Can Vertical Farming Ever Become Mainstream?

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By Simon Harvey | 28 January 2020

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Infarm's systems deployed in M&S

Amid the growing concerns about climate change and feeding the world's increasing population, especially in urban conurbations in developing countries, Simon Harvey investigates whether vertical farming – growing fresh produce in a controlled environment – can become well-established in the market.

The nascent vertical-farming industry is growing and gaining prominence among investors and governments that recognize the potential in a world where land availability for producing fresh food is fast diminishing, especially in countries with increasing urban populations.

Singapore is a prime example of an economy with a limited landmass for agricultural farming, leaving the city-state reliant on imports to feed its expanding population and turning to new technologies such as vertical farming and cell-grown meat. And with much of Singapore dominated by skyscrapers, it is cultivating fresh food on window ledges and rooftops of commercial and residential buildings in self-contained growing units.

But vertical farming as its name implies may be a bit misleading, which is why it also carries the designation of urban or indoor farming, or, what the chief executive of UK government-backed CHAP (Crop Health and Protection) prefers to call controlled-environment farming. As well as growing produce in stacked shelf-style units, it also takes the form of using redundant shipping containers known as 'cooltainers' and abandoned subway tunnels, employing the most-widely used hydroponics and aeroponics technologies – at least currently – without the need for soil and fields.

And it's not just space that's one of the primary factors driving the interest but also the advantage of being able to produce fresh produce like leafy greens year-round, so avoiding extreme weather events – an important element given the increasing concerns over global warming and the environmental impact of intense farming. And urban-farming methods don't use pesticides either.

Vertical farming is also applauded for using 90% less water – estimates do vary but are at least that level – than conventional techniques because it can be recycled and recirculated. The technology has also been touted as a potential means of cutting retailers' food waste, and, because the growing systems can be located nearer to the consumer, is claimed to potentially reduce the carbon footprint. It also opens the door to cultivating a broader range of crop varieties, many of which have died out due to commercial or viability reasons.

More importantly, perhaps, from a commercial perspective, the technology provides greater yields because the growers can control the nutrient inputs, which, it is claimed, in turn, provides fresher and better quality produce, as well as improved nutrition for the consumer. 

Evolving from niche markets

However, a major drawback for many vertical-farming operators revolves around energy use and cost because most of the systems employ LED lighting, although tech firms are investing in NPD and more efficient devices. There's also the aspect of raising the capital to fund the required technology and research and development, and to make it commercially viable and profitable. 

Vertical farming is also currently limited to fresh leafy vegetables, soft fruits and herbs, although, that said, it's not regarded by those in the industry as a method destined to replace arable farming. And new food choices such as tomatoes are slowly emerging. 

The intensifying interest in the cannabis market – for medicinal, and in some cases, recreational use – might just arguably be the pick-me up to inject more momentum into the vertical-farming sector, an area still difficult to quantify in terms of size because of the split between the companies cultivating the produce and those supplying the technologies, according to CHAP. But can urban farming become mainstream?

"I think it definitely will. I think it will go into niche markets to start with like the micro greens, leafy greens and then the higher-value foods, so there's definitely a market now for high-value nutrition foods coming through," Fraser Black, the CEO of CHAP, tells just-food.

CHAP, which is part of the UK's Agri-Tech strategy, and Innovate UK, a government-backed innovation agency, have teamed up to open a center called The Innovation Hub for Controlled Environment Agriculture (IHCEA), based in Dundee, Scotland. 

Black continues: "The consumer view of what they eat and how they eat it is definitely helping fuel this whole area. It's not going to be mainstream arable, it's not going to be cereals, but, as we drive down the price and improve varieties, it will become more mainstream. I think it's going to be a companion rather than a competitor to existing farming.

"A lot of the technology, we suspect, will start to be driven not by salads and leafy greens but by the cannabis boom that's happening in the States and in other places. A lot of the technology that will be used in that will transfer over into the consumable-food market as well. And clearly then driving down the cost.

"You have a combination of entrepreneurs, growers, investors, technologists, biologists, and physicists all working together to see how do we work this effectively and scale-up."

Venture-capital backing

Research from US-based MarketsandMarkets.com suggests the global vertical-farming sector could reach almost US$6bn in value over the next two years, from around $1.5bn in 2016.

There are a myriad of firms already involved around the globe, including in the US, Europe and Asia.

Infarm, based in Berlin, has drawn venture capital for its vertical-farming technology targeted at retail and foodservice channels. UK retailer Marks and Spencer recently installed systems from Infarm for fresh herbs – basil, mint, parsley, and coriander – in seven stores across London, joining other European retailers such as Edeka and Intermache using the company's technology.

Announcing the development last September, M&S said: "Each in-store farm unit uses 95% less water and 75% less fertilizer than traditional soil-based agriculture and is capable of producing the equivalent of 400 square meters of farmland, resulting in a more sustainable use of natural resources and ensuring zero-pesticide use." 

M&S declined to comment for this article but Paul Willgoss, director of food technology, said in September: "We operate as part of a complex global food-supply chain and want to understand the emerging technologies that could help provide more sustainable solutions, whilst also delivering fantastic products with exceptional taste, quality and freshness for our customers." 

Infarm is seeking to expand its own services across the whole food chain as innovation in the sector accelerates.

"We are sensitive to the fact that the Infarm approach to vertical farming is only one way to tackle the urgent agricultural and ecological challenges of our time," says Osnat Michaeli, co-founder and head of marketing. "Solving these challenges will require innovation and collaboration across the entire industry to generate a lasting impact. 
 
"Over the next several years we are building a farming-as-a-service model that will be capable of delivering the technology, processes and expertise to enable an entire ecosystem of partners – from distribution centres to food manufacturers, from schools to hospitals and beyond – to participate in making cities truly self-sufficient in their food production."

Agricool in Paris has also secured funding from investors, including Danone Manifesto Ventures, the investment arm of the French dairy giant. The company started out growing strawberries in an apartment building in the capital before switching to cooltainers, and is now also present in Dubai, another major food importer.

Guillaume Fourdinier, the founder and CEO of Agricool, agrees with others in the vertical-farming sector that it will take five years before the market becomes more mainstream. However, as an example of the growth potential, he tells just-food Agricool's systems are currently in five supermarkets in Paris, which will increase to 25 in the next three months.

Nevertheless, Fourdinier emphasises the financial cost of getting an urban-farming business going and the efforts that go into R&D, an area in which 50 of the company's 85 staff are engaged. Fourdinier says Agricool has raised EUR30m (US$33.2m) in funding and "we are only just starting".

"It's a lot of effort and money and investment to make it profitable," he says. "We are basically inventing a new industry. This is something that will change the next 100 years of agriculture but it will take time for sure."

"We think we will be able to show that it's really profitable to grow indoors"

In the UK, Saturn Bioponics, located in the city of Birmingham and setting up farms in the local greenbelt area, uses hydroponic technology to grow fruit and leafy salad vegetables such as pak choi, lettuce and strawberries, and also herbs. The company uses natural light, growing produce in greenhouses. It has been backed by Innovate UK through project financing and grants, and is also assisting Shockingly Fresh in Scotland. 

Saturn chief executive Alex Fisher says the company is engaged in projects not only in the UK, but also in France, Romania and Japan. He argues main stumbling block in getting vertical farming off the ground is finance because of the cost of technology and R&D, before a venture can get to the commercialisation stage and start delivering profits.

"We do see it going mainstream," Fisher tells just-food. "It's all about money in the end. It's been very much about de-risking it technically, proving it financially and then getting people to adopt it on a large scale. And that's been our journey over nearly ten years. Probably, you will see the market exploding on our end in about five years." 

Like Black at CHAP, Fisher says urban farming was never intended to compete with the well-established agrarian sector, which is much larger by comparison Agricool's Fourdinier points out the technology isn't suitable for crops such as cereals and potatoes, which tend to have a longer shelf-life, particularly as the sector is geared toward providing the freshest produce in closer proximity to the consumer.

Fisher adds when asked to quantify the size of the market: "You are talking many tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars per annum in farm-gate crop values. Your lettuce, strawberries, herbs – it's huge – obviously that's a drop in the ocean for agriculture overall but it's still very significant values. As we move into other areas that number will expand."

Major breakthrough in five years

Saturn is also exploring aromatic products, botanical-type products, brassica and other soft fruits.

Black says the main driver behind vertical farming is commercial, although Agricool's Fourdinier tags on the environmental aspect, too. Both believe China and India will embrace the technology to feed their growing populations, especially with vast numbers relocating to the big cities from rural areas. And, with the mistrust among Chinese consumers over the food they eat, greens and herbs grown in indoor and controlled environments might be one solution to quell concerns over pollution, adds Fourdinier. 

"I think in the next five years you are going to see some major breakthroughs. You've already got big companies investing in this. You've also got an investment community eager to get involved," says Black. "There's huge interest in making this work and being able to have this combination of what is fresh produce 365 days a year. It has to be in a fashion that is cost-effective and provides value to the consumer, and we are definitely heading in that direction.

"You are going to see the US grow, partly because of the growth in cannabis and the use of medicinal and recreational cannabis. I think you will see the rest of the world follow quickly behind it because of the convenience factor."

Looking at the UK's vertical-farming market, Saturn's Fisher says it's a hard nut to crack when farmers generally in the country are struggling. If they are to venture into the sector, the Government needs to improve access by offering grants or other incentives because farmers are already highly leveraged with debt to take on the extra capital.

"If what you are looking for is for the farmer to progress you need to take the risk out of the adoption of new technologies. That's a huge thing," he says. "Access to finance in general is very difficult for farmers. So it's very hard for them to borrow money for new tech and stuff like that."

Shockingly Fresh is developing five vertical-farming sites, one in Scotland and four in England, using technology from Saturn. Fisher is also part of the company's team.

Garth Bryans, the director at Shockingly Fresh, says the sector needs to compete on price per kilogram with traditional farming to bring in the investment for the industry to expand and suggests the UK government should offer some form of tax incentives for large-scale systems to attract capital.

He says there are benefits, too, in terms of imports with Brexit on the horizon.
 
"We should note that with Brexit approaching, vertical farming significantly increases the UK season and will reduce reliance on imported leafy veg from mainland Europe in the early spring and late summer 'shoulder months'," he tells just-food. "If tariffs come in, this could make vertical farms even more compelling.

"The UK alone imports over GBP1bn ($1.3bn) of green leafy veg per year, providing a very significant market for systems that can compete with traditional crops on price whilst providing a much better quality crop closer to the point of supply."  

More broadly, Fourdinier highlights the benefits to the consumer in terms of the nutritional content of foods grown in a controlled environment in close proximity, and says they need educating to fully understand the advantages.

He adds, for example, that 50% of the vitamins in fruit are lost after five days storage, arguing vertical farming is all about being "fresher, the nutritional value and taste, and also consumers know where their food is coming from".

While the market is limited in terms of product selection, Fourdinier says it's natural to start off with the "easy ones" as other vegetables tend to be more complex and the nascent industry would need to develop the appropriate technologies. However, he sees tomatoes, peppers and courgettes coming through.

"We have to invent a lot of new technologies to make it profitable and you have to be productive to become mass market," Fourdinier explains. "It's the same as electric cars. We think we will be able to show that it's really profitable to grow indoors and that you get more sustainable food by doing so in large cities."

Freight Farms and Sodexo Announce Strategic National Partnership to Grow Food Onsite at School Campuses Across the U.S.

With sustainability and transparency in mind, partnership will enable year-round on-campus food production at university and K-12 educational institutions and other national Sodexo clients

BOSTON, Jan. 29, 2020 / PRNewswire

Freight Farms, the global innovation leader of containerized vertical farming, and Sodexo, the world leader of integrated food, facilities management and organizational quality of life services, have partnered to bring the most advanced hydroponic vertical farming technology to schools and universities across the country. The collaboration will usher in the implementation of Freight Farms' Greenery container farms to campuses across the U.S., enabling the onsite growth of fresh, traceable produce year-round that's pesticide and herbicide-free and sourced with zero food miles.

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With Freight Farms’ Greenery onsite, educational and corporate campuses will be able to grow more than 500 varieties of crops, like Salanova Green Butter Lettuce, at commercial scale year-round.

As awareness of key issues in food safety, health and wellness, and environmental sustainability continue to rise with increased urgency, this strategic partnership reflects Freight Farms' and Sodexo's shared vision to enable real, measurable change in food sourcing for educational and corporate institutions.

"Students, institutions, and corporate businesses want healthy, safe, and delicious food, and they want it sourced as sustainably as possible. Sodexo is proud to use and support the latest agricultural technology to create meaningful food system change, said Kenny Lipsman, Director of Produce Category for Sodexo. "Our partnership with Freight Farms allows us to grow nutritious, superior-quality food on-site for our clients, just steps from the kitchens and serveries. As part of Sodexo's Better Tomorrow Commitments, developed in accordance with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, this technology allows for traceability, reductions in food waste, and year-round crop consistency."

Co-founder and CEO of Freight Farms Brad McNamara, continued, "Sodexo's commitment to offer onsite food production to its customers helps accelerate food system decentralization — leading the charge for better sourcing practices at an institutional level. Sodexo's adoption of Freight Farms on-site programming will demonstrate to their customers and client communities the positive impact hyper-local food production can have on priorities from nutrition and food safety to emissions reduction."

With the largest network of connected farms in the world, Freight Farms' customers are located in 25 countries and 44 U.S. states, and range from small business farmers to corporate, hospitality, retail, education, and nonprofit sectors. To date, 35 educational and corporate campuses use Freight Farms' technology, and together with Sodexo, implementation will rapidly expand across the U.S.

By integrating Freight Farms' 320 square foot Greenery onto campus, Sodexo's customers will reap numerous benefits, including:

Food miles and waste reduction

• Food is harvested steps from the plate, eliminating food miles

• Harvested onsite, food lasts significantly longer, reducing spoilage waste 

• The Greenery uses 99.8% less water than traditional agriculture, and in some humid areas, operations can be water-positive

Peak freshness and nutrition, year-round

• Unlike food that has to travel great distances between harvest and plate, freshness and nutrient density does not degrade during transit

• Crops are never exposed to pesticides or herbicides

• The farms grow at commercial scale and maintain the perfect environmental conditions every day of the year

Safety, transparency, and data-driven traceability

• The hydroponic container farms are soil-free, a common carrier of E. coli, as well as decentralized from the mass supply chain

• Campus communities can get to know their own farmers and witness every growing stage of their food

• Proprietary IoT technology, farmhand, tracks produce from seed to plate, even down to the hour

Student and employee engagement

• Schools can choose to integrate their farms into interactive curricula across disciplines like science and technology, agriculture, nutrition, business, and social impact

• Corporate businesses can integrate their onsite farms into employee wellness and benefit programs

About Freight Farms

In 2012, Freight Farms debuted the first vertical hydroponic farm built inside an intermodal shipping container—the Leafy Green Machine—with the mission of democratizing and decentralizing the local production of fresh, healthy food. Now with the Greenery and integral IoT data platform, farmhand®, Freight Farms has the largest network of connected farms in the world, with global customers in 25 countries and 44 U.S. states ranging from small business farmers to corporate, hospitality, retail, education, and nonprofit sectors. To learn more, please visit freightfarms.com, or visit us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

About Sodexo North America

Sodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 72 countries. Sodexo is a leading provider of integrated food, facilities management and other services that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life for millions of customers in corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, sports and leisure, government and other environments daily.

The company employs 160,000 people at 13,000 sites in all 50 U.S. states and Canada and indirectly supports tens of thousands of additional jobs through its annual purchases of $19 billion in goods and services from small to large businesses. Sodexo is committed to supporting diversity and inclusion and safety while upholding the highest standards of corporate responsibility and ethical business conduct. In support of local communities across the U.S., in 2018, Sodexo contributed over 159,500 in volunteer hours, and since 1996, the Stop Hunger Foundation has contributed nearly $34.5 million to help feed children in America impacted by hunger.

Founded in 2010, Boston-based Freight Farms has established itself as the leader in the containerized agriculture industry. With its flagship product, The Leafy Green Machine™, the company was the first to integrate smart, hydroponic, vertical farming into an intermodal freight container.

To date, Freight Farms’ global customer base includes individual clients and corporations, universities, non-profits, municipalities, and restaurants.

(PRNewsfoto/Freight Farms)

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SOURCE Freight Farms

Europe's Largest, Turkey's First Plant Factory Enters Production In Antalya

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DAILY SABAH WITH DHA

ISTANBUL

-02-20-2019

The factory produces plants in a closed area without soil and without sun, using 95% less water. (DHA Photo)

An Antalya-based firm has established Europe's largest and Turkey's first plant factory with an estimated investment of 2.5 million euros ($2.77 million), as part of its 5-million-euro research and development (R&D) activities.

The factory grows plants in a closed area without soil or sun while using 95% less water than conventional farming. In the first stage, it will produce green leafy plants like lettuce, arugula, cress, spinach, thyme and basil.

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The factory, Farminova is run by Cantek Group that has operated in the food storage, processing and refrigeration technologies business at the Antalya Organized Industrial Zone for many years.

Company Chairman Can Hakan Karaca said they have launched an innovative initiative, establishing the largest active plant factory in Europe.

Talking to Demirören News Agency (DHA) Sunday, Karaca said providing healthy, continuous and fixed-price food today is critical because the world's population is rapidly growing and agricultural areas are gradually shrinking.

He added that the factory produces plants in a closed area without soil and sun and uses 95% less water. It produces plants without harming nature and living creatures, 24/7 all round the year needing any agrochemicals.

Karaca said the factory uses artificial intelligence (AI) and uses 100% Turkish products. He noted that they will start producing green leafy plants like lettuce, arugula, cress, spinach, thyme and basil in the first phase and strawberry and mushrooms in the second phase. This will be followed by the production of vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.

Karaca added that seedsmen should also develop low-stature plants now. Pointing out that Japan and the U.S. have carried out experiments in plant factories, he said that they are the only Turkish company to participate in the training program run by Professor Kozai, an industry pioneer.

"We have developed the plant factories project step by step, establishing the largest plant factory operating in Europe. What makes the difference here is that we have built this factory using our own products only," he told.

He said the factory in Antalya is an exemplary model. "We aim to establish, expand and share with global investors this innovative development in the world of agriculture, which is a 100% Turkish product from design to software."

Karaca said they are working on establishing factories in seven or eight countries, particularly in Africa. "Our goal is to open two to five factories this year and 100 factories in the next five years, 90% of which will be abroad."

Factory consultants Glenn Behrman and Christine Zimmerman Loessl, who have been working around the world in this area, also elaborated on the factory.

Loessl said the world and its inhabitants have changed. "However, if we continue to treat the world this way, the world is not going to end up anywhere good. We see every day that agriculture has had a huge and dramatic impact on this change. This project will prevent the conversion of natural lands into agricultural lands. We can produce plants completely independent of the weather, the sun and the conditions outside. It provides a healthy and fixed-price guarantee. Vertical farming practices will completely change their perspective. It's not going to happen in a tick, but it is going to happen eventually."

Behrman, on the other hand, said he has set up similar facilities in many countries around the world. "This is the most innovative and largest facility in Europe. It can produce healthy products that are harmless and chemical-free. It is possible to produce essential foods and products, not just edible foods. It is highly effective in seedling production and seed cracking. It can also make healthy and high-quality contributions to the cosmetics industry. Healthy and nutritious products can be produced in shorter harvest time. It is a hyper-efficient system. Production is possible anywhere in the world with minimum energy and labor," he added.

AgroTech Shipping Container Farming Systems For Indoor Organic Farming

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By Angela Scott-Briggs

February 3, 2020

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With this modern farming technology innovation, anyone can farm leafy greens, herbs, and spices for personal consumption and sales. The modular farming also guarantees high yield and no bacteria or disease, in a controlled environment.

As the population of the world grows, food security remains one of the biggest challenges to human survival and proper nutrition. Traditional farming methods alone can’t deliver all the food needed, as it is prone to negative effects that can stunt growth. 

Grow Pod Solutions is an AgroTech shipping container farming systems for indoor organic farming. Their desire is to provide sustainable, reliable, and result-oriented modular farming to feed the next generations. 

Founder Shannon Illingworth walks us through various frequently asked questions his company Grow Pod Solution gets about indoor farming with containers.

Everything about the farm is automated including soil, water, temperature, humidity, etc. These modular farms are also not affected by disease and there are no pesticides, so the food is 100% of quality and nutrient. 

Now, anyone can grow their food for personal consumption or sell the produce for profit. 

To learn more, please visit here. 

Grow Pods are designed to offer farmers an unmatched yield in a highly controlled farming environment. For each pod, farmers will be able to grow a considerable amount of vegetables like 2,000 heads of lettuce which equates to about 70,000 dollars of yearly revenue. 

Leafy greens are in high demand these days because they are rich in nutrients and people are becoming more conscious about living healthy. However, growing them in the open is a pain. They are exposed to too much or not enough water, pathogens, bacteria and diseases, pests, human and animal contamination, and unfavorable weather. 

However, with the Grow Pods, farmers don’t have to worry about any such issues. The pods are focused mainly on leafy greens and every 55 days the users can harvest and use or sell. The pods can grow quite a number of leafy green varieties like carrots, lettuce, cabbage, even spice, and herbs. 

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Grow Pod Solutions is working with universities, farmers, and distributors, local farmers, and outdoor markets, and essentially anyone that sells directly to consumers and interested in getting into farming. 

With the help of soil scientists, Grow Pod Solutions has been able to develop its own soil that is pathogen-free and clean. So, they are able to provide both Hydroponic Based farming and soil-based and custom based farming that guarantee quality and high yield. 

Existing farming and new entrepreneurs are welcomed to join Grow Pod’s community of growers. They are exposed to try new lines of soil and nutrients, so they can become successful in the indoor environment farming. 

Grow Pod Solutions was created out of the desire to deliver quality leafy greens that are free of pesticides and contamination. With their superior and automated technology, they will be able to provide farmers with greater farm yield that promises high profitability. 

For more information, please visit https://www.growpodsolutions.com/. 

RELATED ITEMS: AGRICULTURE, AGROTECH, CABBAGE, CARROTS, CONTAINER, FARMING, FOOD, GROW POD SOLUTIONS, HERBS, INDOOR, LETTUCE, ORGANIC, SHIPPING, SPICE, SYSTEMS, TECHNOLOGY

The Booming Indoor Gardening Movement

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Sarah Buckley

22/01/2020

The booming indoor gardening movement, prominently explored at CES 2020 earlier this year, is allowing consumers to grow their greens indoors, all year-round.

LG’s indoor farm appliance is an example of how a built-in, columned indoor garden using lighting, temperature and water control can change the way consumers obtain their kitchen ingredients.

LG’s offering of all-in-one seed packages and a growth monitoring app makes the one-stop-shop capable of feeding a family of four with home-grown produce.

The appliance replicates optimal outdoor conditions by matching the temperature inside the insulated cabinet to the time of day.

The LED lights, air circulation, and wick-based water management system allows the produce to quickly grow, alongside the automated gardening solution’s non-circulating water supply technology.

The core technology, which evenly distributes the precise water required for the plant’s to healthily flourish, prevents algae and odors for a hygienic, green enclosure.

Much like LG, n.thing, a South Korean agriculture start-up has developed ‘planty cube’ which is an automated vertical farming system, to a more elaborate effect – allowing consumers to maintain crops from anywhere, at any time.

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Cubes, blocks, cells – the hydroponic farm, presented in a shipping container, has each square evenly stacked with rows of shelves of plants.

A computerized system controls the environment by monitoring the plants’ health, adjusting the environment accordingly.

These alternatives to glasshouse production are presenting solutions to production, health, convenience, pollution, water-use, but most notably, are finally brought to the consumer’s arena.   

Light4food And Moleaer Announce Indoor Farming & Research Partnership

Moleaer has expanded their position in the high tech horticulture sector by partnering up with Light4Food. Light4Food gains knowledge by using their own research facilities, the so-called Indoor GrowHow Facilities, which exist of multiple climate chambers for conducting research to the most optimum growing conditions to cultivate plants in an indoor environment. Both for own research and in collaboration with a client.

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Niels Jacobs, Project Engineer at Light4Food, says, “we are using the Moleaer Bloom nanobubble generator for half a year now. In our Indoor GrowHow facilities, we dissolve oxygen in the form of nanobubbles into the cultivation water. Multiple cultivations of lettuce and herbs are grown with nanobubble technology were compared with traditional aeration systems. The results are very positive, not only in the deepwater hydroponic system but also in tests with high wire crops grown on rock wool substrate."

Michiel de Jong, Moleaer: “The findings corresponded with what we see in practice. Nanobubbles provide cleaner water with more available oxygen for the roots, this makes them less susceptible to molds and bacteria. Lack of oxygen is less generally known as a limiting factor for plant growth in comparison to lack of light or CO2. We can already assume that in spring and especially in summer, oxygen is the limiting factor for plant growth whether using rock wool, cocos or hydroponic systems. This is also the case when the substrate is too wet during cultivation. Not only the roots are negatively influenced, but also the microclimate in the root environment."

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Left without Moleaer, Right with Moleaer

Light4Food expertise is in indoor growing, and consequently, they have experience in medicinal plants. “Moleaer’s nanobubble technology is the most efficient method to dissolve oxygen in the water. Therefore, we are looking forward to discussing this technology with our clients, eventually to realize the most viable indoor growing concepts”, says Rene van Haeff, managing director Light4Food.

For more information:
Light4Food
Expeditiestraat 11
5961 PX Horst
+31 77 207 0008
info@light4food.com
www.light4food.com

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Moleaerinfo@moleaer.com
moleaer.com

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Publication date: Mon 27 Jan 2020

IKEA Wants All Restaurants To Be Self-Sufficient in Herbs and Lettuce

Many IKEA customers like to grow their own fruit and vegetables. "What if we could do the same?" they wondered at the Swedish retail chain.

The company is testing smallscale urban farms, exploring whether they can become self-sufficient in some of the fresh produce used in IKEA restaurants.

Container farms
In FY18, they grew their own herbs and lettuces in small-scale urban farms in Sweden and Switzerland. In FY19, they extended the tests, installing medium-scale container farms with romaine and frisée lettuces outside the IKEA Malmö and IKEA Helsingborg stores in Sweden. The farms use hydroponic technology and operate in a circular way, with food waste from the store used to create a nutrient solution to feed the lettuces.

Promising results
Early results show the container farms produced enough to supply the in-store restaurants with all the lettuce they need. Since they’re grown onsite, the lettuce can be used almost straight away, meaning they’re fresher, tastier and contain more nutrients. They also grow faster, with less water and waste than conventional farming and without the use of pesticides and herbicides. A life-cycle assessment shows that when the urban farm is powered by renewable energy, the carbon footprint of the lettuce is 30% smaller than the ones we would usually use. IKEA is planning to extend urban farming so that they become self-sufficient in herbs and lettuce across all store restaurants.

Cost-cutting
The main challenge is that the produce IKEA uses is currently more expensive than a conventionally farmed alternative. They’ve already made progress on reducing these costs, and they’re continuing to find ways to improve efficiency. Ingka Investments has also invested in two urban farming businesses in the USA and Estonia to support development of the industry.

For more information, check out the Ingka Group Sustainability Report.

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Publication date: Fri 31 Jan 2020

Vertical Farming Transforms The Farm-to-Fork Supply Chain

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February 3, 2020

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Steve Banker Contributor - I cover logistics and supply chain management.

Indoor vertical farming has been around for quite some time, but leading companies in this industry are starting to garner a great deal of attention from the business press even as investors have poured money into the industry. As the world population continues to expand, so too does the amount of fruits and vegetables needed to feed the world. We are not creating new farmland to accommodate the increase in fresh food required. Vertical farming can be part of the solution to this problem.

Vertical Farming is a High-Tech Endeavor

Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. Vertical farming incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, which is a fancy way of saying that it provides protection and maintains optimal growing conditions throughout the development of the crop.

At the leading firms, vertical farming is a big data, high tech endeavor. At AeroFarms, a leader in the space, their plant scientists monitor millions of data points every harvest. The company says their LED lights are used “to create a specific light recipe for each plant, giving the greens exactly the spectrum, intensity, and frequency, they need for photosynthesis in the most energy-efficient way possible.” This lighting allows them to control size, shape, texture, color, flavor, and nutrition of their plants.

The company has received $100 million in venture capital and has two patents. The titles of their personnel sound much more like what you would find at a high-tech company than at a big farm conglomerate. They have a chief technology officer, engineers, scientists, risk managers, and even a director of intellectual property.

Why Vertical Farming?

As with any new or emerging technology, there need to be benefits. Vertical farming has proven itself to benefit in a different way. In recent years, there have been a number of E. coli outbreaks from green, leafy vegetables. What many people may not have realized was just how the outbreak occurred. In most cases, the E. coli outbreak was related to the washing practices of the vegetables. With vertical farming, this is a moot point; vertical farming is dirt-free and requires no washing of the vegetables. This alone can prevent foodborne illness outbreaks.

Vertical farming can assist in achieving maximum yields. First, plants only need about 10 minutes of darkness a day. Getting light all day long allows the plants to grow faster. Also, traditional farmers usually apply fertilizer once, water the crop and hope it grows. AeroFarms, meanwhile, applies fertilizers many times, adjusting along the way to optimize plant growth. AeroFarms at one point said they were making fertilizer adjustments every 15 minutes. They also tightly control humidity and water consumption.

Vertical farming enables more harvests throughout the year. Since harvests are not climate-related, they can be done year-round. For some fruits and vegetables, this means having up to 30 harvests in a year rather than five or six. Consumers no longer have to wait for produce to be “in season.” There is also no worry about spoilage due to weather conditions, which enables maximized production.

Sustainability is a top concern for consumers and companies alike. Vertical farming plays a significant role in sustainability efforts as well as the greater good of the earth. According to recent studies, vertical farms use up to 70 percent less water than traditional farms. Additionally, given their isolated nature, pesticides and herbicides are not needed to thwart would-be pests.

Vertical Farming and the Farm-to-Fork Supply Chain

The benefits mentioned above do not even take the supply chain into account. From a supply chain standpoint, there are two major benefits to vertical farming.

First and foremost, vertical farms can reduce the number of miles fresh fruits and vegetables must travel in order to reach supermarket shelves. This also reduces fuel consumption, driving down the total cost to consumers. Studies have shown that the US imports about 35 percent of the produce that lands on supermarket shelves, with the average item traveling 2,000 miles. With this distance traveled, the produce has been picked roughly two-weeks before consumers can get their hands on it. Even for domestic produce, the time and cost to pick, pack and ship the produce from California to the East Coast is five to seven days. However, with a smaller footprint, vertical farms can be set up in urban areas, allowing for fresh produce to get to the shelf faster.

Secondly, as alluded to in the previous paragraph, less space is required for vertical farming. Every square meter of floor space of vertical farming produces approximately the same amount of vegetable crops as 50 square meters of conventionally worked farmland. According to a recent report by Cushman & Wakefield PLC., over the next few years, warehouse supply will outpace warehouse demand. This means that excess warehouse space could be turned in to vertical farming facilities. The use of vertical farms in densely populated places can get more fresh produce on supermarket shelves faster and could even spur home delivery to consumers. Think of it as a vertical farm share.

Of course, there are downsides to vertical farming as well. For instance, the start-up cost to get a facility up and running is a deterrent to many would-be vertical farmers. Also, while water consumption is significantly reduced, there is still the problem of using energy to run the facility. While traditional farms rely on natural sunlight, vertical farms do not. Renewable energy sources are one way these companies can try to offset the cost and environmental impact of traditional energy. And LED lights are becoming more efficient at a rapid pace.

The economics of vertical farming should not be overstated. Wegman’s organic kale sells for $2.89 for a five-ounce container. Dream Greens, an AeroFarm brand, Baby Kale retails for $4.50 at Shoprite. The premium some consumers are willing to pay appears to be more related to the quality, freshness, and the health benefits of these products.

Final Thought

Traditional farming is clearly not going away any time soon. In fact, if it did, the world be in a whole lot of trouble. However, as the population continues to grow, and more emphasis is put on environmental sustainability, vertical farming can help to fill that void. Vertical farms have shown the ability to eliminate foodborne illness outbreaks (especially E. coli), maximize crop yields, and reduce water consumption. From a supply chain standpoint, vertical farms are reducing the miles on our fresh produce as well as getting it on our shelves faster. The future of vertical farming looks bright. It will be an interesting market to watch over the next few years.

The primary author of this article was Chris Cunnane, a Research Director for Supply Chain Management at the ARC Advisory Group.

Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website. Steve Banker

I am the Vice President of Supply Chain Services at ARC Advisory Group, a leading industry analyst and technology consulting company. I engage in quantitative and qualitative research on supply chain management technologies, best practices, and emerging trends. I’ve been published in Supply Chain Management Review, have a weekly column in Logistics Viewpoints (www.logisticsviewpoints.com), and can be followed on Twitter @steve_scm or contacted at sbanker@arcweb.com.

Freight Farms And Sodexo Are Bringing Vertical Farming to U.S. Schools

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by Jennifer Marston

JANUARY 29, 2020

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Freight Farms, a major player in the world of containerized vertical farms, announced today a partnership with food service and facilities management company Sodexo. Together, the two aim to bring Freight Farms’ hydroponic vertical farms into school campuses across the U.S., according to a press release sent by Freight Farms

In North America alone, Sodexo serves over 13,000 client sites, many of them school cafeterias and university dining halls. The new partnership means Boston-based Freight Farms will be able to implement its Greenery container farms in more locations. At the moment, the company has 35 of these farms set up at educational and corporate campuses. The Sodexo partnership will expand that number “rapidly,” according to the press release, as the two companies implement more farms at both K-12 schools and university campuses that are Sodexo customers. 

The 320-sq-foot Greenery farm uses hydroponics to grow leafy greens and herbs inside climate-controlled shipping containers. Users control watering and nutrient schedules and access data on their plants via the company’s proprietary Farmhand software, which can be accessed via the user’s smartphone. The idea is to equip growers with a turnkey offering they can flip on from anywhere in the world and use to grow food with relatively little hassle.

For schools in particular, that means outfitting students and teachers with not just freshly harvested food for the cafeteria but also potential new curriculum around technology, agriculture, and business, if students are allowed to work directly with the farms. Co-founder and CEO of Freight Farms Brad McNamara told me last year that the Greenery “allows us the opportunity to not only feed a demographic and teach them how to farm.”

Still, vertical farming has yet to prove itself in terms of scale and economics. Part of determining the success of the Freight Farms-Sodexo partnership will lie in getting more data on how well the vertical farms function in an institutional environment. Many vertical farms geared towards institutional levels of food production promise simple “plug in and grow” solutions. Not all of them deliver as promised.

And beyond basic functionality of the farms, we also need more information about whether or not its truly cost-effective to bring these farms into schools and cafeterias in place of greens transported across the country. Will the reduction in water usage and food waste translate into money saved for these institutions? Freight Farms noted in the press release that in some parts of the country, those using the Greenery can actually make their operations water positive. We don’t, however, have any numbers on how beneficial being water positive is to these organizations’ overall margins, and if it offsets, say, the electricity required to run the farms.  

This isn’t the first food-tech-focused initiative Sodexo has embarked on in the recent past. In 2019, the company partnered with Starship to bring wheeled food delivery robots to college campuses in the U.S. The company also launched an Impossible Burger menu at 1,500 of its U.S. locations.

Sodexo’s sheer reach (it’s a multi-national corporation with services all over the world) gives it a certain amount of influence over the educational sector’s meals many others wouldn’t have. If the partnership with Freight Farms can showcase both the health and economical benefits from hyper-local, hyper-traceable, longer-lasting greens onsite, it could open the door to more schools and institutions considering some form of indoor farming onsite.

Related

Freight Farms Is Rearchitecting the Concept of Vertical Farming

Ford Motors Is Using Vertical Farming to Feed and Educate Detroit

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Kroger Partners with Infarm to Grow Greens in Grocery Stores

How Urban Farms Are Supposed To Feed Millions of People

Urban farming is supposed to provide people with local food in the metropolitan areas. How ecological the farms really are and promising urban farms worldwide.

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BY JÜRGEN RÖSEMEIER-BUHMANN

Half of the world's 7.5 billion people already live in cities. According to UN calculations, the figure is expected to reach 70 percent by 2050, with an estimated 10 billion people living in the world. Seven billion people in urban conurbations have to be supplied with food from an agriculture that is already reaching its limits today.

The common solution for decades: A well-rehearsed system made of turbo seeds from the laboratory that is cultivated with artificial fertilizers and dozens of pesticides in monocultures.

Biodiversity is lost and resources are wasted if, for example, food is produced for retailers with lots of water in dry areas and food is transported around the world using fossil fuels.

Lead photo: In this vertical urban farm, lettuce grows with the help of aquaponics. Photo © LouisHiemstra / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Read the complete article here

US: Minnesota - Nobles Cooperative Electric Producing, Living Green

New GroShed Will Supply Vegetables Year ‘Round To Area Food Shelves

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Written By: Alyssa Sobotka | Jan 28, 2020

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Nobles Cooperative Electric Member Services Manager Tracey Haberman stands near fast-producing lettuce varieties in the co-op's new GroShed. (Alyssa Sobotka/The Globe)

WORTHINGTON — Nobles Cooperative Electric is going green and producing green with innovative technology that will help stock local food pantry shelves with fresh produce year-round.

The electric cooperative recently began utilizing its new hydroponic GroShed, an 8-by-12-foot shed equipped to grow vegetables despite the frigid temperatures outside.“It’s so simple, it practically runs itself,” said NCE Member Services Manager Tracey Haberman about the cooperative’s Living Green program.

Regulated at a constant 72 degrees Fahrenheit, several lettuce varieties, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers are being grown in the shed since it arrived at the cooperative’s U.S. 59 home north of Worthington on Dec. 23.

LED lights above the plants and tubes below or injected into the pots keep the plants adequately supplied with enough artificial sunlight and water to meet their growing requirements.

More than 100 pods are available for lettuce varieties to grow, while seven planters are used for vegetables like tomatoes and peppers that require more growing room.

The fastest-growing lettuce variety currently being produced in the GroShed requires just 43 days to mature

.Haberman said the GroShed is an innovative way the cooperative can meet its commitment to improving its members’ lives.

As the vegetables reach maturity, NCE will donate produce to local food shelves in Nobles and Murray counties, where their customers reside. Recipients will include Manna Food Pantry in Worthington, Murray County Food Shelf in Slayton and Fulda Food Shelf in Fulda.

Haberman said as NCE begins harvesting and donating produce to the local food pantries, it may adjust what it grows next based on need and desire.

The cost of the GroShed was about $11,000. Nobles Cooperative Electric received a $5,000 grant from Great River Energy, as well as $3,500 from Community Wellness Partners and Southwest Health and Human Services, which received dollars from the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP).

Community Wellness Partners Coordinator Cecilia Amadou said SHIP jumped on the opportunity to partner with NCE because it saw value in increasing access to fresh local fruits and vegetables.“Having produce available at our local food shelves provides the opportunity for individuals to be healthy,” Amadou said. “GroShed is going to provide produce all year-round, so for the cold winter months when produce is scarce, we know that people are still going to get some produce, which will reduce the amount of canned goods people are going to consume.”NCE’s purchase of the GroShed makes it the first energy cooperative in Minnesota to own a food-producing shed, it learned at a Great River Energy meeting.

As of early January, other cooperatives had scheduled visits with NCE to learn more about the shed.

That was part of NCE’s goal: To inspire other entities with its Living Green initiative. Local individuals are also welcome to schedule a time to tour the shed.NCE General Manager Adam Tromblay sees the GroShed as a potential opportunity for locals folks to stay on the family farm.“It will produce some income on a relatively low investment,” Tromblay said.

How The UAE Grows its Own Food In a Sustainable Way

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By Jackie Austin -January 25, 2020

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THE ABU DHABI AUTHORITIES RECENTLY SAID THEY USED THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY TO GROW CROPS LOCALLY AS PART OF THE FOOD SECURITY STRATEGY.

As the UAE strives to achieve and maintain the highest level of national food security, a transformation is taking place in the country’s agricultural sector. As agriculture often puts considerable pressure on natural resources and the environment, the UAE develops sustainable and integrated food safety systems that use the latest technologies to innovate solutions to the challenges of securing food resources.

In other words, the country is now promoting and applying large-scale sustainable farming methods aimed at protecting the environment, expanding the world’s natural resources and maintaining and improving soil fertility. It also wants to support farmers, resources, and communities by promoting farming practices that are profitable, environmentally friendly and good for communities.

Some of the practices under sustainable agriculture include vertical farming, hydroponics, organic farming, and controlled environmental farming to grow local fruits and vegetables with minimal resources. The Abu Dhabi authorities recently said they used the latest technology to grow crops locally as part of the food security strategy.

Saeed Al Bahari Salem Al Ameri, director of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA), said the authority is working on an ambitious plan to achieve the sustainability of agriculture and to support the overall scientific research efforts to improve food safety mechanisms. “The Authority is keen to invest in future technologies and create innovative and sustainable solutions to overcome environmental and climate challenges, with the aim of identifying the best technologies and the most suitable farming methods for the local environment and local farmers and companies in the private sector, to achieve sustainability in these areas, “Al Ameri said.

Last year, a Smart Home Farming Showcase called “Bustani” – meaning “garden” in Arabic – was launched in Masdar City’s Eco-Villa prototype to demonstrate emerging farming solutions. It included innovative solutions to encourage people to grow and grow their own food at home to help provide sustainable solutions and manage food safety.

Bringing a revolution in agriculture

Using advanced technology to produce zero pesticides, zero herbicide, and more water-efficient products, Unsfarms from the UAE is growing food for a better future by revolutionizing agriculture. Mustafa Moiz, director of Unsfarms, a local indoor hydroponics company that grows fresh, locally produced leafy vegetables without chemicals or preservatives, said vertical farming is the future of sustainable agriculture in the UAE. “By growing vertically, we are able to produce 40 times more on the same footprint of the country, bringing the concept from farmer to plate to your home. With a third of the world’s population hungry and two-thirds of the food products waste due to logistics inefficiencies, local growth in urban areas can play an important role in addressing these problems, and with the world population expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, the simplest answer is vertical farming where products are free from pesticides and herbicides, with consistent production with ecologically sustainable methods throughout the year. In addition to sustainability, our indoor culture approach will also improve the taste and quality of the products, giving the brand and retailers a competitive advantage. “Talking about the varieties of crops that they produce through vertical farming, he said: “For example, we grow heirloom varieties and types of products that people usually don’t find, such as wasabi mustard, red-veined sorrel and gourmet lettuce that burst with taste even when consumed raw. We are busy growing different types of lettuce leaves, mixes and micro vegetables such as kale, gourmet baby lettuce, mustard and herbs.

“Controlled environment agriculture”

Madar Farms, based in Abu Dhabi, one of the local farms that has been operating for four years now, offers a holistic approach to sustainability to address food and water safety challenges in the region. Kyle Wagner, head of operations at Madar Farms, said they use different methods to ensure that their products are grown sustainably. One is through closed and controlled systems that offer optimum conditions and protect plants against external factors, making a consistent food supply possible throughout the year. “In this controlled environmental agriculture we use a technology-based approach to food production within a closed cultivation system where environmental variables can be maintained and optimized,” he said.

Wagner said the farm also takes a two-pronged approach, combining hydroponics and vertical farming methods to unlock synergistic benefits. Madar Farms is currently growing various leafy vegetables and microgreens and their new multi-million-dirham farming facility – the world’s first commercial tomato-based commercial farm with only LED lamps to grow fresh tomatoes will be put into operation later this year in Abu Dhabi. The 5,000 square meter facility currently under construction in the industrial zone of Khalifa, Abu Dhabi (Kizad), will also grow microgreens and triple the number of microgreens that Madar Farms is currently growing. All grown products are distributed locally throughout the UAE

Wagnar explained that, in general, crops grown in controlled environmental agriculture with hydroponics grow slightly faster than regular crops because they are provided with the ideal environmental conditions that are needed to thrive.“Sustainable agriculture combines our technology with agriculture. As such, sensors, software, filters, LED lighting, air conditioning, and strict hygiene protocols are required,” he said.

Connect customers and farmers

PC Kabeer and wife Semy Kabeer, who founded FarmChimp, an SME that connects consumers directly with farmers who use organic farming for their crops, said:

“We are working on a traceability concept so that our customers can make contact with their farmers and understand the ways the farmer has used to get that product.

We bring the face of the farmer and connect him with the customers so that they can better understand their products.

And we want to bring the land to life by encouraging farmers to use organic fertilizer, feritlisers and also doing multi-cropping to enrich the soil. “Darshan Murali, a 16-year-old student volunteer who focuses on organic farming, together with a team of students, spreads awareness about sustainable agriculture by organizing activities that involve children in organic farming. “The products needed for the garden that we use are completely chemical-free. This process starts from the end of October and ends with a successful harvest in March. The first step is to prepare the soil with cow dung and peat moss. After a few weeks, the plants need fertilizer and for that, we use neem cake, visamic acid, and cow manure again together with vegetable compost.

To get rid of the pests and insects, we use garlic and chilly mix diluted with water and then spray it on the leaves. The entire process is done by volunteers from our team of volunteers named #teamUFK. “Murali said they use organic farming at their GEMS Millennium School, Sharjah and have grown vegetables such as tomato, chili, cauliflower, ovary, cucumber, snake gourd, and other leafy vegetables. “By allowing plants to grow organically themselves, you ensure that you are free from lifestyle diseases and organic agriculture ensures that the ecosystem is well balanced.”reporters@khaleejtimes.com

Can Urban Agriculture And Vertical Farming Help feed A Hungry World?

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January 30, 2020

• Chris Hill

• chris.hill@archant.co.uk

• @ChrisHill75

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Leafy greens and herbs grown by Square Mile Farms on the roof of Microsoft's office in Paddington. Picture: SquareMileFarms

Futuristic food-growing techniques like vertical farming and indoor urban agriculture can help feed the world - but this fast-growing sector needs to scale up to meet that challenge.

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Dr. Belinda Clarke, director of Agri-TechE. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY

This will be the focus of an event which will bring industry innovators to the Norwich Research Park to discuss the potential of controlled-environment agriculture (CEA).

With a rising population adding pressure on finite supplies of farmland, new technologies are emerging which can grow food within enclosed structures such as greenhouses to optimize resources like land and energy - often using soilless, hydroponic systems to supply precise amounts of water and nutrients to the plants' roots.

Industry leaders including LettUs Grow, Growpura and Square Mile Farms will be sharing their insights at the John Innes Centre on March 18 at a seminar organized by Agri-TechE, formerly known as Agri-Tech East.

CEA is a fast-growing sector, worth an estimated £1.72bn in 2018 worldwide - with experts predicting that figure will rise to £9.84bn by 2026.

Agri-TechE director Dr. Belinda Clarke said these technologies could play an important role alongside traditional agriculture - as long as they can make the next growth leap to achieve economies of scale.

"Scale-up is the next big challenge for controlled-environment agriculture," she said.

"There are still obstacles to overcome and the industry is experimenting with different technologies and business models, such as diversification of existing vegetable production, purpose-built facilities or niche cultivation close to the point of use - to gain competitive market price for its products."

One of around 20 speakers and exhibitors at the conference is Jock Richardson of Growpura, whose technology is designed for large production facilities, using hydroponics in a "clean room" environment and featuring an automated system to move plants.

"We are going to see continued invention for small-scale hydroponics, but on the industrial end the challenge to be broached is how growing operations are scaled," he said. "A lot of operators have some great technology but to grow bigger means a linear, or worse, increase in costs. Energy management is one of the key issues to be solved in this. There is a lot happening in sustainable energy supply and I think it is going to make a big difference to how farmers and consumers view CEA in the coming years."

Jack Farmer, the co-founder of aeroponic systems developer LettUs Grow, predicts a "synergy" between existing horticulture and advances in CEA.

"Essentially, vertical farms will prove complementary to glasshouse horticulture, with technology increasingly being shared between them," he said.

"The benefits of aeroponics come from the health of the plant's root base and this is particularly valuable when you are seeking to accelerate the growth rates, such as in leafy green production or propagation. But we are very open to collaborating with different tech providers where that adds value to the grower."

Another emerging idea is the concept of "urban farms" to help re-engage city consumers with food production and to help big businesses to achieve their sustainability goals.

Johnathan Ransom, whose family are farmers in Lincolnshire, is a co-founder of Square Mile Farms which opened its flagship farm in February 2019 on the rooftop of British Land's London business campus in Paddington Central.

It grows leafy greens, microgreens, and herbs for local restaurants and produces fresh "veg bags" for local employees.

Mr. Ransom said: "Initially we came up with 'flat-pack farms', which enabled us to put growing units into tight urban spaces such as offices or on rooftops. However, growing and supplying food in cities is challenging and we realized we needed a commercial model that is not wholly reliant on produce sales to ensure this was going to really work for the future."

- Agri-TechE's event, named "Controlled Environment Agriculture - The Industry is Growing Up", will be held at The John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park from 9 am-5 pm on March 18.

For tickets and information, see the Agri-TechE website.

US: Minnesota - Shipping Container To Grow Year-Round Veggies At CLC

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By: Brainerd Dispatch | Jan 18th, 2020

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A crane places a 'Sota Grown hydroponic growing system at its new home on the Central Lakes College Staples campus. The system will produce year-round leafy greens. Submitted photo

STAPLES — Central Lakes College’s Ag and Energy Center in Staples is the new home of ‘Sota Grown, a collaborative indoor agriculture container farm project.

The project consists of an insulated shipping container outfitted with a complete hydroponic growing system able to provide numerous Minnesotans with fresh, leafy greens year-round. Partners include Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative, Lakewood Health System, Great River Energy, the Electric Research Power Institute and CLC.

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Following the installation of the container farm, CLC students will receive hands-on training to plant, maintain and harvest the growing crops, the first of which will be kale, ready to be harvested 10 weeks from planting. The kale will then be delivered to Lakewood for its Food Farmacy program that feeds more than 600 people monthly.

Great River Energy, Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative and Electric Research Power will collect data throughout the process for electricity load planning, technology evaluation, and beneficial rate design analysis.

“Efficiencies with indoor food production and hydroponics will be critical as we look to feeding a growing global population that will surpass 9 billion in a few decades,” Keith Olander, CLC dean of agriculture studies, said in a news release.

The ‘Sota Grown project is part of a national indoor crop production demonstration effort that looks at how using efficient electricity, technology, plant sciences, and control solutions to create microclimates can produce ideal conditions for plant growth, yield, quality, and consistency.

Growing produce locally for area communities will also reduce the distance to market — a significant factor for Todd and Wadena counties since they are impacted by food deserts — thereby reducing net greenhouse gas emissions. Leafy greens generally travel an average of 2,000 miles before reaching a store, according to the release.

A ribbon-cutting event where the public will be able to view and tour the container farm will be this spring.

Those interested in following the process from seedlings to the first harvest can do so on the ‘Sota Grown Facebook page.

Why Local Farmers Can’t Adopt Vertical Farming System

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Jan 23, 2020

An agriculture expert, Mr. Ismail Ibrahim, has harped on the benefits of vertical farming systems and its potential to create more land space for crop cultivation. Ismail, a fellow at the Nigerian Agriculture and Extension Liaison Service (NAERLS), who spoke with the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Lagos, however, noted that local farmers in the country might not be ready for the technology because it was capital, time and resource-intensive.

The expert said that vertical farming was an innovation aimed at creating more spaces for the local farmer to cultivate his crops. “The farming concept started to save the available land spaces otherwise consumed by the traditional system of crop farming.

“The concept of vertical farming is that little available spaces can be turned into small farms; the innovation requires a scientific process that involves increasing longitudinal space by farming vertically. “What we mean by that is that a plot of land can be increased by planting vertically through a scientific construction of steps where each step makes up a farm plot,” he told NAN.

The expert said that each step could be used to farm different or the same crops at the same time. “You will be surprised that if a person has one plot of land, with vertical farming, he can have a three-story farm. “Each story can be planted on.

One advantage of the system is that it helps to preserve our arable lands. “Vertical farming system is a concept in architectural technology that has now been introduced into crop farming and it is very effective.

The fact is that the vertical farming system is capital intensive because it is expensive to construct the vertical ramps for crop cultivation. “Vertical farming system is also technical and time-intensive; you cannot go into the farming system without adequate technical know-how about the system,” he said.

He added that the local farmer would need certain expertise to adopt the farming system and would need to be trained to do it effectively. (NAN)

Vertical Farming

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By Daniel Loeschen on June 28, 2019

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There is a new kind of futuristic farming on the rise. In response to growing fears regarding dependency on fossil fuels, healthy agricultural practices, land, and water, Vertical Farming has arrived. From Asia to North America, what people are referring to as farms of the future are beginning to sprout up in the most unlikely environments. Where can you find these farms? Try urban apartments, warehouses, or laboratories to name of few. Vertical farming is not all that new either.

Academic professionals such as Columbia University's (NYC) Dickson Despommier, an ecologist who has actively been campaigning for vertical farms since 1999. His basis for arguing for the vertical farm was primarily rooted in the desire to see the carbon footprint of agricultural transport decrease. With the wonders of technology, the advance of LEDs, and the integration of automation, vertical farming is showing promise in the agricultural industry.

One of the world's largest vertical farms opened its doors in April of 2013 and is attracting quite a bit of attention. Expanding over a 90,000 square foot space, Farmed Here CEO Jolanta Hardej has wasted no time getting this vertical farm up and running. The building blocks came into place when Farmed Here received a $100,000 loan from the enormously popular Whole Foods. This new business appears to be well on its way to accomplishing its mission of "transforming the way local and organic produce is grown and distributed, making it accessible to everyone by profitably growing high-quality vegetables indoors, year-round, which are distributed to our retail partners within 24 hours of harvest." New technology is believed to allow Farmed Here to produce upwards of 1 million pounds of organic greens such as mint, basil, lettuce and more, with no soil. How is this possible? Aquaponics.

The Technology of Aquaponics

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Capable of being herbicide and pesticide-free with year-round growing, aquaponics has quite a promising appeal. At its core, aquaponics is the advancement of hydroponic technology in the form of a system of aquaculture. Aquaculture is literally raising fish below efforts of raising plants with nutrient-rich water. This all occurs in the same system. Farmed Here best describes the process as, "the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in water and nutrients recirculating environment."

The Why of Vertical Farming: Integrated Sustainability

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Many view vertical farming as one of the leading ways to combat issues in the growth of food crops such as drought and the fast-growing population of the planet. A large amount of vertical farming is stemming from studies indicating that the population will swell within the next 4-5 decades and will be increasingly more difficult to feed. Yes, the population will grow, but many believe this growth will funnel specifically into cities. Thus one might think, what better way to resolve the many issues facing agriculture globally than to integrate an idea that follows major cultural shifts and resolves land and water issues. Vertical farming is also unique in that the concept allows for year-round growing. This is possible due to the ability to control water, lighting, humidity, and CO2 levels. This means that vertical farming can take place in cities too. Vertical agriculture leads many to the question of what will happen to existing rural farmers. Fast Company recently wrote an article claiming that these futurist farmers possess the desire to supplement current efforts such as farms and greenhouses but in this new and sustainable way. The efficient foreseen way to complement existing farming efforts is to utilize the ability to grow year-round. Year-round growing is a pivotal way to combat harsh growing seasons. Although Vertical farming is most definitely on the uptrend, it also has a few obstacles to overcome as well. A few of these potential roadblocks might include the initial cost to run LED lighting and growing room limitations for specific crops like tomatoes and grains.

The Future of Food

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With a dedicated focus on rethinking agricultural spaces and desire to solve current issues facing the agricultural industry, vertical farming is promising. Ray Kurzweil is the Director of engineering at Google. Time Magazine recently interviewed Kurzweil on the topic of predicting how food will evolve into the future. Kurzweil wasted no time to point directly to vertical agriculture. Although he suggested a host of benefits, some of the highlights included the freeing up of land, decreases in pollution, and low food costs. Kurzweil even went as far as to say that, "the 2020s will be the decade of the vertical agriculture revolution.

Lead photo: farmedhere.com

US: Montgomery, AL - Local Restaurant Farms Out of Shipping Container For Fresher Produce

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Freight Farm Up And Running

In Midtown Montgomery

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By Jennifer Horton | January 16, 2020

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - They say necessity is the mother of all invention. For a Montgomery restaurant group, a shipping container turned out to be the solution to their problem.

Eric Rivera is the executive chef for Vintage Hospitality, which runs Vintage Year and Vintage Café. He was struggling to find fresh, sustainable lettuce options for his restaurants.

“We found that importing all the stuff from California or from Florida, we would get these lettuces after they’ve been harvested for days and sometimes almost a week by the time we get to them,” Rivera explained. “The product goes bad really fast costs a lot of money to replace that product with other product, it’s just not that quality that we were looking for.”

Enter the Freight Farm, an unassuming shipping container housed in the heart of Old Cloverdale - only steps from his restaurants. The 320 square-foot farm is equipped to grow up to 4 tons of produce a year, according to the manufacturer. It runs on power and minimal water consumption, a stark contrast to the water needed to farm traditional row crops.

“We can control all the elements and control the growth cycles,” he explained. “No rain, no hail, we’re not exposed to any elements.”

Which means they can grow a variety of greens year-round while decreasing the carbon footprint of cross-country supply chains and the threat of lettuce recalls.

“We feel like that it’s our responsibility in the restaurant industry not only provide healthy, nutritious food; but that is done in a socially conscious way as well,” stated Rivera.

Vertical Farms of The Future Require Genetically Edited Plants, Says Scientist

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22-Jan-2020 By Flora Southey

There is an innovation gap in urban agriculture, suggests Aberystwyth University Professor Huw Jones, whereby we have ‘huge innovation’ in vertical farming, yet still use ‘old seeds’ and ‘old plant architecture’.

Read the complete article here.

US: Virginia - Babylon Hydroponic Micro-Farm Grows in Centra Lynchburg General Hospital Cafeteria

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Centra Lynchburg Hospital

The Babylon micro-farm units in the Centra Lynchburg Hospital cafeteria grow equal amounts of green leaf, romaine, spring mix, bib, and red butter lettuces.

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Mike Buzalka | Jan 15, 2020

Centra Lynchburg General Hospital installed a micro-farm unit from vendor Babylon in its cafeteria last November and has already harvested about a hundred pounds of lettuce, primarily for use on its salad bar

Two hydroponic micro-farm units from vendor Babylon installed in the cafeteria of Centra Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia have already produced about a hundred pounds of lettuce for use in the salad bar and on patient meal trays. The apparatuses put in the second week of November last year are a high-profile sign of the hospital’s commitment to healthy, fresh food, as the cafeteria is located just off the heavily trafficked main lobby of the facility.“Soon as you walk in, it’s right there,” says Timothy Schoonmaker, system director and executive chef for Centra Culinary Creations, which operates dining at Centra Lynchburg Hospital.

Related: Elementary school teams with Princeton prof on vertical farm project

Related: School using green pilot to save green

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Photo: Signage explains what the micro-farms in the Centra Lynchburg Hospital cafeteria are and why they are important.

Photo credit: Centra Lynchburg Hospital

“Everything grows at its own rate, so [while] we’re growing equal amounts of green leaf, romaine, spring mix, bib, and red butter lettuce, they have different harvest times—green leaf takes a little longer while spring mix only takes a couple of weeks, for example—so there are times we get more of one kind than another,”

Schoonmaker explains. “We always have new [plantings] going in, so it just depends on where each is in its growing cycle.”Centra Lynchburg is the first hospital client for Babylon, and it came about by chance, Schoonmaker says. “I happened to run into one of my former produce reps who had moved on to Babylon and we got to talking.

The next thing you know, we had put together a proposal.”In addition to the lettuces, the Babylon micro-farm units can produce herbs and edible flowers, but neither is being grown currently at Centra Lynchburg because edible flowers may be too exotic for the venue and the hospital already grows its own herbs in its outdoor garden, which produces cilantro, rosemary, parsley, mint, and basil along with more substantial crops in season such as peaches, squash, cherry tomatoes, jalapeno, and green bell peppers.

The outdoor gardens are maintained by Schoonmaker and some of his managers, but Schoonmaker alone takes care of the indoor micro-garden with the help of some high technology.“I have an app to monitor it that’s pretty user-friendly,” he explains. “Babylon sends us seed packs and all I have to do is put them in the farm. Everything is scanned in [when it’s planted] so I know when it’s to be harvested, [as well as] water and nutrient levels if lights are working [and so forth].”

After a crop is harvested, Schoonmaker logs it, then turns it over to his kitchen staff, who does the washing and chopping. Most of the bounty is slated for the cafeteria salad bar, but some spring mix also has wound up on patient trays.“I also have a special crop reserved for a salad for a board of directors dinner at end of [January], so they can taste and see it,” he adds.

A typical crop will generally be used in a couple of days. The 60 pounds of lettuce Schoonmaker says he harvested on New Year’s Day was used up by the 3rd, he notes.

Customer reaction has been extremely positive, he adds.“I’ve had a lot of comments saying they can taste the difference, that there’s a fresh, crisp taste to the lettuce,” he says. “Of course, there’s also the health value and since we control it, there’s no worry about the lettuce getting a recall.”

TAGS: PRODUCTION

University of Arizona - Controlled Environment Agriculture Center - SHORT COURSE

Join us March 2 - 6 for CEAC’s Short Course! REGISTER HERE! 

Get your questions answered and increase your hydroponic growing know-how at the Greenhouse Crop Production & Engineering Design Short Course! Expand your knowledge during a four-day intensive conference including 3 full days of lecture, 1 day of hands-on training workshops at CEAC facilities, and a commercial Arizona greenhouse tour.

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This jam-packed event is full of information from experts in research, production and the bottom-line business of controlled environment agriculture. Enjoy face-to-face time with industry experts, as well as networking time with industry leaders! 

For more information please call us at (520) 626-9566 or go

to: https://ceac.arizona.edu/events/cea-short-course

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