Welcome to iGrow News, Your Source for the World of Indoor Vertical Farming
USDA Launches Innovative Ag Office - Announces $3M Grants
Stay tuned for much more information on these grants in the coming weeks, and mark your calendars for a June 3, 2020 USDA webinar on the grant process
By Thomas Wheet and Brian Filipowich
The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill charged the USDA with creating the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (“Urban Ag Office”). The Farm Bill noted that urban agriculture can “contribute to the revitalization of abandoned or underutilized urban land, [bring] social and economic benefits to urban communities, and [create] beneficial impacts on the urban landscape.”
After months of navigating the Congressional appropriations process, the necessary funding for the Urban Ag Office was finally signed into law in December 2019.
The Aquaponics Association reached out to the leadership of the Urban Ag Office and Congressional Offices to get a better understanding of the policies, funding opportunities, and timelines that will affect aquaponic growers.
Here is the Urban Ag Office’s Statement to the Aquaponics Association:
“Thank you for your interest in our efforts to stand up the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. The Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service was delegated responsibility to implement the 2018 Farm Bill provisions on behalf of USDA and I have been designated as the Interim Director for the Office. We are working collaboratively with other USDA agencies to ensure they each have an equal voice in establishing the office, consistent with the 2018 Farm Bill provisions, and they are able to contribute in areas that fall within their respective missions and areas of expertise.
“As you are aware, the 2018 Farm Bill authorized $25 million annually for the Office. However, the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriation was capped at $5 million and limits the degree to which we can implement the authorized activities. We are moving forward with standing up the office and the external federal advisory committee that serves to provide recommendations to the Secretary, forging a path to establish the urban/suburban pilot county committees, and developing announcements for grants and agreements provided for in the Farm Bill.
“We are planning a series of webinars that will be announced soon that are designed to provide interested persons and stakeholders information about the establishment of the office and the functions we anticipate implementing. We will ensure we keep your contact information on file so you receive information about these webinars.
Then, yesterday, as we were about to publish this article, the USDA released a new, $3 million in grants for urban agriculture initiatives that will increase food access, agricultural education, and innovative production methods within urban environments. Stay tuned for much more information on these grants in the coming weeks, and mark your calendars for a June 3, 2020 USDA webinar on the grant process.
Click to see the USDA Press Release on the $3 Million Urban Ag Grants for more information and webinar registration.
Aquaponics is already taking the urban agriculture and controlled environmental agriculture industries by storm. While accounting for $19 million in 2020, the market is expected to climb to $46 million by the end of 2026 (that’s a CAGR of over 11.5%). This potential impact, however, could be greatly increased with federal guidance, funding, and business support that the Urban Ag Office is intended to provide.
The following list highlights several forms of support that the Aquaponics Association will continue to advocate for on behalf of the entire aquaponics industry:
Funding: Due to high startup costs, aquaponics can be unattainable for many individuals and/or communities looking to begin an operation. We will continue to advocate the new Office to support aquaponics initiatives with appropriate levels of funding needed to develop adequate systems that will lead to successful operations (both for non-profit and for-profit organizations).
Clarity surrounding policies: Though widely understood as beneficial, aquaponics falls within an agricultural ‘no-mans-land’ surrounding guidelines at the local, state, and federal level. This grey-area is partially because aquaculture, food crops, and other crops all fall under different regulatory regimes. Basically the big bureaucracy gets confused and can’t function, like a deer in the headlights. Whether in regards to food safety, greenhouse sterility, organic certification, etc., the Aquaponics Association will promote policies that match the operational realities faced by aquaponic growers across the country.
Defining value: Beyond the monetary value surrounding the produce and protein sustainably grown in aquaponic operations, there are numerous social benefits to localizing food production in urban spaces. From local job creation and educational opportunities about agriculture/nutrition, to decreasing municipal carbon footprints associated with the traditional agricultural system, the Aquaponics Association will work to ensure that Congress and the USDA fully grasp the true value of aquaponic growing.
Designing The Future of Urban Farming
INFARM collaborated with IDEO to further explore their B2B offer, including concepts for the industrial design of the stackable, modular, climate-controlled units; the interaction design of an accompanying app to monitor and control the units, and its business model
Helping a Berlin startup strengthen its offer of vertical farming products and services
INFARM
THE CHALLENGE
Help INFARM develop the vision, products, and services for their B2B vertical farming offer.
THE OUTCOME
Concepts for the industrial design of B2B vertical farm units, the interaction design of the app to control and monitor the units, and a business model for sustainability.
The challenge of how we’ll feed the exploding world population in the future—in a sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly way—is seeding an agricultural revolution in Europe.
In 2012, INFARM founders Erez, Guy Galonska, and Osnat Michaeli found that vertical farms could be a solution to urban self-sufficiency. These farms could allow people to grow vegetables and herbs in small spaces, with no soil and far less water.
If every city on earth were to grow 10 percent of its produce indoors, it would allow us to take 340,000 square miles of farmland back to the forest.
DICKSON DESPOMMIER, EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND MICROBIOLOGY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, AND FATHER OF VERTICAL FARMING
An approach that’s captured the imagination of futurists for decades, vertical farming involves growing vegetables and herbs in stacked units or inclined surfaces, within which moisture, light, temperature, and nutrients are monitored, and controlled.
After creating their first vertical farming experiment in their apartment in Berlin, the founders brought together plant scientists and industrial designers to explore and develop vertical farming’s potential.
Since then, the startup has created custom growing systems for clients including Airbnb, Mercedes-Benz, and Weber. Most recently, INFARM installed a vertical farm growing herbs and vegetables at the Berlin branch of German supermarket chain Metro, the fourth-largest retail chain in the world, to sell to the public. It’s been profiled in Wired Germany, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Guardian, and Zeit.
The vertical farm is designed to be modular, allowing consumers to purchase according to their needs.
INFARM collaborated with IDEO to further explore their B2B offer, including concepts for the industrial design of the stackable, modular, climate-controlled units; the interaction design of an accompanying app to monitor and control the units, and its business model.
Urban farmers will sign up for “farming as a service,” comprising the units themselves, as well as a monthly subscription for seeds, cartridges filled with nutrients, and a pH regulator. Because they’re stackable, the modules can be scaled to suit anyone from a home grower to a restaurant chef or supermarket owner. And Erez claims a 1 square meter growing tray can yield four to six mature plants every day, 365 days a year, doubling that of state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouses.
The consumer app allows farmers to choose a set of herbs designed around specific recipes.
As well as remotely regulating each unit’s climate, the app will educate growers about new vegetables and herbs, selling packs of complementary seeds, with suggested recipes for them, and cooking instructions. Aiming to promote biodiversity, the firm will sell rare-breed and heirloom seeds too.
The startup has funding from the EU’s European Pioneers fund and is now looking to secure investment to accelerate software development and ramp up their hardware production capabilities. Quite literally, it's growing its business.
Agri-Tech Students Investigate Potential Soilless Growing Systems To Aid Food Security
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without using soil, in which plants are grown with only their roots exposed to nutrient solutions, and may also be supported by inert material such as coconut coir or vermiculite
Students at Pershore College have been undertaking research to see if growing food both without soil and during the winter could make the UK more self-sufficient when it comes to feeding the nation. Agri-Tech degree students have been conducting pea plant trials grown hydroponically at the college’s Agri-Tech Research Centre.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without using soil, in which plants are grown with only their roots exposed to nutrient solutions, and may also be supported by inert material such as coconut coir or vermiculite. The students have been monitoring the crop that was planted in the centre’s outdoor vertical farming facilities in November. The aim is to see if pea plants can be grown in a system where produce is stacked in vertical layers without the use of soil.
Tom said: “We are investigating the potential for the UK’s food producers to cultivate overwintering vegetables in our outdoor hydroponic tunnel using a system of vertical farming. This has the potential to replace crops that would be flown into the UK from overseas from Kenya or Guatemala. Normally, this plant can be overwintered in the UK but wouldn’t flower until the spring. We found that our protected unheated trial crop was already flowering by January or February and producing fruits in March.”
The UK is currently reliant on importing much of its fresh grown produce during the winter months. According to the British Growers Association, it is only 40% self-sufficient in indigenous fruit supply and less than 60% self-sufficient in vegetables & salads.
Tom’s fellow student Nick said: “The country’s self-sufficiency in food has been declining over the last 30 years and the government acknowledges that climate change will present significant risks to our food supply. The UK needs new food production technology that can provide sustainable food production systems.”
Roy Kennedy, Professor in Agri-Tech research and development said: “As part of the food production module of their Agri-Tech degree course, Tom and Nick are investigating the potential for the UK to grow sustainably-produced overwintered crops which would normally be imported into the UK during the winter months. So far they are finding that peas would be a good candidate for substitution of imported fresh produce.
“Other vegetable and fruit crops are being investigated for their potential for import substitution during the off-season. Hydroponic production regimes appear to give advantages to some cultivars resulting in cropping under lower light and at lower day and night temperatures.”
The Agri-Tech foundation degree at Pershore College is a two-year course aimed at providing students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today’s horticultural industry. Modules include agri-tech mechatronics, global food security, and soil science technology.
Publication date: Wed 22 Apr 2020
Vertical Field's New Portable Farms Are Making The World More Sustainable - And Better Fed
Vertical Field’s Urban Crops offers an ideal alternative to traditional agriculture, especially in urban settings where space is scarce. The soil-based platform can grow hundreds of types of crops – pesticide-free, indoors or outdoors – and requires no training to operate
REVIVING URBAN LIFE – AN INNOVATIVE SOIL-BASED INDOOR
VERTICAL FARM THAT BRINGS THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD
TO THE PLACE IT IS CONSUMED
• Consistent Supply
• Reduces Inventory Waste
• Less Human Handling
• More Sterile Environment
APRIL 28, 2020, New York/Rana’na, Israel
Urban areas contain more than half the world’s population and contribute to some 70% of the planet’s energy emissions. Cities guzzle the bulk of Earth’s resources and produce more waste. Many residents live in “urban food deserts.” And buildings are literally making their occupants sick.
Our planet is home to some 7.7 billion people. In many places, hunger is a reality. Unpredictable climate patterns are threatening the availability and stability of fresh produce. Yet the global population is rising. How will we feed the world by the mid-21stcentury, when an expected 10 billion of us need food? And now in-light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the food supply chain is in jeopardy more than ever before -- the need to bring food easier and faster directly to consumers is more important than ever.
One revolutionary agro-tech company, Vertical Field (www.verticalfield.com), is harnessing the power of geoponic technology, agricultural expertise, and smart design to tackle all of these issues and more. The Israeli startup – cited by Silicon Review as a “50 Innovative Companies to Watch in 2019” and named by World Smart City in 2019 as “Best Startup” – produces vertical agricultural solutions that help the environment, improve human health conditions, cut down on human handling, reduce waste, and make fresh, delicious and more produce available 365 days a year locally and directly to consumers and other end users.
“Vertical Fields offers a revolutionary way to eat the freshest greens and herbs, by producing soil-based indoor vertical farms grown at the very location where food is consumed,” said Vertical Field’s Chief Executive Officer, Guy Elitzur of Ra’anana, Israel who is hoping to place his ‘vertical farms’ in retail chains and restaurants establishments in cities throughout the US.
Vertical Field’s Urban Crops offers an ideal alternative to traditional agriculture. The soil-based platform can grow hundreds of types of crops – pesticide-free, indoors or outdoors – and requires no training to operate.
“Not only do our products facilitate and promote sustainable life and make a positive impact on the environment, we offer an easy to use real alternative to traditional agriculture. Our Urban farms give new meaning to the term ‘farm-to-table,’ because one can virtually pick their own greens and herbs at supermarkets, restaurants or other retail sites,” he adds.
Vertical Field’s Urban Crops offers an ideal alternative to traditional agriculture, especially in urban settings where space is scarce. The soil-based platform can grow hundreds of types of crops – pesticide-free, indoors or outdoors – and requires no training to operate.
From Wall to Fork
Vertical farming in cities is an energy-efficient, space-saving, farming alternative to traditional crops grown in acres and fields. Thanks to Vertical Field, everyone from city planners and architects to restaurants, supermarkets, hotels are using vertical farming to create lush, green edible spaces in congested areas around the world.
Portable Urban Farm
An alternative to the living wall is Vertical Field’s unique Vertical Farm®, which can be placed in either a 20-ft or 40-ft. container equipped with advanced sensors that provide a controlled environment. This technology constantly monitors, irrigates, and fertilizes crops throughout every growth stage. Healthy, high-quality fruits and vegetables flourish in soil beds that contain a proprietary mix of minerals and nutrients.
Advantages of Vertical Field’s Vertical Farm:
● Bug-free and pesticide-free – healthy, fresh, and clean produce
● Less waste – uses 90% less water
● Shorter growing cycles, longer shelf life
● Plants are “in season” 365 days/year - grow whatever you want, no matter the weather or climate conditions of the geography
● Consistent quality
● Modular, expandable, and moveable farm
● Automated crop management
● More Sterile Environment
● Less Human Contact
Creating a more sustainable way of life in cities across the globe has never been more urgent. Vertical Field is responding to the challenge today. Green cities will enrich life in urban areas, provide healthier and better food, and shorten the distance between consumers and their food.
About Vertical Field:
Vertical Field is a leading agro-tech provider of vertical farming and living green wall solutions for urban environments and smart cities. The company is operated by professionals, agronomists, researchers, and a multi-disciplinary team, enabling the development of smart walls that combine the best of design and manufacturing, smart computerized monitoring, soil-based technology, water and lighting technology and more. Vertical Field delivers next-generation vertical farming systems for a global clientele, including Facebook, Intel, Apple, Isrotel, Microsoft, and many more.
For more information:
Vertical Field
www.verticalfield.com
Podcast Agency FullCast Launches Vertical Farming Podcast with David Farquar of Intelligent Growth Solutions
The vertical farming industry must 'take a hard look at itself' before it fulfills its promise of reliable, quality food, produced affordably and sustainably, says one of its leading figures
NEWS PROVIDED BY
May 06, 2020
MINNEAPOLIS, May 6, 2020, /PRNewswire/ -- In the inaugural interview of the Vertical Farming Podcast, David Farquhar, CEO of Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), says Covid-19 has prompted a spike in interest in vertical farming, as retailers and governments scramble to improve supply chain resilience and lower their reliance on imported food.
The vertical farming industry must 'take a hard look at itself' before it fulfills its promise of reliable, quality food, produced affordably and sustainably, says one of its leading figures.
Vertical Farming Podcast produced by FullCast
"But it will be fascinating to see what changes last on the back of this pandemic," he says. "To what degree are we willing to invest to prepare ourselves to survive another one? We're working with a lot of governments to think about how this might happen."
"Yes, there are huge opportunities, but let's be realistic. Vertical farming and indoor agriculture are young; making them work is a marathon task. Anyone who says otherwise is lying."
"In three decades in the tech sector, I've never seen anything that's attracted so much interest nor created so much misinformation."
"A lot of people are telling a lot of lies. The industry must grow up. Many commentators and participants within the industry feel the same."
A former British Army officer, Farquhar announced on the podcast that he's committing the company to openly publish all its data – energy consumption, water usage, and nutrient utilization – from its 'in a box' vertical farming systems, in a bid to demonstrate the industry-wide honesty and transparency that he believes is so sorely needed.
Headquartered in Scotland, IGS is currently working with commercial and government groups across Australasia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and North America. Farquhar was interviewed for the first episode of Vertical Farming Podcast, a new show produced by FullCast and hosted by Harry Duran. Harry has launched VFP to engage with the leaders, founders, and visionaries of the evolving vertical farming industry, to bring their insights and knowledge to a wider audience.
Farquhar kicks off a line-up of guests that includes Agritecture's Henry Gordon-Smith, Freight Farms founder John Friedman, and AgTech journalist Louisa Burwood-Taylor of AgFunderNews.
Listeners are invited to subscribe today at: https://verticalfarmingpodcast.com
Contact Information
Company: FullCast
Contact Name: Harry Duran
Email: harry@verticalfarmingpodcast.com
Phone: +1-323-813-6570
Address: 340 S Lemon Ave #5557 Walnut, CA 91789
Website: https://verticalfarmingpodcast.com
SOURCE FullCast
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How Could AI Improve Controlled Environment Agriculture?
The use of artificial intelligence in the production of controlled environment crops has the potential to grow crops more quickly and efficiently
by David Kuack
The use of artificial intelligence in the production of controlled environment crops has the potential to grow crops more quickly and efficiently.
Most people are familiar with the term artificial intelligence or AI. Ken Tran, founder of Koidra LLC, said artificial intelligence is a very loosely defined term.
In his efforts to apply artificial intelligence to controlled environment agriculture, Ken Tran (right) collaborated with horticulture specialists worldwide, including Dr. Xiuming Hao (left) and Shalin Khosla in Canada. Photos courtesy of Ken Tran
“AI very broadly means anything that a computer can do to perform a task,” said Tran. “Classical AI can be a program that doesn’t have the capability to learn and improve all the time. For example, a program can be written for a computer to play chess. A computer can play chess by itself, but it follows a specific logic imposed by the programmer. This type of AI doesn’t improve over time with data.”
A second type of AI can have accountability to learn and improve over time with additional data.
“This type of AI is very promising because it can continuously improve,” Tran said. “With this type of AI a computer can autonomously learn how to use the data.”
Tran said both types of AI are useful and will enhance each other.
“The second type of is considered the second stage of AI,” he said. “The learnable AI is the next phase of the expert-system type of AI. Both types of AI could have major applications to controlled environment agriculture.”
Greenhouse challenge incorporates AI
Tran was the principal investigator and leader of a team of AI and horticulture experts that won the first International Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge organized by Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands. Tran was the principal research engineer for the Project Sonoma team. At the time Tran participated in the challenge he was an employee of Microsoft Research where much of his focus was on machine learning.
Ken Tran (second from left) was the principal investigator and leader of a team of artificial intelligence and horticulture experts that won the first International Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge.
The greenhouse challenge ran from May through December 2018, with five teams growing a cucumber crop in their own greenhouse compartment at the university. The purpose of the challenge was to combine AI with greenhouse data to maximize crop production while minimizing greenhouse inputs.
“The success of the Sonoma team in the competition came from our collaboration with horticulture researchers,” Tran said. “Without their participation and the domain knowledge they provided we wouldn’t have achieved this success.”
The team worked with researchers including Dr. Xiuming Hao at Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, Shalin Khosla at Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Agriculture, and Dr. Chieri Kobota at Ohio State University.
“Before growing cucumbers for the competition, we had not grown cucumbers, but we were still able to win,” Tran said. “During the competition, our team outperformed a team of expert Dutch growers who had previously grown cucumbers. Our team was able to produce more than 55 kilograms of cucumbers per square meter. Also, the net profit on the cucumbers was 17 percent higher than the Dutch growers.”
Potential benefits for CEA
While Tran was employed at Microsoft he worked on reinforcement learning. He explained reinforcement learning, in a simplistic definition, is a data-driven method used in control applications. It learns to find the best actions based on reward or punishment data.
“We wanted to find a good application to motivate our reinforcement learning research,” he said. “In 2017, I was looking for a pure application, meaning an application that would have a great impact and would also be doable for reinforcement learning. I began with indoor vertical farms which are a good application because it is a well-controlled environment with little influence from the outside. It is easy to get started because the test environment can be as simple as a small growth chamber.
“Some types of applications that would fit include using reinforcement learning to solve a control problem. We wanted to solve a problem in the real world, but applying reinforcement learning in the real world is really challenging. That is why I was looking for applications that are well controlled and can have different scales from a small growth chamber to a large grow room.”
Tran saw the potential that vertical farms had to help solve sustainable food production problems worldwide. He spoke with CEA researchers and experts around the world, including the United States, Japan, and China. One of the institutions that Tran contacted was Wageningen University.
“When we were visited the university we learned about how they were going to organize this greenhouse challenge,” Tran said. “We discussed with them exploring collaborative opportunities. With this competition platform we could get our feet wet by actually doing something and not just talking about theory and the possibilities.”
Collecting more data from growers
Tran said much more data is needed from growers in order for computers to autonomously learn how to use the data.
“We are trying to understand how good growers produce a crop,” he said. “This isn’t just one grower, but multiple growers. We study the plant science and try to come up with a sound formula for how to grow a crop. That formula doesn’t evolve itself. It is a fixed formula. It is reacting to changing conditions that indicate under these conditions to try this.
“This is the first step in our research and it was very successful. It already performed better than many other growers would because we were able to aggregate the knowledge from multiple expert growers. We are trying to develop AI that can learn and improve over time with more data. We don’t want to stop at one system.”
Tran said controlling a vertical farm is easier than controlling a greenhouse.
“However, in both scenarios, our current technology can already be used,” he said. “This technology will keep evolving for even further impact. The technology can be used in both applications by using what we already know about plant science, machine learning, and AI in general. It’s not like having to wait for new technology or the research is not ready and we have to wait. We can already leverage the technology today and we have demonstrated that in multiple scenarios.”
Ken Tran is working on a commercial artificial intelligence program that will be adaptable to a variety of crops grown in vertical farms and greenhouses.
Tran is working on a commercial AI program that will be adaptable to a variety of crops.
“The process is going to be similar for developing a program for any CEA crop,” he said. “The data will include environmental data from inside and outside the greenhouse. This data will be generated automatically from multiple sensors installed inside the greenhouse, including light levels, temperature, relative humidity, nutrient levels, water quality, and carbon dioxide levels.
“For every crop, we would need to talk with the growers to find out how they currently grow to set up a baseline. Crop data would be provided manually by the growers on a daily and/or weekly basis depending on the crop. The program will evolve from the baseline with more data coming in. We want the program to be safe for every crop.”
Principles for adopting AI to horticulture
Tran said in order for growers and the horticulture industry to adopt AI, safety-first principles must be followed. These include:
The AI system must start growing the same way as what growers want with no risky deviations from what growers would do. This growing would continuously improve.
Growers could easily switch between manual, recommendation and autopilot modes. The greenhouse operator is always in control and can choose to exit AI control mode at any time. In recommendation mode, the AI system would only send recommendations to the operator for review and the setpoints would still be inputted manually by the operator.
The system must support easy and continuous monitoring.
For more: Ken Tran, Koidra LLC, (512) 436-3250; ken@koidra.ai.
David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.
Posted in Interviews
Urban Vertical Farming: The Key to a Sustainable Future
Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops/foods in vertically stacked layers. This is usually done indoors and in a controlled environment. This method optimizes plant growth and allows the use of soilless techniques such as hydroponics
Living in a dense city population can make you wonder, "where does our food come from?" When you live in urban areas like Houston, New York City, or Seattle, it's rare that you notice farms on your drive to work.
The idea that our food is grown hundreds to thousands of miles away can be worrisome. What if something were to happen to those farms? Our resources would cut off and we would have limited access to foods. This is why vertical farming in urban areas is critical to ensure cities can be sustainable food leaders.
What is vertical farming?
Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops/foods in vertically stacked layers. This is usually done indoors and in a controlled environment. This method optimizes plant growth and allows the use of soilless techniques such as hydroponics.
How does vertical farming work?
Vertical farming needs several things to work. We'll cover each one below:
Physical Layout - The purpose of farming indoors is to maximize volume. We do this by maximizing the output efficiency per square meter. This is why you will see physical layouts in the form of skyscrapers or vertical tower-like structures.
Lighting - To optimize crop growth, a need for artificial and natural lights are essential.
Growing Medium - There are several different growing mediums for vertical farming. These methods include hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics. Coco Coir, Rockwool, ,Biostrate, Vericulite, Perlite, SunShine #4 and Black Gold are great mediums used in indoor farming.
Sustainability Features - Sustainable features often used with vertical farming feature rainwater tanks, wind turbines, and spaces with low energy costs.
Why is urban vertical farming important?
By 2050, the forecast is that we will have an extra 2 billion people on the planet. Many of these people will live in urban areas. And we have already used a third of arable farmland in the past 40 years.
We need to come up with other sustainable ways to grow food to ensure we can feed everyone. Vertical farming allows us to grow healthy, accessible foods within a few acres of land, close to home.
This is critical for urban areas because they will become more populated over time. Instead of relying on faraway food sources, we need to take matters into our own hands. By establishing urban vertical farming settings, we'll be able to control and grow our own food sources.
Vertical farming also uses 95% less water than traditional farming methods. The use of water needed to grow crops traditionally is wasteful. To be able to handle an influx in population, vertical farming is a sustainable solution.
How does vertical farming benefit us?
There are many reasons why vertical farming is the future of farming. By building vertical farms, there will be an increase in job opportunities. There will be easier access to healthier and attainable foods. With food grown close to home, we will always be aware of where our food comes from.
Because of the controlled environment, there is a higher chance of growth success. We will be able to grow crops year-round and have larger yields. Crops will not be exposed to harsh weather conditions since they'll be grown indoors. Urban vertical farming methods should start being adopted right now.
The Takeaway
To prepare for the upcoming increase in food demand, urban areas need to adopt sustainable policies. People should start growing their food indoors as well as increasing the demand for high-tech farming methods.
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#farming #farmingfeeds #farming365 #verticalfarming #vertical #urbanfarming #localgrown #futureoffood
Wastewater Test Could Provide Early Warning Of COVID-19
The wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) approach could provide an effective and rapid way to predict the potential spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) by picking up on biomarkers in faeces and urine from disease carriers that enter the sewer system
Researchers at Cranfield University are working on a new test to detect SARS-CoV-2 in the wastewater of communities infected with the virus.
The wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) approach could provide an effective and rapid way to predict the potential spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) by picking up on biomarkers in faeces and urine from disease carriers that enter the sewer system.
Rapid testing kits using paper-based devices could be used on-site at wastewater treatment plants to trace sources and determine whether there are potential COVID-19 carriers in local areas.
Dr Zhugen Yang, Lecturer in Sensor Technology at Cranfield Water Science Institute, said: “In the case of asymptomatic infections in the community or when people are not sure whether they are infected or not, real-time community sewage detection through paper analytical devices could determine whether there are COVID-19 carriers in an area to enable rapid screening, quarantine and prevention.
“If COVID-19 can be monitored in a community at an early stage through WBE, effective intervention can be taken as early as possible to restrict the movements of that local population, working to minimise the pathogen spread and threat to public health.”
Recent studies have shown that live SARS-CoV-2 can be isolated from the faeces and urine of infected people and the virus can typically survive for up to several days in an appropriate environment after exiting the human body.
The paper device is folded and unfolded in steps to filter the nucleic acids of pathogens from wastewater samples, then a biochemical reaction with preloaded reagents detects whether the nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 infection is present. Results are visible to the naked eye: a green circle indicating positive and a blue circle negative.
“We have already developed a paper device for testing genetic material in wastewater for proof-of-concept, and this provides clear potential to test for infection with adaption,” added Dr Yang. “This device is cheap (costing less than £1) and will be easy to use for non-experts after further improvement.
“We foresee that the device will be able to offer a complete and immediate picture of population health once this sensor can be deployed in the near future.”
WBE is already recognised as an effective way to trace illicit drugs and obtain information on health, disease, and pathogens. Dr Yang has developed a similar paper-based device to successfully conduct tests for rapid veterinary diagnosis in India and for malaria in blood among rural populations in Uganda.
Paper analytical devices are easy to stack, store and transport because they are thin and lightweight, and can also be incinerated after use, reducing the risk of further contamination.
An overview of the approach – Can a Paper-Based Device Trace COVID-19 Sources with Wastewater-Based Epidemiology? – co-authored with Hua Zhang and Kang Mao of the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, China, has recently been published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal.
Further development of the test is being sponsored by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Royal Academy of Engineering.
About Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a specialist postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management.
Source: Cranfield University
Vertical Farms: The Height of Sustainability In A Post-COVID World
Vertical farms are innovative soil-based indoor farms that bring production of food to the location where it is consumed: supermarkets, local distribution sites, and restaurants
Among the many indelible images of the COVID-19 crisis have been the photos of mountains of surplus produce rotting in fields while millions of Americans go hungry. Urban areas are especially hard hit as supply chains are disrupted due to coronavirus fallout.
Vertical farms are innovative soil-based indoor farms that bring production of food to the location where it is consumed: supermarkets, local distribution sites, and restaurants.
Vertical Field, an Israeli start-up, has a container up and running at a Poughkeepsie, New York, restaurant and arriving soon at Evergreen supermarket in Monsey, N.Y. Its global clientele for its next-gen vertical farming systems includes Facebook, Intel, Apple, Isrotel, Microsoft, and many more.
Benefits include:
Consistent Supply
Reduced Inventory Waste
Less Human Handling
More Sterile Environment
Modular, expandable, and moveable farm
Bug-free and pesticide-free – healthy, fresh, and clean produce
Uses 90% less water
For more information:
Vertical Field
www.verticalfield.com
Kalera Leads The Way In Agritechnology At The Largest Hydroponic Vertical Farm In The Southeastern U.S.
Kalera has turned farming on its head – literally. Based in Orlando, its team of science- and technology-driven horticulturists leverage cleanroom technology, artificial intelligence, the internet-of-things, and data analytics to cultivate sustainably grown, fresh produce in vertical hydroponic farms
April 15th, 2020
UPDATE: 05/07/20
Kalera has re-opened operations at the HyCube facility at the Marriott World Center.
Kalera has turned farming on its head – literally. Based in Orlando, its team of science- and technology-driven horticulturists leverage cleanroom technology, artificial intelligence, the internet-of-things and data analytics to cultivate sustainably grown, fresh produce in vertical hydroponic farms.
Kalera’s co-founders came to Orlando in 2007 with the lofty goal of growing enough produce locally to feed the entire city. In 2018, they opened Kalera’s first hydroponic vertical farm, the HyCube at Orlando World Center Marriott.* The HyCube epitomizes farm-to-table dining, producing 200,000 heads of lettuce each year just a 20 feet away from the hotel kitchen, where guests enjoy lettuce and microgreens cultivated from the hydroponic vertical farm. It’s also eye-catching; through larger-than-life glass walls, visitors can see bright green lettuce peeking over the side of vertical towers stacked floor-to-ceiling. The entire structure is illuminated in a pink glow from red and blue lighting optimized to provide maximum plant yield and quality while minimizing energy costs.
Two successful years since the opening of HyCube, Kalera has now expanded its vision to feed even more residents across the entire city, state and beyond. In February 2020, the company took one step closer to achieving this vision with the opening of another farm in Orlando just northwest of Orlando International Airport – the largest indoor farm in the Southeastern U.S. The farm is expected to produce approximately 6 million heads of lettuce per year, exceeding the amount of lettuce produced annually in the HyCube farm by 30 times. To support these growing operations, Kalera CEO Daniel Malechuk is proud to make hiring local talent a top priority and has already hired graduates from the University of Florida, the University of Central Florida and Florida State University.
Similar to its original location at the Orlando World Center Marriott, this new farm employs proprietary high tech innovation to not only run the farm, but also to ensure ideal conditions for plant growth.
“We’re growing more plants with less space and less water, and with no pesticides or fertilizers,” explained Malechuk. “It’s using things like big data and artificial intelligence to measure temperature, humidity, air flow and light exposure, and analyzing it in a database to see how it affects plant growth and yield.”
Kalera’s indoor farms are unique in shielding both plants and horticulturists from extreme elements that could interrupt production or compromise lettuce crops. Relying on data analytics, the Kalera facility automates various processes to create an ideal, controlled environment for plant growth. From air circulation to carbon dioxide levels, its machines are constantly monitoring feedback from technology embedded in its crops to determine whether adjustments are needed. Kalera’s systems are so accurate that its team can often predict the results of a harvest. As Malechuk explained, they have perfected Mother Nature indoors.
While the controlled indoor environment is certainly impressive, Kalera’s proprietary air purification system truly sets it apart. Taking a page from nanoelectronics manufacturing, Kalera relies on cleanroom technology to eliminate the need for harmful pesticides and safeguard plants against bacteria, such as E. coli, which has caused nationwide recalls of romaine lettuce.
“What we’re witnessing right now in our lifetime, and what I’m so excited to be part of, is the total revolution of agriculture,” said Malechuk. “I don’t know if it’s been coined yet, but I think we’re at the ‘AgTech Age.’”
Much like the smartphone has revolutionized our way of life and become an indispensable tool we often take for granted, Malechuk clearly envisions a society in which vertical hydroponic farms like Kalera’s are the norm – especially in densely populated cities where hyperlocal sustainable farming practices would have a greater impact.
Until that day, Kalera continues with its plan to expand across the continent and around the globe at the forefront of a new “AgTech Age.”
*Kalera’s Orlando facility remains operational despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has donated its leafy greens to multiple charities in the area and has provided free cases of produce to many neighborhoods across the city. Its produce can also be found across all Orlando Publix locations.
Currently, Kalera has paused operations at the HyCube facility until the Marriott World Center reopens for guests and is using this time as an opportunity for cleaning and renovations to the facility.
Signify And RIAT Pioneer Growing Tomatoes And Cucumbers In A Vertical Farm Without Daylight
RIAT’s indoor farm is located in the center of the Ivanovo region, enabling the company to distribute its tomatoes, cucumbers, and 19 types of green crops to its own RIAT stores within an hour after harvesting. RIAT has a special technique to fold the long stems, allowing it to grow the 3.5m high plants indoors
Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, and RIAT, an innovative farming enterprise located in Russia, have together pioneered the growing of tomatoes and cucumbers in a vertical farm without daylight. During the research phase in 2019, RIAT achieved a yield comparable to advanced traditional greenhouses using Philips GreenPower LED grow lights.
“We already had facilities of sufficient height at our disposal, therefore there was no need to invest in building a glass construction. But as the building had no windows, we needed a high-quality lighting system to fulfill the intensive lighting requirements of tomatoes and cucumbers,” says Vladimir Bukharev, director at RIAT. “In 2019, Signify provided it’s Philips GreenPower LED grow lighting, helping us to achieve a yield performance comparable to traditional greenhouse operations.”
RIAT’s indoor farm is located in the center of the Ivanovo region, enabling the company to distribute its tomatoes, cucumbers, and 19 types of green crops to its own RIAT stores within an hour after harvesting. RIAT has a special technique to fold the long stems, allowing it to grow the 3.5m high plants indoors.
“With a harvest of 2.7 to 3.2 kg of cucumbers per m2 every week, and 1.7 kg per m2 of tomatoes, we started making a profit as of the second year of operation,” Bukharev added. “In addition to that, the quality of the product is very high, there’s hardly any waste and we sell 99% of what is being grown.”
“To mimic nature as much as possible, RIAT has chosen a combination of different kinds of Philips GreenPower LED toplighting and interlighting, bringing light both from the top and right in the canopy where the light is needed the most for photosynthesis. While using different kinds of lights, the light recipe can be adjusted based on the crop that is grown,” said Sergey Khokhrin, business Development Manager CEE/Russia & CIS at Signify.
Signify, in collaboration with several research partners, discovered that the red spectrum in light stimulates growth of plant cells and tissues, while the blue spectrum influences the processes of cytodifferentiation (racemes initiation, bines and root formation, flowering). The combination of red and blue with the addition of white and other colors in Philips LED grow lights creates lighting conditions that are as close to natural daylight as possible. Additionally, RIAT is using bumblebees for pollination, as in traditional greenhouses. The bees don’t experience difficulties due to the absence of natural light.
When choosing a lighting supplier, RIAT tested LED modules from different manufacturers from around the globe. “By using Philips LED lighting modules, we managed to achieve maximum stability and a light output of 18 g/mol. This is why we chose Signify. The area equipped with LED lamps is currently 3,800 m2. Soon, we are going to launch a new area of 700 m2 to grow lettuce which will also be equipped with Philips LED lighting,” Bukharev added.
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For further information, please contact:
Global Marcom Manager Horticulture at Signify
Daniela Damoiseaux
Tel: +31 6 31 65 29 69
E-mail: daniela.damoiseaux@signify.com
Signify Corporate Communications and Government Affairs in Russia and CIS
Natalia Neverskaya
Tel.: +7 (495) 937-93-30; fax +7 (495) 937-93-59
E-mail: natalia.neverskaya@signify.com
About Signify
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value, and transform life in homes, buildings, and public spaces. With 2019 sales of EUR 6.2 billion, we have approximately 38,000 employees and are present in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We have been named Industry Leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for three years in a row. News from Signify is located at the Newsroom, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Information for investors can be found on the Investor Relations page.
About RIAT
RIAT is a holding in the Ivanovo region, Russia, which owns the world's first indoor production of tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as 10 supermarkets in Ivanovo and 2 in the Ivanovo region (in the cities of Ples and Kineshma).
May 6th, 2020 16:00 CEST Webinar Series 'Eat This' by World Horti Center
World Horti Center and NethWork collaborate in giving a follow up to the exhibition ‘Countryside – The Future’ initiated by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, that was opened on February 20 in the Guggenheim Museum in New York
World Horti Center and NethWork collaborate in giving a follow up to the exhibition ‘Countryside – The Future’ initiated by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, that was opened on February 20 in the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exhibition among others features the current and future developments in food production, especially what is happening in greenhouses.
Webinar sessions
The exhibition is currently closed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the production of cherry tomatoes in a closed, high tech production unit, situated in front of the museum on Fifth Avenue, continues. Right in the center of the world and the epicenter of the pandemic. The unit, therefore, is a great metaphor and catalyst in the discussion on the consumption of healthy food, produced in a sustainable and affordable way. Therefore, World Horti Center (WHC) took the initiative to facilitate, in cooperation with foundation NethWork, a new series of online events.
Thought leaders
During weekly webinar sessions, thought leaders in the field of food will share their vision on (the future of) healthy food. The kick-off takes place on Wednesday 6 May, 16.00 hrs CEST and features architect Rem Koolhaas, initiator of the exhibition ‘Countryside – The Future’. He will be assisted by Clemens Driessen, a philosopher at Wageningen UR. Both gentlemen will share their vision on current developments and the future of horticulture in the Netherlands and beyond. You can register for the first webinar here.
Eat This
This webinar series, named ‘Eat This’ is a close collaboration between NethWork and World Horti Center. Both organizations want to connect the horticultural sector with the world beyond horticulture. Renee Snijders and Ed Smit of NethWork will present these weekly webinar sessions. After the inaugural session with Rem Koolhaas, 9 webinars will follow. Additional details on guests and themes will follow soon.
For more information:
World Horti Center Europa 1
2672 ZX Naaldwijk
Netherlands
+31 (0)174 385 600
info@worldhorticenter.nl
www.worldhorticenter.nl
NethWork
www.nethwork.info
Publication date: Wed 29 Apr 202
Majid Al Futtaim Launches Dubai’s ‘First’ In-Store Hydroponic Farm
The farm spans 24 square metres and can accommodate up to 16 varieties of leafy greens and herbs
The farm spans 24 square metres and can accommodate up to 16 varieties of leafy greens and herbs
Malls operator Majid Al Futtaim has opened what it claims is Dubai’s “first” in-store hydroponic farm at its Carrefour market Al Wasl store.
The farm spans 24 square metres and can accommodate up to 16 varieties of leafy greens, including lettuce, arugula, and kale, and herbs such as basil, dill, and sorrel.
The new opening marks the company’s third in-store hydroponics farm, following two others in Carrefour locations at Yas Mall and My City Centre Masdar.
The farms are part of an agreement signed by Majid Al Futtaim with the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to promote sustainable locally-grown produce, a statement said.
Hydroponics enables fresh produce to grow in a controlled environment, providing a steady supply of food throughout the year.
The farm also uses 90 percent less water and less space than traditional farms to deliver approximately 10kg of fresh herbs and microgreens per day, equivalent to the yield of about 1 acre of farmland.
Alain Bejjani, CEO at Majid Al Futtaim Holding, said: “The increased supply of locally-grown produce is key to ensuring long-term food security in the UAE. With the introduction of our latest in-store hydroponics farm, we are expanding our own sustainable farming capabilities. At the same time, we are working closely with local farmers to stock their produce in our stores.”
Also read: Carrefour launches mobile grocery bus in Dubai
The farm also contributes to Majid Al Futtaim’s commitment to offset the company’s water and carbon footprint by 2040.The conglomerate has been stepping up its sustainability agenda, and late last year announced that it will eliminate single-use plastic from its operations by 2025.As part of the decision, Carrefour stores will remove 800 million plastic grocery bags from circulation annually, it stated.
Read: UAE Carrefour stores to soon remove plastic bags as part of Majid Al Futtaim eco-plan
Food Security Puts CubicFarms In Spotlight To Localize Food Production
CubicFarms is a leading platform provider of automated controlled-environment growing systems that produce commercial-scale quantities of fresh produce and nutritious livestock feed
cubicfarms 2018 May 1, 2020
Top Ag-Tech Investor Ospraie Invests C$5 Million In
A Private Placement
Vancouver, BC – (AccessWire – May 1, 2020) – CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV:CUB) (“CubicFarms” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the strategic investment of Ospraie Ag Science as the Company executes its vision of providing technology to feed a changing world.
CubicFarms is a leading platform provider of automated controlled-environment growing systems that produce commercial-scale quantities of fresh produce and nutritious livestock feed. The systems work continuously all year, providing consistent and predictable produce and feed without the typical investment in labour, land, water, and fertilizer. Its reduced growing footprint allows growers to set up a CubicFarms system in and around large population centres, and supply their local markets while shortening distribution chains and the amount of time that food spends in transit.
In addition to providing localized production, CubicFarms systems have been shown to be far more efficient than traditional farming methods, which enhances growers’ profitability.
“Over the past month, we’ve seen a sharp increase in inquiries from interested parties worldwide for our technology, to enhance food production and improve food security and self-sufficiency. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed fragility in supply chains, such as labour shortages, disruptions in the packing and transportation sectors, and increasing uncertainty in the domestic and international markets.
CubicFarms’ automated growing systems have emerged as a key solution to overcoming these challenges by allowing growers to localize food production and provide their markets with fresh produce and nutritious livestock feed reliably and consistently,” said CubicFarms CEO Dave Dinesen.
“Two months ago, we announced our largest system sale of 100 fresh produce machines and our ever-increasing sales pipeline underscores the demand for our technology.”
Private placement with strategic investor Ospraie Ag Science
The non-brokered private placement with Ospraie Ag Science (“Ospraie”) involves the issuance of 21,739,130 common shares of CubicFarms at a price of C$0.23 per share for gross proceeds of up to C$5.0 million (the “Offering”). Without giving effect to the issuance of common shares, if any, pursuant to the exercise of pre-emptive rights held by another strategic investor of the Company, Ospraie will hold an 18.7% interest in the Company upon completion of the Offering.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ospraie as a strategic partner as CubicFarms embarks on its exciting next chapter. The investment by Ospraie, one of the top technology investors in the agricultural space, is a testament to the CubicFarms vision, team and technology,” said Jeff Booth, CubicFarms Chairman.
“Ospraie’s deep industry and commercial expertise, in addition to its extensive network, are expected to add significant value to CubicFarms and unlock new potential synergies with other companies in the Ospraie portfolio,” Mr. Booth added.
Dwight Anderson, Chief Investment Officer at Ospraie Ag Science, commented, “CubicFarms’ fresh produce systems are on the leading edge of commercial-scale controlled-environment-agriculture technology and we are excited to support Dave and the entire CubicFarms team as they continue to execute their vision of providing innovative solutions for both the food and feed markets.
“The agricultural value chain is rapidly evolving and technology infrastructure to overcome the pains of traditional farming is sorely needed. CubicFarms is one part of the multivariable solution required to address this need for safe, reliable, environmentally-friendly and affordable food. We look forward to working with the Company and its existing partners to realize CubicFarms’ tremendous potential.”
The net proceeds from the Offering are expected to be used for research and development to expand machine capabilities and crop varieties, and working capital.
The Offering is scheduled to close on or about May 15, 2020 and is subject to certain conditions, including, but not limited to, the execution of definitive documentation and receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a hold period under applicable securities laws, which will expire four months plus one day from the closing date of the Offering.
Photo: A grower using CubicFarms’ proprietary app to control frequency and volume of irrigation and nutrients, and monitor the machine’s speed to optimize yield and quality of each crop.
Photo: The fully automated feed machine, shown in a three-section configuration, performs all functions including seeding, watering, lighting, harvesting, and re-seeding, all with the push of a button.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless an exemption from such registration is available.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About CubicFarm® Systems Corp.
CubicFarm Systems Corp. (“CubicFarms”) is a technology company that is developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary technologies enable growers around the world to produce high-quality, predictable crop yields. CubicFarms has two distinct technologies that address two distinct markets. The first technology is its patented CubicFarm™ System, which contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops. Using its unique, undulating-path growing system, the Company addresses the main challenges within the indoor farming industry by significantly reducing the need for physical labor and energy, and maximizing yield per cubic foot. CubicFarms leverages its patented technology by operating its own R&D facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, selling the System to growers, licensing its technology and providing vertical farming expertise to its customers.
The second technology is CubicFarms’ HydroGreen System for growing nutritious livestock feed. This system utilizes a unique process to sprout grains, such as barley and wheat, in a controlled environment with minimal use of land, labor, and water. The HydroGreen System is fully automated and performs all growing functions including seeding, watering, lighting, harvesting, and re-seeding – all with the push of a button – to deliver nutritious livestock feed without the typical investment in fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, field equipment, and transportation. The HydroGreen System not only provides superior nutritious feed to benefit the animal but also enables significant environmental benefits to the farm.
About Ospraie Ag Science
Ospraie Ag Science LLC (“Ospraie”) an investment vehicle that supports productivity-enhancing companies in the agriculture technology space with a focus on sustainable solutions that improve the quality of life for farmers and society. Utilizing its extensive network and 25 years of experience investing in agriculture markets, Ospraie identifies solutions that help farmers “Do More With Less” and that increase profitability, reduce environmental impact and improve their quality-adjusted yield.
Information contact
Kimberly Lim
kimberly@cubicfarms.com
Phone: +1-236-858-6491
www.cubicfarms.com
Cautionary statement on forward-looking information
Certain statements in this release constitute “forward-looking statements” or “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the closing of the Offering and the use of proceeds thereof. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of CubicFarm Systems Corp., or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information including the Company obtaining the approval of the Offering from the TSX Venture Exchange. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “scheduled”, “forecast”, “predict”, and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events, or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”, or “will” be taken, occur, or be achieved.
These statements reflect the Company’s current expectations regarding future events, performance, and results and speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except as required by securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if the Company’s expectations regarding future events, performance, or results change.
DOJ Assigns Team To Prevent Decertification of Organic Containers
The lawsuit does not exempt any container systems, and the ban would include everything from microgreens grown in a tray using soil to tomatoes grown in a planting bed with plastic lining to berries grown in a pot to leafy greens grown in a circulating water system
The U.S. Department of Justice has assigned the team and selected a primary attorney at the Federal Programs Brach of the Civil Division in Washington, DC to lead the defense of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Organic Program and the long-standing policy that allows for the organic certification of farms that incorporate container production methods.
The lawsuit does not exempt any container systems, and the ban would include everything from microgreens grown in a tray using soil to tomatoes grown in a planting bed with plastic lining to berries grown in a pot to leafy greens grown in a circulating water system.
Attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will take the lead in defending your right to choose the most appropriate and sustainable organic production method on your farm. The CSO expects that they will do a wonderful job to show how the USDA followed all the correct procedures in establishing the policy supporting container and hydroponic production systems. However, neither Departments are subject matter experts, and they will depend on growers like you working through the CSO to support their efforts to build a fact-based record to increase the chances of winning the lawsuit.
Your membership in the CSO will allow us to fully engage with expert attorneys to strengthen our efforts in the courts in California and with officials in Washington, DC to preserve your organic certification. If you are not yet a member, please consider joining today.
In The Unterwiehre In Freiburg, Lettuce Grows Almost Under Laboratory Conditions
David Rösch grows lettuce. However, not in the soil, but in plastic. Plants like that of his P 3 project could in the future contribute to the food supply of the growing world population
April 24, 2020
David Rösch grows lettuce. However, not in the soil, but in plastic. Plants like that of his P 3 project could in the future contribute to the food supply of the growing world population.
Salad grows in Oltmannsstrasse. Surrounded by solar companies, insurance companies, and moving companies, 800 salads flourish there, as if they were rooted in juicy South Baden fields. They are not in the ground at all, but in thin plates made of Styrodur plastic, the roots ultimately hang in the air - and yet the lettuce thrives wonderfully in the lower part of the body. How does it work? David Rösch knows that, who sees his initiative primarily as an educational project.
Hydroponics plants could be a solution for feeding the growing world population
David Rösch is not a gardener, but still has a lot to do with nature. He studied forestry and the environment at the University of Freiburg. In the meantime, he was dealing with refugees - and decided to make this his profession. In 2018 he founded his own company: P 3, a workshop in which refugees are trained as carpenters or prepared for an apprenticeship. On the one hand, P 3 produces furniture on request, from stools to fitted kitchens, and on the other hand attachments for cargo bikes as mobile sales and information stands. Then managing director Rösch came up with the idea of the salads a year ago. More specifically: for a hydroponic system (derived from the Greek words for "water" and "wages of work").
The 31-year-old has long thought about how to feed a growing world population - especially in urban areas such as around Oltmannsstraße, where arable land is as common as fresh vegetables in school canteens. Hydroponics systems enable vegetables to be grown without soil: the plants only grow with the help of water and nutrients. The latter comes from fish feces, for example, which is widely used in fish farming and is called aquaponics in technical jargon. The feces that are filtered out are converted to nitrate with the help of microbes and used as fertilizer, which is mixed with the useful water of the animals and allows the tomatoes and cucumbers to thrive in the adjacent bed. The water separated from the plants then flows back into the basin - this is how the material cycle goes. P 3 boss David Rösch wanted that too.
The regional energy service provider Badenova supported the project with 110,000 euros, P 3 then designed a prototype, on the styrofoam walls of which lettuce grew, which the staff consumed at a large salad party in autumn. But the breakthrough was not yet: And so we continued to tinker. The employees and trainees converted two old containers into a greenhouse. There they put their further developed system, consisting of two elements.
The origin of the fertilizer takes getting used to
The outer structure is reminiscent of narrow wooden tents, and inside there is a pool with water that sprinkles the walls every two minutes. Better said: the free-floating roots of the salads (now: lettuce and Lollo Rosso), whose seedlings are in the holes in the sloping walls. In fact, it's aeroponics because the roots are in the air.
Fish tanks are currently not feasible, says David Rösch. So where do the nutrients come from? P 3 is currently getting the fertilizer from a company in Switzerland that processes human urine. This also follows the principle of the material cycle. So far, the social acceptance of hydroponics systems has generally been rather low. The tenor of the people is rather: "It's feed from the laboratory, grown-up, we want real vegetables from the field!" When asked how long it would take for consumers to accept this alternative cultivation, Rösch replied: "Boah, long!" And urine fertilizer as a source of nutrients doesn't make it better at first.
Systems are suitable for locations in an urban environment
The advantages of the system are obvious: it can stand on flat roofs in the middle of the city. In comparison to the usual arable cultivation, the duration of growth is constant and the space requirement is reduced to a fifth. Because of the cycle, 90 percent less water would be used - "This is relevant in many countries around the world," says Rösch: "And the taste of the salad is perfect." It takes a while before you can try this on the new harvest: it takes around ten weeks from seedling to ready-to-eat lettuce.
"People have to get to know this cultivation better."David RöschDavid Rösch now wants to do a lot of educational work, such as collaborations with schools. The idea of a gardener community is in the room: "People have to get to know this cultivation better." Tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs are also expected to soon grow in the hydroponics plant. Perhaps the company would sell some of the products in its workshop, but marketing would not be in the foreground. There are many other ideas that keep Rösch busy, not just those with their own fish tank, which could easily be connected. Initially, however, there will probably be an internal salad party - if Corona allows it.
Lead Photo: David Rösch with his steep slope salad breeding, which he sees primarily as an educational project. Photo: Thomas Kunz
Farmshelf Unveils Its First Consumer-Facing Vertical Farming Unit
Farmshelf, the vertical farming company best known for outfitting restaurants with its high-tech indoor farms, today unveiled its first-ever consumer-facing product, according to a company press release
Farmshelf, the vertical farming company best known for outfitting restaurants with its high-tech indoor farms, today unveiled its first-ever consumer-facing product, according to a company press release.
Dubbed Farmshelf Home, the new product is similar to the company’s commercial model championed by high-profile chefs like José Andrés. It’s roughly the size of a bookcase and uses a combination of sensors, cameras, software, and custom LEDs to automatically deliver the correct levels of water, light, and nutrients to each plant growing in the farm.
For the average consumer, that means once the farm arrives, it’s a matter of plugging it into a wall, connecting it to wifi, setting seeds in pods, then remotely monitoring the hydroponic system from a corresponding smartphone app.
Farmshelf Home is available to pre-order through the company’s website. Though it ain’t cheap: the company lists the “exclusive pre-order price” at $4,950, while the standard retail price will be set at $6,450. There is a $100 deposit (applied to the price and also refundable) as well as a monthly $35 fee that covers seed pods, nutrients, and access to the Farmshelf software for monitoring plants. At the moment, those interested only need to hand over the deposit to sign up for a pre-order. According to the fine print, there is no firm delivery date yet.
Three months ago, I would have called the high price point a deterrent for most people. Certainly, the average American family won’t be purchasing a Farmshelf anytime soon.
But those in higher income brackets may. A global pandemic has revealed just how out of whack our food supply chain is and what happens when people panic shop in droves and grocery stores can’t keep up, factors that might justify the price point for some folks. The Spoon’s Publisher Michael Wolf pointed out recently that “As the coronavirus has forced all of us to think more about our food supply, some consumers have gone beyond just buying a little extra food to store away. Now they are thinking about how we could ensure access to food independent of breakdowns in the system.”
Now we have to see whether consumers will pay thousands of dollars to ensure that independence. More at-home vertical farming companies were coming to market even before the pandemic, with large appliance makers like Samsung, LG, and Miele announcing high-tech gardens meant for your kitchen or living room. They range in price from the hundreds to the thousands, though not quite as high as Farmshelf.
Currently, Farmshelf is in a number of restaurants and hotels, including NYC chain Tender Greens, Marriott Marquis Times Square, and the Condé Nast offices. Angel network she1K syndicated an early-stage investment in the company at the end of last year.
Tags: AG TECH BUSINESS OF FOOD FEATURED FOODTECH MODERN FARMER SMART GARDEN
Top 26 Vertical Farming Companies
Carnegie Mellon University is among a number of organizations that have developed integrated systems for vertical farming. CMU’s version is called ACESys, short for Automation, Culture, Environment, and Systems Model for Vertical Farming
MAY 3, 2019
BY MAI TAO
The phrase “vertical farming” probably doesn’t need to be explained even though it’s quite new. But anyway, vertical farming refers to the practice of producing fruits and vegetables vertically, in stacked layers, perhaps on many floors inside a building, using artificial lights instead of the sun, and a whole range of relatively new technologies.
The two main reasons why it’s a much-discussed topic now is because:
There are a number of startup companies emerging in the sector and attracting tens of millions of dollars in investment; and
More people live in cities than do in rural areas, a global trend which seems irreversible, and this means that the demand for fresh produce will increase in urban areas, and bringing the production closer to the consumer would make sense.
The third thing we could have added is that there is a range of new technologies available now that make vertical farming in urban areas cost-effective and possibly profitable. But we already mentioned that.
Some of these technologies have been available for some time, decades even, but they were probably too expensive in the past to make vertical farming a viable business proposition.
The key technologies in vertical farming include:
perception technologies – cameras and other sensors which can monitor for color and other factors, such as disease;
artificial intelligence – which can process the data from the sensors and formulate solutions;
automated and even autonomous mechatronics – robots and other automated machines that pick the produce when it is ready for market, or apply cures to ailments during their growing.
The above list is a very simple breakdown of the fundamental technologies that will be required to, basically, reduce to a minimum or even eliminate the need for human involvement.
If vertical farms are run like traditional greenhouses, there would be too much human input required and it probably would not be profitable.
It’s the new automation technologies that will make it work.
Carnegie Mellon University is among a number of organizations that have developed integrated systems for vertical farming. CMU’s version is called ACESys, short for Automation, Culture, Environment, and Systems Model for Vertical Farming.
An academic paper probably worth checking out is called Advances in greenhouse automation and controlled environment agriculture: A transition to plant factories and urban agriculture.
In their introduction to the paper, the authors note: “Greenhouse cultivation has evolved from simple covered rows of open-fields crops to highly sophisticated controlled environment agriculture facilities that projected the image of plant factories for urban farming.
“The advances and improvements in CEA have promoted scientific solutions for the efficient production of plants in populated cities and multi-story buildings.”
So the interest in the field is strong and most people seem to think it’s a viable business proposition.
And to underline the positivity about the sector, Research and Markets forecasts the vertical farming market will grow to a value of $3 billion by 2024, from virtually nothing now.
However, not everyone is convinced, and some people have dismissed the whole idea as a scam. They say it won’t work, will be too expensive, and not be able to yield enough to provide adequate returns on investment.
But in some sectors, such as marijuana production, indoor farming is providing a strong foundation for healthy profits, although we are not encouraging that sort of thing – this article is more about produce such as lettuce and other healthy vegetables and fruit, usually found in greengrocers.
Anyway, whatever we or anyone else thinks of the prospects, there are a large number of companies which have entered the field and we thought it would a good idea to make a list of them.
It’s a very new business sector, so this list is not ordered on any scientific basis – just 20 companies that are notable and active.
We’re not going to include Samsung for now even though it’s been on this website recently for demonstrating a home vertical farming product. The reason is that vertical farms are currently not central to Samsung’s business by any stretch of the imagination, although the company may have a contribution to make to the sector going forward.
1. AeroFarms
This company has won many plaudits for its operation and uses its own patented “aeroponic technology… to take indoor vertical farming to a new level of precision and productivity with minimal environmental impact and virtually zero risk”.
The company has raised at least $138 million in funding since launch in 2004, according to CrunchBase. Some of its backers are quite impressive, as this article in Ag Funder News reports.
The term “aeroponic” farming refers to the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an earth-like material, which is known as “geoponics”.
Aeroponic systems enable the production of plants using 95 percent less water, which is what AeroFarms says it does.
2. Plenty
Although Plenty doesn’t make seem to mention aeroponics on its website, it’s difficult to see how it can reduce the water consumption of its vertical farms by 95 percent, as it claims to do, without the air-and-mist system as described above.
Like the other big vertical farming companies on this list, Plenty is another one that retails its produce, which include kale and other greens, as well as some exotic herbs.
Plenty is probably the biggest company in terms of the amount of money it has raised in funding – approximately $226 million, according to CrunchBase.
3. Green Spirit Farms
Green Spirit Farms started raising money as early as 2013, but has not disclosed the amounts. Area Development reported that the company was investing $27 million in a vertical farm system in Pennsylvania, which would suggest it’s well-financed.
However, given that it doesn’t seem to have a website of its own, it’s difficult to say what its current and future activities are with full confidence. Owler estimates its annual revenues to be $1.2 million.
4. Bowery Farming
You’d think any farming startup of any kind would steer clear of everything that’s genetically modified, but the fact that Bowery makes a point of saying it uses “zero pesticides and non-GMO” seeds might suggest that some vertical farming companies don’t have the same ideas.
Having raised more than $140 million in investment since inception in 2015, Bowery has carefully developed a distribution network in the US. Its leafy greens are available to buy in Whole Foods Market and Foragers. It also supplies a number of restaurants and sells online.
It doesn’t look like Bowery supplies its platform to other companies, even though some might be interested in its claims, such as 95 percent less water usage than traditional agriculture; 100 times more productive on the same amount of land, and from harvest to shelf “within a few days”.
5. BrightFarms
Another of the big-money startups, BrightFarms has so far raised more than $112 million since its establishment in 2010, according to CrunchBase.
But unlike some of the other big companies, it isn’t into aeroponics as much. It seems more interested in hydroponics, which refers to growing plants with water, or, to be more accurate, mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.
Neither aquaponics nor hydroponics use soil. How each one compares in terms of quality, efficiency, and profitability will probably only become clear a few years from now when we see how well these companies have done. Chances are they’ll all probably use a mix of systems.
BrightFarms has a long list of impressive-sounding partners, including Giant, Walmart, and Metro Market, among others.
6. Gotham Greens
This company is one of many who have started up in the New York area. Strange to say it about such a new sector, but the market for vertical farming produce may be saturated – in that city at least.
Gotham Greens has so far raised at least $45 million since its launch in 2011. It has four production-scale facilities, in New York City and in Chicago, and plans for more in several other states.
And, like BrightFarms, it’s more of a proponent for the hydroponic method, although it may well eventually mix it all up and try different approaches in different facilities.
7. Iron Ox
This company appears to use robotics perhaps more than the others, in the picking process at least and claims to operate fully autonomous indoor farming. It too is a proponent of hydroponics and is a retail-oriented company.
Its products are similar to the others’ – leafy greens such as lettuce and kale or things like that. It’s one of the newer startups on the list so a lot might change.
Iron Ox has only recently started supplying its products to local markets in California. The company has so far raised over $6 million in funding, according to CrunchBase.
8. InFarm
Most of the above companies are US-based, but there are also numerous vertical farming startups in Europe and Asia. InFarm is based in Berlin, Germany, and has so far raised approximately $35 million in investment.
The company appears to be going into the exotic herbs market, including Thai basil, Peruvian mint and such like. But it’s also growing fairly common herbs such as dill, basil, sage and so on.
It doesn’t say on its website whether it uses hydroponic or aeroponic systems, but it does claim to use 95 percent less water, which would suggest it uses at least one of those. However, it says it uses 75 percent less fertilizer, which might suggest it mixes earth-based processes into its technology. Most likely, it uses a hydropic system.
9. AgriCool
French vertical farm startup uses an aeroponic system to grow fruit and vegetables. It appears to like strawberries more than other produce. Not a bad idea since strawberries are hugely popular in France, which has a massive traditional agriculture industry.
AgriCool says its aim is to be within 20 km of its customers and offers a program called “Cooltivator”, through which customers can learn how to use its technology and possibly become producers and distributors themselves.
So far, AgriCool has more than $41 million in funding since its launch in 2015, according to VentureBeat. The company also uses shipping containers as “Cooltainers” in which its aeroponic farms can be set up.
10. CropOne
While we couldn’t immediately find how much funding CropOne has raised, we did find that it has signed a $40 million joint venture agreement with Emirates Airlines to build what is described as “the world’s largest vertical farming facility” in Dubai, UAE.
It follows, perhaps, that it will eventually supply a lot of its produce to Emirates Airlines for its flight passengers.
CropOne, founded in 2011, claims to use just 1 percent of the amount of the water required by traditional agriculture, using a hydroponic system. It’s also big on big data, with “millions of data points collected each day” about its plants, which are mainly edible leafy greens.
11. Illumitex
Halfway through this list, and we feel the need to chill out, and what better way to relax than write about Illumitex, which supplies LED lights – light-emitting diodes – which are popular among cannabis growers.
Of course, all sort of other companies uses LED lights, but Illumitex’s biggest customers are probably in the dope sector.
LED lights are claimed to use 90 percent less energy than incandescent lighting and 60 percent less than fluorescent lighting. This energy efficiency – and, therefore, lower cost – is a critical factor in the likelihood of making profits in vertical farming being quite high.
Lights supplied by Illumitex, founded in 2005, are installed in some of the world’s largest vertical farms.
Osram, a massive manufacturer of lighting equipment, also produces lights specifically for vertical farming applications and is certainly worth a mention in this article.
12. PodPonics
Not much information is immediately available about this company, but according to the Angel investment website, it raised almost $5 million in 2014, which is a long ago in startup terms.
The company constructed a vertical farming facility in and is said to be doing something similar in the Middle East. However, without being able to find the company’s website, we can’t really say much more.
13. Surna
Getting even closer to the “demon weed”, this company specializes in providing water-efficient solutions for indoor cannabis cultivation and counts more than 800 grow facilities as clients and partners.
The company appears to use hydroponic systems in the main, but given its long client list, it probably installs a variety of technologies, depending on the customers’ requirements.
Surna is based in Boulder, Colorado, one of the first states to decriminalize cannabis, now at the center of a flourishing industry. However, the company says it can grow anything anywhere, including “potatoes on Mars”.
14. Freight Farms
Rather like AgriCool, Freight Farms manufactures a product called the “Greenery”. As its name suggests anyway, Freight Farms provides shipping containers modified as hydroponic indoor farms – the Greenery.
In fact, Freight Farms claims to be the world’s leading manufacturer of container farming technology and provides ready-made or “turnkey” container farms. Or plug-and-play maybe.
As you might expect, these farms can be managed through smartphones. The company has a whole range of tech solutions built around its central product.
Freight Farms has so far raised almost $15 million in funding since its founding in 2010, according to Owler.
15. Voeks Inc
Voeks Inc, a US company, appears to have no connection with a similarly named company, called Voeks, in the Netherlands, Europe – that one seems to be for former employees of Shell.
Voeks Inc provides a range of services including for vertical farms, mostly in the areas of heating and irrigation systems, as well as nutrient delivery.
Its client list includes some big names, such as Monsanto, Syngenta, and Bayer, which is in the process of taking over Monsanto.
16. SananBio
SananBio provides vertical farming solutions that mainly involve the hardware, such as the lights and the platforms.
Backed by significant scientific research and development units, the company is one of the leading suppliers of vertical farm systems in Asia and is expanding in the US.
It emphasizes hydroponic equipment on its website, but it’s likely that it customizes its solutions depending on its clients’ requirements.
Interestingly, Sanan claims to be the largest LED chip manufacturer in the world, and we’ve already mentioned how crucial LED lights are to indoor farming.
17. HelioSpectra
Talking about LED lights, which basically replace sunlight, HelioSpectra is one of the leading suppliers in the indoor farming market, with a big client base from the cannabis growing sector.
But HelioSpectra isn’t all into growing cannabis, however. The company’s lights are also used to grow a variety of lettuce types, tomatoes, and peppers, among other fresh produce.
18. Agrilution
Back to a complete vertical farming systems supplier, but with a couple of slight differences. Not only because Agrilution is European – German, to be more precise – but also because it supplies what it describes as a “personal vertical farming ecosystem”.
In other words, its “PlantCube” product can be installed into the average home, taking up a similar amount of space as a dining table or large fish tank.
Perhaps similar to the product being tested by Samsung, Agrilution’s PlantCube uses a hydroponic process.
19. Altius Farms
Specializing in aeroponic systems, Altius provides what it calls “tower gardens” among its products. Just imagine a multi-level plant pot and you’ll get the idea.
The company integrates its farms into a variety of urban spaces, from schools to urban youth centers and veterans’ homes, sometimes on rooftops, sometimes at ground level.
Altius looks more like a social venture than a private enterprise, and we couldn’t immediately find whether it has raised any equity finance.
20. Badia Farms
Vertical farms are the culmination of emerging technology in a relatively new market, so there’s bound to be many companies claiming to be the “first” or “biggest”, and of course “revolutionary”.
Badia Farms claims to be building the Middle East’s Gulf states’ first indoor vertical farm, in readiness to supply “micro-greens and herbs” to top restaurants in places such as Dubai.
The company’s multi-story greenhouse will use the hydroponic method for growing and already boasts a prestigious client base.
21. Intelligent Growth Solutions
Another vertical farming specialist, also with an eye on the Middle East, Intelligent Growth Solutions is actually a Scottish company.
Interestingly, IGS claims to be increasing LED efficiency by a further 50 percent, which would give it a big advantage since lighting is probably the single biggest cost in indoor farming systems.
The company also emphasizes automation in its solutions, saying that its towers and the overall system uses robotics and is reducing labor costs by up to 80 percent.
22. FarmOne
FarmOne’s main facility is installed in the basement of a posh restaurant in Manhattan, the two-Michelin-starred Atera. The company has used this as a platform to launch across the US and now partners with numerous fine restaurants in many states.
FarmOne uses the hydroponic method and provides smartphone apps for managing the facility, which can either be a ready-made, off-the-shelf solution or tailor-made for the individual customer.
The company has raised at least $5 million since 2017.
23. Sky Greens
This company is headquartered in Singapore, which about the size of Manhattan and yet has a huge influence in the South-east Asian economy. The city-state may have one of the busiest seaports in the world, but its residents would probably prefer to buy locally-grown leafy greens and herbs if available.
Sky Greens uses a patented system that integrates a range of hydraulics to build very tall structures – 9 meters with 38 tiers of growing troughs – which can use hydroponic or soil-based processes.
24. Spread
This Japanese company was one of the first vertical farming startups covered by Robotics and Automation News when we started three years ago, and the company’s latest projects include what is described as “the world’s largest plant factory”.
It has big-time partners as well, including telecommunications giant NTT, with which it jointly developed an internet of things platform for its facilities, which inevitably use artificial intelligence as well.
The company actually started in 2007, which makes one of the older vertical farming companies. The financing at the time amounted to just $1 million, which is small in comparison to newer startups.
25. Sasaki
More of a property developer than a vertical farming company. However, this company does at least attempt to negate the effect of taking over arable farming land by constructing buildings that provide indoor farming opportunities.
Among its projects is one called “Sunqiao Urban Agricultural District”, covering an area of approximately 100 hectares, located between Shanghai’s main airport and the city center. The development is said to designed to integrate vertical farming systems that could provide products such as spinach, kale, bok choi, watercress, and so on.
26. Urban Crop Solutions
This Belgian startup, specializing in “leafy greens”, offers ready-made solutions for indoor farming, and compares its process to “traditional” methods, in which the growth process takes 70 days, and “greenhouse”, which takes 40-50 days.
The company’s “urban” solution grows crops in just 21 days.
It also provides custom solutions to meet clients’ requirements.
The company hasn’t disclosed how much investment it has received, but ther’re certainly has been enough for it to market and sell its solutions, and its first solutions were sold in Belgium, the US, Canada, and Sweden. It also made its first sale in China last year.
The company contacted Robotics and Automation News directly and described itself as follows:
“Urban Crop Solutions develops tailor-made indoor vertical farming solutions for its clients. These systems are turnkey, robotized, and able to be integrated into existing production facilities or food processing units.”
High on life
We’re not the only ones enthusiastic about vertical farming. The US Department of Agriculture is offering grants to research initiatives in the sector.
We’ve tried to concentrate on companies that provide complete solutions in this list, rather than individual components, such as lighting or watering systems, and so on, although some of them are included.
However, it’s difficult to say how the above companies will evolve over the next year or two. Some of them may find that it’s more feasible for them to scale down and provide components rather than complete systems.
Hopefully, they won’t disappear completely because it seems like a good idea to have indoor farms in urban areas so that healthy leafy greens are within reach for city dwellers who are currently on a diet of greasy fast food.
Perhaps the availability of fresh produce will provide a platform for new types of healthier fast-food joints.
And speaking of joints, dude…
Late edits: It’s been brought to our attention by the people at Future Crops that their vertical farm is “probably one of the largest 10 in the world in terms of growing and producing surface” – their words.
The Dutch company appears to use a combination of hydroponic and aeroponic systems to grow popular herbs such as dill, parsley, oregano, and others.
It has also been brought to our attention by AEssenceGrows, a vertical farming company operating in Silicon Valley, that it has been providing both fresh produce and cannabis growers with an “automated precision approach to aeroponics indoor growing”.
The company says: “Our system uses sensors and advanced software to make aeroponics, with all its inherent benefits, an attractive and viable option.”
Another late addition is Kalera, which last year opened the first hydroponic HyCube growing center on the premises of the Orlando World Center Marriott.
Kalera is now scaling operations to include a new growing facility in Orlando, which will have the capacity to produce upwards of 5 million heads of lettuce per year.
Cities Are Turning To Vertical Farms To Keep Their Supply Chains Upright
According to Axios, demand is blossoming for vertical farm startups. Companies like Bowery Farming have seen 2x the business, and they’re racing to open up new facilities near big cities
April 23, 2020
If the last few weeks are any indication, an algorithm may soon be growing your green beans.
As urban grocery stores struggle to stock enough produce for their customers, they’re finding a seedling of hope in vertical farms — big, indoor facilities that cultivate plants using precision-controlled temperatures, lighting, and water supplies.
According to Axios, demand is blossoming for vertical farm startups. Companies like Bowery Farming have seen 2x the business, and they’re racing to open up new facilities near big cities.
The problem isn’t a cabbage shortage
There’s a disconnect here: Vertical farms are spreading their roots right as old-school farmers, facing lowered demand, are letting billions of dollars of produce rot on their land.
The produce is there — urban groceries just aren’t getting it. So what’s going on?
It’s a tale of rotten supply chains. The trucking industry is overwhelmed. Farmers typically split their crops between restaurants and grocery stores. With the restaurant side of the supply chain shut down, it’s difficult — and expensive — to pivot all the way into the other.
Vertical farms promise an answer: Crops grown in big cities, right near the stores that need them most.
But maybe you should hold your seed funding a little longer
Many believe that vertical farming is the future — especially in a health crisis. The few employees needed to maintain vertical farms mean fewer concerns about spreading disease.
But the industry needs stronger financial roots if it’s ever going to be ready for harvest. The upfront costs of vertical farms are immense.
You need to pay for LED lights, ventilation, temperature controls, and the 24/7 power costs are immense. Many vertical farms are opening, but very few are actually profitable.
Have You Thought About Growing Your Own Produce?
Have you thought about finally growing your own produce? Especially in times of uncertainty, I needed to know that I have access to healthy, nutritious, and flavorful produce all year long. My answer to this burning question came in the form of a Tower Garden. Have you heard of them yet?
By WALTRAUD UNGER
April 23, 2020
Zucchini and Zucchiniflowers growing on Waltraud's Tower Garden
Credits: Waltraud Unger
1 YOU CAN GROW YEAR-ROUND
Tower Gardens are a state-of-the-art vertical aeroponic growing system, allowing you to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers in less time than it takes to grow in soil. Because they don’t require any soil you can grow plants anywhere. With the addition of sun-spectrum LED grow lights, it’s easy to have your garden indoors close to your kitchen or outside on the patio. Depending on the configuration you will be able to have up to 36 different plants at your fingertips. There is nothing better than picking fresh, beyond organic herbs right when you need them.
Health and transformation coach, Waltraud Unger, holding Swiss Chard harvested from her Tower Garden
Credits: Waltraud Unger
2. IT SAVES YOU MONEY QUICKLY
Have you ever gone produce shopping with the intention to prepare it within a few days and then had a change of plans? Days and weeks go by and you finally find a bag of wilted greens or rotten cauliflower hiding in the back of your refrigerator. Well, you are not alone! It’s not only costly to toss expensive produce, but it’s also aggravating to find a spoiled bag of herbs or produce when you finally want to use it
When I decided to buy my first Tower Garden, I saved enough money from buying expensive organic produce that my Tower Garden had paid for itself within six months. Now I not only get to eat fresh produce right off my tower, but I also save money.
Once the Tower Garden was paid for, I only needed to replace nutrients, seeds, and rock wool once or twice a year. The total yearly cost is less than my former monthly produce bill! I call the Tower Garden my “Giving Tree” as it keeps on giving me produce for next to nothing.
3. YOU CONTROL HOW YOUR PRODUCE IS GROWN AND HANDLED
I found that the plants in my Tower Garden are much healthier and stronger than the same plants in my organic garden beds. They also seem to be much less affected by bugs and diseases than their dirt growing siblings. There is hardly any need for pest or disease control. If I occasionally find some bugs on my plants, I can easily take them out of the towers and treat them organically without affecting the other plants. It gives me peace of mind that my family and I are the only ones handling the produce in my Tower Garden. I have full knowledge of who planted the seeds, cared for the plants, and harvested our food. I know exactly what came in contact with my food and what did not. I feel the same reassurance and comfort I did when growing up with my grandma’s vegetable garden right outside our kitchen door; this time just a little updated.
4. THE PRODUCE HAS MORE FLAVOR AND GROWS FASTER
I enjoy experimenting and often plant the same seeds in my Tower Garden as I do in my organic soil beds. The consensus from friends and family has been that the produce from my towers has more flavor than from my garden beds. It’s sad to admit, but true. All the hours and pain working the soil, pulling the weeds, and watering my crop doesn’t yield better produce.
The University of Mississippi did a scientific comparison of Tower Garden farming to conventional growing and found a much higher yield and more flavor in produce harvested from Tower Gardens. Check out this link to the research results. I can definitely agree with their findings.
5. IT USES LESS WATER THAN CONVENTIONAL OR ORGANIC FARMING
The Tower Garden is a closed system without soil. It uses aeroponic technology to deliver water and nutrients directly to the roots of the plants. There is hardly any evaporation or wasted water. Some tests at NASA show that you can save up to 98% of water with these towers. With water being such a precious resource, this is a wonderful ecological benefit as well as significant cost savings. Plus, it aligns with my sense of sustainable living!
If you are like me you will enjoy all the other cool and nerdy benefits of Tower Gardens. Check out these research-based benefits of growing your produce with a Tower Garden in this blog post.
6. KIDS EAT MORE PRODUCE IF THEY GROW IT THEMSELVES
Kids are naturally inquisitive and want to participate in whatever others are doing. Tower Gardens bring the farm to the child. They get to witness firsthand the life cycle of plants from planting seeds to growing healthy plants and harvesting food.
My children love to watch the seedlings grow and pick greens and herbs for their lunch sandwiches. They take on roles such as refilling the tank to care for the tower and harvest the plants we grow. In return, they can’t wait to eat their greens.
Waltraud Unger grew up learning from her mother and grandmother how to grow delicious organic food and embraced Tower Gardens a few years back when she struggled with growing her own organic produce on a shady suburban plot. Now she enjoys fresh and delicious produce all year long as she grows indoors as well as outdoors with her Tower Gardens.
Join her Inner Circle Tower Garden community to receive more information on tower Gardens, a planting guide, FAQs, and periodic informative updates and gardening inspiration.