphone.
Leo Kim, n.thing’s CEO, came up with the idea for the farm after creating an IoT-enabled smart pot called “Planty.” From there, the company developed the Planty Square, a modular system made up of multiple capsules called Pickcells, each roughly two inches in width, length, and depth, that contain the seeds of each plant. Users can connect multiple Squares (“like a Lego block,” says Kim) to grow larger crops, and enough of these put together make up the Planty Cube farm.
The Planty Cube system relies heavily on data from farming logs, which are fed back into a database known as the CUBE Cloud and analyzed with AI to help farmers determine optimal growing conditions for each crop. As the user adds more Squares to the farm with new and different crops, this real time, cloud-based system makes it easier for the user to manage the overall farm, even remotely.
While a number of companies now operate automated vertical farms that grow leafy greens, most of these (Kalera, Plenty, Intelligent Growth Systems) are better suited to large warehouse settings that produce millions of heads of lettuce. Planty Cube’s modular and user-friendly nature make it a more apt candidate for places like schools, hospital cafeterias, and university dining halls — all locations that would benefit from having freshly harvested greens onsite.
Planty Cube nabbed a Best of Innovation award for CES this year. If you’re currently milling about the show floor in Vegas, drop by n.thing’s booth to see the Planty Cube in action.
Plans For Mammoth Vertical Farm Near London
Various companies have announced plans for at least 50 new vertical farms across England and Scotland including one that will be four times the size of Europe’s largest vertical facility
BY FRED SEARLE
7th January 2020
The company behind Europe’s largest vertical farm is planning to build a plant four times the size with backing from Ocado
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Various companies have announced plans for at least 50 new vertical farms across England and Scotland including one that will be four times the size of Europe’s largest vertical facility.
The business behind Europe’s current largest vertical farm, Jones Food Company, plans to construct the new mega plant near London with backing from Ocado, according to The Times.
Its existing facility near Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire produces 420 tonnes of food a year and houses 17 levels of leafy greens grown under eight miles of strip lighting.
In addition, Edinburgh-based start-up Shockingly Fresh has plans for 40 sites, with five already under development – one in Scotland and four in England – covering 123 acres in total.
Meanwhile, Growing Underground, which grows salad, herbs and microgreens in former air-raid shelters in south London, is planning to open six more farms in urban locations.
Strategies In Selling The Concept of Vertical Farming - Sweden's Grönska Gives Insight
Grönska - a Swedish vertical farming startup - began with a group of friends testing lights and plants in their basement, trying to come up with an alternative to traditional ways of consuming produce in big cities like Stockholm. Today, it is one of the largest vertical farming companies in Europe and is looking to expand
December 19 , 2019
Grönska - a Swedish vertical farming startup - began with a group of friends testing lights and plants in their basement, trying to come up with an alternative to traditional ways of consuming produce in big cities like Stockholm. Today, it is one of the largest vertical farming companies in Europe and is looking to expand.
The company's co-founder walked us through its strategies and challenges in operating a vertical farming startup in an ever-changing market.
Grönska's beginnings
After finding a Reddit thread on Japanese vertical farming, two of the founders - Petter Olsson and Robin Lee - read about urban solutions to farming and became inspired to develop their own version in Sweden.
At the same time, co-founder Natalie de Brun Skantz was doing her master's thesis on urban farming in the U.S.
Self-described as a "garage rock band" in its earliest stages, the group would meet late in the evening to devise plans. From there, they worked tirelessly on technology and marketing.
It began with "the development of technology and then started test growing different kinds of things and trying LED and doing lots and lots of experiments," co-founder de Brun Skantz told FreshFruitPortal.com.
Through more funding and research money, the company quickly grew to be awarded with two notable awards in Sweden for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Nowadays, it offers an array of leafy greens, herbs, and micro-greens, packaged and ready to eat. Shoppers in Stockholm supermarkets can choose between items ranging from kale to cilantro - all grown in Grönska's self-made hydroponic system.
In its facility in Stockholm, the startup uses its own AI, lamps, and data-collecting technology to monitor and grow its crops.
While the company focuses on large scale farming, its smaller scale vertical farms can be installed in grocery stores, offices, schools, etc. So, it's not just a simple question of growing produce for urban shoppers but also about making an image for Grönska - a future for sustainable, locally sourced food.
Marketing a concept
Business, then, has to be strategic and competitive. In this context, being a small startup in uncharted territories can be daunting. The objective is to market a concept and demonstrate to wholesalers and consumers that urban farming is the future of produce - even if it's a bit pricy right now.
"It's more of a concept" that they're trying to sell, co-founder Natalie de Brun Skantz told FreshFruitPortal.com. Grönska is "a consumer brand".
Hydroponic vertical farms operate in many kinds of ways since the concept is so new. Grönska's specific model focuses on the fact that, even if the veggies have a heftier price tag, the system that produces them doesn't have to.
"What we're really good at is that we build very cost-efficient systems," she said. And that's important because the market as a whole has high volumes and low margins.
It's really all about the market and finding fast-growing, high yield plants. The reason the company is so confident in its low-cost technology is because it sources all of its technology and equipment itself.
"If you buy from a middle man then you will pay extra. Each step in the supply chain adds expenses. So, we decided to cut through the value chain and source all of the parts ourselves," she added.
This means that everything, down to its one-of-a-kind LED lamps, were designed and produced by its small team. That way, it paid very close attention to having "high-quality lamps that are very energy efficient".
Challenges of being a vertical farming startup
De Brun Skantz continued by explaining how the company operates amidst challenges. Since the team is "in a new industry being a new company", it's forced to experiment.
"We have to invent. So if we try lettuce, we might try ten different seeds to see what works for us," she outlined.
When it comes to dealing with large infrastructure in the industry, Grönska is still learning. As everything is "new, new, new", it doesn't have the advantage of being a big corporation that understands all of the nuances involved in selling fresh produce - nor does it have the resources.
"It is a new product and we're getting into a big industry that already has a lot of structures in place. I mean, we go up against very big companies that have been growing, let's say, lettuce, for many years," she detailed.
That means, since they're so small, its prices cannot yet compete with big competitors. And, "it's not just one system" that the startup is tasked with figuring out. It has to navigate how to adapt to delivery, integrating its products into supermarkets and all of the steps involved in the supply chain.
All of those things, alongside the ever-changing dynamics within the company itself, can be complicated to manage. For example, selling in bulk is "not always the easiest when you're also working with innovation and developing something new," according to de Brun Skantz.
However, the company is confident that its technology is its "most secure area". Since the market is in some ways out of its control, Grönska especially thrives internally. In this field, it is sure of its expertise and cost-efficient model.
Looking forward: eyes set on expansion
While de Brun Skantz couldn't give us all of the details, she told us about what the future of the company might look like.
"We’re currently setting the exact strategy and business model. The idea is to continue being local," she said.
For example, it "wouldn’t construct a huge farm in the middle of Sweden and deliver from there". Rather, the company wants to expand to different cities across Europe.
Its target is to sell its brand and market its leafy greens to capture more interest in vertical farms as opposed to traditional imported produce. To do that, it needs to expand its client base.
"Our goal is not just to give premium vegetables. I mean, we want to be commercial. Our produce has a high sustainability factor and we want to spread that impact. In order to do that we need to have competitive prices," she explained.
To lower costs and spread its reach, it wants to form new partnerships. Good "synergies" between Gröska and other companies is what sparks creativity and provides cost-efficient solutions.
Grönska recently partnered with Scandinavian Airlines. It says that this is a good step in the right direction.
"We would love to work with larger clients as well," added de Brun Skantz. Working with "big, bold companies" is an exciting prospect.
Looking to automation to enable laborers
Lastly, Grönska told us a bit about moves in increasing automation.
In the past, agriculture required specific skill sets and expertise. Today, with automation, companies like Grönska hope to use urban farming as a platform to make the agriculture sector more inclusive.
For de Brun Skantz, automation of its vertical farming means that employees don’t necessarily need specialized knowledge of regional crops and growing conditions. Rather, looking forward, the startup wants to utilize more automation in its logistics to eliminate repetitive tasks.
"For specific methods, you end up relying heavily on experience and knowledge. With automation, you can develop and scale without being dependent on local methods or expertise. It allows for a kind of farming where know-how can be centralized," detailed de Brun Skantz.
This both allows for scaling and enables more kinds of people to work in vertical farms. She half-jokingly told us the idea is to have a sort of "McDonald's style" accessibility to labor in the future.
The Navy Yard Company That Helps You Grow Your Own Food Farmshelf Wants You To DIY — With Some Help
“We basically have been working on building systems that make the process of growing your own food easy, enjoyable and efficient,” Andrew Shearer, the 29-year-old founder of Farmshelf, told the Brooklyn Eagle.
January 3, 2020, Michael Stahl
A Farmshelf farm wall with a variety of fruits and vegetables nourished by remote software. Photo: Courtesy of Farmshelf
When it comes to food delivery, Brooklyn has no shortage of options. There’s Seamless (or a phone call) for takeout and Fresh Direct for groceries. But Farmshelf, a Brooklyn Navy Yard-based company, is taking food access to a whole new level, and hoping to help solve some of the planet’s growing environmental problems along the way.“We basically have been working on building systems that make the process of growing your own food easy, enjoyable and efficient,” Andrew Shearer, the 29-year-old founder of Farmshelf, told the Brooklyn Eagle.
His company builds hydroponic “farm walls” for residences. They’re 6 feet tall and electric-powered, growing leafy greens, herbs and edible flowers, their seeds initially planted in miniature flower pots. Fifty foods are available for the customized units, including far-flung rarities like Portugese kale and red komatsuna, a Japanese hybrid of spinach and mustard plants.
With just 30 to 45 minutes of effort weekly, including watering the system and other minor maintenance, consumers can watch their plants sprout as tank cameras and sensors send data to the Navy Yard Farmshelf office. There, automation software takes care of the food’s nourishment and optimizes growing conditions. Electronic alerts instruct Farmshelf users when it’s time to harvest.
Founded nearly four years ago, Farmshelf has planted more than 100 smart indoor farms in homes, restaurants, hotels, schools and even Grand Central Station, home of the company’s first installation. There are Farmshelf systems in Chicago, Houston, Austin, Dallas and Washington, D.C. Through three seed rounds of funding, Farmshelf has raised $7.4 million, and by the end of 2020, Shearer believes the company will operate more than 1,000 units coast to coast.“We really just see this as the first inning,” Shearer said.
Andrew Shearer, CEO, and founder of Farmshelf. Photo: Courtesy of Farmshelf
The company began in San Francisco, where Shearer lived and worked in tech. He became interested in home food growth and left an ad sales position at Pinterest to found Farmshelf, building it out first in a basement and, later, a garage — realizing “every San Francisco stereotype” along the way, Shearer said.
The move to New York came about when Farmshelf was accepted into the Urban-X tech startup accelerator, a three-month program that provides seed money and other resources to select companies, aiding them with growth.“We did not pack in a way that meant we were moving here,” Shearer said. However, the local tech community’s embrace of the company, the growing network of local venture capitalists and a variety of other partners and resource providers made such a transition a no-brainer. “Farmshelf was born in San Francisco, but it was raised in Brooklyn,” Shearer added.
He and his team also recognized that New York’s population density would supply greater sales opportunities while showing off their solution to food-supply and delivery problems not as prevalent out west.
Nearly all lettuce eaten in the U.S. is grown in California and Arizona. Parts of those states also produce 90 percent of all leafy greens the country eats between November and March when it’s too cold elsewhere to grow such crops. Not only are California and Arizona starved for water, they’re also thousands of miles away from East Coast metropolises whose landscapes are generally unfit for most traditional agriculture. But the tens of millions of people who call those cities home need to be fed somehow.
Urban agricultural companies such as Farmshelf, as well as other Brooklyn-born rooftop farming bodies like Gotham Greens and Brooklyn Grange, can help provide leafy greens to these areas without the environmental impact that comes with trucking them cross-country. More farming with hydroponics also means less land needed for agriculture, which could, in turn, be used to meet new housing needs or see the reestablishment of lost natural habitats.
By the year 2050, the human population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion, which could boost food demands by approximately 60 percent worldwide. If the agricultural status quo is maintained, freshwater use might also have to jump 15 percent, with supplies already under threat, in part because of the climate crisis. Though tech-based urban agriculture comes with its own environmental concerns — growing these plants still takes a lot of energy — a company like Farmshelf, which puts fruits and vegetables in a bookcase-size, custom-lit glass tanks that can live in a person’s home, could help ease both those burdens.Local foods provide more nutritious products to consumers, too. Most produce loses 30 percent of its nutrients within three days of harvest. With truck drivers only allowed to drive up to 11 hours across 14-hour shifts, just about all produce in East Coast stores that come from the West Coast has lost at least that much nutritional value.
A societal shift from such inefficient delivery methods would not be unprecedented.“In the early 1800s we used to ship ice from the north via trains and barges,” Shearer said. “If you tell someone today that we used to ship ice via trains and barges they would look at you like you’re crazy. And then we got centralized cold storage … and then the advent of the refrigerator, where you’re not shipping [ice over] miles; your ice is traveling feet.”
Arguably, all the time spent these days shipping leafy greens, fruits and vegetables from places like Yuma, Arizona, to New York City, also takes away from its taste. To that point, Shearer relayed a story about the time one of his company’s advisors brought his 6-year-old son into the Farmshelf office. They’d given the kid a bag with which to go harvest some fruits and vegetables from one of their farm walls. Of all things, he’d picked some kale.“
And his dad turns to me and goes, ‘He doesn’t like vegetables, and he definitely doesn’t like kale, ’” Shearer recalled.
It was shortly after Halloween, and when the boy bit into the kale, he said, “Wow, this is better than trick or treat!”
“You get to bring these flavors and these crops in a beautiful way into people’s lives, but also the flavors and the tastes of what these things are supposed to taste like when grown right,” Shearer said. “Getting to bring that into the experiences is so exciting.”
Michael Stahl is a New York-based reporter covering business and technology across the borough. You can find him on Twitter.
Hydroponic Entrepreneurs Farming For The Future
Hydroponics is no buzzword when speaking about the “future” of farming. A growing population, shrinking land base and water resources suggest a reinvention of the agrarian process is more than needed. In India, hydroponics meets less than 1% of the total food basket.
Startup Saturday: Hydroponic entrepreneurs farming for the future
The alternative agrarian method has taken root in the startup landscape. Greens are first on this healthy menu
PUNE, INDIS Jan 04, 2020 Namita Shibad
Hindustan Times, Pune
Hydroponics is no buzzword when speaking about the “future” of farming. A growing population, shrinking land base and water resources suggest a reinvention of the agrarian process is more than needed. In India, hydroponics meets less than 1% of the total food basket.
Israel is the hydroponics leader when it comes to feeding its people, but India still has enough land... for now.
What role can hydroponic startups play in a market that is dominated by traditional agriculture? Are people willing to buy hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables?
FarmingV2, set up in 2018
Founder: Rohit Nagdewani
Indoor and outdoor hydroponic farms.
Why hydroponics?
Our food is full of harmful chemicals. Besides, I am a big foodie and a home-cook and was finding it impossible to source high quality produce in the market. I began researching a small kitchen garden and heard about hydroponics. With its major USP being the ability to grow anything, anywhere, it didn’t take a lot of time for me to venture into it commercially.
Setting it up
I started experimenting with small imported setups but couldn’t scale due to the lack of information and equipment. A lot of research and calls later, I found two companies that help set up hydroponic farms – Urban Farmer and Valens Arbor in Mumbai. With their help, I set up my first commercial farm. The challenge for hydroponic farmers like me is the fact that the technology is at a very nascent stage, so getting access to the right people, equipment and process is not easy. No government permissions were needed.
Investment
I started with a small 300 sq ft indoor farm that cost me Rs 4 lakh. Now I have expanded to a 6,600 sqft indoor farm and one 6,000 sq ft outdoor farm. All this cost me Rs 45 lakh.
The challenges
Both the capex and the opex of a hydroponic farm is higher than soil-grown produce, which results in a higher selling price. In the case of commodity crops like wheat and rice, the price will be four times more than soil-grown crops.I saw the opportunity in the greens business. Last year India grew 15 crops tonnes of greens.
There is a market for it and producing greens costs marginally more than traditional crops, about 2-3%. With the nutritional benefits, there are people who will pay more. I have 500 customers who are subscribers and a few restaurants who buy regularly. (Rohit does not wish to share his turnover.)It is impossible to even think about growing hydroponically at the scale at which traditional farmers do. Currently, it is not viable for commodity crops. But yes, once we deplete our freshwater sources and arable land in a couple of decades, the shift towards hydroponics would be much more apparent.
Future
Education! If we are able to educate people about the availability of such chemical-free, healthy produce, the product will sell itself. Since the capex of setting up a hydroponic farm is high, funds are also an issue, but we are already witnessing a global focus on such indoor farms (Softbank invested $200m in a vertical farm called Plenty).
Salad Growers, set up June 2019
Founder: Yash Patel
Grows a variety of greens and herbs; sells by monthly subscription
Why hydroponics?
The demand for exotic greens and gourmet salads is at an all-time high and unfortunately, with our horrible weather conditions, it is impossible to get consistent quality greens and herbs all-year-round. With hydroponics, we are able to grow exotic greens and herbs all-year-round, and with consistent quality always.
Setting it up
We had a great idea and we were certain that we wanted to execute it at some point in time. The question was - would it be possible to run an actual business? I did a lot of research and even zeroed in on one international firm that specializes in vertical farms, but their estimate was about 10 times the cost I finally paid to a domestic company.
Extensive market research revealed that people don’t like to eat salads every day, but prefer it twice or thrice a week. With the rising trend of veganism, people like their salads to be vegetarian. We on-boarded a chef and a nutritionist and developed gourmet salad recipes that we are currently testing in the market. We intend to have a subscription model and aim to sell our salads at Rs 300 a plate (400gms). Once I reach 100 subscribers I will break even.
Yash Patel currently owns a 500 sqft farm.( HT/PHOTO )
Investment
invested Rs 15 lakh to set up a 500 sqft farm and that changed the game for me. Today, my farm can churn our 1,500 plates of salad per week. I am also planning to set up another farm of 4000 sq ft.
The challenges
Our primary challenge is to educate our potential customers on the benefits of our product. This topic is gaining momentum on social media and more people are aware of the benefits of eating hydroponic food.Our product – greens and herbs - is something that traditional farmers do not grow or rather cannot grow due to the weather conditions, so there is no issue with that at all. We only grow varieties that you don’t usually get at the local farmers’ market.
Future
We are in the final stages of validating our product and have planned on expanding to a farm that is almost 10 times the current size next year. Our marketing strategy is also in place, but we are waiting to execute everything at the right time as we don’t want a bandwidth we are not able to manage.
The big picture
Shyam Agarwal, Perusal Global (Financial research and advisory)
Markets and Markets, a market research company, the global hydroponics market is estimated to grow from $8.1 billion in 2019 to $16.0 billion by 2025, registering a CAGR of 12.1%. The primary drivers for this handsome growth include growing population and the need to ensure food security through alternative high-yield farming techniques as arable land and water have been depleting.
Hydroponics globally has grown because of the high yield (20-25%) and 2-5 times productivity. This system eliminates the use of artificial ripening agents and pesticides creating nutritionally superior vegetables. That said. India’s overall fruit and vegetables (F&V) market was estimated at around Rs 5,00,000 crore in 2015. Even if we assume a meager 0.5% of this overall market, it translates into a humongous opportunity of around Rs 2,500 crore for hydroponic produce, which may take at least five years to materialize. Renowned business groups such as DS Group and Patanjali are also considering hydroponics on a commercial scale.
A growing awareness and the focus on healthier lifestyles amongst people in India should help hydroponic producers reap benefits in the long term. Moreover, an evolving demand of produce not grown in India such as swiss chard, kale, parsley, oregano, and cilantro, provides the necessary tailwinds to hydroponics producers.
Shyam Agarwal, Perusal Global (Financial research and advisory) ( HT/PHOTO )
What to watch for?
The lack of tax cuts and incentives is a key factor that hinders the growth of hydroponics in developing regions, as the high set-up costs and running, costs can often render operations difficult to sustain. The founders of hydroponic farms should first identify the market/distribution channel to sell its produce. Since hydroponics involves the high cost of production, it is imperative for hydroponics growers to keep a check on the competition arising from the local produce in the price-sensitive Indian market. The founders should then work backward to decide whether the project provides the desired ROI, which is in sync with invested capital and efforts.
Another issue that is a major hindrance to hydroponic farmers is the threat of waterborne diseases. Considering that the nutrient-enriched water is recirculated throughout the system, any kind of waterborne disease that enters the nutrient reservoir often affects the whole crop. As a result, growers often keep their plants spaced out to prevent crowding, which is often how pathogens enter the system.
Lead Photo: Rohit Nagdewani currently has a 6,600 sqft indoor farm.(HT/PHOTO)
HYVE® Indoor Farming Systems To Be Featured On Virginia Farming Show Airing On VPM PBS and RFD-TV
HYVE® Indoor Farming Systems are complete contained environment agriculture systems that utilize hydroponics to produce large-scale commercial crops in vertical farming applications
January 9, 2020, Verona, Virginia – DASCOM Americas, a worldwide diversified technology leader and marketer of HYVE® Indoor Farming Systems today announced that HYVE® will be featured on Virginia Farming Television airing regionally on VPM PBS and nationally on RFD-TV.
Virginia Farming is a widely respected agricultural program hosted by Jeff Ishee and Amy Roscher. The program explores innovations, highlights, challenges, and unique stories of interest for the agricultural community in and around the state of Virginia.
According to statistics from 2017, Virginia Farming reaches about 60,000 viewers each month and is distributed throughout 40 counties in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Virginia Farming also airs nationally on RFD-TV. According to the RFD-TV website: “RFD-TV is the flagship network for Rural Media Group. Launched in December of 2000, RFD-TV is the nation’s first 24-hour television network featuring programming focused on the agribusiness, equine and rural lifestyles, along with traditional country music and entertainment.” The independent cable channel is available in more than 52 million households and is distributed by many of the top names in national cable and direct television service channel providers.
HYVE® Indoor Farming Systems are complete contained environment agriculture systems that utilize hydroponics to produce large-scale commercial crops in vertical farming applications. HYVE® Systems are designed to provide commercial growers with a means to grow crops in a pesticide and herbicide-free environment. The systems utilize LED grow lighting, advanced automation, fertigation, and irrigation techniques, and vertical racking to allow farmers to grow healthy, high-yield crops with accelerated grow cycles that provide an exceptional return on investment for the farmers and fresher supplies of vegetables for merchants and consumers. The systems designed by HYVE® hold great promise in helping farmers meet the challenges of feeding a growing world population while mitigating some of the risks that are more typical in conventional farming.
The HYVE® website is www.growhyve.com. Virginia Farming’s website is https://www.pbs.org/show/virginia-farming/ and RFD-TV’s website is https://www.rfdtv.com/.
The segment on HYVE® will air at 8:00 a.m. EST on January 11th with a repeated episode on January 12th at 8:30 a.m. on VPM PBS. The show will air on January 16th at 8:30 a.m. on the RFD-TV network. The episode will also be available shortly after air on the Virginia Farming website.
CEA Advisors – Farminova Plant Factories To Exhibit At Fruit Logistica 2020
Glenn Behrman, President, and founder of CEA Advisors, together with Farminova Plant Factories is pleased to invite you to visit us at Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Hall 9, Booth D-25 from February 5-7, 2020
Glenn Behrman, President, and founder of CEA Advisors, together with Farminova Plant Factories is pleased to invite you to visit us at Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Hall 9, Booth D-25 from February 5-7, 2020.
Farminova Plant Factories are competitively priced automated, labor-saving, energy-efficient
high-volume systems designed and developed for the optimized production of a wide variety of food and non-food crops.
Our focus is always on a higher yield in a shorter time. The Farminova research center staff is constantly experimenting with different varieties and different environments and our R & D Department is laser-focused on automation, water quality, fertilizers, and fertigation, LED lighting and Control Systems.
Our team includes world-class plant physiologists, plant scientists, experienced growers, seed specialists, engineers and experts in HVAC systems. Our Business Development team and senior advisors are experts in Controlled Environment Agriculture with years of global experience.
Farminova is a division of the Cantek Group, with almost 30 years of experience in food processing, meat processing, cold storage and the design and manufacture of state-of-the-art HVAC systems. The Cantek Group team of over 300 employees has successfully completed over 13,000 projects in 55 countries. For more information, visit us online at www.cantekgroup.com
CEA Advisors is a global consultant to the vertical farming industry. Our senior management has been in the Horticulture Industry since 1971 and CEA has designed and developed successful projects for commercial clients in the US, England, Spain, Germany including growers, grocery retailers, food manufacturers,
pharmaceutical manufacturers, universities and more. For more information, visit us online at www.cea-advisors.com
INDIA: Vertical Farming Envisages Profitable And Suitable Agriculture Business
A silent revolution is underway in the agriculture sector, which is going to be quite evident in the days to come. With the global population is set to reach near ten billion marks by 2050, the food production must increase by 70 per cent, estimates the United Nations
Plants can be grown indoors which assures protections from unruly winds, incessant rain
January 04, 2020
New Delhi: A silent revolution is underway in the agriculture sector, which is going to be quite evident in the days to come. With the global population is set to reach near ten billion marks by 2050, the food production must increase by 70 percent, estimates the United Nations.
However, there is a global appeal seeking restrictions on the forests getting converted into the farmlands in the wake of global warming.
There comes the need for technological innovation in the farming processes. And the idea of vertical farming is among them. It is in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, which beseeches judicious use of environmental resources.
Vertical farming is a practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers in a controlled environment.
It does not just reduce the requirement of water but also increases yield and ability to cultivate a larger variety of crops.
The concept of indoor vertical farming facilitates the cultivation of all crops even those that are not suitable to the local climatic conditions. It means growing tomatoes near Delhi or potatoes near Chennai.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the vertical farming system consumes 75 percent less raw material than traditional farming and just 60 watts of power daily to grow 150 kg of vegetables in a month.
To obtain this quantity, vertical farming needs just 6 m2 space while traditional farming requires at least 72 m2 land area. Also, the requirement of water would be just 12 L to produce 1 kg of vegetables due to recycling as against 300-400 L under traditional farming.
More importantly, the vertical farming ecosystem holds a key to the major problem of weather-related crop losses.
Effects of climate change such as erratic rain events, prolonged droughts, and frequent floods in the country are causing farmers to incur heavy financial losses.
There have been many instances when ready-to-harvest crops were destroyed due to the unseasonal rains.
Plants can be grown indoors, with or without soil, under vertical farming, which assures the protections from unruly winds, incessant rains, dry climate. The key environmental elements such as light, temperature, humidity, and micro-nutrients are controlled to optimize plant growth.
Vertical farming can be carried out in the areas with scarcity of water as well as in urban areas as it can be set up in small plots.
There are a few different gardening methods. The most dominant is hydroponics, in which the roots are submerged in water infused with nutrients.
Another method is aeroponics. It has the potential to reform the farming practices in the drylands and drought-prone areas as plants are grown in mist environment with no soil and very little water.
Some research says plants grown with the aeroponics method uptake more nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. It translates into healthier plants and higher yield.
Vertical farming facilitates more crop cycles compared to that through conventional ways.
The fruits, vegetables are grown in vertical farming are fresh, nutritious and safe as they are grown in a controlled environment with the least possible exposure to contaminants.
From the view of reducing carbon footprint, the food procured locally reduces "food miles"- roughly means the distance the agriculture produce has traveled to reach your plate.
If fruits and vegetables are imported or procured from far away locations, transportation leads to higher carbon emissions.
Transportation and agriculture are among the largest five emitters of greenhouses gases, finds the Emission Gap Report - 2019 of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
One may think that vertical farming also leads to emissions as it requires energy for indoor lighting and air-conditioning.
However, the high-efficiency lighting, low-carbon electricity, nano cost climate control can even achieve a relatively low carbon footprint. Additionally, the higher crop yield offsets the emissions caused to operate the indoor vertical farming units.
Many entrepreneurs in India and other parts of the world have found interest in the concept of vertical farming.
It is a profitable business that promotes sustainable development - a win-win situation for all. Vertical farming is set to herald a new era of urban and compact agriculture sectors.
Lead Image Credit: Pexels
"I Like To Call Us A Technology Partner Instead of Equipment Supplier"
Netled CEO Niko Kivioja was interviewed by the International Association of Vertical Farming, AVF, about the future of Netled and vertical farming. In the first part of the interview, Niko’s thoughts on Netled and the future of the company are shared
Niko Kivioja, Netled:
Netled CEO Niko Kivioja was interviewed by the International Association of Vertical Farming, AVF, about the future of Netled and vertical farming. In the first part of the interview, Niko’s thoughts on Netled and the future of the company are shared.
How did Netled come to regard vertical farming as the future of the company?
My father started organic tomato greenhouse production, one million kilograms annually, in 1987. That was our family business for 25 years until he retired. We started to develop more energy-efficient lighting for that greenhouse in 2005 and established Netled Oy in 2007 to facilitate the R&D. Focus in vertical farming started by joint development, a 500 sq m project to Robbe’s Lilla Trädgård in 2015.
We’ve been supplying technology already in 7 industrial type vertical farms scaling from 100 to 4500 sq m.
How do you select the technologies that you are currently using?
Our core team has 25 years of experience in commercial horticulture and CEA growing. We have learned from the best possible practices and technologies from these fields modified them to fit into vertical farming and topped that with our special design for vertical farms such as automation integration, LED lighting, racking design, climate design, and energy re-circulation as well as processing design, just to mention few.
We differ from many other suppliers by our own integrated design in all parts of our Vera Vertical Farm. There are no third-party suppliers of commercially available equipment. This allows us to have the best knowledge of the technology and take the technology risk to ourselves.
How is Netled’s own Vera the most advanced vertical farming system in the world?
Vera Vertical Farming System is an ecosystem-level combination of technology, services and IT, developed especially for industrial-scale vertical farming. This means that Vera is an all-inclusive technology with verified yields and technical performance, topped with maintenance and outsourced technology risk. I like to call us a technology partner instead of an equipment supplier because we are aiming at long-term partnerships instead of quick sales.
In addition to performance, we’ve also developed the best possible layout and material flow allowing optimized internal logistics expenses and labor costs. So, we are developing our system from the smallest detail to the overall general, making sure all parts are planned to serve the best possible performance.
Our automation level consists of the full-automatic growing environment, growing cycle for crop logistics (transplanting and spacing) and full-automatic harvesting, platform processing and replanting of crops. We have developed Vera OS, high-level software, for advanced care of crops, while our hardware-level automation is designed as robust and highly integrated. Vera OS has 53 parameters for static and dynamic care for each layer/crop, making a total of 318 parameters in each production unit. These parameters are packed into growing programs with the closest description being the recipe.
Standard growing recipes are supplied with the facility, but we also allow our clients to develop their own recipes. We develop constantly our own recipes, so our clients have the best possible recipe for their crops.
From this perspective, Vera constantly improves its yield and performance. The well-working recipe can also be copied to any Vera Vertical Farming System, because of our standardized, but easily scalable and modular technology with the same growing results. This allows Vera growers to make also additional income or focus purely on recipe development and sales.
We offer Vera in proof of concept scale with 96 sq m production area and industrial-scale modular system with 1000 to 7000 sq m production area in a single production unit.
The article is based on an interview conducted by the Association of Vertical Farming.
For more information:
Netled
+358 40 1585528
solutions@netled.fi
netled.fi
Publication date: Fri 3 Jan 2020
Florida: Meet The Brick Street Farms Cultivation Hub!
The Cultivation Hub will house a 2 story 6,500 Sq mixed-use space. In The Hub, we'll be serving coffee, beer, wine, and you'll be able to sit and enjoy healthy grab-n-go food options from our 1,800 Sq farm-to-table market
You wanted more greens, and baby you're going to get more greens! Meet the Brick Street Farms Cultivation Hub! Set to begin construction in February, The Cultivation Hub will house a 2 story 6,500 Sq mixed-use space.
In The Hub, we'll be serving coffee, beer, wine, and you'll be able to sit and enjoy healthy grab-n-go food options from our 1,800 Sq farm-to-table market! We'll be hosting pop-up restaurants, food trucks, private dinners, events and more! Not only that, we'll have 10 container farms, more than doubling our farm size!
Our current Farm Market will be transitioning to a commissary kitchen where Brick Street Canning Company and other local food businesses will be working out of. We are BEYOND excited!
During construction, we will be temporarily relocating off 22nd Ave S. At that time you'll be able to order your greens online and pick up from one of our pick up locations, or you can visit us at the Indie Flea Green Market. We also plan on popping around town in our refrigerated van, so be on the lookout!
We are seeking local food-based businesses to partner up with. Email illene@brickstreetfarms.com if you're interested in finding out more details!
VISIT OUR WEBSITE
Indoor Farming Becomes Decade's Hottest Trends, Millions Invest Globally
According to the Union Bank of Switzerland report, food and agriculture innovation have marked remarkable amounts of investor capital in recent years and is expected to become a $700 billion market by 2030
Indoor farming becomes one of the hottest trends in the past 10 years and millions have invested money globally that is expected to become a $700 billion market.
Written By Sounak Mitra | Mumbai
Indoor farming has become one of the hottest trends in the past 10 years. According to the Union Bank of Switzerland report, food and agriculture innovation have marked remarkable amounts of investor capital in recent years and is expected to become a $700 billion market by 2030. A lot of money is being invested globally in indoor urban farms because of their accountability to produce more food with less impact. Dozens of large scale projects have been launched in Dubai, Israel, the Netherlands, and other countries.
Indoor farming may be hampered in the US by high start-up costsBut, it may be hampered in the US by high start-up costs, high urban rents, and lack of safety net in a food system that is highly dependent on subsidies. Trump administration announced in September that it would go back to the Obama era energy-saving measures that would have effectively eliminated the standard pear-shaped incandescent variety. This move is expected to lower the demand for LED bulbs which lasts longer and consumes less electricity as compared to any other type.
The new move to be effective from January is being fought by 15 states and a group of environmental and consumer groups that claim the changes will contribute to climate change and raise consumers' energy bills.
According to Irving Fain, chief executive of Bowery Farming, indoor urban agriculture is a threat to scalability and profitability. The indoor vertical farming company has raised funds of about $122.5 million from celebrity chefs Tom Colicchio, Jose Andres and Carla Hall, Amazon worldwide consumer chief executive Jeff Wilke and Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi.
READ: Schools In Kochi Promote Organic Farming
Department of Energy's proposal
Some indoor farms stack plants vertically to the ceiling in shipping containers or enormous warehouses and the plants' photosynthesis is achieved via high-tech light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs.
According to Fain, the US Department of Energy's proposed reversal of energy efficiency standards could hamper the emerging agricultural sector. Indoor vertical farming became economically viable when LEDs became popular, cheap and efficient.
Previously, indoor growing lights produced an enormous amount of heat. After the passage of energy legislation bill in 2007, the Department of Energy ruled that the general lightbulbs must emit at a minimum efficiency of 45 lumens per watt by the beginning of 2020. Incandescent bulbs and halogen do not basically meet the efficiency standard.
Singapore Hotel’s Aquaponic Rooftop Farm To Produce Vegetables And Fish
Aquaponics involves growing plants without soil, a process that saves resources including water, land, and manpower. By August, the rooftop farm will supply 30 percent of the vegetable and fish requirements for two neighboring hotels
Aquaponics involves growing plants without soil, a process that saves resources including water, land, and manpower
By August, the rooftop farm will supply 30 percent of the vegetable and fish requirements for two neighboring hotels
27 December 2019
This is not a new hotel, why are we featuring it now? True, a hotel has stood here since 1986, when it opened as the Westin Plaza, but now it has an aquaponics farm. Repeat, an aquaponics farm!
What on earth is an aquaponics farm, and why is it exciting news? Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics; in simple terms, growing plants without soil. It employs a closed, circular system that channels the waste from living fish to fertilize plants, which in turn filter and clean the water for the fish. This process saves resources and reduces the need for water, land, and manpower.
A first for hotels in the city-state, the Fairmont Singapore’s aquaponics farm was launched in late October. The fact the farm is in Singapore – a concrete jungle that imports more than 90 percent of its food – while there’s a growing realization our fragile environment must be protected is inspirational for densely built cities.
Is it one of those “show and tell” herb gardens that resorts create as a talking point but supply only a tiny proportion of the property’s needs? Granted, at just 450 square metres, wedged between the rooftops of the Fairmont Singapore and sister property Swissôtel The Stamford, the “farm” is not large. But through clever configuration, once it’s fully operational in August 2020, it will yield an estimated 2,200kg of vegetables and 350kg of fish monthly for both hotels, or about 30 percent of their needs.
The hotel’s Aquaponics Salad.
More than 40 varieties of vegetables and herbs, including spinach, kang kong, lettuce, and mint, are being grown in compact beds and towers, and about 16,000 tilapia fish are being raised in huge containers at the back of the farm. The first fish will be ready for the dining table in March.
The plan is to plant and harvest in batches so a constant supply is available. To trick the plants into giving healthy yields in unfavourable conditions, they are sheltered from sunlight, kept at 24 to 25 degrees Celsius and exposed to LED lighting.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. How does the produce taste? My salad at modern grill Skai contained oak leaf, red chard, mizuna, rocket leaves, baby kale and Japanese Pentas flowers, all fresh from the farm, the leaves still luscious and crisp – proof that the less distance your food travels, the better it tastes.
Currently, the farm supplies five of the hotels’ 13 food outlets. The jewel in the crown, Michelin-starred JAAN by British chef Kirk Westaway, will soon incorporate some of the farm’s output in its menu of reinvented British classics.
What is Fairmont doing about food waste? Through the Treatsure app, leftovers from buffets are sold to the public at S$10 (US$7) per box – biodegradable, of course – just before closing. Treatsure users are updated on which member hotels have leftovers up for grabs and can take as much food as they can pack into the provided box. This has reduced Fairmont’s buffet wastage by 40 to 60 percent.
Whatever cannot be sold is fed into the Eco-Wizz digester, together with leftovers from other outlets, to be turned into water and compost. Local charity Food from the Heart collects leftover bread baskets from the breakfast service for distribution to impoverished families.
A Deluxe Harbour View Room.
What else is the hotel doing to make travel less destructive to the environment? Although you’ll still find single-use plastics in your room – laundry bags and slipper wrappers, for instance – the move towards eliminating their use is ongoing, the hotel assures us. Each revamped room and suite in Fairmont’s new South Tower has a nifty Swisspro tap, which dispenses filtered hot and cold water, so no more plastic bottles.
My conscience feels lighter, now what about location? The building was designed more than 30 years ago by the late I.M. Pei, of Hong Kong’s Bank of China Tower fame. The hotel has taken on various guises under different owners, but remains in demand for its location, in the city’s cultural and historical heart. It is within walking distance of the Singapore Art Museum and the National Gallery Singapore.
And the view! Centrally located beds give guests panoramas of the city’s spectacular skyline, an effect heightened by the building’s circular design.
What’s the bottom line? Rates start at S$399 (excluding service charge and tax). A two-course set lunch at Italian restaurant Prego costs about S$30, excluding taxes and service charge. The cost savings from the aquaponics products have yet to be factored into menu prices.
Year In Produce No. 9 — Urban/Vertical Farming
As consumer interest in topics like locally grown food, sustainability, food deserts, and urban agriculture continues to grow, innovative produce companies continue to meet demand, whether expanding onto the rooftops of cities like Chicago and New York or forming vertical farms in warehouses and containers
December 28, 2019
( Photo courtesy Aero Farms; Graphic by Brooke Park )
As consumer interest in topics like locally grown food, sustainability, food deserts, and urban agriculture continues to grow, innovative produce companies continue to meet demand, whether expanding onto the rooftops of cities like Chicago and New York or forming vertical farms in warehouses and containers.
Dec. 16
AeroFarms building its largest facility in rural Virginia
By Chris Koger
Vertical farms company AeroFarms, Newark, N.J., is investing $42 million to build a 150,000-square-foot aeroponic facility in rural Virginia.
The operation, in an industrial park that’s a joint venture for the city of Danville and Pittsylvania, is the 10th facility for Aerofarms. Virginia was in competition with North Carolina for the project, according to a news release from the office of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
Nov. 21
Time magazine names AeroFarms as a best invention
By Chris Koger
AeroFarms, the Newark, N.J.-based indoor aeroponic grower of leafy greens and microgreens, has been named as one of Time magazine’s 100 Best Inventions.
In the online listing, Time calls the company’s patented technology a key advance, specifically the growing medium: “rather than grow in dirt, these crops grow in a reusable cloth made from recycled water bottles. Instead of being doused with water, the crops are hydrated with a gentle mist.”
Nov. 14
Gotham Greens opens large greenhouse in Chicago
By Tom Karst
The 100,000-square-foot facility, built from a portion of the former Ryerson Steel Mill, is the company’s sixth greenhouse for the company and the second one in Chicago’s Historic Pullman Neighborhood. The greenhouse more than doubles the company’s Midwest production to 11 million heads annually, according to a news release. ...
Ten years after its 2009 beginning, Gotham Greens will operate 500,000 square feet of greenhouse farms in five U.S. states by the end of the year, according to the release.
Oct. 16
AeroFarms receives sustainability award
By Amy Sowder
Newark, N.J.-based AeroFarms won the Responsible Business Award for Sustainable Innovation at the Ethical Corporation Awards, a Reuters event.
Members of the indoor vertical farming and agriculture technology company gathered Oct. 2 in Westminster, London, to receive the award, according to a news release.
June 19
Touring Brooklyn’s Gotham Greens atop Whole Foods
By Amy Sowder
BROOKLYN — It was a perfect summer evening on a Brooklyn rooftop, with colorful food spread out on a picnic table and dozens of friendly faces talking about what they love: fresh vegetables and fruit. The evening was hosted by Gotham Greens, an urban hydroponic greenhouse grower, which started in Brooklyn but has since expanded to at least four locations in New York City, plus a couple in Chicago, and more coming to Baltimore and Providence, R.I.Viraj Puri, co-founder, and CEO of Gotham Greens, gave a tour of the basil, arugula, and salad greens greenhouse, explaining the company’s mission, how the greenhouse technology works, and why it benefits retailers, consumers and urban communities as a whole.
March 29
Greenhouses keeping up with demand
By Amy Sowder
Tim Heydon touched the brick of proprietary soil in the first room.“Everything we do is USDA-certified organic, and it starts with the soil system,” said the CEO of Shenandoah Growers, Harrisonburg, Va., one of the largest commercial indoor fresh herb growers in the U.S. As North American greenhouse vegetable growers of all kinds expand and adapt, this company has jumped on board whenever an indoor growing technology’s cost dropped and efficiency improved.
Shenandoah Growers started in 1989 as a field herb farm. When Heydon came on board in 1998, the company had $1 million in sales with 20 employees. Gradually, the company evolved from field and low-tech greenhouse growing to a more controlled environment indoor growing system in 2008. Now, Shenandoah does more than $120 million in sales, with 1,200 employees. Today, the company has a 35% share of the national organic fresh herb retail market, Heydon said.
March 28
Bowery greens available on Peapod, AmazonFresh
By Amy Sowder
Fresh greens from Bowery Farming, New York, N.Y., are now available throughout the greater New York area from Peapod and will be offered on AmazonFresh in mid-April.
The two online grocery service partners will make Bowery’s produce available for delivery across all five of New York City’s boroughs, north to Scarsdale in Westchester County, east to Deer Park, Long Island, and throughout northern and central New Jersey for the first time, according to company spokespeople.
March 27
Rhode Island governor and Providence mayor to welcome Gotham Greens
By Amy Sower
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, Rhode Island Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor and other community leaders will join Viraj Puri, co-founder, and CEO of Gotham Greens, Brooklyn, N.Y., in announcing the company’s first urban greenhouse farm in New England.
The greenhouse farm will be at the historic General Electric Base Works facility in Providence, R.I., according to a news release.
The 110,000-square-foot high-tech farm is scheduled to open in early fall. The facility will grow year-round to supply restaurants and foodservice customers in region with 10 million heads annually of lettuce and leafy greens.
March 11
Square Roots expands indoor farms with Gordon Food Service deal
By Chris Koger
Gordon Food Service, Grand Rapids, Mich., has formed an exclusive partnership with indoor farming company Square Roots, expanding the greenhouse company’s reach from its New York base.The agreement gives Square Roots access to more than a dozen Gordon Food Service distribution centers and 175 retail locations, although the news release announcing the partnership doesn’t specify where Square Roots plans to build more indoor farms. Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Square Roots now serves about 30 locations in the New York metropolitan area, according to its website.
Jan. 29
DelFrescoPure and CubicFarms team for new growing technology
By Tom Karst
A partnership between Kingsville, Ontario-based DelFrescoPure and CubicFarms will result in LivingCube, an indoor automated vertical growing machine that continuously produces living lettuce, living basil and microgreens all year long.
According to a news release, the LivingCube system has 12 mechanized growing, germination and irrigation machines, each built inside proprietary insulated 40-foot-long stainless steel growing chambers. The growing machines, according to the release, are individually climate-controlled to optimize the environment for each crop and also connected to a fully enclosed climatized common work area. LivingCube is powered by DelFrescoPure’s off-the-grid electrical cogeneration system, according to the release.
UAE Farm Calls On Residents To Buy Local Produce
Madar Farms head of operations Kyle Wagner has implored UAE residents to buy more locally grown produce
Madar Farms head of operations Kyle Wagner said it will help support sustainability
Dec 23, 2019
Madar Farms head of operations Kyle Wagner
Madar Farms head of operations Kyle Wagner has implored UAE residents to buy more locally grown produce.
Speaking during a panel discussion at New York University Abu Dhabi, Wagner said that doing so can help support sustainability and contribute towards solving food and water security.
A UAE-based company, Madar Farms uses hydroponic vertical farming that allows it to grow fresh produce in the country’s arid conditions while using 95% less water than traditional farming.
The company is currently working with the wider industry and education authorities to support the UAE government’s National Food Security Strategy 2051 that aims to solve the region’s food problems and provide enough nutritious food all-year-round.
At the Cooking the Nation: Global perspectives and local insights on culinary nationalism and diplomacy panel discussion Wagner, said: “At Madar Farms, education is already a big part of what we’re doing. Whether that is attending conferences or launching a school sustainability program, creating awareness of what we do and helping people understand what we want to achieve is important for us.
“We are living in a diverse country where the supermarkets are full of different ingredients and products from many different countries. Sometimes, we do not look at which country vegetables come from but if we can help adults to think carefully and choose a UAE-grown produce instead of one from another country, then we are going in the right direction.
“At schools, we launched a sustainability program ‘Sustainable Futures’ where students are getting hands-on learning experiences. This has been a great success so far as it gives them an opportunity to learn more about pressing environmental topics. And by engaging with the younger generation, we can create that change that can have a long-term effect.”
Freight Farms Aced 2019 – Here's Our Report Card
2019 was a year for the books! We released the Greenery and showed you how it works. We hosted a record number of webinars featuring customers from all backgrounds and levels of experience
December 23, 2019
As we enter a new decade, we look back at all our 2019 accomplishments.
2019 was a year for the books! We released the Greenery and showed you how it works. We hosted a record number of webinars featuring customers from all backgrounds and levels of experience. We also invited you to a record number of open houses, where you were able to meet the team, tour the farm, and ask a local Freight Farmer all your questions. And, as with every year, we expanded our world map with new customers from the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and Australia!
2019 was also a banner year for our farm-to-school customers. As an increasing number of K-12 schools and universities add container farms to their campuses, we see the Greenery become more than just a means of food production. Instead, the Greenery can function as a classroom, research lab, after-school club, center for student jobs, and so much more!
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Vertical Farms Grow The Food of The Future
On a cold, blustery day while bare tree branches sway in the winter wind, vibrant, leafy salad greens packed with nutrition and bursting with flavor are flourishing at FreshBox Farms, an indoor vertical farm — where it doesn't matter what the weather is outside — in Millis, Massachusetts, about 30 miles southwest of Boston
Getty
Indoor farms offer a number of advantages, and they can help conserve resources.
By Eileen Abbott
Story at a glance
Indoor vertical farms are expanding across the country.
It still costs more to raise produce inside than out, but prices are dropping, and some indoor farms are profitable.
Yields can be up to 350 times outdoor equivalents, with substantial savings in water, pesticides and food miles.
On a cold, blustery day while bare tree branches sway in the winter wind, vibrant, leafy salad greens packed with nutrition and bursting with flavor are flourishing at FreshBox Farms, an indoor vertical farm — where it doesn't matter what the weather is outside — in Millis, Massachusetts, about 30 miles southwest of Boston.
With the world’s growing population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, the U.S. Department of Agriculture sees indoor vertical farms — which can operate year-round — as having potential in addressing food security. In a vertical farm, crops are grown in vertically stacked layers to save space and in a climate-controlled system to optimize growing conditions.
FreshBox Farms, which has been operating since 2015, joins a growing number of indoor vertical farms that have been sprouting up in recent years and spanning the country. These include 80 Acres Farm in Cincinnati, which claims to be the world’s first fully automated indoor farm, all the way to the West Coast, where kale, tatsoi, beet leaves, arugula, and mizuna greens thrive at the California-based Plenty.
For many consumers like Maria Quintas-Herron of Mechanicsville, Virginia, produce grown at indoor vertical farms is desirable, but needs to be pocketbook-friendly. Quintas-Herron is an avid runner who appreciates the value of good nutrition to fuel her runs, but she says, "I would love nothing more than to be able to always go for the best, most natural, organic products available. But at the end of the day, my budget dictates: cheaper is preferable.”
A report in AgFunder Network Partners estimates that it is “3 to 5 times more costly to grow in a vertical farm compared to conventional farming.”
However, Crop One Holdings — the platform under which FreshBox Farms’ brand falls — reports that technology is reducing costs and that the product is competitive as a result. “Crop One now has accumulated the largest database in vertical farming – a critical basis for AI/predictive agriculture,” says a company spokesperson in an interview with Changing America. “The company has invested in best-in-class plant science, software and control systems that control plant growth to generate the best outcomes – increased yields and reduced costs.”
In fact, Crop One says the success of its profitable farm in the Boston area is why it will expand across the globe, growing in Dubai in 2020. “The $40 million joint venture with Emirates Flight Catering will be the world’s largest vertical farming facility — a 130,000 square-foot controlled environment that will produce three U.S. tons daily of high-quality leafy greens at capacity,” reports a company spokesperson.
Headquartered in the Silicon Valley region of California, Plenty, like the other indoor vertical farms across the country, uses technology and science to nurture rows of hydroponic greens. Robots assist in the farming process while layers of produce from floor-to-ceiling are lit by LED lights. According to the company’s website, “Plenty’s vertical farms grow crops up 20-foot towers, achieving yields up to 350 times that of the most productive outdoor equivalent.” Here’s a link to a Plenty company video for an inside look.
These indoor vertical farms may be crucial in fulfilling a key tenet of urban resilience, which is strengthening local food production. “Generally, fresh produce grown in vertical farms travels only a few miles to reach grocery store shelves compared to conventional produce, which can travel thousands of miles by truck or plane,” states the USDA’s website.
This is important, because according to the USDA, by 2050, “two out of every three people are expected to live in urban areas. Producing fresh greens and vegetables close to these growing urban populations could help meet growing global food demands in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way by reducing distribution chains to offer lower emissions, providing higher-nutrient produce, and drastically reducing water usage and runoff.”
FreshBox Farms adds that because their produce is grown in sealed, climate-controlled rooms, the result is a fraction of the pathogen risk compared to conventional outdoor farming. A company spokesman says, “Vertical farming is how we safeguard crops from weather volatility and from pathogen spread such as the romaine e-Coli contamination. Greens grown at FreshBox Farms have 1/600th the bacteria of washed, field-grown greens. Its grow units use 18,000 gallons of water per year — in order to grow the same amount in the field, a farmer would require 46 million gallons of water.”
And the food simply tastes better, according to Plenty, which promotes produce with “zero pesticides and just-picked, cravable flavor” while supporting the local economy and teaching kids to eat healthier: “When kids grow up with access to delicious vegetables, they learn to eat healthier, a habit that will stay with them all their lives.”
Helping the community eat healthier is why Mark Lilly started Farm to Family CSA/The FarmBus, based in the Richmond, Virginia, area, with the mission of distributing food from local, sustainable farms. Lilly doesn’t think indoor vertical farms will replace outdoor agriculture. “Because you can only grow a certain number of things in indoor farms,” he says. “You have to have outdoor space for certain varieties, like pumpkins and watermelons which take a lot of space. You have to have pollination and organic, dense, nutrient-based soil."
Lilly says the food tastes different when grown outdoors. "You’ve got the natural sunlight. You’ve got the natural air.” As far as the different types of farming, Lilly says, “We’re all part of the whole. It doesn’t matter who’s growing what, where. It all needs to be done."
Published on Jan 01, 2020