MALAYSIA: Turn Empty Spaces Into Urban Farms To Grow Food

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17 Apr 2021

WITH the Covid-19 pandemic highlighting the importance of food self-sufficiency, it is probably time for Malaysians to turn empty urban spaces into farms. Urban farming is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around urban areas.

Although our country is rich in natural resources, we are still highly dependent on high-value imported foods. Currently, our self-sufficiency level (SSL) for fruits, vegetables, and meat products is 78.4%, 44.6%, and 22.9% respectively.

With a lower occupancy rate in both retail and office space after businesses folded due to the pandemic, property owners could perhaps be induced into redeveloping their buildings for urban or vertical farming. This is being done in Singapore with tremendous success.

According to the National Property Information Centre (Napic), the occupancy rate for shopping malls in Malaysia has dropped steadily for five consecutive years, declining from 79.2% in 2019 to 77.5% in 2020, the lowest level since 2003.

And, according to the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), the occupancy rate for privately-owned office buildings is lower now compared to the pre-pandemic era.

Aquaponics, a pesticide-free farming method that combines aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil), would be one of the ways forward in food production. In aquaponics, the nutrient rich aquaculture water is fed to the hydroponic-grown plant.

This method of farming could be the economic livelihood for many, particularly the underprivileged and disabled communities as well as fresh graduates who are still struggling to secure a decent job.

Sunway FutureX Farm, Kebun-Kebun Bangsar (KKB) and Urban Hijau are examples of good urban farming initiatives in the Kuala Lumpur city centre.

Perhaps Malaysians could adopt Singapore’s approach by setting up aquaponics farming systems on roofs of car parks and opening urban farms in unused buildings.

The vertical rooftop system is another way of increasing our food production capacity. This system requires only a quarter of the size of a traditional farm to produce the same quantity of vegetables. At the same time, it also reduces the need to clear land for agricultural use.

The government should provide incentives for farmers and the relevant stakeholders who are interested in venturing into urban farming. This would enhance the supply and affordability of a wide range of minimally processed plant-based foods, as suggested under the latest Malaysia Economic Monitor “Sowing the Seeds” report by the World Bank.

With the current administration’s laudable commitment to tackling food security issues, this would provide the opportunity for Malaysia to review the current national food security policy by addressing productivity, optimization of resources, sustainable consumption, climate change, and water and land scarcity. By putting greater emphasis on urban farming, the government could encourage farmers to plant more nutritious and higher-value crops.

Given that the involvement of youths in the agriculture sector is only 240,000 or just 15% of the total number of farmers in Malaysia, as noted by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries I Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah, the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry and Youth and Sports Ministry would need to come up with training programmes and develop grant initiatives to attract the younger generation to farming, in this case urban farming.

These ministries can also work with the Agriculture Department, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi), and Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) to develop more comprehensive urban farming initiatives.

The upcoming 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) would also provide opportunities for the government to turn empty spaces into urban farming. In a nutshell, every Malaysian can do their part to help the country become more food resilient by converting empty spaces into farms.

Lead photo: Vertical farming systems can maximize use of space in an urban context.

AMANDA YEO

EMIR Research

Kuala Lumpur

TAGS / KEYWORDS: Letters & Opinion,

May 18th, 9 am EST - Webinar On How To Invest In CEA With Confidence

Agritecture is hosting a series of webinars, starting with How to invest in CEA with confidence. The CEA sector is heating up and is expected to grow 5x over the next 10 years. Investment in CEA has surpassed $2.0B across North America and Europe. Join Henry Gordon-Smith, Founder & CEO at Agritecture, for this 1-hour live webinar to learn more about how to invest confidently in the CEA industry.

How To invest In Controlled

Environment Agriculture With

Confidence

May 18 - 9 am EST

The lineup of speakers include:

Louisa Burwood Taylor, Head of Media & Research at AgFunder

Robert Glanville, Senior Advisor at REG Consulting LLC

Andrew Carter, Co-Founder & CEO at Smallhold

Darren Thompson, CFO at Bowery Farming

Djavid Amidi Abraham, Director Of Consulting at Agritecture

Click Here To Register!

For more information, you can check out our events listing here.

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Agritecture
www.agritecture.com

Vertical Farming World Congress Raises Expectations

Plans have been announced for the 2nd Vertical Farming World Congress, which will take place on 20-22 September 2021.  The event will be available online, with the aim for as many delegates as possible to meet in person at London Heathrow.

With the theme of ‘Raising Expectations’, the conference sessions offer numerous highlights including:

• Industry leadership with InFarm, Kalera, and YesHealth

• Market opportunity with HortAmericas, Rabobank and VeggiTech

• Customer and investor panels featuring Metro and S2G Ventures

• Regional pioneers from AgroUrbana in Chile to 808 Factory in Japan

• Nutrition and crop development with 80 Acres and Vertical Field

• Technology and service development with Grow Group IFS and Swegreen

• Industry policy discussion with Association for Vertical Farming, Farm Tech Society, Japan Plant Factory Association, and UK Urban AgriTech.

There will also be a range of other attractions, notably:

• Presentation of the 2021 Vertical Farming World Awards covering crops, technology, sustainability, and commercial initiatives

• Visits to various vertical farms online and to Vertical Future’s new Mini Crops operation in East London

• Introductory workshop on planning an urban farming business with Agritecture.

The Congress is sponsored by Vertical Future and the Awards are sponsored by Cultivatd.

“This will be the stand-out event of the year for vertical farming, which has attracted so much investor and consumer attention in the past 12 months,” commented Richard Hall, Chairman of Congress organizers Zenith Global, the global food and drink experts.  “Vertical farming chimes perfectly with concerns for fresh nutrition locally, providing new solutions on sustainability and to address complicated supply chains.”

“Last year, delegates said they would be happy to stay online for reasons of convenience and affordability as well as ease of networking and access to the recording.  Many, however, still want to meet in person, so we shall be offering both options, with a guarantee of a refund for anyone unable to travel at the last minute due to national government coronavirus restrictions,” he concluded.

Full program and booking details for the Congress and entry information for the Awards are available at zenithglobal.com/events or by emailing events@zenithglobal.com.

CANADA (YT): Tackling Food Insecurity Above The 60th Parallel

In the northernmost territories of Canada, agricultural development is underway but must contend with the cold climate, variable photoperiod and other environmental challenges. It comes as little surprise, then, that interest in controlled environment agriculture is on the rise. ColdAcre Food Systems is one of the companies that supports this endeavor and has installed multiple growing systems in northwestern Canada.

ColdAcre Food Systems is based in Whitehorse, Yukon, one of the northernmost provinces in Canada. The company was incorporated in August 2019 and specializes in controlled environment agriculture. Prior to its incorporation, ColdAcre primarily sold retrofitted shipping containers and also operated its own container farm to supply the Whitehorse market with fresh greens and herbs.

According to chief executive officer Carl Burgess, “the original intent was to sell and provide growing systems but we immediately identified an opportunity and a need to demonstrate commercial production north of the 60th parallel year-round.”

With its incorporation in 2019, ColdAcre thus based itself on four pillars:

1. Growing produce for the Whitehorse market and beyond

2. Selling prefabricated and custom growing systems for its clients

3. Providing consultation and pathfinding services

4. Active learning and engagement in various projects.

Growing produce for the Whitehorse market
When ColdAcre first began producing greens and herbs, the company started with three dozen products but have since narrowed its product line in order to have a robust supply and client demand. ColdAcre has also recently begun producing mushrooms. Explaining the Yukon’s consumer base, Carl says that the territory is the size of Spain yet is home to only 40,000 people. Whitehorse is the territory’s capital and its businesses service much of the territory, as well as southern Alaska, northern British Columbia and the western Northwest Territories.

As such, Whitehorse acts as an important hub for northern residents and has a relatively robust food demand. According to Carl, “some people drive 1,000 km to buy goods and groceries in Whitehorse a few times a year. That said, the Yukon only produces 1% of the food that is purchased and consumed in the territory.”

Importing most of its consumables carries the double burden of a heavy carbon footprint and limited nutritional quality. “When comparing the quality of fresh produce between Vancouver and Whitehorse, there is a significantly lower quality in the Yukon, which is only heightened when you go further north. Producing locally also virtually eliminates waste and the carbon footprint of production,” says Carl.

Selling growing systems
ColdAcre also continues to sell prefabricated and custom growing systems for clients through Canada’s northwestern region. While the company began with CropBox and has had success doing so, ColdAcre has found that its clients typically require more customization. Moreover, working with an American company has subjected ColdAcre to a higher degree of volatility with respect to changes in the dollar and availability of equipment, according to Carl.

With respect to its technology, Carl also explained that ColdAcre’s technology “is not necessarily unique, but that the skillset and assembly is. In the Yukon, we face the challenge of growing lettuce when it’s 40°C outside in the summer or down to -53°C. We address these extremes using high-tech and smart-tech solutions. We customize the whole management and contingency for potential crises specific to a client or area.”

Consultation and active learning
ColdAcre has also committed to providing consultation and pathfinding services to growers regardless of whether the grower is using a ColdAcre system or not. As Carl explains, “we think that our growing challenge are everyone’s challenges so if we can solve ours, we’d like to share.”

ColdAcre also has multiple research partners throughout northern Canada and while the projects are generally northern-based, the results have applications in various settings.

2020 and 2021 at a glance
In all four pillars, ColdAcre has reported increased interest in the past year. The fragility of Yukon’s food system was heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing supply chain disruptions. As such, the interest in local food production and stabilized food system has surged in the territory. ColdAcre’s production has been sold out since October 2019 and the company will be tripling its production in the coming months. According to Carl, ColdAcre’s proximity to market channels allows the company to compete with imported commodities from California and Mexico and demand a reasonable premium. Similarly, the company is reportedly experiencing an increased demand for its systems for residential, office, and educational purposes.

Most recently, ColdAcre shipped a 53-foot container farm to Inuvik, a community in the Arctic Circle and whose community greenhouse will use the shipping container to produce fresh produce year-round.

For more information: 
Carl Burgess, CEO
ColdAcre 
carl@coldacre.ca 
www.coldacre.ca 

Publication date: Fri 9 Apr 2021
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com

VIDEO: Indoor Farming Powered By Robotics And Technology - Plenty

Author: abc10.com

April 6, 2021

iFarm Partners With Contain Inc., Increases Accessibility of Vertical Farms

On February 11th, 2021, iFarm officially became a partner with and an official vendor of Contain Inc., an indoor agriculture fintech platform operating in North America and Europe that connects indoor growers with the resources they need. Growers now have the opportunity to lease iFarm vertical farms through Contain Inc.

Dedicated to securing lease financing for indoor growers, Contain Inc. works with private lenders to facilitate leases and create custom insurance solutions. The company organises financing for all indoor farming needs, including LED, greenhouse equipment, and entire plant growth systems like vertical farms.

Why Lease Financing is Important

Building or equipping a vertical farm can require significant amounts of capital, yet indoor growers typically lack financing options when compared to their outdoor farming counterparts. 75% of indoor growers are looking for funding, and many will not receive it from traditional agriculture banks and traditional business banks as farm lending in the United States declined at an average pace of 2% throughout 2020. While it is slightly easier to seek financing options in Europe, there is still great room for improvement.

By becoming an equipment vendor, iFarm has made its vertical farms more accessible to those who are interested in vertical farming but face the obstacle of high capital investment. Through Contain Inc., indoor growers can now lease iFarm’s vertical farms and LED systems without a need for high investment. By acquiring vertical farming equipment more easily, prospective indoor farmers can also scale their operations more quickly and cost-effectively.

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How It Works

If you would like to start your indoor farming journey with iFarm, but need financial support, simply sign up to Contain Inc.’s exclusive leasing platform and complete a simple application form. The application requires you to input company basics, financial essentials (i.e. what amount is needed for lease), primary equipment to be purchased, and principal financial institutions. The algorithms can match you to a pool of 28 equipment and financial lenders, ranging from small shops to some of the largest banks in the world. The minimum lease size is typically around $75,000 with no upper limit. Contain Inc. will review your application and decide whether you are eligible for financial support.

Contain Inc. also provides a “Leasing Calculator”, which is a short quiz to help growers figure out their odds of obtaining lease financing offers through Contain Inc.

Get in touch with iFarm today to discuss how to invest in or to lease vertical farming technology.

USA: Local Farm Brings Hope To Food Desert

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Q&A: Mario Vitalis

By Erica Quinlan

April 13, 2021

Mario Vitalis, farmer, owner, and founder of New Age Provisions, holds plants grown on his farm.

INDIANAPOLIS — A hydroponic produce farm in Indianapolis is filling a need in food deserts around the city.

Food deserts are areas where grocery stores aren’t easily accessible. More than 200,000 people live in food deserts in Indy, according to a study published by SAVI.

Mario Vitalis, farmer, owner, and founder of New Age Provisions farm, uses advanced hydroponics and vertical planting to grow year-round.

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It all starts inside a shipping container on an old car lot on East 10th Street. A step inside transports visitors to a lush, green garden of produce. A variety of herbs, leafy greens, microgreens, and hemp are grown inside.

The location allows Vitalis to provide fresh produce to the community, one of the city’s many food deserts. The farm also provides produce to restaurants in Indianapolis.

“I’ve always known the city life — but there is a nagging desire to get back to my roots,” Vitalis said. “As an African American, my roots made it from slaves in the field, to sharecroppers in the South, to farming in the city.

“As a descendent of slaves, this farm enables me to get back to the type of living where our people once lived off the land. Having an urban farm allows me to connect to a long history of farming that has been forgotten.”

Vitalis shared his story with AgriNews.

Tell me a little bit about your farm.

“We are a hydroponic commercial farm. We officially started farming in August 2020.”

What was your inspiration to grow things?

“I wanted to be involved in agriculture, to be able to provide fresh food to the community independent of the supply chain, and independent of herbicides, pesticides, and contaminants.”

Indiana has several food deserts. Did that inspire you to fill a need in the community?

“Yes, it did. It provides us with the equipment to do so, as well. We’re the first company in Indiana to own this piece of equipment, the Freight Farms Greenery. We’re currently the only African American owner of the equipment. We want to be able to provide food and also provide a new way of farming. We want people to see it and have access to it.”

How does the farming system work?

“It’s called a Greenery and it’s built by Freight Farms, based in Boston. It’s essentially a hydroponic farming system in a 40-foot shipping container. If you can imagine those shipping containers that go up and down the highway, you go inside of one of these and grow vegetables. It has everything you need to do that. It has a seedling table and growth tower with different types of hydroponic methods.”

Basil grows at a hydroponic produce farm in Indianapolis.

What are some of the features of the technology?

“It has its own dosing system to control nutrients. You can control humidity, temperature and pH levels. You can check your settings and programming on a computer. There’s an app that goes with it, as well. So, you can control your farm from your phone. The technology is state of the art.”

What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a new farmer?

“I think the biggest challenge is developing a market and getting our name out there. There’s also a learning curve to farming. I didn’t have any experience. So, I had to learn what to do and how to operate.”

What do you enjoy most about growing things?

“Seeing the plant life cycle from seed to seedling into a full plant. I also enjoy the environment. Since we’re in an enclosed environment, we can grow year-round and it’s always 65 degrees.”

Do you have any advice for minorities interested in farming?

“Right now there are so few minority farmers in general. For African American farmers, the best thing they can do is get land and find ways to cultivate the land or make use of it. Good land is becoming a scarce resource. If they’re interested in farming, there’s funding available from USDA for Black and minority farmers. There are different avenues out there. But it all starts with land and a business plan. After that you just have to have motivation and knowledge to do it.”

Anything else you’d like to share about your farm?

“Our farm is local on the east side of Indianapolis. We grow hydroponically without herbicides, pesticides or contaminants.”

How can people purchase your products?

“They can go online to our website www.newageprovisions.com. We deliver. Or, you can purchase through Market Wagon or Hoosier Harvest Market.”

Taking Indoor Farming Operations To New Heights

Conveyor Systems Technology From Ultimation Industries

Conveyor systems technology can help indoor farming operations grow to new heights while improving productivity, efficiency and ergonomics, according to Ultimation Industries LLC, a leader in conveyor technology and automation for over 30 years.

“Harnessing unused vertical space through the use of motorized and overhead conveyors helps indoor farmers maximize their footprint while achieving greater efficiencies in food production and improved ergonomics,” said Richard Canny, president of Ultimation Industries.

Customized and automated 
Ultimation is a provider of customized conveyor and automation solutions for indoor agriculture. They design and build systems for vertical farms of all sizes, including a major system for a West Coast-based vertical farming system which is among the world’s largest.

Please Click Here To View The Infographic

In a typical indoor agriculture facility, workers move through the growing area to plant, monitor and harvest crops. Multi-tier operations may use time-consuming and potentially dangerous lifts to take employees up and down as they perform their daily tasks. Conveyor technology can move plants through automated systems as they grow, bringing them down to the operator level when needed for more efficient, and ergonomically friendly, handling.

Multiple choice
The conveyors and industrial automation equipment used in vertical farming include many of the traditional conveyor types such as gravity roller, belt, and skate wheel or flow rail conveyors. These conveyors are among the most versatile because they help reduce the manual labor of carrying items by hand.

Larger systems use vertical elevators or Power and Free conveyors. Power and Free conveyors are the ultimate in space and volume optimization for vertical farming systems as they enable tight concentration of product in some areas while also enabling separation of the products for movement to processing areas.

Reducing costs 
More recently, the technology used in larger vertical farming systems is including motorized and overhead conveyors. These systems take advantage of unused vertical space above a working area and bring plants down to an operator level when needed.  

“Using robotics and conveyors has been shown to help vertical farms maximize their growing operations and reduce costs. We believe that indoor farming systems are best optimized through a balanced use of low-cost material handling systems for slow-growing areas. They are complemented by more sophisticated conveyors and other devices for faster moving material handling tasks,” said Canny.

Ultimation’s indoor agriculture solutions range from simple flow rail systems up to more comprehensive systems for larger indoor vertical farming facilities. The company's systems meet food-safe requirements for lubricants, oils, and greases.

“As indoor farmers work to achieve greater efficiencies in food production, conveyor systems technology is likely to be part of any economically viable and scalable solution,” said Canny. 

For more information:
Kali Cresent, Sales, and Marketing Manager
Ultimation Industries, LLC
kcresent@ultimation.net
+1 586-771-1881 
www.ultimation.net 
 

9 Apr 2021

Vertical Farming: A Solution To Waste And Inefficiency In The Food Supply Chain?

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April 12, 2021

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

The global food supply chain is in trouble. The coronavirus pandemic is only the latest crisis to highlight the inefficiencies and spotty reliability of the traditional model for getting food from farm to consumer. Repeated instances of contamination reveal inadequacies in quality control and the tracking of product throughout the supply chain. And environmental concerns are raising serious questions about the impact of large-scale farming on the land, water, and air.

There’s a clear need for alternative methods of food production. One is vertical farming, a system of growing crops in stacked layers, spaced 24 to 36 inches apart, usually in greenhouse environments. Vertical farms can be constructed within any type of confined space, including dedicated buildings, shipping containers and even abandoned mineshafts. The equivalent of 60 acres of produce can be squeezed into a single greenhouse, with layers stacked six levels or more high.

Further advantages of vertical farming include complete protection from weather and crop pests, without the need for pesticides or other chemicals, and drastic reductions in water use. A pound of lettuce that requires 41 gallons of water with conventional farming needs just two gallons with vertical farming — in all, up to 99% less water than field-grown produce.

One such system is in operation outside Boston, Massachusetts by Crop One, which markets its products under the FreshBox Farms brand. In business for eight years, Crop One claims to be the oldest vertical farmer in North America, in terms of continuous commercial production.

Crop One grows a wide variety of leafy produce, including lettuce, arugula, basil, and spinach. From its location in Millis, Massachusetts, it supplies sellers within a radius of approximately 100 miles, with a presence in more than 35 grocery stores in the Northeast, according to chief executive officer Craig Ratajcyzk.

The location was chosen to cut down on the large volumes of produce that are typically shipped into the Boston area from California, Arizona, Texas, and South and Central America. “Those are really long supply chains,” Ratajcyzk says. “Right now, we’re within an hour’s drive of all the markets we serve.” Crop One also sources its seed stock locally, he adds, although he acknowledges the need to diversify supply in order to reduce the risk of supply-chain disruptions.

Indoor farming allows Crop One to grow to produce all year round, Ratajcyzk says. Currently, its output stands at around three tons a day, serving 10 customers in the Boston area and an overseas account that in turn sells to some 20 retailers.

The company has big ambitions to expand its production and marketing reach, and Ratajcyzk sees no problem in scaling up. Currently, he says, “the whole CEA [controlled environmental agriculture] industry represents a small fraction of the global demand market.” But recent storms and cold weather in large portions of the U.S. have highlighted the need for a method of farming that isn’t susceptible to the whims of Mother Nature.

“The industry is growing substantially,” Ratajcyzk declares, with producers increasingly being drawn to a method of farming that dramatically boosts crop yield within a limited space.

The technology can even extend to fruit-bearing trees. “A traditional orange tree maybe 15 or 20 feet,” Ratajcyzk says. “Why not a 10-foot tree producing twice as many oranges?”

The chief downside of vertical farming at the moment is one of cost. The price of an initial building containing the equivalent of a 60-hectare farm has been estimated at $100 million. Expenses include heavy energy consumption for supplemental lighting, temperature and humidity controls, fertilizer, and maintenance of proper carbon dioxide levels.

A Cornell University study from 2014 called vertical farms “pie in the sky,” estimating that a single loaf of bread containing wheat grown in a vertical farm would cost $27. Current economics would therefore appear to limit vertical farming to high-end products, although producers are banking that costs will plummet as the technology catches on. The net environmental advantages should also serve to boost its popularity in the coming years.

Vertical farming is “small, but growing every day,” says Ratajcyzk. “It’s a difficult model to establish, but if you’ve been around for five years-plus, then you have a higher probability of success.” He’s hoping for federal, state, and local support of the fledgling technique.

“I can’t really think of a downside to this industry,” he says.

Lead photo: Photo: Bloomberg

US: VIRGINIA - Brooke Point High School Installs Babylon Vertical Garden

April 3, 2021 | Schools & Education

From Stafford County Schools

High School students participating in the Culinary Arts, Business, IT, and IB Environmental Science programs at Brooke Point High School (BPHS) in Stafford are taking gardening to a whole new level, vertically. The school has partnered with Babylon Micro-Farms, Inc, to install a 15 square foot, hydroponic, vertical garden in its culinary arts room.

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“The Babylon garden is an important hands-on STEM learning tool that will benefit our students in many ways,” said Stafford County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner. “The fact that we are saving 2005 square feet of farmland in a booming county is also of great benefit to our community.”

The garden will grow herbs, microgreens, and leafy greens. Students in the culinary arts program will use the produce in their menus, business students will develop a plan for using future crops, IT students will study how the app works and the AI functions of the garden, and IB Environmental students will study the impact of the garden on reducing environmental concerns that are associated with traditional farming.

“It’s important to me that we expose our students to innovative technology and ideas to inspire them to invent and create a more sustainable community,” said BPHS Principal Tim Roberts. “I am excited to see this important learning taking place, and to be able to provide our students with different strategies and ways of thinking in a very tangible way that promotes positive change.”

The garden is remotely managed by Babylon to ensure optimal growing conditions for the plants. Students will use an app that allows them to follow along with live data alerts, growing support, and the harvest schedule. The Babylon garden will initially grow crops that support the culinary arts program. After the first harvest, the garden is expected to produce $500 in produce per month. 

Babylon vertical gardens produce three times the yield of traditional gardens, are grown without pesticides, resulting in 95% less food and 99% less plastic waste, and produce 71% fewer carbon emissions. According to Babylon, the Micro-Farms bring people closer to what they eat, create transparency in the food chain, build healthier relationships with food, and create an opportunity to change the story of how food is made.

Can Vertical Farming Be A Viable Method Of Controlled Environment Production?

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Exclusives From Urban Ag News

April 12, 2021

David Kuack, UrbanAgNews.

Fifth Season is using its fully integrated, automated operating system to crack the economics code for vertical farming with the potential to integrate with greenhouse operations.

To say that controlled environment agriculture is drawing a lot of interest and dollars from the investment world would be an understatement. Austin Webb, co-founder, and CEO at Fifth Season, a vertical farm operation in Pittsburgh, Pa., estimates that over $3 billion has been invested in the CEA industry during the last four years alone, excluding debt and merger and accusations activities for greenhouse operations.

“For indoor ag overall, including both vertical farming and greenhouse, about half that equity investment has been for vertical farming,” Webb said. “There were a lot of dollars that came into this space early on. The unfortunate piece to that is there was a lot of overhype and false promises made in this space. A lot of those dollars came in too early for some of these companies and overall were wasted.

“There has been an industry-wide struggle to make the economics of vertical farming work. All of these companies talk about what they are going to do in the future, but the issue is they have negative unit economics. They lose money for every pound of produce they sell. In many cases, they will say that they will make the economics work in the future, but only after they build more production facilities.”

Webb said negative economics has had a major impact on the vertical farm industry.

“The false promises and the negative economics have held the industry back, overshadowed companies that are building substantial vertical farming solutions that work and pushed additional dollars to incremental greenhouse solutions,” he said. “Moving forward we will continue to see more dollars come into CEA and into vertical farming specifically. This will include public markets and SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) activity.

“Overall, there will be more money invested in CEA. This will include investments that are mediocre. The important element will be investments made into tech platforms designed for scalability and repeatability. This is the only way that volume requirements for wholesale buyers can be met to unlock indoor ag as a material participant in overall market share.”

Need for a mindset change

Even with additional investment dollars coming into the CEA industry, Webb doesn’t expect it to be enough to make traditional vertical farming companies a success.

“Unfortunately, even though significant dollars have been invested in vertical farming, much of it has been wasted,” he said. “The incremental mindset a lot of people in this industry have had is to simply convert farming from outdoors to indoors. In doing so, all they inevitably did was bring people from outdoors and put them indoors. The mindset was to create a growing platform to produce leafy greens and then sprinkle on some technology. The technology was sort of an afterthought.

“There were a lot of companies throwing out buzz words without having actual practicality in regards to robotics, artificial intelligence, and automation. All the money that has been invested has been going toward continued R&D, but at a level which has companies creating technical debt.”

The thing that has helped Fifth Season avoid the technology issues other vertical farms have encountered is the way the company developed and designed its operating system.

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Fifth Season has created a manufacturing platform that is fully automated from end-to-end including growing, processing, and packaging.

“We had a completely different mindset,” Webb said. “We took a blank slate to really design this holistically from beginning to end. We think of this as manufacturing a living organism. As a result, we’ve created an IoT–connected smart manufacturing platform that is an industry-first, industry-only, fully end-to-end automated platform—not just growing, but also processing and packaging. There are other operations that have automation here or there, but nothing else truly automated from beginning to end.

“More importantly, we have integrated the system so it is completely run by our proprietary software platform. We don’t have a bunch of automated equipment that runs on its own controls. Instead, we have a combination of our own proprietary tech and some off-the-shelf equipment such as conveyors. All of the electromechanical systems sit within our software skin and are run by our in-house built firmware and software brain. We have a pathfinding algorithm where when we receive an order from a customer, our system is sequencing out the schedule completely on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.”

Fifth Season worked with Hort Americas and GE Current, a Daintree company, to develop its automated grow room.

“Partnering together on our solution helped us validate that there was a path for our vertical farm to have favorable economics,” Webb said. “Being able to bounce ideas and technologies off of the Hort Americas team allowed us to push the boundaries of innovative thinking in terms of our approach and how we wanted to use technology to solve the complex issues that are limiting vertical farming. We were able to think differently, knowing we had the Hort Americas team as both a check and enabler, which ultimately created a successful collaboration.”

Partnering with Hort Americas also gave Fifth Season the opportunity to incorporate Current’s LED technology into its unique growing platform.

“We did a lot of things differently with our proprietary design and in so doing there were certain things that we couldn’t necessarily handle ourselves,” Webb said. “Working with Hort Americas and Current enabled us to move very quickly while making smart, capital-efficient decisions, as opposed to designing the LEDs ourselves or over-paying for unnecessary functionality.

“We worked with Current in key areas that made big differences related to the integration of our design. We leveraged Current’s significant expertise in regards to light spectrum strategy and the corresponding impact on plant science and quality.”

Creating an economic advantage

Webb said Fifth Season’s unique platform has allowed the company to unlock positive unit economics where it can offer a market price that works for wholesalers and consumers.

“We have been able to make money per pound and make vertical farming economically sustainable,” he said. “Our platform has enabled us to make a stepwise function change in labor costs and efficiency and in energy costs. For labor, we have 2x+ less labor costs than other companies in this space. We also measure and track energy down to every individual bot. We have over 60 bots that are all integrated into one robotics system. We measure and track how to optimize energy utilization to all of those bots.

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Fifth Season’s unique operating platform has allowed the company to unlock positive unit economics enabling it to offer a market price that works for wholesalers and consumers.

“Finally we have made a stepwise function change in pounds to fixed costs ratio. That’s because we have been able to remove large aisle ways and manual inefficient storage and retrieval. We have created a patent-pending solution around our automated storage retrieval, which ties to the rest of our system. In the end, we are able to remove all human involvement from the grow room and are able to achieve 2x+ the growing capacity.”

Another advantage of the platform Fifth Season has created is the need for raising additional capital compared to some other vertical farms.

“We have raised just over $40 million to date,” Webb said. “There are multiple vertical farm companies that have raised $200 to $400 million+. The reason we haven’t had to raise that much capital is because of our mindset about engineering, grow science, and operations in the same R&D pipeline. It has allowed us to catch up and to surpass the rest of the industry in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the capital.

“As we move forward and look at raising additional capital, what’s different is we don’t have to use our equity capital to build more farms for all the hard costs associated with real estate, equipment and building facilities. We can if we want to and if it makes sense for our equity partners, but it is not required. We have been able to unlock positive unit economics which means we have been able to unlock non-dilutive capital to build additional facilities more capital efficiently. Overall, we have built a scalable, repeatable platform, which is what investors need to see.”

What’s ahead for vertical farming?

Webb said there will be a few select companies that have approached indoor ag and vertical farming with a solution that works and will thrive. There will also be a number of companies that are large and excessive that will eventually disappear.

“There will be some consolidation in this industry,” he said. “Some companies won’t be consolidated because they don’t have a tech platform that is investable in terms of the synergies of wanting to acquire that footprint. Consolidation will be selective in some cases.

“There is a lot of production regardless of footprint and money going into leafy greens. There are companies in this space that have no intention of doing anything different than that. I think that focus will run them into a leafy greens race to the bottom. It all comes down to no sustainable competitive advantage.”

Webb also sees the potential for synergy between vertical farms and greenhouses.

“We have built a scalable system that allows us to do a number of crops and then do asset management across different applications,” he said. “We also have the technology that is applicable from an asset management production operations standpoint that works for greenhouses as well.

“We will be able to unlock with this technology what many others won’t necessarily be able to do. Fifth Season will not only be a company that has vertical farm and greenhouse footprints but also is one that uses those footprints in a collaborative way for specific crops. For example, a crop could be in a vertical farm environment for part of its life and in a greenhouse for another part of its life. This will create cross-category and cross footprint combinations.”

For more: Fifth Season, (412) 899-2268; hello@fifthseasonfresh.com; https://www.fifthseasonfresh.com/

Lead photo: Austin Webb, co-founder, and CEO at Fifth Season, said even though significant dollars have been invested in vertical farming, much of it has been wasted. Photos courtesy of Fifth Season

This article is property of Urban Ag News and was written by David Kuack, a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas.

AppHarvest Acquires Agricultural Robotics And Artificial Intelligence Company Root AI To Increase Efficiency

Acquisition of Root AI and its signature robot, Virgo, bolsters the company’s intelligent tools to produce foods sustainably. Root AI CEO Joins AppHarvest as Chief Technology Officer

MOREHEAD, Ky., April 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AppHarvest, Inc. (NASDAQ: APPH, APPHW), a leading AgTech company and Certified B Corp focused on farming more sustainably using 90 percent less water than open-field agriculture and only recycled rainwater, announced today that it has acquired Root AI, an artificial intelligence farming startup that creates intelligent robots to help manage high-tech indoor farms. The acquisition of Root AI and its robotic universal harvester, Virgo, is expected to provide AppHarvest with a baseline of harvesting support working alongside crop care specialists focused on more complex tasks. AppHarvest expects the game-changing advantage of the technology to be in the data the robots can collect as they harvest, which can help evaluate crop health, precisely predict yield and optimize overall operations of the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facility. 

“Farming as we’ve known it is broken because of the increasing number of variables such as extreme weather, droughts, fire, and contamination by animals that make our food system unreliable. Indoor farming solves for many of those challenges, and the data gathered can exponentially deliver more insights that help us predict and control crop quality and yield,” said AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb. “One of the key challenges in agriculture is accurately predicting yield. Many downstream decisions from work scheduling to transportation to retail planning are based on that. Any deviation between projection and actual yield can result in fire drills for numerous functions to adjust for the change, and AI can help solve for that.”  

Root AI co-founder and CEO Josh Lessing will take on the role of Chief Technology Officer for AppHarvest where he will take the lead in continuing to develop the robots and their AI capabilities for the network of indoor farms that AppHarvest is building. Lessing, along with co-founder Ryan Knopf who will join AppHarvest as vice president of technology, helped establish Root AI as an early leader in employing artificial intelligence in CEA. Virgo is the world’s first universal harvester, which can be configured to identify and harvest multiple crops of varying sizes including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and more delicate fruits such as strawberries among others.

Though Virgo can work indoors or out, the robot’s focus has been on controlled environment agriculture. Over the past three years, it has collected the world’s largest data set of tomato images to enable it to identify more than 50 varieties in multiple growing environments and at varying stages of maturity to learn how and when to harvest. 

Virgo uses a set of cameras combined with an infrared laser to generate a 3D color scan of an area to determine the work it can perform. Once it maps the tomatoes, it assesses their orientation and determines if they are ripe enough to pick. The robot can be programmed to make other quality assessments as well. The scan enables the robot to find the least obstructive and fastest route to pick the crop ahead of the arrival of the robotic arm and gripper. The robot can identify hundreds of tomatoes in a fraction of a second without having to connect to the cloud. Virgo keeps score on its success rate like a video game. A built-in feedback mechanism constantly evaluates its efficiency so it learns how to harvest any given configuration of fruit most effectively.

“A piece of food—whether that’s a tomato or a berry or a cucumber—is an outcome from many variables that are part of the growing process. Enhanced data collection for each plant through the robot can lead to insights that teach us precisely how to design better, more resilient food systems that are reliable and that produce more food with fewer resources,“ said Lessing. “Joining forces with AppHarvest is a natural fit: we want to ensure a stable, safe supply of the nutritious and healthy food that people should be eating -- grown sustainably -- and doing that at the scale of AppHarvest gives us the opportunity to make the greatest difference.” 

Gathering more data through AI enables growers to use real-time information to improve a number of sustainability efforts such as detecting and eliminating pests naturally, helping indoor farms successfully grow chemical pesticide-free fruits and vegetables.

AppHarvest is investing approximately $60 million, consisting of approximately $10 million in cash and the balance in AppHarvest common shares, to acquire Root AI. The Company will issue approximately 2,328,000 shares for the transaction.

Founded in 2018, Root AI is based in Somerville, Mass., and has 19 full-time employees, all of whom are expected to join AppHarvest’s technology group to help advance the mission of building a resilient and sustainable food supply.

About AppHarvest

AppHarvest is an applied technology company building some of the world’s largest high-tech indoor farms in Appalachia that grow non-GMO, chemical pesticide-free produce using 90 percent less water than open-field agriculture and only recycled rainwater while producing yields up to 30 times that of traditional agriculture on the same amount of land with zero agricultural runoff. The Company combines conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology and is addressing key issues including improving access for all to nutritious food, farming more sustainably, building a domestic food supply, and increasing investment in Appalachia. The Company’s 60-acre Morehead, Ky. facility is among the largest indoor farms in the U.S.

For more information, visit https://www.appharvest.com/.

How Square Roots Is Meeting Unprecedented Post-Pandemic Demand For Fresh, Healthy, Locally-Grown Food

Square Roots Is Expanding Fast—Deploying Its Latest

Indoor Farm In Michigan In just Three Months.

To meet rapidly increasing demand for our locally-grown produce, today we’re announcing our newest indoor farm in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We broke ground in late December and planted the first seeds in March—just three months later. Now we're preparing for the first harvest, and our delicious, fresh produce will be available at grocery stores, eCommerce platforms, and restaurants across the Great Lakes region in the coming weeks.

Kimbal Musk, our Co-founder and Executive Chairman, says: “COVID-19 exposed major weaknesses in the industrial food supply chain, and accelerated the already fast-growing local farming movement. Square Roots can now deploy commercial-scale, controlled-climate farms, fast, in locations across America to meet the demand for local food, all year round. My wider mission is to bring responsibly-grown, local food to everyone in America. With Square Roots, we’re going to do it fast.” 

From shovels-in-the-ground to first-seeds-planted, we built our new farm in just three months.

Growing Reliable, Fresh Produce Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic

While COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the industrial food system, consumers increasingly valued local food, which in turn accelerated the adoption of indoor-grown produce. Consumers, forced to stay at home and cook, were able to experience the consistent peak-season flavor of our locally-grown greens. Meanwhile, retailers appreciated the reliability, longer shelf life, and complete traceability of all Square Roots’ products. As a result, we’ve seen a big increase in retail demand this year, and we’re now available in more than 200 stores (including Fresh Thyme Market, D&W Fresh Market, Whole Foods Market, FreshDirect, and more!). 

In parallel, working hand-in-hand with our strategic partner Gordon Food Service—one of the largest food distributors in North America—we've been supporting and supplying restaurants throughout the pandemic. We’re as excited as anyone to see diners begin to venture out once more, and the restaurant industry bounce back strong. 

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Square Roots' new Michigan farm

This new farm in Michigan, our third commercial facility, is co-located with Gordon Food Service and represents another step towards a larger shared ambition to build indoor farms together across the continent—enabling local food at a national scale.

Our produce can be found at more than 200 stores across the Midwest and New York City area.

Square Roots’ Modular Farm-Tech Platform 

Central to our ability to move fast and meet demand is our modular farm-tech platform. Capital-efficient and pre-fabricated inside upcycled shipping containers, ready-to-go farms can be shipped and deployed just-in-time to any site in the world, immediately creating the perfect conditions for growing the highest quality food, regardless of local climate conditions or time of year. The overall growing capacity of any Square Roots farm can seamlessly scale up or down depending on demand in the local market.

Our new two-story farm in Michigan also includes all of the necessary infrastructures to run a state-of-the-art, food-safe, and people-safe commercial operation. This includes cold storage, biosecurity, climate-controlled packaging space, distributor loading docks, and more. Meanwhile, all of our farms are Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified, in line with the USDA’s standards, and operate to strict COVID-19 safety protocols to keep farmers and the local community safe. 

Our farms are also cloud-connected and managed by a combination of skilled Square Roots farmers and sophisticated in-house software. Known as The Square Roots Farmer Toolbelt, our proprietary OS provides day-to-day guidance to farmers while capturing millions of data points throughout growing cycles across our network. This data can then be analyzed to determine how changes in certain environmental parameters impact factors like yield, taste, and texture. Our system learns faster as we deploy more farms and our network gets larger, all while helping farmers determine how to grow more, better-tasting food with fewer resources. Training new farmers—and empowering the next generation of leaders in indoor agriculture—has always been core to our mission, and the Farmer Toolbelt is a key enabler in our ability to offer accessible pathways for young people to enter the high-tech farming industry. 

Farmers are guided through day-to-day operations by The Square Roots Farmer Toolbelt.   

Responsibly-Grown, Local Food, Available Everywhere

We’ve always designed our farms to provide responsibly-grown food in areas close to the end consumer. Our hydroponic system uses 95% less water than conventional agriculture, our farms require zero pesticides, and the location of our facilities cuts down dramatically on food miles and food waste by enabling delivery of fresh produce within 24 hours of harvest, all year round. Meanwhile, our latest farm design is easily configured for both vertical and horizontal-stacked growing formats—a new and unique capability that means we can grow a wide range of crops to meet a variety of local market needs. To date, we've grown over 200 different varieties of herbs, microgreens, leafy greens, fruits, and even root vegetables—and we’re just getting started!

Keep an eye on this blog for announcements about more new farms soon. For more information about Square Roots check out our website, squarerootsgrow.com. And for daily updates, follow us on social media @squarerootsgrow.

Oishii Sees Itself As ‘The Tesla of Vertical Farming.’ Here’s How It’s Cracking CEA Strawberries

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March 31, 2021

Lauren Manning

Indoor farming is best known for leafy greens and micro-herbs. But New York’s Oishii is hoping to blaze a new trail and sweeten up the segment. 

“A lot of people call strawberries the holy grail of vertical farming,” Oishii founder Hiroki Koga tells AFN. “Strawberries are the hardest crop to grow in a vertical system and it’s been every vertical farmer’s dream to grow them. Conquering strawberries allows us to grow into other crops very quickly.”

The startup announced a $50 million funding round this month led by Mirai Creation Fund, part of Tokyo-based SPARX Group. Additional investors included Sony Innovation Fund — the corporate venture arm of Japanese tech giant Sony — Tokyo-based AI company PKSHA Technology, and San Francisco-based VC Social Starts.

“We’ve had multiple offers from different funds but we ultimately decided to go with SPARX because they have a very strategically aligned mandate. They’re backed by Toyota, one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world [and] vertical farming is the intersection of agriculture and manufacturing,” Koga says.

Although it may seem odd for Toyota to be interested in agrifood tech, the carmaker is working on its Woven City project located at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji. It’s a so-called “living laboratory” where researchers live and work full-time to imagine what future cities may look like through technological innovation. 

Koga is no stranger to controlled environment ag (CEA). Six years ago, he was working as a CEA consultant in Japan, helping large corporations enter the space. While Koga views Japan as the birthplace of vertical farming, he moved to the US in 2015 – around the time that the method was becoming popular in the country.

Alongside the allure of being the first to crack indoor strawberry cultivation, Koga sees the fruit as a way to address what he calls the “unit economics problem” in indoor farming. He sees strawberries as providing a very strong revenue and profit model, as well as a crop that can further “democratize” vertical farming. 

“In order to democratize it, I wanted to start with something that’s truly impactful — not products that people will buy because they are sustainable — [but] something that is superior compared to what is on the market, and that would completely change people’s experience,” Koga says.

He leveraged his personal network in Japan to collaborate with farmers and research institutions on the details of indoor strawberry cultivation – from seeding all the way to harvesting. It took “countless” iterations to get the formula right, he says.

“There’s probably 20 or 30 different things that you can tweak in a given cycle of the plant. So, let’s say there are five or six different stages of the plant life cycle – if you multiply all of those, there are millions of different combinations,” he explains.

“It’s a matter of tweaking those on a daily basis to figure out what the perfect mix is.”

However, this know-how isn’t what Koga considers to be Oishii’s “secret sauce.” Rather, that’s the bees that the startup’s using handle pollination.

While Koga won’t spill the ‘bees’ about how all this works in Oishii’s context, he claims to have found a way to replicate a natural environment within an indoor vertical farm that convinces the critters they’re outside. 

“They live in harmony with our farmers and robots,” is all Koga will add.

The Tesla of vertical farming

With the initial R&D under its belt, Oishii is now turning its focus to consistency and quality of the product. Its current New Jersey facility spans a few tennis courts, Koga says; but its next one will be the size of an American football field. It currently sells direct-to-consumer through its website, and through traditional retail channels like supermarkets.

But its strawberries may be out of some consumers’ grocery budgets, retailing between $15 and $50 per pack depending on the size and the number of fruits. This price point puts Oishii’s berries in the luxury food category – for now, at least.

“If you think about how Tesla started with a Roadster or Nissan started with the LEAF, we like to think we are in the Roadster camp,” Koga says.

“Our current Omakase berry is our Roadster right now, but we already have developed multiple strawberry cultivars that we can produce much more cost-efficiently. Our Model S and Model 3 will be on the market soon,” he says, referring to the latter-day models now being sold by Elon Musk’s company.

Another US vertical farming startup, Plenty, is also trying to solve the strawberry equation. It recently added Driscoll’s to its list of backers and is collaborating with the major berry producer on indoor strawberry cultivation.

Koga welcomes competition in the space, particularly if it means branching beyond leafy greens.

“It’s generally a good thing that people are following in our footsteps and expanding out of the leafy green space. The more berries the better,” he says.

“Ten years ago, we only had Tesla, maybe a few other companies. But Tesla was the one who proved that it can be done, and now there are dozens and dozens of electric car manufacturers. [The electric car] become much more widely available.”

Vertical Farming Gaining Popularity Among Traditional Growers

'Where in recent years vertical farming enthusiasts have perhaps been mainly qualified as hipsters with a rather expensive hobby, this new branch of horticultural sport is steadily on the rise and traditional growers are also finding their way to the multi-layer installations.'

They see opportunities in using techniques from vertical cultivation, for example in propagation. “It is not just about improving the quality of the young plants, but above all about the controllability of the cultivation, and thus the speed and quality,” says Koen with Mechatronix.

What is the most expensive greenhouse there is? That would be an empty greenhouse, and that is exactly where, according to Koen van Mechatronix, opportunities lie for vertical farming. “In lettuce cultivation you see many nurseries working with fully automated cultivation systems. With mobile gutters, they can use the available space in the greenhouse as efficiently as possible. However, it remains difficult to adjust the speed of the preliminary cultivation to the available space in the pond. By replacing traditional, unexposed or illuminated cultivation with cultivation that is more controllable in a multi-layer system, you can plan much more precisely how many plants to set up. Accurate to the day, you know how many plants are ready to go in,” he says.

The lighting company developed a multi-layer cultivation system together with Meteor Systems: an automated track, including spray booms. In the past quarter, intensive testing was already carried out with a grower who works with floating gutters. “We have 120,000 cuttings up in the test setup. Multi-layered, of course, because otherwise, it would be too expensive in terms of floor space. Now you can grow enough cuttings on a few square meters to fill 1 / 3rd of the garden,” he shows.

The controlled cultivation makes it possible to use the entire cultivation system more intensively, which shortens the payback period and the depreciation period. “You can get more heads of lettuce from your expensive greenhouse,” Koen summarizes. “In addition, you always send exactly the same quality plants to the pond, which also gives you more control over your outgrowth. If you still adhere to the correct lighting strategy, you can start making a perfect prediction on your planning. This wasn't possible before. ”

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Further opportunities
In herbs there are also opportunities for hybrid cultivation, where part of the cultivation will takes in an indoor or multi-layer cultivation system and the outgrowth will take place "as usual" in the greenhouse. “In the classic, fast-growing herbs, a full indoor cultivation is soon done, but in the woody herbs it is purely the rooting that takes place in a VF installation,” says Koen. “Total cultivation is too slow for this. Your turnaround time is too long and that makes the investment per m2 too expensive, but rooting often goes perfectly in a VF system.” In the same way, plant breeders use the techniques in part of the propagation, for example, to improve healing after grafting or to speed up cultivation from mother plants. "Ultimately, propagation is about the controllability of a known phase of the propagation."

All in all, this means that there appear to be more and more surprising opportunities for vertical farming, also in Europe. “The first major projects are starting to arrive, although we also see that people here are even less familiar with the possibilities and often depict it as expensive cultivation,” says Koen. “And of course an economic assessment must always be made. It will not be the case that complete crops will be placed indoors here tomorrow - there is always a reason to look at the sun. Where possible we use the sun, and where necessary the lighting. ”

For more information:
Koen Vangorp  
MechaTronix 
koen@mechatronix-asia.com
www.horti-growlight.com

8 Apr 2021

How CubicFarms Is Feeding A Changing World With Its Automated Indoor Growing Technology

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April 7, 2021

Mark Shelling, Market One Media

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CubicFarms provides sustainable and profitable commercial-scale automated indoor growing systems for local produce and fresh livestock feed. , Image courtesy of Market One Media

Supply chain – CubicFarms Garden – Foodservice – HG cattle

• In an already tumultuous year, agriculture is facing supply chain disruptions and unpredictable climate changes

• To combat this, CubicFarms offers new automated indoor farming systems that could revolutionize global food supplies

• With multiple patents in the ag-tech space, CubicFarms is poised for further expansion

The global supply chain today is facing significant, costly disruptions. A shipping container crisis has upended the global food trade. Devastating winter weather has impacted the U.S., and ongoing labour shortages within the farming industry show no sign of relenting as border crossings remain shut.

The ability to move people and goods across long distances will always be at risk of disruption because the longer the supply chain, the more chances there are for things to go wrong.

The farming industry was already in the midst of a labour crisis even before this year, with fewer and fewer workers available to tend to fields. Now with borders being shut, it's unclear how many foreign workers will be able to return to their jobs, despite some having been issued flight exemptions.

Because of this continued downward trend, Canada is currently projected to lose 123,000 workers within a decade, according to a report done by RBC. That represents a loss of $11 billion in GDP, if the labour gap continues to widen.

Couple this labour shortage with changing weather patterns like the devastating cold snap in Texas, the shipping container crisis, and the ongoing demand for fresh produce, and you’ve got a perfect storm against the food industry.

These stacked variables have revealed just how vulnerable the global food supply chain is. Farmers are now scrambling to find sustainable alternatives to what appears to be a crumbling framework.

"We believe long food supply chains are dangerous. As a technology company in the agriculture business, we’ve seen the challenges with growing outdoors. The solution is in using technology to make locally grown produce more widely accessible, 365 days a year, not just here, but anywhere in the world.”

— Dave Dinesen, CEO, CubicFarm® Systems Corp. 

Innovative new agriculture technologies like indoor vertical farming are more attractive to farmers who want the stability and consistency that come from harvesting indoor crops. Innovators in the agriculture space have already anticipated this shift and are now offering ways to safeguard against further threats to cultivation.

The technology is improving rapidly with automated, commercial-scale indoor growing systems that grow fresh produce in a controlled environment. These crops can be harvested with less labour than traditional farming, addressing the need to do more during labour shortages.

By creating the ideal indoor environment onsite, growers use LED lighting, less land, significantly less water, and less energy. In Canada and the U.S., in particular, the ability to grow fresh produce during the winter months allows farmers to expand the growing season to 12-months a year.

Disruptions to the supply chain during the ongoing pandemic have sent food distribution centres searching for more local produce. We can expect that demand to rise as the number of growers using indoor vertical farming systems increases.

A new leader in agricultural automation

For a better look at these automated indoor growing systems, Canadian ag-tech company, CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV:CUB), offers insights into how this technology is the future of agriculture.

Different from other companies in the ag-tech space, CubicFarms began with the farmers themselves. Jack Benne and his son Leo Benne visited a farm in Puerto Rico after a hurricane when they had an idea for an automated indoor growing system that could grow produce in any weather.

Being the principles behind Bevo Farms, one of the largest propagation greenhouse systems in North America, they put their considerable expertise to work on this important problem.

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CubicFarms’ produce is grown onsite in an indoor, controlled environment, for delicious greens harvested at the peak of freshness, bringing food production closer to home.

The automated systems they created are now at the forefront of solving the supply chain woes of countries that must rely on outside suppliers for their fresh produce. The potential for this shift is massive.

A local supply chain would reduce long distance shipping/flights, the indoor controlled environment is pesticide and herbicide-free so there would be fewer shortages due to recall (think of the recent romaine E. coli scares), and there would be less food waste, as produce is harvested at peak freshness instead of days or even weeks in advance.

Under traditional supply chains, there is an expected amount of rot, unnecessary waste of food and profits in each shipment, and it’s a wonder that’s considered tolerable.

The CubicFarm System technology is housed within modules that are 40 ft by 8 ft, standing 9.5 ft tall. The beauty of their structure is that farmers can buy as many modules as they need and place them together, creating indoor fields with the ideal controlled environment year-round.

A patented undulating path is used to move crops throughout the module. Plants are cycled through each module on suspended trays, which periodically pass an artificial LED light source along with regulated CO².

This is different than the typical ‘rack and stack’ vertical farming setups which need more space to allow people through to seed, monitor, and harvest plants. The CubicFarm System brings the plants in a full circle once every 90 minutes.

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Each module is custom-built, stainless steel container. Trays move along a patented undulating path.

This allows for harvesting to easily take place at the front of the module, while sensors monitor the plants from the inside. This also prevents leaf burning, sometimes seen in vertical farms when the plants are too close to the light and heat source, or those suffering the ill-effects of their position too high or too low in the rack for the ideal amount of CO² necessary for healthy growth.

The CubicFarm System uses a propagator, which grows seeds into seedlings, and a cultivator that takes crops from seedlings to harvest.

This is all while being provided with the necessary nutrients and using up to 95 per cent less water than traditional farming. This line can replicate the exact growing conditions to yield the perfect leafy greens, herbs, and microgreens every time.

"When you provide the optimal environment every day for a crop, it won't only reward you by growing as fast as possible, but it will also be more delicious and nutritious," Dinesen notes.

Global food distribution giant, Sysco, recently announced on their Sysco Vancouver Facebook page that they’re purchasing fresh produce from growers using the CubicFarm System.

This significant relationship is appealing to anyone looking to get into the supply chain, which can be challenging for smaller farming operations.

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A new division of CubicFarms is an expert brokerage called CubicFarms Garden. This expert team provides business consulting services for growers using the CubicFarm System onsite, helping them enter the local supply chain and fostering relationships with food distribution centres.

Farmers have long been at the forefront of technology when it comes to new machinery and systems. “Farmers are the most innovative people we know,” explains Dinesen. “In technology terms, this is the Tractor 2.0. After the invention of the tractor, no one would plow a field without one. With the automated, onsite, and commercial scale of the CubicFarm System, no one would want to grow indoors without us.”

While it might sound complex, farmers who use CubicFarm System will immediately notice its simplicity. When a new unit arrives on site, it's already 90 per cent ready to go, and the remaining set up is assisted by a hands-on customer experience team.

Farmers are trained on how to maximize each module's potential and are given resources for developing new crops. With the recently announced addition of Edoardo De Martin, former Microsoft Vancouver GM, to the executive team as Chief Technology Officer, we can expect the next generation of growing technologies to use more artificial intelligence and robotics to enhance their existing automations and efficiencies.

From fresh food to livestock feed

In January of 2020, the company's success and expertise led to the acquisition of a second farmer-founded innovative company called HydroGreen Inc. Another patented indoor farming system, the HydroGreen Grow System is focused solely on the production of fresh, nutritious livestock feed. Feed that would once be grown across acres of grazing land is now produced in a module that's a fraction of that size.

It is a necessary innovation for ranchers who are facing land and water scarcity issues. Dihl Grohs developed the technology for growing nutritious livestock feed for his ranches in South Dakota, Utah, and Missouri. The concept of low-maintenance feed growing was in direct response to the areas where his cattle had limited precipitation.

Recently published university research confirms greenhouse gas reductions using HydroGreen’s hydroponic fodder system. The university study results came from a HydroGreen Grow System operating in British Columbia, the latest market for the system in CubicFarms’ backyard.

At the EcoDairy in Abbotsford, British Columbia, where they produce milk and use agritourism to educate people about where their food comes from, owner Bill Vanderkooi is using HydroGreen for his dairy cattle.

In a video interview, Vanderkooi talks about incorporating HydroGreen livestock feed into the current mixture and replacing some grain and forage in the cattle diet, measuring against a control group for differences in performance, production, and health. “At the early stage of the trial we’re seeing some positive benefits on performance.” Ongoing research into the nutritional benefits will be combined with land, water, and energy usage as factors for farmers.

The HydroGreen Grow System uses 92 percent less water and less land than traditional farming, so it’s expected that this technology will be widely embraced by the livestock industry in the future.

The fresh livestock feed can be used for a variety of animals, but it’s mainly used for dairy and beef cattle. For those facing labour shortages, the HydroGreen module operates with the push of a button and is self-cleaning. Growing predictable amounts of fresh livestock feed indoors and onsite will allow farmers to reduce the unpredictability that can be costly and dangerous to their animals and livelihoods.

The HydroGreen Grow System’s automated seeder spreads half an inch of small grain seed on the growing surface, growing from seed to feed in six days, with less land, water, labour, and energy.

CEO Dave Dinesen considers the HydroGreen Grow System to be the most automated livestock feed growing technology on the planet.

He explains, "When it comes to animal health and nutrition, the HydroGreen Grow System is giving the most nutritious and delicious livestock feed to these animals. They’re healthier, the feed is more consistent, and ranchers can become more self-sufficient.”

“It’s also automated and scalable because we have the technology to make this possible and profitable,” he adds.

“At the end of the day, we’re a technology company, not a produce or livestock feed company, so we don’t compete with farmers. They become our farmer partners and it’s our job to advance the technologies that support their businesses.”

With a $5 million investment from a top ag-tech investor, Ospraie, and a 100-module sale (their largest yet) to a farm in Surrey, B.C., CubicFarms’ momentum is only growing. It's this momentum that will continue to cultivate new acquisitions, like HydroGreen, and propel the company into an expanding market.

CubicFarms also has an R&D Innovation Centre that is continuously creating new crops and streamlined growing practices to benefit the growers using their technologies, including the CubicFarm System and the HydroGreen Grow System. It's a hopeful progression in a time when there seems to be a new crisis emerging every month. With technology like this positioned to revolutionize global food supply and essentially end hunger, it's one fewer crisis we have to face in 2021.

Learn more about CubicFarms by visiting their website here.

For more information about the CubicFarm System, watch this overview video to see it in action.

Follow CubicFarms for the latest innovations and updates:

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USA: MARYLAND - BW Students Learning High-Tech Plant Growing Techniques

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April 1, 2021

By Brandon Glass bglass@times-news.com

CUMBERLAND — Bishop Walsh School is teaching students through hands-on experience about the efficient ways plants can be grown. The school recently acquired a ZipGrow Tower through federal grants, which is designed for high-density hydroponic farming.

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Mick Burkett, a teacher at Bishop Walsh, holds up pH meters. Burkett is teaching students through hands-on experience about the efficient ways plants can be grown.

“As far as food goes, of all industries, that’s one industry that’s not going away. There’s a lot of science to growing, so it’s important to have high-tech growing techniques,” said Mick Burkett, a Bishop Walsh teacher who is heading the project. “The kids are going to learn how to grow with state-of-the-art science aquaponics, hydroponics, ZipGrow towers.”

The towers are built to make easier production, irrigation, and planting, which will be important in a future where more people live closer together and planting space is limited.

Some 2,000 seed plants can be grown in a smaller than expected platform. Due to the towers being vertical, they take up much less space when compared to planting in soil in a field or a garden.

Students monitor the nutrient levels in the solutions using pH meters and add more as needed.

“The first graders, they’re learning about what is a living thing, so they’re growing mint,” said Burkett. “They’ll be able to put the mint in little pots in our maker space. They’re going to be doing everything from scratch, from growing the plant to making their own little flower pot.”

Eventually, the goal is to have food from the greenhouse and ZipGrow station on the table at Bishop Walsh, to grow enough food to sustain themselves and contribute to the community.

“Instead of farm to table, this is from BW to BW. It is great economically, it’s great for the environment,” said Burkett. “It’s good in so many ways.”

There are also plans for a spring sale at some point, where 50% of whatever is made would go back into the greenhouse and other technologies. They also want to pick out a local organization to donate to.

The genesis for the ZipGrow project was the greenhouse the school built over a year ago, which due to the pandemic has not been used yet, but will eventually be able to hold, Burkett estimated, 6,000 starter plants.

The ZipGrow station was born out of federal funding the school receives through the county and ran about $5,000, said BW Principal Jennifer Flinn.

For now, for students, it’s come as you want, as the school is not able to have clubs due to the pandemic; however, next year the expectation is there will be clubs dedicated to growing plants.

Lead photo: Bishop Walsh freshmen Michael Nowaczyk and Rianne Treadwell examine the plants on the ZipGrow Tower.

Follow staff writer Brandon Glass on Twitter @Bglass13 - Submitted Photo

Brandon Glass bglass@times-news.com

A Number of Pain Points Drive Middle East (Growth) Intensification

And NZ Suppliers Are Ready To Help Them

An international consulting company says New Zealand has a real opportunity to be a partner of choice with the Middle East in providing agritech solutions to a growing agriculture sector. Alpha Kennedy, from Prime Consulting International, told delegates at the MobileTECH Ag event in Rotorua that the United Arab Emirates and Gulf Countries are just about to begin major expansion, especially in horticulture.

"Whether it's precision agriculture, remote sensors, irrigation systems, soil regeneration and fertility, farm management, software training, robotic harvesting, pricing information or market access applications," Mr. Kennedy said. "If you have a product that fits into those focus areas there is a place for you to (partner) a customer who is willing to listen, and willing to pay. The UAE and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) areas have a very distinct set of challenges, such as the higher cost of food imports, the high cost of production, environmental barriers, skilled workers - they all require technological solutions to overcome them. But this opportunity will not be around forever. New Zealand has a very good name as an agriculture innovator, so they will give NZ companies the time and listen, but ultimately they are moving forward quickly and will go with those who are there. There are Dutch, Irish or Israeli companies, for example, that are also keenly aware of opportunities."

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Photo: some of the agritech projects underway in UAE, including vertical farming and vegetable production. Source: Alpha Kennedy's presentation at MobileTECH Ag.

New Zealand's Trade Commissioner and Consul-General to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kevin McKenna says the UAE is New Zealand's 10th largest trading partner.

"It is a crucial gateway for New Zealand goods and services to Africa, the rest of the Middle East and parts of Europe," he said. "The UAE and its neighbor Saudi Arabia are two of our fastest-growing export markets. The paradox in the UAE is that just two kilometres away (from Dubai's busy city centre) lies desert land that flows into rocky mountains and then more desert beyond. So, while the people will need more of our fruits and other food, they hunger for smarts to sustainably feed themselves and the populations around them. That's the challenge, but it also provides an enormous opportunity for New Zealand - we are highly respected for our agritech."

Mr. Kennedy adds that the United Arab Emirates' agriculture industry is worth more than US$3billion annually and growing by 4 percent overall, and the horticulture sector is growing by 6 percent. In 2019, horticulture produced 1.25million tonnes of field crops, fruit, and vegetables, mostly in the country's north, while vertical farms are being created in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.

"There are a number of 'pain-points driving the (growth) intensification; firstly, it is hard to grow food in the UAE," he said. "It's not impossibly hard, but very hard. Summer can be above 50 degrees Celsius, and winter can be balmy in the 20s. There is also very little rainfall and the country is dependent on desalinization, which is expensive to produce and of the water that is produced, 66 percent is used for agriculture purposes. The cost of water is also subsidized and the government is looking to end those subsidies in coming years. This means that they are constantly on the lookout for tech and emerging technologies that can address these challenges."

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As a result, the UAE currently imports around 90 percent of its food. Mr. Kennedy says this figure has been increasing, as has the dollar cost of importing, and with the country's population set to increase to 15 million over the next 20 years, it is imperative to increase domestic production for food security and quality of life.

"They have set some very ambitious targets and they are aiming to be the most food-secure nation by 2050," he said. "That will require a mix of domestic production, trade agreements, and the like. But these pain points are not just being experienced in the UAE but are widely experienced across the Gulf states and they all have transformation plans in place to improve food security. So, the opportunities are not just in the UAE but much broader and agriculture in the GCC is already valued at $20billion. For (NZ) companies with products, solutions, and developments, I encourage you to take advantage of these technology incubators, accelerators, and financing programs. There is a range of financial support available."

He says the future of agritech is already taking place with vertical farms coming into production in the past 18 months, and in 2020 Abu Dhabi invested US$200million in vertical farms.

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Mr. McKenna is encouraging interested companies and agencies to attend and make connections at the World Expo in Dubai, which was postponed from last year, and will run for six months from October 2021.

"We have designed a discover agritech program for exporters working across all aspects of the sector," he said. "The program is going to include online learning, webinars, advisor meetings in New Zealand. Followed by a week here to look at what is going on. We are going to have project visits, we are going to meet with government departments, advisors, and partners, we will look at some of the accelerators and a specialized visit to the Agra Middle East trade show."

For more information
Alpha Kennedy
Prime Consulting International
Phone: +971 56 362 8956
mena@primeconsultants.net
www.primeconsultants.net

Publication date: Tue 6 Apr 2021
Author: Matt Russell
© HortiDaily.com

Technology Capital Markets Veteran Tom Liston Appointed VP of Corporate Development For CubicFarm Systems Corp

Strong Track Record of Shareholder

Value Creation With

Disruptive Technologies

VANCOUVER, B.C., April 6, 2021 – CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV: CUB) (“CubicFarms” or the “Company”), a local chain agricultural technology company, today announced the appointment of Thomas Liston as Vice President (VP) of Corporate Development.

Thomas (Tom) Liston will provide CubicFarms with strategic business development and capital markets advisory services in his role as VP of Corporate Development. Liston is a technology investor, advisor, and a Chartered Financial Analyst® with over 20 years of experience in capital markets. He’s the founder of Water Street Corp and currently serves on several boards of directors for public and private technology companies, and he has a strong track record of shareholder value creation in that capacity. He has served on the Board of Directors of WELL Health Technologies (TSX: WELL) since April 2018 and Tantalus Systems Holding Inc. (TSX.V: GRID) since January 2021.

Prior to his current role, he was the Chief Investment Officer of a leading technology-focused venture capital firm and was responsible for leading the firm’s investments in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), FinTech, and Healthcare Information Technology (IT) sectors. Two of these investments were among the top exits in Canadian technology in recent years.

“My focus is working with disruptive technology companies in sectors with compelling macro tailwinds, which has resulted in the delivery of strong returns for shareholders. I was drawn to CubicFarms because the Company’s best-in-class indoor growing technologies uniquely fit this theme,” said Tom Liston.

Liston began his career with Yorkton Securities as a Research Analyst covering public Software and IT Services companies. In 2003, he joined Versant Partners in the same role and was quickly promoted to Director of Research while maintaining his coverage of technology companies. In 2012, Versant Partners’ team was acquired by Cantor Fitzgerald, where he served as Director of Canadian Research and covered the technology sector. Liston has been consistently ranked among the top technology analysts in several surveys, including StarMine, Brendan Wood, Greenwich Associates, and Reuters. During his tenure as a Research Analyst, he had received more StarMine stock-picking awards than any other technology analyst.

“Tom is a capital markets veteran in technology with proven experience identifying underrecognized companies and assisting in unlocking value for shareholders. He’s uniquely experienced to work with a disruptive technology company of our size on the journey to achieve industry leadership,” said Dave Dinesen, CEO, CubicFarm Systems Corp.

A respected member of both the technology community and his alumni organizations, Liston completed a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and a Master of Arts in Economics and Finance from Queen’s University. In 2017, he was the recipient of the UNB Faculty of Management’s Certificate of Achievement and UNB also recognized Liston with the Proudly UNB Alumni Award of Distinction in 2020.

About CubicFarms

CubicFarms is a local chain, agricultural technology company developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary ag-tech solutions enable growers to produce high quality, predictable produce and fresh livestock feed with HydroGreen Nutrition Technology, a division of CubicFarm Systems Corp. The CubicFarms™ system contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops onsite, indoors, all year round. CubicFarms provides an efficient, localized food supply solution that benefits our people, planet, and economy.

For more information, please visit www.cubicfarms.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

“Dave Dinesen”

Dave Dinesen, Chief Executive Officer

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. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.

Media Contact:
Andrea Magee
T: 236.885.7608
E: andrea.magee@cubicfarms.com

Investor Contact:
Adam Peeler  
T: 416.427.1235
E: adam.peeler@cubicfarms.com

The information transmitted herein is confidential and may contain privileged information. It is intended solely for the person or entity to which it is addressed. Any review, retransmission, dissemination, taking of any action in reliance upon, or other use of this information by persons or entities other than this sender's intended recipients is prohibited. If you received this in error, please notify the sender and delete or destroy all copies.

How Is Fintech Helping Digital Entrepreneurs In Developing Countries?

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06 APRIL 2021

VICTORIA TICHA

Fintech is playing an important role in helping digital entrepreneurs tap into growth opportunities in Indonesia's developing communities, shows UNSW Business School research.

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FinTech is connecting underemployed Indonesian farmers with under-utilized land to produce high-quality organic food and sustainable incomes. Photo: Shutterstock

Small business owners in developing countries are often restricted by ineffective business practices. Here, innovation in financial technology (FinTech) can play a key role in economic development, but with positive societal benefits.

For example, in a developing country like Indonesia, digital entrepreneurship can have immense societal implications, says Dr. Carmen Leong, Senior Lecturer at UNSW Business School. 

Dr Leong examines the positive impact of FinTechs across several different sectors in Indonesia in a recent study: The emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship: A study of financial technology-driven inclusive growth, alongside Dr. Felix Tan, Senior Lecturer at UNSW Business School. Dr. Leong and Dr. Tan have been working on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals-related research for several years and say they are passionate about how technology can empower marginalized communities.

In the paper, the authors present a process model of "emancipatory digital entrepreneurship". Their research comprised two rounds of visits to Jakarta, in which they interviewed digital entrepreneurs, empowered merchants/individuals, and government representatives and associations. They examine several case studies, including iGrow, an Indonesian online crowdfunding platform for agricultural entrepreneurs, farmers, and landowners, and Xendit, a leading payment gateway for Indonesia. 

The authors illustrate how entrepreneurs' constraints may be removed or mitigated through the 'emancipatory endeavors' of three types of digital enablers: the digital provider, the digital aggregator, and the digital facilitator.

iGrow creates a complete farming supply chain

In many developing countries, the demand for high-quality agricultural food increases every day. Research by the United Nations has shown that crop yields need to double within 40 years to keep up with world population growth. At the same time, the global impact of farming on the environment is a significant concern. With a rapidly growing global population and the increasingly apparent environmental effects of agriculture, it is evident that new ways are needed to create scalable and efficient farming industries.

Enter iGrow – an Indonesian P2P lending marketplace that connects farmers, landowners, investors and crop buyers to create a complete farming supply chain. The aim of iGrow is simple: to improve the three factors involved in human stability, including food, energy and water. 

"To me, the iGrow case is interesting. It applies the innovative crowdfunding model in a traditional industry in an agrarian economy. By linking the agrarian entrepreneurs, farmers, landowners, and investors with an online platform, we have seen how long-standing issues, including the farmers' unstable income source and the deserted lands of owners, can be resolved efficiently," explained Dr. Leong.

In the paper, the authors explain how iGrow has become an emancipatory endeavor by allowing farmers to "break free of the societal norms that cast them as unreliable debtors, by transforming the perception of farmers from subsistence laborers to business owners who subsequently can acquire capital".

Additionally, iGrow has allowed farmers to bring back organic farming techniques to their communities by breaking up the existing farming practices and sharing and disseminating knowledge and expertise with landowners and other farmers on sustainable farming. "In iGrow's case, the farmers are provided with training on farming best practices. In other tech start-ups, the founder would develop the skills (including digital skills) of the staff and community leaders," said Dr Leong.

Xendit provides inclusive and flexible financial transactions 

In the paper, the authors note that entrepreneurs in Indonesia who run microbusinesses (particularly women who do not have a credit history or any property ownership) face inherent challenges in accessing institutionalized banking, networks, and financial services. In response to the limitations of conventional means of transacting with financial institutions, founder and CEO of Xendit, Moses Lo, a graduate from UNSW Business School, established the P2P payment platform based on the WhatsApp instant messenger in 2014. 

Through automation and its integration with an already widely adopted instant messaging platform like WhatsApp, Xendit has allowed small business owners and entrepreneurs to "break free" from ineffective business practices restricting their ability to conduct business and access financial services. In addition, Xendit has also enabled microbusinesses to break up the existing rules of the transaction by creating and encouraging more affordable and more flexible services for receiving and sending money. 

Wider implications

The findings show that emancipation can be achieved through the facilitation of microbusinesses in developing countries, which tend to be confronted by institutionalized constraints in the form of restrictive societal norms, business practices, and industry rules.

The paper also points out that while achieving social and commercial purposes is crucial for many new start-ups today, it is hard to survive on good purpose alone. To sustain this, Dr Leong said entrepreneurs must ensure they are economically sustainable. While innovation in the fintech sector has been studied before, very rarely has it been applied to businesses and growth opportunities in developing communities such as those examined in the paper, she said.

"At a high level, our study reminds us that knowing the local contexts and constraints of your future customers are the key. It is also important for us in the Australian education sector to realize the importance of introducing social entrepreneurship to our students," she said.

But there are potential unintended consequences of tech-facilitated developments. The study underscores the need for policymakers to be contextually sensitive so that IT-based development initiatives and policies can be better designed in developing countries.

"Though in this specific case, we celebrate as we see how technology can help to empower (emancipate) the marginalized, but at the same time, we raise the questions of whether that means real freedom or development for the community if they are dependent on someone external to assist them. We like to see these communities being able to develop skills/knowledge overtime to go beyond those dependencies," concluded Dr Leong.

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